My Friday Fiction extract this week comes from a manuscript that waits patiently in the background for me to edit it. In the meantime, I often find myself delving in to it looking for interesting passages to share for this weekly post. I chose this piece as it fits...
Developing Your Writing – From Story Ideas to Full Blown Novels
I regularly blog about how to find writing inspiration: from music, images and paintings, stories, inanimate objects and even Literary Agent’s wish lists, inspiration is everywhere. Sit in a café or on a park bench for half an hour and you’re likely to spot an...
Friday Fiction – Dark Days
This is a scene from the story I'm working on at the moment. It is an exchange between the main protagonist (Jake) and his brother (Mattie). I hope you enjoy it. ‘You don’t remember anything from back then do you?’ he says, shaking his head in disbelief. I feel hot...
Children’s Picture Books and Moving On
We met children's book illustrator and author, Katherine McEwan at my writing group last week. What a lovely lady she is and such beautiful work too. People might think it's easy to write picture books when in fact the opposite is true. The word count is limited and...
Friday Fiction – The Departing
Anna sat, consciously unmoving in the leather chair of the Headmaster’s office, aware that any sudden movement might make the old leather groan and squeak to penetrate the already tense and embarrassing silence. Though a fully grown adult with three young children,...
Reading for Research Purposes
Do you read for the purpose of research when you are writing? Or do you save reading purely for pleasure? I don't ever finding reading a chore, but sometimes my choice of books is dependent on what I am wriitng. Some people don't read at all when they're in the...
Friday Fiction Is Changing
I've been writing weekly fiction posts for some time now and I created the Friday Fiction link so that others could join me. It's difficult to come up with new material week after week though, so I'm widening the remit of this slot to include book reviews. I already...
Is It Ever Too Late To Save A Story?
When I came across the ten to one story, I knew I had to try it for myself. That set me off looking for similar writing exercises and I found and completed another three. Lots of you joined in too and it was great to see the variations in interpretation and ideas. The...
Friday Fiction – NaNoWriMo re-visit
Welcome to Friday Fiction. Thanks to those who came along last week and linked up. It was nice to be back and I enjoyed reading your stories. This week I've chosen an extract from the novel I wrote for NanoWrimo. I haven't had much time to work on it, as I've been...
Friday Fiction – The Outsider, by Emily Organ
Welcome to Friday Fiction. I'm excited to have guest author, Emily Organ taking over this post today with an extract of her new book, The Outsider. I hope you enjoy reading it. Don't forget the link is open as usual, so it would be lovely to read and share your own...
Friday Fiction – Living Up To The Challenge
Hello and welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction link up. I have a short story today - a stand alone story, not related to anything else I am working on. I hope you enjoy it and maybe it will inspire you to write your own short story or flash fiction piece....
Friday Fiction – Some Tough Decisions
Welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction post and link-up. Thanks to all those who dropped by last week to read and add their own work. It's great to have the company here at Nikki Young Writes! The link is open for adding your posts (see the blue frog link at the...
Creating Fictional Characters
Writing inspiration can come from many sources, whether it's through music, images, or newspaper articles. It can also come from the most unlikely of sources and when my son came home with this painting he had created at school, I immediately fell in love with this...
Friday Fiction – The Girl on the Outside
Welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction post. It's also an opportunity to link up your own fiction posts, so if you are working on anything at the moment, please feel free to share it here (using the blue frog link below). Thanks to those who joined in last week....
What is your most creative time of day?
When do you write - in the morning, late in the evening? Are you at your most creative when surrounded by noise - music, coffee shop chatter, or do you prefer silence? Some people can write any place, any time. If finding the time to write is an issue, it's a case of...
Friday Fiction – Gift
Welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction post. It's also an opportunity to link up your own fiction posts, so if you are working on anything at the moment, please feel free to share it here (using the blue frog link below). Thanks to those who joined in last week....
Friday Fiction – Anticipation
Welcome to Friday Fiction, my weekly fiction post. It's also an opportunity to link up your own fiction posts, so if you are working on anything at the moment, please feel free to share it here (using the blue frog link below). Thanks to those who joined in last week....
Clichés and Adverbs – Editing your Work
This weekend I spent a lot of time editing my manuscript. As I said last week, I had to stop and take a step back from it in order to check that I was going in the right direction. I decided to start editing from the beginning, especially after giving the first few...
Friday Fiction – A to Z Story
Welcome to Friday Fiction. Regular visitors will know that I share a fictional piece here every week and invite others to link up their own work. Thanks to all those who linked up last week. It's great to see so many of you trying the exercises that I've been...
Story Structure
If all stories were as simple as a beginning, middle and end, then writing a novel would be easy. They would also be a bit dull, which is why longer stories are structured to include sub plots. Yes, there is still a beginning, middle and end, but it's not quite as...