Helping Authors to Get their Writing
'Publisher Perfect'
Advice for Novelists and Crime Writers
Never forget the famous advice summed up in the words 'Chekhov's gun.' Around the year 1900 the Russian novelist Anton Chekhov made the point that anything featured early on in a novel has to play an important role later. If your opening chapter directs your readers' attention to a gun on a wall make sure it gets fired!
Tip of the Month
August 2025
Keep jargon to a minimum. Write what you mean and mean what you write. Save gobbledygook for silly or evasive characters.
Tip of the Month
September 2025
Don't load your work with too many adverbs and adjectives. Let's take adverbs, and 'speech tags' in particular.
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It's all too easy to write the following:
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He said angrily.
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She remarked uncertainly
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He whispered confidingly.
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He said, his voice breaking in evident cowardice.
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Now let's re-write them:
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He barked.
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She murmured (with her hand half over her mouth).
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He whispered.
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He whimpered.
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The general message is 'choose your verb and save your adverb.' As for the second sentence's hand over mouth option, remember that a picture can count for a lot!
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