The feedback I’ve had recently from literary agents is that they prefer debut novels to be no longer than 80-90,000 words in length. This is because agents know from experience that long debut novels often contain too many characters, too…
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Point of View
Which POV?
Point of view (POV) refers to the angle from which a story is told. To follow are some useful tips and resources for choosing which POV would be best for your novel or short story.
I - first…
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Film & TV: the influence of visual fiction on novel writing
Visual fiction and written fiction share many things, including compelling characters, a developed plot with a clear quest and conclusion, and genre conventions (crime thriller, romance, historical or science fiction, for example). Anybody familiar with visual fiction might instinctively use…
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‘Reading Widely’ versus ‘Reading as a Writer’ - and why the two are different
Reading as a writer is an essential skill for writers of memoir, long fiction, and short fiction alike. It's different from reading for pleasure, because it involves breaking down prose you've enjoyed, working out how the writer did it, and…
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Show Don’t Tell - a Writer's Guide
'Show don’t tell' is an important rule for all writers of fiction. Showing rather than explaining things allows the reader to join the dots for themselves, which readers love to do. Showing is vivid for the reader - it unfolds…
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What is Dystopian Fiction?
Dystopian fiction is a particular kind of science fiction. Whereas science fiction can be about intergalactic travel, off-world adventures, spaceships and futuristic technology, dystopian fiction is always situated on our Earth, ‘somewhen’ in the future. Dystopian fiction is therefore a…
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‘Clunky prose’, and how to avoid writing it
The expression ‘clunky prose’ is often used by writing coaches and editors. It describes prose which is clumsily written. We’ve all been guilty of using clunky prose at some point, which is why the phrase is so commonly used. Aspiring…
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What is a line edit?
A line edit (sometimes referred to as a copy edit) addresses a manuscript line-by-line, putting right any little errors, removing repetitions, correcting mistakes in punctuation, and anything else required to perfect the prose. Sometimes, longer sentences might need breaking down…
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Do I need a writing coach?
I’m delighted to have recently been appointed a coaching Mentor for Jericho Writers, alongside my regular freelance editing and coaching work. I’m a huge fan of mentoring/coaching, because it turned me from an aspiring novelist into a mainstream published…
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Coaching fiction writing in Geelong
In March 2020, I began working full time 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…
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