http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk The home of The Fine Line Editorial Consultancy Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:59:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-fabrication-of-fiction/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-fabrication-of-fiction/#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 18:13:20 +0000 Patricia Schonstein http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=705 My novel, The Master’s Ruse, is set in a future time when the sea is biologically dead. It unfolds in a country ruled by a military junta. Literature and freedom of speech have been banned and the holdings of all libraries burnt. The narrative voice belongs to an aging authoress who lives on a vast [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-fabrication-of-fiction/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-soup-of-my-boiling-imagination/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-soup-of-my-boiling-imagination/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:22:34 +0000 Kevin Shamel http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=669 It usually begins with Post-It Notes. They surround my monitor as I type this. If not those sticky, colored squares, then it’s a ragtag collection of paper bits that start my stories. I get ideas in droves and jot them down for later use. It’s also how I organize what I need to do. If [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-soup-of-my-boiling-imagination/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/through-a-dark-room-with-arms-outstretched/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/through-a-dark-room-with-arms-outstretched/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:27:55 +0000 Beatrice Colin http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=663 I’m always amazed by people who tell me they have a whole book stored in their head – all they have to do is write it. When I start a novel I have only the vaguest idea of how it will turn out. I usually have a place I want to end up, a final [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/through-a-dark-room-with-arms-outstretched/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/i-don%e2%80%99t-want-to-make-this-comic/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/i-don%e2%80%99t-want-to-make-this-comic/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:11:55 +0000 Sarah C. Bell http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=582 I am a lazy artist. I get some silly/brilliant/stupid idea for a script and get really excited. Epiphany! Light bulb! Yes­ — this comic about a dead moth I saw must be drawn! The world simply must have it. Moaning and whining and procrastinating, however, quickly follow this bolt of inspiration. I want to sit [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/i-don%e2%80%99t-want-to-make-this-comic/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-meditative-mood/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-meditative-mood/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:46:44 +0000 Louise Shivers http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=576 The ideal writing day for me begins when I wake up naturally at eight o’clock. While I sip on a large cup of coffee I stare into space. This hour sets the tone for the day. About nine I eat some protein, cheese toast maybe. From nine to ten I go to the computer or, [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/the-meditative-mood/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/a-giant-puzzle/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/a-giant-puzzle/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:47:25 +0000 Tracy Davis http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=544 I am a huge procrastinator unless I have a sudden inspiration that comes out of nowhere, I am in the middle of a project, or I have a routine such as a weekly column. Otherwise, I may not write a word for weeks at a time, and when I am determined to start again, it [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/a-giant-puzzle/feed/ 1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/days-on-a-burn/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/days-on-a-burn/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:13:44 +0000 Karen Liebreich http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=481 Hemingway said ‘There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.’ Well, perhaps it was easier when it was a typewriter. Now, first thing, I sit down and check my emails. Even if the obvious spam is sifted out, there are various spammish messages to distract me. Maybe [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/days-on-a-burn/feed/ 1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/beginning-or-not/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/beginning-or-not/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:32:23 +0000 Elisabeth Hyde http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=456 This fall I’ve been trying to start a new novel.  I hate this stage and will do anything to avoid it.  One morning I was actually thankful for the dead mouse smell in the basement, so that I could otherwise occupy myself for another three hours. It’s not just the fear of failure that keeps [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/beginning-or-not/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/cardio-sprint-on-a-tightrope/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/cardio-sprint-on-a-tightrope/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:30:01 +0000 Kate Holden http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=418 I know I must be a writer because I have procrastinated writing this piece for weeks, promised myself that I’ll sit and properly cogitate it before I lay finger to keyboard, promised I’ll make a list of what I want to say, and yet here I am, throwing myself onto the page before I’ve had [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/cardio-sprint-on-a-tightrope/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/on-inverted-writing/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/on-inverted-writing/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:16:32 +0000 Hannah Reade http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=414 ‘There’s rosemary that’s for remembrance; pray, love, remember; and there is pansies. That’s  for thoughts. There’s fennel for you; and columbines; there’s rue for you, and here’s some for me: we may call it herb grace o’Sundays: O you must wear your rue with a difference. There’s a daisy; I would give you some violets [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/on-inverted-writing/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write-2/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write-2/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:04:27 +0000 Andrew Crumey http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=314 I know two kinds of writer: there are the ones who like to plan everything very carefully, maybe even writing little personality profiles for their characters on postcards and sticking flow-chart plot diagrams on their wall; and then there are those who reckon the whole point of writing is making it up as you go [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write-2/feed/ 1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/writing-or-rather-not/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/writing-or-rather-not/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:22:41 +0000 Chris Roberts http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=260 The sad truth is I don’t write that much, or, at least nothing like as much as I’d like. What I do is spend an awful lot of time doing things around writing. Mostly this involves publicity, events and editing of stories for One Eye Grey (the 21st century penny dreadful I publish). Then there [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/writing-or-rather-not/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/lyric-writing/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/lyric-writing/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:13:25 +0000 Paul Reynolds http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=251 More often than not writing lyrics is a very difficult process for me. The music side of song writing usually comes fairly easily – often too easily. I’m sometimes woken up because I need to hum the soundtrack to my dream into my trusty dictaphone. This is the process I usually go through: • I [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/lyric-writing/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/robert-alan-jamieson/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/robert-alan-jamieson/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:26:57 +0000 Robert Alan Jamieson http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=239 My experience of writing has been so various that it seems difficult to abstract generalities about the process which may then    apply across all genres – from the attempt at snapshot poetic insight, say, to the aim of chronicling centuries. But here follow a few sketchy observations on the making of a text, as viewed [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/robert-alan-jamieson/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:13:35 +0000 John Leavitt http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=198 I’ve given myself the time it takes to drink an Asahi Tall Boy to write this essay. Arbitrary constraints are important. Why are they important? Cause without arbitrary constraints I’d get nothing done. Nothing. I am a lazy summofa bitch and without a deadline or social pressure, I end up excelling in the art of [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/mary-darcy/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/mary-darcy/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:25:08 +0000 Mary D'Arcy http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=141 `I’ve never sat down and said to myself – “Now I’m going to write a poem!” wrote James Stephens, the Irish poet.  `It really happened the other way about, and I had very little to say in the matter.` The paragraph above is taken from The Dream Mind by author of Alfie, the late Bill [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/mary-darcy/feed/ 1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/marc-phillips/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/marc-phillips/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:44:33 +0000 Marc Philips http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=129 Dialogue in work meant to be read (as opposed to that spoken onstage) requires you to manage at least two simultaneous conversations with concentric purpose.  The first, a conversation between author and reader, is the narrative.  Within the narrative is a conversation between characters that the author must pass along without damaging the suspension of [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/marc-phillips/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/panos-karnezis/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/panos-karnezis/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:19:47 +0000 Panos Karnezis http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=30 I feel very lucky that I can support myself doing something I love. Writing is a job in the sense that you are paid to come up with a book which has to make profit for you and the publisher, but it is also a very personal thing, a craft or art that brings to [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/panos-karnezis/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/carol-peters/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/carol-peters/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:27:47 +0000 Carol Peters http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=18 I wake between four and four-thirty in the morning. By five, I’m up drinking tea and journaling about the weather, my weight, how I feel, the dreams I remember, rhymes, lines, scraps of poems, and whatever else comes. Lately, my dreams have become repetitive so I guess at meanings — the babies must mean that [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/carol-peters/feed/ 1 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/aiko-harman/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/aiko-harman/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:04:15 +0000 Aiko Harman http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=14 Let me make it perfectly clear that I am no writing expert.  I am only doing what comes naturally to me, writing what I feel like writing, for little-to-no profit besides personal satisfaction, for better or worse, till death doth part me from my personal computer.  I write for the most part at my desk, [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/aiko-harman/feed/ 0