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We met Michelle properly on July 15th 2015, when she attended the book launch of our first paperback, The Moors. That this is where we met is a testament to Michelle’s tenacity as she is forever attending events about publishing to learn more about the industry. Also, she’s so personable when dealing with fellow authors that it’s no surprise her guest blogs are growing in both quality and quantity, and we’re delighted to have Michelle …
Whilst making my annual jaunt to the London Book Fair this year, I met a writer who told me that once he has started a project, new ideas become completely unwelcome to him. In fact, to try and stop new thoughts interrupting his flow, he would completely shut himself away, creating a tunnel vision effect that allowed him to reach the finish line without distraction.
Although I get the sentiment, this is in many ways the …
If you know me, or read my blog, you’ll be fully aware of how passionately I believe in character development and story structure. I feel they are both integral to the creation of a great story, and it can take a lot of time and effort to write a book or a screenplay in what I consider to be the right way.
If you agree with me and you’ve spent months or years of your life …
Of all the questions I receive, this has got to be the most common and so I thought I’d write an article I can usher people towards in the future.
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Whether you’re writing books, plays, musicals or screenplays, it’s vital that you master the fundamentals of a scene. I mean, that does without saying, right? After all, your work is essentially a long list of scenes, so if your individual scenes have something missing, how will your finished product be any different?
There’s one small problem. Writing a noteworthy scene is incredibly difficult. If you pull someone off the street and ask them to write a …
Right after Jody read the prologue to his debut novel, The Moors, he sat down and took a selection of questions from somebody who knows him incredibly well, his older sister, before taking further questions from the audience.
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Whenever I speak to somebody who has deep rooted aspirations of becoming a writer, it’s never long before they ask me this question and I’m going to be quite a little controversial here.
I don’t believe in writer’s block.
This isn’t me trying to be clever or insinuating that I have a stronger creative mind than those who claim to suffer from the dreaded “block of writing.” Far from it!
I simply feel that “writer’s block,” as a …
There’s writing screenplays, and there’s being a screenwriter.
The difference is that anybody can write a screenplay. I learnt my craft by writing dozens of them. However, they never went anywhere because they were rife with errors and not in any way industry friendly.
Being a screenwriter is more about the art of knowing who you are writing for and having a clear, concise, realistic plan of how you intend to get it to them. The difference …
Before you say anything, I don’t personally believe there is a definitive list of 10 simple tricks to make you write the next best-selling book or blockbuster hit.
So much goes into every book and screenplay that each finished story is invariably unique in some way, so you can never escape the fact that the hard work and determination needed to write a great story has to come entirely from the writer.
However, I’ve been in the industry long enough now to have …
To some, the title of this blog appears as something of an oxymoron.
“Visuals?” I hear you cry. “I’m a writer. I paint with words, not images!”
It’s true that every writer is different in both style and approach, but what is undeniable is that, when used correctly, words can be the most powerful and explosive device ever created by man. Why? Because it allows us to stimulate the almost limitless potential of the human mind.
When Martin …