Karen Stevens's collection of essays offers practical advice and inspiration for those embarking on the long, lonely journey of writing a novelAccording to Karen Stevens, "writing a novel is the longest and loneliest journey a writer can embark upon". Her collection of essays by established and new writers splits that journey into four stages: inspiration, research, voice and form. There is also practical advice from a literary agent and an editor who notes honestly that "chance does play a part" in getting published. Lionel Shriver is equally frank about what comes after the acceptance of your first novel: "struggle and disappointment". Although Hanif Kureishi candidly admits, in an excellent piece from 2002, that "most writers do not entirely understand what they are doing", these essays are both perceptive and inspiring. Alison MacLeod writes beautifully on the voice of a novel: "It is the unknown quantity every novel needs." Kishwar Desai admits to being driven by "the demons of insecurity" to over-research, and Jane Feaver, writing about form, advises authors to develop "an alertness to the collective materiality of words". But all agree with Wena Poon: the process of writing a novel is a "strange and wondrous journey".PublishingPaperbacksEssaysPD Smiththeguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
Amazon’s new entry-level Kindle ebook reader is just like the 2018 Kindle Paperwhite, but $40 cheaper. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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One of the UK’s best-loved creative duos, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, muse on two decades of their most famous creation, The Gruffalo. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#famous creation
#axel scheffler
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Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, has written a "modern feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies", which will explore issues surrounding sexual assault and gender stereotyping, for Simon & Schuster UK Children’s with the US rights going for a six-figure sum. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#feminist retelling
Wanting to see more African characters in children's books—both in Africa and internationally—publishers Sarah Odedina and Deborah Ahenkorah have formed a new partnership. The post Reflecting a Diverse Reality in Children’s Books: New African Literature Partnership appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New literary event the Primadonna festival will give "prominence to work by women”, with support from author Kit de Waal and Curtis Brown agent Cathryn Summerhayes. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#primadonna festival
Fourteen writers have been longlisted by literary magazine New Welsh Review for this year’s New Welsh Writing Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Bowden, author of 13 books, including "Black Hawk Down" and the riveting new true crime book "The Last Stone," shares some writing tips, including "scenes are gold." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#black hawk
The more we know about what other people earn, the more we can understand our own circumstancesI was paid a £12,500 advance to write my book, Open Up. Sharing this publicly, even as the author of a book about our emotional relationship with money, was initially petrifying, but I ended up... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#large amount
#book takes
#book deals
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An interest in ‘how women reframe stories in a feminist framework’ and more was part of the discussion in a Market Focus Indonesia panel at the London Book Fair earlier this month. Editor’s Note: As we look today at comments from women authors, particularly in the Indonesian market, we’d like to... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#international women
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Artificial intelligence can now write fiction and journalism. But does it measure up to George Orwell – and can it report on Brexit?Will androids write novels about electric sheep? The dream, or nightmare, of totally machine-generated prose seemed to have come one step closer with the recent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#statistical analysis
#big thing
In a new research project, new books by men were found to receive 12% more broadsheet review coverage than those of their female counterparts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#research finds
Sabrina, the single mother at the center of Inda Craig-Galván’s new play, “Black Super Hero Magic Mama,” is acutely aware of the various ways her son’s life can be upended. Gangs, drugs, street violence, the police: If Sabrina (Kimberly Hébert Gregory) is overcontrolling, it’s because she knows... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#single mother
“Lackawanna Blues,” Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s theatrical memoir about being raised by a big-hearted proprietor of a boardinghouse for castaways and strays in an industrial upstate New York city near Buffalo, was turned into a TV movie that won S. Epatha Merkerson an Emmy Award. But the compact... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#emmy award
London Book Fair 2019 drew to a close with the shock announcement that Faber editor Lee Brackstone will leave the indie after nearly 25 years to run a new, as yet unnamed, music-centric imprint at Orion. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#mixed reviews
The illustrator who attended art school merely to avoid getting a job, and whose inimitable patchwork creation came about by conflating his Paul Klee tendencies with his love of elephants, will be celebrated by London Book Fair at Olympia. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Podcasts, writing workshops and a collection of short stories are among the winners of this year’s RSL Literature Matters Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#short stories
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Sunny Singh reflects on how far the Jhalak Prize and the publishing industry have come since the award was founded, and how far there is to go. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#publishing industry
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In a letter filed with the Supreme Court this week, the defendants asked for more time to file a petition, saying the case raises "novel and important legal questions." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#supreme court
HarperCollins imprint Avon is partnering with the Big Issue magazine to find a new crime writer in a competition launching in March. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Headline's sister imprint Headline Review has snapped up the "heady and compulsive" debut novel from Hazel Barkworth in a pre-empt deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#pre-empt deal