Archives

What Should I Spend My Waterstones Vouchers On?

I’m calling on you, dear reader, to help me decide what to buy from Waterstones this year (while reserving the right to ignore all your suggestions if I don’t like them).

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Horror Clichés and How To Avoid Them

Well, we’re getting near the end of our series on genre clichés and how to avoid them. Today it’s all about horror.

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Romance Clichés and How to Avoid Them

I’m just going to come right out and say it: love stories really aren’t my thing…. Nevertheless, romance is a major genre of fiction and we are right in the middle of a series on genre clichés and how to avoid them so it seemed only right for me to take a stab at this anyway. So here goes nothing.

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Sci-Fi Clichés and How to Avoid Them

For those of you who haven’t read the previous post, get over there and read it for even more sci-fi cliché goodness. But first, and without further ado, I give you today’s top three sci-fi clichés…

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Mystery Clichés and How to Avoid Them

Mystery Clichés and How to Avoid Them #NewPost #fiction #stories #writing #writetip #writingtip #amwriting #genre #mystery

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Fantasy Clichés and How to Avoid Them

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done a series of posts on any subject so I decided it was about time for another one: this time focusing on all your favourite genre clichés and how to avoid them.

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Get Your Copy of Penstricken: Collected Stories!

There are short stories, there are very short stories and then there is flash fiction: the delicate and often tricky art of telling a story in as few words as possible.The stories in this tiny little book (all originally published between 2015 and 2020 on the fiction blog, Penstricken) are deliberate exercises in brevity.

In total, this book contains twelve flash fictions ranging from fifty to 2,000 words apiece, plus six collections of six word stories.

While these stories vary in mood and genre, you will find in many that the author’s tongue was firmly entrenched in his cheek; whether it be in the brief tale of a Martian liberating his ‘kin’ from the deep fat fryer of a Glasgow chip shop or the nightmarish tragedy of Santa Claus’ true genesis, Penstricken: Collected Stories is a brief snapshot of one writer’s meandering imagination.

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Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Children’s Books Edition

I might have mentioned once or twice before that I have a little daughter….

‘And so,’ my wife suggested, ‘why not write a Super Snappy Speed Reviews post about books for children?’

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On Character Traits

Let your reader get to know Dave by experiencing Dave, not simply being told about Dave.

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Juggling Multiple Writing Projects

You’re committed. Dedicated. Come what may, you’re getting this novel done, just by plodding along one word at a time.

Plod, plod… plod…

But then suddenly:
‘I say! Who’s that smokin’ hot piece of brand new idea?’

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