August 18, 2022
By Aliya Bree Hall When starting a manuscript, most writers are already thinking ahead to the finish line — being published. Although publishing is an excellent overarching goal to strive for, it shouldn’t be the only goal that you have as a writer. At the start of your novel, publishing feels like such a distant…
August 11, 2022
By Sheri Amsel Things are always changing. Publishing is no exception. When I published my first picture book, the publishing house handled everything. They took my manuscript and illustrations and 18 months later a hard cover book came in the mail. It was stunning – beautifully designed and printed, my story displayed in its best…
August 4, 2022
By Ashley Taylor Clark It’s impossible to overstate how important your opening line is. It’s your first opportunity to introduce readers to your story and motivate them to keep reading, meaning the pressure is on to make that first line stand out. You’ve most likely been told to “hook” your readers — to get them…
July 28, 2022
By Chris Saunders The short fiction market is constantly in a state of flux and public tastes are always shifting and changing. However, one little corner of this rich and diverse landscape has remained consistently strong. For our purposes we’ll call it ‘dark fiction.’ Beneath this rather expansive umbrella you will find numerous categories and…
By Ashley Taylor Clark Reality is the basis of all fiction. No matter how bizarre or fantastical your story may be, its foundation is built on and around the rules of the real world. This may seem like a limitation at first glance (why write fantasy at all if it needs to be reined in…
July 21, 2022
By Emily-Jane Hills Orford You’ve been asked to supply an author’s biography (author bio) to accompany your publications (either books, stories or articles). No more than fifty words in length. What do you say? What do you write? How can you keep it this short? For me, I like to revert to the exercise I…
July 14, 2022
By Casey Yong Characters – the heart and soul of every good story. They’re the individuals we invest our time and emotions into as we follow them throughout the course of a gripping tale. But when do they stop feeling like stand-ins living out a story and start feeling like the people we can relate…
June 30, 2022
By Ashley Taylor Clark Your opening line is a crucial part of your novel. It offers readers their first impression of your story, introducing them to the world, characters, and overarching tone in just a handful of words. In a lot of cases, readers use these lines to determine if your book is for them….
June 23, 2022
By Aliya Hall As writers, we are used to creating characters that have different life experiences from our own. And while there are some things we can learn through intensive research, such as historical background and different career paths, there are some things like sexuality, disability, gender and race that are much harder to accurately…
June 16, 2022
By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango A writing career can be exciting and rewarding. Nevertheless, venturing into the writing space can also be laborious, with a lot of hard work to be put in before you get established; and the odds are highly stacked. However, it need not be all tedium. Here are four paths to follow…
June 9, 2022
By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango Short stories are a compact, effective and short-winded form of prose. Though they may be brief, a good short story can serve to present to the reader a fascinating, evocative piece of work in a short period of time and also leave a profound impression on the reader’s mind. So much…
June 2, 2022
By Lorraine Horsley I was 26 with a toddler at my toes when I sent off my first manuscript to a publisher. It was a fun picture book and I pitched it to the publisher that published the cute picture books that stood at the checkout of my local Woolworths store. It was rejected. This…
May 26, 2022
By Ashley Taylor Clark If you’ve ever interacted with the online writing community, you’ve likely heard the terms “plotter,” “pantser,” and “plantser” thrown around. These shorthand terms group writers into categories based on one crucial part of their writing process — namely, whether or not they outline their novel before drafting. Regardless of which group…
May 19, 2022
By Nicole Bloomfield As writers, we get used to producing work under no one’s watchful eyes other than our own. It is a solitary hobby, but one that we greatly enjoy (for some, the seclusion may even be part of the appeal). However, that doesn’t mean we always need to be alone in our journey….
May 17, 2022
By Aliya Hall Beta readers are an integral part of the editing process. Their critiques help writers determine what sections work and what sections need more attention, but not every beta reader can provide the exact feedback you’re looking for. When you’re putting together a beta reading team, you’re trying to find readers that offer…