Category: The writer’s life

Short and grumpy

A short and irritable email this week, inspired by a trio of author-interactions I’ve had in the weeks since Christmas. Three authors. Three stories. Here…

Harry 24 January 2020

9 Comments

Guest post: How the Ultimate Novel Writing Course helped me

Abigail Johnson took part in the very first Ultimate Novel Writing Course and has since been long listed for several prestigious awards. Here she shares…

Holly 21 January 2020

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From scene to sequence

In my last email, I talked about scene building and I spoke a little as if the only two structural units in a story are…

Harry 17 January 2020

1 Comment

How to write a scene

Thanks all for your supportive comments last week, when – cough, cough – I was very poorly. I’m pretty much back in the saddle this…

Harry 10 January 2020

1 Comment

The three crucial elements of opening chapters

In the work I do as a creative writing tutor, mentor, editor and indie publisher I read a lot of novel openings. At Retreat West…

amandasaint 9 January 2020

4 Comments

Members get a free 1-2-1 this January when they refer a friend

Members of Jericho Writers – do you know a writer who could benefit from becoming a member?  Refer a friend to us this January 2020,…

Sarah 26 December 2019

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A Christmas Tale

Once upon a time, in a town far, far away, there lived two people, Sam and Elly. They were writers. Sam wrote fast-selling, humorous non-fiction,…

Harry 20 December 2019

3 Comments

The telling detail

Alert readers will have noticed that there was an election in Britain yesterday, one that produced an emphatic result. Boris Johnson – love him or…

Harry 13 December 2019

5 Comments

The Density Paradigm

Lots of novelists think hard about the total impact of their story, their characters-in-plot.  That’s right, obviously. Is this ending impactful enough? Does my middle…

Harry 6 December 2019

1 Comment

James Law and the diagram of why

OK, so my new favourite thing for today? It’s when you’ve been writing professionally for 20 years and still get really excited when a writer…

Harry 22 November 2019

3 Comments