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Melanie Kirk
Aug 11, 20224 min read
Five Tips for Writing Realistic Dialogue
I’ll start by saying you should not aim to write dialogue that's indistinguishable from something you would hear on the street.
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Melanie Kirk
Jul 28, 20226 min read
7 Tips for Writing a Great Romance Novel
Romance is consistently one of the top-telling genres out there, and probably always will be for the simple reason that readers love reading
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Melanie Kirk
Jul 18, 20223 min read
30 Essential Questions to Ask a Beta Reader
30 essential questions to ask a beta reader.
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Melanie Kirk
Jul 6, 20226 min read
Novel Too Long? How to Avoid Overwriting in Fiction and Reduce Your Wordcount
There are two types of writer: underwriters and overwriters. Personally, I’m a serious underwriter. My first drafts typically run to 50...
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Melanie Kirk
Jun 9, 20224 min read
Using Adverbs in Fiction
First off, let’s talk about what an adverb actually is. Cambridge Dictionary has a nice definition: a word that describes or gives more...
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Melanie Kirk
May 20, 20223 min read
Junk Words to Cut From Your Novel
This blog post is partly inspired by having recently re-edited my own 2018 novel. Four years of distance have allowed me to read it with...
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Melanie Kirk
Apr 14, 20223 min read
How to Use Dialogue Tags in Fiction
What is a Dialogue Tag? A dialogue tag is a short phrase used to denote when a character is speaking, for example “he said”/“she...
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Melanie Kirk
Jan 25, 20224 min read
How to Format Thoughts in Fiction
If you’re writing a novel or short story, it’s highly likely you’ll have included your characters’ thoughts at some point. There are lots...
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Melanie Kirk
Dec 2, 20213 min read
Filter Words - How to Reduce your Word Count and Tighten up your Prose
One super simple way to tighten up your prose is to watch out for filter words and phrases. What do I mean by filtering? ‘Filter words’...
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