Steven Mitchell's Blog

stevenmitchell

Q&A for Under The Moss

Recently, the lovely Sam Ellis asked me lots of questions for Veracity Magazine about Under The Moss. With his permission, I've posted...

stevenmitchell

Writing With Confidence

We’ve all been there. That point when you stare down at what you’ve been writing, what you’ve been agonising over for hours/days/weeks...

stevenmitchell

National Novel Writing Month

As I write this, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is well underway with a goal of writing 50,000 words of a novel’s first draft...

stevenmitchell

Written vs. Typed

When I start a story, I jot it down by hand. I’ve developed a terrible habit of purchasing expensive Moleskine notebooks—I’m in love with...

stevenmitchell

Guide for writing group criticism

My writing group recently put together a guide to giving and receiving criticism on our work. The aim is to make sure all writers receive...

stevenmitchell

Writing is good for you

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank “Writing isn’t about making money,...

stevenmitchell

My writing process

Decide to write a story. Try to think of plot/character ideas. Curse lack of imagination. Finally, something vague, something ill-formed...

stevenmitchell

Creating convincing characters

“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.” Ernest Hemingway “In...

stevenmitchell

Libraries in the digital age

There’s no doubt about it, libraries are great. And every writer wants to see their work on library shelves. But I’ll be honest, I’m not...