The first rule of write club is that you don’t talk about write club. Except we do, often, especially with other writers. Most writers want to improve their craft and share what they’ve learnt. This desire to share ideas and experience on the art of writing – whether through books, courses, writing groups, blogs and so on – is a wonderful thing. It shows that writers see each other not as competitors, but as fellow travellers. Comrades in arms. Drinking buddies. I’ve learned, and continue to learn, so much through the kindness of fellow writers, but this also leads to problems.

Writing, like all art, is subjective. You only have to look at the wide variation of reviews for what are considered our literary masterpieces to understand that. We all have different perspectives on what constitutes a good story, or a well-written story. A few months ago, on the school run, a parent asked me about my book. “Is…