Square photo. Narrow street corner. It's a pedestrian street with residential buildings on either side. On the right the buildings have white-washed walls and wrought iron bars at windows and balconies. The building on the left is some kind of unfinished brickwork. The corner is lit by an old.style lamppost. There are lots of plants in big pots on the corner - including a Bouganvillea, and a white jasmine - suggesting that it's a Mediterranean town.

The people who live in these houses have done a lot of work to provide a lovely little corner that hardly anyone knows is there.

Do you include "easter eggs" in your writing that will only be seen by some of your readers?

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Square photo. Close up of a stained glass window. Circular leaded frame occupies most of the image, with four small diagonal panes from the circle to the corners of the image, The coloured diagonals are shades of orange. In the circular frame, is a painted design of yellow leaves, with a white eight-petalled flower.

Square photo. Close up of an old broken window in a brick building. The window has 30 small panes. All of them are broken, mostly are missing all or most of the glass. The window frame and the frames of the individual panes are green. What remains of the old glass also appears to be green. The little that can be seen of the building wall is old dark red brick. In the bottom left corner, is a branch of a plant.

Square photo. The image shows a square window with a wide dark frame. The window is divided into two vertical leaves, each with two panes. Through the window can be seen a small town with whitewashed buildings with red-tiled roofs, suggesting that it's a Mediterranean town. In the far distance, barely visible, is a rocky outcrop with a castle and a large church.

"Window". It's a simple enough word, but there are many, many types of window.

Just a reminder, then, that even the simplest words have multiple interpretations and, as writers, we need to know our readers and understand how they see the world.

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Square photo. Photograph of part of Gloucester's medieval cathedral. The photo was taken so the main square tower is framed by the arch of another ancient building, perhaps the ruined wall of St Oswald's Priory.

A few steps further forward and the photo would show nothing but a great cathedral tower rising unchecked against the sky. Instead I used the arch as a frame.

A lot of writing skill is about framing, defining limits, knowing what to keep & what to leave out.

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The ideal reader can be an elusive creature, but it’s definitely worth trying to identify them so you can speak to them directly and tell your story or express your intended message in a way that they will engage with and appreciate.


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Square photograph. The image shows four roses painted in the "Roses & Castles" artwork style popular on barges in the 19th century. The top rose is yellow on red. The one below is peach on orange. Then there are two deep red blooms at the bottom. The background is very dark green and there are green leaves around the flowers. There are bright red and yellow strips painted on either side of the artwork, , which curve slightly , suggesting this may be a close up of a curved barrel or other container. The impression is bright and cheerful, without detail.

The flowers in this "Roses & Castles" style art piece are painted with only a few brush strokes. Nothing else is needed.

How much descriptive detail do you go into in your writing? Could you cut a lot more and make just as much impact?

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Square photo of a tomb sculpture. The image shows the carved head and shoulders of a statue of a male lying on his back with his head on a pile of cushions. He is wearing a robe with a wide collar and some kind of crown or headdress. The sculpture is probably stone or. marble and is obviously very old. It has been defaced multiple times with scratched initials. The facial features have been completely broken or worn away so there is no nose and no detail of eye or mouth. The right ear, which is Visble to the viewer is, however, completely intact.

Nothing remains of the face of this tomb sculpture to show us who he was and we are free to imagine him as we choose.

Do you include clear features of your characters, or do you let your readers imagine them for themselves?

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I'm not sure if this great yawn is an indication of Watson being tired or bored. But let's take it as a reminder that if we're bored with what we're writing, it's pretty certain the reader will be, too.

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It’s better for your credibility as a writer if your work is professionally corrected and presented. And it’s better for your readers, too.

Don’t forget that your reader is going to give you their time and attention – make sure your writing is worth it!

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Square photo. A white cat is lying on a wooden floor. Only his head, front paws and front half of his body are visible. He is looking up at the camera, focused and alert.

All it takes is the clink of a can opener, the hiss of a ring-pull tin, or the rustle of a bag of kibble and Watson is all ears and adoration.

How do you grab your readers' attention and get them on your side?

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Square photograph. The photograph shows part of a roof viewed from beneath. The roof is in two main parts, each of which consists of white panels supported by a blue metal structure. The visual effect is essentially a geometrical pattern of straight blue lines.

Málaga bus station roof is a reminder that writing is all about angles: the perspective you write from will make a huge difference to how the reader reacts to your story or your message.

It's also a reminder to look up and all around for inspiration!

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Skinner & Watson are taking the weekend off so suggested I used this for my #caturday post although I'm not sure it's realistic enough.

I'm also not much of a fiction writer, so, I'm just wondering how you make your characters come alive for your readers?

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square photo showing the head and neck of a grey metal statue of a man. The man is wearing a a bowler hat and is probably wearing a shirt and tie with a jacket or coat. He is looking straight ahead, It looks as if he represents a typical city businessman. The nose is straight and the mouth serious, but although all the features have been sculpted, it still looks fairly generic, giving the impression of a type rather than any particular individual.

Although the features of this guy are reasonably well defined, the overall effect still seems quite generic.

How well do you know your reader?

Remember: the better you know your reader, the better chance you have of writing something they want to read.

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Do you want your writing to reach the whole world?
Honestly? It isn't going to happen. But that doesn't mean you can't be a successful writer.

Find your audience and focus on getting it right for them!

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