Why a Writing Ritual Is the Ultimate Creativity Boost—How to Design One for Yourself
camillestyles.com – Monday February 5, 2024
I've long believed: a happy, healthy life is built on rituals. From your morning routine to your evening wind-down, our days flow with greater ease when we have supportive habits in place. Decision fatigue is an inevitable truth of our lives (the internet presents us with no shortage of rabbit holes). But rituals allow us to weave more intention into our choices. By committing to what helps us feel our best, we benefit from a level of self-trust that becomes a fixture of our days. And as a writer, that truth shows itself most in my daily writing rituals.
I’m both blessed and cursed with a creative career. Writing, of course, is a skill you develop through education, experience, and exposure to beautiful words and effective style. But it also requires inspiration—a central point from which we can build a story, argument, or even a single thought. And honestly? Some days, I don’t have it. Writing rituals, however, help me conquer the blank page with confidence.
RCW's Claire Wilson steps up to AAA president
thebookseller.com – Thursday February 1, 2024
The Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA) vice-president Claire Wilson, of RCW Literary Agency, has stepped up to president.
Wilson was formally appointed at an association meeting on Tuesday (30th January) and praised outgoing president Catherine Clarke of Felicity Bryan Associates for her “thoughtful, dedicated and highly effective leadership”.
Hellie Ogden, of WME London, joins as vice-president, and Karolina Sutton, of CAA, joins as an ordinary member, after Madeleine Milburn, of the Madeleine Milburn Literary, Film and TV Agency, stepped down.
New Literary Agent Listing: Elinor Davies
firstwriter.com – Thursday February 1, 2024
I’m looking for commercial and upmarket fiction stories that will be either the next compulsive read or a cosy winter comfort book. The most important thing for me is a great hook. An addictive premise that can be summed up in just a few words but will stay in the reader’s mind so that they’re unable to stop talking about it. I love a feminist crime thriller and I’m especially drawn to merciless narrators who we can’t help but love. I’m also open to lighter crime reads and can’t get enough of crime capers with comedy at their heart. In historical fiction, I’m looking for stories set from the Victorian era onwards, although I’m currently avoiding wartime fiction. I adore a dose of magic in just about everything I read whether it comes in the form of spirituality, family, or love. I’m talking about magical realism rather than outright fantasy (although I have a soft spot for witchy books). Nothing pleases me more than a novel that can transport me around the world and I’m really keen to find underrepresented voices that can teach me about their country and culture. I also read in both Welsh and Spanish so if you’re a writer of one of these languages wanting to adapt your writing for the English market within any of the genres mentioned above, I would be thrilled to read your work!
New Publisher Listing: Thinkwell Books, UK
firstwriter.com – Wednesday January 31, 2024
We welcome fiction, sport and political/social works that make us sit up and thirst for the next line, the next profound, humorous, emotional, devastating or stupefying glimpse of originality.
You're Asking Too Much From Your Story And Not Enough From Yourself
nofilmschool.com – Tuesday January 30, 2024
The only way to get vulnerability and truth into your story is to share parts of yourself.
Last year, I was staring at a blinking cursor on my screen and at a crossroads. I had written a screenplay with a great plot, but the feedback I kept getting was that it didn't have a soul.
I distinctly remember a friend asking me, "What makes this a Jason Hellerman script?"
At the time, I answered, "Because my name is on it."
It was a clever retort, but I was wrong.
Sure, it was on the title page, but the issue I was having was that I was not putting enough of myself into the writing. I thought the plot and the characters would compensate for it. But because I was not imbuing the page with a piece of me, it still felt hollow.
That can only get you so far.
And it wasn't going to get my movie made.
6 magazines accepting international submissions for fiction, poetry, and everything in between
thedailystar.net – Tuesday January 30, 2024
To help save you the effort and to hopefully nudge you a little to submit your work, here are a few magazines around the world accepting international submissions for this year.
One of the few vital ways for a writer to build on their skills is to practise, and one way to grow your portfolio as well as your readership is to submit your work to magazines around the world to make sure your writing is reaching new audiences across the globe.
It can be scary to put yourself out there, to think that someone might be reading something you poured your heart and soul into and not like it. But this year, I urge writers to work on your pieces, be brave and share your work with magazines who can help deliver that work to readers.
And so, to help save you the effort and to hopefully nudge you a little to submit your work, here are a few magazines around the world accepting international submissions for this year:
New Magazine Listing: Midsummer Dream House
firstwriter.com – Tuesday January 30, 2024
An independent literary and arts magazine based in San Diego, California, that includes a wide variety of artistic and thought-provoking work, including the experimental and avant-garde.
After “Romantasy,” What Are the Next Buzzy Bookish Portmanteaus?
bookriot.com – Monday January 29, 2024
Even if we don’t realize it, buzzwords permeate our professional lives. Who hasn’t heard of phrases like “return on investment” or “customer journey”? They sound very corporate, yes, but they make long-winded ideas easy to recall and make complex information easier to digest.
It’s no wonder, then, that buzzwords are well-loved in the literary realm. There have been many buzzwords in the publishing world over the years, such as “high concept,” which usually refers to the quality of a plot, or “comps,” which are the comparative titles a manuscript has when authors pitch to literary agents.
Perhaps the biggest buzzword in 2023 and possibly this year is “romantasy,” or the fusion of the romance and fantasy genres. This is evident in the continued rise of romantasy novels on TikTok and on bestseller lists, such as Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.
The Harried Mystery Hero(ine) Or, How to Write a Mystery (Easy)
By G. Miki Hayden
Instructor at Writer's Digest University online and private writing coach
firstwriter.com – Monday January 29, 2024
Nothing is so essential to the successful creation of the mystery—from the grittiest work of fiction to the most comedic—as presenting the protagonist’s unrelenting pursuit of the McGuffin* against all possible odds and impossible barriers.
The secret to generating the story’s drama—and, again, even a funny mystery needs plenty of drama—is to never allow your main character a moment’s rest. Even when the hero is relaxing by the pool drinking an expensive wine accompanied by caviar on toast points, he must at the very least, be worrying himself to a veritable frazzle. If he sleeps, he sleeps badly—maybe a sleep interrupted by the ringing of the phone and appalling news (another murder? the suspect has escaped?). If he meets a woman he could love, she’s either a plant working to undermine his investigation, in grave danger herself, or sometimes even the killer (yup).
Though I seem to be making light of your protagonist’s troubles, this is the way the story has to proceed, no matter the subgenre or the tone. Your job is to attach us to the character and then do your best to drive him or her over the edge, literally or figuratively, or both. That, then, is drama.
The sure-fire way to getting your book published, according to one of UK’s top literary agents
bigissue.com – Sunday January 28, 2024
The saying goes ‘everyone has a book in them’, and these days it really is possible to get published as there are multiple routes to seeing your book in the shops.
The traditional way to get your book published is via a literary agent like myself, who’ll endeavour to find you a publisher. Then there’s the self-publishing route, which is becoming increasingly popular and gives you ultimate control of your publishing journey. If you self-publish on Amazon, eBook sales can also be far greater than sales of a physical book and financially very lucrative.
Reading is such a subjective business and the digital marketplace means that the traditional gatekeepers are no longer blocking the way to publication. There’s a wealth of information online and in publications such as The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, an excellent source of literary agents you can approach and what genres they represent, updated each year.
If you’re reading this, you may be in the process of writing a book or you have written a book and are trying to get published. Agents prefer writers to have completed a manuscript before they consider representation, but initially we’re only assessing the first three chapters and a pitch, so these need to give us a good sense of your story. If you’ve written a first draft and have read it out loud without wanting to skim any passages(!) then this is the time to start sending it out to agents, but research them carefully.
The key to finding a good match is by submitting to agents who represent authors writing in a similar space to you, or who are actively building their lists and are on the lookout for new talent. Are you able to list two or three established authors writing in a similar space? Successful writers tend to be avid readers with a greater sense of who they are writing for. Some have drawers full of unpublished short stories and manuscripts that never found a publisher, but no word is wasted… they were honing their craft.
Get the free newsletter | Submit a news item or article | Get Writers' News for your website
