I’ve spent years working on the preliminary drafts of my first novel, and this week, I’m putting the finishing touches on my final draft, so I can start pitching it to agents and publishers. This is the three-step process I’ll be using to get the best out of my writing and maximise my results.
In my last writing article, which was all about the mistakes we can make in the writing process, I talked about keeping your writing and editing separate so that your brain can focus on one thing at a time. …
On what should be a day of celebration, 35 million Chinese citizens spent Chinese New Year in lockdown.
China took drastic measures to slow the spread of the Wuhan Coronavirus this weekend, placing 12 cities under quarantine. The deadly virus has infected over 900 people and killed more than 25 so far.
These quarantines are medical intervention on an unprecedented scale: the number of people quarantined in the 12 cities dwarfs the population of Australia by 9 million. However, they are not the only ones in lockdown.
As the coronavirus outbreak continues, an estimated three million Uighur Muslims — approximately 500 thousand of them children — remain incarcerated in government-operated re-education camps. …
How can fiction and non-fiction writers alike take advantage of the next stage of literature?
Literature comes in many modes, modes which have been changing and adapting over millennia. We’ve had oral storytelling, the origin of many fairytales ingrained in our culture, written texts, which have contributed to the literary canon, and filmmaking, an extremely recent phenomenon when you consider all of human history but one that has definitely left its mark on our culture at large. As the methodology of literature has evolved, we’ve never entirely left any mode behind.
For example, oral storytelling has minted many ‘YouTube millionaires’ who’ve risen to fame through their use of the notable “story time” video format, which consists of them delivering (usually extremely exaggerated) stories about their lives to camera. So, when thinking about the future of literature, the question you should be asking isn’t “What will replace our current modes of literature?” …
On the 8th of March, people around the world will acknowledge International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate the achievements of women and call for further progress toward gender parity.
Since the first IWD gathering over a century ago in 1911, the event has been a time for action, for unity, and for reflection. This has led to a lot of discussion about women’s experiences and struggles, but one thing that appears to be left out of most of these discussions is mental health.
Historically, mental health and discussion around it has been extremely stigmatised – especially when it comes to gender. In fact, the term “hysteria,” a mental disorder thought to have manifested in women that experts have thankfully left in the past, actually comes from the Greek words for uterus: “hystera.” …
If you’re considering getting into writing or you’re just starting out on your first project, then this is exactly what you should be reading right now. No matter what type of writing you’re planning on getting into – whether it’s a fictional novel, a new blog, or something else entirely – all beginner writers are prone to making 5 big mistakes, and these mistakes have the potential to set you back years in your writing career. From the craft itself to your attitudes towards it, reading this article should give you the guidelines for success in writing.
1. Giving Up.
You’re not going to be the next J.K. Rowling on your first attempt. …
Today I released my first ever short film, Purple Haze, to the world.
If I’m honest, I don’t really know why I decided that making a five minute film in 2 months was doable, let alone something that I — a full-time high school student with exams and assignments coming up — should undertake.
To non-filmmakers (which was me until recently), that doesn’t sound like a lot. How long can shooting five minutes of footage really be, anyway? …
Everyone has a secret.
Sally’s parents want her to study medicine but she secretly dreams of being on Broadway. Billy used to have a drug problem, but he’d rather take that to the grave than tell his new friends. Emma still hasn’t told anyone about the dead body that she hid in her backyard.
Everyone has a secret; so what are your novel characters hiding?
Tension drives stories – don’t forget it can be internal.
Often, when people plot their stories, they immediately start thinking about external tension. External tension is tension that stems from outside of a character’s thoughts. …
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