Everyone has to think twice about this one! — Recently I have edited several manuscripts in which the writer has got the whole lay/lie thing wrong every time. I’m not surprised. When I’m writing, I have to stop and think it through myself, and I’m supposed to know this stuff! Part of the problem is we get confused between…

You’re writing about your own heart and it’s precious — Years ago, I heard about a fiction writing workshop where the teacher started with a memoir piece. Strange, I thought, how does that help? Then I discovered the “memoir” topic was to write about the worst thing that ever happened to you when you were a child. For some of…

Collect the favorite recipes that have meaning for your family — Public holidays are a great time for families to get together — and eat! Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably the favorites, with family members of all ages gathering to share a special meal. And how many of your family have dishes they are famous for? It seems like everyone has…

Plot isn’t enough for most readers today — As an editor, I work on all kinds of novels — crime, thriller, romance, YA, fantasy, even memoirs. I see lots of common weaknesses, some of which I have written about before, but the one that is going to lose you readers is this. Your main character is too distant. …

Sidetracks are interesting to you, but rarely to the reader — There’s a fine line between subplots and sidetracks. But not that fine that you can’t work out which is which. Sidetracks tend to be the domain of the pantser writer. You write and write and wander off down potentially interesting paths — after all, until you write the whole novel…

Strong writing leads to greater reader immersion — We all have little “tics” in our writing. Words we overuse. Nod. Smile. Stomach churning. Telling where you should be showing. But there are more insidious words and phrases that you might not even realise you use, or overuse. However, readers notice them. And they become like annoying tics that…

The places we go to find ourselves inside the books we’ve read! — A few years ago, I travelled with a friend whose whole purpose of being in southern England was to visit Chawton, the village where Jane Austen lived for a good part of her life. Together, we wandered through her large cottage and garden, marveled at the tiny table where she…

A weather climate rain humidity poem — The whole city waits. We know how it works. Hot, hotter, hottest. We endure. Turn on the air con. Watch the news and updates for bushfire alerts, just in case. Then the weather girl in this week’s fashion disaster tells us when the cool change is coming. Yeah … We…