All Points Imagination Ann McTaggart Characters Concept and plot Dialogue Elaine Graham-Leigh Em Thompson Flash Fiction Historical fiction News about BGBW members Pacing Point of view Submitting Susie Helme Suspense Techniques Women Writing
The first 500 words
I recently attended a ‘Slush Pile Day’, led by Alison May and Janet Gover of Fiction Tutors, where we polished our ‘first 500 words’ and read them out to a panel of agents.
All Points Imagination
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 short…
Writing Humour
As they say, one man’s meat is another man’s poisson. Or to put it another way, humour is in the ear of the beholder.
Openings – First Paragraphs
So, assuming that your first sentence has fully grabbed the attention of the reader, your first paragraph (Introduction) must accomplish some basic objectives.
Openings – First Sentences
If you want someone to read your book, you must ‘hook’ them by your first paragraph—ideally, by your first sentence. Potential publishers or agents may ask you for your first 3 chapters, but in practice they often read only the first paragraph before rejecting you.
Write Natural Dialogue
The biggest mistake I see is sentences that begin with ‘You know…’ It is not natural for people to say things the other person already knows. Ask yourself—which bits of the speaker’s conversation are new news to the other person, the interlocutor?
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.…
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…
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…
Against ‘and’
It’s usually not good writing to use the construction ‘x and y’. It’s indecisive. You are trying to convey something to the reader, so make up your mind what is it you’re trying to convey. x or y? This is one place where Less is More.
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