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Itchy Bitesized
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How Do You Do Your Research?
How to set about make the most of online sources, books and articles, art, places, audio-visual and people, and avoid drowning for good
Mar 20
•
Emma Darwin
23
4
3
Itchy Bitesized 41: When Do You Do Your Research?
And why the timing of your research can make such a difference to your novel
Mar 13
•
Emma Darwin
30
3
11
The Cures for "TV Brain" Prose
And why "just read more" is absolutely necessary, but not sufficient
Feb 27
•
Emma Darwin
12
2
3
Verbs are The Engine-Room of Your Story
How to work with them to raise your writing from just OK to something special
Feb 20
•
Emma Darwin
13
1
3
Q&A: What to do when you've been told there's not "Not enough conflict" in your story
The pick of the Itch of Writing Ask Me Anything Chats
Feb 13
•
Emma Darwin
30
4
8
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The Ten Structural Edits I Most Often Suggest
Mar 1, 2024
•
Emma Darwin
351
11
61
Psychic Distance: What It Is and How To Use It
Sep 13, 2024
•
Emma Darwin
142
2
36
The Ten Line-edits I Most Often Suggest
Jan 4, 2020
•
Emma Darwin
134
15
Itchy Bitesized 34: Ten Things That Go Wrong With Historical Fiction
Dec 20, 2024
•
Emma Darwin
101
5
29
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Think of Your Sentence as a Story
How cart-before-the-horse sentences and cause-and-effect failures can ruin your storytelling
Feb 6
•
Emma Darwin
8
4
1
Fourteen Things Your Readers Want, But You Don't Have to Give Them
Unless you and your story decide you want to.
Jan 30
•
Emma Darwin
65
6
11
So You Want to Do a Writing Course?
Part Two of a two-part series: when to do a course, how to choose one, and how not to become a course junkie
Jan 23
•
Emma Darwin
7
10
1
Archetype, Off-the-Peg or Thundering Cliché?
When is a character, a phrase or a situation a stereotype, and when is it a trope? And what should you do about it all?
Jan 16
•
Emma Darwin
23
3
5
New Year, New Writing Course? Or Should You Just Get On With Writing?
Part One of a two-part series: whether and why you should do a writing course - or not do one.
Jan 9
•
Emma Darwin
12
2
"Don't Fiddle": Probably The Only Writing Resolution You'll Ever Need
And why it's wise to make it
Jan 2
•
Emma Darwin
69
3
11
Happy Writing Betwixtmas
How to move your writing forward whether you have 'no time at all' or 'all too much time'
Dec 19, 2025
•
Emma Darwin
24
2
5
From process to product to market - and back again
You know what you want to write, and readers know what they want to read. How do you get from one to the other?
Dec 12, 2025
•
Emma Darwin
9
4
6
What Should I Write to Get Through the Ugly-Duckling Phase as Fast as Possible?
The winning question from our Itch of Writing 2nd Birthday Competition - and my reply.
Dec 5, 2025
•
Emma Darwin
35
7
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This Itch of Writing with Emma Darwin
All about fiction and creative non-fiction: writing it, reading it, teaching it and occasionally hating it
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Recommendations
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This Itch of Writing with Emma Darwin
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