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Showing posts from December, 2014

What Are Your New Year Resolutions for Writing?

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The brand new year of 2015 will soon be upon us, hopefully full of good fortune and health. It's also  good time to set yourself some writing targets for the year ahead, this will help you stay motivated and give you something to strive for. Of course we all wish to be a bestselling author, but no one is born that way. We all have to start off at the beginning which means starting off with realistic goals that should be achievable with hard work and dedication. Remember you should start with small goals and then if you achieve them early on, you can always set yourself some more. To help you on your way, make sure your resolutions are SMART S PECIFIC - Be clear on what your goals are M EASUREABLE - Ensure that you can quantitatively measure your progress A TTAINABLE - Start small with goals you're confident you can achieve R EALISTIC -  Pick goals that are within your reach T IME-RELATED - Give yourself a reasonable time limit. If you fancy it you could also se

How Can Symbolism Advance Your Writing?

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What is Symbolism in fiction? Symbolism simply means the using of symbols to demonstrates an idea or concept that is not easily communicated with just words. Symbols used can be anything from, literally symbols, objects, a particular word, colour or phrase, such as a cliche. It is a tool by which the writer can subtly suggest what may happen next without giving it away. For example describing a full moon in your story, can subconsciously give off the impression that something out of the ordinary is about to happen. This is because a full moon is associated with many occult creatures such as werewolves and it is supposed to be a magical time in the moon's cycle. Not to mention the effect of setting your story at night. Interestingly colours can also be used to represent a character or concept. Traditionally black represents evil and white represents purity whilst the use of multi-colours represents happiness. Symbolism can add significant depth to fiction by transformin

A Sprinkling of Good Fortune

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Last Friday I received an email that every aspiring writer hopes for - one of my short stories had been accepted by a magazine. I was thrilled and couldn't believe it that someone out there likes my work. This is my first short story to be published and I hope it's not the last. You can read my first published story in Sanitarium Magazine, issue 28, which is out now. You can buy a copy here For those who haven't heard of Sanitarium before it is a monthly magazine that specialises in horror fiction, and also publishes articles and interviews. It's a great little read and well worth checking out. www.sanitariummagazine.com

Should You Research Short Fiction Markets Before You Submit Short Stories?

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So if you're reading this you've probably decided to take the plunge and have a go at submitting your short stories for publications in magazines, anthologies and competitions, and why not? It's the greatest feeling when finally one of your stories gets accepted, especially when you get to see it in print. Once you start looking for magazines in your genre you'll realise there's a multitude of magazines out there to submit your work to. Fortunately unlike submitting stories into competitions there's no entry fee. Sounds easy right? But how can you know which magazines are more likely to accept your work. Once you've sent off your submission you may be faced with a lengthy wait of six months. That's six months of wondering whether they've even received your work, of wondering whether they like it. It's six months of not being able to enter it in anything until you hear back. Yes, it can be a long process. I like to think that submitting sto

What's an Antagonist?

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The antagonist is the character that plays a big part in the life of the protagonist. In case you're not sure the protagonist is what's known as the main character in any novel short story etc. The plot will evolve around them and they're usually the hero of the story that the reader most strongly identifies with. How does the antagonist relate to the protagonist? Therefore the antagonist is the character that in some way has conflict with the protagonist. The antagonist will make life difficult for the protagonist, maybe on purpose or by accident. The antagonist is often referred to as the baddie but an antagonist is not exclusively the baddie, they just have to oppose the protagonist in some way. Though the antagonist does not have to be a single character, they can also be a group of characters such as an evil force, or race of people in conflict with the protagonist. How important is an antagonist to a story? All stories need both a protagonist and it&#

Most Overused Fantasy Cliches to Avoid

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If you're new to writing short stories in speculative fiction and want your work to be published bear in mind that most agents, editors and slush pile readers are looking for ORIGINAL fiction and ideas. So although your head might be brimming with great plots and ideas, are they as original as you think they are? If sometimes a whole story or an idea comes to your head in the blink of an eye it may be because it is a cliché that has been written many times before. You may have read it before without realising. In this post we're going to take a look at the top overused fantasy clichés that everyone is bored of. So if you want to write stories that may get published or win in competitions, it's best to avoid these. Top Fantasy clichés to avoid   The protagonist or hero is an orphan This is a classic technique used to make the reader sympathise with the character and make them more likeable, everyone loves an under-dog. This is also a convenient way of buil

Deathless by Catherynne.M.Valente

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Who is Catherynne.M.Valente? Catherynne M Valente is a lesser known author that has been receiving a lot of attention lately and I'm always on the look out for discovering new favourite authors.  For some reason I thought Catherynne M Valente would be an older woman of about sixty due to her impressive array of published fiction but when I checked out her website I was shocked to see how young she was. Alongside her novels she has published various works of poetry and her short stories have been published in the likes of Lamplight Magazine which are featured on the Magazines page, if you're interested in submitting work to them. The titles of her other works sound really intriuging such as; The Habitation of the Blessed This Is My Letter to the World The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making Yume No Hon: The book of Dreams Palimpsest The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden and In the Cities of Coin and Spice Under in the Mere The

Pushing my imagination to its limits.

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I've decided to try something new to try and help with my creative writing. Writing on demand. One of my favourite websites,  fantasyfaction  who run a monthly themed writing competition which is free to enter. By the way if you're not familiar with this website, it's well worth a look. Its the perfect site if you're a fantasy lover and the site features loads of book reviews, news articles as well as really handy in depth articles on writing in the fantasy genre. I'm quite blessed in the sense that I often pick up inspiration for new stories from my everyday life, but I thought it might be a good idea to try and write a short story specifically for a themed competition. Who knows I might win (unlikely) but it will be good fun and will only increase my output of work. This month's theme is religion and to be honest I don't know how to approach it. I'm not a religious person and it's not a subject that dominates my writing, but hey its

How to create conflict?

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What is conflict? Conflict is an essential ingredient to any plot regardless of genre. It's easier to look at conflict in relation to the other basic ingredients for a foundation plot line. What are the utmost basic plot requirements? A plot needs,at least two characters, one should be a protagonist and the other the antagonist.  Why?  Because almost every problem that affects us is caused by someone else. How many times have you felt the urge to disappear off to a desert island and get away from everything and everyone.  Conflict between two characters will be something that every reader will instantly identify with. Who hasn't gone through life without having a single argument or falling out with someone else? Should conflict be resolved? Absolutely, even if you are writing a series of novels. For example in the Harry Potter series, poor Harry Potter experiences a lot of conflicts which he resolves in each book. However  the overri

Why causality is important to a plot?

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What is causality? In fiction causality is a chain reaction that occurs between events in your plot. It makes one event cause another. A example of causality is when a character sets out to seek revenge against someone that has done them wrong. If this character had not been wronged they would have no need to seek revenge. What happens when causality is omitted from a plot? If there is no causality in your plot then your story is simply a stream of unrelated events that occur one after the other.  An example of this is: A man walks down a street, he sees a cat, there is a car crash, he goes home, the end. Without causality in a plot it is merely a stream of consciousness. There will be no point to the plot. Your characters do not grow and learn. There are no truths realised, and no change has occurred. What's the purpose of a plot? Remember a plot is a complete cycle. In very rough terms there should be a beginning, a middle and an e

What's the difference between Mystery and Suspense?

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In a previous post we've discussed how to create a gripping story by raising questions. Now we will go further into this and explore the two main types of questions that should be raised in your story. How to create Mystery and Suspense? Mystery and Suspense can be created by the raising of questions in your work. There should be at least one really big question included at the very beginning which will need to be answered. This is what will keep your reader motivated to read on until the end. When decided to choose what questions you will raise, it is very important to realise that you must be able to answer them in a way that will leave your reader satisfied. If you don't they will feel cheated. What is mystery? Mystery is defined by an event, occurrence or phenomenon that is impossible to explain or understand. In fiction, the genres that are based on mystery are thrillers, ghost stories,detective stories, murder mysteries, whodunnits.

How to Write a Gripping Story?

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How to keep your readers attention? What's the magic behind a book or short story that is completely impossible to put down? Every once in a while we all come across one that will have you staying up all night just so you can know what happens at the end. How do these authors do it? How do they keep you reading, even against your will? The answer is simple but the mechanism is harder to put in motion. To keep your readers entertained in your book you need to raise a very big question at the beginning that will motivate your reader to continue past the first page of your story. How to raise questions in your story? If your killer question is good enough people will read until the end to find the answer. This will keep their attention sustained throughout your story and they will happily plough through your book to get to the end. How to raise questions when writing a novel? If you're writing a novel, you will need to raise your killer question in the

What's a run on sentence?

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A run-on sentence consists of two sentences that should have been separated with a punctuation mark. How to avoid a run on sentence? The mermaid was very wet she had been swimming for hours in an endless ocean of deep blue water. This in incorrect. Instead you could write The mermaid was very wet. S he had been swimming for hours in an endless ocean of deep blue water. Or The mermaid was very wet, as s he had been swimming for hours in an endless ocean of deep blue water. Or even The mermaid was very wet; s he had been swimming for hours in an endless ocean of deep blue water. A run-on sentence is grammatically incorrect Run-on sentences will make your work look clumsy and rambling. So make sure you proofread for these mistakes. For more handy tips on improving your grammar and punctuation click here to view many more articles.

How to avoid pleonasm in your writing?

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What's pleonasm? Despite its name this is actually a fairly simple concept. Pleonasm simply refers to the use of unnecessary or redundant words in a sentence. Avoiding pleonasm in your work will make it flow better and be more concise. The wizard himself had cast the spell. In this sentence the word himself is unnecessary. The ogre with his very own eyes had seen the pretty princess approaching. You can check for these by proofreading your work. For more handy hints on how to improve your writing, grammar and punctuation click here to be taken to homepage.

How long should a paragraph be?

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What's the perfect length of a paragraph? This can be a hard thing to get right. If they're too long you could risk discouraging people from reading your work and if they're too short it could imply your work is of a low quality and not properly thought out. Unfortunately there's no set length on how long a paragraph must be, but there are guidelines. What is the purpose of a paragraph? The point of a paragraph in both fiction and non-fiction is to introduce a single idea or point. The first sentence of a paragraph should introduce the idea or point, the following sentences in that paragraph should explain or discuss the point or idea. This helps to keep your work concise and to the point. When you introduce another point or idea you then start off with a new paragraph. To view more articles on improving your writing, grammar and punctuation click here

The secrets to writing great horror

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How to write in the horror genre?  Horror is a genre that can be hard to get right, but when it's done well it has fantastic results. The bottom line is people love to be scared, and what better way than through a safe medium such as reading or watching a scary movie? How can horror scare readers? What is it that people are most afraid of? What keeps them awake at night and invades their dreams churning them into nightmares? People are all afraid of the unknown. We fear what we can't understand. Fear touches us all on a daily basis. What's that strange noise coming from downstairs in the middle of the night? What's going to happen to me once I die? What will happen if I don't pay my bills on time? Keep this in mind when you write. If you tell your readers what is happening in your story, you will put their minds at rest. Never do this is, your writing horror. Keep them in the dark, quite literally, and keep them scared. The golden rule of writing: