-
-
Insider tip
The biggest key to voice is not worrying about it. Bad style often comes from trying too hard to imitate the style of other writers. Gotham Writers' Workshop: Writing Fiction-
You'll find us not just here, but also on Facebook.
Literary agent runs away screaming
Can a simple comment on a submission make a literary agent howl with horror? Yes, absolutely, according to this agent’s guest post:
Let’s start with the science bit – every day by email, post, carrier pigeon and osmosis I receive 10 unsolicited approaches from unrepresented writers out in the big wide literary firmament.
These come from all genres. There’s fiction (from coming-of-age to fin-de-siècle), non-fiction (from ‘My 38 Years As a Bank Manager’ to ‘Mucus – the bodily secretion that changed the world’), poetry (from love poetry to stalker poetry), cookery books and academic texts to verse drama – usually about earwigs taking over the world for some reason. Read more
Rule 2: Establish your goals
Filed under: Writing Advice
Many of you had lots to say on the subject of writing groups and how to find readers in response to my founding rule number one: every writer needs readers.
This month we’ll focus on rule number two, which many of you have already hinted at: establish the writing group’s goals Read more
A fantastic collection of advice
Filed under: Writing Advice
The Guardian has just published a collection of Ten rules for writing fiction from some amazing writers. They are funny, apt, and useful. I’ll have this article to hand whenever I need a pointer – and I suggest you do too.
Cressida
(Editorial consultant)
Roll up for the DIY book tour!
We often ask successful authors what else they do besides write. Writing the book is just the beginning. Well it is, if you want to get your work out there, across to the public at large, and selling in large amounts.
What’s striking is not only the many and varied things that are done in the name of promotion, but also those that aren’t generally done, but could be, if you put your mind to it.
Here are some of the things that authors have told us Read more
Found on an agent’s slush pile
Filed under: Getting Published, Literary Agents
A heartwarming tale for writers: Stephen Kelman’s book, Pigeon English, was spotted on an agent’s pile of unsolicited submissions, and went on to be hotly fought over by no fewer than 12 publishers, before being snapped up by Bloomsbury.
This story of violence on a council estate is narrated by a 12-year-old boy, and in an interview Read more
When do you become a writer?
This guest post from author Thomas E. Kennedy is the first of four, each focusing on a question that has empowered him – and could also empower you – as a writer.
Q: When do you become a writer?
Thomas E. Kennedy: When you’re starting out and have published little, maybe nothing at all yet, it is hard to believe in yourself as a writer. Back when I’d only published two or three stories, although I had been at it for years, when someone asked me what I did, I felt funny claiming to be a writer.
Did I really have to identify myself with the day job that paid my bills even though I considered writing the most important thing I did?
I asked a Read more
Love in the time of… now
Filed under: Authors and Books
I love a good romcom novel and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m one of the millions of women (and some men) the world over who devour ‘chick lit’ with relish and, frankly, are glad of the authors who write it.
Why then is this particular style of romance writing considered, by some, to be amongst the lowest form of novelising? (I’m asking.) Is it because Read more
Agents – what’s the point?
Filed under: Getting Published, Literary Agents
To an aspiring writer, literary agents can seem like a parasitic race – they take their percentage, but what do they give back? And is it worth having one?
The short answers are ‘lots’ and ‘yes’. Read on!
An agent sends your manuscript out to see Read more
Do you ‘diary forward’? I don’t.
Based on its excellent review in The Guardian the week before last, on impulse I rang and booked tickets for The Rivals at the Southwark Playhouse. It was just wonderful, and re-exposure to Mrs Malaprop (played by Celia Imrie) was a delight.
Whereas I have heard actors give the misplaced words greater emphasis, the particular pleasure of Imrie’s performance was that they simply flowed out of her, increasing the sense that the character is entirely unaware of her inappropriate vocabularly; indeed that she remains as relaxed as an ‘allegory on the banks of the Nile’.
The experience set me thinking about other examples of the infelicitous use of language. Read more
What inspires your writing?
Mary Hooper writes for children and young adults. Her historical novels including At the House of the Magician and The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose have a huge fan base, as do her contemporary novels for teenagers.
In my last post, A writer with nothing to write about, I explained how, after writing 20 or so books for young adults, I’d run out of ideas.
Eventually (I already had a book commission to fulfil) my editor suggested a historical book, but I had absolutely no background in history and only a vague idea of what had happened when. I took myself along to Read more
Buy the 2011 Yearbook
The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is available at a discount from our online bookshop. Get all the information, contacts and advice you could need.On camera: Jon McGregor
"Being longlisted for the Booker Prize changed everything - it was the launchpad for my writing career." Click to view our video with novelist Jon McGregor »
On camera: Justin Cartwright
"Just write... If you're any good you may not know it, but certainly someone else will." Click to view our video with novelist Justin Cartwright »
On camera: Julie Myerson
The novelist and journalist Julie Myerson on how she got that all-important first publishing deal. Click here to view our video exclusive »