Category: Creative Writing

adjectives, adverbs, Creative Writing, grammar, imaginative writing

Three Top Tips For Using Language

Christina Hollis
By Antonio Litterio

1. Early years teachers spend ages teaching us to think in terms of describing things when we write.  They’re mad keen on adjectives and adverbs (don’t switch off, bluffers’ guide follows). The more flowery your work, the more they like it. That’s called “imaginative writing” when you’re young. When you’re an adult, it’s called “purple prose”. That’s frowned on. The occasional artistic flourish enriches your work, but going overboard too often makes it sickly.

2. Adjectives identify, define or describe something. They tell your reader how something looks, sounds, tastes, acts or feels. When you say “a biting wind” or “an exhausted teacher”, you’re using adjectives. They’re great for setting a scene, but  don’t overdo them. Try and keep description to a minimum  so you don’t slow your story down.

3. Adverbs are usually adjectives with an –ly ending. They describe how something is being done.  If the way a performance turned out is vital to your plot, then “She drove the car insanely” is fine. What you mustn’t do with adverbs is tell your reader something they can work out for themselves. That’s why you should remove the adverbs from sentences such as “she shouted loudly” or “he murmured softly”, because you can’t shout or murmur in any other way.

Creative Writing, readership, target audience, Top Tips

Three Top Tips To Focus Your Writing

Christina Hollis
By Antonio Litterio

  1. If you want to be published, never lose sight of your readership. Write in a way that’ll engage your audience. Know who you’re aiming for. A fourteen-year old boy won’t be reading the same thing as his middle-aged grandmother. Even if he was, the language would need to be different. But whatever you write, pour your heart and soul into it. Believe in your work, and so will your readers.
  2. Once you’ve decided who your audience will be, concentrate your literary firepower.  Direct it straight toward your reader, as though you were telling them a story, face-to-face. Make sure you put your own writing pleasure before profit. If you can sit back after finishing a piece and say “I really enjoyed doing that!” you’ll never need to sell a word – unless the bailiffs are hammering at your door. 
  3. Never pad out your writing with pointless description or backstory.  If you’ve written a trilogy but two-thirds of it is info-dump, distill your work into a single title instead.  It’s not lowering your sights, it’s improving your work and upping your game. Remember: make every word a wanted word – but never delete anything. Catalogue it, and save in a way you can easily find it again. You never know when that extract or nugget of research will come in handy.
If you’ve enjoyed these tips, visit my website at christinahollis.com to find out more.
Creative Writing, dialogue, Dirty Draft, inspiration

Three Top Tips For Moving Your Writing On…

Christina Hollis

By Antonio Litterio

1. DRIVE THAT DRY: When you’ve had a run of successful writing sessions,  it comes as a shock when you hit a dry patch.  Don’t panic.  The act of writing is like holding handfuls of sand: the harder you try, the more effort you put in, the closer to impossible it gets.  The first blank sheet, or coming back after a break, is always tough. Forget what you planned to write. Instead, plunge straight in to writing your most exciting scene. It doesn’t matter if it’s out of context, just get something down on paper. This works on the sink or swim principle. It may just take a prod to make the words start flowing again. If that doesn’t work, there’s a point when sitting and suffering is pointless. Visit your own particular well of inspiration, even if it’s only snatching a nap or taking a walk. Chill out. Stop and smell the flowers. Sometimes you achieve more by trying less. 


2. PLAY FAST AND DIRTY:    When you’re first grabbed by an idea, don’t get bogged down in detail. As long as you’ve done the groundwork on your characters and conflicts, try this. Charge straight through your story, writing only the dialogue. Scribble away as fast as you can, getting down on paper or screen all the juiciest exchanges. Start the beginning, and work right through to the end. You’re not looking to write the whole novel at this stage. You’ll probably change a million things about it before you’re satisfied with your final draft, but that’s in the future. What you want at this stage is a big boost to your self-esteem. The explosion of your idea into visible words will power you on to the finish.

3. FINE TUNE THE FUTURE: Your first, “dirty” draft captures all the interpersonal, edge of the seat stuff – the interplay of character and conflicts that first got your idea up and running. If you’ve invested in plenty of thinking time and done your research, your second draft should be pure pleasure. Go back over your work word by word, and line by line. Use your character sketches to make sure everyone is doing and saying the things they should – or at least, in the way they should. Season your writing with a dash description, and a lot of character development. Let your fictional people drive their story on.  Crank up the conflict. Make them laugh and cry, and you’ll make your completed story a guaranteed page turner. 

For more writing tips, visit my website by clicking here. You can sign up for my occasional newsletter by mailing me at christinahollis@hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk, putting “NEWSLETTER” in the subject line. 
Beekeeping, Cakes, Chuck Wendig, Creative Writing, swarms, Terrible Minds Blog

Food, Men and The Weekend…

Christina Hollis
…complete with travelling tins!

Last week, my husband celebrated a significant anniversary as a systems analyst. Supplying cakes at times like that is a tradition in his office, so I grabbed my First Edition of Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cakes and started baking. Her recipes are foolproof, and you can see three variations on her theme of traybakes in the photo: chocolate, lemon, and orange-and-sultana.

I also made Victoria sponge, which is the perfect quick tea-time treat. Here’s the recipe –

INGREDIENTS:

The weight of four eggs in caster sugar, self-raising flour and soft margarine (I use the organic butter/sunflower oil spread made by Pure)

1. Cream the margarine and sugar with a food mixer until it’s light and fluffy.
2. Break the eggs into a jug, beat them with a fork then incorporate them into the margarine and sugar mixture a little at a time, whisking hard after every addition.
3. Sift in the flour, and fold it in gently. Divide the mixture between two greased and lined 8″ (20 cm) sandwich tins.
4.  Bake in the oven at 180 degrees c, 160 degrees fan, 350 degrees F, Gas Mark 4 for about 25 minutes or until the cakes are light brown and spring back to the touch.
5. Allow them to cool on a wire rack, then sandwich them together with raspberry jam. Delicious!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Western_Honey_Bees_and_Honeycomb_Closeup.JPG
By Healthnutlady

I must admit I balked when I was introduced to the blogs of Chuck Wendig (via writer Lynne Connolly) but the man talks a lot of sense about the art, and sheer graft, of writing. Don’t try reading his blogs at work as the language is ripe, but check out his instructive entries. Five Common Problems I See In Your Stories and The Full Time Writer are good starting points.

This weekend I’ll be checking my bees, and hoping they don’t swarm. On the other hand, I’m all ready and waiting to capture anybody else’s swarms that happen to come my way!

What are you doing this weekend? Have you got any writing planned?

Creative Writing, Goodreads, literary agents, Nas Dean, RNA, Top Tips, Twitter, Weight of The Crown

Creative Writing: The Selling Business…

Christina Hollis
By Antonio Litterio

Once you’ve finished writing your book, it feels like the hard work’s over. Then you discover it’s only just beginning. Unless you’ve got a literary agent, you’ll have to come out from behind your keyboard and start selling–yourself, as well as your books. This is the toughest part for many authors. Most of us like to spend every spare moment shut away in our own little worlds. The bright lights of publicity are dazzling, but here are some great ways to cope:

1. Buddy Up: To be an author, you only need to put words down on a page, or up on a screen. Telling a story needs an audience. Actually selling a book needs readers willing to hand over good money. Start gently, with your friends and family. If they like your work, they shouldn’t take much persuading to set up a daisy-chain of sales by recommending your book to their friends. News spreads like ripples in a pond, on the Six Degrees of Separation principle. Make friends with your local librarian (see the next point!) as they’re often keen to give publicity to local writers. Join groups such as the  Romantic Novelists’ Association, whose members are keen readers as well as writers. They’re a fund of useful advice when it comes to book-selling opportunities. Go online where the readers are, too, on sites such as Goodreads. Twitter‘s a great way of networking but remember, the most important thing is actually to build friendships and find out what readers like, rather than go all-out to sell. The internet lacks the subtlety of face-to-face contact. Make sure you only include a sales pitch once in every dozen tweets or so. Make contacts, have fun, and see any effect on sales as a bonus.

2. Go Equipped: Never leave home without something you can hand out to people you meet. A picture tells a thousand  words, so get illustrated! If you don’t have a good local printer, you can pick up some great stuff online; bookmarks, flyers with your book’s cover on one side and a teasing quote on the other, and business cards. Make sure your contact details are on everything. If your book’s available in hardback or paperback form, carry a couple of autographed copies, too. Libraries are aways glad of donated books, and you can give them some bookmarks at the same time. It all helps to get your name recognised, and that’ll help widen the audience for your work.

3. Contract Out: This is where literary agents and virtual assistants can really save you time and stress. Ok, you have to pay for their time and expertise, but they spend their working days honing their specific skills. Wouldn’t you like to do the same with your craft? Employing someone to do all your non-writing work gives you more time to be creative. You can read more about the pros and cons of literary agents here. I did a blog tour with Nas Dean for The Weight of The Crown, and it was an easy, fun way to connect with readers. While Nas did all the organisation and paperwork, I dropped in at every blog to answer questions, and reply to comments from readers. It was great–the dates, scheduling, formats, information spreadsheets and prize draw admin was handled by Nas, while I spent all my time doing what I love: writing, and chatting online with readers.

For more writing tips, visit my website by clicking here. You can sign up for my occasional newsletter by mailing me at christinahollis@hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk, putting “NEWSLETTER” in the subject line.