Our Most Popular Posts In 2021


popular posts

As 2021 to a close, we’re taking a look back at some of the most popular posts from right here on our website.

We’ve been so pleased to see our online audience grow during this challenging time. We hope coming back here to read our fiction content and fascinating features – and keeping up with the team – has been interesting and entertaining for you all!

Here’s a look at the posts you visited the most in the past year:

The Seven Elements Of A Successful Story

Part of the “Friend” Fiction team’s series of tips for writers, this piece was actually originally written by Fiction Ed Lucy all the way back in 2018.

She’ll be glad to know it had staying power!

To be fair, it is timeless advice. Lucy directs writers looking to have their work published in “The People’s Friend” to focus on things like plot, characterisation, setting and style.

Click here to read the article in full.

“Don’t Quit” – An Inspiring Poem By Edgar A. Guest

Fiction Ed Lucy discovered this gem while listening to the radio one day near the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

First published in the 1920s, it’s message of hope was particularly relevant during a difficult year, that stretched into two difficult years.

Fans of “Reading Between The Lines”, our story podcast, will know how much we love bringing old stories, poems and features to light again. This was the perfect fit for us, and we’re glad to see you enjoyed it, too!

Click here to read the poem.

Grammar Guru: Practise Or Practice?

This post was part of our Grammar Guru series exploring the mechanics of the English language, and outlining some of its common pitfalls.

Editor Angela tackled this one (a bugbear of hers!) in 2018.

If you’re not sure which practice to practise, this is the article for you.

Click here to read Angela’s advice.

Our Top Six Easy-maintenance Evergreen Shrubs

This is one for the gardeners!

It seems plenty of you have been looking for plants that can provide a little flash of green no matter the time of year. And that don’t need too much tending!

Previous Digital Ed Karlie wrote this article in 2018 . . . we’re starting to notice a pattern. Maybe we need write more interesting stuff these days, to try to knock these old posts off the top spots!

Click here to take a look at the shrubs you should pick for an evergreen garden.

The Story Of The Advent Wreath

Ever wondered where the tradition of displaying wreaths at Christmas came from?

Fiction Ed Lucy did some digging.

Back in . . . you guessed it . . . 2018.

Read her article here.


For more from “The People’s Friend”, click here.

Iain McDonald

Iain is Digital Content Editor at the "Friend", making him responsible for managing flow of interesting and entertaining content on the magazine's website and social media channels.