Feb 26 2010
Interesting Nano Fiction comp – closes 30th April 2010
£3 per entry, write a story in 100 words.
Dec 26 2009
Stuck in a rut?
I am. I have a NaNoWriMo novel to finish. I have a reasonable story, I completed the 50,000 words inside the month, and I’m about half way through the story. So things are going great, aren’t they?
Well, actually, no. I’m stuck. I feel as if I’m forcing myself to write the thing. I’ve sort of lost interest in the story, and in my characters. I don’t know where I’m going.
That’s why I was particularly pleased to pick up THIS BLOG POST the other day. There are some great ‘get-you-going’ tips on there, and I’m going to follow them.
Tomorrow 
Dec 25 2009
The Golden Rule of Writing
A great post here: Golden Rule
My favourite? 2. Think about your reader. Who is your intended audience? If you’re writing your church newsletter, then you probably aren’t going to want to include any swear words. Think about your reader, and write to them, being aware of how they will react to your words.
Dec 25 2009
Know your readers
Great blog post from Nicola Morgan
She advocates knowing your readers, and understanding what your readers read, and what they want to read. Whether you’re selling or giving your writing, every writer wants to have loyal, understanding readers.
Dec 24 2009
iTunes-isation?
From The Guardian, with reference to Amazon
Atlantic Magazine, a literary short story magazine, has started to make short stories available for the Kindle (mind you, it’s $3.99 a pop, which is quite steep in my opinion).
The Guardian article alludes to the possibilities of creating a ‘mix tape’ – a sort of self-edited anthology – of short stories that you think go together.
The difference is that a mix tape is the sort of thing you create for a friend or loved one, and give it to them. The publishing industry is currently so paranoid about pirating and ‘sharing’ that this is a one-off: you’d be able to create the mix-book for a present, but you wouldn’t be able to share stories you already had (at least, not without some DRM-fiddling).
Probably not a goer. Now, if you were able to collect some extracts (say, 3 chapters or 20 pages), there is far more likelihood of the recipient going on to buy the complete ebook (maybe even using tokens / vouchers included in the gift?)
The publishing industry really needs to get less precious about its content.
Dec 24 2009
What’s this about then?
It’s news for writers. Information about writing, markets, hints and tips, stuff like that.
Hope you enjoy it.
