Building character

Building character

Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Two main elements in a book are plot and character.  Both are vitally important.. Your book must be populated by characters that seem real.  Okay, they may be ghosts, zombies or aliens, but they have to be...
Writing with purpose

Writing with purpose

Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Writing your book, even if it’s a short one, is going to be a marathon.  That can be daunting, knowing the hours of work you’ll have to devote to it. But just accept that it will take a long time to write.  In...
Making it real

Making it real

Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers EM Forster wrote that a story ‘can only have one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. ‘A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality – “The king died and...
Context revisited

Context revisited

Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers As I wrote in a recent blog the four elements that go together to form a novel are context, plot, characterisation, and conflict resolution. All play a part in every novel ever written.  Get the balance right,...