Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

Rob Parnell It's every writer's dream. To write something that sells millions and pretty much guarantees you a place in history. Now that's sweet - the idea of it anyway. Of course, you have to remember it's every publisher's dream too. I read a publisher's blog recently that said that even in the US, it was rare for any author to sell more than a few hundred of their own books - and only then if they were lucky. I know that mainstream publishers with worldwide distribution often have trouble selling the first print run of what they call their 'B List' authors - a title which pretty much covers the majority of us! That's the reality. For every bestselling author that sells millions of copies of their book, there are perhaps a thousand, more likely ten thousand other authors who get by selling barely enough of their books to justify their publishing deals. Many career writers who receive (often small) advances on their work usually don't start mak...

Rob Parnell We've been busy these last couple of weeks going through staff applications and we've just started conducting interviews. It's fascinating to view so many different people and gain some appreciation and insight for their very different lives, hopes and dreams. As a writer, coming into contact with new people obviously fires my imagination and makes me think of characters I may not have considered - or imagined - before. Be that as it may... (one of those strange cliches that doesn't appear to say what you think it means.) It's also interesting to me because the whole experience of expanding my horizons has made me re-evaluate where I want to take my writing business in the future. The other night I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about what I would do if I had a huge staff of helpers, consultants and writers. What would be possible? Just what could I achieve, I thought, if I had a large corporation of people to run, occupy and motivate? Instead of jus...

Rob Parnell Do you ever have those days when you don't know what to write about? And worse, do those days turn into weeks and months, even years? You're not alone. I know this for a fact because people email me and send me letters about it all the time. According to most surveys, 80% of people feel they have a writer inside, someone who could - and thinks they should - write a book at some point in their lives. That's a huge statistic. So huge that it's the kind of percentage that would have marketers foaming at the mouth! But experience shows that only around 5% actually get around to any kind of serious writing in their lifetimes - and only around 1% of that 5% end up getting paid to do it. That's why, in marketing terms, writing remains a niche - one of those nebulous terms that means 'so specialized' as to be largely irrelevant to modern demographics. Clearly that doesn't quash the urge to write for most of us. But this issue of "I want to write...

Rob Parnell The biggest selling book of all time is of course The Bible. Hardly surprising given its place and significance in our history. But, strictly speaking, the Bible doesn't count for our purposes because it's not supposed to be fiction (though some might disagree.) I want to restrict my study of the bestseller to fiction - because to me, any book about things that aren't obviously real, would have to pretty powerful to inspire millions of people to buy it. Okay. Would it surprise you then to discover that the most verifiable bestselling novel, ever, is in fact Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities"? Surprised the hell out of me. Yep, apparently we've consumed over 200 million copies of this saga about the French Revolution and its affect on English mores. After that, we're on more familiar ground with "Lord of the Rings" at around 150 million - and apparently this figure isn't skewed by the book often being sold as three books - they...

Rob Parnell Does anyone actually read articles anymore? I'm not sure. I know from my own experience that when I'm surfing the Net, I generally don't sit and read articles all the way through. For most of us the purpose of surfing is get information quickly. And reading off a screen can be tiring. So we tend to skim. Surfing is actually a good word for it. We rarely dive in and explore the sea of information available. We ride the surface of it, soaking in the spray, barely getting our feet wet... Okay, enough of this metaphor! Scientists have proven that we don't actually read words anyway. What we do is recognize phrases - collections of words - that create mental images in our minds. It's those images that we use to absorb the information we need. Not the words at all. Hence the need for quick bites of info - the way news is reported nowadays, in pulses designed to hook us, but rarely do. Mainly because those pulses are so effective, we don't feel the need to ...

Rob Parnell I can't remember who said it but a writer once pointed out that nobody will ever miss something you didn't write. People don't walk around wishing they can find the genius they are unaware of, or the book that hasn't been written yet. It's the harshest reality a writer must face. That nobody really cares whether you finish your novel or magnum opus - or whether you even work on it at all. A book is nothing until it's published - and even then, given current trends, it's unlikely to set the world on fire or sell more than a few copies. Writers must find their own reasons to write - and be self motivated enough to continue without anything but selfish reasons to finish what they start. As Dorothea Brande said in "Becoming a Writer", writers create their own emergencies. They have to, because nobody else really gives a damn. It's funny. I was rereading a little of Stephen King's "On Writing" this week and I noticed someth...

Rob Parnell When writing fiction, writers are forced to consider the protagonist and his or her agenda. We need to ask what our hero's goals are and where they want to end up as people. Now usually, there is an antagonist whose desire to thwart the hero's goals is at least as strong, if not stronger than the hero's. But what about writers themselves? Who is their main antagonist? Alas - usually themselves. When it comes to writing, there's that little guy inside your head who wants to criticize - endlessly. His voice reminds you constantly that you have no special talent, that your writing is average at best, and that you should never, ever show your work to anyone because, well, it's crap. Helpful little fella. And to think, he lives inside of us! Suppressing the inner critic is a necessary part of the writing process. If we couldn't silence the little rascal, we'd never write anything. Indeed many writers get stuck on page one because they can't ignore...