START THE WEEK with a writing exercise: Creating a Dark Character
AS WRITERS WE NEED people to do bad things: they create story. They may not be the heart of your writing, the central core, but they kickstart action and reaction. … Continue reading
It is all in the details – Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work. … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand … Continue reading
The Reason for Bad Writing – Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS
Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do― to … Continue reading
MY BOOKS by short story writer Jamie Guiney who rereads A Christmas Carol every Christmas…
Jamie Guiney is a literary fiction writer from County Armagh, Northern Ireland. His debut short story collection The Wooden Hill is out on 30th Nov 2018…nine days time. You can order … Continue reading
MY BOOKS by an author who met his hero and wrote a book about it, and believes that the DNB is never, ever wrong
Born in England in 1964, James Christie graduated from college with a degree in creative writing as well as College Colours “in recognition of outstanding service to the student body … Continue reading
They’re all worth reading – Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Every book you pick up has its own lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones. Stephen King
The trouble with using long words…Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, working for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of … Continue reading
How to use research in fiction – Stephen King QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
If you do need to do research because parts of your story deal with things about which you know little or nothing, remember that word back. That’s where research belongs: … Continue reading
Stephen King on timid writers and timid lovers QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. The timid fellow writes “The meeting will be held at … Continue reading
Where Stephen King gets his ideas QUOTES FOR WRITERS (and people who like quotes)
So where do the ideas—the salable ideas—come from? They come from my nightmares. Not the night-time variety, as a rule, but the ones that hide just beyond the doorway that … Continue reading
Writing is Magic…Quotes for writers (and people who like quotes)
Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid or making friends. Writing is magic, as much as the water of life as any other creative art. The … Continue reading
You just don’t get it, do you?
Stephen King – who only joined twitter at the beginning of December – used this new method of chatting with fans to discuss cliches in movies. He suggests that the … Continue reading
Reading like a Writer — Suspense
Suspense is perhaps the most important element that keeps readers turning the page or viewers glued to the cinema or television screen. Wanting to know what happens next seems to … Continue reading
The last ever Monday creative writing exercise. WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
This is the very last Monday creative writing exercise so I thought I’d go out with a smile. (I’ll explain why I’m dropping this feature in another post today .) … Continue reading