Read widely outside your genre, they say.
It helps fuel ideas, keeping block at bay.
Have a dictionary, spelling to be fine.
If your writing is faulty, you can’t whine
When only form rejections head your way.


I read history (British), humorous novels (Wodehouse - there’s no way I’ll write like him so I indulge happily and adore his use of language), “entertainment” books (usually with links to radio shows like I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue).  I read some crime and thrillers.  Would like to read more fantasy short stories and more science fiction.  Like the Doctor Who hardback novels the BBC issue every so often.


There’s no such thing as a wasted idea.
If it fails somewhere, press on, have no fear.
Almost anything can be reworked and then
Sent out to an appropriate market when
Hopefully an acceptance is all you’ll hear


I often send out stories that didn’t get anywhere with the Writing Magazine and/or Writers’ News monthly competitions out to other outlets, including various writing festivals.  So far no joy there but it’s good to feel you’ve got work out there.  I look forward to the day when, hopefully, I might get one or two honourable mentions here, all stuff to add to the CV.  But the general sentiment expressed above is correct.  Your story may fail for “good” reasons (like grammar, spelling, didn’t follow rules and so on) or for “arbitrary” ones (story fine but didn’t meet that judge’s taste.  So therefore it is worth checking a tale to see it is okay and if so to get it out there again.  You might then find a judge who likes it).

First draft down, then do the rewrite.
Edit until you get it right.
Make sure there’s nothing to change
With all good, it won’t be strange
To let agents and publishers have first sight
Of your magnum opus, your so-cherished work
Send it off too soon, you could feel like a berk.

The above sums up most writing advice in one verse!


The writing life can be such fun
Proving to yourself it can be done
By you as you invent new tales
New worlds, showing when your hero fails
And succeeds in making villains run.

And this one reminds authors of what I think of as the first rule - enjoy writing!

For those writers fed up with critics:-

The trouble with being a writer
Is folk may think you’re a right blighter
You’re too clever by half
Or your tales make them barf
Ignore it, the burden gets lighter.


Wendy Cope and the Poet Laureate have nothing to worry about as far as their jobs are concerned!

To read is sublime
To write is divine
To edit and improve is bliss
To ever get published is an uphill slog.


Writing advice in a nutshell:-

They tell you write what you know
Don’t tell, get on and just show.
Get your characters right,
Make  your plot nice and tight.
Do that and be on Front Row!


Put like that it sounds so simple! The above sums up most of the advice I’ve heard over the years (bar the Front Row bit, which is a Radio 4 writing fan’s dream appearance slot!). 

But I found the following to be true too:-

Want to know more about your characters?  Drop them right in it and see what they’re really made of!  Stress brings out the best and worst of a character.

Fiction or not, hardback or not, books are great.
Some even take you forward and back in time.
A portable form of the Tardis, I state
Books are bigger on the inside in their prime
When the tale makes you leave this world for a while
Or cheers you up - making you laugh or just smile.



Books cover all known worlds and plenty of unknown ones too.  Their covers can be beautiful, colour printing for pictures amazing especially for nature and wildlife books.  I’m not against the Kindle or other devices but there should be room for “proper” books as well.   There is a romantic element to a decent quality hardbook or imaginatively titled paperback you don’t get with electronic readers.  Libraries should be seen as sources of knowledge given e-books aren’t designed to be permanent (which I don’t understand. Why shouldn’t they be everlasting?).  Books are a sign of culture.  E-readers simply aren’t the same.

Loving English
Having always loved English, I should’ve guessed I would’ve wanted to write at some stage but in many ways it’s not how you start as a writer that matters, but the fact you keep going.  You also need to keep reading - classics, in your genre, out of your genre, contemporary (you’ve got to know what else is out there).

Don’t rely on the computer’s spell checker. 
It doesn’t pick up on everything.  Mine has a bit of a thing about wanting to put in “his or her” instead of “their”!!!!  What has it got against “their”?!!!  Have a good dictionary to hand, always. 

Vary sentence and paragraph lengths to vary pace. 
One continual pace is a monotone, never interesting.  Watch out for favourite words and phrases creeping in - this is where a good edit comes to your aid!

Think about why you write the way you do.
Can you improve it?  Look for favourite phrases - they will creep into your writing unbidden!  Mine do!  Is your style appropriate for what you’re trying to produce?  For example light, easy sentences might  not be apt for a dark piece where I’d expect the words to be heavier, darker, to conjure up the right mood.  Wodehouse stuck to what he knew - humorous prose - for a good reason.  And his light style is perfect for it.  Likewise horror writers write in a very different style appropriate for their work.  So make sure your style matches. 

Are you getting into the heads of your characters well enough?  If someone asked you an unexpected question about any of them, could you, based on your knowledge of them, answer it? 

Is there enough going on in your story?  Do your characters change?  Do you show how and why?  That is the story after all!

Writing Games
I like writing games too.  Great exercises and who knows what stories they might lead to. 

Ernest Hemingway once came up with the perfect six words short story - “For sale, one pair of baby shoes”.  If that doesn’t get you wondering what happened, nothing will.  But in itself it hints of tragedy and of a short story, possibly a novel behind it.  So I’m going to have a go at coming up with mega-short stories like this.  If I’ve got this right, I think of it as subject, action and/or reaction.  To start with:-

He refused to cry again.
She told him about the cliff edge.
The explosion solved their problems.
The vampire stole the blood donor van.
_

I’ve always wanted to write. 
English was my best subject and I always loved what used to be called composition.  Being told to read a book was and still is my idea of bliss!  I didn’t start seriously until after my 30th birthday, not long after my son was born.  Whether it took two major milestones like that to get me going I can’t honestly say.  Maybe it was a sub-conscious thing.

I love where I live. 
That is in a simple bungalow with a garden leading down into a copse.  Out in the garden it is very easy to imagine being in another world.  The Trouble With Mother came together like pieces of a jigsaw.  I heard Eileen’s voice saying “I’m not going to kill it” and knew I had to write about her. 

One great thing about writing is the more you do, the better you will get. 
You will realize where the “boring” bits are and get better at cutting them out. You will get better at knowing when your first draft of a story looks too short or long (always best to go for the latter, it’s easier to cut than pad and padding shows).

There are markets for short stories.  On the web, magazines, publishers like Bridge House go for anthologies.  Keep your eyes open and invest in Writers and Artists Yearbook.  There is an online edition of that but I find it easier to have the book version to refer to.  And you can claim the cost of the book back against tax as a professional volume if you’re “in business as a writer”.

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Have an up to date Writers and Artists Yearbook to hand.
For the listings, for the fact they don’t include those that might charge for publishing (no mention of Pegasus Elliott Mackenzie!) and for addresses, editor names etc. 

Have subscription to Writers’ News/Writing Magazine.
For good advice on all writing issues, for competitions and news of markets, especially short story ones.  To learn something of what is going on in the industry (though for more details it would pay to subscribe to The Bookseller or as I do visit their website often).  There are other writing magazines out there but this is the one I read most often.  Mslexia is useful for their wonderful diary, short story comp and writing from a women’s perspective but Writers’ News gives a wider range of markets. 

Don’t expect to get your work right first go. 
Nobody does.  Practically everything writing wise is improved by a darned good edit! 

Have reference books to hand
By which I mean a diictionary, thesaurus, Brewer’s Phrase and Fable, Chambers Book of Facts, a history, book of proverbs, Bible and so on. Obviously for checking facts but also for direct inspiration.  Many a short story has come out of an old proverb!  Bible stories like Samson and Delilah can inspire a modern take on that – the themes of love, jealousy and betrayal are universal. Brewers makes for a wonderful read given it gives the source of phrases and fables.  

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Outline your work. 
It’ll keep you on tangent.  It isn’t necessary to go into everything.  For the novels, I outline what has to happen in each chapter but not necessarily what leads between each scene unless I have thought of something immediately.  I like a novel plan to be flexible enough to allow for ideas as you go (that should happen, as it shows your story’s “alive”) so you can fit them in but to give enough of a structure to prove (a) I have one (!) and (b) I know where the tale’s going to end up even if I don’t know the exact ending.  For short stories, I outline the character and focus on one point of change (there’s generally not enough room for more given the limited word count).

Keep a copy of all you send out. 
Never send precious originals (this is even more pertinent for artwork and photos).  Items getting lost, postal strikes and spilled coffees happen! 

Keep a record of what you send where and results. 
Useful for accountancy purposes and to make sure you don’t send the same story to the same person twice (unless, of course, they’ve asked you to resubmit it, highly unlikely).  Also I’ve found using the Mslexia diary helpful – for one thing I’ve been overcome with the urge to fill the blank pages and the only way to do that is to get work out there.  The more work out, the greater the chances of success but it then becomes more vital to be able to track what you’ve sent where. 

Read your work out loud (to yourself, a friend, a recording device) 
Vital for poetry, it’s also useful for prose, particularly dialogue.  If you trip over words so will your readers and then it’s time for the editing pen again!  

What are your writing bug bears?
Bad spelling! 
I can understand this being used to show an illiterate character but that’s all it should be used for and should only be part of the story/novel.  If authors can’t spell or be grammatical why should anyone else bother?  Writers ought to set a good example here, giving we claim to love the written word!  And texting is an abomination of the English language.  We’ve got vowels for a reason!  We need them!

Celebrity “writers”. 
I’ve nothing against ghost writing in itself (I prefer to see ghosts properly credited as it is an art form stepping into someone else’s life convincingly in print) but the “writer” really should be writing something as a contribution to the work and not just their name on the contract!!  There are enough luvvies in the acting world.  Do we really need them in the publishing one?

The difficulties of finding publishers and agents!
Being told you can’t have one without the other when you’ve tried very hard, and professionally, to get one of them! Whilst I’m getting short stories out, which is great, I still want to get my novels out. The fact there are charlatans about complicates things.  And when people claim they self published and you recognize the name of the publisher as a vanity company! Those authors will have paid thousands for the privilege of being published and lost their rights.  Self publishing means you keep the latter!

Authors generally being under-appreciated.
Yes we fiction writers make it up but it is hard work doing so in such a way the making it up works. Okay the work is good fun but so many people dismiss writing as something they’d do if only they had the time.  This is why it’s great going to a writers’ conference such as the one at Winchester.  You know you’ve got a sympathetic audience there!  Oh and never having enough time to do as much writing as I’d like!

American spellings! Though they’ve given us wonderful words like sidewalk (sounds warmer than pavement, the latter sounds “pedestrian”!!!!!), why do the Yanks never use double letters in anything?  Are they trying to save the ink?!  And what has the 21st letter of the alphabet ever done to them that they so casually discard it?  Color I ask you!  Every time I see it I want to get the red editing pen out and forcibly insert the letter “u”.  And I do think Britain has a right to say how English should be spelt.  Am I being racist?  Definitely not!  But the country that gave the world Shakespeare and Dickins ought to have first say when it comes to English spellings!

I don’t believe in writer’s block.  Sure, there are times when the words don’t come easily and it’s a struggle to get anything down but I take that as a normal part of a normal writing life. Writers exercise the imaginative muscles. There are bound to be days when, especially following vigorous imaginative exercise, there’s a reaction and your writing slows down.  I think writers need to accept that and on days when there’s nothing coming for your story or novel to do something else.  Have a brainstorming session.  Write nonsense.  It wakes the imaginative muscles up again.  There’s a lot of pretentiousness around writer’s block.  No profession has a block (bar builders I suppose!!) so why should writers?

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL?

Outline your work. 
It’ll keep you on tangent.  It isn’t necessary to go into everything.  For the novels, I outline what has to happen in each chapter but not necessarily what leads between each scene unless I have thought of something immediately.  I like a novel plan to be flexible enough to allow for ideas as you go (that should happen, as it shows your story’s “alive”) so you can fit them in but to give enough of a structure to prove (a) I have one (!) and (b) I know where the tale’s going to end up even if I don’t know the exact ending.  For short stories, I outline the character and focus on one point of change (there’s generally not enough room for more given the limited word count).

Keep a copy of all you send out. 
Never send precious originals (this is even more pertinent for artwork and photos).  Items getting lost, postal strikes and spilled coffees happen! 

Keep a record of what you send where and results. 
Useful for accountancy purposes and to make sure you don’t send the same story to the same person twice (unless, of course, they’ve asked you to resubmit it, highly unlikely).  Also I’ve found using the Mslexia diary helpful – for one thing I’ve been overcome with the urge to fill the blank pages and the only way to do that is to get work out there.  The more work out, the greater the chances of success but it then becomes more vital to be able to track what you’ve sent where. 

Read your work out loud (to yourself, a friend, a recording device) 
Vital for poetry, it’s also useful for prose, particularly dialogue.  If you trip over words so will your readers and then it’s time for the editing pen again! 

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Give yourself time to re-read your work before sending it out.
See earlier tip about how I missed a mistake on one of my stories.  Re-reading can remind you that you did write a good tale.  Equally a gap between writing it and reading it can help you see ways of fine-tuning your tale to make it even better.

Read inside and outside your genre(s). 
Writers love reading, it’s why we write, we want to add to the great grand canon of books and stories out there.  Reading outside your genre can inspire you and ensure you don’t just read, and therefore just write, one kind of thing.  It helps keep your writing fresh. 

Ensure you follow presentational rules.
Or everything you do will be automatically dismissed and sent back to you.  Everyone gets the thud on the mat as their work gets rejected so at least make sure yours is turned down due to publishers and not to anything you’ve failed to do, which you should’ve picked up on.

Get into the habit of writing regularly even if is just ten minutes daily.
Regular writing means you are writing.  The more you write, the better you get as you find better ways of doing things to make the most of the time you do have.  To become a professional writer, you need to “ape” them in the nicest possible way and they write regularly enough!

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Know your market.
How else can you sell your work?  And be aware there are short story openings on the web, radio, small presses as well as the traditional magazines. 

Proof read your own work before submitting.
Try to make sure you allow enough time for this.  I once sent a story off in a hurry to meet the deadline, it didn’t do anything in the competition it was entered for and on its return I saw a blatant mistake.  I’d changed the name of the main character and didn’t ensure the change went all the way through the story!  

Learn from your mistakes and do something positive with them! 
See above!  I took this story, corrected it, amended it and expanded it and sent it off somewhere else that allowed for a longer word count.  The amended story I feel is much better as I was able to expand the characters that much more.  So something good came out of my faux pas! .

Read author interviews in magazines.
You can learn a lot from them and when several writers recommend writing books – for example Stephen King’s On Writing – get a copy and read it!  I did – oh and I recommend Mr King’s book too!!! 

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Print work out on paper and edit on paper before sending out anywhere. 
It’s easy to miss things on screen.  Printing out acts as a useful double check.  And it’s easier to see how your work “looks”.  I use the reverse side of these drafts for scrap paper and often use it to scribble my next novel.

Don’t rely on the computer spell and grammar check solely. 
Always use a good dictionary/grammar guide as well.  The computer doesn’t always get it right!  Mine seems to have an aversion to the word “their”, it keeps saying I should use “his or her”!  Imagine how clunky that would sound in a story!  See the computer checks as a starting guide only.  I use the Concise Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus.   

Make sure you know your character well enough to be able to write about them.
Or you’ll have no story!  Or you’ll quickly reach a dead end.  Some writers do a full character CV.  I tend not to but do start with a main trait and take things from there.  For example in Eileen’s case, I gave her the traits of awkwardness and defiance.  Loads of stories can come from that! 

Enjoy your writing! 
Or there’s no point to doing it at all, is there?  Also I think if you love what you write, it will show in what you write and make it a more enjoyable read and therefore a more publishable one.  

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Use the Writers and Artists Yearbook for finding publishers and agents. 
Saves a great deal of time.  Will give details of who does what.  Many useful articles in it.  Does not list vanity agents or those who say they may charge for publishing.  Also keep as up to date copy as you can as jobs change in publishing very quickly. 

Study writing blogs
Like Time to Write and Patsy Collins' website/blog.  Loads of tips on what to avoid doing and what publishers/agents want.  Also in Patsy Collins' case, lots of writing competition details, always useful. Good, entertaining read too!   Try to have a variety of those written by authors, editors, those working in publishing as you get a variety of perspectives then. 

Study professional writing magazines
Mslexia, Writers’ News/Writing Magazine etc. Again learning about the industry can only help you.  A lot of the writing magazines run free or cheap to enter competitions.  Listings or winnings there add to your writers’ CV and will give you something to show publishers/agents. 

Read, read, read 
You’ve got to know what you like to know what you want to write.  You’ve also got to know what you don’t like so you know what to avoid or what you think you can do better than (that can be an excellent spur).  Equally don’t let reading brilliant, inspiring fiction make you downhearted.  Let that inspire you to be as equally brilliant even if it does take you 50 years! 

BASIC TIP and WHY USEFUL? 

Edit, edit, edit. 
Your work will improve.  You are bound to come across areas where you’ve repeated yourself.  You don’t always come up with the right phrases first go.  Cutting work tightens it.  If you can get away with removing something without affecting your story, then you should.  There should be nothing in your story that doesn’t need to be there. 

When submitting work, always follow guidelines. 
To do otherwise looks amateur.  In competitions, it will get your story/novel automatically discounted. It shows editors/publishers you can follow instructions and pay attention to details.   

Always include a stamped self addressed envelope (SSAE) 
Again to do otherwise looks amateur.  Work can be dismissed if an SSAE is not included.  And you do want to get your work back or at the very least find out what happened to it, yes? 

Always put on proper postage. 
If in doubt check with the Post Office. I’ve occasionally had letters where I’ve had to pay the missing postage.  It is very aggravating.  Not the kind of impression/feeling you want to give to an agent/publisher! 

Subscriptions
Take out a subscription to a professional writing magazine. Recommend Writers’ News/Writing Magazine and, for women, Mslexia.  All kinds of reasons for this but to name two - entering competitions gets you used to having to meet a deadline and you find out more about the writing world, including how other authors work.  The latter I always find interesting.

Writing what you want to write
Write what you want to write.  Anything else will seem false.  Fashions come and go in publishing as in anything else so it’s pointless trying to write in a subject or genre that sells now.  By the time you’ve a manuscript ready, the market will be focussed on the next big thing.

Watching out for the sharks
Be aware, as in any industry, there are charlatans.  Not only can the writing magazines alert you to these, they can point you to websites like Jonathan Clifford’s anti-vanity press site for further information

What are your writing bug bears? •
Bad spelling!  I can understand this being used to show an illiterate character but that’s all it should be used for and should only be part of the story/novel.  If authors can’t spell or be grammatical why should anyone else bother?  Writers ought to set a good example here, giving we claim to love the written word!  And texting is an abomination of the English language.  We’ve got vowels for a reason!  We need them!

Celebrity “writers”.  I’ve nothing against ghost writing in itself (I prefer to see ghosts properly credited as it is an art form stepping into someone else’s life convincingly in print) but the “writer” really should be writing something as a contribution to the work and not just their name on the contract!!  There are enough luvvies in the acting world.  Do we really need them in the publishing one?

The difficulties of finding publishers and agents! Being told you can’t have one without the other when you’ve tried very hard, and professionally, to get one of them! Whilst I’m getting short stories out, which is great, I still want to get my novels out. The fact there are charlatans about complicates things.  And when people claim they self published and you recognize the name of the publisher as a vanity company! Those authors will have paid thousands for the privilege of being published and lost their rights.  Self publishing means you keep the latter!

Authors generally being under-appreciated.  Yes we fiction writers make it up but it is hard work doing so in such a way the making it up works. Okay the work is good fun but so many people dismiss writing as something they’d do if only they had the time.  This is why it’s great going to a writers’ conference such as the one at Winchester.  You know you’ve got a sympathetic audience there!  Oh and never having enough time to do as much writing as I’d like!

Could your world come to an end? 
If so, how?  If magic is involved, can that be misused to damage the physical world it’s set in?  In my novels, I’ve set up barren areas, made that way by having too much magic pounding them.  This has a knock on effect in forcing populations to move away and into other areas, causing tensions between the different groups (the sprites are generally condemned for having an irresponsible attitude to sex and reproduction - they are at it like rabbits!). 

What are your world’s customs? 
What does it do/say to those who rebel or don’t follow the customs “correctly”?  How does it react if someone shows up one or more of the customs as wrong?  Is there a history of dissidents or have you got a character blazing the way here? 

Is the media controlled, directly or subtly?
With FNN I have a snobby goblin, Roherum, keen to please the Queen so he’s not going to rock the boat.  Could someone be placed by your authorities deliberately to manipulate matters on their behalf?

When entering competitions if you can get feedback (at a reasonable cost, beware some places do charge a lot) it can be helpful in terms of pointing out what your reader thinks.  It’s not always what you as the writer think!!!  That can help you improve your writing in itself.  You can see for yourself whether your reader “got the point”. 

Also when you’ve produced a good story and the feedback reflects that, it’s a great ego boost!  Always look for constructive criticism.  Remember you don’t have to agree with all of it (or indeed any) but if your feedback makes you think “ah I had wondered that” (and this has happened a few times to me) then act on that.  It can be confirmation you should trust your instincts when writing and should help sharpen your skills.

Beware of groups (online or otherwise) where cliques seem to develop and be aware there are other writers who will seek to criticize destructively (whether from jealousy or insecurity is hard to say).  When seeking and getting feedback you should be able to work out “well has this helped me?  Can I use this to improve what I do?”.  If the answer is no, ignore!  And destructive criticism reflects the person making it, not you. 

Read, read, read.  Not just the professional mags and blogs but novels, short stories, anything you yourself would like to write.  You do learn from what you read.  Sometimes when you come across a dire piece, you can still learn from it - what not to do!  The trick is to make sure that dire piece is not one of yours! 

Read contemporary fiction and classic.  You need to know what’s going on out there now (and no you won’t keep on top of it all) as well as having a fund of classics which inspire you.  After all the classic writers became that way for a reason - they’re good, very good!

Read non-fiction as well as fiction.  It may give you ideas to help you populate your fictional world - my Queen’s Chief Leader, L’Evallier, is roughly based on Queen Elizabeth I’s minister, William, Lord Burghley.  There I was looking for qualities as well as the similiarities in job.  Burghley was not afraid to criticize his boss and always spoke his mind.  She knew she needed that.  Makes for an interesting relationship - one where there are clashes but there’s always the unspoken question.  Will either of them take things too far?  Elizabeth almost did after the execution of Mary Stuart when she banished Burghley from Court for a while (and he was devastated by that).  L’Evallier becomes more outspoken as the novels go on… will he reach the point of no return? 

I find physical descriptions, particularly of places, hard to do so use my holiday snaps of various beautiful places in Scotland as an inspiration.  And the great thing is I can leave out the midges! Think about how your fictional world is run.  If someone asked you a question about it, could you answer them?  Do you know enough about the climate, the history, the reason your world is run the way it is?

Points of View - Rulijng Classes and Peasants - Consider life from the point of view of the ruling classes and of the “peasants”.  Can make good comedy/tragedy but you can take the same event and get two differing but equally valid views.  It can foreshadow troubles to come because of the differing perspectives.  Equally that can explain why there are historical differences between say in my world’s case the ruling royals and the Witch’s family.

Seeing your Characters - I find physical descriptions of characters hard too.  I tend to focus on a trait - in Eileen’s case, stubbornness - and find that a useful starting point.  I also tend to hear voices, with images of what characters look like coming later.  Does it matter?  I don’t think so.  As long as you’ve got a distinctive view of what your character is and how they’re likely to behave in any given situation, the rest will follow.  Some authors prepare full bios for their characters.  I don’t but there are no rights and wrongs here.  It’s a question of finding the right method in character generation, the one that works for you.

Dialogue Patterns - Ensure dialogue is distinctive for your characters too.  L’Evallier never contracts his speech whereas the Queen generally won’t but when under pressure the odd abbreviation will slip out.  As for Eileen, her speech is as direct as she is.  I can see the point of swearing to show a character under stress, to show their background, to show some of their attitudes but don’t like too much of the stuff.  I treat swearing like paprika or chilli - only use a little.

Do you know your characters’ hobbies, habits etc? 
I don’t list mine but I do know whether say Eileen would like this type of music or another.  (In her case, classical.  Not got much time for pop though concedes The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby  is “all right”!). 

Do your characters’ tastes drive them or do they keep such tastes to themselves? 
L’Evallier would never divulge his tastes, except to his wife.

What calms your characters when agitated? What cheers them? What depresses them?  What do they get angry about?  How well do you know them!!! 
Whilst I don’t think you can separate character from plot, both are essential for a good story, a good plot with a weak character will fail as will a good character with not “enough to do” or in the wrong storyline for them.  You can only know what story line is right by knowing them well enough.

What is the climate like on your fantasy/sci-fi world?  Have the residents wrecked it? 
I’ve shown parts of the Fairy Kingdom made barren by having too much magic thrown at them during the magical wars. 

How do your characters cope with adverse conditions, adversity in general? 
Has the climate shaped your world in terms of geography, history, politics etc (in Britain’s case being an island has helped it in battle if only by getting us to be really good at seamanship)?

What happens to those who damage, deliberately or otherwise, your world’s environment or does nobody care? 
Have you got a mental image of what your world is like?  I’ve based mine partly on Scotland (!), red rocky areas (Mars!) and part of it has rings around it (Saturn!!!).  Magical attitudes to wildlife in my Fairy Kingdom are ambivalent - nobody’s that keen on dragons - but equally Eileen’s been keen to ensure harmless species aren’t wiped out because the sprites get hysterical.  So what is the prevalent attitude in your world?  What is your environment like?

Let your characters have their own lives. 
Whilst you invent them and control them, that control should not be to the extent they lose any sense of personality.  You don’t want puppets.  Leave them to Thunderbirds ….

Think about flora and fauna. 
Even sci-fi/fantasy worlds have their ecosystems, predators and prey and so on.  And especially in a fantasy world have a look at how magic affects them.  For example does it make them more aggressive?  Do they need magic to live at all?  Could they survive on earth?  Would earth be beneficial or harmful with no magic about?

Does your world have specialists? 
Eileen is a specialist in her field, as was Rose. Does that lead to envy in others or are the specialists left to it as they face more risks than most?

What threatens your world? 
Has it done anything to deserve it?

How do your characters’ lives change? 
Long term characters especially should have plenty of ups and downs.  The ups shouldn’t be saccharine sweet.  For the downs, there should be some hope they can get out of them.  (If you want constant despair, watch your average party political broadcast!).

Do your characters develop relationships? 
Think about all kinds of relationships as well as the obvious romantic/sexual ones.  Is there part of their personality that makes forming relationships difficult? Do they find a particular type of character difficult and if so have you shown why? 

How do your characters’ relationships change?
Relationships don’t stay static.  Relationships should be a major part of your plot, should complicate things and give your characters both hope and despair.  Think about how your character demonstates anger, frustration etc.

I don't see this as a contest as such and love writing both.  With the novels you can expand your ideas and develop characters more.  With short stories, you write a "snapshot" event and sometimes it's easier to get a point across in a small piece where it stands out more than in a novel.  My favourite short stories tend to be around the 1500-1700 words mark (which fits most competitions) though I enjoy writing flash fiction too.  For me flash fiction is anything from 100 words to about 750 words.

I do enjoy novel writing when the characters expand "their" lives in a way that is relevant to the overall plot as this adds depth to the story.  Of course the biggest disadvantage is the sheer amount of time a novel takes.  There is something satisfying in being able to belt out short stories (it's also quicker to get feedback) though I have found when trying to enter Writers' News/Writing Magazine short story competitions, I do need a month to get a first draft down and then give it the inevitable edit it needs to get it into shape before sending it. 

I like stories in all forms with humour in them (even if the overall thing is not meant to be humorous).  I don't know if it is me but is the humorous story undervalued?  I see literary short stories (I do like some of these, but they're not my favourite and they generally tend to be deadly serious, which is partly why they're not my favourite) but where are the funny stories? 

Use your mood to help your writing.  If you’re in a sad mood and you’ve got a sad scene to do when better to write it?  You don’t have to write in strict chronological order. Conversely, use writing to help improve your mood.  Being creative in itself is a positive thing.  If what you produce is good, even better.  (And if not, it’s on its way to being better because a darned good edit works wonders!).

Show your characters’ moods well and how they change.  After all we’re not in one state of mind all the time so neither should they be.  Moods affect actions affect consequences and plot!  Show your characters learning from their experiences - what not to do again for example - and where appropriate where a character refuses to learn.  Look at why they have that refusal - is it just stubbornness or are they afraid of change?  Have they good reasons to be afraid?

Show your characters’ expressions.  I tend to get Eileen to grimace a lot (!) (though to be fair she does have cause) and am aware I need to vary her expressions.  Also show your characters trying to hide what they really feel - after all we do it so why shouldn’t your creations?  What happens when a character fails to hide how they feel or shows their emotions to the wrong person?  What catastrophes could be unleashed? 

How do your characters conduct business?  Have you got the Del Boy type?  What are the rules?  How are these circumvented (someone’s bound to try aren’t they?) and what are the punishments when folk are caught out?  Is there a fantasy Inland Revenue?!  (The mind boggles a bit here.  Can you imagine?  Instead of the £100 penalty fine per day if you’re late filing your return, the Fantasy Revenue could turn you into a toad, smash you into a pulp, cast imaginative curses if you put the wrong stamp on the envelope and so on!). 

One of the great things about being a writer is that on skipping through the Radio Times every week and discovering there really isn’t much on, you realize that’s an awful lot of writing time freed up!

I’ve also found great enjoyment in enjoying stories, comedies and so on wearing both my fan’s hat and writer’s hat.  I adore The Goon Show and enjoy Spike Milligan'snnnnnnn wonderful writing and hope he himself got a great deal of joy writing it.  I know I enjoy what I do. It can also be fun to work out another writer's influences (they inevitably turn up somewhere in what's been written). 

Writing can be amazingly therapeutic.  Misery memoirs prove that but on a lighter note, fictional work can be a great way of sounding off via your characters and the situations you put them in.  The trick here is not to lecture but to have a light touch with this so people get the point without feeling you’re ramming it down their throats.

Remember to edit your story not just for spelling and grammar but for “sense”.  Make sure you have tied up all the loose ends.  It’s easy to forget something early on in  your story - or at least I’ve found it easy to do that!  This is another reason to print out work as that can help illuminate errors like this too.

Note your deadlines for short story competitions and so on.  Give yourself plenty of time to write and to review and to allow for getting your entry off in the post. Remember to edit your story not just for spelling and grammar but for “sense”.  Make sure you have tied up all the loose ends.  It’s easy to forget something early on in  your story - or at least I’ve found it easy to do that!  This is another reason to print out work as that can help illuminate errors like this too.

Note your deadlines for short story competitions and so on.  Give yourself plenty of time to write and to review and to allow for getting it out in the post!  I like to make sure I’ve posted anything off at least 3 to 4 days before the deadline and I always use first class mail, partly for reliability and partly because it looks more professional.  Regrettably second class does look “cheap” and I suspect it won’t be long before it’s abolished altogether. it out in the post!  I like to make sure I’ve posted anything off at least 3 to 4 days before the deadline and I always use first class mail, partly for reliability and partly because it looks more professional.  Regrettably second class does look “cheap” and I suspect it won’t be long before it’s abolished altogether.