Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

Many new authors assume that only romance writing is formulaic. This is not true. Almost  all  genre writing is formulaic. Indeed, it must be. Not because authors are at a loss to sustain originality but because  unless  genre fiction adheres closely to its own conventions, readers will often regard the work as unsuccessful. This rule applies to movies too. Unless a big budget movie contains the usual genre conventions, it will invariably do badly at the box office. However, if the standard conventions  are  systematically dealt with in the movie-making process, the final result will almost always do well. So entrenched are we as a species in our desire, our  need,  for formulaic writing in books, movies, and episodic TV, that we inevitably regard writing that does not exactly fulfill our pre-conceived expectations as somehow lacking. I use this inescapable fact of life as a starting point for my genre-writing courses. While there is...

I’m not sure whether you have the same scenario in your country but around here - South Australia - they’re desperately trying to get people to use self-checkouts in supermarkets. Clearly a bid to save money by not having to employ staff to help their customers through a checkout. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of resistance to this idea. In fact Woolworths claim that around three-quarters of people express their irritation at self-service checkouts by stealing a couple of items each time they use them. Woolies estimate they’re losing, depending on the store’s location, between 7% to 20% of their revenue because of this mild form of protest. Apparently there’s a phenomenon known as “psychological reactivity” which is when you try to enforce rules that people don’t like, the effort makes them break the law on purpose, just to show their disapproval. Like the way a baby will refuse to eat broccoli. Or a teenager will react against a curfew. Or a billionaire will resist paying taxes. Write...

Dear Fellow Writer, I hope you're well and happy this week. The weather's not great here. But hey, I like the rain! Easy Cash Writing - now a #1 bestseller! STILL Available for just 99 CENTS! My darling wife, Robyn, released a new book for kids this week, a fictionalized telling of the volcanic destruction of Pompeii in AD79. It's called  Into The Fire  and is available for 99 cents  HERE . I've also put out a meditation track this week called  The New Paradigm , featuring a spiritual healer called Martin Johnson.  That's on iTunes HERE . Anyway, today's article is below:   Choosing a Fiction Genre   Choosing a fiction genre will have a huge impact on how to plot your stories. Also, your decision will become vitally important when you’re selling your novels in the fullness of time. Too many writers leave worrying about a genre classification until the last minute, usually after their manuscript has been written, and then wonde...

Dear Fellow Writer, We took a short holiday recently - which is why there's been no newsletter for the past couple of weeks. We deliberately chose a place that had no Internet access! Nice to get away to plot a new book or three and recharge our batteries. Lovely. A friend and I released a music CD this week, along with a short video. The CD is 75 minutes of beautiful guided meditation designed to heal you emotionally and even physically. We're getting great feedback. And it's available on  Amazon Music   here and now!   Keep writing! Rob@easywaytowrite.com Finding Your Unique Genre Finding your own successful writing genre is about maintaining a delicate balance between following your heart, listening to your intuition, and actively responding to the marketplace.  What kind of writer are you? Are you primarily a fiction author? If so, of what? Novels, short stories, flash fiction, screenplays? And in which genre? Romance, thrillers, ho...

Dear Fellow Writer, Seems like my newsletters are now monthly as opposed to weekly! It's not intentional - just that I've been completely wrapped up in getting my latest book finished - all 509 pages of it! So, without further ado, I can now reveal... Easy Cash Writing! Available now for just ONE DOLLAR! (First 50 sales ONLY!) Finally: the complete guide to creating a full-time freelance writing career from the world's foremost writing guru, Rob Parnell.  This massive digital volume is a unique writing resource for new writers who want to get paid for their work. It is also a comprehensive motivational system that enables you to start writing from just five to ten minutes a day and progress to becoming a well-paid  Easy Cash Writing  professional - within days or weeks, if that's what you truly want. Full of tips, tricks and strategies for realistic, proven writing success,  Easy Cash Writing  shows you how to pitch and write for freelance markets....

Dear Fellow Writer, I hope you're writing and it's going well. It's been a busy week for us, not much writing done, which is kinda annoying because I'm trying to get another book up on to  Amazon  soon! To compensate, my new novel,  PURGE , has finally been released. Today in Australia, tomorrow in the US. Also, as you may have already heard, my movie,  FIRST CUT , was selected for the Barossa Film Festival this week, so we'll be going to that screening tonight! Plus, my latest music CD,  MIRACULOUS HEALING , is now selling on Amazon Music. So all in all, not a bad week, considering! Thanks for following our exploits. Keep writing! Rob@easywaytowrite.com Writing Your First Bestseller Most new authors consistently make one career-crushing decision – because it seems like the most natural thing in the world to do. That is, they write a book and THEN look around for someone to publish and buy it. It's often at this late stage that new writers re...