Helping authors to make their stories shine … Editing Services for fiction and memoir
Eleni Hale isn’t one to shy away from a difficult topic. Her first novel, Stone Girl, tells the story of what can happen when adolescents are abandoned by protection services, ostracised by society and have to fend for themselves. Continue reading Eleni Hale – Novelist
Update: Stone Circle is a First Place Category winner in the Chaucer Awards for 2018! Kate Murdoch, an accomplished painter, exhibited for fourteen years, was a finalist in prize shows and was represented by a gallery. She changed paths after a character appeared to her in a dream and compelled her to tell his story. … Continue reading Kate Murdoch on Writing Historical Fiction
Have you ever wanted to write, but struggled to find the perfect time and place? Does the following sound familiar? I can’t start work until I have the right __________ (fill in the blank: study space, computer, head space, time, other). Yes, it’s hard to fit creativity into our busy schedules. Wouldn’t it be wonderful … Continue reading The Perfect Time to Write
JJ Campbell’s fascinating background includes jobs as diverse as hypnotherapist to video producer. Her first published novel, Reclaimed, is book one of the paranormal trilogy, The Immortal Trinity. The story of how it came about is an inspiring tale of women helping women. What did you want to be when you grew up? I was a … Continue reading How JJ Campbell Reclaimed Her Voice
Today marks a year since I posted my first blog, so it’s time to review progress. In my first year, I wrote 42 posts and nearly 30,000 words. Here are some highlights from The Winding Narrative: I celebrated a win in my writing journey when I signed with Michael Cybulski of NAC, see Five Reasons to … Continue reading The Winding Narrative Turns One
This week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kate Forster, best-selling novelist (women’s fiction and young adult romance) and founder of The Ladybirds—Women Who Write Helping Other Women Who Write, a support network for female writers on Facebook, now over 1,500 members strong. Kate charmed me with her honesty, grounded approach and a genuine … Continue reading Kate Forster, Novelist and Founder of Ladybirds
This post is for my long-suffering non-writer friends who have endured my detailed explanations about the book publishing process. It is also for my writer friends who want to show their circle why they still haven’t published their book or why it took so long to get there. In brief, the process is: write and … Continue reading The Book Publishing Flowchart
It’s important to understand the difference between an agent and a publisher. The publisher edits, produces and distributes the book. An agent finds a publisher and manages the author’s career. Some authors deal directly with their publisher (more common in Australia than the USA or UK), but many prefer to have a middleman. Continue reading Five Reasons to Sign With a Literary Agent
One of the reasons I started a blog was that the protagonist in my novel was a blogger, so I needed first-hand experience. Eight months in, what have I learnt? Did I describe her experience accurately? What will I change as a result? Followers. I made my fictional blogger an overnight sensation, but in real … Continue reading Real Versus Fictional Blogs
I’m a writer. I love words. But before I was a writer, I was an engineer, so I also love numbers. The typical word count for a novel is around 80,000. Non-novelists often baulk at the idea of writing that many words, and no question, it’s a mammoth task. To make it more manageable, I … Continue reading Engineering the Story—How to Write a Novel in 80 Days
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