Shepherding the Writers’ Group
This month, while Lin drives the wagon around Scotland, I’m shepherding the writers’ group. In today’s session at the New […]
What Immediately Matters?
Whatever the genre, the author has to decide what immediately matters. What’s the emotional core of the story? Hold back
Scene and Story Goals
What is the difference between scene and story goals? What happens when these don’t align? Do they exist in your
How Big a World Do You Need?
One important question when writing fantasy: how big a world do you need? Cast around for writing advice in the
The AI Author Panic
The AI author panic has overtaken writers’ conferences and podcasts since the start of the year. Endless experiments with ChatGPT
Conventions of the Comedy Genre
Because we all need more joy and more comic novels in the worlds, herewith, the conventions of the comedy genre
Revision Planning with Troy Lambert
One of the sessions of last year’s writers’ summits covered revision planning with Troy Lambert. At Daniel David Wallace’s Revising
The Skeleton Draft
Navigating a path from start to finish of a novel can be hard for both plotters and free-writers; enter the
Fantasy is no Different
For all the world-building and lore, I realise Fantasy is no different from any other story structure. All genres contain
Cure Sagging Middle Syndrome
Explosive beginning, great ending, so why does your novel suffer from Sagging Middle Syndrome? Listen to the audio version on