Kwani Trust have commissioned a series of articles by today’s leading African writers on writing craft and practice as a way to support writers through the process of developing and submitting manuscripts for the Kwani? Manuscript Project, Kwani Trust’s new literary prize for African writing. Including contributions from Aminatta Forna, Leila Aboulela, Ellen Banda-Aaku and Helon Habila, the articles offer advice and inspiration for developing your novel manuscript over the next 2 months. In this, the third article in the series Helon Habila explores the style, form and space.