Penny Grubb

Author and lecturer

Getting started

There are loads of great sites on the web, and of course loads of bad ones.  Some writers take pains to share useful information with fellow writers. Here are two good sites: Stuart Aken is particularly good about hunting down and sharing useful stuff.  Avril Field-Taylor has a helping-hand page with an easy to navigate set of useful links.

Creative writing

These are things I found useful in learning the craft of writing.  Writing tutors and courses abound these days.  So do ‘rules for writers’, books, advice, websites, blogs. Some are good, some are bad.  Some suit some people better than others.  It’s subjective.  Find what works for you.  Successful writers don’t always write great How To books (in my opinion—it’s all subjective) but they’re worth studying. Autobiographies, interviews, articles.  It can be very enlightening. This is a random selection of stuff that helped me along the way.

Moving on

Linda Acaster—novelist and writing tutor.  Typical Yorkshire critiques, blunt, to the point and usually on the chin.  What I find so useful is Linda’s way of getting at the fundamental flaws in a manuscript. Having Linda rip my work to shreds has taught me a lot.  These days I can rip it to shreds fairly well myself.       Linda’s blog

Diversifying

Marina Oliver—also novelist and writing tutor.  I see Marina very much as the tutor to teach the nuts and bolts of the craft, the tricks and tips to get you off the ground.  She has a whole stack of How To books to her name. if you’re setting off in a new direction, Marina will likely have a book that suits.                                     Marina’s site

Inspiration

Look at books like James Frey’s How to Write a Damn Good Novel, or Stephen King’s On Writing.  They don’t cover the basics of getting started, but they tell the story of how good writers work. 

And try out online workshops such as the Internet Writing Workshop or the Word Cloud

Rules?

Are there any?  Which set (of the hundreds on offer) are going to work for you?

When I teach, it’s the geeky stuff, the tips and tricks, the handy blueprint.  E.g. for someone starting out—here’s how to approach your target magazine; or for a best selling novelist whose

work in progress sags in the middle, here’s a formula that might tighten it up.  That sort of thing.

Other people teach more of the inspirational stuff.  All approaches are valid.  The key is finding what works for you.

I have just four rules of writing:

We can all sit and stare at a blank page, so:

1.  Take responsibility: only you can make it happen. Sure, some people get lucky and some don’t, but you’ll get nowhere railing against fate because you don’t get the breaks. Be positive. It’s your life. It’s up to you to make it happen.

2.  Give yourself the best chance: Learn the craft. Learn structure, viewpoint,  characterisation, markets, everything. Don’t fight the fight with one hand tied behind your back.

3.  Be proactive, not reactive: If you’re serious about writing, make room for it. Make writing a part of your life. If you wait for time become available, it won’t. Watch out for how you prioritise.

4.  Learn to put words on paper. Learn to sit and write without stopping if only for a couple of minutes. You’ll be surprised how it helps.  It might not be the way you will construct your finished work, but getting words on paper is hard so teach yourself how to do it.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE LA SCALA STUDIOS SHORT STORY COMPETITION.  CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS