A collection of blog posts that offer advice for writers
Writers all need a little help sometimes and, to get your creative thoughts whirling, I have rounded up eight of the best prompt sites on the Internet.
Waiting for inspiration to strike?
Stuck in front of a blank page?
Staring at a white screen?
Need some help?
Read on…
Continue reading “Creative Writing Prompts”
The world is full of terrible blogs – written by people who can’t write and can barely read. The Web needs proper writers. The Web needs YOU! Here are 5 excellent reasons why all writers should be bloggers.
I am going to propose five excellent reasons why every writer should be a blogger. But first, I have some questions for you.
And are you still wondering whether you should start blogging? Perhaps everybody is telling you that every writer must have a blog, but you remain unconvinced.
Let me ask you one really important question.
Do you want to be a published writer?
If the answer to that is ‘yes’, great – you should read on. Continue reading “Why all writers should be bloggers.”
Once upon a time, a writing tutor called Dorothea Brande sat down and wrote a book to help people become writers. She did this because she believed there was a ‘sort of writer’s magic’ and that it was teachable. The book she wrote was called Becoming a Writer and was short and conversational in style. It became a must-have classic.
Becoming a Writer is not designed to be a comprehensive how-to-write manual. Dorothea doesn’t talk about style, or grammar, or structure, or plotting, or dialogue, or how to create great characters. No. This book is intended for those ‘who hope to write’.
Dorothea believes you have to get certain things right first. The technical instruction of writing must come later.
So what does she talk about? Continue reading “Dorothea Brande and Morning Pages”
Just been listening to Iain Banks, in a Q and A session on the
Unbound blog site.
He is a great science fiction writer and has found success in both the world of science fiction and the world of literary fiction (two genres normally divided by millions of light years of empty space). It is fascinating, both listening to his reading and, even more so, listening to the answers he gives to questions. You can hear his enthusiasm and his imagination – simply bursting with ideas.
I particularly liked the part, right at the end, where he says:
I do read science, but I simply dispense with it when it gets in the way of a good story ….. shameless, I know.
Farewell Summer ends with an Afterword, in which Ray Bradbury writes about his approach to writing. Fascinating stuff. I have just selected a few nuggets. If you want more, you will have to read the book yourself.
(If you are interested in my thoughts about this novel, read my review on Ruthless Reading)
The book ends with an Afterword, in which Ray Bradbury writes about his approach to writing. For me, this was fascinating stuff. I have just selected a few nuggets from the Afterword. If you want more, you will have to Continue reading “Ray Bradbury writes about writing.”
Ruth Livingstone 