Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

Getting published is every writer's dream. It's what we want, it's what provides the motivation and gives us the spark to keep going - and keep writing and submitting until we finally crack the big one: a publishing deal, a proper one, with a trade publisher who will promote our books for free - and pay us royalties every six months for the rest of our lives! Now that's the dream, right? But how close is this to the reality of being a modern working writer? Certainly having a bestseller can change your life. Desk bound introverts can become movie moguls (Dan Brown). Single-parent mothers can become very rich media celebrities (JK Rowling). And advertising executives can become household names (James Patterson). But having a bestseller is not the only definition of success. Just because the average person in the street hasn't heard of a writer doesn't mean that they aren't rich and successful. As authors, we get this all the time. You're judge...

I received a lovely email from a treasured subscriber this week.  She noted that I don't have anything on what makes a good title for an article, book or novel - or indeed how to come up with one. Never one to shirk an opportunity to help writers, here's my advice on how to come up with compelling titles. Use Magic For the purposes of my fiction writing, I study magic, astrology, numerology, witchcraft and various other arcane subjects. I find it interesting - and revealing about human nature. There's a little known philosophy amongst mages (yes, they exist!) that holds to the idea that the very sound and rhythm of certain letters, words and phrases is magical. Which I think is actually why the word 'spell' has a double meaning... Anyway, what you can learn from this is that certain consonants like 'D' and 'P' and 'B' are more resonant on a listener (or reader) than other less 'dramatic' letters like 'M','N...

One question I get asked all the time is, "How do I write when I'm not inspired or have nothing to say?" Many new writers feel good about what they do and can work on pieces of writing because they are inspired. But many times they are taken aback when the inspiration fades and they are left with the 'task' of simply finishing a story, an article, a book, or a novel. It can be quite alarming to feel like a writer, know your writing is good, but dread picking up where you left off on that manuscript! Rest assured, this is normal. It's not possible to be inspired, excited and even happy writing all of the time. Sometimes the work just has to be done. Here are a few tips on maintaining your enthusiasm for writing. Develop Multiple Projects Diversify your writing portfolio. Be open to new ideas and commit to 'having a go' at different types of writing. Sometimes, when the idea of finishing a large project is too daunting, a sense of achie...

It's easy to feel negative. The media is always telling us we're on the brink of economic collapse - that it's only a matter of days before the biggest slump since the 1930s Depression takes away the value of our property, our savings and our livelihoods. Many would-be writers are tightening their belts, ignoring the call to write in favor of the day job. They're giving up their dreams in droves, convinced that it's all too hard... Uh, did I miss something? Doesn't anyone remember basic economics from school? I thought it was well known that economic activity goes in seven year cycles - apparently something to do with the sun - and that boom and bust years are natural and inevitable. Smart stock market people know there's never a bad time for investors - there's just alternate opportunities. While some stocks slide, others climb. When the market is overpriced, it adjusts itself by devaluing. When stocks and interest rates are high, people ...

I was asked this question by an esteemed subscriber this week and thought it might make an interesting article. In the publishing and movie industry the terms theme and premise are bandied around liberally - and it's assumed that writers know the difference, even if agents, publishers and marketing  people are not so up on the precise meanings. Basically the premise to a story is your starting point. It's the idea behind it - its reason to be. I've seen members of writer's groups ask the question: "Can you write a story without a premise?" I would have to say you could try - but fairly soon you'd run out of things to say. You need a premise to give a story legs. Besides which, most writers are able to sum up what their story is about - or going to be about - in a short sentence of two. So what makes a premise? Mostly an intriguing idea, a what-if scenario or a justaposition of two disparate notions fused together. The premise is usually an...

I've been studying drawing recently (I'm trying to teach myself movie storyboarding) and came across a great quote from comic artist Klaus Janson. He said, "Every creative person I know works from the ground up, from the big to the small, from the general to the specific." Many writers forget this when they're writing. They get so absorbed in details that they forget about - or can't see - the importance of the big picture. In the past I corresponded with a writer who obsessed over her opening chapter so much that she never wrote her novel. Months went by and no matter how much I encouraged her to move on, she couldn't. To her, if the first three thousand words weren't exactly right, she couldn't let herself continue with a story that she might never finish. Now, I know this is common. It's also dumb. Because writing stories is about context. The big. You cannot know what is good about a story - even down to the tiniest word or s...

I get asked this question all the time. Writers everywhere want to know what's popular, what will sell now and in the future. They think there might be some great oracle out there that can answer this question - or that maybe publishers and agents on the inside might know this information and are somehow keeping it to themselves. Would that this were true! Think about it. Five years ago could you have predicted what you are doing now? Most of us don't know where we're going to be living in five years time - and even if we think we do, events conspire to change our plans. Life is organic, some might say unreliable. Even two years ago, is there any way you could have foreseen today's news? Could you have known which celebrities or politicians were going to be in the spotlight? Or which ones had faded from view? Of course not. It doesn't work that way. The bestselling books and movies that are with us today were conceived and written AT LEAST two years...

Let's get one thing straight. A lot of people search the term 'writing style' when they're actually looking for 'writing fonts'. I know. I regularly get Google visitors who've typed in 'tattoo writing styles' or 'graffiti writing styles'. Clearly, they're not looking for 'writing style' at all but rather a collection of fonts they can refer to, copy, or learn from. 'Style' is different - more aligned to technique than anything else. There are various official writing styles - but these are more specifically ways of constructing essays or theses rather than refering to what most writers regard as 'ways of writing'. The APA style is set by the American Psychological Association and is basically a way of organizing information for reports and social science documents. Hardly of use to the average creative writer. The MLA style dictated by the Modern Language Association is favored for college essays and e...

The author John Braine once said, "A writer is someone who counts words." Do you? You should - because it's a sure fire way of getting around writer's block -and a good way of keeping yourself on track. Having specific word counts to aspire to, will keep you writing more - and for longer.  You'll have more to show for your efforts, more to submit, and consequently more work coming in.  Your writing success is directly correlated to your word count. Last night I was talking to a writer - well, someone who wanted to be a full time writer - and she told me she'd taken a year to get to her manuscript to where it was now.  I asked, casually of course, how many words she'd written so far. "Four thousand," she said.  Four thousand!   G'ah - that's less than eleven words a day - what's she doing, I thought, chiseling them in stone? By stunning contrast, Robyn held the whip to me yesterday (metaphorically speaking) and...

Let me ask you a question. Do you avoid / dread / loathe writing the big scenes in your fiction? Over the years I've noticed one of two things. One, the writer is so nervous about writing the big important scenes that they will subconsciously avoid them by taking ages over getting to them. Here's how it goes. There's a crucial scene in the story where there's a confrontation or a climactic event - and the writer is creeping up towards it, filling the pages with exposition and preparatory dialogue - only to freeze just before 'the big scene' and put off writing anymore - sometimes for months or, in some cases, years. The other scenario involves glossing over that part of the story. You'll often see writers fill pages with the run up to the big event - all good showing instead of telling and yet, when it comes to 'the big scene' it's told from a distance or from an uninvolved point of view or, most commonly, in retrospect, after the ...

Many new writers are afraid of opening up and letting people know what they're like inside. They're nervous of allowing readers access to what they think and believe. They don't want people to see inside of them because they're afraid of criticism and ridicule. How do you defeat this debilitating condition?  Because, really, that's what it is. In reality, nobody important is going to attack you or your writing. Even if they do, what does it matter? Critics display much more about their own failings when they attack others. You need to get over any insecurities about the way you express yourself and find the strength to be honest, at least in your writing. The fact is your writing will never truly soar unless you have the courage to let it all out and 'expose yourself' to the world. Oooh-er! Seriously, you will only ever be seen as 'original' if you learn to be open and honest in your writing. Your own slant on the world is what mak...