Liz Monument

In March 2020, I began working as a freelance fiction writing coach in Geelong, my hometown. I was at the end of a PhD in Creative Writing, so the timing seemed perfect. Nobody could’ve guessed that Covid and…

Writing decent women characters is vital for the modern novelist, because surveys tell us that sixty per cent of all readers are female. The majority of editorial and commissioning staff in publishing houses today are also women. This means that…

Yes - family stories provide terrific inspiration. Here are a few things to consider before you embark on your journey.

Recently, I’ve been privileged to connect with three writers who used aspects of real-life family history to…

Many years ago, when my bookshelves were filled with ‘how to’ manuals on developing character, with titles like 'Write a Million', I remember struggling with the popular wisdom that writers should make a ‘character board’ for every character they…

A client recently asked me how the mechanics of publishing work. This client has no interest in self-publishing; rather, he’s hoping to take the mainstream route when his novel is ready. I decided to blog about this because there…

Why is editorial help important? How can independent advice improve a manuscript?

As a writer, you can only get so far on your own before you need an outside eye. Even bestselling authors have a regular editor. The…

Genre describes the category to which fiction (or non-fiction) belongs. Crime, romance, Sci Fi, fantasy, memoir - these are all examples of different genres. The question is, why is genre important?

Genre fictions (horror, fantasy, romance, crime…

Today, my Script Doctor service went live. I’m delighted to be able to offer editing and structural services for writers of fiction, non-fiction and memoir, based on everything I’ve learned and achieved over the past few years as a full-time…

It’s been a long time since I blogged, mainly due to having moved to the other side of the world. I took a brief intercalation from my PhD, which helped with the readjustment, then picked up writing where I’d left…

Fahrenheit Press tweeted the following. It won't last forever but it made me smile:

The design team at Fahrenheit have created a wonderful cover (they also came up with the new title 'Iteration' to replace my working title 'Jennifer's Garden') - and the book is due to hit the shelves tomorrow. 

Here’s the…

 
  
My MA novel The Eternity Fund was shortlisted for Mslexia’s unpublished novel competition in 2013. The shortlisting may have been a factor in securing me an agent four months later - it added something to my covering letter, making…