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 ]
Anna Foley Simmons has scooped the inaugural Thinking Woman's Writing Award, a new prize set up by British-Nigerian author and TV presenter Kate Jegede to address "woeful" underrepresentation of women writers of philosophy. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Until now, the Kindle Paperwhite had three mortal enemies: water, airplane seatback pockets (just me that keeps leaving them on planes?) and book snobs. While there's no hope for the latter, one of those issues isn't long for this world, as this year... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2018-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Having worked for large literary lists and on one of the UK’s premier literary magazines, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey says she’s right at home at three-strong independent list Indigo Press. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The actor and writer on mistaking Simon Callow for Stephen Fry, the joys of a foot massage and why it’s more important to splash out on a bed than a carBorn in south Wales, Ruth Jones, 52, trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. In 2000, she appeared in Fat Friends with James... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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If you’re too busy to watch the full moon rise just after dusk, and can’t get away from work to see a solar eclipse, head over to Olafur Eliasson’s mesmerizing exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles. Titled “The speed of your attention,” the four-gallery delight will put you in mind... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Canongate-owned Severn House has acquired a new Owen Archer novel by Candace Robb, a decade since the last novel in the medieval mystery series was published. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette Children’s Group (HCG) is partnering with New Writing North (NWN) on a new prize for debut children’s writers who live and work in the North of England. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Writer and publisher Tom Chivers, director of indie Penned in the Margins, and poet and theatre-maker Hannah Jane Walker (pictured) have been appointed as associate artists to the National Centre for Writing (NCW) in Norwich. Both Walker and Chivers will receive a package of support worth... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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#national centre
Penguin Random House Children's will next year publish a YA book about a transgender teenager and her brother by John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon Mayo has left BBC Radio 2 to concentrate on his writing following a newly inked two-book deal with Transworld, including a contemporary thriller. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After Harvard Business Review kicked off 2017 by reducing its print frequency to bimonthly—eliminating 40 percent of the issues offered in a $99 annual subscription—it was a combination of smart positioning, creative new digital benefits, and a heavier investment in the six print issues that... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Short story writer Eley Williams will be the keynote speaker at the fourth annual National Creative Writing Graduate Fair. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hello! I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with this week’s books newsletter from the L.A. Times. THE BIG STORY Although Susan Orlean is a staff writer for the New Yorker, she lives in Los Angeles part-time, and for the last six years has been writing a book that investigates a mystery many of us... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-10-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British novelist who recently published latest book Transcription says she tries not to read bad reviewsThe literary world is packed with novelists reviewing the books of their colleagues but it is not something Kate Atkinson would do, calling it a “callous art”. Related: Drawn from life: why... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new audiobook and a crowdfunding campaign to supply hospices are just some of the events happening around Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ The Lost Words, which celebrates its first birthday on 5th October. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A heavyweight cast and superb location-shooting carries “The Padre,” an otherwise meandering crime thriller. Director Jonathan Sobol and screenwriter Stephen Kunc effectively replicate the tone and eccentricity of a pulp paperback but can’t arrange all their good ideas into anything solid. Unlike... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Library and information association CILIP has opened up nominations for the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Awards to other industry bodies and is introducing a ‘children’s choice’ prize, in response to the recommendations an independently chaired diversity review. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A proprietor’s journey from ‘amenable and friendly’ to ‘intolerant and antisocial’According to George Orwell, “there are always plenty of not quite certifiable lunatics walking the streets and they tend to gravitate towards bookshops”. Bythell’s diary suggests that not much has changed, in this... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Abir Mukherjee has won the 2018 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize (£15,000) with his second novel, A Necessary Evil (Vintage). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Québec publishers and authors are confident looking abroad, searching less for reassurances and acknowledgment from the rest of the world than for new international outlets to share all they have to say. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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