Writing Secrets: Cut the crap
Those who have been on one of our courses will know that one of our favourite mantras is: use restraint. This is one of those pieces of advice which can take writing from clunky to elegant. When [...]
Monday Motivation: In praise of punctuation
I got embroiled in a conversation about commas this weekend. As one does. What are the rules for using commas? In my experience, there are writers who use commas with exuberant abandon – and [...]
Writing Secrets: Put publishing thoughts aside
When my first book, The Innocence of Roast Chicken*, was a work in progress, I would reward myself for a good day’s writing by allowing myself an hour’s worth of the “When my book is published” [...]
Monday Motivation: Honesty, fearlessness and clarity
Why are some of the greatest writers drawn to write fiction for children? One answer I’ve heard is that in England at least, books intended for children were taxed at a lower rate than those [...]
Writing Secrets: Writing and happiness
I haven’t written anything for a while, as you’ll know if you’ve innocently asked how my writing’s going. I probably snapped your head off, for which I’m sorry. I keep telling myself that five [...]
March/April writing challenge
For March and April’s writing challenge, Tracy Todd has kindly donated a copy of Brave Lotus Flower Rides the Dragon as a prize. In honour of her brave personal story, we’ve decided to [...]
Monday Motivation: Getting the measure of your man
One of your chief concerns as you write your story is to show what sort of man your protagonist is. One excellent way of doing this is to confront him with alternatives. The choices he makes [...]
How we can help you, community successes, writing challenge results – and the new challenge
It’s what we hear most often from people who seek our help: they need to develop a daily habit of writing, and they want our support and mentoring in doing so. That’s our aim over the next few [...]
February Writing Competition Winners
Our February writing competition was: And the winner is… Penny Castle, for her poignant love story: “For the briefest of moments the street light restored you to exuberant good [...]
Writing Secrets: The name game
How has your name affected your life? I used to have a photographer friend who believed you could judge people on their names. “Their parents named them and then socialised them,” he would say. [...]
Monday Motivation: Problem solved
George Saunders is an acclaimed American writer of short stories. His most recent volume – The 10th of December – was crammed with the sort of sometimes odd, always disconcerting, tales for which [...]
Writing Secrets: The touchy-feely art of character portrayal.
We need to know how your character is feeling, okay? It’s not enough simply to have things happen to him without giving us any sense of his emotional state. Part of the reason for this is that [...]
