In this blog I want to discuss editing, why it is so important, and when to do it. I also want to draw upon some of my early experiences with professional editors and communication in the business world. A simple definition of editing from Google is as follows: Editing is a stage of the writing …
Continue reading Editing – early lessons learnt from professional editors
Those of you that regularly follow my blog will realise most of my blog content is dedicated to the art of storytelling and my own learning adventures into the realms of story development. Occasionally I use this blog to bring news about my own books, and on this occasion I am unashamingly promoting two of …
Novel writers can learn a lot about story development from the screenwriting industry. In my previous blog, I dealt with how screenwriters use Story, Plot, Arc and Theme to develop a story. This month I want to look at how screenwriters use Conflict, Tension and Audience Participation to grip an audience. The essential elements of …
Continue reading Conflict, Tension and Audience Participation
It is almost eight years since I started writing novels, and I've learned an awful lot in that time. It hasn't been easy. I had a story I wanted to write and I wanted to start writing it as soon as possible. But I soon found out that you need to make some key decisions before …
To be successful, any new story has to be built around an idea, or concept that makes it new and exciting. A school for wizards is an idea or concept, but it's not a story premise. A story premise needs both a character (for example, Harry Potter) and a central conflict or problem that drives …
I sometimes wonder why we get so excited about holidays. For me holidays are not about lying in the sun or sun tans. It's about reconnecting with family, getting away from the pressures of current day life, dining out, some healthy walking and ... catching up on my reading. So on my recent holiday to …
I am delighted to reveal the cover of my new book scheduled to be published next month. It's a sci-fi neo noir thriller set in the not too distant future where the large cyber-tech, media and entertainment corporations are introducing a new generation of android worker to replace their human counterparts, while the super rich …
Recently, I saw the movie, Mockingly Part 2, in 3D. A great movie adaption of the ending to Suzanne Collin's trilogy of the Hunger Games. I had forgotten how truly poignant the the novel ending was with Katniss losing her sister in the final throws of the war after having volunteered to take her place …
Continue reading Do you know your story before you write it?
I am pleased to announce the launch of my second novel, Alien Hothouse. It’s a sci-fi adventure about a unmarried mother, running a spa hotel is a sleepy village in North Yorkshire, who helps a group of marooned aliens living here in secret, send a distress signal to their homeworld, only to find that the …
Genre is not something I had really thought about until it came to the time for publishing my first novel on Amazon. Then I had to categorise the genre and sub-genre of my novel for Amazon’s classification purposes. Of course, genre is important. It’s one of the first things that influence readers' choice of books. …
JMJ Williamson 