Never let go of your writing dreams
It’s been a demanding year. There’s not a person I’ve spoken to who hasn’t faced a cost-of-living crunch, trouble at work or home, or an illness. I want to share […]
Monday Motivation: Don’t roll your eyes, madam, at me
He uses variants of the phrase “he rolled his eyes” four times in Open Season; three times in the next book in the series, Savage Run; thirteen times in his […]
Monday Motivation: A big scene to support the centre of your tent
I’ve been researching film structure. Perhaps because there’s so much money at stake in every movie – and unthinkable fortunes at risk in many movies – a great deal of […]
Monday Writing Motivation: Don’t be a worrywart
Writers of all stripes and levels of experience have something in common. It’s not necessarily a particular love of words. Some writers, after all, are moved more by a love […]
The hidden secrets of writing with Jo-Anne Richards
This is an extract from Jo-Anne’s first book, The Innocence of Roast Chicken. Much of the coming-of-age novel is devoted to the narrator’s life on her grandparents’ chicken farm in […]
Become a better writer with our tips and tricks
The hidden secrets of writing with Vincent Pienaar
Limerence by Vincent Pienaar (Penguin Random House)* is another novel we’d like to feature in this blog series on the published books of our Creative Writing Course alumni. Nominated for […]
Monday Motivation: Six strategies for generating drama and suspense
The most successful drama series of the year in the UK offers us a number of insights into the variety of means writers have at their disposal whenever they need […]
Writing Secrets: Don’t be afraid to get creative with life
“Everybody who writes fiction draws from their own life, but if it ended there, it would be very boring,” says writer, Judy Blume. I came across her advice the other […]
Little Leftovers
Announcing the Winners of the Wigtown Challenge
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 […]
Monday Motivation: ‘Mission Impossible’ and the meme of the ticking clock
Idly in search of ideas that might amuse and instruct you, I found myself watching one of the interminable Mission Impossible movies, in which the utterly and impossibly intrepid Ethan […]
