Tag: writing tips

March/April blog

Websites & Webinars for Writers

I’m sure you’ve already discovered there are hundreds and thousands of websites for creative writers, and a whole variety of webinars and podcasts: you could probably find a different one every day for the next twenty years! But you can also waste a lot of time trawling through such sites to find one that suits you.

One thing I’ve found is that if you sign up for a particular website, you can be inundated with e-mails, not just one a month or even one a week, but almost every day. And like writing magazines (in my experience), they often get left until you find the time to sit down and concentrate on what you’re reading.

Creative Writing websites vary enormously

  • Some, like Let’s Get Writing, offer a blog – usually on writing matters, often monthly. You’ll soon find out which author style suits you.
  • Others are unashamedly commercial sites, selling courses, critiques, competitions, books, videos etc.
  • Many combine the two: writerly advice plus opportunities for shopping.

So, I’m going to offer just a few websites and webinars that I have found interesting and/or useful over the years. Do have a look, and if you have your own favourites, perhaps you’d like to share them with Let’s Get Writing readers – via the Feedback form.

Websites

  1. Helping Writers become Authors by Katie Weiland – an award-winning site with absolutely loads of advice. Her books are highly recommended too.
  2. Kill Zone – written by 11 top American crime writers (including James Scott Bell and Terry Odell), so mostly for thriller, mystery and crime writers but a good read for all. They also do First page critiques, plus advice, anecdotes, wanderings, and a huge list of other writing websites.


3. Reedsy – this is a marketplace so lots of selling, but also articles, plus The 50+ best writing websites of 2025

4. Writer’s Digest – American print magazine which I have subscribed to before now. In-depth articles, plus 100-word story competition – good for getting going and group activities

Webinars

Again, hundreds available but do look carefully to see if there’s a cost. Sometimes, organisations will charge £40 for a webinar of between one and two hours. If you know and like the presenter, absolutely fine. If not, try the free ones first.

Webinars can be live or recorded. I tend to mostly watch the live ones as you can often ask questions, make comments and interact with other writers.

These are the two I’m most familiar with:

Authors AI. Their main business is using AI to analyse your novel. There’s a free version, plus paid ones. I’ve used both and find them most useful. They also put on regular webinars, usually presented by AI co-founder Alessandro Torre (see left), interviewing an American (usually) novelist. They last half an hour and can be entertaining and interesting. Recommended.

I also recently joined a webinar run by Jericho Writers, called Big Picture Editing, which was well-presented, well-structured and offered a different look at editing. Recommended.

Other companies that run free webinars include: Lulu Publishing; Curtis Brown Literary Agency; Reedsy;  BluePencil Agency and WriteAcademy.

If you have experienced other webinars that you’d like to pass on, please do so through the Feedback button.

Last month I asked if anyone had experience of writing courses. Writing friend Brian contacted me about the courses he’s been on at the City Lit in London. It’s near Lincolns Inn Fields and the address is 1-10 Keeley St, London WC2B 4BA.

Here’s Brian’s experience:

My first course there, after retirement, was an introduction to journalism. I enjoyed two terms, met interesting people but failed to write any memorable articles. Perhaps, because as I later discovered I enjoyed writing stories that were only seemingly true. My next course was an Introduction to Short Story writing. This was a good mixture of prescription and practice. Over ten weeks, we wrote three long stories, receiving comprehensive feedback on the originals and two further edits. I was more in my creative comfort zone now. On two further creative writing courses, I wrote enough stories to fill an anthology and, much late, when I discovered Lulu, a self-publishing website, I published First Coarse, a pun on the standard of my writing and its source.

The next stage in my writing journey was to investigate travel writing at the nearby Mary Ward Centre. Here, I discovered I had forty years of history, featuring journeys taken in my many cars, to fill a book.  I used Lulu to self-publish to publish Road Works –  the drives of a lifetime.

In more recent times, I’ve attended one day courses on writing for children, one on straight storytelling and one on picture books. Both courses provided a good foundation of the elements required for each genre.
Thank you, Brian.

Happy writing in March and April. I’ll be back in May.

Linda

December Blog

Free Writing – a device to get you going

When did you last sit down and do a few minutes of free writing? That’s just writing, without editing, without judging, without taking your pen off the page or your fingers from the keyboard.

It’s a really well-used, traditional writing device that can
get you going;
help get round any anxiety or mental block;
build up writing stamina and muscles and
create a daily routine.

Free writing was originally developed by Peter Elbow, a professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973. His idea was that you wrote for a few minutes, took an idea or word from that freewriting and used that idea to free write for another few minutes. This process could then be carried on for as long as you wanted.

Peter Elbow

Nowadays it tends to mean you can write about absolutely anything – a stream of consciousness, thoughts on waking, a rant at someone or something, a character profile, what you’re going to do today – anything that takes your fancy and gets you writing.

It’s not, usually, meant to be shared but if you’re with your writing buddy or in a group, then you can, of course, if you want to. Otherwise, free writing can be just left, or even erased, having done its job in getting you started. It might, though, result in an idea for future writing; a couple of paragraphs might be used in a short story or whatever your work-in-progress may be.

Brilliant motivator

I was reintroduced to this writing device a few weeks ago when I went on an excellent course in Portsmouth – Write Your Historical Novel – run by William Sutton. He’s a brilliant tutor and motivator so I was “happy” to put up with rather cold room we were in! He used free writing exercises in every session. He usually gave us a topic, or the choice of several, and we could do what we liked with the exercise. Some of the writers were just beginning their novel-writing journey, others were some way into their novels, and a couple, like myself, had finished the writing and were now starting the editing process.

Whatever the topic, I found I was able to relate it to my novel enabling me to

a) take a fresh look at particular scenes,
b) use a different point of view and
c) come up with interesting plot changes.

The idea of just writing, with no judgement, seemed to free me up from what I had planned. I’m definitely a planner, not a pantser, so this came as a bit of a surprise.

I’ve kept my free writing exercises all in one notebook and I have to say that I have found them extremely useful as I work through my novel, taking on board various critiques that my Beta-readers have suggested.

I’ll just add here that William had a whole host of excellent ideas and advice relating specifically to Historical Novel writing. He runs different workshops and classes so if you are in or near the Portsmouth area, do have a look at his website. Click here.

Christmas writing suggestion

I know we’re all getting really busy preparing for the festive season – lunches, dinners, shopping, friends, family, Christmas TV, cards and presents. But even amid all this activity, you might find you have the odd five minutes to keep up your writing.

It might be a lot to ask you to continue with your work-in-progress with all the distractions around! So you could use those little bits of time to free write. It might be for 2 minutes or 5, or, as we found in our sessions, you just want to carry on! It’ll be a break from the mince pies and sherry, and it will keep you writing.

And to help you get started, there are 20 Christmas prompts on the new Prompts page. Click here.

Do let me know if that’s helpful for you.

Have a lovely Christmas and wishing you all the best for 2025.

Happy writing!

Linda

November blog

Solo or Sociable

What sort of writer are you? And is there a right or wrong way?

This month I thought I’d address the topic of how do we write – completely alone, with someone, or in a group? What’s best and what might work for you?

We all have our own way of writing, and it might change depending on what we’re writing, our mood and our situation. On holiday, I like nothing better than to go to a beach, preferably where there’s no-one else about. If it’s warm, I’ll sit on the beach; if not, in the car. Staring out at the waves invariably puts me in a good mood and I have spent many hours writing happily in such a state.

At home, I’m fortunate to have a small office that looks out onto my garden. And although this is where I do a lot of writing, unless I’m really in the “zone”, I find there are too many distractions. You’ll probably recognise some!

  • that flower bed definitely needs weeding
  • I must put the bins out
  • a friend has phoned up for a chat
  • I’ll just Google that research point
  • just a quick peak at my e-mails!

Is writing alone the way to go?

If you read the opinions of famous writers, it would seem so!

Ernest Hemingway said: ” Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. You must be prepared to work always without applause.”
Gustave Flaubert: “Writing is a lonely life, but the only life worth living.”
Franz Kafka: “Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.” 
And on a brighter note! Margaret Atwood: Writing is alone, but I don’t think it’s lonely. Ask any writer if they feel lonely when they’re writing their book, and I think they’ll say no.

No distractions

What these writers are saying is that the actual physical work of writing is best done on one’s own with no distractions. But I firmly believe there is a place for writing with others, and meeting and/or socialising with other writers. There are so many options: it’s just a case of finding what works for you.

  • A writing buddy
    A fellow writer you’re happy to spend time with, in person or, if circumstances demand, on a screen. You might talk about writing; you might swap pieces and critique them; you might spend the time in relative silence to write.
  • A group of writers
    The group could meet weekly, set homework, read out and critique each other’s work. They could be monthly meetings, some with a guest speaker, others as manuscript critiques.
  • Classes/workshops
    Many adult education colleges run these, so too do individual writing groups, writers, publishing companies etc etc. They vary – in quality, makeup of participants and price! Personal recommendation is probably one of the best ways to choose. I love them! I always manage to get motivated by going to a class, and if you find a really good tutor, that’s a bonus, so too a writing buddy.
  • Residential writing courses
    Many are held in lovely parts of the country with meals all catered, one-to-one sessions, guest speakers and critiquing sessions. They tend to be attract what I term “serious” writers and can be very sociable.
  • Online courses
    These seem to have proliferated in the last ten years with publishing houses in particular offering a whole range of topics. Again, some are quite pricey. They can vary from one-day webinars, to three or six-week or even six-month courses, with some offering the opportunity to critique each other’s work.
  • Free online courses
    These often take the form of webinars – often by authors, agents, editors and publishers. I find the half-hour ones the most accessible as anything longer, I have found, can deviate from the main topic and you end up not getting much out of them. Again, speak to your fellow writers and ask which ones they recommend.

In the New Year I hope to blog a bit more about courses, telling you about the ones I’ve found useful and enjoyable. If anyone has similar stories they’d like to tell, please do send them via the Feedback button.

So, is it best to go Solo? My preference to is to write on my own, in silence, resisting telephone calls and emails. And then, to go to any or all of the above to be sociable, and to keep up my motivation and learning.

Happy writing.

Linda

October/November blog

How much is too much?

Do you like reading paragraphs or even pages of description? Do you love every detail of every place, building, street, garden, house, furniture, person and their pets in a story?

Or do you sometimes find yourself skipping over some of those paragraphs, hoping to find the action or conversation that will take the story forward.

It is too easy to include a lot of information in fiction writing, believing it to be essential to the story. But when there is a description overload, then I feel the author hasn’t given enough thought as to what the story needs.

…there is a fine line between precision and self-indulgence

This is a quote from Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones – one of my favourite “How To” books on Creative Writing. It was written in 1986, sold more than a million copies and has been translated into 12 languages. (See link below)

I came across this particular quote when I was reading a few chapters (they are very short) the other day, hoping for inspiration. I got it! What immediately came to mind was those long passages of description that I have, unfortunately, been reading (or skipping) in quite a few books recently.

What is description? It could be setting the scene, describing someone’s clothes, or taking the reader through a five-course meal.

Please don’t get me wrong: I am very much in favour of using personal experience and/or research to bring authenticity to a story – you have to if you don’t want bland writing that doesn’t connect with your readers.

But how much is enough?

We’ve all probably done some research for a story, whether it’s the latest technology for a sci-fi tale, or what clothes they wore in the 15th century. Having done the research, we want to put it to good use. But that is the point at which you, the writer, must identify what the READER needs to know, rather than what YOU know.

Ernest Hemingway had his “Iceberg” theory: “If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.”

Over-writing is often described as PURPLE PROSE – writing that is showy, overly flowery; drawing attention to itself rather than progressing the story.

Sadly, new writers often tell me that “the words just poured out of me, so they have to be good, don’t they?”

I’m afraid not. That’s PURPLE PROSE at its worse – masquerading as words that flow when they and the plot have been well thought out and the author is thinking about every word.

How to avoid Purple Prose or
The dividing line between precision and self-indulgence:

  • Try not to use too many adverbs and adjectives – stronger verbs and nouns are far more effective. Using too many weakens the verb or noun while the occasional adverb or adjective will make much more impact.
  • Don’t search for fancy verbs – keep them simple but strong.
  • By all means use similes and metaphors, but not too many and certainly not too close together. With metaphors and similes we are trying to give the reader an image but they will only get confused if there are too many different metaphors and similes close together.
  • Don’t describe everything. Keep descriptions to the things that matter to your story.
  • Try to mix descriptions with action and dialogue.
  • Only use vocabulary that your Point of View character would use.
  • Always think of what the reader needs to know (and how much they need to know) rather than what YOU know.

Don’t mistake Purple Prose for Literary Writing. We could spend hours discussing what, exactly is Literary Fiction! Authors of literary fiction are experts at using the right adjective at the right time, the right amount of description and the right words, even long ones, at the right time. Their writing flows and is beautiful to read. In addition to using metaphors and similes in the right place, they often employ other literary devices such as hyperbole and personification.

Genre writing on the other hand tends to be more direct, with more conversation and often more action. I believe it is just as hard to write good genre fiction as it is to write literary fiction. The choice is yours!

Happy writing!

Linda

Click here if you’d like to buy Natalie Goldberg’s book.

Autumn Blog

September – October 2024

Editing Part 2

Last month we looked at the WHEN and BIG PICTURE of editing. This month, I’m looking at some of the best ways to read your writing, what you should be looking for and where to go for help.

HOW

It’s all too easy when reading our own writing to read what we think we wrote. So here are some suggestions to get over that:

  1. ALWAYS read your work out loud. It’s so much easier to hear mistakes such as unintentional repetition of certain words and phrases, badly constructed sentences, too many adverbs, no change of pace. By reading it out loud, you will also notice typos and misspellings.

2. If you’d like someone else to read your writing out loud, you’ll need a very understanding writer friend! Or you can use the Read Aloud facility on your computer (you may need to have a word processing package subscription to use this).

I’ve set up a new page Computer Tips where you’ll find how to do this with MS Word. Computer voices have improved a lot over the years, and I’ve just had a very nice woman read this all back to me!

3. If you can, print out your work before reading it out loud and editing it. A change of medium often helps as it will come over as a “new” piece of writing. I use a red pen to mark any mistakes which are then easily identifiable when correcting back on the screen.

4. If you are editing on the screen, then highlight the whole piece of writing and change the font.

Don’t be tempted to try one of the more outlandish fonts that Microsoft Words offers, like Algerian or Broadway. They are fun to experiment with if, say, you are designing a poster. But for any length of writing, they are difficult to read.

I usually change from Times New Roman to Ariel and then back again when I’ve finished editing and I’m going to send it off. Times New Roman is an industry standard, so it actually makes sense to set your word processing package to using that font all the time (the default font).

Have a look on YouTube – I’ve found a couple of videos that explain it. And you’ll find my guide on How to change your default font on the new Computer Tips page.

5. Alternatively, changing the colour of the font can have a similar effect, making you read your writing more carefully.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Mostly, you’ll be looking for consistency, such as the spelling of names, place and proper nouns.
Dialogue tagging – have you stuck to he said, she said, rather than use a lot of fancy alternative.
Grammar – reading out loud should help you pick up errors.
Punctuation.
Unintentional repetition of words or phrases.  
Exceptionally long sentences.

WHO CAN HELP

You can, of course, do all this editing yourself. But it’s all too easy to read what you think you’ve written. If you have writing buddies who are willing, then my suggestion would be to ask them to do specific editing eg are they engaged by the characters? Another friend might like to read your writing as a reader – does it grab them and make them want to read to the end? Another friend might be good at spotting typos, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

Another option is to use editing packages – free and paid-for..

You will have to look at each one to see what it offers. Some are free but then offer more features if you pay.

Grammarly
Prowritingaid
Hemingway editor
Autocrit

The one I have used several times is Authors AI. You can have your whole novel analysed for free, and for $45, you get a more detailed report – mine was 30+ pages long! Their web address is authors.ai

You can always pay for a full editing check of your writing – costs vary enormously. You can be charged by the word, the page, by the hour or a flat fee.

The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading charge £25+ per hour for proofreading and £34 per hour for developmental editing.

The Literary Consultancy charge £1000+ for up to 60,000 words.

The Oxford Editors charge £820 for 100,000 words.

Some professional companies also offer Zoom meetings, express delivery, mentorship etc – all at extra costs.

Have confidence

As with all outside editors (whether free, friends or professionals), it is totally up to you what you do with the feedback. My advice? Read what they say but have confidence in your own writing.

Once you are happy with your editing, you might want your mother/auntie/boyfriend to have another read. I can guarantee they won’t spot the edited adjectives and adverbs, the change from passive to active verbs, the shortened (or lengthened) sentences. But they might just say “That reads really well now! I didn’t notice any difference.”

Only YOU will know the work that has gone into making your writing that much better.

Happy writing!

Linda

Linda’s back!

July 2024 Blog

Welcome to my new look website for the second half of 2024. Not sure where the first half went! I think I was a little too ambitious before and life always gets in the way! My aim is to bring you a blog at least once a month, with additional articles when I can.

I would really like the new-look website to be more inter-active. So please do send in your comments about my blogs or suggest any topics that you’d like to read about.

For this month, I thought I’d have a go at explaining AI – Artificial Intelligence.

AI: what is it and should writers be using it?

AI – Artificial Intelligence – is the system by which computers are doing things that have been and are being done by humans. AI has been compared to the Industrial Revolution when machines took over traditional roles such as weaving.

You are probably reading most days about the latest AI applications: smart systems in our homes, enhanced diagnoses in healthcare, face recognition, driverless cars – the list will undoubtedly continue growing. And already, such well-known products as Google, Siri and Alexa are all examples of AI.

AI works by having access to all the digital information that is out there in the world – an almost inconceivable amount of data. But it means that AI is dependent on what has gone before, whether it is true or not. (A bit like Wikipedia whose entries can be written by anyone and are not necessarily factchecked.)

Schools and Universities

There has been a lot of debate over the use of AI in schools and universities. One of the major concerns is that students are using AI to write their essays and dissertations. It follows that we, as creative writers, could well use AI to write our short stories, articles and novels!

In fact, at one of my writers’ get-togethers, one member did offer a short story which, after feedback, he confessed had been written by AI. It wasn’t bad and I even remember complimenting the “writer” on his use of a tri-colon! Even so, his self-written story was definitely better.

So, should writers use AI?

The Pros and Cons:

Pros

  • An AI application, such as ChatGPT, given a few guidelines, can write a story, a poem or an article in mere seconds.
  • The application can be used to suggest titles, ideas, plot outlines and character profiles.
  • AI can be a very thorough script editor – picking up typos, spelling and grammar mistakes; and producing a detailed analysis of such things as sentence length and frequency of certain words.
  • Because it has access to millions of novels, poems etc, AI can suggest trends and patterns in writing, and audience preferences.
  • Research can be done so much quicker and more comprehensively using AI.

Cons

  • You cannot rely on the veracity of AI “facts”.
  • You are not using your own research techniques and filtering out what you do and don’t need.
  • Information overload.
  • It is not YOUR writing.

My verdict

AI can be used very effectively in checking a piece of writing for errors. But when it comes to creative writing, let’s make sure it is we human beings who are being creative, not the machines.

If you have any comments, please do send me feedback on the form below, plus suggestions for future posts.

And please subscribe to receive regular posts – it’s free!

Happy writing!

Linda

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