Who better to give you advice about penning a masterpiece than published authors themselves?
Literary stars including Patrick Ness, Sarah J Maas, Matt Haig and Joyce Dunbar have all revealed their secrets, tips and hints to help you start, fine tune and even publish your masterpiece.
Explore their writing tips below for advice about creating picture books, getting started with poetry, how to write comedy, ways to turn your own life experiences into a story and much, much more.
My best piece of advice is to write what you care about. Write about something that thrills you or makes you intensely angry or afraid or happy or sad. Then those feelings will shine through in every word you write.
Malorie Blackman, Children’s Laureate 2013–2015
Author Louise Walters shares her tips on finding a publisher.
The How To Stop Time author shares his pointers on getting started on your masterpiece.
Fantasy author Sarah J Maas published her first novel online at the age of just 16.
Cora Harrison, author of Debutantes and I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend, shares her tips for writing historical fiction.
Author and former BookTrust web editor Nikesh Shukla tells us how he balances a day job and writing, all thanks to technology.
Mouse & Mole author Joyce Dunbar shares her 12-step guide to writing successful picture books.
Jean shares her top tips for authors who are ready to get blogging…or bloggers who are on the cusps of being authors.
Tiernan shares his top tips on turning your funny jokes into a piece of quality comedy writing.
Our former Writer in Residence Clare Wigfall offers her thoughts on getting started in writing.
Stuart Evers shares his thoughts about writing short stories, from finding inspiration to the importance of practice.
Adam Marek shares the biggest errors he made while trying to succeed as a writer.
David shares the thought process he has when he is working on something new.
Adam Marek offers his advice on staying focused while you’re writing your masterpiece.
Former BookTrust Writer in Residence Nii Ayikwei Parkes shares his thoughts on what makes a good poem.
Karen McCarthy Woolf shares some great exercises to help you turn your own life experiences into a great narrative.
The Daughters of the House author offers advice on finding inspiration and avoiding writers’ block.
If you have just started researching your family tree, Ancestors editor Simon Fowler has some sound advice.
Author Vera Waters says that telling children a story is as easy as 1, 2, 3…