If you liked The Secret History, you’ll love these five dark, literary campus novels

If you’re anything like me, finishing The Secret History leaves a strange kind of void. Donna Tartt’s literary debut is one of those once-in-a-decade novels: intellectually rich, psychologically intense, and impossible to put down. 

It’s a story steeped in atmosphere, with characters who linger in your mind and a setting that feels like it exists outside of time. If you’re looking for books matching that experience, I’ve rounded up five novels that channel similar dark academia energy, moral complexity, and obsession-fuelled tension.

How to write your novel in three drafts: the method that keeps you moving forward

Writing a novel can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to perfect every page as you go. But what if you didn’t have to get it right the first time? What if, instead, you focused on getting it down, shaping it later, and only polishing once the story is in place?

That’s the power of the three-draft method — an approach popularised by Matt Bell in his excellent craft book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts. At its heart, this method gives writers structure, clarity and, perhaps most importantly, permission to keep going when things feel messy.

Here's how it works:

The writing struggle is real: how to beat procrastination and get the words down

Revising this latest book has been tough – and that’s with an outline. The story is there, the chapters mapped out, but the act of sitting down and actually doing it? That’s the hard part.

I’ve always found that writing doesn’t get easier just because you know what comes next. 

When to break the rules of writing: how and why to Experiment

There’s a point in every writer’s journey when you realise the rules, the ones you've been diligently following, are not commandments but conventions. They're guidelines. Or handrails. Ideas that work brilliantly until they don’t. And sometimes, the best writing happens when you break them.

This isn’t a green light for chaos. You have to know the rules before you break them. You have to understand how rhythm works before you fragment a sentence. You need to learn what a story arc is before you bend it, or break it. But once you do, experimentation can lead to extraordinary storytelling.

So when should you consider breaking the rules? And how can you do it well? Luckily there are loads of great examples. 

Joan Didion and the art of emotional precision: What writers can learn from her style

Joan Didion never wasted a word. Her prose was as spare as it was surgical. It was a style that she forged as a journalist and later honed in her essays and fiction that cut to the heart of American life. For writers and readers alike, there's so much to learn from her technique, especially in a cultural moment saturated with overstatement and noise. If there was one takeaway from Didion’s writing, it’s that less is more.

The incredible shrinking novel: why short fiction is having a big moment

In a world of content overload, time-poor readers are gravitating toward something they can actually finish: short novels. Once the preserve of indie publishers and experimental authors, the slim literary novel is now front and centre, scooping prizes, going viral on BookTok, and dominating bookshop displays.

From Claire Keegan's Small Things Like These to Samantha Harvey's Orbital, these compact works of fiction pack a punch around 200 pages. No filler. No indulgent middle act. Just distilled intensity, executed with precision. 

The 'by zombies' test: how to spot (and fix) passive voice in your writing

Ever feel like some of your sentences were written by zombies? If your writing sounds a bit lifeless or unclear, you might be falling into the passive voice trap. This post explores a fun trick called the 'by zombies' test – a simple way to spot passive voice – and explains why switching to active voice can bring your prose back to life. That’s why it matters so much in fiction and journalism, and why so many writers have something to say about it.

The second draft survival guide: 10 tips on editing your novel

Completing the first draft of your novel is a major achievement to celebrate. You’re already in the top 3% (97% of people who start writing books and never finish). 

But the journey to a polished manuscript has only just begun. Now comes the editing and your next two to three drafts.

According to Deborah Levy, author of Hot Milk and The Cost of Living: "Editing is the most wonderful part of writing. It begins to roar in the edit." Embracing the editing process is crucial to transforming your initial draft into a compelling narrative that will grab the attention of literary agents and book editors.

These ten tips are ones I’ve always found helpful after that crucial first draft is done.

AI’s growing ability to write creatively like us

AI is no longer just generating dry, robotic text. It’s now writing compelling fiction. OpenAI’s latest model has demonstrated an ability to craft stories with depth, emotion, and narrative structure that rivals human creativity. CEO Sam Altman recently shared a short story generated by AI that was not just coherent but hauntingly resonant, sparking a wave of discussion about what this means for the future of literature.

Jeanette Winterson, a long-time advocate for technological innovation in storytelling, believes this shift is not something to fear but to embrace. She describes AI as “alternative intelligence”, suggesting that its ability to be other might be precisely what human writers need—pushing creative boundaries, offering new perspectives, and reimagining storytelling. 

The art of the campus novel – what makes them work, and which are the best?

Writing about Donna Tartt last week and The Secret History got me thinking about the campus novel.  

I’ve always been fascinated by this sub-literary genre, from what makes it work to why it continues to captivate readers and how it manages to be both intensely specific and universally resonant. 

The best campus novels transport us to a world of intellectual ambition, youthful recklessness, and, often, profound disillusionment. They capture a moment in life where identity, relationships, and ambition collide.

But what exactly makes a great campus novel, and which books best define the ever-growing genre? 

Crafting the perfect opening lines of a novel

Do you need a killer opening line for your novel? Or is there an alternative way to draw readers in right from the start? 

I'm slightly obsessed by the opening lines of novels, and for me, the opening line isn’t merely about crafting a flashy hook; it’s about setting the tone, sparking curiosity, and providing readers with a reason to keep turning the pages. A brilliant first sentence generates intrigue and anticipation, drawing the audience into your story before they even realise it.

A guide to reading Joan Didion

I’m a big fan of Joan Didion. I’ve read most of her published works, with her novel Play It As It Lays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and The Year of Magical Thinking among my favourites. What I’ve always appreciated about her writing is the precision and emotional depth she brings to her words. Few others come close. She possessed an unmatched ability to distil complex emotions and cultural shifts into sentences that feel both effortless and weighty.

Joan Didion's writing is a masterclass in precision and insight. Her distinctive style, marked by pared-down, rigorous prose, captured the nuances of American life and personal introspection. As a leading figure in the New Journalism movement of the 1960s, Didion's work blended literary flair with journalistic integrity, offering readers a profound lens through which to view the world.