Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

  Gasp! The year is almost over and then we’re on to a new one. Maybe this time we can get things done, achieve our goals and succeed in the areas we failed in the past…     Yeah, all that. Seriously? Now, I don’t wanna burst your balloon but life is not always about achievement. It’s also about feeling content with ourselves, doing good and, gosh darn it, being happy . Honestly, this compulsive need to complete goals and see tasks through to the end is surely what causes most of the stress in our lives.   Sometimes I think we should simply reject our quest for instant gratification and hyper stimulation. But what can we do to be calm and in control, positive, and, most of all, consistently creative? Personally, first thing I do when I need to be happy is to write my 500 words for the day. More is good but 500 is fine. Just enough to make me feel useful and fulfilled. Here are some other ways to keep up your happiness quotient: Go for a walk in nature. This is a big one for me. Connect

Last week we looked at software created to help authors find and enhance their talent. This week we’re examining AI software that seems designed to either hinder skill, replace talent, or turn writing into some kind of blood sport for people who would rather not get involved in the dirty business of actually putting pen to paper. Since the beginning of time blocked writers have been looking for a way to make their craft easier and by the look of the numerous new products hitting the market, many software companies are applying themselves to the potentially lucrative business of replacing artists with machines. To my mind Jasper was the first autonomous machine author. The software was called Jeeves originally, but they got into a fight with Marvel about using a name Disney had claimed as its own because Iron Man had used the name for his computer butler. Clearly Disney had never come across PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster - where the idea of calling a butler ‘Jeeves’ originated in

Now we’re getting close to Christmas, if you want treat yourself and make next year go with a definite bang, you should consider buying Scrivener from Literature and Latte . If you haven’t done so already.  Honestly, I get no money for giving Scrivener a plug. I just happen to believe it will make your life and your writing better. I’ve been using this awesome writing software for over a decade and have no complaints about its looks, its functionality, reliability, and its importance to the writing community. And no, it doesn’t do anything spectacular. It’s little more than an organization tool. Use it for writing novels, ebooks, movies, articles, poems, shopping lists, pretty much anything. Now, if you want something that edits, corrects, make suggestions, and annoys the crap out of you by trying to be everything to everyone, then you should probably try other programs. What you don’t want to imagine is that any one software will make writing easier. Writing will always be hard for

  While I was growing up in the UK, we had this TV show called Tomorrow’s World . I loved it. The theme music was a hip, airy tune designed to signify progress. The presenters had wry, earnest smiles that implied they knew something we didn’t. The half-hour program was full of inspiring articles about how great the world was going to be. The show celebrated just how advanced, how smart, sophisticated, and especially how accountable the people of the future would become.     Pure joy to watch when you’re a wide-eyed child.      Like many kids, I also loved reruns of Star Trek , mainly because of the vision of the future it presented. What inspired me in particular was a universe in which cash-money was no longer necessary; where friendship and shared responsibility were more important than power, war, violence, and conflict.      Apparently Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, had many arguments with writers over the issue of conflict. In his future, most human conflict had been resol

    Most of us dive right in with an idea we feel is the most compelling to begin a story. We will often think of a scenario, a concept, or perhaps just a sentence that could draw the attention of a potential reader. We might then make it to a chapter or two before we inevitably run out of steam and wonder where this piece of writing is headed. You may feel tempted to keep writing without any kind of a plan. Sometimes that seems like the right thing to do because we feel so good about the new reality we are creating. We get so pumped we cannot imagine that this good feeling will ever stop. Or, on some level, we know it will end but we don’t care, because this moment of surety and clarity is so powerful, all engrossing, sweet, and satisfying. But how do you sustain your enthusiasm for writing when this feeling goes away? First of all, you need to decide what you’re writing. A short story? Something longer? Perhaps an entire novel? Sure, write when you are inspired. Fill the pages with w

A few weeks back I ran a poll to see if anyone was interested in being part of a Writing Academy community. The results were interesting.     Of all the people who received the email, only around a dozen expressed a positive interest in the idea but a few were very negative. In the past I’ve run surveys that have inspired hundreds of responses. So the low response rate for this one was stunning - but not as shocking to me as the emails I received talking about how online communities were nowadays nasty places to be - full of trolls and haters that writers especially would rather not meet.     Writers told me of their bad experiences. Of being victimized and abused. Of being made to feel small and worthless. They told me they would rather not get involved than have to experience this stuff. And I don’t blame them!     Now this is surprising. Some websites like Tribe profess that everybody loves online communities. They recently produced a lavish ninety-minute movie that outlined the m

  I feel a bit sorry for Gen Z. Growing up at the beginning of the 21st century, they’ve never had it so good: a nice easy life where they’ve always had the net, 24/7 entertainment, podcasts, movies and TV shows, games and music galore, and the ability to talk to anyone in the world, for any reason, via social media. Now, when their school days are over, Gen Z are having to leave the nest and go out into the world, only to discover they have to get some soul crushing job. To work forty long hours a week just to pay bills that never stop: rent, utilities, food and drink, cable, internet, tech, and a million other micro-charges we’re hit with every day… Welcome to the Machine. Recent reports shows that the most desired job amongst Gen Zs is Internet Influencer. Wannabe writers are probably in the best position to tackle the job because, as we know, everything starts with writing - every podcast, social media post, and even those ten second blasts on TikTok all have to be written down bef

    I’m reading Val McDermid’s books at the moment. I love her relaxed writing style that I know from experience is hard to create, let alone sustain. The one I’m reading at the moment - 1979 - is about journalism. It’s interesting because she seems to suggest that not all journalists in those days were very good writers and some cheated by getting editors, sub-editors, and even their assistants to write for them. No AI to help back then.      Ten years later - in the sequel, 1989 - the newspaper industry has already been swamped by willing freelancers, replacing journalists wholesale because they’re not unionized, don’t need cigarettes or toilet breaks, and they work harder for less money.     Perhaps Val intends to write 1999, 2009 and then 2019 and, if she does, I’m sure she’ll mention how journalism has lately been transformed into little more than rapacious clickbait, that reportage has sloughed away and all but died along with offline newspapers and magazines, and that artificial

    I know I’m probably two decades late but my partner and I have been binge watching LOST for the last few weeks and I feel inspired to comment. Plus, I know there’s a whole lot of websites out there dedicated to the many complexities of the LOST plot but I can’t resist weighing in for myself on some of the issues that this classic TV show made me consider. Especially the first three seasons. Now, you have to understand that the show was largely written on the fly. The first six episodes were executed roughly to plan but after that, the show was written with lots of writers putting their own ideas into the ring. That’s why the backstories of the various characters are so vast and complex, contradictory sometimes, even illogical. My main interest is in the sweep of the original premise. Because to me, LOST is about humanity and how we survive on this Earth. Its many stories represent a microcosm of all of us. After all, Charlie, the ex-popstar’s hit song featured in the show was appro

Recently I set up a Scrivener file for blog article writing. I have a page for ideas and a separate folder for every article I start. I’m way ahead of myself. I have weekly articles for months to come. I’ve also written two novels this year, a Sherlock Holmes episode, a few more short stories, and I’m feeling like I could keep going like this forever.  It’s funny because when I first started out - a few decades ago - I couldn’t sit still for long. Literally, youthful adrenalin prevented me from being immobile. I used to perch and write for short periods, literally five or ten minutes, then get up and pace around the room, burning off excess energy, waiting for the next wave of inspiration to hit. A totally exhausting process to be sure - and really not a very productive way to work. But I had to do it that way or I’d do nothing. Growing up I also wrote in short spurts, literally five minutes here and there because I felt embarrassed and didn’t want my family to know I kept diaries, wr

  To let you know, I managed to get over the problems I was having with my Heresy novel. I just kept writing out the issues, deleting words and paragraphs that led to the tricky parts in the first place and generally giving over more time to writing new material to get myself back on an even keel. Short version: I finished the first draft of the novel at just under 90,000 words. Now I’m taking a short sabbatical from the book so that I can get some distance. I never know what the right amount of time to take but I’m less than a week in and already feel like I’m wasting time, and yes, becoming a waste of space. So I’ve been writing more articles just to keep myself busy and now I’m looking at the next Sherlock story in my Zombie Slayer series, seeing if I can get any further with that. Based on some pertinent student feedback, I’ve been wondering recently, what does one do when there’s no evidence that your artistic endeavors are worthwhile, successful, or even being noticed? Now that

On average the number of people dying each year in Australia has increased by 10 percent since the vaccine roll out. In fact nobody in the land of Oz died of Covid-19 until the vaccine was rolled out. Let’s go further. There is a direct correlation between the mRNA vaccine and excess deaths all over the World.   There, I said it.   (And why shouldn’t I say it if it’s my truth.)   It’s ridiculous that the medical establishment here now wants to investigate why suddenly more people are dying. Absurd because the cause is so blatantly obvious.   The vaccine is the “cure” that dare not speak its name.   We’re not allowed to speak ill of the vaccine because our rulers invested billions into its development and roll-out. The media are gagged by the government position, which is basically: THOU SHALT NOT QUESTION THE EFFICACY OF THE VACCINE.   We’re all part of this Second Deception.   The First Deception was that the vaccine was any kind of cure. It wasn’t. In fact they had to change the defi

They say it’s a bad time to do anything today because it’s Friday the thirteenth. On this very date in 1307, King Philip of France rounded up the Knight’s Templar in an attempt to steal their money and break up their power base by making them look like Satan worshiping sodomites. Funny, this reminds me of my article from last week. Accuse people of bad things and the sting never quite goes away. Even after 700 years. Curiously, one of the great mysteries of history is what happened to all the Templar money. King Philip never did get hold of very much and he died about a year later, apparently cursed by the Templar’s head honcho, Jacques de Molay, during his grizzly execution. Enough general knowledge, this week I promised you (and myself) I would make this article about writing, so I won’t bore you with all the silly (Jason) stuff associated with this date. Instead, let’s talk about research, truth, and its relationship to fiction writing. People often ask me how much research they sho

  The presumption of innocence prior to conviction is enshrined in the law of most Western countries.  However, for people generally, and the media especially, this is not how justice works in practice. Simply the accusation of a crime is often enough to condemn a person for life and ruin their career. And sometimes that’s the point. In a world where image is everything, it’s far too easy to destroy someone’s credibility and undermine their entire life’s work simply by suggesting they might not be wholly without fault. This cancel culture we live in is a scourge. We may look back in a few decades and wonder why we ever had the audacity to reject an artist’s work because their private lives did not live up to the impossible standards imposed by bigots and fanatical lobby groups whose stances did not always reflect the views of the compassionate majority. But rather than bemoan a society that is supremely intolerant of bad decisions and regrettable lapses in judgment, I think we should p

  Here is something I hear from my students all the time: If I only had such and such, or so and so, then everything would be fine. Listen. No one is coming to rescue you. No one out there will save you.  There is no magical event that can change your circumstance or make you more successful. YOU are the only person who is responsible for your current state of being and YOU are the only person who can change that state and improve on it. In fact you can worsen your current state simply by believing that someone or something out there can, might, or will rescue you. That's faulty logic that you may have arrived at by using what psychologists call magical thinking.   You have to accept responsibility for your circumstance and acknowledge that if you don't like where you are and you hate what's happening to you, you MUST do something about it - take action, and do it NOW! The fact is that having faith in a magical solution will only take you further into madness. The first rul