How to Create Tension – Am I Keeping You in Suspense?

Suspense is the tension that is created when you are waiting for something to happen. You might be waiting for news of a loved one; you might be waiting to see if the creak on the stair which sounded suspiciously like a footfall sounds again; you might be waiting,...
The Literary Come-On

The Literary Come-On

Ooh, I’ve been writing so hard I feel as if my head is spinning and I could easily have parked my bicycle high on the wall of this French restaurant and in fact perhaps I did! Although I hardly know whether I’m on my head on my heels, I do recall rash...

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My True Love Sent to Me…

…Twelve Drummers Drumming! I imagine the sound as urgent and climactic, rallying the listener (and in this case the reader) onwards. Drums, whether at a gig or on the field of battle, are there to energise and inspire, setting the pace for a song or a march, and...

An Alphabet of Better Writing # W

W is for…Warp and Weft…and weavers, who when they are working (so much alliteration), stretch one set of threads across their looms (the warp) so that a second set (the weft) can be woven through it.  When you are weaving this creates fabric, when you...