DEAR READER

As writers, we create lives on the page. And one of the things that we learn early on is that if you want to do it well, not only are there are no shortcuts, there’s nowhere to hide. Readers can spot, from miles away and at every level, anything that’s lazy, or fudged, or not authentic. On the other hand, it means that you’re doing something right when you’re writing from the heart, and mining your own personal experience so that everything you put into your writing rings true.

This is particularly so when it comes to humour writing, which bears out another of the things we learn as writers: that the easier something is to read, the greater the effort that goes into making it that way. Funny writing is one of the hardest things to get right, and this month we’re exceptionally lucky that comedian Helen Lederer is offering her top tips on how to use your own red-faced moments of humiliation and embarrassment to generate words that will make readers laugh (p4).

Once you’ve read that, turn to Patricia McBride’s guide on evoking emotion in writing (p12), and find out how novelist M J Rowbotham created a believable faux memoir for her fabulous heroine Ruby Devereaux (p6) – then see what you can apply to your own writing, and how the advice in these pages will aid your own work.

Because that’s a thing we also find out early on – that as writers, we never stop learning. There’s always something we can improve. Something we can do even better. And that’s why we’re here: to help you be (even!) better writers, every step of the way.

Tina Jackson Content Editor