Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

  Scientists studying nature are getting increasingly good at working out how things work. From the Big Bang Theory to DNA. From the evolution of species to how chocolate can make us happy. We now have a pretty good idea how life works from the smallest chemical action to the largest atomic reaction. It seems as though one day we will know how everything in our Universe works... but there is one crucial element missing. The why. We know that sunlight makes plants photosynthesize carbon dioxide into oxygen. We know that when an electrical spark is applied to gasoline it explodes. We know that when water boils it turns to steam. We know these things and a host of others because we can prove them - every time. But do we know why they happen? Scientists say that these reactions are 'coded' into the makeup of the elements. That these reactions are inevitable, given the right circumstances. We know that during the Big Bang, for instance, certain elements came toge

  First off, 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 referring 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

  The author John Braine once said, "A writer is someone who counts words." Do you count the words you write ? 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 speakin

It's easy to feel negative. The media is always telling us we're on the brink of economic collapse - or war - or the AI invasion - that it's only a matter of days before the biggest slump since last crash and this one will take 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 intere

  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

  Have you ever noticed how you, as a writer, see-saw?  For one heady moment you know you're brilliant and then, later, with just as much clarity, you know what you do is awful. It's the writer's curse. I've noticed this happens at certain times in the writing process. When the ideas are fresh and you're starting out on a project, the adrenaline is flowing, the words are spewing on to the page - everything seems so clear, so clever, so you. And then after, when you look back, the words seem dull, the structure contrived and the talent - well, non-existent. But then... later, it can seem smooth and inspired again... and then, even later... dire. Hold up! What's happening here? I call it The Hydra Syndrome or, for short, THS. You may remember that the Hydra was a mythological creature with many heads - and each time one was cut off, another sprouted in its place. And the trouble with being a writer is that we too have many heads. Some are kind and benevolent, some

Probably one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how can a writer sustain the momentum required to finish writing projects.     According to surveys, writing a book at some point is the secret desire of 90% of the population - as though writing a book somehow validates us as humans - and perhaps makes us a little more immortal. But only around 1% of people will ever rise to the challenge - and even they will falter more times than not. Of these would be writers, less than 1% will ever FINISH their books - and just to be even more depressing now, only a handful of that one percent will ever get to be published.     Faced with this punishing reality, how do we find the strength to carry on writing?     Let me answer by first telling you a story.     Once, a very long time ago, I asked a professional motivational guru how I could become rich. I say it was a long time ago because in those days I was very cynical and I asked the question as more of a challenge than a query. The

In the spirit of recycling, I decided to use an old newsletter from 2007. How different is life now? You’d think it would be very. But really, not much has changed!     Getting published is every writer's dream. It's apparently 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 real trade publisher who will promote our books for free - and pay us royalties every six months for the rest of our lives!     That's the dream, right?     But how close is this to the reality of being a modern working writer?     Certainly having an offline bestseller can change your life. Desk bound introverts can become movie moguls (Dan Brown). Single-parent mothers can become very rich media celebrities (J.K. Rowling). And advertising executives can become household names (James Patterson).     But I would argue that having an offline bestseller is n

    I’m thinking of creating a new course on using Jungian archetypes to help with fiction writing. Would this be useful to you? That’s usually my main criteria for making a new course: will this area of study help my subscribers become better writers? I touch on the use of archetypes in my hero’s journey course, but mainly in the context of the Tarot deck, which I find fascinating. The Tarot is like a story-telling manual that encapsulates history and all of the possible interactions of humans. I should explain to those who don’t know that Dr Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist working at the beginning of the 20th century, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud. Jung developed the idea that archetypal characters like the hero, the mother, the trickster and various others continually reveal themselves in fiction because, on some level, we all recognize these generalizations as based on reality. A fascinating idea. Using Freudian psychobabble to help justify and explain some character motivatio

Again, no time to do much creative work this week. Quite possible this newsletter may have to wait until next week. The weather is so hot here, they say record temperatures, that by the time I’ve made my TikTok video and watered the garden, it’s already lunch time. There goes the hour or so of my prime writing time.   As for editing my manuscript - which I mentioned last week - I’m still at a loss, though I have thought of another way forward. To get me back on track with my novel, I’ve created an Excel spreadsheet that tracks which chapters I’ve finished. I’ve found that if I do a little - just a few minutes here and there - then I can progress slowly. At least something is getting done. We’ve got the band coming over tomorrow and we’ve had to move the music studio into the house. Two months of relentless forty degree heat has meant the music room is just way too hot for five people. Better we play inside, with the air conditioning on full. Honestly it’s no wonder so many early Austra

    I have a novel to get out. You might remember I told you about it during its creation. It’s called “HERESY” and it’s basically, to all intents and purposes, done. Finished. Just need a final proof/copy-edit to make sure there are no glaring errors and no embarrassing typos. Then formatting the text for publishing. Done the cover too. Mostly. I guess you can tell, in reality I’m a long way from completing the novel but I kid myself there’s not long to go - mainly to make myself feel better! Fact is, finding enough time to edit, proof, and polish a novel is probably the hardest part of book writing for me. Especially if you’re a busy boy. I usually like to fit things like writing in between other duties like making a daily TikTok video, watering the garden, sorting out my Academy admin, making lunch and beverages, eating, washing up, tidying and hoovering, walking the dog, rehearsing music for upcoming shows and squeezing in my daily swim. Now, I know you’re probably thinking I’m com

    So you’ve written a book. Now what? Of course I’m talking about a self-published book because a traditional publisher (like one of the Big Four) would likely already have a plan which you probably wouldn’t be part of. Let’s say you’re printing up your own copies and you don’t really know what to do next. Before we start I should tell you that for over twenty years I’ve run my own publishing company and therefore have lots of experience in this arena. I’ve helped many authors promote their books and guided many writers through the myriad of possibilities. One thing I can tell you is that there are hundreds of ways to promote a book and eager self-published authors end up trying most of them. Ignore the net for a moment and understand that marketing in the real world is a complex business operation that requires brainstorming, strategizing, organizing and lots of labor intensive work with long hours pursuing many avenues, none of which are guaranteed to make sales or in reality, even

  I was reading a newspaper the other day. Yes, an actual piece of print with words and black and white pictures. Inside, there was an interesting article about the idea that optimists don’t make very good financial decisions, mainly because they tend to believe the best will happen. In reality, the article said, optimists can easily lose money because of their sometimes irrational, rose-colored, faith-based decisions. Though the idea makes sense, it sounded more likely the author had an agenda to me. Or maybe her editor thought the angle would make an interesting read. But the more I thought about the idea, the less impressed I became.   Because the whole idea implies that only the sad and cynical make sound financial decisions. So that, even if you’re depressed and pessimistic, you’ll apparently have lots of money. And I guess they revel in the righteousness that often accompanies pessimism. But if you think about it, you can’t destroy or even offend an optimist because by definition