Join the Gadgeteers with this year’s Summer Reading Challenge 2023. Libraries across Devon want children to sign up to the Gadgeteers Summer Challenge and read six books this summer. With the hook line Ready, Set, Read! the Summer Reading Challenge 2023 launches this Saturday, 8 July. …
Time in a Bottle resulted from a set writing prompt: a family drama, no more than 500 words, containing Summer, heat, road, dog, sadness. …
The Short Fiction List 2023 (updated): some of the short stories posted here on the site. …
Book One stalled for a while because I didn’t know how to handle the revelation of misbelief. In my defense, I didn’t acknowledge the place of misbelief in story telling.
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My novella hit problems a while back, entirely from exceeding the MICE quotient. I tried to pack too much into a 20k novella, lost focus and… it didn’t work.
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Daniel David Wallace returns with another writers’ event: Find Your Readers Summit 2023, running August 4th to 7th. …
A key question in fiction: where does your protagonist sit on the proactivity scale? Do they pursue goals beyond the everyday? Survival or escape by themselves aren’t active goals. Something has to drive change and transformation, to become better by the end than they started at the beginning.
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This week is Independent Bookshop Week 2023, a celebration of independent bookshops in the UK. From Saturday 17th – Saturday 24th June, this highlights the vital role independent bookshops play in their communities.
Launched in 2006 by the Booksellers Association, Independent Bookshop Week 2023 is sponsored by Hachette UK.
The key ingredient of good independent bookshops are the staff; book experts with a passion for books and reading, getting the right book into the right hands. Go to them for advice and recommendations. Can’t find a book you want? The Indies will order it for you.
Most independent bookshops work with local communities in the drive to promote reading for pleasure. Adding vitality to our high streets, independent bookshops generate local jobs and contribute to our local economy and local community.
Every bookshop celebrates Independent Bookshop Week in its own way, so find your local indie and see what’s planned. Perhaps it’s an in-store author signing, a virtual event, book club, special offers or promotions.
Shoppers are encouraged to share book purchases on social media tagging @booksaremybag and #IndieBookshopWeek.
This year’s National Writing Day takes place Wednesday 21 June 2023.
Head over to the First Story website for the annual celebration of writing for pleasure and self-expression. As usual, First Story has laid on free activities to inspire your creativity. Share your writing online using #NationalWritingDay. …
Avoiding the Idiot Plot: in which characters behave like idiots. Logic and good sense go AWOL. Along with the reader’s patience.
Typically, Idiot Plots derive from non-communication and mis-communication amongst the characters. Often, in the Idiot Plot, one sentence could wrap up the entire thing before the end of Act One.
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