Monthly Archives: August 2014

Autumn is nearly here, my favourite season. The days still warm with a promise of sun, the nights cool enough to sleep comfortably. Fields full and hedgerows heavy, a feeling of ripeness and depth in the land. The trees start turning to gold, bittersweet before the barrenness of winter. It’s a season when, for someContinue reading “Updates!”

I’m not the first writer to use this phrase, nor will I be the last. In fact, it comes from the lectures of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, a professor, journalist and literary expert who used the term to describe removing fancy words and overblown description from your writing. But here I’m using it to talk aboutContinue reading “Killing Your Darlings”

After posting this blog yesterday I had a discussion with a fellow writer who, in the nicest possible way, reminded me that the distinction between ‘show’ and ‘tell’ is not simply confined to narrative vs dialogue, but also in how we, as writers, choose to inform the reader. So you could say either ‘Joe lookedContinue reading “Show, Don’t Tell – Part 2”

God. These three words. Honestly, they are one of the biggest net of knots in which a writer can become tangled. Should I show? Should I tell? Am I telling too much? How can I show this bit? It is an art and something that only comes with practice and feedback, unless you are someContinue reading “Show, Don’t Tell”

There are a lot of articles on the internet these days about “Life Hacks’. Ways to do things quickly, to get things over with so you can move on to the next thing and not waste any precious moments. Some of them are actually pretty cool and useful, but I am concerned that, as theContinue reading “Hacking Away”