Imagine. Remember John Lennon’s brilliant song? He said people called him a dreamer because he could imagine a world without hunger or greed. And he said making this imaginative leap was easy if you tried. Fair enough. But as any novelist will tell you, sometimes the imagination needs a little push and a shove. We’ve […]
A past student emailed this week to say he really needed to get down to writing and stop wasting time. He did a creative writing short course with me some years ago and wants to enrol on the Writers’ Masterclass because he reckons the deadlines will help him produce his novel. Which is a point
If shaping your story is proving a battle it might be because you’re not sure of your genre. I’ve found that if you can nail down your genre early on you can make your writing life a whole lot easier. When I changed from writing general literary fiction to crime fiction that change brought with
There is nothing like a makeover. It not only brings with it a new look, but creates an exciting buzz. And that’s what has happened with WriteOnline. Last week it relaunched with a whole bright new look, extra features, and a team putting a huge amount of energy and thought into the future. I couldn’t
How books get written is one of those issues which really intrigues me. Sometimes they are written in a rush – at least I’ve heard some authors admit to this – but mostly they take weeks, months, years to write. Years and years is how long it took A’Eysha Kassiem to write her first novel.
One of the great spin-offs of the Writers’ Masterclass is when a writer gets to score a publishing deal. There have been a host of books published by WriteOnline’s Masterclass writers since it began in 2012, and there are more coming up next year. The latest to add to the list is by Luc Zwaenepoel.
It’s always a bit scary getting to the end of your first draft and writing the last line. I was there again the other day and I have to admit the final sentence came as a surprise. For one thing, the novel ended with dialogue and the last word went to a minor character –
All my life I have never thought of writing as therapy. I’ve always thought of writing as a job. Something you sat down to during the day and worked at for as many hours as you could afford. It was a seven days a week job and it had nothing to do with my emotional
These best practice writing tips are from John le Carré. Well, not exactly from the horse’s mouth but from a massive biography by Adam Sisman called (unsurprisingly) John le Carré – The Biography. I’ve been immersed in it for the last couple of days as the man’s life is interesting and his writing life even
Last week I wrote about ‘completion fear’ and was then asked if I’d ever thought it worthwhile letting go of a manuscript. The person asking was someone I’ve never met, except virtually. She did one of my short courses some years ago and has been on my Masterclass twice. The first time she wrote a
