Shutterstock / 13_Phunkod©“The People’s Friend” Writing Hour is held every Tuesday at 11 a.m. on Twitter. It’s a time when we can get together with writers for a chat and it’s always heaps of fun!
Every week we summarise everything that went on right here for those who missed out.
It’s nearly March! What was the best thing to happen for you in February?
Reading your replies, there have been plenty of reasons to smile this month.
Lots of you mentioned flowers and nature as being one of the positives from February. It’s so cheering to see the season turning.
How long does it take you to come up with character names? What resources do you use if any?
It seems that characters either arrive and introduce themselves to you, or it takes a good amount of time to find the right name!
If you’re stumped, try one of these techniques:
I either get a character’s name immediately, or it takes ages. When that happens, I put in a placeholder and then keep my ears open whenever I’m out and about. For historicals, I Google Top Baby Name lists for the relevant years.
— Christina Hollis (@ChristinaBooks) February 28, 2023
A2. I actually look back on my family tree I’ve been researching for accurate first and last names of certain time periods 🙂 Currently not happy with the names of my two main characters in my story, so I’ll be bringing up the tree later! #PFWritingHour
— Kitty-Lydia Dye (@KittyLydiaDye) February 28, 2023
Depends on the era, I have abook on names and meanings which I sometimes delve into.
— Angie Keeler (@keelerangie) February 28, 2023
Are you descriptive in your writing, or do you prefer stark sentences?
It’s about half and half, with some of you trying to find the right balance between the two.
It’s all to do with your personal writing voice and finding your own style. There’s no right or wrong here!
Which book release are you most looking forward to this year?
Some books to get a mention were:
The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman
Old Babes In The Woods by Margaret Atwood
A Stroke Of The Pen: The Lost Stories by Terry Pratchett
We talk about childhood favourites often, but what was your favourite book when you were a teen?
It’s fun to look back and see whether your reading tastes have changed drastically or stayed mainly the same.
A few of you mentioned that the authors you read as a teen were a big influence on your writing today.
Share your best writing tip, resource or quote.
Always leave a story you think is finished for a few days before returning to it with fresh eyes. You will almost certainly find ways to improve it, or spot some mistakes.
— Alison Wassell (@lilysslave) February 28, 2023
A6. Always read your story out to your dog. It helps with sentence flow hearing it out loud and if the dog promptly falls asleep, maybe something exciting needs to be added to the story 😉 #PFWritingHour
— Kitty-Lydia Dye (@KittyLydiaDye) February 28, 2023
To read your story alongside the magazine you are submitting to see if it would fit in.
— Marian Myers (@MarianJMyers) February 28, 2023
We’ll see you at our next Writing Hour on Twitter — 11 a.m. on Tuesday 7 March, 2023.
Or catch up on our previous roundups.
Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
