2020 Pitch Prize Longlist

We are thrilled to announce the BPA Pitch Prize 2020 longlist. The standard of entries was incredibly high and it was difficult to select just twenty-four novels. We look forward to announcing the winners, who will receive a one-on-one with judge Jane Finigan, in...
5 Exercises to Try Before Writing Your Novel

5 Exercises to Try Before Writing Your Novel

Once you have drafted your novel and and received feedback on it, there are bound to be issues that you wish you’d thought about more before you began. Of course, so much of a story develops in the process of writing it, but there are exercises worth doing...
Agent Submissions: Nelle Andrew’s Insider Advice

Agent Submissions: Nelle Andrew’s Insider Advice

As a writer fairly close to submitting my first novel to literary agents, I was delighted to attend BPA’s session with Nelle Andrew from Rachel Mills Literary. Nelle secured a three-book deal for Neil Daws, who was highly commended in the 2019 Blue Pencil First...
Alice Jolly: POV and Voice

Alice Jolly: POV and Voice

A significant proportion of the manuscripts that come through BPA contain fundamental issues with POV. It’s a huge part of writing a novel, but one we don’t like to think about too much because it’s not as exciting as other aspects of the craft. In...