Writing Magazine

The saying goes that “everyone has a story in them” and it’s the mission of Writing Magazine to help you get yours out. Brought to you by real experts who know what it takes to improve your writing or get published, this monthly magazine is a must-have for all writers. Whether you write fiction, poetry, drama, children’s books, non-fiction or anything else, each issue features tips, practical exercises and real-life advice, that will not only help you get all that creativity onto the paper but also, get your name and profile out into the industry. With writing masterclasses from professionals, industry news, events listings, competitions where you can submit your work for fantastic prizes and real paid writing opportunities, Writing Magazine has everything you need to hone and improve your talents.

DEAR READER

FINDING YOUR VOICE • Voice is the elusive, indefinable quality that makes your writing unique. James McCreet looks at what voice is, and isn’t, and offers advice for developing your own

WHAT’S THE big idea? • One of the biggest stopping points for writers is fretting over whether your idea is ‘big’ enough. Author Hattie Crisell, who has interviewed dozens of writers about their creative approach, believes that the seeds of your best idea are already in you

COLOUR ME IN • Becoming a debut author is never easy, but being a debut author of colour adds extra layers of difficulty to be navigated. Here, two recently published authors and an editor describe what they’ve experienced, and offer their advice

REAL LIFE, great stories • This month, Jenny Alexander invites you to play with different writing templates

RAISING THE originality STAKES • Keeping readers guessing whilst also immersing them in the reading experience is a fine balancing act. Novelist Ellen Wiles shares her thoughts on giving your work an element of the unexpected

JADE SCOTT • The author of a book about Mary Queen of Scots’ correspondence in captivity tells Lynne Hackles about fitting in writing round her life as an academic

LOVE HATE relationship • Romantic novelist Katrina Kendrick looks at the intoxicating appeal of the enemies-to-lovers trope

SEEING THROUGH THE SMOKE • The London crime novel is in the best of hands with Dominic Nolan. He tells Tina Jackson about writing the underworld in his latest novel, White City

EXCLUSIVE CHRISTMAS OFFER

Your writing critiqued • James McCreet applies a forensic micro-critique to the opening of a reader’s long short story

Sound • Learn how to make music with your writing, as author and tutor Ian Ayris explores the sound of the spaces between words

JASMINE ELMER • The classicist and TV personality describes finding her message and following her flow to write her debut work of non-fiction

Puzzle it out • Writing a novel has a lot in common with doing a jigsaw puzzle, say Lynne Hackles

MOLLY GREEN • The saga author provides a timeline of her writing career via five significant books

The world of writing • What goes through a writer’s brain? Readers’ letters and dispatches from the wide world of writing

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: YOUR WRITING Unexpected

POETRY • About Uncle Jack

PROSE • Amen

Subscribers’ news

GET THE write idea • Explore the dramatic potential of negative people and unhappy situations with these writing prompts

Omens of CHANGE • Historical novelist Ellen Alpsten describes why she picked the arrival of a momentous symbol of change as the opening for a book that was not the one she was not expecting to write

SCIENCE MATTERS • Alison Chisholm is impressed by a poem that pays tribute to a genius

Lone wolf or pack animal? • Authors have to choose whether to focus on a single protagonist...