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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Sex Scenes

So, you want to write sex scenes? There’s a surprising dearth of sex scenes in the spec pile … and when they do appear, they are often incorrect, weird or even sexist. Here’s 5 mistakes to avoid if you want to attempt one in your novel or screenplay. Ready? Let’s go … 1) Too Vague/Euphemistic If I have to read one more piece of writing that describes two characters in bed ‘lying back, spent’, I will GO POSTAL! This such a boring description and I see it SO often. Another one that makes me grimace is when writers focus on… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Sex Scenes

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Finding Your Emotional Truth: 3 Tips from the Trenches

How To Write With Emotional Truth In the household I grew up in, showing emotions was a weakness. Naturally, my first reaction when learning that I need to “write with emotional truth” was to run for the hills. When I calmed down and came back, I started a long and exhausting process of figuring out what my emotional truth is. It took me a long time to figure out how to start the process. So, here are a few things that helped me get going. TIP 1) Explore and Excavate Emotions The first step is to figure out how you… Read More »Finding Your Emotional Truth: 3 Tips from the Trenches

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Top 10 Tips To Get Your Writing Out There

So, you want to get your writing out there … I get emails and messages from Bangers on the regular about getting their writing out there. I thought I’d round up the most common questions about this topic so it’s all in one place for you. So if you’re feeling stumped but want to get your writing out there, make sure you check out the top 10 below for tips. Ready? Let’s go … 1) How do I know my draft is ‘ready’ to send out? This can depend, but never send out a first draft for starters. Then do… Read More »Top 10 Tips To Get Your Writing Out There

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Is Your Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller? Here’s How To Tell

Mystery, Thriller or Horror? Mystery, Thriller and Horror novels and screenplays do BIG business as they have high ‘adaptability’. Readers and viewers love them … plus there’s a lot of convergence between them. This is because the Mystery, Horror and Thriller genres have lots of elements that cross over. However, lots of writers run into trouble because they’re not really sure what their story *is* at foundation level. Whilst many writers know mystery usually involves some kind of twist, they often don’t know how to get there. As a result, writers may make their mystery too easy to guess, or… Read More »Is Your Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller? Here’s How To Tell

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3 Steps To Writing, Editing & Submitting Your Novel

Writing, Editing AND Submitting (Or Self-Publishing!) Your Novel  B2W is best known for its screenwriting advice, but being a novelist and author myself, I also love to write and read about the art of novel writing, too. So, with lots of you Bang2writers out there resolving to write a novel then, here’s my top tips on getting yours written, edited AND out there! Enjoy … 1) Writing Your Novel DYK? Writing a novel is HARD! Le duh. The good news is, there’s a plethora of help online to get us through the process. Here’s some popular B2W articles with the… Read More »3 Steps To Writing, Editing & Submitting Your Novel

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Top 5 Solutions When You’re Stuck on Your Novel

How To Get Unstuck On Your Novel Are you stuck on your novel? Have you tried several different approaches, only to end up stuck again? I experienced this with my most recent novel, The Beached Ones. It took me years to get past that stuck place. Talk about frustrating! I thought I was going to have to give up on the story. You may be feeling the same way. If so, I’m here to tell you: I got through that stuck place and went on to win a publishing contract for the book. You can too. When You’re Stuck on Your… Read More »Top 5 Solutions When You’re Stuck on Your Novel

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Self-Publishing Should NEVER Be A Last Resort. Here’s Why

Self-Publishing Versus Traditional Publishing ‘I want an agent and a traditional publishing deal, but I guess I can always whack it up on the Kindle as a last resort.’ If I had a £1 for every time I heard this from a wannabe novelist, I would be hella rich by now. It seems as if new authors think self-publishing is the bottom of the pile, the ‘easy’ option if you will. It’s the thing you do when you have no other options left. The last resort. Ugh. Oi, Writers: NO! As most veteran Bangers know, I work with writers. The… Read More »Self-Publishing Should NEVER Be A Last Resort. Here’s Why

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Are You Suffering From Feedback Trauma? 5 Ways To Deal With It

On Feedback Trauma Are you suffering from feedback trauma? I don’t just mean hurting over bad reviews, but an experience so awful you feel like a ‘bad’ writer beyond redemption. These traumatic feedback experiences may include but aren’t limited to … Vitriolic feedback and script reports from paid-for readers and contests Screenwriting ‘gurus’ holding up your writing as an example of what NOT to do in classes and online Industry pros shutting you down / dismissing you in pitch meetings Industry pros telling you ‘no one cares’ about subjects dear to your heart in your writing Beta readers and peer… Read More »Are You Suffering From Feedback Trauma? 5 Ways To Deal With It

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3 Top Tips On Describing Your Character’s Appearance

All About Character Appearance Character appearance is a hot topic when it comes writing craft. How much is ‘enough’ or ‘too much’??? Needless to say, individual writers’ mileage may vary on this question. This is one of those ‘piece of string’ questions, but for the purposes of this blog post I will try and narrow it down in discussing the common main points. When it comes to novels, some authors may spend a lot of time on character appearance. Others may do it more intuitively, or leave it almost entirely up to the reader’s imagination. Most novelists will find themselves… Read More »3 Top Tips On Describing Your Character’s Appearance

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10 Top Tips About Bad Reviews

On Bad Reviews All writers suffer bad reviews. If you’ve got one or more from readers, viewers or places you’ve submitted (such as film festivals, agents, publishers, or elsewhere) you will know this heartache. You’re hurt, confused and probably can’t stop obsessing about them. Those bad reviews may be all you can think about, even at the expense of the good ones. This is NORMAL. Our stories are our babies. We’ve spent oodles of our time on them. We’ve probably made all kinds of sacrifices to get them written, submitted, published or produced. Supersadface. So how to deal with these… Read More »10 Top Tips About Bad Reviews

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3 Top Tips From Hardboiled Writer Jim Thompson

All About Jim Thompson (1906 – 1977) Jim Thompson may not be the most immediately recognisable of famous novelist names, but he’s my favourite writer of all time. A screenwriter as well as author, Thompson wrote over thirty novels. Known for hardboiled crime fiction (my ultimate fave subgenre by the way), Thompson received positive critical acclaim, but little commercial notice in his lifetime. His best-received novels include The Killer Inside Me, The Getaway and Pop. 1280. My personal favourite of his is The Grifters. I love Thompson’s work because nearly every person in his stories is not just an antihero,… Read More »3 Top Tips From Hardboiled Writer Jim Thompson

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5 Times It’s Okay To Write Stereotypes (Really!)

Writing Stereotypes So it’s accepted modern writing wisdom that writers should never, ever, ever, ever write stereotypes. A stereotype is a simplification, a short-hand if you will. It’s generally thought nowadays that only BAD writers use stereotypes. But what if I told you stereotypes are a writing TOOL like any other … it just depends how that tool is USED??? Really!! Writers can use stereotypes whenever they want … as long as it’s ON PURPOSE, not by accident. But what does ‘on purpose’ mean? Check out the below and pass it on to your writer friends and followers. Let’s go! 1) For… Read More »5 Times It’s Okay To Write Stereotypes (Really!)

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