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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The Creative Industries Federation has cancelled its planned general election event in Hull with Jeremy Corbyn, because, it says, Labour refused to give up as much time as other parties to questions from the floor. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dominique De-Light blogs about why Creative Future is determined to help underrepresented writers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Curtis Sittenfeld will write a novel imagining Hillary Clinton’s life if she had not married Bill Clinton, for Random House. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former President Barack Obama might be getting all the attention for that reported $65 million book deal, but former President Bill Clinton is soon coming out with an unusual book: He's writing a novel with prolific thriller writer James Patterson. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2017-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The President Is Missing will see the former US leader make his prose fiction debut in collaboration with his golf partner the crime writing mega-sellerIn one of the most unexpected literary collaborations to date, former US president Bill Clinton is to publish a novel with bestselling crime... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-05-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The non-MFA writing school, run by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Philip Schultz, turns 30 this year, and marks the milestone with a new anthology. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-05-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There are pretty much only two movie seasons each year, Summer Escape and Oscar Bait. Although the first of the two categories is sometimes indistinguishable from March and April fare (hello, F8 of the Furious) there’s something indelibly summer-y about the cinema of May. This year is no... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2017-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jacqui Oatley MBE, Jonathan Wilson, Anna Kessel and Rory Smith are amongst the names taking part in the inaugural London Festival of Football Writing (LFFW) next month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Creative Industries Federation has urged the government to ensure that the creative industries and arts are a "priority sector" in Brexit negotiations, in its election manifesto which is being distributed to all political parties and Federation members. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Creative Industries Federation has unveiled a "blueprint" for UK economic growth. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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McFly band member Tom Fletcher will publish his second middle grade novel for Penguin Random House in time for the Christmas market this October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tony Hall, director-general of the BBC, has announced a new collective creative partnership, Culture UK, as part of the urgent call for the arts and creative industries to pull together. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leaf Arbuthnot, author of An Unmaimed Man, has won Tibor Jones' 2017 Pageturner Prize for unpublished novels. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a children's book about a girl superhero by Alesha Dixon. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-03-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Excited about a debut psychological thriller, Toronto-based Westwood Creative Artists is a London Book Fair's International Rights Center this week. The post Rights Watch: Canada’s Westwood Creative Artists at London Book Fair appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2017-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Halperin, left, and John Heilemann on a panel about their series on Showtime, “The Circus,” in January 2016. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2017-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The former MP says the books about an 'ethical pirate' will be published later this year. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2017-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Creative Access is to operate as a not-for-profit social enterprise from this month as a result of having its funding withdrawn from the government. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Loganberry Books in Ohio has reorganised its fiction section so all titles by male writers now have their spines facing the wallA bookshop in Ohio has made a graphic illustration of the position of female writers by leaving only books by women visible to its customers. The change, made to mark... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan has acquired We Were Warriors, the autobiography of former commando-turned-MP Johnny Mercer, comprising an account of life on the frontline during the Afghanistan war. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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