This week, we’ve been looking at word choice and micro editing, which is all those tiny decisions we make when we go back over a piece of writing and ask ourselves: Is this really the word I mean? Does this sentence need this word? Could I say this more precisely?
 
It’s tempting to think editing means making big changes: moving paragraphs around, cutting scenes, rewriting endings. And sometimes it does. But there’s another kind of editing that happens much closer to the sentence, where changing one word can alter the whole feel of a passage.
 
A vague verb can become a precise one. An unnecessary adjective can disappear. A word that explains too much can be removed, allowing the reader to understand it for themselves. You have to trust them. Sometimes a sentence simply needs to be tightened so that its most important words have more room to breathe.
 
And this is where I think the writer’s ear becomes so important. Reading your work aloud can reveal things you might miss when you're reading silently. You hear repetition. You hear a sentence that is working too hard. You notice when a word feels slightly out of place, even if you can't immediately explain why. And you even pick up errant commas and full stops (or the absence of them). When you pause or stumble for whaever reason, that little hesitation is worth investigating.
 
One of my favourite editing questions is simply: Is this the word I mean?
Not Is this a better word? Not Is this a more literary word? And certainly not Can I make this sound cleverer? Just: Is this the word I mean?
 
Try this
Take a paragraph from something you've written recently.
Read it slowly, preferably aloud, and look for just three things:

• one word that feels vague
• one word that isn't really needed
• one word you could replace with something more precise

 
Don't rewrite the whole paragraph. Just make those three tiny changes and read it again. Then ask yourself whether the paragraph feels different.

What tiny change have you made to your writing that made a surprisingly big difference? Let me know in the comments.

Sometimes a WIP starts out with so much excitement. You can't wait to get back to it. You're thinking about it when you're walking the dog, making dinner, trying to sleep. And then, somewhere along the way, the enthusiasm disappears. The story starts to feel like hard work. You know you should be writing, but suddenly cleaning the oven seems strangely appealing. I have never been so keen on housework than when I am writing a tricky part of my novel - and anyone who knows me knows how much I hate housework! 

I've been thinking about how easy it is to assume that this means something has gone wrong. Perhaps the story isn't working. Perhaps you've lost your way. Perhaps you should abandon it and start something new. But sometimes you simply need to fall back in love with it, which is what all my social media post were about last week. 

Go back to the beginning and remind yourself what excited you about the idea. Read a few pages without immediately reaching for your red pen. Find a character you enjoy writing. Revisit a scene you particularly liked. Write something that isn't the next thing you're supposed to write. And while you do that, ask yourself: what do I still care about here?

If you figure that out, you might find a way back in. The important thing to know is it is normally only temporary, this falling out of love, and you will find that spark again.

What about you? Have you ever fallen out of love with a project and managed to find your way back to it? Tell me your tips and tricks - write them in the chat.

There is something rather exciting about literary journals. Your story can suddenly find itself alongside writers you've admired, being read by people you don't know, in a publication you might never have discovered otherwise. But where do you start?

The first thing I'd say is read the journals. Don't simply find a list of publications and fire your story off to every one of them. Spend some time reading what they actually publish. You'll soon get a feel for the kind of stories, voices and subjects that appear there.  Many of them have archives and issues online, free to read.

And don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to make your writing sound “literary”. You don't. Good writing is good writing. Concentrate on the story, the characters, the language and what you are trying to say.

Then there are the practicalities. Read the submission guidelines carefully. Check the word count. Check whether simultaneous submissions are allowed. Check the formatting requirements and whether the journal has a particular theme or submission window. And then submit.

This is where it can become difficult, because rejection is part of the process. A story can be very good and still not be right for a particular journal. There may be hundreds of submissions for a handful of places. Sometimes the editor simply isn't looking for the kind of story you've sent. Sadly, this is part and parcel of being a writer who submits, so don't let one rejection convince you that the story isn't good enough. Try somewhere else. And somewhere else.

The more you read literary journals, the more you'll discover what you like as a reader as well as what might suit your own work. You may even find publications you hadn't come across before.

A little challenge for this week: choose a literary journal you've never read before and read three stories from it. What do you notice? What do the stories have in common? And, most importantly, did you enjoy reading them? Because ultimately, that's what we're looking for as writers too: somewhere our stories might make a reader want to turn the page.

Before I get into the craft chat portion of this blog, I just wanted to address the fact that for some reason, Weebly has changed all my blog photos to the same photo, and that was certainly not what I uploaded to each post. I will be addressing that in due course, but at the moment I am preparing to go away on holiday, so that job will have to wait. 

There will also be no regular weekly blog post here now until September 20th - I know you will miss me, ha ha. Is anyone actually reading? LOL

I will, however, be posting daily as always, with some writing-related musings on social media, along with some lovely photos from my Greek paradise - just to keep myself jollied along and thinking about writing, or at least thinking about all those places we can find inspiration for stories while we are enjoying some down time.

So now, onto what I have been taking about this week, which has been Hooking and Holding Attention. 

We often talk about the importance of a good hook, particularly at the beginning of a story. But hooking a reader is only half the job and the real challenge is holding their attention.

And that doesn't necessarily mean filling every page with drama. Readers keep going because they have questions. They want to know what happens, what a character will decide, whether a relationship will survive, or why something doesn't quite make sense.

Sometimes curiosity is created by an intriguing opening. Sometimes it's a secret, a difficult choice, a piece of information the reader doesn't yet have, or simply a character who wants something badly enough for us to care whether they get it. We don’t even have to like the character… maybe what we care about is that they don’t get it.

The important thing is not to answer every question immediately. Give the reader just enough to understand what matters, while leaving them something to wonder about. A great cliffhanger at the end of one chapter should not be immediately addressed in the next. It’s a device they employ all the time in soap operas. One dramatic scene ends with you gasping and wanting to know what happens now… and they take you to someone having a pint in the Rover’s Return (Coronation Street) as a tease!

Plot aside, a beautifully observed detail, an unusual character, a charged silence or a sentence that makes us stop and think can all hold our attention just as well.

When revising, try reading your work as though you've never seen it before. Where do you become curious? Where do you start skimming? Where are you asking the reader to wait too long for something interesting to happen?

What makes you keep reading a story? Is it curiosity, character, suspense, beautiful writing, or something else? Let me know in the comments. I always love to hear from others what their thoughts and opinions are. You have plenty of time to send loads of comments here for me to deal with during my posting break!

See you on 20th September. Until them, Happy Writing!

We've all been there. I know I have. The page is blank. The cursor is blinking. And suddenly your brain has produced an impressive list of reasons why today is absolutely not the day to write. 

• You're tired. 
• You don't know where to start. 
• The idea isn't good enough
• Someone else has already written it. 
• You should probably tidy the kitchen first (I know I am desperately trying to procrastinate when cleaning is the option I choose!)

And sometimes, of course, those things are true. But often there's something else going on. The blank page can trigger an extraordinary amount of mental noise. We put pressure on ourselves to produce something good, meaningful, and original. Before we've written a single sentence, we're already judging the work.

That's where perfectionism can become particularly unhelpful. If the only acceptable outcome is a brilliant piece of writing, starting becomes a frightening prospect. So what if we changed the expectation? I am a real fan of “what ifs” – they are great writing prompts for one thing, but that’s for another time.

The first sentence doesn't have to be brilliant. It doesn't even have to stay. The first paragraph doesn't need to solve the story. The first draft doesn't need to impress anyone – no one will see it but you. You just need to have something written down, no matter what, no matter how big or small, no matter how rubbish!

And when that little voice appears that tells you you can't do it, just ignore it. Just write one imperfect sentence. One piece of nonsense. The answer to one questions. Then write another. See where that takes you. Whatever you write in that first instance will be enough. You can’t edit a blank page. But you can edit something you think is bad into something good.

Tell me: what is the most common thought that gets in your way when you sit down to write? And what is your way to silence it? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear your response.

On Tuesday 11th at 6pm, I will be doing a workshop for WestWord, called Found Prompts, and we will be looking at all the places you can find story ideas when you think your inspiration well is running dry. There are so many places we can find stories, from many surprising sources. Come along and let's explore them and create some stories seemingly from thin air!  Click on the button at the end of this post to book a place on the workshop, and I will see you on Tuesday at 6pm BST.

Found prompts and noticing the world around you has been the subject of my Daily Writing Craft Thoughts on social media this week. When I am asked where my ideas come from, apart from saying “come along to the WestWord workshop on Tuesday and find out (LOL)", I tell people my ideas come from everywhere. I am not saying I live a more exciting life than anyone else, but I do try to notice the things others may walk past. I notice those minute pauses when someone hesitates before answering something; I look at things like a single shoe at the side of the road; I make up scenarios when someone sits in front of an untouched coffee for too long in a coffee shop, and wonder why.

Most of these moments and observations never become stories on their own. But they become seeds. A gesture suggests a character. A snippet of conversation sparks a scene. An unexpected detail makes me ask, Why? And that's often where a story begins for me.

One of the best habits you can develop as a writer is simply noticing. Slow down. Look up. Listen carefully. Ask yourself what catches your eye, and more importantly, why it catches your eye.

Tell me: What's the last ordinary thing you noticed that made you wonder if there might be a story behind it? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to book your place on the Found Prompts workshop by clicking the button below.

Until next time, happy writing!

This week, my Daily Writing Craft Thought posts have been all about pacing for any story length.

It's easy to think that pacing depends on the length of your story. You would naturally think a flash fiction piece should move quickly, while a novel has more room to slow down? That is not necessarily the case. I've read flash fiction that felt as though it wandered for pages, and novels that seemed to fly by. Both of these scenarios, in themselves, are not bad by the way. I love a flash fiction that is 200 words but feels like so many more. I really feel I am getting my money’s worth, so to speak. There is a great skill the writer has used to manipulate us to feel that – and as long as it makes sense for the story, it’s fabulous. Same with novels… I do love a long, meandering novel, but I also love to feel breathless and as if I am on a rollercoaster to the end. The pacing you should use very much depends on the story and the feel you want to convey.

So basically, the feel of a story is nothing to do it the word count, and everything to do with pacing.

Good pacing is about keeping the reader engaged. Every scene should offer something new: a question, a revelation, a decision, a shift in emotion, or a change in circumstance. If nothing changes, the story begins to stand still, no matter how beautifully it's written.

That doesn't mean every page needs dramatic action. Quiet scenes are often essential and can be some of the most affecting. They allow characters to reflect, relationships to deepen, and readers to catch their breath. But even quiet scenes need movement. Perhaps a character realises something. Perhaps a relationship subtly changes. Perhaps the reader is given a clue they didn't have before.

One useful question to ask during revision is: What changes because of this scene? If the answer is "nothing," it may be time to rethink its purpose.

Whether you're writing flash fiction, a short story, or a novel, pacing comes from progress. Keep giving the reader a reason to turn the page, and they'll happily follow wherever your story leads.

Tell me, do you find it harder to keep the pace moving in shorter stories or longer ones? Let me know in the comments, or post anything you like that is writing related. Just say HI!

Almost every writer has experienced that feeling. You sit down with the best intentions, stare at the page, and nothing happens. It's tempting to call it writer's block, but maybe it isn’t always that cut and dried.

Sometimes we're trying to make a first draft sound like a final draft. Sometimes we don't yet know our characters well enough. Sometimes the story has quietly wandered off course, and our instincts are telling us something isn't quite right.

When I find myself staring at my blank computer screen I try some questioning tricks. I ask what my character really wants (in this scene, in the whole book, in life!) and also question whether the stakes are high enough. It’s not enough to say they want to achieve such and such, because we also need to know what would happen if they don’t.

You might discover, during your pondering, that you don't know what your character really wants. Perhaps the stakes aren't high enough. Maybe you've reached a scene that doesn't belong, or perhaps you're simply tired and need to step away for a while.

One of the most helpful things you can do is remove the pressure to write perfectly. Give yourself permission to write badly (for me, that is no problem at all!), write out of order, make notes instead of scenes, or simply ask questions on the page.

Stories reveal themselves one decision at a time. And being stuck doesn't mean you've failed.

When you hit a writing block, what usually helps you move forward again? Is it a walk, a prompt, talking it through, reading, or simply giving yourself a break? Let know in the comments, or just talk about anything writing related you like.

Until next time, happy writing!

When most people think about good writing, they think about  ideas, characters, or plot. But there's another element to it that enriches the reader's experience: the rhythm of the sentences themselves.
 
Every sentence has a pace. Some move quickly, driving the reader forward. Others slow things down, inviting reflection or creating atmosphere. A skilled writer knows when to use each.
 
One of the simplest ways to improve rhythm is through variety. If every sentence is the same length or follows the same pattern, the prose can become predictable. Mixing shorter, more direct sentences with longer, more flowing ones creates movement and keeps the reader engaged. See the picture below for a teaching tool I have seen several teachers use in workshops I have been to.

Reading aloud is one of the best editing tools you have. Awkward phrasing, repetition, and clumsy rhythms are much easier to hear than to see. If you find yourself stumbling over a sentence, your reader probably will too.
 
It's also worth paying attention to emphasis. Important words often have more impact when they appear at the beginning or end of a sentence. Sometimes moving just one phrase can completely change its effect.
 
The next time you revise, don't just ask whether your writing is correct. Ask yourself how it sounds. Does it flow? Does it pause where it should? Does it carry the reader naturally from one thought to the next?
 
Do you read your work aloud when you're editing, or is that a habit you'd like to develop? Let me know this, or anything about your own writing process, in the comments section here. Do you have any hot tips?

​Until next time, happy writing!

I don’t know about you, but I always feel it is a massive achievement to finish a first draft of anything, whether that is a flash fiction, short story, novel or any piece of writing. The achievement is that you did it – you started it and you finished. You transferred something from your head to the page, often with major life distractions.
 
But the first draft is only the beginning.
 
Revision is where a story really starts to come out. It's the stage where characters become clearer, scenes become stronger, and themes begin to emerge with greater confidence.
 
It can be a daunting undertaking though, so, instead of tackling everything at once, chop the job itself into bits. Give yourself a different focus with each read-through. Look at the overall structure first. Then examine character motivation. Next, consider pacing, dialogue, description, and finally the language itself. I started to do this after reading the book Solutions for Novelists – Secrets of a Master Editor by Sol Stein. It’s aimed at novelists, but is principles can be used for any writing. That micro-detail scene by scene, character by character.  It really helped me to focus on one thing at a time, and to give it my full attention.
 
Reading your work aloud is a great tool for editing. You'll hear repetition, awkward phrasing, and places where the rhythm falters far more easily than you'll spot them on the page.

Don’t be afraid to remove something you've worked hard to write. That’s the hardest thing by far to do – to delete or remove something you spent so much time on, and that you are really proud of. A beautiful paragraph that slows the story is still slowing the story. Every sentence should have a purpose. It’s a really tough thing, but you HAVE to be tough, and brave! Save those beautiful words for another project it might fit into.
 
Be patient with your work. Editing isn't the part that comes after writing. It's part of writing.
 
Tell me, when you revise, what do you tackle first? Do you do big-picture structure, character, dialogue, or polishing individual sentences? I am really interested to hear about other writers’ working techniques, so do comment here to let me know.