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
- A note on Neil Gaiman's politics June 18, 2013 Paul Owen
- Neil Gaiman in conversation – live coverage June 17, 2013 Paul Owen
- Tips, links and suggestions: What are you reading this week? June 17, 2013 Guardian readers, Hannah Freeman
- 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: tutorials
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
‘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
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Avalon
I’ve yet again been amazed by how all these weird connections come tumbling out while I’m writing — things I don’t realise until perhaps a day or two afterwards. I don’t know whether the digression into cultural references would make it into … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged 80s music, Avalon, Bryan Ferry, King Arthur, Roxy Music, setting, subconscious, tutorials
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Penthouse and Pavement
We ran on past our finishing time last night in our workshop — so late that the university building was locked up before Guy and I had our tutorials with Alison. These then took place on an amenable table outside … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged 80s music, Heaven 17, influences, Kim, Penthouse and Pavement, Plot, pubs, subconscious, Thatcherism, tutorials
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‘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
Looking for Inspiration
I wrote quite a bit in a short time up until the last Saturday workshop — around 7,000 words of the beginning of ‘The Angel — two sizeable chapters or perhaps three or four shorter ones. I tend to like … Continue reading
End of a (Mini) Era
We had our last Saturday workshop of the course at the weekend — forever! We’d even got into a little routine — the people who weren’t having lunchtime tutorials would go to Ayla’s Cafe (pictured) in trendy Exmouth Market (though … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged Exmouth Market, lunchtimes, readings, time passing, tutorials, workshops
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Diet Pastiche
I’m working to some quite tough deadlines at the moment. I’ve just had to submit a 4,000 or so word assignment for my Software Development MSc. which outlines my plans for the dissertation. I’ve also got a huge amount of … Continue reading
A Less Fraught Workshop?
Yesterday was the fourth of our five Saturday ‘workshops’ (I rather agree with Alexei Sayle’s famous quotation about the word — that anyone who uses it ‘without referring to light engineering is a tw*t’). As things worked out it was … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged feedback, readings, Return of the Native, sex, sex scenes, Thomas Hardy, tutorials, workshops
2 Comments
Opening the Novel?
Unlike the majority of my fellow students on the City course I’ve not approached the writing of either of my novels-in-progress in any kind of sequence — either chronologically or in anticipation of the eventual order in the book. I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Structure, The Angel
Tagged backstory, computer programming, fire, inciting action, James, Kim, non-linerar thinking, opening chapters, planning, Plot, plot points, real life, Structure, tutorials, Village Underground
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Reading a Bit of Homework
We had an exercise to complete for last night’s class which was surprisingly difficult — the task was to write ‘an honest description’ of one of our parents. Most of us, I think, approached this with some trepidation as writing … Continue reading
Sunlight at the End of the Tunnel?
Just as the weather has started to turn after the greyest, most miserable winter, I’ve been struck down by a horribly persistent virus that I thought a week ago was a cold but now I’m wondering if it might be … Continue reading
Posted in General Life, Writing Process
Tagged flowers, hormones, illness, motivation, MSc, persistence, personal plans, Spring, tutorials
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Kim’s Hometown
We got given some homework yesterday — to write in one of our characters’ voices about their hometown. Strangely I didn’t leave it until a few hours before the next class to think about starting it. This probably followed on … Continue reading
More Reflections on Feedback
Receiving feedback in the tutorial in short, intense burst means that some comments have only just resurfaced in my mind. One really positive one was that someone said I’d taken a number of characters in a situation and made them … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged character, exposition, feedback, inference, motivation, tutorials
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Feeling Happily ‘Validated’
Another intense Saturday tutorial yesterday — so much so we over-ran by an hour, which no-one seemed to mind. Seven 2,500 (mostly) readings were followed quickly by intense bursts of feedback from 12 people (including Alison). It’s quite draining and … Continue reading
Posted in The Angel, Work in Progress, Writing Process
Tagged confidence, Coronation Street, enthusiasm, feedback, motivation, redrafting, soap operas, tutorials
2 Comments
The Shock of the New
It’s going to be quite an intense day on Saturday for a few of us: Rick, Nick and myself have both a reading and a tutorial. The reading is c. 2,250 words and the tutorial extract can be up to … Continue reading
Posted in The Angel
Tagged Alan Ayckbourn, Andy Warhol, character, cliche, Cy Twombly, ending, Miroslaw Balka, Roy Lichtenstein, Structure, Tate Gallery, theme, tutorials, wine tasting scene
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First Extract Sent Off
I was hoping to write something brand new for the reading in the class on Saturday but got a bit bogged down. I’m still hoping to write something on the new novel, even if it is a collection of fragments, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Chapter One, dialogue, Gravediggers, readings, tutorials
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