Here’s what motivated you to write in 2021 (Part 2)
For over eight years, Richard Beynon, co-founder of All About Writing and designer and facilitator of our Creative Writing Course, our screenwriting courses, and more, has motivated you with his Monday musings on writing, inspiration, and stories.
To date, Richard has written more than 400 Monday Motivations – which means that if you read one a day, it would take you over a year to get through them. Plus, you’d probably know almost everything there is to know about being a good writer.
We’ve rounded up the top 15 Monday Motivation blogs that you loved the most this year. Click here to read the full archive.
6. MONDAY MOTIVATION: THE POWER OF THE POWER OF THE DOG
The usual suspects are talking up The Power of the Dog as a likely Oscar winner, and Benedict Cumberbatch an Oscar favourite for his role as the cowboy Phil Burbank. For Jane Campion, whose The Piano has been hailed as a masterpiece of cinema, this latest film marks the end of a ten-year drought.
No spoilers here. I’m not going to give the game away, but I am going to talk in rather abstract terms about the technique that Campion uses to sustain interest in her story over its 126 minutes of running time… [more]
7. HOW TO WRITE WHEN YOU’RE COMPLETELY OUT OF IT
Damon Galgut, we’re all aware by now, has won the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel, The Promise, by a unanimous vote of the judges. Much of the literary talk since has concerned the complex point of view he adopted for his story. That’s what I’d like to consider today
First, let’s try and get a handle on what precisely he did. Then we’ll ask why he made those particular choices. And finally we’ll consider what effect they had…[more]
8. WRITER’S BLOCK – AND HOW TO MANAGE IT
Some wear it as a badge of honour because it seems to affirm their identity as writers. For others it is a curse that keeps them from fulfilling the mandate they feel is part of their DNA. And yet others shrug and claim never to have encountered it at all. The problem is, writer’s block
You’ve had this wonderful idea for a story that’s been buzzing around in your head for years. You’ve taken reams of notes. You’ve explored the idea – to rapturous applause – with your friends and your partner. You’ve worked out where the story will begin and where it will end… [more]
9. CREATIVE POINTS OF VIEW
The decision about which point of view to adopt is a critical one. Some writers opine that point of view is story. So listen up: The standard choices are, of course, first person, third person, omniscient and the much rarer second person.
Each of these has an effect on the way in which the reader relates to your characters in general, and the protagonist in particular. If you’re writing in the first person, you at once create a sense of intimacy between narrator and reader. If you write in the omniscient third, you introduce a certain distance between protagonist and reader… [more]
10. MUSICAL THOUGHTS FOR WRITERS
Nicola Benedetti is a Scottish violinist. She burst onto the musical firmament when, at the age of sixteen, she won the BBC Young Violinist of the Year award. She has played with many of the great orchestras of Europe and America and is the winner of a Grammy for her performance of the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ composition, Violin Concerto: Fiddle Dance Suite.
She is, in other words, something of a phenomenon, still only 34, and at the very top of her game… [more]
