Tips on opening chapters, opening pages and opening lines Firsts can be difficult. Nerve-wracking. Full of self-doubt. Fear of judgement. For some writers, a blank page is scarier than Norman Bates in a clown costume. Starting a book can become such an obstacle for...
One year on, but it feels like yesterday… Almost exactly a year ago we ;launched our very first intake of The BOOK FORGE, our non-fiction writing programme. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that we were scared. We had only had the idea for creating...
Reading might seem like a separate hobby to writing… …especially if you are struggling to find time to write you might think that sitting reading a book is a waste of time, let me explain why it is so important. Many moons ago when I was a teacher, part of...
‘Dream with your heart. Write with your soul. Edit with your head.’ Jennifer Spredemann It’s true, isn’t it. You might write with your soul, but you definitely edit with your head. Editing is a very different skill to writing and so it doesn’t necessarily follow that...
Words have power… As a writer you don’t need us to tell you the power of words. Words are our best and most precious commodity, but do you ever stop to think about the power of the words you use to speak to yourself, as a writer? Do you allow yourself to...
Tapping into Creativity with Crystals, Oils, and Meditation You might be wondering why we are talking about natural support, like crystals and essential oils, on a writing blog, well, the answer is simple – we use them and they work! Any pearls of wisdom we can...
With the help of a cartographer, an artist, a theorist, and a magician Structure – the order, organisation and connections between parts of text – has an important role in your reader’s journey and heightens their understanding and enjoyment of your...
Guest Blog by Henry Flemming-Smith a student from Leeds Trinity University. As a child, my journalling, consisted of plants stuck in annotated pages with tape and in-depth critiques of my favourite wrestlers. My grandad, an artist, kept an immaculate journal full of...
People like me can’t be writers… This is the story I told myself for many years. I can remember when I was six years old being asked to writer a story at school. I loved everything about it and rushed home and asked my mum if I could please borrow her...
Emotions can hit us when we least expect them Every day we are caught unawares by our emotions; a song comes on the radio, someone walks past wearing a familiar scent or a storyline on a TV show strikes a chord and from nowhere we are crying. Surely when you are...
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