Melanie Bell

Tag: writing tips

  • What the London Festival of Writing Was Like

    What the London Festival of Writing Was Like

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    I’m back from another busy weekend, in London this time. It was my first time attending an event from Jericho Writers, which offers writing conferences and courses in the UK. I went to the weekend-long London Festival of Writing. If you’ve been to a conference, you know a bit of what to expect: talks, buffet…

  • Keeping It Simple for NaNoWriMo

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    One of my writers’ groups had a recent discussion about how easy it is to make a novel too complicated. This is a challenge I encounter a lot.  I love worldbuilding and complex ideas. When I attended Julie Cohen’s writing retreat in France, she called me out for it: “Keep it simple, stupid!” I need…

  • Should I Write a Short Story or a Novel?

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    If you write both long and short fiction, you’ve probably experienced differences between these two lengths of storytelling. As I’ve worked on two books, each focused on fiction of a different length, I’ve been thinking about the contracts between these forms and how to choose the best length for a given project.  I had a…

  • So You Want to Write in Lockdown?

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    How are you all doing? Here in London, we’re well into lockdown #3. Remember lockdown hobbies, and the optimism with which some people took up making homemade sourdough bread and learning new languages? If you’re like me, enthusiasm for indoor activities has waned a bit by now.    Writing is one of the things keeping me…

  • What to Do When Your Brain Just Won’t Write

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    According to coach and author Alexis Rockley, the lack of focus and creative blocks that many of us are experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic stem from the uncertainty arising from this situation. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, and our brains are overwhelmed. In this and other stressful situations, it can be hard…

  • The Bestseller Experiment: Can You Write a Bestselling Book in a Year?

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    For two years, I’ve wanted to go to London Book Fair. This year I was finally going to get there, accompanying colleagues to look after ICE Publishing’s stand, network, and learn. Then, as you can probably guess, the fair was cancelled due to the coronavirus. The sound reason did not dim my disappointment. Despite the cancellation, though, I got one good thing out…

  • The Reluctant Author’s Guide to Revisions

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    So, you’ve finished the first draft you were writing. Congratulations! It takes a lot of effort and discipline to get this far. Take time to acknowledge the work you put in, celebrate its completion, and take a break in order to give yourself some distance from the work. Maybe you’ve done this. Maybe that break…

  • How to Write What You Don’t Know

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    “Write what you know.” It’s one of the oldest truisms of creative writing. Life experience offers a wealth of material and ideas. Once you’ve experienced an aspect of life for yourself, it’s easier to depict it accurately, because you know what you’re talking about. However, there are heaps of books out there about aliens and…

  • SFF Book Recommendations and Aristotle’s Building Blocks of Writing

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    Writing is a holistic activity, but when it comes to honing our craft, it’s useful to break it down into parts. The June 30 episode of Writing Excuses, a podcast about the craft of writing that focuses primarily on fantasy and science fiction (SFF), introduced Aristotle’s elements of tragedy. These six aspects of writing apply…

  • Lessons on Writing Relationships… from Romance Novels

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    Feedback on the first draft of a fiction manuscript I’ve been working on for a while, while positive in other aspects, suggested that the characters’ relationships lacked a certain spark. So, while working on the second draft, I turned to a genre that models relationship writing: romance. Romance writing is a realm where constraint fuels…