“Don’t say it was delightful; make us say delightful when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers Please will you do the job for me.” – C. S. Lewis I’m sure every writer has heard the phrase ‘show, don’t tell’ at some… Continue reading Writing Tips – Show, Don’t Tell
Category: Tips & Resources
Tips & Resources features short, practical reads for writers. Craft Tools shares clear approaches to improve your writing. Career Tools offers straightforward guidance on publishing and professional paths. Quick, useful insights to support your creative and career growth.
Researching and Writing Greek Mythology
My strongest memory from my time as a Classics student is of writing an essay on the various representations of a minor goddess in Ancient Greek vase paintings. I poured over all sorts of resources, studied images, essays, and even read an entire (albeit, rather short) book on the goddess herself. All for one five-page… Continue reading Researching and Writing Greek Mythology
Writing Tips – How to get unstuck from the writing process
*sighs* If only we could just transfer all the vibes and bits of ideas in our heads into our Word doc and magically have it arrange all the planning so all we have to do is write. And in correlation to what a friend of mine had said about how it is we don’t have… Continue reading Writing Tips – How to get unstuck from the writing process
Art Tips – Creating from Nature
In this week’s blog post, I’ll be exploring ways in which the natural world might be able to inspire you in your art. Many of you might already paint, draw or create other forms of art using the natural world and all within it as inspiration, but hopefully you might find some tips below that… Continue reading Art Tips – Creating from Nature
Writing Tips – Editing
In previous blog posts I have spent quite a lot of time looking at ways in which you can start writing. Today I thought I would do something a little different, and look at the art of what you do once you have finished writing: editing. In my own writing, I am often guilty of… Continue reading Writing Tips – Editing
Writing Resources – Short Stories
Sometimes, it feels as though writing short stories or flash fiction can be harder than writing a full-length novel. You may be limited to a relatively short word or page count. You might not have any idea how to come up with a storyline that will fit into the length required for a short story.… Continue reading Writing Resources – Short Stories
Writing Tips – Setting and Character
This season’s writing tips post is going to focus on the relationship between physical setting and characters. I have come up with what should be a fun and challenging writing exercise which will allow you to consider the importance of these two important elements of fiction writing. Setting – by which I mean the physical… Continue reading Writing Tips – Setting and Character
Art Resources – The National Gallery
This blog post is all about the National Gallery in London and the inspiration it can provide. It will also focus on the Gallery’s website, which is an excellent place from which to draw resources. I was in London this weekend with my partner. It had been my responsibility to plan a day out but… Continue reading Art Resources – The National Gallery
Writing Resources – Character
Character is a key element of prose writing, whichever form – short story, play, novel – that might take. Characters are often at the heart of a story. They drive it forward. For readers, they are often the reason we keep reading something. We want to find out more about a character’s motivations or thoughts.… Continue reading Writing Resources – Character
Writing Tips: Mind Mapping
This blog post aims to introduce you to the concept of mind mapping, which is a really helpful tool to use if you are ever stuck on working out details of character or setting in particular. Simply put, mind maps are a way of tracking and organising information. They can also be really useful in… Continue reading Writing Tips: Mind Mapping
