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 White Horse Bookshop is sponsoring the Richard Jefferies Society Writers’ Prize while the book trade is experiencing a “golden age of nature writing”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mandy Sutter has won the top prize at the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016 for her re-telling of her mother’s story of growing up in mid-1960s Nigeria. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Francesca Dow praised her authors and illustrators for keeping the “magic of storytelling” alive at the annual Penguin Random House Children’s Summer Party. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Adam Farrar on how a literary festival helps to bolster the science and conservation work of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Transworld has signed a new contract with international bestselling writer Lee Child for three further thrillers plus a volume of short stories and a novella. New books in the deal will feature maverick ex-military policeman Jack Reacher. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Adults are more difficult to convince' about poetry, says award-winning author Sarah Crossan. Her newly honored 'One' is a verse novel, for younger readers. The post London’s Sarah Crossan: ‘The Freedom To Write What I Want’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Accent Press is to open Octavo’s, a new bookshop, café and wine bar in the heart of Cardiff Bay’s creative quarter. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As writer and television producer Noah Hawley puts it, with Emmy, Golden Globe, PEN, Critics Choice, and Peabody Awards under his belt, “I certainly don’t have to write another book if I don’t want to, but I find it’s a very important thing to me to be a novelist. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Members of the Society of Authors say current government policy on teaching children writing is destroying their enjoyment and creativity. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Although Maria Semple has written two previous novels—most recently the bestselling "Where’d You Go, Bernadette," with a film adaptation in the works—the one-time TV writer ("Mad About You," "Arrested Development") says writing them never gets easier. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday in Ankara. The Turkish president has tried to silence his critics at home and abroad. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2016-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Journalist, who was cleared of wrongdoing in relation to leaks from Sandhurst, has a deal with Harper CollinsThe Sun’s royal editor, Duncan Larcombe, is to leave the paper more than a year after an Old Bailey trial that saw him cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to tips about Princes William... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Non-Fiction publisher Natalie Jerome inked a deal for the global tie-in to forthcoming ITV prime-time drama “Victoria”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On Tuesday, in the first session in the London Book Fair's Interactive Theater, Guy Gadney, CEO and Founder of To Play For, said technology is beginning to emerge that will "create a new publishing form." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Civil-rights activist who made headlines last year after her white heritage was exposed says the book will be about people ‘caught between boundary lines of race or culture or ethnicity’Rachel Dolezal, the civil-rights activist who was accused of misrepresenting herself as black last year, has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-04-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Interactive Advertising Bureau planned to release a new tool Monday that allows ad designers, developers and ad operations teams to verify that their HTML5 ad units meet the current bureau's guidelines.The tool, which works for mobile and desktop, analyzes elements such as file weights,... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2016-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the first in a series of library roundups, two school librarians interview each other about what titles their collections could use the most. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kelly Kerney, who spent a decade writing the historical novel "Hard Red Spring," talks about the impossible task of historical fiction. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers pushed to loss as value of publishing rights falls and £50m is set aside to deal with continuing cost of hacking scandalThe publisher of the Sun has recorded a loss of more than £250m after making a huge write-down and paying out further costs associated... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pop star Prince says he is writing a memoir, tentatively titled The Beautiful Ones, that will be published in 2017. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2016-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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