http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk The home of The Fine Line Editorial Consultancy Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:32:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 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 I [...]]]> 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/the-criticess/the-red-red-rose/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/the-red-red-rose/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:09:37 +0000 The Criticess http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=620 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/the-red-red-rose/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/romancing-traditions/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/romancing-traditions/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:01:48 +0000 The Criticess http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=623 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/romancing-traditions/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-blank-page/valentine-writing-exercise/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-blank-page/valentine-writing-exercise/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:52:23 +0000 Kate Gould http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=630 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-blank-page/valentine-writing-exercise/feed/ 5 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/mythical-love/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/mythical-love/#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:22:49 +0000 The Criticess http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=593 Mythical tales of love are many – countless, perhaps – and have a tendency towards the melodramatic at best and the tragic at worst.  In an attempt to remain in keeping with the celebration of love that is St Valentine’s Day, I searched the scores of mythological lovers for a happy tale.  The best I [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/mythical-love/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, more often [...]]]> 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 even [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/days-on-a-burn/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/uncanny-stories-by-may-sinclair/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/uncanny-stories-by-may-sinclair/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:14:21 +0000 The Criticess http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=467 May Sinclair is in danger of being lost under a mountain of critical essays; smothered by scholars of literature and psychoanalysis alike, apparently determined to claim her as one of their own; and dissected by biographers until every word on the page is weighted with biographical reference, no matter how tenuous.  Her fate is partly [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/uncanny-stories-by-may-sinclair/feed/ 0 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 me [...]]]> 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 play my [...]]]> 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 [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/how-i-write/how-i-write/feed/ 0 http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/daphne-du-maurier/ http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/daphne-du-maurier/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:14:55 +0000 The Criticess http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/?p=143 Rebecca has been many things to many people.  To the reading public, it is a gothic romance and ferocious tale of jealousy, betrayal, and suspense.  To academics it is ripe with Freudian subtext – the younger second wife (daughter) longing for the affections of her husband (father), but envious of and intimidated by the first [...]]]> http://editorial-consultancy.co.uk/the-criticess/daphne-du-maurier/feed/ 0