Learn the secrets to writing a tv hit
Crash Course in Screenwriting When: Starts Monday 3 June and continues for five weeks Where: Online What’s involved: Ten modules with ten assignments to which you’ll receive personal [...]
Monday Motivation: On truth, subtext, and good writing
I recently read a book called Moneyland, in which Oliver Bullough explores the many and ingenious ways in which the world’s superrich hide their wealth and avoid paying taxes. It’s […]
Writing Secrets: The vast canvas calls, but don’t neglect the miniature
When people first enter our mentoring programme, they often come with grand issues, extensive landscapes and multitudes of characters. It’s good to remind ourselves that writers have achieved [...]
Monday Motivation: Here’s how to write a bestseller
How do you write a best-seller? Shouldn’t be difficult. Bestsellers, after all, aren’t vaunted works of literary magnificence. For the most part, they’re just fast-paced stories, chockablock with [...]
Writing Secrets: Why you need to trust your reader
The instant we meet people, we start computing. We take in cues, without even realising it, and come to conclusions. Some of these we’ll adjust with time. Others we’ll confirm. […]
You’re Invited: Free Screenwriting Workshop
You love the movies. You love the glamour, the action, the excitement, the tears, the laughter, and the sheer thrill of inhabiting alternate worlds. But most of all, you love […]
Monday Motivation: Common-or-garden mentaphors
Common threads run through many of humanity’s endeavours. Analysis in one field turns out to be startlingly appropriate in another. Artists seize on some of the more bizarre findings of […]
May Newsletter: You answered our questions – and we’ve come up with a new free service
You answered our questions – and we’ve come up with a new free service Last month we asked you to participate in our survey and to answer two questions. Well, […]
Writing Secrets: How to show not tell with small details
It’s through the small details of a novel that we learn of the large issues, and from which we gain a sense of the world in which it takes place. […]
Monday Motivation: Generate a galaxy of story ideas
Behind every great story is a great idea. Trouble is, great ideas are not low-hanging fruit. They’re not the sort of things that occur to you every day while you’re […]
You’re Invited: Free Story Webinar
You are invited to a free webinar on Story, on 13 May at 18h00 South African time (GMT+2). Story is the essential component of any piece of writing – fiction […]
Writing Secrets: The one core ingredient for being a writer
The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning. That was Mark Twain, not me, but [...]
