These days, it is normal for authors to go to writing workshops – or teach them. So why does the idea they produce derivative writers persist?What makes a writer? How do you become one? When I was younger, even asking those questions seemed to disqualify me: a writer isn’t something one becomes, I thought, a writer just is. Despite writing, rewriting and reading all through my 20s, I was no closer to completing, let alone publishing, a novel. I realised I would need help if I was going to succeed, and I applied to several creative writing MAs.This was, depending on who you ask, either a decision that condemned my writing to being forever derivative and tired, or, an important step on the path towards the publication of my first book. The debate about the value of a degree in creative writing has been done, one might think, to death – good writing depends on an innate facility that cannot be taught, versus good writing depends on devoted time, support, and elements of craft that can be studied – yet it continues to rage. This week, a much-lauded debut novel was criticised in a review by an author for its “MA creative writing-speak” and “oh so tediously writing workshop description”. For some, “writing workshop” is shorthand for bad. But why?'One must have in mind between 68 and 73% of the ending' before starting a story, my teacher once advised Related: Buy a cat, stay up late, don't drink: top 10 writers’ tips on writing Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vaseem Khan was reading about the history of Mumbai as part of research for his successful Baby Ganesh Agency series—which stars the newly retired Inspector Chopra and the elephant he inherits on his last day of work—when he came across a fact that made him sit up. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 16:04:12 UTC ]
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More than twenty years ago, walking into a foreign bookstore in Tokyo, the first thing I noted was a slightly musty yet soothing scent. It came from the paper used for these books and magazines, which had been shipped from overseas—the paper either thicker or thinner, and certainly rougher, than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-27 09:48:22 UTC ]
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As a trans person, I spent most of my life with my head in a book imagining other lives, other bodies, and other histories. In some ways, my memoir is an amalgamation of all the books that kept me curious, kept me thinking it was worth it to keep going. Sometimes it was to dream […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-26 09:48:49 UTC ]
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Before I spotted Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia on the shelves of a Borders bookstore near my Pennsylvania college, I had never seen a book about a Saudi woman before. Princess, according to its book jacket, which featured a fully veiled woman in high heels, was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-25 09:48:19 UTC ]
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Brayden Harrington, 13, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention, will write a picture book, “Brayden Speaks Up,” HarperCollins announced. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-01-21 11:55:52 UTC ]
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Headline is launching new editions of its five Neil Gaiman novels, Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, this spring. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-18 06:20:37 UTC ]
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Usborne author PG Bell, creator of the children’s book series The Train to Impossible Places, has partnered with the National Literacy Trust and The Postal Museum on a letter writing project inviting children to share their experiences of the pandemic with future generations. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 22:56:51 UTC ]
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Today, Haruki Murakami celebrates his 72nd birthday—and we’re celebrating by diving into his recorded interviews. Murakami rarely gives interviews, but the ones he does are packed with insight into how he approaches the writing process. His memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running digs... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-12 18:27:48 UTC ]
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Yale University Press London (YUPL) is launching an internship, to run for six months from early spring. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-22 23:18:15 UTC ]
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Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
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“It takes a huge toll to live the trauma of being a Black person in a white-supremacist country and then write it as well,” Oluo says. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2020-12-03 13:00:00 UTC ]
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A new literary competition that celebrates science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) is offering the winner a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House and a £10,000 royalty advance. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-30 10:30:48 UTC ]
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When Benjamin Dean began to pursue his dream of writing fiction, he did not expect his début to be a novel for children. “I never really anticipated writing for children at that time,” he tells me, speaking on the phone from his London home. His middle-grade novel Me, My Dad and the End of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-26 14:11:48 UTC ]
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The Shuggie Bain author grew up in a culture that discouraged boys from reading. His debut novel just won the Booker Prize. The post Douglas Stuart on Writing in Secret appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-11-20 21:30:09 UTC ]
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Cornerstone has triumphed in a five-way auction to publish a guide to creativity from a former chief marketing officer at Nike, Greg Hoffman. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-20 06:18:40 UTC ]
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Women writing in the spirituality space bring candor, authority, and humor to titles that challenge, celebrate, console, and empower women. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-20 05:00:00 UTC ]
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The Accumulate Art School for the Homeless, a London-based charity that provides creative education and workshops for young homeless people, has partnered with unhoused artists to create a new graphic novel called The Book of Homelessness. The project began with a series of writing and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-11-18 17:27:23 UTC ]
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Hamish Hamilton has acquired Pat Barker's The Women of Troy, the "eagerly awaited" sequel to The Silence of the Girls (Penguin, 2019). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-16 04:29:31 UTC ]
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Much of the change that needs to occur in American publishing needs to happen on the masthead front. The whole thing needs an overhaul, but I’m thinking about lasting, substantial, generational change. The post Bryan Washington Is Writing for Himself appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-11-06 11:00:40 UTC ]
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Author L J Ross is to launch an arts initiative, offering community grants, promoting literacy and encouraging tourism in The North East. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-04 19:31:39 UTC ]
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