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The Creative Posts

The Bare Bones of Horror Writing

by Annette Young

We all have our favourite genres in which to write and if you wish to craft a terrifying horror story, you need to understand the vital components, immersing yourself deep within the plot. By doing so, you begin to feel the suspense and trepidation as if held captive within the moment.  Your story has to be original, take the bare bones of all that makes horror so vital and then add a sense of uniqueness to your story.

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Writing the Murder Mystery – Crawl inside the Mind of the Reader

by Annette Young

When writing a murder mystery story, you have to create far more than an engaging story, after all, your aim has to be to ensure that readers keep turning those pages, and to do so, you have to think about what they really need from your creative endeavours. When a potential reader chooses your book, they will be looking for a number of things – good characterisation, drama, a strong storyline and one written convincingly. They also want to be plunged into a mystery that grips them from the opening pages and where the drama escalates in a convincing way, and where the plot deepens through a series of revelations.

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Writing a Murder Mystery? Get Inside the Mind of the Victim

by Annette J Young

A murder mystery story takes many forms. It requires forethought and careful planning to tie all the threads of an in-depth plot together. Each aspect is important. Many people focus on the murderer but what of the victim? You have to understand their importance within the story too. In my own novel, I decided that the victim would die right at the start of the book, my aim was to create impact and drama hooking the reader from the opening pages. Compassion for the victim and for those who were left behind were built into the story so that the reader could share the sense of disbelief and grief.

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Step Inside the Mind of a Killer

by Annette Young

I’ve long been a fan of crime novels enjoying the cat and mouse game of murderer versus crime solving sleuth but as a writer, there are important steps to take if you wish to create a killer with more than a dash of evil. When I write, I strip back the layers of characterisation and then replace them but emphasise those darker, alternate aspects so that my character is capable of committing my chosen crime. So instead of the character having reason, logic and empathy, there may only be a deeply rooted need to murder someone whether for pleasure or for some perverted sense of justice.  I create a clinical sense of logic and reason – relative only to this character’s goals.

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Don’t Be Fooled By Shiny Magic Buttons

by Annette Young

We live in a disposable society – do you know that?

People rarely want to work hard and climb the ladder towards the top of their chosen field, it’s all too easy to take shortcuts these days. With the onset of digital publishing, writers are a little like that too. I’m all for the great opportunities that companies such as Amazon have brought to the writing world, but it doesn’t mean that those who wish to jump onto the publishing band wagon should not provide high quality material.  Real writers- who have words running through their veins, have worked exceptionally hard to learn their craft and to earn their publishing stripes. They are proud of the work they produce and they market it with pride – and rightly so. We’ve probably all read some books that really should not have been published and that’s a shame.

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The Nomadic Writer

by Annette Young

I make no secret of the fact that I love to travel and, I suspect, there’s a whole lot more travelling to do in the future, it really is a case of ‘have laptop will travel’. I get to work in the most amazing of places and literally fill my senses with the most glorious of views. When I wake up in the morning, the sun is shining in through the window, the birds are singing and yet there is such a relaxed feel to the air. Life is certainly less frantic in Spain than in my native England, it’s easy to fit into the pace of life here – even for a workaholic like me. The trick is to absorb life as it unfolds around you and to use it to fuel future writing goals.

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So You Want to Write a Novel?

by Annette Young

I believe we all yearn to write a novel at some point but now, there are even greater reasons for actually doing so. Writers can now get their novels published easily, self-publishing is acceptable and why not? There’s thousands, no, millions of fantastic novels that get turned down by traditional publishers. When you consider that J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter book was turned down by 12 such publishers, you can see that self-publishing really is a writer’s new best friend. Unlimited opportunities and potential for the creatively minded.

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Writing Fiction? Don’t Forget the Building Blocks of Characterisation

by Annette Young

When writing fiction, one of the trickiest elements is being able to create the solid building blocks of good characterisation. Even if you are eager to dip into the writing process, you shouldn’t bypass this stage because you will only end up performing an awful lot of re-writes. Failure to consider these building blocks will certainly impact your ability to create characters that seem real. If they don’t act naturally, are not compelling or believable, then you will certainly lose that connection with the reader.

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Freelance Writing and Creative Writing

By Annette Young

The advice given to new writers is often to carve out a niche area and stick to it and they are right…. to a degree. But  I remember when I took my first serious steps towards writing, I didn’t know what niche area to focus on – freelance writing or creative writing, frankly, I wanted to do it all. I was brimming over with ideas and just loved the experience of writing and learning. I tried to focus on just one project, but it was impossible.

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Creative Writing – Never Give Up

by Annette Young

It’s all too easy to give up on your dreams in life – whatever they may be. Achieving any desired goal is…well,  hard work and it takes dedication. In creative writing terms, the road to publication may seem a long and arduous one filled with little traps to keep you from succeeding. You can be forgiven for having self-doubts and wondering if you will ever learn all of the essential elements necessary to write well. Each technique after all needs to be effortless and it has to be fluid.

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Creative Writing – When the Words Come Tumbling Down

by Annette Young

Creative writing can be a wonderfully relaxing pastime but more than that, it can be therapeutic too and used to enrich your writing in ways than you cannot imagine unless you connect with your buried emotions. We all have moments of sadness and emotional pain – whether through grief, relationship breakdowns or simply moments when life frustratingly goes wrong. Trapped emotions can be damaging – we can remain stagnant if not careful.Life throws a myriad of obstacles and often unwarranted events in our way and this pain can intensify and remain trapped within.

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