Category: Writing AdvicePage 1 of 5
Graeme Shimmin’s thoughts on creative writing based on his twenty-plus years of experience as a novelist.
An iconic scene from the movie Amadeus encapsulates what I call ‘The Amadeus Myth’. Picture this: a dimly lit room and the sound of a piano in the…
A great tagline can make the difference between your novel selling like hot cakes and it not selling at all… and that, fundamentally, is why you need to…
Did you ever stare at a blank page or screen for so long your eyes went funny? Or rewrite a sentence fifteen times and then finally delete it…
How to tread the fine line between making your story dramatic and slipping into melodrama.
What a frame story is, why they’re hard to get right and how to write one that works.
So, you’ve heard about writing groups? Maybe you’re even thinking of joining one. Good, because if you want to write and publish a novel, then joining a writing…
In order to understand what a deus ex machina is, first we need to go back in time. In fact, we need to go all the way to…
You’ve probably heard the term “vanity publishing”. But what is it exactly? Everyone seems to think it’s bad, but why is it a problem? What’s the difference between…
First, a story that illustrates what a MacGuffin is: In 1945, Alfred Hitchcock was making the spy movie Notorious, which is about renegade Nazis in South America. Hitchcock…
Amazon has had a lot of negative publicity about its ethics, and that’s led to some people looking for alternatives. In this article first I’m going to look…