Writing from the Dark Side: Jane Lythell talks about the flawed characters in her novels
Jane and I belong to the same group of authors – the Beach Hut Writers – and, although we’ve met before, we really got talking when we shared a table … Continue reading
Write for BBC Radio
Once a year a window opens for new writers with no experience of radio to submit a short story to Opening Lines – BBC Radio 4’s showcase for short stories. … Continue reading
10 things Hilary Mantel knows about writing Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)
This list is an extract from a post by Hilary Mantel, the international bestselling author, and seems like a good and thought-provoking way to start the new year. It originally … Continue reading
Time away from the workaday world for Scottish writers….
The Scottish Book Trust want Scotland-based novelists, poets, children’s writers, dramatists and screen writers to apply for the Robert Louis Stephenson fellowship. It provides residencies for four fellows for one … Continue reading
Set your own S.M.A.R.T goals for 2015….
S.M.A.R.T is a goal oriented strategy that has been around since the 1980s. I don’t know if it works for every activity but I do know it is good for … Continue reading
Creative Writing Newsletter – December issue going out today
From time to time I send out a newsletter about competitions, publishing opportunities and other writerly things that take my fancy. The third edition is going out later today and … Continue reading
Do you know where Dickens got the character Scrooge from? It was a bit of mistake actually…
It is clear from any Dickens’ novel that the great man enjoyed names. His friend and biographer, John Forster, said that Dickens made “characters real existences, not by describing them … Continue reading
Writers need exercise….quotes for writers (and people who like quotes)
Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without … Continue reading
Silent Monks Singing the Hallelujah Chorus – Happy Christmas Everyone
This will put a smile on your face if there isn’t one there already… Performed by a Public High School in America – wish I knew which school and where … Continue reading
A circular Christmas letter written in 1920
I’ve sent out my circular letters to friends and family across the world and received a few in returned. We exchanged news about new homes and old bones, about holidays … Continue reading
There’s a time for everything including posting on Facebook…
I retweeted a post about social media from Carly Watters’ very interesting blog back in October. She is vice president and senior literary agent for a Canadian literary agency, but … Continue reading
The difference between a lie and a story…Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)
A lie was something you told because you were mean or a coward. A story was something you made up out of something that might have happened. Only you didn’t … Continue reading
Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was no such thing as books for boys…or princesses…or pink
I recently wrote about a Barbie book that should never have seen the light of day and now I’ve heard about a young girl in California who has managed to … Continue reading
A bitter lesson for writers – Thomas Wolfe Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)
What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 