This week has been a week of procrastination. Reading books, cleaning the kitchen floor, wiping the toothbrush stains from the sink, even EVEN doing the ironing. The ironing for goodness sake! All in the name of avoiding the one and only part of writing I do not like. The synopsis. I have dreamed about it,… Continue reading The devil’s in the synopsis
Tag: #amwriting
Facing Daemons
This week I’ve been staying with my parents in what I like to call my home-home, the house I grew up in. It brings back many memories, as childhood homes often do, but the one memory I have been contemplating most is the one that spurred me on to start writing again. Have you ever… Continue reading Facing Daemons
My other love…
As it’s Valentines weekend I thought I’d share one of my great loves of writing. It also happens to be one of my favourite parts of reading and one of the things I enjoyed most whilst studying for my English degree all those years ago. It is...research. What other profession allows you to study the… Continue reading My other love…
Word Count Woes (and handy tricks to help)
I have been advised many times to keep my word count below 95,000. This is the max for any psychological thriller, ensuring the pace remains high and the hooks frequent. So, now that I have finished this bad boy (in theory) I am doing the laborious tasks of getting that word count down. Ideally, I… Continue reading Word Count Woes (and handy tricks to help)
and then, And Then, AND THEN
I have a pet hate when it comes to writing. It’s a three letter word that I find, quite frankly, rude. That word is: And. Is there another word in the English language as demanding as ‘and?’ It is a question in its own right, forcing you to insert another phrase to form a full… Continue reading and then, And Then, AND THEN
A year of lessons learnt
This time last year I was about to submit my novel for the first time. What a feeling, this incredible soap bubble of delicate hope, tipped off by nerves and just a little anguish. After all, at least one of the agents would turn me down and I had no idea how I would take… Continue reading A year of lessons learnt
To end or to epilogue
One question looms over my head, and it’s one I’ve been avoiding: do I end my novel neatly at the final chapter, or do I add an epilogue? My gut reaction is the former, leaving enough lingering question to keep the reader guessing what may happen and give them the freedom to decide. Truth be… Continue reading To end or to epilogue
Advice: best taken with a pinch of salt
Never write, or edit, drunk. Great advice given by the guys at Curtis Brown. Write drunk, edit sober. A quote often attributed to one of the most famous writers of the twentieth century; Hemingway. Or follow in Coleridge’s footsteps: take a dose of laudanum and write about your dreams. Hmmm, maybe not that last one… Continue reading Advice: best taken with a pinch of salt
Social Animal
This weekend, for the first in a long time, I went out with friends for drinks. Not a big deal, you might say, and you’re right, it’s not a big deal. But it’s something I do not nearly enough. Like many writers trying to get their first novel published, I tend to spend all my… Continue reading Social Animal
Beware the viper!
Have a little patience, croon Take That in my ear. Sorry guys, but I have a deep seated tendency towards impatience. This week I finished rewriting the last chapter of my novel, leaving only a couple of sections further back that I want to retouch before this draft is finished. My wonderfully overactive, obsessive and… Continue reading Beware the viper!
Rebecca Tinnelly 