The first chapter of your novel is the most important — and the most difficult to get right
Chapter one is where your reader decides if they’ll keep reading, or put your book down and move onto something else.
Book review: The Shark Party by Janet Colson
Janet Colson’s novel The Shark Party blends together romance and thriller. It tells the story of young artist Carla, who has wound up in modern-day New York among unscrupulous businessmen and art collectors. She is doing her best to navigate a world she doesn’t belong in, and to play the role she’s expected to [...]
Interviews with Auckland writers: Paul
Tell us a little bit about yourself My background is in education, and I’ve been a historian for twenty-odd years. I have lived in Auckland for almost a year now, but I’ve been in New Zealand for four years. When I started writing, I started with speculative fiction and science fiction, all sorts of [...]
Six secrets to writing a great story
Want to write a page-turner of a story that your readers just can't put down? Wondering how to go about it? Here are our top tips for writing a great story! 1. Focus on your character when you develop your story Characters often stay with readers far longer than plots do. Think about all [...]
Book review: The Ice Shelf by Anne Kennedy
Anne Kennedy's The Ice Shelf tells the story of Janice, an aspiring writer who is working on what’s going to become her masterpiece. She is about to set off for Antarctica on a residency (such a thing actually exists) to work on her novel, but first she needs to find a temporary home for [...]
Building an emotional connection with your reader: Three things you need to get right
We’ve all been there: eyes racing across the page, fingertips at the ready to turn the page, devouring the words as fast as possible - because we desperately need to know what happens to the main character. Where does that need come from? Why is it so urgent? It’s because we have developed an [...]
Book review: Tinderbox by Megan Dunn
Megan Dunn’s Tinderbox is an autobiographical account of her attempt to write a work of fiction as a tribute to Ray Bradbury’s classic Fahrenheit 451. Tinderbox weaves together raw and real description of a writer’s life, first-draft material from her failed novel, and reflections on the origins and significance of Fahrenheit 451. Tinderbox is [...]
Interviews with Auckland writers: Alexei
Tell us a little bit about yourself Generally I don’t like to talk about myself all that much! I have been a dweller of the Auckland suburbs my entire life. Writing, however, is something I haven’t been doing my entire life. I think my first attempts at writing (outside of forced schoolwork) were fan [...]
Quick fix: How to get out of a writing slump
Sometimes, sitting down and producing a thousand quality words feels easy, enjoyable and almost automatic. Other times, the days can either drag by with you staring at an unforgiving screen of white, or you can notice that a month has flown and you haven't sat down to write once. What can we do when motivation and inspiration walk out the door? Here are four tips to get you writing again:
Make the Reader Cry: The Dangers of Naming Emotions in Writing
Naming the emotion, instead of expressing it using one of the techniques outlined below, is a sure way to distance your reader from your characters. There is more than one type/cause/experience of every emotion. Naming the emotion destroys any nuance, leaving a bland, generic taste in the reader’s mouth.