giving writers: identity
I came across a Philip Pullman quote when writing this article: “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” It made me think about how stories are an integral part of our everyday. The way we share them almost constantly when interacting with those around us. We edit…
Approaching a new piece of fiction is like entering a maze. There are many entrances to consider and whichever one we take has a bearing on how clearly we see other aspects of story. If you began at the entrance with a board that read ‘setting,’ the perfect one(s) may have been obvious from the…
We all have our reasons for finding writing discipline challenging, often more than one. Maybe it’s the fear of writing badly, of being a failure; or simply spinning tales in the mind without wanting to ruin them on the page. Fortunately there are things we can do to soften the blow. Just like in the…
If there’s one certainty about characterisation, it’s that names don’t exist in isolation. It’s tempting to think: do they really matter all that much? After all, our parents chose our name simply because they liked it. Isn’t it enough to do the same with our characters? While this is true to an extent, fiction is not…
Dreams have always fascinated me. Why do we dream? Are they meaningful? Why do they form certain patterns? And how can we use them to tap further into our creativity? While I can’t answer these questions, I thought that writing some good old-fashioned prompts and exercises around this topic might help us gain further insight…
Archetypes in fiction are not always clean cut. For example, a villain is an antagonist but an antagonist doesn’t necessarily have to be a villain. A monstrous antagonist like Frankenstein’s monster can be compassionate; or conversely inhumane like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Today I’m going to focus on the latter. By delving into the anatomy of these…
Hello everyone, I hope I find you well. For those who want to continue improving their writing during the COVID-19 pandemic, here are five tips to make that happen. Even though I’m a (mature) student, you don’t need to be enrolled in anything to ‘improve your grades’ and so this article is for every writer…
As I write this article I’m holding a hairdryer, trying to melt a block of frozen soup away from its non-microwavable container. I’m sure my ancestors had a better system, but then again they didn’t have freezers. Often unconscious of the fact that Caveman Joe, Erik the Beardless and Sophie Hairdryer Soup Queen are the…
Part way through the film Chocolat, Judy Dench gives a poetry book to her estranged grandson. He reacts in the way many children (and adults) would. Says thank you with a glazed expression, wishing the present was a new puppy or the next Assassin’s Creed. His grandmother notices this of course, and replies ‘It’s not that kind…
As I mentioned in my last post, my 2020 writing goals have fallen by the roadside; with cackling, smug weeds growing through the cracks! Although realising a while ago that simple routines are more effective, the amount of writing I’ve been expecting from myself this year has probably been too hot to handle. So I…
