The book is published by A & C BlackClick for A & C Black Publishers Publishers References listingWriting Handbooks series. These excerpts appear by kind permission of the publisher. Read more
This is the fifth excerpt from Novel Writing: 16 Steps to Success by Evan Marshall
We are running several excerpts from this title from the A & C Black Writing Handbooks series, by kind permission of the publisher.
Surprising the Reader
For me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of reading a novel is being surprised. I love nothing more than to be shocked by a revelation or story development. I think most readers feel this way. Read more
This is the sixth and last excerpt from Novel Writing: 16 Steps to Success by Evan Marshall
We are running several excerpts from this title from the A & C Black Writing Handbooks series, by kind permission of the publisher.
Finding the time to write
Ideally, you’ll set up a regular schedule. For example, you’ll always work on your novel on the bus, or on that bench near your company’s parking lot. Read more
This is the second excerpt from Novel Writing: 16 Steps to Success by Evan Marshall
We are running several excerpts from this title from the A & C Black Writing Handbooks series, by kind permission of the publisher.
Beginning to define your lead
To begin developing your story idea you need a crisis to present to your story’s main character – your lead. But what constitutes a crisis depends on who it’s happening to. Read more
‘When an editor works with an author, she cannot help seeing into the medicine cabinet of his soul. All the terrible emotions, the desire for vindications, the paranoia, and the projection are bottled in there, along with all the excesses of envy, desire for revenge, all the hypochondriacal responses, rituals, defenses, and the twin obsessions with sex and money.
World of Books Group, the UK's largest retailer of used books, has partnered with the Society of Authors to launch a new grant to support writers as they work on 'books of any genre that have the power to inspire progressive behaviour change.' Read more
For all the armchair puzzlers for whom sudokus and crosswords have palled over the long months of lockdown, a fiendish new literary conundrum is about to slide on to bookshelves - with a rather lucrative and unusual reward.
I have been a film-maker for more than 30 years and have acquired filing cabinets full of international research. In my second career as a thriller author, these gems have not been wasted. All my books are based upon my past investigative documentaries. Read more
An economist's attempt to explain behavior in publishing or any other domain typically begins with the cost-benefit principle: an action should be taken if and only if the benefits of taking it exceed the corresponding costs. Read more
Yesterday's webinar "Publishing Now '21: Looking Forward," hosted by Westchester Publishing Services and Publishers WeeklyInternational news website of book publishing and bookselling including business news, reviews, bestseller lists, commentaries http://www.publishersweekly.com/, attracted more than 500 viewers, as industry insiders discussed the state of the publishing industry, the ways in which it has been changed by the pandemic, and the outlook going forward. Read more
No one in the industry was surprised last week when HarperCollins emerged as the buyer for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media, the sixth-largest trade publisher in the U.S. Read more
Independent publishers including Carcanet, Comma Press and Otter-Barry Books say Arts Council England's second round of grants from its Culture Recovery Fund are much needed as publishers negotiate a "tough" market. Read more
The Authors Guild is asking its membership and allies in the publishing industry to contact their senators to express support for the PRO Act, which has passed the House and is under discussion by the Senate. The act would enable freelance writers and authors to bargain collectively with businesses that hire them, something currently restricted by antitrust law. Read more
It's a venerable global cultural institution, dedicated to freedom of expression and set to celebrate its centenary this year. Yet the writers' association PENSupported by eminent writers, this is the English branch of International Pen, which has centres in nearly 100 countries. It fights for freedom of expression and against political censorship. It campaigns for writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their views. http://www.englishpen.org/ is displaying signs of tension over a declaration claiming the right of authors to imagination, allowing them to describe the world from the point of view of characters from other cultural backgrounds.
When Claudio Gatti published an investigation into Elena Ferrante's identity, a few years ago, he raised an outcry both in Italy and abroad. He had pried into the author's privacy, violated her right to remain anonymous. It was unfair, it was irrelevant, we didn't want to know. Read more
'Next to doing things that deserve to be written, nothing gets a man more credit, or gives him more pleasure than to write things that deserve to be read.'