Writers Tips

Tips on Getting That Book Written - Noelle Harrison

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:58:01 +0100

Stay in the moment

When you are writing don’t worry about the end product try to stay focussed on what you are writing in that very moment, and don’t stop to analyse it. The first draft is going to be far from the finished product so this is the draft you can put anything in at all, all your wanderings and meanderings.

Set up a writing practice

Try to write regularly, to build up stamina and gradually get to know your own voice, or way of writing. You could write every morning, lik...

Ten Crime Books You Have to Read Before You Die

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:39:51 +0100

'Loy is a private detective with a true heart and a hard head -- a good thing, given the number of blows it, and other body parts, accumulate in the books. The most recent, City of Lost Girls, sends Loy to Los Angeles to find a serial killer who targets attractive movie extras on the sets of Loy's estranged friend, an acclaimed director whose latest blockbuster chronicles nothing less than the history of Dublin.

Hughes is a beautiful and evocative writer -- the kind whose paragraphs demand rerea...

The 9 Day Writer's Week

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:46:28 +0100

An interesting question and one I get asked more and more, particularly when I have a new book in the shops – like Love Is The Reason right now. Generally I laugh and offer a flippant response, making it sound as though a fairy godmother sits at my desk getting chapters written while I sleep.

But for this article I’ve decided to give the question the attention it deserves and try and answer it honestly.

A little like water and oil, my writing floats on top of my day in the office and wh...

Why Take a Writing Class?

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 21:50:35 +0100

Focus

Taking a writing class gives you the opportunity to focus on writing for a set period of time, whether it’s a once-off day or a set of several weeks. It’s a way of taking yourself seriously as a writer and ensuring that there’s space blocked off in your schedule for writing-related things.

Commitment

Writing is all about commitment – promising to yourself that you will finish a particular piece of writing, that you will revise a particular draft, that you will start sendi...

Joseph O'Connor's Top 10 Tips

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 22:22:40 +0100

We collectively own this beautiful creation, the English language. It’s been made by countless multitudes of people, in dozens of countries, over hundreds of years, and it changes every day. It’s part of our inheritance, though we can never fully possess it. Old words die. New ones are born. What is the language for?

Nobody knows anything. These are just some ideas. Other writers have different approaches and doubtless would disagree passionately with much of what I am saying here. And they�...