the business and craft of writing
The Crafty Writer is one-year-old today! Twelve months ago on 4 August 2007, we went live with our first post. Since then we’ve had an eventful year as we’ve brought you quality articles, interviews, courses and workshops on the business and craft of writing.
Image courtesy of jek in the box
Continue reading ‘Happy Birthday, Crafty Writer!’
Fantasy is probably the most popular of all children’s genres; however much of it is still read and enjoyed by adult readers. One only has to look at the highly successful Harry Potter series to see how much influence this type of writing has. But as a writer you need to be aware of a few facts and conventions of the genre before trying your hand at writing fantasy.
Image courtesy of ginieland Continue reading ‘Writing Fantasy Fiction’
It’s good to see someone else analysing a ‘product’ from a writer’s perspective. The good folk over at the Script Factory are running a monthly script analysis of a popular film to see what makes it tick. This month it is Pixar’s delightful Wall-E. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, check out the trailer:
This month’s book is Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder. For those of you new to The Crafty Writer, once every month or two we discuss a best-selling book from a writer’s perspective. We divide our discussion under the following headings:
I’ll make some initial observations and pose suggested questions for discussion. Some of our regular book club participants are published authors themselves, so it’s a great opportunity to share their knowledge and insight. You don’t have to do anything to join other than pitch up and leave your comments and observations below. If you haven’t got a copy of the book yet you can buy it through The Crafty Writer Bookshop (in the book club category) and we will get a small commission that keeps the Book Club and all the information on this website free. Continue reading ‘Book Club: The Interpretation of Murder’
The internet makes our world smaller. It’s thanks to social networking sites like Inked In that I’ve met other writers from around the world. One of them is American playwright Joseph Hayes who has had his work performed in the UK and the USA – an incredible 10 plays and 18 productions in seven years. I decided to ask him about writing for theatre on both sides of the Pond and whether American audiences are different from British. Continue reading ‘When Theatre Crosses the Pond’
For all you Crafty Writer Book Club members, we will open again next Saturday to discuss Jed Rubenfeld’s The Interpretation of Murder. That gives you a week to finish, revisit or speed read the novel. For those of you new to The Crafty Writer, once every two months (give or take) we discuss a best-selling book from a writer’s perspective. Continue reading ‘One Week to Book Club …’
I just came across this excellent post on pitching scripts. It’s about a year old, but, like good wine, holds its age well. While you’re there have a dig around the site. There are links to all sorts of interesting articles and information on writing for performance. Check it out at Writing for Performance and while you’re there, say I sent you!
I recently read and enjoyed the debut novel of American author, Julie Compton, called Tell No Lies. It’s billed as a legal thriller, but, as Julie tells me, she never actually intended to write one! Nonetheless, The Crafty Writer persisted in asking her about writing (and not writing) legal thrillers and her road towards publication with Pan MacMillan. Continue reading ‘Legal thriller by name, but not by nature?’
In my job as a new writing editor for a commercial magazine I frequently get submissions from people whose basic written English is not of a publishable standard. The same can be said for some students on my creative and non-fiction writing courses. Some of these writers have English as a second language and others as a first. I try to tell them, as kindly as possible, that they are putting the cart before the horse: if they would like to write something that may one day be published they need to get the basics right first. Otherwise, it’s like a fashion designer whose shoddy sewing cheapens what could have been a sensational outfit. Continue reading ‘Do you write ‘publishable’ English?’
I’ve just come across a website that features interviews with authors. This one caught my attention immediately as it is an email conversation between Markus Zusak, whose book The Book Thief was recently featured in our Book Club, and non-fiction history writer Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Hitler Youth. It makes fascinating reading into the respective processes and world-views of two very different authors: one a middle-aged American woman (sorry Susan!) and the other a young Australian man. Continue reading ‘Writers in conversation’
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