There are a series of brilliant interviews with writers slotted all over the internet. Here is a short interview that I recommend viewing for would be screenwriters. Paul Haggis wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby. He has also written commercial screenplays such as Quantum of Solace. Watch, listen, learn and take the best you can from his nuggets of wisdom... ZHZ. ...

How a Writer Should Deal With Rejection

Many writers believe they're that perfect writer, the genius, the one who just penned the Great Novel. But they just haven't got round to sending it. So you're waiting for the right moment to send your manuscript? Yes, I know it's literary gold and it will sell for millions and mummies will name their kids after you, but...you haven't sent it, have you? Perhaps I should let you into some open secrets: Lord of the Flies by William Golding was...

Metaphor: The Heart of Poetry

Long before the typewriter, philosophers had charted the realm of poetry. Over two thousand years ago Aristotle wrote: "The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance." Aristotle, De Poetica, 322 B.C. It is true that a poem can come to life without a single metaphor, but with it...from the tiny...

The Origin of Poetry

Poetry is potent. The rhythmic gush of a poet's mellifluous syllables stir the embers of our frail hearts. In human history, poetry's invisible beat has spurred us into action and we have discovered the far and distant shores of enduring self-revelation. But why? Why does poetry have this grip we cannot see, but holds us helplessly in its narrative? Whether with iambic pentameter or free verse, words, sometimes arcane, sometimes modern, fall into...

That Which Separates

I have often found that two things separate would-be writers from taking wing into the sky of words that they dream of.They read little.They write little.Yet they expect an instant masterpiece to appear out of the nib of their favourite fountain pen.I encounter such writers so often that I have fallen into the habit of asking them "who" they read and then I ask them "what" they are writing.And the usual answer?Hmmm.Well.Cough.Ahem.And then the million...

Descriptive Writing

How do you describe an object, an animal or person and using the alchemy of word transform it into something utterly real in the mind of another? Use the precise word. Use the apt word. Use the senses: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory... Use verbs of motion - even for something static... And take your time. Look, really look. Wait, really wait. Observe and catch your observations on cool white paper cut with clean black lines of Indian...

A Writer's Life: 9th March 2009

I've completed the final draft of my current novel. I shall rejoice for a heartbeat and then I will plunge back into its dark deep depths. To polish it. Over the last few months I've read an enormous amount about the craft of forging fiction. I've learned some hard lessons along the way and I pause for a moment to tell you where I'm at so that it might help you too. I hit a wall in December. The novel, T.S., is technically a difficult one and I was unhappy with the draft. I withdrew for a period and read as much as I could about fiction. I scrutinised...

The Aim of a Story

ALL writers must create what John Gardner termed the 'uninterrupted fictional dream'. What does this mean? When you pen a story you must aim to ensnare the reader in a waking dream so evocative that the reader cannot even break their gaze for a single second. The toast will burn, the kettle will boil and all the water evaporate, the final minute goal by Manchester United will be missed, the tile will fall from the roof and smash the window and...

Love & Hate

To make any story come alive you need characters that breathe, make you smile, irritate you, who throw their fists in the air and rant and rave. So how do you do it, how do you make a character come alive? There are so many methods, but one of the techniques I teach is called "Love and Hate". Take any character...I don't need to know their d.o.b. or their height, in fact, I don't want any of the usual biography stuff. I simply want two things: 1....