Thursday, October 8, 2020
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...
Saturday, October 3, 2020
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...
Monday, September 28, 2020
To kick off BPA’s first online writing weekend, novelist and tutor Emma Darwin shared her insights on staying motivated, silencing inner critics and listening to inner editors. She started by acknowledging that we all want more writing time but it’s not a...
Friday, September 11, 2020
Discovering the Arc During my creative writing degree, we were taught about Nigel Watts’s 8-point story arc. As a writer of literary fiction, I was hesitant to consider a formal structure when planning my own novel. I didn’t want it to be formulaic or...
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
SO, WHAT IS A COVER LETTER? Literary agents and many literary competitions require a cover letter along with your sample chapters and synopsis. This is a formal introduction to you and your novel. Note: It is not a CV, a bio or a blurb for the book. It’s a...
