We talk a lot about creative process or writing process, but what is it exactly?

For me a writing process is another way of talking about having a routine; but it’s also a little more than that. It’s the nuts and bolts of the practicalities of writing but also everything that goes on behind the scenes in a more cerebral way too; the thought processes which can be hard to chart, but which all start somewhere. Come and find out where to start.

Dear Huma,

Please help! I’m floundering with no writing routine to speak of!

Finding your writing voice is not just about finding a certain writing style. It is about language, yes of course, but it is also so much more than that. It is about finding yourself. It is allowing yourself to write in a way that feels honest and not permeating into what is popular, fashionable or what works for other people. Finding your writing voice enables you to write in the confidence that you sound like you - because you are you. Not because you’re trying to be someone else.

Read on for more

it’s taken me a long time to figure out how to bring my love for interiors together with my writing, and my love for books. I used to think the two had to be kept separate but I now l no longer do.

Here’s what I’ve learnt about storytelling through interiors

Writing a book is hard, but not writing a book is harder. On the joy and the magic of writing.

Fourteen things I’ve learnt from writing my first novel, that I’d like to remember for next time.

What I love so much about Mia Hansen-Løve’s films is that they are so understated, and so beautiful in terms of aesthetics and cinematography but also in subject matter and in the very writing, the dialogue. And with this understated quality comes simplicity, clarity.

Here’s what I’ve learnt about storytelling from Bergman Island, Things to Come, Goodbye First Love and One Fine Morning.

Two simple writing exercises to start writing your life story

I find myself then crashing and taking the silence/no to mean that my idea was rubbish and tell myself no-one will ever commission me. and what's the point. Do you have any tips for picking oneself up from this slump? Or ideally not even tumbling so low in the first place?

It occurred to me that for most people who haven’t been published, or don’t work in publishing, the terms ‘structural edits’, ‘line edits’ and ‘copy edits’ may not really mean anything.

A lot of the publishing process can feel very mysterious, and so I thought I’d lift the curtain on what happens behind the scenes when you’re in the editing stages of your manuscript. This is all based on my personal experience, and hopefully it will shed some light on the publishing process for you too:

As a writer, I’m hugely, hugely inspired by storytelling in film and television and just how really, really good and flawless screenplay writing works. I think there’s so much to be learnt from screenplay writing, not just in terms of dialogue but also in terms of pacing, narrative, creating a character’s voice and, of course, plot.

I’m a complete nerd about this, and will often rewatch shows with a notebook and the remote control to hand, ready to pause and write down anything I’ve noticed that has especially stuck with me. I can’t wait to watch what Season Four of Succession. brings. Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve learnt about storytelling from watching (and rewatching!) Succession thus far:

I’ve always been intrigued by seeing where authors write. I’m the sort of person who likes to glimpse through windows when I’m walking down the street, because I like to see how other people live. But more than that, I feel that writers’ rooms reveal something of the individual writing process, whether those rooms are intimate spaces or not. I always find the writing process so fascinating, the way it shows the inner workings of our minds, sometimes without us even realising it.