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Top 6 Tips On Editing Your Own Writing

Editing is hard work Editing your own writing is a huge undertaking. It’s difficult to edit your own work, so you need to be vigilant. You also have to take into consideration things such as when you edit and who you get to assist you. Identify crutch words, pay attention to technical aspects, and you’ll be left with a polished masterpiece. Well, a polished draft anyway! Check out these top tips:   1) Have your draft read to you It’s much easier to detect errors when you hear your work read aloud. There are two options: have someone read it to you or… Read More »Top 6 Tips On Editing Your Own Writing

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20 Things That Will Make You A Better Writer

So, it’s a new year … and no doubt you’re limbering up for some serious writing and smashing of your goals. Why not chew on some of these for size? HAPPY NEW YEAR! 1) Read Screenplays I’ve been working with screenwriters fifteen years now, yet STILL there are wannabes out there who’ve never read a script in their lives! WTAF. Put yourselves on the naughty step AT ONCE. Also, 5-10 in your entire writing lifetime won’t cut it. Commit to reading a script a week. That’s right – 52 in a year! A great script only takes 1-2 hours to… Read More »20 Things That Will Make You A Better Writer

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8 Infographics That Will Help You Improve Your Writing

1) 10 Tips To Improve Your Grammar I always find it interesting when writers will pledge a commitment to their craft, but shrug their shoulders when I say they need to work on their grammar. Some will also cite a poor education or a special learning need like Dyslexia. Whilst both these things will make improving grammar more challenging, it’s not impossible to improve. This cheat sheet I found online from Grammar.net is a GREAT start – it outlines all the essential and most common grammar mistakes I see on a daily basis in Bang2writers’ spec scripts and unpublished novels.… Read More »8 Infographics That Will Help You Improve Your Writing

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7 Simple Things ALL Writers Should Know

Thanks to the internet and the plethora of advice around (like on this blog!), anyone can become a writer. But this doesn’t mean writers’ lives have become easy. Writing still requires dedication, persistence, and hard work! So, whether you’ve just decided to become a writer, or are a seasoned veteran – or somewhere in-between! – then remember these 7 crucial things: 1) The Basics ALWAYS Matter It might be tempting to simply start writing. However, this could be a mistake in the long run. While some writers think typos and grammatical errors are insignificant, readers actually pay attention to these… Read More »7 Simple Things ALL Writers Should Know

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10 (More) Commandments For Successful Writers

Following the previous post in this vein, 10 Commandments For Successful Writers by the lovely Emma Pullar, Derin Attwood decided to throw her hat in the ring and lay down the law for Write Club, too! I totally agree with numbers 2, 7 and the last one … Well, all of them to be honest. Over to you, Derin — And enjoy, everyone! 1) Write! Otherwise you are not part of the Write Club. You can join the thinkers’, or dreamers’ or wannabes’ clubs, but the writers’ club is exclusive. 2) Set goals Write regularly and set goals. Keep to… Read More »10 (More) Commandments For Successful Writers

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12 Quick Tips To Improve Your Writing Right Now

As a writer, you are often judged solely by what is on the page or the screen. This means you need to ensure you know exactly what you are doing! Here’s 12 quick tricks to take your writing to the next level and increase your confidence: 1)    Brush up on the basics The least you can do before you submit or publish is check for basic errors in spelling and grammar. Before you even begin an important writing task, read up on basic grammar rules and sentence structure, and never submit anything without running it through a spell-checker first. 2)   … Read More »12 Quick Tips To Improve Your Writing Right Now

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Top 5 Proofing Mistakes Writers Make

Proofreading is an essential practice when it comes to writing. It’s that final check to make sure spelling and grammar are correct because misspelled and misused words can destroy the quality of your work. Even the best writers need to edit and proofread. Often, when we proofread our own work, the mind does not catch the little mistakes because it was that same mind that wrote them in the first place. This is why it is important to find a second party to read your writing. However, not all of us have proofreaders on hand, which is why we must… Read More »Top 5 Proofing Mistakes Writers Make

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7 Best Proofreading Tools For Writers

As a writer, you likely have a pretty long list of fears. What if people don’t love your work? What if you don’t find your audience? What if your writing is riddled with typos? While online tools can’t help with the first two concerns, they can certainly eliminate the fear of embarrassing mistakes in your novel. These proofreading tools can cross one thing off your list, at least: 1) Hemingway Editor The best writers can take long, complicated thoughts and turn them into simple, easy to read sentences. Nobody did this better than Ernest Hemingway. Bring a little Ernest Hemingway… Read More »7 Best Proofreading Tools For Writers

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10 Ways To Conquer Your Scene Description

All About Scene Description Scene description is arguably the most problematic, yet most important, element of your screenplay. You probably write more of it than anything else (that’s right … even if you subscribe to the notion “less is more”!). I’ve been writing a fair bit about scene description lately in notes for people lately. I thought I would write a dedicated post about the pesky things that can interrupt the “flow” of the story and/or make the page look messy. So, good scene description should: Push the story forward Reveal character Do a bit of both Well, durr, etc.… Read More »10 Ways To Conquer Your Scene Description

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3 Killer Typos That Blow Writers Out The Water

I have an imaginary friend who wrote a 900-page novel about a secret war in a remote land under the snows of the Arctic; a land where five-year-olds carry mammoth-killing swords, all dwarfs speak with a Glaswegian accent, and warrior women wear chain-mail bikinis to the beach. Let’s call my friend Hubert. Hubert Q. Wetherill. Hubert’s novel, Age of Chronicles: Dragons of the Dark Demonic Kingdom of Frostbitten Darkness, took him seven years to write. Hubert is now in the market for an agent. But one piddling detail is going to sink his plans for total fan-girl domination at the… Read More »3 Killer Typos That Blow Writers Out The Water

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7 Big Mistakes In Unpublished Novels

Unpublished Novels I’m reading more and more unpublished novels these days for Bang2writers. Just like the screenplays, I’m seeing lots of the same mistakes. So, here’s a round up of things to check out, so you can avoid those common pitfalls when you make your submissions: 7. Consistency of Tense & Mixed Tenses When I read unpublished novels for Bang2writers, one of the biggest issues is consistency of tense. This means the writer will chop and change from tense to tense, seemingly on a whim. Whilst this is not automatically incorrect, it frequently is … Particularly if you’re swapping tenses… Read More »7 Big Mistakes In Unpublished Novels

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My Thoughts On The Final 50 of “50 Kisses”

It was always going to be difficult, honing a list of 1800+ scripts down to just 50. It wasn’t just a case of picking only the “best” writing either, but balancing the “best” with the “right” subject matter too – we didn’t want 50 smoochy-smoochy scripts, or 50 outlandish ones either. The reading team needed to keep that end outcome in mind of “50 Kisses – the movie” as well! NOT easy. And I for one think the reading team did a fantastic job again. I wasn’t able to head the team this year because of other work commitments, but… Read More »My Thoughts On The Final 50 of “50 Kisses”

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