Techniques – Page 2 – Bounds Green Book Writers

Historical fiction: Die, Die, Die

Continuing our historical fiction theme, in this week’s instalment, an ancient Briton fights the Roman invaders.

Historical fiction: The Jews’ Garden

Continuing our theme of historical fiction, we’ve been trying our hands at writing our own. First up, Elaine Graham-Leigh on young love in a time of medieval antisemitism.

Historical fiction: Bringing the past to life, seeing the world through your protagonist’s eyes

‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ So said Lao Tzu 1450 years ago, and the experience of every novelist since then has illustrated it.

Examples of flash fiction continued

Elaine Graham-Leigh channels an Anglo-Saxon woman remembering a local battle.

Examples of flash fiction

Susie Helme imagines a victim of slavery getting her own back.

Writing advice blog: compelling flash fiction

Susie Helme Flash fiction is a genre of fiction which is short and quick. It is defined as a very short story of under 500 words (or whatever wordcount is specified) which encapsulates an entire story. It is not just a scene, but rather is structured, with a beginning, middle and end, and it hasContinue reading “Writing advice blog: compelling flash fiction”

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 suspense

Susie Helme The art of writing suspense is all about building the reader’s expectation and then at some later point, either hitting them with it with a bang, or twisting it and hitting them with something they weren’t expecting. This can stimulate a pleasurable dopamine rush, so that your readers enjoy reading your novel. MysteriesContinue reading “Writing advice blog: Writing suspense”

Writing advice blog: One hundred wonderful metaphors

Susie Helme Susie shares her favourite metaphors from literature and film. Which will inspire you to craft some wonderful metaphors of your own? shuddered as if something multi-legged and primal had stalked across his spine[1] a man of low birth whom Providence has thrown like dice[2] feels the soft, warm parts of herself being removedContinue reading “Writing advice blog: One hundred wonderful metaphors”