Archive of Posts | Aliventures

You can find all the past posts on Aliventures here:

(12 Nov) Eight Easy(ish) Ways to Finish the First Draft of Your Novel (Fiction)
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month – maybe you are too? (For the uninitiated, “NaNoWriMo” stands for National Novel Writing Month. It happens every November, where people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.) This is the eight book-length piece of fiction I’ve
(05 Nov) What Can You Write About if You Don’t Have Any Ideas? (Writing)
This is a familiar situation for a lot of writers. You want to write – but you don’t have an idea to actually write about. Whether you’re working on blog posts, novels, short stories, or something else entirely, you need ideas. And it can sometimes feel that ideas are in very short supply. You might well be able...
(29 Oct) Seven Ways to Start a Blog Post … and Seven Ways to Finish It (Blogging)
Where do you get typically get stuck when you’re writing a blog post? For a lot of bloggers, the first few lines of the post – and the last few – are really tough. You might have a perfectly good plan for what’s going to come later … but you just don’t know how to begin...
(23 Oct) How to Make Faster Progress on Your Writing Project: Ten Crucial Steps (Writing)
(15 Oct) Twelve Excuses Writers Make (and How to Overcome Them) (Writing)
What are your excuses for not writing? I’m sure they’re good ones, because I have plenty of good excuses, too! And I don’t want you to think I’m being dismissive or unkind about your excuses – our reasons for not writing are generally based on real difficulties, or real fears. So if you’ve used any of the excuses on this list...
(08 Oct) Seven Reasons to Try Freelance Writing (Even if You’ve Never Considered it Before) (Writing)
I got into freelancing by accident. Almost eleven years ago now, I started a blog (not this one – it took me a couple of attempts to settle on a homebase online). To try to get more readers, I submitted a “guest post” to a much bigger blog...
(01 Oct) Welcome Back to Aliventures: Here’s What’s New (News)
It’s taken me a little longer than I’d hoped … but the new Aliventures is now here! Hurrah! (And welcome back.) 🙂 If you’re reading this on the website, rather than in your inbox or RSS reader, you’ll see that things are looking quite different! This is what the front page of the site used to look like:
(06 Aug) Your Summer Reading: The Blogger’s Guides, Study Packs, Blog Posts, and Novels (Writing)
(23 Jul) The Two Scenes in Your Novel That Will Need the Most Rewriting (Fiction)
Novels are tricky. There’s so much to juggle that no-one gets it quite right the first time round … and most authors end up doing wholesale rewrites, rather than just making a few editorial tweaks. I’ve come to accept that rewriting is just part...
(17 Jul) The Four Essential Stages of Writing (for Anything You’re Working On) (Writing)
Do you struggle to focus when you’re writing, or do you find yourself starting and stopping a lot? It might be because you’re skipping certain stages of the writing process without even realising. In my post, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, I cover...
(25 Jun) The Right Way to Expand a Too-Short Piece of Writing (Writing)
One common issue that standard writing advice covers is how to cut down your first draft. And this advice comes up time and time again for a good reason. It’s easy to over-write, perhaps telling the reader things that you’ve already shown them, or using five words where...
(18 Jun) 15 Ways to Make Your Characters Suffer (for the Good of Your Novel) (Craft)
(11 Jun) Three Things to Do Before You Start Freelance Writing … and Three Things Not to Bother With (Freelancing)
Are you thinking about freelancing? I’ve known a lot of writers who spent quite a while in the “thinking” stage without moving forward. It’s very understandable. Launching a freelancing career can feel like an enormous step...
(04 Jun) Choosing the Right Viewpoint and Tense for Your Fiction [With Examples] (Fiction)
Who’s telling your story? Perhaps the choice is easy and obvious: you’re writing from a particular character’s viewpoint in the first person (“I”) and the whole story is from their perspective. Or perhaps it’s trickier than that. You’ve got a story to tell...
(21 May) Announcing: Blog On – Completely Rewritten for Spring 2018 (Here’s Why) (Blogging)
(14 May) Everything You Need to Know About Writing Brilliant Blog Posts (Writing)
(30 Apr) Five Easy Ways to Write in a More Conversational Style (Blogging)
(23 Apr) “Show, Don’t Tell” Doesn’t Always Apply: Here’s What You Need to Know (Writing)
(16 Apr) Why You Should Stick to One Name for Each Character in Your Novel (Fiction)
(11 Apr) How Do You Divide Your Novel into Chapters? (Fiction)
(27 Mar) Why Having Grit is So Important for Writers … and Three Ways to Improve Yours [Guest Post] (Business)
(19 Mar) The Three Stages of Editing (and Nine Handy Do-it-Yourself Tips) (Editing)
(12 Mar) Four More Dangerous Pieces of Advice for (Fiction) Writers (Writing)
(05 Mar) Four Dangerous Pieces of Advice for Writers (And What to Do Instead) (Writing)
(26 Feb) Three Different Ways to Approach Blogging as a Novelist [With Examples] (Blogging)
(15 Feb) Could Firmer Boundaries Help You Dramatically Increase How Much You Write? (Creativity)
(05 Feb) Seven Ways to Market Your Self-Published Novel (Marketing)
(30 Jan) Your Website is Always a Work in Progress (Marketing)
(22 Jan) When Can You Call Yourself a “Writer”? (Art)
(15 Jan) Three Ridiculous Moans from New Writers … and How I’d Respond (Business)