MOODY WRITING

When someone is reading a story they are assigning a value to what they are reading. This value can be anywhere from ‘ I have absolutely ...

When writing a story, using the senses to make scenes more vivid and visceral is simple and obvious advice. You want the reader to feel...

Chapter One is a series of posts where I take apart the first chapter of a successful book to see what makes it work, how the author h...

Dialogue is a key part of any story and it’s usually what readers find most engrossing. They might skim long descriptions, but when they ...

Melodrama makes people think of bad soap operas. In fact, melodrama is about emphasising the emotional aspect of a story, but when you ...

When writing a story you may find that the good guy has access to a limited range of emotions compared to the bad guy. Basic emotions...

Most characters have a profession—doctor, cop, assistant in a cupcake store—and in the course of doing their job they will slip int...

Making sure readers actually care what happens to your main character is integral to any story. You can’t just take it for granted ...

The good thing about clichés is that they impart information quickly and reliably. If someone says it’s raining cats and dogs, you kn...

Small talk is boring. Characters who waffle on about the weather and the dream they had last night and their favourite toy when they ...