How do I win the battle of the keyboard? Advice from cat-owning writers needed
Murphy is my new flatmate and we get on very well but one for thing…he thinks the keyboard is his natural home. It is a place to stretch and show … Continue reading
Hoping to make Crime pay? Free online Masterclass on crime writing might help…
The Writing Academy at Penguin Random House say they will reveal the secrets of crime writing in all its gory details in an online masterclass that will run later this week. … Continue reading
The important things that children’s books say: QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Children’s books say: the stories of the world are infinite, and various, and unpredictable. They say: you will count for something. They say: bravery will matter, wit will matter, empathy … Continue reading
I’ve been a bit quiet lately…help me to be noiser
This website has been looking rather bare over the last few weeks. You might not have noticed, but my output has dropped to one post per week, the Sunday quotation … Continue reading
A good book is a good book whatever the sex of the author – Anne Bronte QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are or should be written for … Continue reading
The power of words QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Words — so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how … Continue reading
H.G.Wells on the strongest passion of all QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
No Passion in the World Is Equal to the Passion to Alter Someone Else’s Draft H.G. Wells
Where Agatha Christie found her plots QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Years ago I got my plots in the tub, the old-fashioned, rim kind — just sitting there thinking, undisturbed, and lining the rim with apple cores. Agatha Christie
Why you need to know the end of your story when you write the beginning – Edgar Allen Poe QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Nothing is more clear than that every plot, worth the name, must be elaborated to its dénouement before any thing be attempted with the pen. It is only with the … Continue reading
The stories old boots can tell…and a decent pair of Jimmy Choo’s ART FOR WRITERS
Van Gogh frequently painted boots and shoes, the more worn and muddy they were the better. Looking through my writing exercises, I realise I focus on shoes quite often and, … Continue reading
The pain and pleasure of writing a novel Dean Koontz QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Writing a novel is like making love, but it’s also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it’s like making love while having a tooth pulled. Dean Koontz
“I convey the life that person has lived, solely through their look and expression…” ART FOR WRITERS
I don’t think I have to say much this week…Los Angeles-based surrealist Alexandra Dillon transforms things that have outlived their usefulness and turns them into people with personalities and emotions, … Continue reading
Short Story competition for Sussex writers
This is a very local writing competition open to anyone living in East or West Sussex now or in the past (which makes former Sussex, Brighton and Chichester university students … Continue reading
I’m a bit worried about the fantastic Flash Fiction competition Reader’s Digest are running – and I’m not sure if I should be
Reader’s Digest are holding their annual short story competition for the eighth year. There are lots of good things about it. It’s free to enter Short stories have to be … Continue reading
