

The Genius of the Poem ‘Kubla Khan’
It’s part of the legend of the composition of the poem ‘Kubla Khan’ that it arose out of drug-induced reverie. Poet Samuel Taylor...


7 Steps to Create a Good Detective Story
Detective stories are amongst the most popular genre of tale in the modern age, and it’s not hard to see why. Set in a recognisably...


Andrew Marvell's 'The Garden'
I lived for some years on Highgate Hill in North London. A small statue of a black cat, protected from passers-by by a cage, supposedly...


Readers Are Your Employers
Think of readers as your employers for a moment.  They have a job that they need doing. They’ve (potentially) turned to you to do it.  ...


Changing Views of the World: C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield
As discussed in an earlier blog entry , C. S. Lewis’s last book, The Discarded Image , introduces modern readers to the now-largely-lost...


The Darkening of Comics
’Initially, Watchmen  gained a lot of its readership because it was taking an unusual look at superheroes, but actually it was more about...


Core Needs
In your work, you must have some kind of idea of what you are offering to the public, even if you are still in the planning stage. You...


Becoming a Truly Successful Fiction Writer
To be a truly successful fiction writer, attracting readers must happen on every page of your work - ideally, with every line. Â Over the...