A lonely story: the perils of writing in solitude
theguardian.com – Monday January 25, 2016
It worked for George Orwell and Henry Thoreau – but for Adrian McKinty, a retreat deep in rural Australia was a very sad tale indeed.
Could 'method writing' be the future for novelists?
bbc.co.uk – Saturday January 23, 2016
Could writers benefit from the same tactics as method actors, who immerse themselves in extreme surroundings in order to prepare for a role?
Every February, as the Oscars roll around, movie fans revel in stories about actors who have gone to extreme lengths to prepare for parts.
Daniel Day-Lewis learned to track and skin animals and fight with tomahawks for The Last of the Mohicans, while, more recently, Leonardo DiCaprio plunged into an icy river and sank his teeth into a hunk of raw bison while filming the Oscar-nominated film The Revenant.
Actors going to such lengths has become more common in recent years and a cynic might argue it certainly did not harm their film's publicity, but given the apparent success of their technique, could working in a similarly immersive way also benefit novelists?
Want to improve the quality of your writing? Type slower
sciencealert.com – Friday January 22, 2016
Let's face it, not everybody's equally gifted when it comes to getting their thoughts down on paper (or the digital equivalent). But according to a new study, there's an easy trick anybody can do to improve the quality of their writing: just type more slowly.
Writing a bestseller ‘on the verge of a stroke’
spectator.co.uk – Thursday January 14, 2016
Every four seconds, somewhere in the world, a Lee Child book is sold. This phenomenal statistic places Child alongside Stephen King, James Patterson and J.K. Rowling as one of the world’s bestselling novelists. But what makes the Jack Reacher books so successful? This is one of the questions Andy Martin, a lecturer in French and Philosophy at Cambridge, sets out to answer in this intriguing and uniquely unclassifiable book. Reacher Said Nothing, however, isn’t a work of literary criticism or a how-to guide. Martin contacted Child and asked whether he could observe the entire writing process for the 20th Reacher novel, Make Me. Amazingly, Child said yes.
Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison on writing for teens
thebookseller.com – Wednesday January 6, 2016
Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison, authors of Never Evers (Chicken House) discuss writing about sex and love for teens.
Tom Ellen: I think we mainly write about sex and love for teens because we're trying to write funny books, and there's a lot of scope for comedy in both those areas...
Lucy Ivison: Well yes Tom, but actually no Tom. I mean, this is a classic time where I realise that you and me are different people. That is not why I write about sex and love. I am just into sex and love! I live for a good romance. And everyone is interested in what goes on with people in the bedroom. That’s just facts. Awkward, cringeworthy stuff is part of the journey…which I do love too.
Struggling as an author? Stop writing only what you want to write
theguardian.com – Wednesday January 6, 2016
Earning a living as a writer is as likely as winning the lottery. Instead of writing books and persuading others to buy them, find out what people want to write, then do it for them.
No taboo should be off limits when writing for teenagers
theguardian.com – Tuesday January 5, 2016
Violence, swearing, sex, drinking, mental illness… teen/YA lit has had it all for over 40 years. Teen author Non Pratt on facing up to whatever readers fear – and exploring uncharted ethical territory
Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison: how we went from being teenage sweethearts to writing partners
theguardian.com – Monday January 4, 2016
The authors of Lobsters and new middle grade book Never Evers on what it’s like writing together (and how they do it), why year 9 is a crazy time, and where they rank in the ‘cool’ league. Plus, read the first chapter of Never Evers here!
Why Do We Fixate on Writer's Block?
huffingtonpost.com – Monday January 4, 2016
"Writer's Block is bunk."
That's not exactly what prize-winning author Loren D. Estleman said a few years ago at a Michigan writer's conference, but it's close. And he'd already published over 60 books (which he wrote on a typewriter!).
The problem with even using the term, he said, is that it's a supremely unhelpful way of saying something very basic and ordinary in the life of a writer: you're stuck.
Why using exciting words can make you a worse writer
chicagotribune.com – Thursday December 31, 2015
"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."
— Ernest Hemingway
Leilen Shelton, a middle school teacher in Costa Mesa, Calif., might translate that famous dictum from the famously plain-writing Hemingway this way: "All you have to do is write one illuminating, ineluctably verifiable sentence. Author the most perspicacious sentence that you comprehend."
Shelton wrote "Banish Boring Words," a crusade against milquetoast words like "good," "bad," "fun" and "said." Some of her disciples also eschew "go," "run," "happy," "walk" and "see."
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