The Creative Writing Blog

The first lines of novels can, understandably, be stressful for writers. We often feel pressure to start with a bang, or beauty, or unparalleled genius. That’s a lot to ask of...

Writing a battle scene is undoubtedly a thrilling prospect for a fantasy writer. Whether it’s the climactic battle that seals your main characters’ final fate, a muted fight scene that...

Good and evil in literature has long been a universal theme of our stories – and not just evil stories, or those that ruminate on the entrenched power structures that human beings live under....

Happy is the writer with a habit! If you want to learn how to write a book fast, it’s quite straightforward: write daily. Routine wins the race. Most of my writers follow the...

"And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." John Steinbeck.

Many of my beloved writers at The Novelry suffer from a sickness called overachievement - 'the curse of the...

Story endings are exciting, rewarding and – let’s be honest – sometimes scary. You have to tie together all the loose ends together to somehow form a satisfying ending,...

Writing a high-octane disaster story? They’re undoubtedly fun for readers and writers alike, with pacy plots, heroes to root for and villains to hate. Let’s take a look at the most...

Every novel presents such new challenges, it seems one has never written a novel before. An irksome and bewildering amnesia. Yet again,  your judgement and taste exceed your...

Here’s the good news. You already have the time you need to write your novel.

Get cracking! Up with a coffee at early light, creating your world, at play before real life kicks in!...

Wherever you are with your novel, here's something which could help you see the big picture of plot fast. 

On my fourth draft of a novel, and so mired in the material, I needed a...

Immersive writing and insight are intimately related and inextricably so.

This is what Tolstoy shows us. It's what makes Tolstoy a great writer.

I want to show you what Tolstoy achieved with his...

Leo Tolstoy is one of the most admired authors in the canon of western literature, and his titles are some of the most famous in fiction. For example, War and Peace and Anna Karenina (the focus of...

Dealing with rejection as a writer is, undoubtedly, a big part of forging a writing career. The fact is, the writer’s life is typically one punctuated with many a rejection letter:...

The Novelry is the worldwide novel writing school. Here are our top ten novel writing tips - you're unlikely to find them elsewhere. 

1. You're the author, you get to play god. Play dirty.
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