The Write Advice

Can we just go back to when "AI" meant a pattern recognition machine that could highlight number discrepancies and analyse biopsies for cancer and all the stuff it's actually really good at, rather than destroying the creative industry and the planet?

Gods i am so, so sick of gen ai stealing EVERYTHING and contributing NOTHING of any value to anyone, anywhere.

Can say with confidence this novel and Angela were both a joy to work with. The book is fantastic and deserves all the love and attention!
If historical fantasy rooted in Scottish myth and landscape is your thing, then give her a follow and sign up for an ARC. ~ Anna

Our very own Tom's next book is nearly with us, available to preorder, AND with 25% off at Waterstones!!

infographic: "whoa there, pardner!" a fake bluesky DM i sent myself as an example says: "hi can u please not repost your own art so much. it's literally murder and oppression and hate crime that sometimes i have to scroll past things i've already seen". a displeased cowboy emoji is giving this message a thumbs down. infographic info continues: 'round these parts we curate our own timelines! if you don't want to see a post again, open the meatball menu and click "hide post for me." now you don't have to see it and no one has to feel bad!" (the cowboy emoji is now giving you a thumbs up. off to the side, there's a screenshot of the aforementioned menu with the relevant buttons circled in blue.)

this hasn't personally happened to me, but i've seen other artists here talking about it intermittently. so here's an infographic about a handy feature i think a lot of people are overlooking! #artsky #artistsonbsky

Heartening to see the resounding "Hell, No's" in response here.

Writers if you could drop your novel or short story into an AI and have it make a great and watchable movie out of your story, and you could sell that movie, would you do it? #writers #WritingCommunity

Nope, because it wouldn't have real people in it, or animations made by real people, therefore you wouldn't be watching true human emotion, therefore it wouldn't be great and watchable.
~ Anna

White Celtic style text on a green cloth background reads “Black Doe”. A deer-headed knife bisects the “O”. There is blood splatter.

I’ve decided that this is the year I release BLACK DOE into the wild. I still have a couple of irons in the fire, but if they fizzle out, she is ready to go. I’ve done loads of work on this book with @annasmithwrites.bsky.social at @thewriteadvice.bsky.social and I want you to be able to read it.

a picture of a woman with the words my imagination has become on the bottom Alt: Catherine O'Hara in Schitts Creek saying, my imagination has become rather unbridled

Full day of mentoring today, with 5 of my clients. We covered A LOT.
From the motivations of a weakened god battling a power-mad magic-wielding emperor to the travails of a bunch of ordinary dinosaur-riding folk facing off against pirates and their Drowned god, it was all about ideas ~ Anna

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The popular blogging platform Substack – used by numerous British comic creators to promote their work – has suffered a data breach. The company is warning users to take extra caution with any emails or text messages you receive…

https://downthetubes.net/substack-data-breach-hits-comic-creators/

The Fantasy Hive has returned to SPFBO! Our resident SPFBO super-fan Theo has put together a team for SPFBO 11 - eleven?! Where has the time gone??

Meet this year's team and learn about the Hive's process here: tinyurl.com/mrab3mrk

#SPFBO

WOOOHOOOOOOO! The biggest congratulations to our editorial and mentoring client, Jess, whose gaslamp fantasy horror novella is not only shortlisted in #SFINCS3, but also now in @aurealisawards.bsky.social, only Australia's biggest spec fic awards!
We love you, Jess! Go get 'em! ~ Anna

First editing client of the year up and running. An excellent, gritty, low fantasy story about justice and loss and community.
I did the dev edit on this, so I'm excited to see how it's turned out. Results are positive so far ~ Anna

The biggest of congratulations to mentee and editorial client Jessica A McMinn on reaching the finals of #SFINCS3 with her novella, Parasitic Omens!
Fingers crossed for the win! ~ Anna 🍾

“Commit” That’s my 2026 word of the year. I started doing this last year, and 2025’s word was “Joy”. It’s safe to say that one was a mixed bag of results, with multiple family …

New blog: my 2026 word of the year, and what I hope it'll help me achieve: anna-stephens.com/2026/01/27/c...

This looks like a great day!

This is your ongoing reminder to get weirder with your writing. Yes, I'm going to keep saying it. Weird is where cool lives and rule of cool makes stories alive.

a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them Alt: a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them

Who's writing this weekend? I'm at 48k on the WIP and hoping to get some good forward progress over the next couple of days.
But I also need to finalise the encounter(s) for next week's DnD session, and, you know, I have players to kill *cough* wound, I meant wound.
What are you goals? ~ Anna

Absolutely delighted to announce that I'm joining the team at @thewriteadvice.bsky.social where I'll be offering my mentoring services to budding writers. Click through to the website to read my introductory blog post (and, if you're interested, to have a look at our rates and services).

All change at The Write Advice Well, not ‘all’. A third is changing, to be precise. After two years of hard work, Justin Lee Anderson is stepping back from the business to concentrate on other commitments. While his …

Things are AFOOT at The Write Advice HQ. @justinleeanderson.com is stepping down - BOOO! - but @thomasdlee.bsky.social is stepping up. Hurrah!

Cat wandered in front of the camera during the #aurora long exposure

Hello #writesky, I have an opening for one monthly and one quarterly mentee in 2026.
If you're looking for support as a writer, whatever your level, contact me at thewritingadvisors@gmail.com ~ Anna

I say this often but it bears repeating: if you make your money from creating art then you NEED to find an art or craft where you just do it for fun and don't try to be perfect or make any money from it, and when anyone tells you to monetise it you say 'No', because otherwise your soul will die.

JAMES MERRILL CHRISTMAS TREE From loes torn hamin Had been fed, looked after, kept still, Meant, I knew— of course I knew - That it would be only a matter of weeks, That there was nothing more to do. Warmly they took me in, made much of me, The point from the start was to keep my spirits up. I could assent to that. For honestly, It did help to be wound in jewels, to send Their colors flashing forth from vents in the deep Fragrant sables that cloaked me head to foot. Over me then they wove a spell of shining — Purple and silver chains, eavesdripping tinsel, Amulets, milagros: software of silver, A heart, a little girl, a Model T Two staring eyes. Then angels, trumpets, BUD and BEA (The children's names) in clownlike capitals, Somewhere a music box whose tiny song Played and replayed I ended before long By loving. And in shadow behind me, a primitive IV To keep the show going. Yes, yes, what lay ahead Was clear: the stripping, the cold street, my chemicals Plowed back into the Earth for lives to come — No doubt a blessing, a harvest, but one that doesn't bear, Now or ever, dwelling upon. To have grown so thin. Needles and bone. The little boy's hands meeting About my spine. The mother's voice: Holding up wonderfully! No dread. No bitterness. The end beginning. Today's Dusk room aglow For the last time With candlelight. Faces love-lit, Gifts underfoot. Still to be so poised, so Receptive. Still to recall, to praise.

James Merril’s poem “Christmas Tree,” written while he was dying of AIDS. 1995.

Just want to put out feelers for a TTRPG writer/dev or two who would be interested in collaborating on a pulpy scifi/fantasy project in 2026 with myself and another artist/writer. Ideally someone who'd fuck with "Frank Frazetta but queer" as an aesthetic. Would love 2 chat if this sounds interesting

a festive themed graphic saying, wishing all our clients, past and present, a very happy festive season

The Write Advice elves are officially on holiday until 2026! We hope you get gifted lots of books, fancy pens and notebooks, and a wealth of new story ideas! Have a good one. ~ Anna

Groundbreaking HIV-prevention med won't harm trans people's hormone therapy - LGBTQ Nation Lenacapavir, approved in June, is a twice-yearly injectable.

18 Dec 2025 @rikiwilchins.bsky.social -- Big breakthrough for sexually-active/high-risk trans ppl: study of longest-acting injectable PrEP (lenacapavir) finds NO interaction with GAMT. Trans adults have long avoided PrEP for fear it impacts their hormone therapy with just 20% using it.

Graphic with a peacock feather background saying, Anna's 2025 editing year in review

Graphic showing how many mentees Anna has - 10 - compared with last year - 8

Graphic showing the number of pages developmentally edited - 1513 - and the number of words written in editorial reports - 23341

Graphic showing the number of pages copy edited - 1086 - and the number of words written in editorial reports - 3470

And the stats are in! Phew, it's been a busy one. Looking forward to doing it all again next year. Got manuscripts? Send them my way! Got writing questions? Over here! ~ Anna

And ffs get a sensitivity reader. Don't presume to know a community you aren't part of! Always, ALWAYS hire a sensitivity reader if writing about a culture/background foreign to you. It's not difficult, you'll learn cool facts, & it's just the right thing to do.