Archive for the 'Writing Hints' Category

People starting out in the writing life sometimes ask this question.
Where do ideas come from?
I seem to have no trouble coming up with ideas for writing. They just seem to be everywhere. I usually have far too many story ideas to use myself - that’s why I often feature short story starters here on my […]

Last week one of my lecturers challenged the group with a fascinating warm-up writing activity.

The challenge: we had to write a paragraph without using the letter “e”.
Now e happens to be the most used letter of the alphabet in English. Mmm… we all rose to the challenge and started scribbling. Below is what I came […]

As I crossed the playground my mind was preoccupied by what was ahead of me. I was lost in thought about the lesson I was about to teach to my class. I was trying to remember the activities I had planned. My head exploded. Well - that’s what it felt and sounded like. The pain […]

“An endless fascination for others is a prerequisite to being a novelist - despite the common view of novelists as egocentric and self-absorbed. The self-absorption comes when you are at your desk writing. The rest of the time, you need to be pathologically curious.” from A Novel in a Year by Louise Doughty.
I like that.
“Pathologically […]

“A lady’s imagination is very rapid: it jumps from admiration to love. From love to matrimony. It a moment.” Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin.
I am writing this post in my daughter’s office. She is a avid Jane Austin devotee. The above quote she has on a bookmark pinned to her notice board in front […]