Tag archives for Writers Resources - Page 5
Six Steps to Blog Posts People Read
One of my oldest friends asked me for some advice on writing a blog and attracting a following. He asked me because I've been blogging for decades and have written hundreds of posts, the most popular of which get thousands of hits. It made me think, here's how I think you should write a blog that people will want to read. NB lots of people bang on about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) but if you write good content in a readable way then it ought to hit the search engines fine. Well written and thought provoking content presented well will beat keyword stuffing any day of the week. 1. Pick a subject and be insightful By this I mean write about something you really know and care about. A topic you think about and can make insightful or thought provoking commentary…
World Building – Towns and Villages
One of the things that I often do when I am writing a story is to sketch a map of the area where the story takes place. This helps me to visualise what the characters will be able to see. The thing is though, you can't just bang down stuff randomly (well you can, but it isn't realistic - you want your world to be realistic don't you?) How settlements form Typically people build houses where there is shelter from the elements, adequate supplies of food, water and fuel. They also like to build them in easily accessible places for the most part. All villages and towns grow from farmstead, places a farmer, and his family, decided to settle. However not all of these farmsteads ends up as a village. There are loads of outlying farms in populated countryside, some…
Meeting the Bechdel Test
I first came across the Bechdel Test on Charles Stross's blog when he was discussing its importance for pushing gender equality in fiction. However what has prompted this post is this article on Rochelle Dean's blog about her current work in progress. Since becoming aware of the Bechdel test I have consciously tried to meet the spirit of it in all the stuff I write, and as much as I can the actual conditions too. The Bechdel Test The rules There are three rules to the test: There are at least two named female characters in the story The women have a conversation with each other The conversation should not be about a man The Spirit of the Bechdel Test What I think is most important though is meeting the spirit of the test, which as I understand is that there should…
Book Review – Why Does My Book Not Sell? 20 Simple Fixes by Rayne Hall
Why Does My Book Not Sell? 20 Simple Fixes by Rayne Hall My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is full of useful tips, and more importantly a broad framework for approaching improving your work as what works is continually evolving. Once enough people find a new technique for improving their book's visibility and sales it becomes less useful. However there are definitely a set of things that will always remain useful. I'm not going to tell you the list, Rayne deserves to profit from her hard work and she's not charging the earth for the book. I got it on pre-order for £, about 99 cents US. That could of course just have been a ploy on her part to catapult it up the sales rankings. However even if it costs you a little more it may still…
Book Review – Would They Lie to You? by Robert Hutton
Would They Lie to You? by Robert Hutton My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is even better than the previous book Romps, Tots and Boffins: The Strange Language of News by Robert Hutton which was a look at journalese. Would They Lie to You? is a much more cynical look at how people tell stories to journalists (and by extension to the public). Presented as if it is a leaked document teaching the inner circle how to use language to manipulate the truth without actually breaking it. The opening quotes summarise it perfectly "I didn't lie, you just asked the wrong questions - Rob Ford". Having spent some of my working life in Whitehall I recognise some of the techniques presented, and it made me laugh in the same way Dilbert does. Like its predecessor it is divided into…