Posted inWriting Prompts
SUN, SAND, SEA AND ?
I grew up in Folkestone, an English seaside town. Summers in the 1950s were often hot, my mother would pack a picnic, and with my sister, we would walk the…
Posted inWriting Prompts
Writing and Wild Camping
Peter Bond / Wild camping by the River Torridon. Wikicommons Some of my strongest writing ideas come when I am out in the wild. They arrive while I walk through open hills,…
Posted inWriting Prompts
Confessions of a Repentant Reader
If you’re a writer, you’ve probably already discovered the delightful rabbit warrens that make up Substack. What’s not to like? You can fritter away those hours when your magnus opus…
Posted inWriting Prompts
Can acting inform writing?
I joined an improvers acting summer school at the City Lit, Covent Garden, at the end of July. I'd previously attended an introduction to screen acting weekend and I've completed…
Posted inWriting Prompts
Sheepdog at work
Growing up, our family had a sheepdog. A real one, slated to be a national trials champion by his breeder, a farmer who we kids used to ‘help’ during summer…
Posted inWriting Prompts
One Golden Day
public domain picture As I write this blog post, I sit on the balcony of my hotel room in Marathopolis. The juicy blue of the swimming pool is just below…
Posted inWriting Prompts
PEACE BY PIECE
Peace seems hard to come by these days. Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East, Syria, Somalia and countless African countries are at war. If it’s not conflict, then natural disasters…
Posted inWriting Prompts
The Joys of a (Noir) Book Festival
Douglas Forrest takes us to visit the Shetland Noir festival and prompts us to find writing inspiration in a writing festival wherever we can.
Posted inWriting Prompts
The Pitch Paradox – less is more
This week's Writing Prompt comes from Miriam who suggests a very useful synopsis exercise that will benefit all writers to have practiced.
Posted inWriting Prompts
The Prompt Is the Pen
Sometimes, the hardest part of writing isn’t finding the idea, or building the world, shaping the character, choosing the perfect opening line, or knowing exactly where the story is going.…