In this episode I cover two issues, using precise and powerful verbs, and also using the active rather than passive voice to energise and drive your story

Grabbing the reader's attention immediately is a vital part of storytelling. Often writers will start a story too early, or fill the first critical paragraphs with backstory and infodump. In this podcast we explore techniques to make sure your writing grabs the reader right from the first sentence.

In this podcast I explore some of the mistakes that editors look out for. Here are ten things to think about before you submit your work - get them right and make your manuscript shine!

This is the last of the five techniques for showing not telling - and arguably it's the hardest one to do. Humour is a serious business and requires precision and integrity in its execution. Precision in terms of timing and editing, and integrity in terms of keeping the characters and scene believable.

In this episode we look at another dimension of showing not telling, and that's the potential for hinting, suggesting or implying something rather than telling the reader outright. One of the most powerful tools we have as creative writers is derived from the fact that a hint or suggestion, well understood, will always have more power than something said explicitly.