Writing Advice

If you have not met flash fiction before, you are in for a treat. If you have, here is yet another attempt to define it, to pin down this most slippery of beasts. And because I am a writer, I’ll define it like this:

Imagine standing at the open door of a room where all is in darkness, and you can see nothing. Imagine someone flicking on the lights - to the count of one, two - then plunging the room back into darkness. You didn’t have time to take in much, but you know exactly what room this is, now - a bedroom, an operating theatre, a kitchen, a courtroom. Odds are, you also remember a few things about the room - something about the bed, for example - something out of place? Something odd about that operating theatre... what was that on the floor in the corner? The kitchen - who was that peering back at you from the window? The courtroom - was that a small boy crying in the dock? But this is today - we don’t put small boys on trial? Do we?

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Good morning and good Monday writers! Have you been thinking about submitting your work to an agent or publisher recently? If so, does the prospect fill you with fear?

Don’t despair – you’re not alone. It takes a different set of skills to put together a good submission package than to write a book. There are obviously some areas of overlap, but it’s worth putting the time in to learn a few tricks of the trade, as it can make all the difference between your envelope being opened and swiftly returned, and an actual assessment of your writing.

So what do you send? Firstly, check the agent’s submission requirements. There is no point sending what hasn’t been asked for, they will assume you can’t follow instructions which is not a great start to a potential professional relationship.

Most agencies will ask for a similar amount of material, and will include a submission letter, a synopsis, and the first three chapters.

So – submission letter – a simple statement of what …

If you know that spelling isn't your strong point, you are probably familiar with the little red wavy line.  And the right click.  The choice of options, easy peasy - and there you are - a corrected spelling mistake.

The trouble with spell check is that it doesn't know what you mean.  I can always tell when an author's used it, and there are sometimes some hilarious consequences.  The following are adapted slightly to spare the blushes of the writers concerned:

'My main charter is an alkali'.

'She was a really sexy wrench in a flattening dress.'

'I'm selling a Harley used mattress.'

That woman?  She's no shrieking violet!'

As you can see, you can get some beautiful pictures from this mistakes, but they are not what the author intended.  Do you use spell-check?  What do you use to check the spell-check?

Written by Crisis Dowsing..

Writing and the ‘Shoulds’.

This is a question that comes up from time to time.  An author has a burning desire to write about a particular topic, or to write in a specific genre, but the Shoulds are getting in the way.

You know the ‘Shoulds’.  I’ve given you a few over the years.  You Should write about what you know, you Should write something ‘worthy’, you Should write thinking of your reader.

It’s really important to remember though, that for most of us, writing is not medicine.  We can stop any time.  The more addicted may dispute that last sentence….

Seriously though, if you want to write something specific, but you don’t think you Should – ask yourself why?  Whose voice is telling you not to write on that topic or in that way? 

It’s true that some types of books and some ways of writing are more likely to get published than others, but start by finding the enthusiasm in what you …

If your house is anything like our house, you’re sitting surrounded by scraps of wrapping paper, lightly squabbling children, piles of left-over mince-pies, and a sense of how long the holidays can be..

Christmas is great as it can gives you the chance to spend quality time with your family.  The flip-side to that of course is that you get to spend quality time with your family..  

How do your nearest and dearest treat your writing or artistic ambitions?  Have you been given any time to work over the holidays?  Or have you been resorting to late night scribbling or early morning jottings?

If you weren’t given any of the delicious gifts for writers that I mentioned in my last blog, there is one last thing you can ask for.  What do writers need more than anything else?  Time.  A promise of even as little as an hour a week that is dedicated to your writing - with all distractions (children, pets, knocks on the door) taken care …