24 Friday Mar 2023
Tags
1, A thousand words a day?, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Dr Samuel Johnson, Procrastination, Writing Targets
“A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.”
Dr Samuel Johnson, March 1750
Struggling to write those 1,000 words a day? Or even half a dozen sentences? Dr Samuel Johnson has a lesson for us all, on the days when we are tempted to make excuses for writing nothing at all.
20 Monday Mar 2023
Posted in Maggie, Writing Competitions to Enter
Not to be out-done by the literary Skipper, the lovely Snowy (in her dashing winter jacket) thinks you should also be entering a new competition promoted by Simon Trewin who has been a literary agent for the last thirty years and launched the careers of many internationally published novelists.
“I am looking for the author who makes me forget I am reading a book. The author who innovates, not imitates. The author who takes me to strange lands.”
What Simon requires are the first 5,000 pages of a Literary novel, plus a one-page 300-word plot synopsis. The first prize is £1,500; second prize is £300; third prize is £100. Entry is £20. Deadline: 31 March. Details: theplazaprizes.com/competition/literary-first-chapters/
Snowy insists you must be dogged about those writing ambitions of yours.
18 Saturday Mar 2023
With a deadline of 31st March, there is still time to enter your novel into the Fiction Factory First Chapter Competition. They require a maximum of 5,000 words of your First Chapter, plus a one-page synopsis. Prizes: the winning entry will be read by agent Joanna Swainson of Hardman & Swainson Agency and will receive £500 plus an appraisal. All shortlisted entries will receive a free appraisal. Entry is £18, or £38 including an optional assessment. Details: words@fiction-factory.biz
This is an opportunity to get your novel seen by a top agent, so well worth considering. Skipper, who is something of an expert on these matters, says two weeks is plenty of time to polish those 5,000 words.
08 Wednesday Mar 2023
Posted in Maggie
We are all aware of how talented Sir David Attenborough is, but an article in last week’s Telegraph Magazine described his attention to detail where the written word is concerned. Two weeks before filming begins, he is sent the finished scripts – which he then rewrites.
“I’m not unknown to have spent a whole afternoon at least on the first 30 seconds of a script, because you have to get it right” he told Alastair Fothergill, his long-time collaborator. “I enjoy polishing words.”
So there you have it. Advice from a master. A whole afternoon is not too long to spend polishing thirty seconds of script.
ninevoices 