Writing Outside the Box

In order to make memories, you have to actually do things! Travelling, day trips, evenings out - it's all part of living a better life...

Here are my top tips for writing good novels: 1. Do all the background work and the rest will follow. You have to prepare in order to...

This week's reading is a short story by Erini Katopodis. It has really interesting themes and I'd highly recommend you reading it before...

The novel is the longest type of story we will be looking at, and they are typically around 80,000-120,000 words. Of course, this is...

The final type of story we will be discussing this month is the novel. This is the longest type we will be looking at, and it is...

This week we're going to be looking at the novella. A novella is longer than a short story, but shorter than a novel. Again, there is...

Similarly to flash fiction, there is no exact definition of a short story. Short stories tend to be a few pages which can generally be...

This week we'll be discussing the short story. Short stories are longer than flash fictions: they have a more developed plot, but can...

Here are my top tips for writing good flash fiction: 1. Read lots of other flash fiction. I really can't recommend this enough - and...

This week we're looking at a great example of a flash fiction by Emily Devane. If you missed it, you can find it here:...

A flash fiction is a very short story, usually only consisting of a few hundred words, although there is no real boundary. If you are...

This month, our focus is going to be types of story. We'll start by looking at flash fiction - don't forget to read this week's story...

The rise-fall-rise plot, otherwise known as the Cinderella plot, looks like this: This is the most basic iteration of the plot, and Kurt...

The next plot we're looking at is the fall-rise plot, also known as the man in a hole plot: This tale invokes a more emotional response...

This week we were looking at a short piece by Mia Couto, if you missed it you can find it here: http://www.massreview.org/sites/default/f...

The first of the "happy ending" plots we'll be looking at is the classic rising plot, sometimes referred to as the Rags to Riches plot:...

The fall-rise-fall plot (also known as the Oedipus plot) looks like this: This plot is named after Sophocles' play Oedipus Rex. The...

The rise-fall plot, also known as the Icarus plot, looks like this: This is probably the type of plot you learnt early on in your...

Obviously, no two plots are the same, but there are some tried and tested plot structures that work, and this week I'm going to be...

It's the last week of this month's theme - features of writing. We're going to be looking at plot. The idea for a plot is probably the...