We’re very proud to announce Bounds Green Book Writers’ first short story collection, All Points Imagination. A doctor called out to a sick baby, a stranger chatting on a park bench, a warrior preparing to die for her Queen, a young couple falling in love… From writers’ group Bounds Green Book Writers, these are shortContinue reading “All Points Imagination”
Author Archives: Elaine Graham-Leigh
Write What You Know?
Mark Twain’s advice to writers was to ‘write what you know’, but I’m terrible at taking advice. I’ve written about first century Jews, and I am not a Jew, and 14th century Muslim lesbians, and I am neither a Muslim nor a lesbian. I’ve always been driven by the desire to learn about new things. I want to find out absolutely everything about what I don’t know, and once I do, I want to impart that experience to others.
Writing Intros
Your first 100 words are the most important words in your novel. Often these are the only bits an agent/publisher will look at, before tossing you onto the Reject pile, so it’s worth making an extra effort. If you haven’t grabbed the reader’s attention by then, they will move on to pick up the next book at the bookstore or scroll to the next selection on Amazon.
Using props
I listened to an interview with Michael Caine, recounting an incident he learned something from as a young actor. He was in a scene where a brouhaha between a man and wife had resulted in some violence, and a chair became lodged in the doorway. He said to the director, ‘I can’t go in the door, as there’s a chair stuck in the way’, but the director advised him to ‘use the difficulty’.
Bounds Green Book Writers 