Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

I borrowed a book from the library once, written by Ray Bradbury, called "Zen in the Art of Writing". It was so packed with great writing advice I could barely believe it. Writers often wonder about inspiration - and how to get good ideas for stories. And often, when writers start out, they wonder what kind of writer they're going to be - and what kind of stories they will write, and in which genre. Mr. Bradbury had some advice on both of these issues.  In the pages of this book, he explained what helped him. He said he wrote at least a thousand words every day of his life since he was twelve.  Great.  We like to hear that all the best writers have this simple habit ingrained. He'd been reading a lot of science fiction since he was a kid he said and naturally thought he was destined to be an SF writer. Trouble was, in his early twenties, he wasn't having much success with his SF stories.  Editors complained that his work was derivative and not very ori...

Write Now EIGHTEEN from Rob Parnell on Vimeo . Rob Parnell's Easy Way to Write           Rob's Video Courses          Rob's Books on Amazon Sometimes I rework stories. I wrote one while I was in the UK and later rewrote it to set the story in Adelaide - where I now live. I thought it might be a fun thing to do. What struck me when I read the original through was how clever it was. Don't take that the wrong way. I'm not bragging or anything. I don't mean that it's a superb piece of writing - and I'm just brilliant! But just that I'd forgotten how cleverly I'd introduced the characters. Being a murder mystery, it was important to set up hooks and false clues at the beginning of the story, so that the reader wouldn't quite know what was going on. I introduced one character, Patrick, a musician, as he's injecting himself. You're supposed to think he's a drug addict. It's only later you realize he...

The Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell:  The Movie from Rob Parnell on Vimeo . The Easy Way to Write Short Stories That Sell: The MOVIE  will enable you to plan, write, submit, and sell your own commercial short stories, whether you want to get published by magazines, e-zines and/or in anthologies, or whether you prefer to go it alone - and start making money soon from your self-penned stories on Amazon Kindle. The course focuses on attaining a professional author's mindset quickly, so that you can immediately begin to get inspired and become proficient enough to write commercial short stories for the marketplace. There's one hour and fifty minutes  dedicated to inspiration, genre conventions, instruction on characterization, plotting, structure, and fast writing. "Master the Art of Short Story Writing with The World's Foremost Writing Guru" * Harness your imagination quickly * Acquire the writing habit easily * Discover how to make yo...

Write Now SEVENTEEN from Rob Parnell on Vimeo . Rob Parnell's Website       Rob Parnell's Books      Rob Parnell's Courses   There's a profound difference between a preacher and a commentator, a politician and a journalist, a spin doctor and a critic.  And what is that? One word.  Agenda. The main reason why we don't always trust preachers, politicians and spin doctors is not that they lie - though clearly they sometimes do - it's just that they generally only give us one side of the truth.  The truth as they see it. In effect, their agenda dictates the message. A preacher will tell you only he has the facts - and you'd better listen to him or watch out... A politician may want you to believe his version of the state of the economy - so he will deliberately withhold contrary facts, distort any opposing argument and/or belittle his detractors - sound familiar? The modern spin doctor will point...