It may be the former public servant in me, but those who read the first half dozen posts in this series will know I take a rather bureaucratic approach to my filing system. The research papers and photographs I keep in large subject files, divided into reasonably comprehensive and labelled sub-sections.

When it comes to the writing, each chapter has its own folder with copies of the material, photos, drafts and references to use during the.........

For me, the story must change to suit the known facts – although I certainly have to make many (I hope logical) assumptions where the record is silent.

There’s not much refuge to be found for the storyteller – as opposed to the historian – in the phrase ‘we don’t know what happened next.’ Still I always point out the main assumptions in the Endnotes.

This emphasises the .........

Hence the importance, before putting the first word on the page or screen, of researching your topic thoroughly. It's true of fiction and even more so, in my case, of literary non-fiction.

If a reader tosses your book away with the remark that ‘This writer doesn’t know what he (or she) is talking about’, you’ve wasted your time. The whole edifice you've elaborately constructed with fine words and profound thoughts will start to fall to the ground in the mind of your reader.

One .........

To be sure there are few original ideas in literature (though they seem to occur quite regularly in contemporary science). What matters is the form, content and expression of the thought – which is what makes it particular to each individual author. As it is, of course, the basis of the copyright laws.

It's also true, as I said earlier, that .........

The paragraph is a lengthy one, with many subordinate clauses and heightened language – typical of Romantic 'sturm und drang', though writers and artists of every period have drawn on the metaphor. And I spent an instructive hour or two thinking how I might approach the same passage were I writing it for myself.

It's a useful exercise for a number of reasons. It .........