In-Depth Articles About ... Creativity

There are so many different useful tools out there for writers, it can be tricky to figure out which ones you need … and which ones are just a distraction. After 15+ years of freelancing (and even more years of fiction writing and blogging)…

Whatever type of writing you do, you’ve almost certainly come across ChatGPT – a conversational AI (artificial intelligence) tool that can take a “prompt” and return human-sounding writing…

In this year’s Aliventures survey, one person wrote: “When I decide to write for public consumption, my writing becomes stilted and didactic.  I write much more loosely and enjoy it much more when it's just for myself.  This became such a big hurdle for me...

You’ve probably given at least a little bit of thought to how you want to start a writing session. Maybe you gather together specific writing supplies, like your pens and notebook. Perhaps you always play the same music to get you into the writing zone. You might...

I’m taking some time off over the Christmas period – and you might well be doing likewise! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and whatever plans you have this season, I hope you have a wonderful end to the year. If you’ve got some extra reading time over the next...

Maybe you’re finishing 2023 on a high note. You’ve completed the draft of a novel! You’ve published your first book! You’ve won a short story competition! You’ve had your best freelance year so far! Or maybe 2023 didn’t go quite…

While the writing process naturally falls into different broad stages, each of us will have a slightly different personal process for moving through and between those stages. If you try to follow someone else’s creative process…

Previously, I’ve covered finding the best time of day to write … but for many writers, the choice comes down to two prime slots: first thing in the morning or last thing at night. Unless you work shifts, your working hours likely fall…

Hello!  I know it’s been a bit quiet here on the Aliventures blog in recent months.  I wanted to take a bit of time to tell you what I’ve been up to – and what’s coming up over the next few months. Freelancing: It’s Going REALLY Well 🙂 I’ve not been blogging...

This post was originally published in May 2011 and updated in November 2021. How do you figure out whether one of your writing ideas is worth pursuing or not? Maybe you've got a bunch of different ideas for short stories or even for novels, or perhaps you're coming up...

Where do you get your ideas? Whether you’re a blogger, novelist, short story writer, or poet, this question comes up again and again in the writing world. It might seem like some writers just magically “get” writing ideas, out of nowhere. And maybe you’re wondering if…

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. Every finished writing project, big or small, passes through five key stages…

Whether you’re a freelancer, a novelist, a student, or even someone writing as part of a day job, then chances are, you want to write faster. Some writers are naturally faster than others – and some genres and types of writing are inevitably going to be faster to produce than others – there are plenty of things…

If you’ve never written a book before, just the thought of getting that many words down can be daunting. Where do you begin? How do you get from there to the end? Do you really have enough to say to fill up a whole book? Even if you’re not writing a book for the first time, you might feel that you need some extra guidance. Perhaps you muddled through…

It’s very normal to find that writing doesn’t progress so smoothly or quickly as you’d hoped. Maybe your project takes a lot longer to get to grips with than you thought it would – or maybe life gets in the way. I know that’s been the case for a lot of writers, me included, in 2020. But even in a much more normal year…

Are you writing? Do you want to be writing? Every writer I’ve ever known has gone through some sort of “slump” at some point, when they do want to write but they simply don’t have the time, energy or focus to do so. Writing slumps are normal. Going through…

I’ve written before about writing fast versus writing slow – but it’s an issue I wanted to look at again, particularly in terms of how many words per hour or per day is a “good” rate of writing. I’ve come across writers for whom…

Is there one time of day that’s “better” for writing than another? You might feel that there should be a particular time when you’ll be highly focused, or you’re most able to access your creativity. There probably is a “best” time of day – but it won’t be the same...

Are you taking advantage of the best apps and software out there to help you write? Of course, you can absolutely write with a pen in a notebook, or you can use MS Word or whatever word processor came with your computer. But if you’re struggling to get your writing...

  Note: This post was originally published in February 2016, and was updated in March 2020. Does writing ever (or often) feel like just another thing on your to-do list? If you’ve been writing for years, it can sometimes be tough to remember just why you wanted to...

This is the second post in a month-long series about procrastination. You can find the first post here: Three All-Too-Common Writing Fears Holding You Back … and How to Beat Them. In the Aliventures survey a couple of weeks ago, one reader wrote: “When I have the time...

Could you write a novel on your phone? No? How about drafting all your blog posts there? Maybe the very idea sounds ridiculous. Tapping out a text message onto the screen is bad enough – writing a novel would take forever. Well, I used to think that too. And now I’ve...

Do you have several different writing projects on the go? Maybe you have a blog, plus you’re working on a novel. You also have a few short stories that you want to revisit and find markets for, and you’re thinking about trying something new, like poetry or...

I mentioned in the Aliventures newsletter a couple of weeks ago that I finished NaNo on 23,000 words: not all that close to the 50,000 words I'd been aiming for! So what happened? Several things: I had a bad cold, my kids were poorly, and we had a few unexpected...

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:

Back when I was a student, I had long vacations. Sometimes, I’d attend my previous writing group, back in my home town, where members would bring about 1,000 words of their work-in-progress to read each Monday evening. Guess how many words I wrote each...

Do you see your writing as a profession or a hobby? Or both? While some writers insist that writing is much more than a hobby – it’s a job, a business, even a calling – you might find it helpful to (at least some of the time) treat it like a hobby. I know...

Do you belong to a writers’ group? Some authors don’t feel they have much benefit ... and I’ll agree that if you’ve got several published books that are selling well, you’re probably rather beyond the local writers’ circle stage of things. If you’re at an...

Over the years, I’ve taken quite a few writing courses and classes, both online and in person. They’ve ranged from afternoon workshops to a two year part-time Masters degree. On the whole, the courses I’ve taken have been very helpful. But I know just how...

By a lot of people’s standards, I’m a pretty fast writer. For the last 12 years or so, I’ve been able to comfortably produce 1,000 words an hour (sometimes to the envy of writing group peers). I write most days – though I don’t always spend as much time...

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a writer who was a full-on extrovert. Most of us tend towards the introvert end of the spectrum. And many of us struggle with networking. Let’s face it, anyone who wants to spend lots of time alone with their thoughts,...

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a newsletter titled – like this post – “Can you call yourself a writer if you’re not currently writing?” It got a great response ... and I realised I’d hit on a subject that quite a few writers are concerned about. So if...

Did your writing go as well in 2013 as you hoped? If not, you’re definitely not alone! My plans didn’t quite work out either. In fact, “plans” is probably a bit generous. Often, what I have are writing dreams – “finish my novel this year” or “find time to...

I'm very pleased to have a guest post up on Bryan Hutchinson's Positive Writer blog today, titled Are You Unwittingly Sabotaging Yourself by Talking About Your Writing?  It covers a couple of problems that talking about your writing can cause, and...

Image from Flickr by William Brawley In this month’s seminar for Writers’ Huddle, I talked about resistance – a powerful force that can stop us writing, if misunderstood and unchecked. Resistance is feeling you don’t want to do something – even when you...

  Image from Flickr by thepinkpeppercorn Ali: This is a guest post from Jessica Flory of Story Tips. I know I’ve had times in my writing life when I’ve felt fed up, disillusioned, or frustrated – and sometimes I’ve not written for months at a stretch....

I used to have a lot of fuzzy ideas about the writing life. From my early teens, I knew I wanted a career as a writer ... but I had no clear picture of what that involved. Since then, I’ve slowly wised up to the realities (and the joys, and the...

Image from Flickr by lethaargic Last month, I featured Six Powerful Quotes to Get You Writing from Barry Demp, who’s a great business coach from Troy, Michigan. Several readers mentioned how much they’d enjoyed those quotes ... and I’m thrilled to be...