The importance of theme
There’s one major thing that’s stopping a lot of stories, books and scripts from truly living up to their potential, and that’s a lack of understanding or emphasis on theme. Theme is so important but it often gets forgotten in favour of things like plot and character. And yes, without plot and character, you have…
What ‘Show Don’t Tell’ Actually Means
You’ve probably heard the common writing rule ‘show don’t tell’… but what does it actually mean? Let me break it down, because understanding and following this rule of thumb can be the difference between writing that is good, and writing that is GREAT. I’ll demonstrate what I mean by answering this question in two different…
How to Write the Perfect First Sentence
Our story’s first sentence is very important, because this is what grabs our reader’s attention. It also signposts what kind of writer we are, and what kind of story we will be telling. So how on earth do we get this first sentence right? What a first sentence can’t be is boring or plain. It…
The Secret to Writing Every Day
If you want to develop as a writer, the best way to do this is to write as much as possible. Ideally, you should write every day. Every day may seem like a lot (it did to me when I was first starting out!) but writing every day is not only possible, it’s easily achievable,…
A Space to Write 