Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

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

A student asked me this week if I knew of any successful writers that 'showed' how they took their first drafts and made them into the highly polished versions you see in the bookstores.  I could only think of a couple. Stephen King in On Writing includes a rough draft of a paragraph and gives the reader an indication of how he goes about editing it to make it tighter. Cutting out words, changing phrases etc, generally improving the work. All very illuminating. (Incidentally, people were so intrigued by Stephen's spontaneous example that he felt forced to turn it into a full blown story which became 1408 !) Anyway, the only other person I could think of was Ken Follett.  I remembered that I'd read a book once by Al Zuckerman which included various drafts of Ken's work as he edited his manuscripts to a publishable standard. So - I took a look at Ken's website. On that I found a gem: a masterclass on writing a bestseller. And this is from a man who