We are all social, in the end
Writing is hard. Not coal-mining hard, but emotionally taxing, mentally draining, occasionally soul-wilting. Some days you’ll wonder why you bother. Some days the words won’t flow. Some days you’ll reread a paragraph and question every decision you’ve ever made. But here’s why you keep going: because you have stories to…
Finishing a draft is a milestone many new writers never reach. Not because they lack talent, but because finishing requires stamina, stubbornness, and the ability to ignore the seductive whispers of New Story Ideas that show up precisely when your current project becomes difficult. The middle of a manuscript is…
There’s a persistent belief that real writers write every day, preferably at dawn, possibly while wearing a whimsical scarf and a hat at a jaunty angle. While writing regularly is helpful, turning it into a rigid requirement is a fast track to burnout and creative rebellion, the kind where your…
Writing dialogue is a peculiar skill. We spend our whole lives speaking to people (some of whom we even like), yet the moment we try to write conversation on the page, it comes out stilted, stiff, and strangely formal, like two robots debating philosophy at a polite dinner party. Good…
The world of writing advice is vast, contradictory, and often delivered with the breezy confidence of someone explaining how to assemble flat-pack furniture armed only with optimism, a blunt spoon, and an IKEA instruction manual. One author will insist you must outline every chapter in advance, preferably colour-coded. Another will…
Somewhere along the line, new writers were sold a spectacularly unhelpful lie: the idea that a first draft should emerge fully formed, like a flawless literary diamond sparkling with genius and smelling faintly of accomplishment. According to this myth, you sit down, flex your fingers, and poof! out pours a…
