At what point did making books harder to read become a sign of literary quality?

Every so often I pick up a literary novel, settle into my favourite chair, turn the first page and immediately find myself playing a game of "who's actually speaking?"

There are no quotation marks. Dialogue drifts into narration. Characters merge together. Paragraphs stretch for pages with barely a full stop to catch your breath.

It isn't long before I'm no longer immersed in the story. Instead, I'm decoding it.

What makes a distinctive sentence?

There are some writers I can recognise within a paragraph. Occasionally within a line.

Not because they repeat themselves, and not because they are full of obvious flourishes, but because their sentences carry a particular pressure, rhythm, and intelligence. A distinctive sentence is not just decorative. It reveals how a writer sees.

The setting as a character, and why the places in some novels stay with you

Some books leave you with a plot. Others leave you with a place.

You finish the last page and realise what you miss most is not the twist or the romance or even the protagonist. It is the street, the house, the river, the city at dusk. The particular kind of light that only exists in that fictional world.

Why does every bestseller sound the same? A mini manifesto against beige prose

Pick up any recent bestseller and you’ll notice it. The prose is clean. Efficient. Emotionally calibrated within an inch of its life. And, yet, somehow, utterly indistinct.

This is beige prose, smooth, flavourless, and engineered for mass readability. It’s not bad writing, exactly. In fact, that’s the problem. It’s technically correct, but soulfully inert. A style that’s been edited within an inch of meaning. Every sentence feels like it’s been test-marketed, stripped of friction, and dunked in lukewarm relatability.

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Yes, it is exciting to see Didion's unpublished work, but is it right to publish her personal journals?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?

How to nail the crucial first five pages of your novel

I recently wrote about books that can help with style and craft when writing your novel, and now I want to look at those crucial first five pages. 

When it comes to capturing the attention of a literary agent, these opening pages are make-or-break territory. 

Stream-of-consciousness in novel writing: what it is and why it matters

Stream-of-consciousness writing has always fascinated me when it comes to writing novels. It can dive into the intricate flow of thoughts and emotions that feel unique and personal. 

Stream-of-consciousness might initially sound daunting and a bit trippy, but anyone can experiment with it.