Category: The writer’s life

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

How to win at writing

So, yesterday was the first of our super-brilliant autumn webinars. Last night’s discussion was about how to self-publish your work: the mindset, the basic model,…

Harry 15 November 2019

12 Comments

Roasted chestnuts & a glass of mulled cider

My favourite thing? Well, I have a lot of favourite things, but my favourite for today is when you guys ask super-brilliant questions that make…

Harry 8 November 2019

9 Comments

Reading for the market

A couple of weeks back, I talked about how important it was to gear your book for the market. I don’t mean – and never…

Harry 1 November 2019

3 Comments

The world’s oldest book

This week: a jump into the past that returns us to an eerily modern place. You’ll see what I mean a little later. But first,…

Harry 25 October 2019

3 Comments

A ginger biscuit and a nice cup of tea

I got an email yesterday from a writer with a conundrum. Roughly: “I wrote the book my heart wanted me to write and now an…

Harry 18 October 2019

9 Comments

What is this life if, full of care …

WH Davies was the kind of writer you don’t get so much now. No writers’ groups for him.  No self-promotion on Twitter. Born to a…

Harry 11 October 2019

11 Comments

Whitna raffle wur geen and gottin wursels intae noo

My last post was about – Well, I can’t remember, because the thing that dominated your reactions afterwards was my use of y’all. In particular,…

Harry 4 October 2019

17 Comments

Swooping in, pulling out – a psychic distance starter guide

We’re going to talk about narrative distance. (Or psychic distance. Or, sometimes, emotional distance.) It’s one of the most important tools in the writer’s armoury…

Harry 27 September 2019

6 Comments