Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

As a writer, time can be your greatest ally or your most dreaded enemy, depending on how you look at it . The publishing industry works at a snail's pace. As author and screenwriter Richard Curtis once said, 'Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write cheques.' Oh, how true. I get a lot of emails from writers who have urgent problems they want fixing NOW. I myself have to sometimes drop everything to do some research, to find answers to technical issues or just to get some advice. But publishers don't work this way. Ask them a direct question and they behave like my ex. Either they don't answer at all, give you the brush off or make you feel small and grubby for daring to bother them with your pathetic request. It can be very frustrating to have to wait for a reply that may never come - but such is the life of a career writer. Life as Bottom Feeder As a writer, you're the lowest in the foodchain. The most abhored, the most misunderstood, the m...

Getting published is every writer's dream. It's 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 trade publisher who will promote our books for free - and pay us royalties every six months for the rest of our lives! Now that's the dream, right? But how close is this to the reality of being a modern working writer? Certainly having a bestseller can change your life. Desk bound introverts can become movie moguls (Dan Brown). Single-parent mothers can become very rich media celebrities (JK Rowling). And advertising executives can become household names (James Patterson). But having a bestseller is not the only definition of success. Just because the average person in the street hasn't heard of a writer doesn't mean that they aren't rich and successful. As authors, we get this all the time. You're judge...

I received a lovely email from a treasured subscriber this week.  She noted that I don't have anything on what makes a good title for an article, book or novel - or indeed how to come up with one. Never one to shirk an opportunity to help writers, here's my advice on how to come up with compelling titles. Use Magic For the purposes of my fiction writing, I study magic, astrology, numerology, witchcraft and various other arcane subjects. I find it interesting - and revealing about human nature. There's a little known philosophy amongst mages (yes, they exist!) that holds to the idea that the very sound and rhythm of certain letters, words and phrases is magical. Which I think is actually why the word 'spell' has a double meaning... Anyway, what you can learn from this is that certain consonants like 'D' and 'P' and 'B' are more resonant on a listener (or reader) than other less 'dramatic' letters like 'M','N...

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 sense of achie...

It's easy to feel negative. The media is always telling us we're on the brink of economic collapse - that it's only a matter of days before the biggest slump since the 1930s Depression takes 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 interest rates are high, people ...

I was asked this question by an esteemed subscriber this week and thought it might make an interesting article. In the publishing and movie industry the terms theme and premise are bandied around liberally - and it's assumed that writers know the difference, even if agents, publishers and marketing  people are not so up on the precise meanings. Basically the premise to a story is your starting point. It's the idea behind it - its reason to be. I've seen members of writer's groups ask the question: "Can you write a story without a premise?" I would have to say you could try - but fairly soon you'd run out of things to say. You need a premise to give a story legs. Besides which, most writers are able to sum up what their story is about - or going to be about - in a short sentence of two. So what makes a premise? Mostly an intriguing idea, a what-if scenario or a justaposition of two disparate notions fused together. The premise is usually an...

I've been studying drawing recently (I'm trying to teach myself movie storyboarding) and came across a great quote from comic artist Klaus Janson. He said, "Every creative person I know works from the ground up, from the big to the small, from the general to the specific." Many writers forget this when they're writing. They get so absorbed in details that they forget about - or can't see - the importance of the big picture. In the past I corresponded with a writer who obsessed over her opening chapter so much that she never wrote her novel. Months went by and no matter how much I encouraged her to move on, she couldn't. To her, if the first three thousand words weren't exactly right, she couldn't let herself continue with a story that she might never finish. Now, I know this is common. It's also dumb. Because writing stories is about context. The big. You cannot know what is good about a story - even down to the tiniest word or s...