Amanda Read

Writing Resolutions 2019: Q2 Update

16th June 2019 AmandaWriting

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[…]

Writing Resolutions 2019: Q1 Update

22nd March 201922nd March 2019 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Editing your Manuscript

22nd March 201922nd March 2019 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Learning the Craft of Writing: Creative Writing Courses

29th July 201830th July 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Heroine vs. Hero: The Journey

28th May 2018 AmandaBlogs

‘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[…]

Magic(al) Realism: the Magic of Myth

3rd May 20187th May 2019 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Writing Nature: Ecocriticism & Ecolinguistics Uncovered

9th March 201824th March 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Sign & Communication in the Other-than-Human World: Biosemiotic & Pragmastylistic Concepts in Literary Analysis

3rd March 201824th March 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Unlocking the Writer-Reader Relationship: tools and theories basics

2nd March 201824th March 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Myths: Function, Recurrence, Character Roles and Archetypes

17th February 201824th March 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Myths: In the beginning … was the archetype

31st December 201724th March 2018 AmandaBlogs

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[…]

Magic(al) Realism

18th December 20177th May 2019 AmandaBlogs

What it is, what it’s not, its origins, characteristics and exponents Magic Realism is a mode of literature most often associated with Latin American authors, in particular, Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez, and is[…]