#writingtips

Cate

How to Write A Novel, Step 5.1: Character is Action

I kept saying in Step 5 that character is action, and I promised to explain myself (eventually). This is how I see it. So, we’ve made...

Cate

How to Write A Novel, Step 5: Coming to Know Your Characters

I’m assuming that by the time you have sorted out all that planning (see Step 4...), you will already be quite conversant with your...

Cate

How to Write A Novel: Step 4.1, or, More About Planning

I promised last time that I hadn’t said all I was planning to say on the subject of planning, and I also promised that I would let you...

Cate

How to Write A Novel: Step 4, or, To Plan or Not to Plan

Planning is one of those vexed questions that some experts on writing can become quite passionate about, even resorting to saying unkind...

Cate

How To Write A Novel: Step 3, Getting Words on the Page

Believe it or not, getting words on the page can be daunting for anyone, even seasoned writers and best sellers. Having a firm idea for...

Cate

How to Write a Novel: Step 2: Ideas (or, 7 Different Ways to Come Up With Story Ideas)

Most people who want to write a novel probably already have a good idea about what they want to write about. It’s the idea that fuels the...

Cate

How to Write a Novel: Step 2, or, actually, let’s make that Step 1 continued...

When I ambitiously started this little project, apart from ruthlessly choosing to split an infinitive or two in the quest for...

Cate

How to Write A Novel: Step 1

So, how do you write a novel? This is a question that is asked by a lot of people I meet (online and in real life - or perhaps that...

Cate

Gems of Wisdom - Conflux Writers' Day 2014

One of the things I really loved about Conflux Writers' Day was that they knew where to put the apostrophe, which is a great start. I...