If you write ‘managing director’ should you start each word with lower case or use capitals as in ‘Managing Director’? You should use lower case, rules The Telegraph Style Guide. And what about ‘home owner’ – or should it be ‘home-owner’ (hyphenated) or ‘homeowner’ (single word)? You should use two separate words, says the Style…

The business of self-publishing has changed in recent years, and is now recognised as an important and growing sector of business. It has successfully distanced itself from vanity publishing and has ridden on the wave of three important developments: the advent of digital printing, which has made it economic to print short runs; the impact…

Whatever person or subject interests you, writing the history can be a fascinating project to tackle, and this new how-to book shows you just how to go about it. An important part of the book deals with the research you will need to undertake, showing you how to locate and access relevant archives, libraries and…

‘The Writer’s Little Helper’ is a small book jam-packed with big ideas, time-saving tips, and revision-make-easy charts. Author James V. Smith, Jr. offers effective guidance with short checklists, Q&As, and tools. This book gives readers everything they need to create great characters, maintain a compelling pace, craft believable dialogue, expand your creativity, revise your work…

Matthew Branton, who has four internationally published thrillers to his name, argues that thrillers are about escalating stories: they put something at stake, and then they raise the stakes. If you are going to write thrillers, you will have to develop plot ideas in which your hero character needs to achieve something, but a series…

Writing for the web is all about establishing your own internet presence. Yes, of course you should have your own website in order that contacts and clients can have a point of reference and to give a shop window for the services you have to offer. But it goes much further than that: you need…

Sally Holloway has spent years on the circuit doing everything from stand-up comic to presenting radio programmes that give a humorous slant on the news. Writing jokes is not about sitting down and waiting for inspiration. It is very hard work. But if you follow her guidance you will be surprised how good you can…

You may be a bit antwacky and arney, and hate garyboys. Here is a translation from Susie Dent’s book: antwacky is a Merseyside term for old-fashioned, and it probably comes from a local pronunciation of ‘antique’; arney means bad-tempered, and as a dialect word it can be found in Sussex and is thought to derive…

Susan Palmquist is a very successful romantic novelist. In fact, she is two successful romantic novelists – she also writes under the pen name Vanessa Devereaux. She has now written How to Write a Romance Novel  firstly to share with fellow writers what she has learned during her career, and secondly to serve as an…

Playwriting has parallels with screenwriting in that structure is very important, and you start by deciding on your theme. The theme is the deep subject that you are exploring, and once you can describe this in a single sentence you are on your way. Structure then becomes the framework on which you build your characters…