MacNovel on Twitter- Isabel Costello Literary Sofa
- XX or XY? Do readers care about gender of author? June 17, 2013
- Guest Author – Susan Elliot Wright on Writing a Dual Narrative June 10, 2013
- Let’s all talk about GONE GIRL June 4, 2013
- This Itch of Writing
- Guardian Book Blog
- The best books on Egypt: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka June 19, 2013 Pushpinder Khaneka
- A note on Neil Gaiman's politics June 18, 2013 Paul Owen
- Neil Gaiman in conversation June 17, 2013 Paul Owen
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- I Love You Just the Way You Are June 16, 2013
- I’m Trying To Beat Life Cause I Can’t Cheat Death June 3, 2013
- Could It Be That It Was All So Simple Then May 30, 2013
- Kathy Greethurst’s Blog
- Untitled January 10, 2013 Kathy Greethurst
- Bloody Flies by Andrew J Keir - Review by Helena Frith Powell June 7, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- A wonderful afternoon in Avebury February 22, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- How Publishing Really Works
- Does The Self-Publishing Review Fall For Robert Duperre? March 29, 2012
- The Self-Publishing Review Goes In Search Of The Menopause Ranch March 22, 2012
- Travelling To The Self-Published Review March 15, 2012
- Female PTSD — A Blog By A Brave Female Victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Help I Need A Publisher
- I'm still here... December 31, 2012
- All my advice about publishing and writing September 4, 2012
- Two last questions for DEAR CRABBIT September 3, 2012
- The Elephant in the Writing Room
- Sunshine and Showers June 15, 2013
- Not a lot of writing but a whole load of reading... June 5, 2013
- Jon and the Pacemakers May 31, 2013
- Bren Gosling’s Blog (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- Short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize ! January 30, 2012 Bren Gosling
- About - Sweeping up the Village- by Bren Gosling January 16, 2012 Bren Gosling
- A taster... December 22, 2011 Bren Gosling
- Charlotte Haigh MacNeil’s Blog (ex-City Novel Coursemate and Journalist)
- The real reason insomniacs can’t sleep June 7, 2013
- The myth of delayed motherhood May 18, 2013
- The extreme female brain February 21, 2013
- Michael Braga Writes (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- THE SIGNS -A short story by Michael Braga Oct 2010 October 10, 2010
- Friday thoughts on a Monday afternoon September 6, 2010
- The pursuit of sadness August 25, 2010
- Sometimes I Lie A Little
- Some Things That
- Moira Garland’s Blog
- Partisan writing April 11, 2013
- Brain error? April 7, 2013
- Longing April 4, 2013
- Talli Roland
- Pavilion in the Park June 17, 2013
- Sex. On Tuesdays. Or Not. June 10, 2013
- Notting Hill Press Launches! June 3, 2013
- Charlie Mackle
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Tag Archives: agents
Eurovision, Bowie and Homogeneity
It’s been so long since the last post I’ve taken inspiration from the chiller at the end of the aisle in my local Tesco and have produced three posts for the price of one. Last Saturday night, primed after a … Continue reading
Posted in General Life, Influences, Research, Writing Process
Tagged agents, art, BBC, BBC Nationwide, Bernard Falk, Capital, Cliff Richard, Creative Writing Classes, david bowie, Eurovision Song Contest, feedback, high concept, homogeneity, Isabel Costello, John Lanchester, Olivia Newton John, Pete Domican, Research, Rules of Creative Writing, song lyrics, swivel-eyed loons, The Literary Sofa, Twitter, V&A museum. verbasizer, Words and Pictures, workshops, X-Factor
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Alexis Cole — Transcendence
One of the questions that recurs in my novel is the importance of location — especially for artists.In my novel Kim is a German artist who has arrived to London from Berlin in the expectation that it’s the place to … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged agents, Alexis Cole, art, art galleries, artists, bookshops, Brick Lane, Damien Hirst, Kim, London, Mat Collishaw, Publishing, Research, setting, Shoreditch, theme, Transcendence
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Agent Hunter
Sounds like some kind of Skyfall clone doesn’t it, but Agent Hunter is a new source of information that might be almost as valuable to aspiring authors as state secrets to 007. It’s a new website that has collated a huge … Continue reading
Posted in Publishing
Tagged Agent Hunter, agents, Harry Bingham, Publishing, Twitter, websites, Writers' Workshop.
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Transmission
In the last post I mentioned the ‘Transmission Project’, which according to the Manchester Metropolitan University student handbook is ‘an independent research unit, undertaken at the end of the taught element…to explore a specific area of the transmission of text.’ … Continue reading
York Festival Of Writing
Apologies for the absence of recent updates: writing time has recently become increasingly hard to come by, although mostly in a good way, via holidays and other enjoyable events that I have hopes of getting around to writing blog posts … Continue reading
Was It Worth It?
Last Saturday morning five of us ex of the City course met for our last workshopping session of the current year (although it’s two years since we finished the course we’re still loosely following the Sep-June academic year). I sent … Continue reading
Posted in Frustrations, Writing Process
Tagged agents, artists, Creative Writing Classes, Delia Smith, editing, frustration, holidays, London, motivation, Olympics, Publishing, Shoreditch, subconscious, synopsis, time management, time passing, tiredness, work, workshops
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Agents and the Changing World of Publishing — An MA Perspective
In the MMU Creative Writing MA we don’t just work on our novels-in-progress. That’s the main body of work but we need to take a broader perspective so we understand the context of  modern literature and the publishing world. One … Continue reading
Out of the Chaos — A Manuscript
I’ve been quiet on this blog for the last month or so for a a good reason, which is that I’ve been frantically trying to pull together a draft of the novel-in-progress to be professionally read by someone who knows … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged agents, deadlines, first draft, magic quadrant, motivation, word count, workshops
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‘A Beginning, A Muddle and An End’?
Interesting blog on the Guardian Books website today by Robert McCrum. He talks about Ford Madox Ford’s advice that the literary quality or narrative power of a novel should never be judged by the opening alone but by reading a … Continue reading
Posted in Publishing
Tagged agents, book promotion, consistency, e-books, Ford Madox Ford, marketing, motivation, opening chapters, Page 99 test, Philip Larkin, Publishing, readings, Robert McCrum, Structure, theme
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Churning Through the Mud
Autumn seems to have crept upon us — it’s grey, drizzly and windy outside — and I’m facing the realisation  that I’ve not written half as much as I hoped over the summer. I made some amends last week by … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged agents, Certificate in Novel Writing course, deadlines, feedback, German, Kim, motivation, noise words, pace, Penny Rudge, poetry, productivity, psychology, redrafting, subconscious, workshops
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Onwards and Upwards
After our reading at the Art Workers’ Guild, Alison was very forthright in her collective praise of the class and she seems to be expecting some big things from us as a year group, although she might perhaps have been … Continue reading
Posted in Work in Progress
Tagged agents, Certificate in Novel Writing course, writing progress
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Positive Feedback from Agents and A Publisher
I’ve been so busy preparing for Wednesday’s reading that I haven’t had time to blog about other events that may have more eventual significance. I went to the Winchester Writers’ Conference last Friday and had three appointments — two with … Continue reading
Was It Worth It?
Just on the way back from our group’s reading event which was at a lovely venue — the Art Workers’ Guild in Bloomsbury. I enjoyed the night as a social event but it feels rather like work for me as … Continue reading
A Great Scene for My Novel Happens in 45 Minutes?
I wonder whether today might be an occasion I could use in my novel — pubs should be doing well out of this great weather and the World Cup. 45 minutes to go until England play Germany — that would … Continue reading
Posted in General Life
Tagged agents, busy, course website, football, Germany, Kim, Penny Rudge, readings, World Cup
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Visit from Judith Murray
One of London’s leading literary agents, Judith Murray from Greene and Heaton paid our group a visit on Wednesday night. She has a number notable authors on her list, perhaps the best known being Sarah Waters. Judith mentioned at one point … Continue reading
Posted in Publishing
Tagged agents, Certificate in Novel Writing course, Greene and Heaton, Judith Murray, literary agents, readings
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A Meeting with ‘God’
Last Wednesday, as mentioned in a previous post below we had a visit from a real-life commissioning editor — Francesca Main from Simon and Schuster. I think I’d been expecting a visitor from ‘an editor’ so was quite awestruck when … Continue reading
Visit from Kirstan Hawkins
On Wednesday evening we had a visit from an author who has just had her first novel published — Kirstan Hawkins whose book is ‘Doña Nicanora’s Hat Shop’. What was particularly special about this author visit is that Kirstan is … Continue reading
Encouraging Alumnus
Later this term we’re having a visit from a ‘real-life’ author but, as an encouraging testament, she is an alumnus of the Certificate in Novel Writing course itself. It is Kirstan Hawkins whose novel, Doña Nicanora’s Hat Shop, is being … Continue reading
