3 Tips to Effectively Introduce Your Main Character I’m a person. You’re a person. In fact, everyone reading this – at least until our robot overlords have developed sentience – is a person, a human being. Homo Sapiens. The ape with two opposable thumbs and a bad attitude when it comes to disposing of its […]

I, Crasbo: Tips On How To Write A Comic Voice I, Crasbo is a story of mine that appears in Unthology 8, an excellent anthology of short stories. It’s about a robot butler who’s turfed out of the family estate to fend for himself in the outside world. If you’d like to read the story, […]

Interview with Ashley Stokes editor at Unthank Books I’d like to welcome Ashley Stokes, editor at Unthank Books Ashley Stokes is the author of Touching the Starfish and The Syllabus of Errors. He’s also editor of Unthology and The End: Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings. www.ashleystokes.net / fifteen-endings.co.uk   Morning Ashley, thanks for your time […]

Writing a great story opening: 4 quick tips to hook a reader Why in a story is the opening so important?   Now more than ever, a great opening is crucial to a story. Think what you’re competing with for entertainment – films, the Internet, cable television. Why should someone read your story instead of […]

Interview with Tom Dooley editor at Eclectica I’d like to welcome Tom Dooley, editor at Eclectica For twenty years, Eclectica has presented some of the best writing on the web. To celebrate this, they are publishing four “best of” volumes (fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and speculative) anthologies. To join in the kickstarter campaign, just click here: […]

Show vs Tell: 3 tips to improve your writing For sale: baby shoes, never worn – Ernest Hemingway What’s the deal with show and tell, and why is it important?   Understanding how to show instead of tell is crucial to producing effective, elegant prose. You see this understanding in most examples of good writing. […]

Interview with Sara Crowley, editor at The Forge Literary Magazine I’d like to welcome Sara Crowley, one of my fellow editors at The Forge Literary Magazine. She will be overseeing submissions in January, so if you’re thinking of submitting then read on!   Sara Crowley’s fiction has been published in many lovely places including 3:AM, […]