NEWS
Here you will find news and views on our three courses, why you should consider enrolling, and updates on absolutely everything!
Finding inspiration
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and course tutor at Creating Writers According to surveys, most people would like to write a book. The trouble is that while many people have a vague idea for that book, it often remains just that. A vague idea. The fact is that...
Structuring structure
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers To succeed as a writer your book must have a structure that works, and it must be told in a way that is engaging for the reader. A simple structure might be: you set the scene, and stuff happens that...
Finding a voice
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers A trick you have to master, based on the books you enjoy, the genres you read, your creative ideas, and the X-Factor of inspiration, is to find your “voice.” In a literary context, “voice” seems an...
Conflict resolution
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers All books involve conflict of some sort otherwise there would be no point in writing them, or for anybody else to read them. However, there are different sorts of conflict, several of which may appear in a...
A journey in structure
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Every book has a beginning, middle, and an end. Put simply, a book is a series of events that move the story from A to Z. The journey from A to Z resolves the conflict that is at the heart of the story. Each...
Plot and story
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Many people confuse “plot” and “story.” However, “plot” is the sequence of events that comprise the story. “Story” is what the novel is about, and novels can have multiple storylines. For example, a novel...
Building character
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Two main elements in a book are plot and character. Both are vitally important.. Your book must be populated by characters that seem real. Okay, they may be ghosts, zombies or aliens, but they have to be...
The long and short of it
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers A good book should be as long as it needs to be, and no longer. For debut authors, alas, that doesn’t really work now. Most publishers now want books with minimum word counts. It’s part of their policy...
Writing with purpose
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers Writing your book, even if it’s a short one, is going to be a marathon. That can be daunting, knowing the hours of work you’ll have to devote to it. But just accept that it will take a long time to write. In...
Making it real
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers EM Forster wrote that a story ‘can only have one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. ‘A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality – “The king died and...
The inspiration of the mundane
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers. Here he takes a look at finding inspiration. It’s sometimes said that most books fall into two categories. Someone ordinary finding themselves in an extraordinary situation. Or somebody more unusual or...
Context revisited
Charlie Laidlaw is an author and tutor at Creating Writers As I wrote in a recent blog the four elements that go together to form a novel are context, plot, characterisation, and conflict resolution. All play a part in every novel ever written. Get the balance right,...