Putting the rom into com
When is the right time to reveal that your comedy has a romantic twist? When is it too soon and how do you avoid the cliches?
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Writing
Bestselling UK author Mo Fanning offers tips on how to get published and attract the attention of agents, as well as hints on how to sharpen up your writing. As well as a series of well-received romantic comedies, Mo is a creative writing coach.
It’s all about me – writing in the first person
How practical is it to write a novel in the first person. How do you avoid ‘head hopping’?
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Writing Tip #2 – Five red flags for writers
Some words should be an automatic red flag to a writer. The second you find yourself typing, writing or otherwise using them, a voice inside ought to scream stop. Here are five that I watch out for. Search your works in progress and eliminate at will.
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Exchanging gifts
I’ve sometimes been asked what became of Lisa Doyle, the main character from The Armchair Bride. So for a change, here’s a short story for Christmas to bring you up to date on her life these days. Two years on from the end of that book, Lisa’s home with Brian for a family Christmas and about to encounter a ghost from the past!
Writing Tip #1 – Pump up the volume
All too often the temptation when writing is there to have a character do something other than simply ‘say’ their words. It’s a topic to which I’ll return later, but there is certainly some scope to use a few more descriptive words (such as whisper, mutter or whine) now and then. Just don’t go overboard.
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Back in the old town
Time heals, and just recently, I felt able to return to Amsterdam for my 50th birthday. Three years, they say, is how long you should always leave between visits to places that mean so much.
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Book blurb
After many edits and the joy of a focus group, the blurb seems to be ready … Caitlin Allen knows that marrying her childhood sweetheart is nothing more than a form of distraction. It’s a fairytale wedding, but when the music stops she’ll turn and run. Bored of her life, Cait dumps a nine-to-five routine
Getting off the writer’s block
The biggest cause of writer’s block for me is not knowing the characters well enough. I can have the storyline planned to the finest detail, but if I don’t know the people well enough, it won’t work.
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No news is good news – Information overload
Yesterday was Blue Monday. Officially the most miserable day of the year. I was supposed to feel weary and weighed down with worry. How do I know this? Because that’s what I read online. In the news.
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Merry Christmas
How has your Christmas been? Brighton has been battered by storms. Much wind, much rain and Mr Fanning has gradually given up all hope of ever weatherproofing the foyer of the flat we now (un)affectionately refer to as the money pit.
