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How to Get an Agent: "Follow your instinct – more often than not it will be right." » Read more on securing the services of a good agent by Philippa Milnes-Smith-
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Splicing the strands
A guest post from Derek Neale, Lecturer in Creative Writing at The Open University:
This is the last in my series of blogs, offering some thoughts about how drama might
improve your fiction.
What have James Joyce’s Ulysses and Graham Swift’s novel Last Orders got in common? Not a lot, you might think. But you’d be wrong. The answer is time frame – the action of both is set over a single day.
You may not always want to confine your story to 24 hours, but knowing your Read more
Finding a voice
A guest post from Derek Neale, Lecturer in Creative Writing at The Open University:
This is the second of my blogs, offering some thoughts about how drama can be used to improve your fiction.
Actors impersonate. And in many ways that’s just what we do when we write a story – we put on the voices of our characters, and the voices of our narrators too. I think voice is very important in fiction.
In a film or play the mimicry is partly achieved by the actor’s intonation and performance. But a significant part of it is orchestrated by the scriptwriter, who provides the actor with a character’s specific diction and speech rhythms, as well as a subtext of that character’s fears and Read more
Making a scene
A guest post from Derek Neale, Lecturer in Creative Writing at The Open University:
This is the first in a short series of blogs I’ll be writing about how drama can improve your fiction, each containing an activity for you to try at home.
‘Dramatise! Dramatise!’ was Henry James’ famous maxim to himself and to would-be novelists – and it remains true today. Your storytelling can gain momentum and finesse from looking at how dramatists do things.
More often than not a character’s emotional state is better revealed by being shown in action, rather than the narrator saying ‘he was sad’ or ‘she was angry’. The reader is happier interpreting what characters do, rather than forever being told what is happening.
Drama can inject the vital ingredient that will bring a story alive. I know this from my own writing and from the work of my students. And in most cases Read more
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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 »