Elaine Graham-Leigh – Bounds Green Book Writers

Trying our hand at suspense

Elaine Graham-Leigh Now that we’ve analysed some examples of suspense, we in Bounds Green Book Writers have been trying our hand at creating our own. Below is Elaine Graham-Leigh’s attempt at a visit to a haunted house – see if you can spot some of the techniques we’ve discussed. There will be more to come!Continue reading “Trying our hand at suspense”

Writing advice blog: Examples of suspense analysed

Susie Helme and Elaine Graham-Leigh In the last post, Susie Helme talked about techniques for building suspense in your writing. In this post, we’re taking a look at how it can be done in practice, by analysing some examples from our favourite authors. Leigh Bardugo, Ninth House Inside, the music thumped and wailed, the heatContinue reading “Writing advice blog: Examples of suspense analysed”

Writing advice blog: Writing aliens

Elaine Graham-Leigh One of the trickiest but most interesting aspects of writing fiction, I find, is writing alien characters. How do you show your reader the differences between the alien culture and ours? While it’s only in science fiction that you might find yourself writing actual alien characters, this is a challenge you’ll face asContinue reading “Writing advice blog: Writing aliens”

Writing advice blog: Dialogue – learning from the best

Susie Helme and Elaine Graham-Leigh Last week, we looked at some tips for how to write great dialogue. Now we’ll see how they can be put into practice with some examples from literature from 1813 to 2020. Literary style and conventions change over time, but the need for great dialogue remains the same. Pride andContinue reading “Writing advice blog: Dialogue – learning from the best”

Writing advice blog: character voice

Elaine Graham-Leigh At our BGBW meetings, we have a regular slot where one of us does a presentation on an aspect of writing. It can be something we know we’re struggling with, something where one of us has done some thinking recently, or just a topic we’re interested in. We’ve decided we’ll start sharing these,Continue reading “Writing advice blog: character voice”