MacNovel on Twitter- macnovel: @havanaclub_soda Think you probably know as much as anyone. That footage was completely grotesque. I can't believe the BBC showed a clip. May 22, 2013
- macnovel: There is a 10ft high inflatable rat outside my office. May 22, 2013
- macnovel: M&S just sent me a text about buying Back to School wear. I'll expect to hear about their Christmas puddings next month, then. #desperate May 22, 2013
- Isabel Costello Literary Sofa
- This Itch of Writing
- Plain and perfect, rich and rare: what is "lyrical" writing? May 20, 2013
- This Happy Fellow: my year at Goldsmiths May 14, 2013
- Tomorrow to fresh finds and problems new May 9, 2013
- Guardian Book Blog
- The Great Gatsby meets Baz Luhrmann May 22, 2013 Sam Jordison
- Which five authors are in running for the 2013 Nobel prize? May 21, 2013 Alison Flood
- Notes on PEN's annotated first edition auction May 20, 2013 Rick Gekoski
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- Sooner or Later It All Gets Real** May 16, 2013
- I Thought That I Heard You Sing May 2, 2013
- And Four White Mice Will Never Be Four White Horses April 27, 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
- My work here is done - after a free book giveaway September 5, 2012
- All my advice about publishing and writing September 4, 2012
- The Elephant in the Writing Room
- Balance May 17, 2013
- Now is the Month of Maying... May 7, 2013
- The Paris Winter: author Imogen Robertson visits The Elephant April 24, 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 myth of delayed motherhood May 18, 2013
- The extreme female brain February 21, 2013
- Kevin MacNeil and Willie Campbell Are Visible From Space October 24, 2012
- 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
- Love, Cupid, and Gosling May 20, 2013
- London-versary! May 13, 2013
- Books, Bank Holiday, and Baby! May 6, 2013
- Charlie Mackle
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Tag Archives: Creative Writing Classes
Transmitted
I wrote in a post over three and a half months ago about the MMU MA Creative Writing ‘Transmission Project’. That’s the second largest piece of assessed work on the course, which was due to be submitted in September. As … Continue reading
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
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
3 Comments
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
Apologies to Tamara Watts
The user name below, found on an office ‘multi-function device’ (i.e. printer), appealed to my puerile streak. I guess I shouldn’t laugh — maybe Mr Timothy or Ms Tamara Watts has had to deal with such sniggering throughout their lives — … Continue reading
Claire King’s Rules For Writing Novels
I was tweeting in pique at the weekend while watching Sue Perkins’s documentary on genre fiction — a programme that I’ll probably get around to blogging about more at length but I put a comment on The Art’s Desk’s review … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged claire king, Creative Writing Classes, Jonathan Franzen, Twitter, workshops, writing rules
6 Comments
Behind Closed Doors
In W.H.Smiths in Marylebone Station I recently spotted a new novel by Lucy Kellaway, the FT’s management correspondent, whose debunking of management theory codswallop is always entertaining. Her last novel ‘Martin Lukes: Who Moved My Blackberry’ was my holiday reading … Continue reading
Schumpeter on the Art of Management
My ex-City coursemate Michael Braga shares with me a love of The Economist newspaper that must be very unusual among writers — many of whom probably consider its readers as the evil spawn of the global capital machine. I must … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged artists, backstory, business, Creative Writing Classes, MA Creative Writing, management, Schumpeter, The Economist, theme
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Infinite Universes
I watched an edition of Horizon on BBC2 a few weeks ago which attempted to discuss the utterly bizarre nature of what we perceive as reality once it’s considered by physicists — quantum, astro- and various other varieties. (It’s available … Continue reading
On Misinterpretation
If I ever get very rich (from writing or otherwise — though neither possibility is likely) one thing I may do is go to every bookshop I can find (possibly not that many if they keep closing at the rate … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged adverbs, Creative Writing Classes, feedback, Jane Austen, On Writing, passive voice, Stephen King, style, workshops
11 Comments
Co-Incidences Do Happen
Yesterday, in an example of complete chance the first non-league team in the FA Cup 5th round for 17 years, Crawley Town, drew Manchester United away — for anyone who doesn’t know, Manchester United are unbeaten in the Premier League … Continue reading
Revising/Re-drafting/Editing?
One handy aspect of this blog from my own perspective is that I’ve gradually found many other blogs that I’ve linked to and taken RSS and Atom feeds from (see toolbar on the right). Some are those written by friends … Continue reading
One Day
‘One Day’ by David Nicholls won the Sainsbury’s Popular Fiction prize at the Galaxy National Book Awards last week. I’ve mentioned this book in passing a couple of times on this blog since I read it in the summer. I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in character, Fictional Genres, Plot, Publishing, Structure
Tagged adverbs, Amazon reviews, book covers, character, cinematic novels, Creative Writing Classes, David Nicholls, dialogue, Galaxy National Book Awards, genre, marketing, One Day, pop music, Publishing, Structure, the Smiths, workshops, writing from opposite gender POV
2 Comments
Course Junkie
Not satisfied with having recently finished the City University Certificate in Novel Writing while also doing the dissertation of an MSc in Software Development at the Open University, I’ve now taken the plunge and started an MA in Creative Writing. … Continue reading
Arts Bloodbath?
The Guardian reports today that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is preparing to inflict cuts on itself of up to 50% as part of the forthcoming government spending clampdown. This reduction in its own staff is in keeping … Continue reading
Visit from Penny Rudge
I posted briefly, about a month ago on our final visit from  figure from the publishing industry — one of our course’s published alumni, Penny Rudge. She came to see us on 9th June and I’ll try to summarise the … Continue reading
MA in Creative Writing
I was looking up online MAs in Creative Writing and came across this — worth reading as some aspects seem quite true to life.
‘Is It Any Good?’
I would guess anyone who doesn’t ask themselves this during the course of writing a novel is not going to produce a very good one. What’s probably not such a good idea is to include this angst in comments accompanying … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Writing Process
Tagged character, Creative Writing Classes, feedback, Structure, tutorials
4 Comments
‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser, Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie and the Bulgarian Carrot
For various reasons I’ve been incredibly pushed for time over the last week — principally related to a suspected outbreak of an unpleasant type of virus in the household. While it didn’t affect me directly, it had quite a knock … Continue reading
