R = Reading. Couldn't really be anything else really. All writers need readers. Readers don't just happen. They usually have developed a life long love of reading from childhood. And we need to read - to inspire us, encourage us and to work out what we'd like to write (and sometimes what we don't!). You learn about punctuation, layout, grammar etc by reading and absorbing what other writers have done before you. Also we need to immerse ourselves in the fictional world (where exactly depends on our tastes) so we can learn from the genre we aspire to write in. We need to show we know the rules and that we love reading and stories. We can't really expect our future readers to do this if we're not doing it!
S = Short Story (including flash fiction) I'm glad the short story (and flash fiction) is making a comeback. There has always been room for the short story alongside the longer works and I wish more publishers would take a chance on short story writers. Glad to see (in the UK at least) the number of suitable competitions is increasing. Also glad to see flash fiction taking off as a category. The advent of mobile phones and the Kindle has made reading in public (a) acceptable and (b) easier to do! So many short story writers went on to become public knowledge.
S = Short Story (including flash fiction) I'm glad the short story (and flash fiction) is making a comeback. There has always been room for the short story alongside the longer works and I wish more publishers would take a chance on short story writers. Glad to see (in the UK at least) the number of suitable competitions is increasing. Also glad to see flash fiction taking off as a category. The advent of mobile phones and the Kindle has made reading in public (a) acceptable and (b) easier to do! So many short story writers went on to become public knowledge.
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