Morgen’s Editing and Critique Service

Although currently booked out until end-September 2014, I welcome fiction manuscripts for…

Full editing (content, copy editing & line editing): In-depth ‘firm but fair’ editing with feedback which will include grammar, punctuation, story structure, character depth / dialogue, highlighting potential copyright issues, fact checking, chapter structure / order, narrative drive… the whole shebang. This comes in the form of an edited manuscript together with separate commented document. Suitable for all writers, regardless of experience.

Charged at the competitive rate of £5 (€6.5 / US$8.5 / CA$ & AS$9.5) per 1,000 words. To work out the cost, multiply your word count by 0.005 / 0.0065 / 0.0085 / 0.0095 respectively (so a 100,000-word novel would be £500 / €650 / US$850 / CA$950 / AUS$950 respectively).

This is the type of editing I do mostly and you can read my clients’ feedback here.

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Line editing: spelling, grammar, punctuation, word usage (e.g. stationery vs stationary, story vs storey), repetition, clichés, sentence construction, consistencies. Here the concentration is on sentences and paragraphs instead of pages and chapters. Suitable for more advanced writers.

Charged at £4 (€5 / US$6.5 / CA$ & AS$7.5) per 1,000 words. Multiply your word count by 0.004 / 0.005 / 0.0065 / 0.0075.

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Proofreading: a human spell- and grammar-checker, concentrating on individual words rather than the context. This is the option to take if you are confident of your characters, plot, structure and layout etc. but you want someone to go through it before you submit to an agent or publisher, or self-publish.

My non-fiction writing is about writing so I concentrate on fiction but have proofread non-fiction manuscripts, some poetry and provided feedback on a number of scripts.

Charged at £3 (€4 / US$5 / CA & AS$5.50) per 1,000 words. Multiply your word count by 0.003 / 0.004 / 0.005 / 0.0055.

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The above three options are carried out via Word Track Changes (click here for a video on what this means) and for more information on the different types of editing, click here. Another option is…

General feedback: no proofreading / editing, no changes to the document itself, just a typed summary report. This is useful if you’re not sure whether the story is working, your characters (or plot) are believable or you’ve not edited it yet but have sent it to beta (first-round) readers and the feedback you’ve received makes you wonder whether you want to progress it. I’ll be honest and tell you, although for most authors who have taken this option, I have seen promise with their work, they’ve just needed a steer in the right direction.

Charged at £2 (€2.50 / US$3.50 / CA & AS$4) per 1,000 words. Multiply your word count by 0.002 / 0.0025 / 0.0035 / 0.004.

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Regardless of the option taken, the first 1,000 words are free  (usually returned within 48 hours), given as the ‘full’ editing service for your free sample, unless you advise otherwise. This is sent to you first and there is no obligation thereafter.

Prices valid until January 2015. Fees agreed in advance of any work undertaken, and more importantly, stuck to (payment options below).

Please note: For projects over 10,000 words, e.g. longer short stories / novels, I am currently booked until late-September 2014 (I’m also the creative writing tutor for Northamptonshire County Council Adult Learning). NB. Items, unless for free sample, to be sent complete, not in sections.

There are two formats:

• I use Word’s track changes (see picture immediately below as generic example) as it keeps the file size small and the feedback in one place.
• For authors without Word, and therefore the facility to use track changes, I can usually convert whatever I am sent (Open Office, rtf etc) into Word then do the track changes and save it as a PDF so you can see the changes I suggest.

example of track changes (not by Morgen)

** First c.1,000 words offered free as a sample.**

For more details including testimonials from my clients, take a look at this blog’s Editing and Critique page.

Whatever your requirement, you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com.

Today’s online writing groups’ poetry and story exercises: 29 August 2014

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…

Poetry Writing Exercises 429: Friday 29th August

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: silence, precious, smile, happy, purpose
2. Random: an easy decision
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. One-word prompt: flower

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

• Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
• Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
• Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
• Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
• Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
• Title = The title for your piece.
• Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
• Random = whatever takes my fancy!

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Story Writing Exercises 433: Friday 29th August

 

Here are your four story exercises for today.

Flash Fiction Friday 144: 6-word stories

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the one hundred and forty-fourth piece in this series. This week’s is the twelfth bunch of 6-word stories by a variety of authors, together with their 6-word biographies!

6-word stories

by Sal Buttaci finds humor in life

• Predictors of my future were charlatans.
• Hell’s free. The devil will pay.
• In old age I’m bald again.

by Chong Teck SIM – aspiring Singaporean writer

• Rice farmer. Cricket-chirping night. Snake wine.
• As his eyes close, Heaven tears.
• Love has no discounts, no freebies.

by… Mark K – a writer?… trying hard

• Dwarf throwing contestants hate political correctness.
• Men cry too, you know? Liar!
• I love pain: C’mon tazer me!

and then three from yours truly… Morgen Bailey, Morgen With an E

• Sides splitting. Hilarious comic? No. Murderer.
• Lost in music. Doesn’t see cliff.
• Football chant. Favourite team. Hearts sink.

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Thank you, everyone.

If you’d like to submit your 6-worders (two per blog post, although you can send as many as you like) or 500-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

Related articles:

• http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/14/how-to-write-flash-fiction
• http://www.bridportprize.org.uk/blog/flash-fiction-all-you-ever-wanted-know-were-afraid-ask
• http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/flashfiction.html
• http://www.awkwordpapercut.com/writing-flash-fiction.html
• http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/short-and-sweet-reading-and-writing-flash-fiction
• http://www.wikihow.com/Write-Flash-Fiction
• http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/flash.shtml
• http://www.thereviewreview.net/publishing-tips/flash-fiction-whats-it-all-about
• http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog
• and guest blogs about short stories on this blog: Alberta Ross, Jane Hertenstein, Helen M Hunt, Morgen Bailey, Sarah Grace Logan, Warren Bull.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, various short story collections and writer’s block workbooks) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post a spotlight or interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.

I welcome items for critique directly (see Editing & Critique) or for posting on the online writing groups.

Fabulous Friday Interview With Romantic Rock Chick Author – Nicky Wells

Alison Jack interviews Nicky Wells…

An Author's View

I’ve certainly got that Friday feeling today. Not only is the weekend upon us, but I am also very excited to welcome rock chick, author of wonderful romances and all round lovely lady NICKY WELLS to An Author’s View. There’s so much I want to ask Nicky that I’m going to have a hard job whittling my questions down to a manageable amount, but I’ll do my best. Here goes:

Alison – Hi Nicky, and thank you for taking the time to drop by and get bombarded with questions today. Your books all feature romance and rock music, which is a great combination. What gave you the idea to combine the two? Was Tuscq based on any particular band?

Nicky – Alison, I simply love reading. I love chick lit, and comedy, and also the odd thriller here or there. Plus it’s no secret to you that I love rock music. I have a…

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Today’s online writing groups’ poetry and story exercises: 28 August 2014

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…

Poetry Writing Exercises 428: Thursday 28th August

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: crimson, prism, steps, silence, count
2. Random: needing more
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Thursday Title: Taking Over

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

• Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
• Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
• Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
• Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
• Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
• Title = The title for your piece.
• Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
• Random = whatever takes my fancy!

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Story Writing Exercises 432: Thursday 28th August

Here are your four story exercises for today.

Books and Reading Wednesday- Review: Sins of the Father by Melissa Barker-Simpson

The latest book review from Harliqueen…

A Writer's Life For Me.

End of August Indie Book Review: Sins of the Father by Melissa Barker-Simpson

Goodreads synopsis:

As a former Royal Marine Commando, Brad Morgan is among the best of the best. Now heading up his own unit in the private security world, he lives by the same mottos he served by.

When Alicia Gladstone, a star in the entertainment industry, is put under threat, Brad and his team at Morgan and Fairchild must step in to find a killer before it’s too late.

At the peak of physical and mental fitness, all his years of training are put to the test when he is forced into a world artificial by nature, and too distracting for his own good. But it isn’t the environment that poses the biggest threat. It is the past he ran away from, one he thought he had overcome.

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I’ve read some of Melissa Barker-Simpson’s work on…

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Today’s online writing groups’ poetry and story exercises: 27 August 2014

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…

Poetry Writing Exercises 427: Wednesday 27th August

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: maybe, fault, day, magazine, electric
2. Random: the day after tomorrow
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Sentence start: So about this…

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

• Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
• Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
• Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
• Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
• Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
• Title = The title for your piece.
• Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
• Random = whatever takes my fancy!

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Story Writing Exercises 431: Wednesday 27th August

Here are your four story exercises for today.

Book review – for readers and writers – no.56: Morgen Bailey reviews Dark Lane by Tim Jeffreys

Today’s book review of a short story collection is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey.

If you’d like your book reviewed or to send me a book review of another author’s book, see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog.

Being a writer and editor, I read and review books with both hats. If you’re a writer reading this review and found it useful, do let me know.

Dark Lane by Tim Jeffreys

Unfortunately this collection as it stands is no longer available but some of stories feature on Tim’s other collections – see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tim-Jeffreys/e/B00716BX34.

Review

After a short musical intro, the first story is ‘Dream Woman’, a sweet tale about longing, destiny and being in the right place at the right time.

‘The People Under the Bridge’ carries on the fantastical theme but is darker and cleverly narrated with a female main vocal and whispers by others, giving it a suitably eerie feel.

‘A Better Life’ is funny, and still dark, and about a man who gets more than he bargained for when he wishes for the perfect life – to give up work and write a novel. Who would do such a thing? 🙂

‘Rain Songs’ is an intriguing title and while it has little to do with the story itself but is a phrase used in the piece, something I often do. A woman confronts a man in a café and the reason why is gradually revealed with twists along the way. I had to listen to the ending a couple of times before it twigged what had happened.

With a similar feel to ‘The People Under the Bridge’, ‘The Well’ is an eerie tale. The shortest story so far – short and most definitely not sweet. An impact for sure.

‘The Haunted Wood’ returns us to the female narrator and is more gothic than the other tales.

‘The Man in Black’ is about a man suffering from depression, the words ‘Black Dog’ near the beginning giving the hint of the dark tale to come.

‘Terminus’ is a very apt title and a very believable story, and how I would imagine… I won’t say what, you’ll have to read it for yourself.

‘Crayon Drawings’ appears to be a well-worn theme used in films of a missing child and dark drawings but the last minute of the story brings another unexpected twist and a great open ending.

The female narrates ‘The Big Hand’, about a couple’s relationship (from her pov) and the influence of a clock running through the story.

‘The Journey’ concludes the collection and had the feel of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road where we accompany the man (alone and otherwise) on his journey.

Conclusion

Today’s online writing groups’ poetry and story exercises: 26 August 2014

Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends, when I get them). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…

Poetry Writing Exercises 426: Tuesday 26th August

Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes per exercise, having a break in between each one or move on to the next.

You can do them in any order.

1. Keywords: change, chance, again, you, one
2. Random: a new find
3. Picture: what does this inspire?
4. Tuesday Title: Poster on the Wall

Have fun, and if you would like to, do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on! Remember though that it counts as being published so don’t post anything that you would want to submit elsewhere (where they require unpublished material).

See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…

• Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
• Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
• Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
• Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
• Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
• Title = The title for your piece.
• Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
• Random = whatever takes my fancy!

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Story Writing Exercises 430: Tuesday 26th August

Here are your four story exercises for today.

Writing 101 – writing and editing tips

Hi everyone. It’s been a while since I posted the writing tips that appear on this blog’s Writing 101 (tips) page so some of you may not know it exists. It contains over 100 writing, editing and layout tips. Below are the first 25…

In my experience too many novice writers worry about finding their ‘voice’ and understanding their ‘craft’ early on. It can be a long journey, perhaps not as long as a million words, but providing you write regularly (daily is the ideal but when does life afford that luxury, although 300 words equates to 100,000 words a year so a great incentive) you’ll get there… and here are a few basics to put in your suitcase:

WRITING

1. One of my most important, and simple tips, is to always carry a notebook (in every jacket pocket / bag) and two pens – in case one doesn’t work – because you never know when inspiration will strike. There’s nothing worse (there probably is, but not for a writer with a brilliant idea) than to have had the best ever thought but have no way of recording it. If you’re like me, it will only take the most simple distraction to lose it… possibly forever.
2. Adjectives – Adjectives are, in order: Number, quality, size, age, colour / color, origin, and type. So, if you say you have ten large books, you do not need a comma since ten is a number and large is a size. The adjectives are of the same weight or degree. If, on the other hand, you say you have a shiny, sparkling ring, you will need to put commas between them since shiny and sparkly both describe the quality of the ring.’ Also see ‘Commas’. When comparing using adjectives, the general rule is that if the adjective is short (e.g. black) it should have -er on the end, e.g. it was blacker than he’d expected. If the adjective is long (e.g. attractive), you’d say ‘she was more attractive than he’d expected’. Generally, it’s how it sounds. ‘she was attractiver’ wouldn’t sound right, would it. (please say “no”) 🙂
3. Adverbs – Stephen King’s writing guide / autobiography ‘On writing’ (link on Writing-related) has been the most suggested book in the interviews I’ve conducted. Amongst other things he’s notoriously against adverbs (‘ly’) and fair enough – in ‘completely dead’ you wouldn’t need the ‘completely’ because dead says it all, and a character doesn’t need to be ‘sighing wearily’ because the sighing tells us enough, but adverbs are necessary in the right context. Again it’s all about clarification and fine-tuning. Some great articles on adverbs include https://suite.io/kenneth-burchfiel/1a2b2p0, http://chiseledinrock.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/stupid-writing-rules-watch-adverbs.html, http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/how-to-eliminate-adverbs,http://www.writingforward.com/writing-tips/writing-tips-abolish-adverbs, andhttp://www.humankinetics.com/flguideonweb/NitToPick32UnnecessaryAdjAdv.htm.
4. Affect vs effect – http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/blog/english-mistakes/affect-vs-effect says, “Affect is a verb with several different meanings” (which the page lists) and “Effect is most commonly used a noun”.
5. Again – there are often instances where you don’t need the word ‘again’, e.g. as in ‘reminded again’, ‘returned again’ etc. Unless something’s happened more than twice, the verb in those cases say that it’s happened more than once.
6. Ago vs before – if you’re writing fiction in the present tense you can say something was ten years ago but if you’re writing in past tense you’d use ‘before’. The easy way to remember the difference is that with past tense, it already happened before today.
7. All and both – it’s easy to include the words ‘all’ and ‘both’ when you don’t need them. Say your character is unlocking a car, you don’t need to say ‘all the doors’, just say ‘the doors’. Unless he / she is only unlocking one or, say, half of them, it’s assumed all are unlocked. The same goes with ‘both’; if you have two of something, by saying ‘they’ or ‘them’, you don’t need to include the word ‘both’.
8. Among vs amongst – one of the main Daily Writing Tips is http://www.dailywritingtips.com/among-vs-amongst which explains that ‘amongst does seem old-fashioned – but it’s still grammatically correct as an alternative to among. It’s up to you to select which you prefer!’. That’s good news. Just like http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-difference-between-while-and-whilst saying you can use either, although whilst, like amongst, is deemed old-fashioned.
9. Animals – they say never to work with children or animals but at one time or another we write about them. It’s obviously easy to tell whether a child is feminine or masculine but harder to tell the gender if an animal (this is where fantasy writers say, “if they have one”!) so rather than describe the animal / creature as him or her, stick with it, unless the gender is clear / important. ‘It’ is especially useful when you already have a him / her so helps avoid the reader getting confused as to whom the him / her refers.
10. Any more vs anymore – if you were to say, “Do you have any more cakes?” then that would be two words. If there aren’t any, the reply would be “I don’t have any more”, but it could also be “I don’t have any cakes anymore” so ‘anymore’ in that instance means time. So remember time is one word (syllable) and quantity is two (syllables).
11. Arms’ length or arms’ length – http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/arm’s-length says it should be singular, arm’s length.
12. Apostrophes – I could fill this page on when and where to use apostrophes but I’ll let thehttp://www.apostrophe.org.uk/page2.html page explain that (basically yes for possessions e.g. Tom’s hat and abbreviations like it’s for it is – no for plurals e.g. Tom’s hats). When it comes to oddities like 1980s, again it’s referring to several years (1980, 1981 etc) so it’s plural and no apostrophe.
13. As vs so/then or because/when – I’ve added this because one of the client novels I was editing had a phrase, ‘he found it as he turned back’ which could be read as him having found it before he turned back (the ‘so’ or ‘then’ version of ‘as’) or that he’d found it when he turned back (the ‘because’ or ‘when’ version of ‘as’). Isn’t the English language great. 🙂
14. Before vs ago – as mentioned above, a common mistake when writing past tense stories is to say that something happened ‘six months ago’. Because you’re writing in past tense you’re already historical so it’s not six months ago from now so you should put ‘six months before’.
15. Began to / started to – only have characters begin / start to do something if they’re going to be interrupted. If they do something, have them do it, so just use the active verb e.g. he sang instead of he began to sing / started to sing. Apart from cutting down the word count, it brings the reader (and the character) quicker to the action.
16. Beginnings – beginnings should invariably start with the action. Avoid info. dumps where you giving so much to the reader that their brain hurts especially where it’s irrelevant – do they need to know where the main character (protagonist) went to school? Sure, if it’s relevant and if they’re still there, or they’re reflecting back on it for a reason. That said, when you’re writing a first draft it doesn’t matter how you start. It’s often said that an author can either delete (or better still cut / paste into another document) the first two chapters because the action starts in the third. If the first two chapters are important they can be slotted in later. Sure, we need to know who our protagonist is, the dilemma they’re facing, an indication of setting and another character fairly soon as they’re bound to have an interaction with someone else at some stage and it’s often another character (the antagonist) that causes our protagonist the problem”.
17. Besides vs beside – http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/beside_besides.htm has a great explanation on the difference, but basically beside is a synonym for next to or near, and besides is a synonym for furthermore or in addition to.
18. Body movements – before you snigger, no, I’m not being smutty! There are phrases connected with the body that can be trimmed, e.g. he shrugged his shoulders, nodded his head, she replied with a big grin on her face. In those instances, the ‘his shoulders’, ‘his head’ and ‘on her face’ can go because the phrases still make sense – we know shrugging can only be done by shoulders, nodding by a character’s head and grins by the face.
19. Boredom – this may sound odd but I’d advice against having a character being bored or saying things like “this is boring” because it can encourage the reader to think the same, and perhaps that the writer was when they were writing it. 🙂
20. Both and all – see ‘All and both’ above.
21. Capitalisation – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization#Titles says, “In English, some authors/publishers capitalize the first word and the last word of titles. In addition, they believe that all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions should be capitalized. Articles and coordinating conjunctions are not capitalized, while sources disagree on the capitalisation of prepositions. For example, no prepositions are capitalized in the title of a book, a movie, or a play according to some style guides, for example the Chicago Manual of Style. The APA style guide, for example, however says: Capitalize major words in titles of books and articles within the body of the paper. Conjunctions, articles, and short prepositions are not considered major words; however, capitalize all words of four letters or more.“
22. Chapter lengths – how long should your chapters be? It doesn’t matter. James Patterson’s are anywhere between a paragraph or a few pages. Graham Hurley’s 300-page novel Nocturne has three chapters. I’d advise no more than 15-20 pages per chapter so that your reader can read the whole chapter in one sitting (e.g. before going to bed), although hopefully your novel will have such a great hook that they want to keep reading anyway.
23. Characters: flaws – all characters should have flaws. No one is perfect, even the good guys (and gals).  Most readers will find characters with a disability, however small (a lisp, a limp), endearing. As well as external flaws, your characters can, and should, have internal flaws, e.g. thinking they’re not as attractive as they are, thinking they’re more attractive etc. On the flipside, consider giving your antagonist (the bad guy) a redeemable quality. As the cliché goes, not everything is black and white. What may not appear as a flaw, e.g. a character being particularly tall, could hinder them, e.g. a tall woman trying to find a tall partner. What difficulties would a 2m / 6’6″ man have? Someone taller who has to dip under doorways?
24. Characters: names – Character names are important as we often get a sense of their personality by what they’re called. A Mavis is likely to be older than a Britney and would, usually, act differently. Avoid having names starting with the same letter; if you have a Todd talking to a Ted, the reader can easily get confused. Bill and Ted would be fine and as we know, they had a wonderful time back in the late 1980s. Try to avoid starting your sentences with your character’s name, as it can get repetitive and obvious. I’ve often recommended to my editing clients to write a list of their (your) characters in a five-column portrait table: 1. A-Z going down the page (at least two lines per letter); 2. Female first name (& chapter no. if you’re writing a novel); 3. Female surname / chapter no.; 4. Male first name / chapter no.; 5. Male surname / chapter no. As well as ensuring they don’t all start with the same letter, it encourages them (you) to try for the more unusual letters. I have this table in a Word document. Just let me know (morgen@morgenbailey.com) if you’d like me to email it to you. Also when you’re greeting or sometimes talking about a character, you often need a comma before their name e.g. “I didn’t know that John” means that you didn’t know a person called John. If you’re talking to John and you’re telling him there was something you didn’t know then you need a comma, e.g. “I didn’t know that, John.”
25. Characters: quantity – don’t have too many characters in your stories. Two or three is usually enough for a short story. I read Kate Atkinson’s Behind The Scenes At The Museum for a college course. The novel had about a dozen (eleven, from memory) different female characters. I ended up drawing a family tree (they were all related on the maternal side) and admit I was struggling but I persevered and was very glad I did… she became my favourite living author.

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