How to Improve Your Writing: The Art of Creating Professional Fiction (extended edition)

“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 includes the brand-new chapters HOW TO DEFEAT SELF DOUBT and FIVE SURE WAYS TO HELP YOUR FICTION SELL.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tony Richards began writing professionally at the age of twenty-one, and has since sold fiction to most major genre magazines including Weird Tales, Black Static, Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. His short fiction has also appeared in numerous anthologies. His first novel – The Harvest Bride – was shortlisted for the HWA Bram Award for Best First Novel and his 2007 collection Going Back made the shortlist for the British Fantasy Award. Other novels have featured his crime and detective fiction, ghost fiction, and a series of supernatural thrillers. Widely traveled, he often sets his fiction in locations he has visited.

“A master of the art” – Black Static magazine.

"A terrific story teller" - Graham Joyce.

“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.