Women at Work: Writing Fiction for Young Readers Finding Their Way
verilymag.com – Wednesday April 21, 2021
For as long as she can remember, Verily contributor Claire Swinarski knew the answer to the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” A fiction writer. Specifically, a children’s fiction writer. The path to becoming one, however, was anything but straight. Swinarski’s first novel for middle-grade readers, What Happens Next, was published last May, and her second novel, The Kate In Between, comes out next month. I spoke with Swinarski about her new novel, her writing process, and the fiction that inspires her.
So you want to be a writer? These are the 10 steps to make it happen
irishexaminer.com – Tuesday April 20, 2021
Apparently we all have a book in us. In advance of their appearances at Cork World Book Fest, fiction writer Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin and literary agent Simon Trewin explain how you can go from idea to actual publication.
Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin is a bestselling crime fiction author, writing under the pen-name Sam Blake, and also founder of writing.ie, the Inkwell Group publishing consultancy and crime writing festival Murder One. On Saturday, April 24, she will facilitate three panels on how to get published at the Cork World Book Fest. Participating on the ‘First Page Pitch’ panel is Simon Trewin, a long-established literary agent based in London. Here they give ten of their top tips to aspiring writers.
10 free online writing courses for getting real good at words
mashable.com – Sunday April 18, 2021
Writing is a much-prized skill and a difficult one to master and, while some are naturally gifted in stringing sentences together, we all need to take the time to learn the craft.
Whether you want to write your first novel, pen a poignant poem, pull together a screenplay, or create better business content, there is a free, online course out there to help. We've rounded up a list of free, online writing courses so you can find the perfect program of study to help you write gooderer.
Ethics, Envy and Egotism: Chris Power’s Guide to Writing a Novel
anothermag.com – Wednesday April 14, 2021
As a writer, Chris Power has lived many lives. He entered the industry as an incisive literary critic, writing for broadsheets like the Guardian and the Times. He then shifted to advertising, taking work as a creative director and corporate copywriter. But something about these roles never felt quite right. “I was constantly feeling frustrated by the fact that I wasn’t writing fiction,” the Surrey-born writer says today. “I reached some sort of breaking point, where my unconscious was like, well no, you’ve really got to do this.”
In the years since this breaking point, Power has become one of Britain’s most esteemed short story writers. His 2018-published debut anthology Mothers was an acclaimed, cross-continental study of emotional longing, examining the psychic residue of lost loves and forgotten pasts. And this month, Power is moving beyond short stories to release his first full-length novel: a taut, tense thriller titled A Lonely Man.
Spectra: The Poetry Movement That Was All a Hoax
daily.jstor.org – Tuesday April 6, 2021
The January 1917 issue of the literary magazine Others was devoted to the poets of the Spectric School of Poetry, a new literary movement, which, as its members described, “push[ed] the possibilities of poetic expression into a new region.” Others was a perfect fit for this experimental work, explains modernist-poetry scholar Suzanne W. Churchill. The journal “had earned a reputation for extremism by publishing daring and experimental poets such as Mina Loy, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams.” There was just one problem: Spectra was a hoax.
Jacqueline Wilson's guide to getting started writing children's books
stylist.co.uk – Monday April 5, 2021
Children may have a world of technology at their feet nowadays and they countless ways to find entertainment online – but they are still reading. In fact, they are using many technological resources to do so. Research by the Publisher’s Association found that sales of digital children’s books in the UK rose by 50% in 2020 and a survey of 58,346 children undertaken by the National Literacy Trust found that more than a quarter of children and young people said they were enjoying reading more because of lockdown.
So, if you have always wanted to write for children, now is as good a time as any to start – and Jacqueline Wilson would agree. Although she wrote her first book at the age of nine in 1954, she has now written 112 novels for children and her most recent novel, The Runaway Girls, was released only last month. “I cannot imagine not having a book in my mind all the time,” Jacqueline says. “It would feel so peculiar and empty.”
Jacqueline has sold over 40 million books in the UK and her most well-known novel, The Story of Tracy Beaker, has inspired three spin-off series on CBBC since its publication 30 years ago.
It’s safe to say, then, that Jacqueline Wilson knows a thing or two about writing children’s books and she has some advice for aspiring children’s authors – from how to structure a novel to how to get a publisher, to dealing with complex issues in a way that is accessible to children. Here, she give Stylist’s Curiosity Academy the inside track on getting going.
Melissa Febos on Her Literary Inspirations, Writing Habits, and Notebook Fetish
interviewmagazine.com – Wednesday March 31, 2021
This is First Draft, in which our favorite writers get to the bottom of their own craft. From preferred writing drinks to whether or not you really need to carry a notebook, we find out all the ways they beat writer’s block and do the work. Before curling up with Girlhood, Melissa Febos’s new collection of personal essays, discover all the elements that helped her get it done.
Finding Ideas To Write About
By Marcella Simmons
Freelance Writer
firstwriter.com – Monday March 29, 2021
Ideas are everywhere. They are in your home, your car, at your work - you can find ideas at the park, the grocery store, the doctor's office, at school or in your bed. Ideas happen everyday, non-stop and you can use them in both fiction and nonfiction as well as poetry. Look around you.
Tips To Start And Enhance Your Own Poetry Writing For Aspiring Poets
studybreaks.com – Sunday March 28, 2021
Writing poetry sounds intimidating. It brings to mind the genius of tortured poets like Sylvia Plath or Henry David Thoreau, who famously retreated into the woods to write secluded in nature. Thankfully, writing (and submitting) modern poetry has a much simpler process. Anyone can become a poet — all you need is an idea, story or message you want to tell, and you’re off to a great start!
Here’s how to start, if you have never written poetry before:
Let’s Get Lit-erary: How an idea turns into a book
dailycampus.com – Wednesday March 24, 2021
So you have an idea, but how exactly do you turn it into a fully-fledged novel? What does it take to see your idea unfold and make its way to a bookstore? The process can be long and grueling, but certainly worth the investments of time and money. The road to publishing is easier for established authors, but, of course, they too were once rookies. So here’s a guide to getting your book written and published, from someone who has yet to do either of these things, but spends her free time aspiring to be a novelist.
The first step is to write a manuscript — essentially a polished draft. Now, this is easier said than done. Different writers have different approaches to tackling a manuscript. Some are plotters, others consider themselves pantsers. A plotter goes through the different acts of their story before even delving into writing it. Developing a clear outline guides plotters as they type their tale, preventing it from straying off track and minimizing revision time. Pantsers, on the other hand, prefer to let ideas come to them as they write, allowing more freedom than an outline might provide. Other writers do a mixture of both, creating general guidelines beforehand, but diverging as they feel fit.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
