Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

It's here - finally! Get access to this life changing course HERE  for less than a fifth of the retail price! Have you ever wanted to make money from freelance writing? Here's your chance. My classic Easy Cash Writing course has been brought to life - with 60 lectures over 20 modules. Start your first year as a freelance writer Submit your writing to paying markets all over the world Live a life of fun, independence and fulfillment Plan a new career outside of the nine to five Write in all kinds of categories for profit Students should have a basic grasp of English and be attracted to writing. No particular skill or qualifications are necessary, although enthusiasm and the ambition to become a freelance writer will be helpful. The course may also be useful to freelance writers who have yet to experience much success - because this course will change that for you! Fiction authors may also benefit if they are not sure...

Quick reminder that my new video course on writing short stories that sell is again available at a discount. The first batch of 100 discount places ran out on the 31st of last month. I have therefore released a second batch of discount places that are now available - but only until the 30th of October. Go get your spot now HERE for a quarter of the list price! Keep Writing. Rob Parnell Your Success Is My Concern easywaytowrite.com Finding Your Unique Voice A writer friend recently said to me, "When I read, I find I'm influenced by other authors. Depending on who I'm reading, my writing style is either playful, deep sounding or whatever. How can I stop writing like other writers and find my own voice?" (She also added that I might want to write an article based on my response - hence what you're reading right now!) Before we get on to practical tips, we should cover some basic preconceptions about voice. First of all, your voi...

As I often do, I'm responding to a subscriber query recently about the type of writing advice I offer in my courses and Kindle books. First of all I should state - again - for the record, that I believe the most surefire way of improving your writing is simply to write. Studying is one thing. I try my hardest to offer good advice on genre requirements and writing style to make it easier for the writer to compete in the marketplace and get published. What I don't do is force you to study other writers and how they go about what they do. I think to focus too heavily on how a particular author or three get their results is to slightly misunderstand the point of studying writing. If you take a tertiary degree in order to study writing, you will be presented with lots of theories as to how writers go about creating stories and all the options available to a w...

Dialogue is one area in which many new writers seem to struggle. I'm not sure why. I think it has to do with the faulty notion that literary fiction has to be formal, which can lead to your characters having very unnatural speech patterns. It surprises me, too, whenever I see dialogue without liberal use of contractions - as if people say 'I am going to leave this place. I bid you farewell,' as opposed to, 'I'm off. See ya.' Convincing dialogue is about having your characters sound 'natural'. Studying dialogue in movies and TV can go a long way in helping you define what is regarded as 'natural sounding.' Unfortunately, listening to real people talk is not going to help you. In real life, people speak aimlessly without particular regard to sentence structure, punctuation, or even sense sometimes. If you've ever tried t...