How to Improve Your Writing

"Far too many would-be writers greet a problem with a weary groan and then give up. What I'm offering is a complete, holistic approach to writing that will see your work improve and hopefully become a little easier too. And I am throwing in a good handful of small techniques, little tricks, and other food for thought."Are you struggling to find your own voice as a writer? Or maybe you're producing work, but few people are interested? Learn the different ways you can suspend your audience's disbelief. Discover techniques such as putting 'markers' in a reader's mind, and how to put the influences round you to good use. Find out about pitfalls like the 'false start' to a story. Should you have a go at copying your favorite authors? Why ought you listen to your inner voice, and what exactly does that mean?This book explains how the process of writing really works and helps you find your own way through it, with pages of analysis and serious advice, all gleaned from decades of professional experience and with examples from the best fiction of Stephen King and Susan Hill. This extended 2nd Edition contains the brand-new chapters HOW TO DEFEAT SELF DOUBT and FIVE SURE WAYS TO HELP YOUR FICTION SELL. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tony Richards has spent forty years writing fiction for leading genre publications such as Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's SF, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, The 3rd Alternative, The Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, Armada Ghosts, and Midnight Street. His novels have been published by Pan MacMillan, Telos Publishing and Headline Books in the UK, and Schusters, HarperCollins, Tor Books and Dark Regions Press in the United States. His latest two - eighth and ninth - collections of short stories are currently in print, with a ghost novel out shortly and a new crime novel due in early 2017, and his work has been shortlisted for the HWA and British Fantasy awards."A master of the art" - Black Static magazine."Whether his story is set in a modern Canadian city or a remote location in Africa, you'll see not only the sights and sounds, but also smell and taste the air. In short, you'll be transported. Tony Richards always gets it right; whenever he's writing about a place he's convincing. And that's what we call a writer's writer" - editor and publisher John Pelan.