S.J.Budd

My heart has been struck again with the birth of my second child, a beautiful baby girl. I had assumed that my writing would be forgotten and pushed to the side for a couple of months whilst I focused on motherhood. But I'd forgotten that although new born babies sleep up to 18 hours a day, the same cannot be said for their mothers and so I now find myself with endless night hours that need to be filled. As you may have guessed my baby is nocturnal! I may have more time but unfortunately my poor brain is in no state to write quality stories when it only gets two hours of sleep a night. Of course this is a small price to pay for having my daughter. So I've decided to use this time to revisit some of my old stories that have yet to be published, and I'm going to be really drastic in stripping them down and rewriting them. I have no idea whether this will improve them or destroy them. However experts say the more we write the better we get, therefore my older stories...

I've heard loads of great stuff about this new and upcoming author N.K.Jemisin, and it's a refreshing change to see a fantasy novel that is multi cultural. The main character, Yeine Darr, is mixed race which is not something you see much of in the fantasy genre, and I also like to read novels centred around a strong female character. I decided to give this book a read as I love being absorbed into different worlds and this book looked highly original and inventive. The book has a really modern feel, the author has been really clever in mixing modern day issues into a fantasy novel. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is centred around a young girl, half barbarian, half Amareri who after the sudden mysterious death of her mother finds herself named as an heir to the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. This puts her in grave danger and her only friends are a strange bunch of enslaved gods who are even more dangerous than her foes. The story is very original, it's very intelligent ...

If you want your story to impress and more importantly for someone to read it until the end, you'll need to create a killer hook. Unfortunately your story may be amazing but if a reader, competition judge or fiction editor doesn't feel gripped by your story within the first paragraph, there's a very good chance they will give up there. So, what's a killer hook, and where do you place it in your story? A killer hook is an essential question which is raised in a story, a question so enticing that a reader will want to read your story from beginning to end without pausing for breath. Be warned you must raise a brilliant question and answer it in a way that will leave your reader satisfied and entertained. The plot of your story will be based your killer question so make sure it is relevant and able to sustain the whole story. Here's an example from an excellent book, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. "Ravens! Always the ravens. They settled on the g...

In the last couple of months, I've done and learnt so much. I've even had one of my short stories published, that piece of good fortune is still to settle in! I can't believe that happened. To be honest I'm still convinced it's a fluke and my opinion is unlikely to change unless I get a second story published. But now I feel like I've ran out of steam, I have an incredibly busy schedule and I feel like the current stories I'm coming up with have lost their sparkle. Usually when I write one I think it's the best thing I've ever done but now I find them just OK. Is this the beginning of the dreaded writers block? I still have loads of ideas and I'm writing more than ever, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm determined to keep writing and working on my skills but I'm going to pursue other goals alongside them. So I've decided to take some time out and recharge my creative batteries, and what better way than to delve into on...

This is such a  hard thing to do, and I find myself thinking about this a lot. On one hand I have a lot of really great people in my life who I know if I asked them to read some of work and critique it they'd only come back with praise. Whilst the prospect of only gaining praise for my writing is a very happy one, it's not always useful. I also feel that if I joined a writers group to get feedback, they may be too harsh, and/ or I would be too easily hurt by any constructive feedback. There's always the suspicion someone might copy one of my stories so I decided this route was also not for me. That leaves me with the very hard task of having to critique my own work which if I'm being completely honest is something I am very far from mastering. It's very hard to critique something which you have become so closely involved with. In fact I believe that no one can ever really critique their own work which is exactly why successful authors always work with an editor ...

One of the great things about creative writing is that there are a huge variety of telling them, but there are only four different viewpoints, something I like to think of as the voice of the story. Let's take a looks at what these different viewpoints are, and how some are more suited to different types of stories. So, what's a viewpoint? In simple terms it's the point of view from which the story is told. A viewpoint can be told exclusively through the voice of one character, multiple  characters, or through an omnipresent view.  What are the four different viewpoints of storytelling? 1. First person viewpoint Such as I. This is where the narrative comes from one character only, usually always the protagonist, A.K.A the main character. A personal diary is always written in the first person viewpoint. Advantages of a first person viewpoint A first person viewpoint offers the reader a greater sense of intimacy with the main character, which is vi...

As an aspiring writer its easy to think that you're going nowhere but you may surprise yourself with how much you have achieved. January is traditionally the time for self evaluation and improvement so I thought I'd apply it to my writing. Back in November I set myself three goals and amazingly I have achieved all three, but not only that I'd learnt a lot on the way. Have a think yourself, you'll be amazed with how much you have learnt about your craft. In the last three months  I have learnt how to;  Professionally present my work when submitting to magazines Write my own author's bio How to find magazines to submit to Learnt to deal with rejection :( Write with a specific theme in mind Establishing a regular writing routine It's important  to judge your  work and progress by what you have achieved, not by what you haven't achieved. Never give up, never give in.