In a critique group recently, I was told that characters living their lives in the 24th century wouldn’t say ‘Fuck’. It was, apparently, anachronistic. That got me really thinking about the language we use in our writing, especially when setting stories in non-modern times. Language changes and develops over time. Dickens is far more florid […]

The usual advice to writers is that you should write every day. “Writing is like a muscle”, they say. You have to constantly exercise it every day to make it stronger. But anyone who does exercise knows this isn’t strictly true. Yes, you have to keep working but you also need to have rest days…