The Creative Writing Blog

Our Founder Louise Dean looks back on how she wrote her second novel and beyond; how ideas sometimes come fully formed, but only rarely – and explains how to write your best novel yet.

_From...

Tropes can make for fantastic stories, but the thing is: they have already been made into fantastic stories, which is why they’re now tropes. 

If you’re thinking that...

We're delighted to welcome Krystle Appiah to our editorial team at The Novelry as our in-house specialist in children's and YA fiction. Before joining us, Krystle was an editor at Macmillan...

There’s nothing that brings a novel to life like a complex character. To read them is a joy. But to write them… That can be a little trickier. How do you make characters memorable,...

We're delighted to announce our scholarship program The Octopus Scheme, an initiative to nurture writing talent from under-represented or disadvantaged backgrounds. This includes, but is not...

Madeleine Milburn is the literary agent responsible for discovering some of the highest-selling and award-winning contemporary authors who consistently hit the bestseller lists in the New York...

With more than two million copies of her books sold worldwide, Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of Sunday Times number 1 bestsellers I Let You Go, I See You and Let Me Lie,...

_{From the desk of Tash Barsby.}

Should I be entering my novel into writing competitions and prizes?

‘It’s not about winning, it’s the taking part that counts’ – how many...

Claire Douglas won the Marie Claire Debut Novel Award with her first novel, The Sisters, which was followed by Local Girl Missing, Last Seen Alive, Do Not Disturb, Then She Vanishes and Just...

What are the top twenty children's fiction books? Middle Grade children's fiction author Polly Ho-Yen picks her favourite children's novels and explains why.

_{From the desk of Polly Ho-Yen.}

The best...

Have you ever read a book with a fantastic story, only to wish the dialogue was – well, a little better written?

‘The characters all sounded the same.’

‘Nobody talks like...

Ajay Chowdhury is the award-winning author of crime thrillers The Waiter and The Cook. As well as being a novelist, Ajay is a theatre director and tech entrepreneur who founded Shazam and...

Are you wondering how to open a novel? You’re not alone. It can be one of the biggest sticking points writers face – not least because it’s often what will grab (or not!) the...

Katherine Arden is the author of the Winternight trilogy that begins with The Bear and the Nightingale, "a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic" (Robin...