Finding your Voice
Midge Gillies and Tony Benn Viewpoint As you start to write your style will emerge. Before you begin you should have some idea of how much of you will appear in the book. If you’re writing a memoir nearly all of it may be written in the first person and yours may be the only …
How to Write: Style
Peter Cole Competent, effective, functional, engaging journalistic writing can be learnt, and some advice has been provided in this online series. Brilliant writing for newspapers has a plus factor which is hard to define and is not achieved by many. It comes down to style. Keith Waterhouse puts it this way: “What is this style? …
Characters and Viewpoint
Linda Newbery, Michael Lawrence and Lauren Child The main characters in fiction for children and teenagers tend, not surprisingly, to be children and teenagers, though it’s not hard to find exceptions, such as Philip Pullman’s Once Upon a Time in the North. To write convincingly, whether in first- or third-person, you need to position yourself …
From idea to story
Linda Newbery and Nicola Davies “Where do you get your ideas from?” Every author who gives talks to children or adults has been asked this question hundreds of times, and of course there’s no simple answer. Ideas are everywhere – the trick is to recognise a promising one when you get it, and not let …
Why write at all?
Linda Newbery Writing for children is not an easy route to becoming published, today’s tutor Linda Newbery explains why Books can change lives – we know that. And if you’re lucky enough to write and publish books for children, there’s the potential of changing young lives in various ways. Yours might be the book that …
Book Contract: What’s Negotiable and What’s Not
Here’s a list of everything you should ask about when negotiating a publishing contract. Brian A. Klems Q: I would like to know what an author is to do if a publisher were to offer up a book contract to him or her when there is no agent involved? What’s negotiable? What’s not?— C. L. …
How Book Advances Work – A Simple Explanation for Writers
Here’s the breakdown on what you need to know when signing a book contract that includes an advance, including what it means and how it works. Brian A. Klems Q: What is an advance, how much is an average advance, and how does it work? —Phyllis C. When a publisher is interested in acquiring a …
A Complete Glossary Of Terms For Fantasy Writers
by Christopher Luke Dean If you’re going to write in the fantasy genre, read this post. You will love this complete glossary of terms for fantasy writers. To write a good Fantasy book, you need to know all the tropes in the genre and you need to come up with a great idea. But, you …
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