Archives

New writers often write too formally – as we were taught to write at school. Remember those ghastly business letters? They certainly couldn’t be accused of demonstrating any kind of writer’s [...]

I grew up on a diet of Laurel and Hardy films that were even then, although I didn’t know it, repeats from an earlier golden age for the comedy duo. They reached their apogee in the thirties and [...]

Every now and again, we’re called upon to assess a manuscript in which the theme is pasted across it like a banner. I’ve set out to make people realise how badly dogs treat their humans in the [...]

When Peter Benchley first visited Venice, he wrote to his editor at the New Yorker: “Streets full of water. Please advise”. Venice has both fascinated and repelled writers for centuries, and [...]

Our local is just a short walk away from our boat in Priory Marina in Bedford. Local cinema, that is. (Our local pub is even closer.) Yesterday evening we took advantage of our proximity to [...]

I day-dreamed my way through my entire school career, and was consistently punished for it. I found the drone of the maths teacher’s voice created exactly the white noise necessary for me to slip [...]

A happy new writing year from all of us Start the year as you mean to continue – writing. We’ll be here for you through the weeks and months, when it flows and when you feel as though you’re [...]

This is the first piece I’ve written in this brand-new, fresh-out-of-the-box 2019. I’m in trouble. But it’s not the first time I’ve been here. I seem to remember that I face the same problem [...]

You’ve set your writing intentions – that was the easy part. But now we’re a week into the new year, and you need to start putting them into practice. The thing is … your mind is blank. You can’t [...]

The Wigtown writing challenge is the culmination, for me, of two and a half years of anticipation. That’s how long Trish and I had to wait to take up our place as stewards of Booktown’s Open [...]

Some people have a kind of preternatural understanding of story structure, an inborn ability to create memorable characters and a clear appreciation of the need for detail, tension and conflict [...]

Resolutions just make us all feel bad. Let’s rather fix our writing intentions for the year. Intentions are slightly different. They’re not as strict. Resolutions are the bullies on the [...]