Here are some suggestions of how you can stimulate your creative writing. It is a work in progress, so check back from time to time for updates. Please bear in mind that not all the[…]
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Writing Resolutions 2019: Q2 Update
Finish my manuscript! Q2 Update: As of 16 Jun 2019, three beta-readers have given feedback. I’m addressing their comments – slowly. I will query up to five agents per month. By the end of the[…]
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Writing Resolutions 2019: Q1 Update
Finish my manuscript! Update: As of 31 Jan 2019, I’m at beta-reading stage. I will query up to five agents per month. By the end of the second month of pitching, I will return to[…]
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Editing your Manuscript
So you’ve written the last scene of your novel. Give yourself a pat on the head. Better still, give yourself a holiday – get away from your manuscript. Two weeks is good, two months even[…]
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Learning the Craft of Writing: Creative Writing Courses
I love learning the craft of writing. So much so that I’ve studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level on-campus and via distance learning, in courses either part-time or full-time. There are so many courses available[…]
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Heroine vs. Hero: The Journey
‘The holly and the ivy Now both are full well grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown’ (Trad.) Ivy (Hedera helix), clinging and compliant, is associated with[…]
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Magic(al) Realism: the Magic of Myth
Zeus, father of the gods, transformed his love, Io, into a cow for fear of discovery by wife, Hera. She, knowing her husband well, saw through his ruse and begged Zeus for the cow, exclaiming[…]
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Writing Nature: Ecocriticism & Ecolinguistics Uncovered
Ginkgo biloba, Corsham Court, Wiltshire Nature writing, that is, non-fiction or fiction prose or poetry about or inspired by nature, is no new thing. Indeed, as far back as Hippocrates (490-370 BC) people were[…]
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Sign & Communication in the Other-than-Human World: Biosemiotic & Pragmastylistic Concepts in Literary Analysis
All living organisms interpret (make meaning of) and represent (communicate) their world through a series of signs and codes. A plant may sense a change in daylight hours (photoperiodicity) as a sign which it encodes[…]
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Unlocking the Writer-Reader Relationship: tools and theories basics
As a creative writer, I love the use of language and enjoy receiving feedback to suggest my writing has ignited an emotional response. Sometimes, the story may only allow for a brief character sketch, but[…]
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Myths: Function, Recurrence, Character Roles and Archetypes
The World Tree (axis mundi) is a mytheme or archetype which recurs in many cultures. It is a colossal tree linking heaven with earth and the underworld. In Norse mythology it appears as Yggdrasil, the[…]
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Myths: In the beginning … was the archetype
Clytie, the Sunflower Maiden: Clytie the water nymph would emerge from her pool every day to comb her golden hair and bathe in the warmth of the sun. One day, she caught sight of Apollo[…]
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