Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts

Monday, 24 February 2025

Publication of Joan Didion’s journal creates an ethical literary dilemma

Joan Didion has been a monumental influence on countless writers, including myself. Her works, from Slouching Towards Bethlehem to The Year of Magical Thinking, have profoundly shaped modern literature.

Anything new by her is a major literary event. So, the recent announcement of the posthumous publication of her personal journal, Notes to John, has ignited a significant ethical debate within the literary world.

Yes, it is exciting to see Didion's unpublished work, but is it right to publish her personal journals? Especially those detailing conversations with her psychiatrist?

Wednesday, 12 February 2025

Dialogue that does double duty: How to advance plot and reveal character

Dialogue isn’t just there to make characters sound like they’re speaking. It’s one of the most powerful


tools in a novelist’s kit. The right line of dialogue can move the story forward, deepen a character’s personality, and sometimes even hint at future conflicts. 

When your dialogue serves multiple purposes, it pulls more weight, making your prose more efficient and engaging. Here are four well-known literary examples of how you can achieve this.

Monday, 10 February 2025

How to develop character backstories that bring your novel to life

Every character, even those that appear briefly, benefits from a backstory. Understanding their past not


only aids in writing them more convincingly—it also makes them feel more real, both to you and your readers. This doesn’t imply cramming pages of history into the novel, but possessing a profound understanding of their origins will manifest in subtle, impactful ways.

Thursday, 2 January 2025

The Young V&A Bookshop


The Young V&A
 is an inspirational, active, and fun place for kids (and adults). 

It is brilliantly curated and designed in every corner. Better still, it has a friendly little bookshop, where I came across these rather lovely-looking editions today.