Writing Magazine February 2022

Happy new year! And welcome to the first Writing Magazine of 2022. What writing plans do you have for the year ahead? Do write in and let us know how you’re getting on – we love to hear what you’re all up to, whether by email, letter, social network or pigeon – but don’t worry, I’m not here to check you’re hitting your targets or sticking to Editor resolutions. In fact, quite the opposite. All you have to do is let yourself write, what you want, when you want (and can). It’s advice echoed by several of this month’s authors but I was most struck by memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink (p12), who candidly admits how hard she finds writing and how she uses a variety of psychological tricks to get into…

TOKEN THE MICKEY Bitcoin rules the cryptocurrency world, though it is far from the only one. In fact, there are thousands of digital currencies, many of which would appear to have little chance of breaking into the mainstream. One that did, briefly, and for all the wrong reasons, was called JRR Token, and was promoted with the line that it was, ‘The One Token That Rules Them All’. Except it wasn’t, because the estate of JRR Tolkien went to arbitration through the World Intellectual Property Organization and had the whole thing blocked. The Tolkien estate noted that the cryptocurrency’s URL was, ‘specifically designed to mislead internet users into believing that it and the website to which it resolves have some legitimate commercial connection’ with the famous author and that it infringed…

REACH FOR THE STARS In April 2022, it will have been 32 years since NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope. An upcoming anniversary that reminds me of that Oscar Wilde quote: ‘We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’ Some days, as many others do I imagine, I feel very much ‘in the gutter’. But I think writing inspires the inward-looking soul to turn their gaze outward, towards inspiring views. At least, I know that writing tends to lift me from my own doldrums. It’s not a miracle cure, and it doesn’t solve everything. But it allows me to turn my mind to other things, if only for a while. Spending time on research takes my mind off my problems. Considering an issue from the…

Q I’ve finished my novel and I’m ready to polish it for (self) publication. I thought it was ready for a copy-edit, but I’ve been told that it needs a story check first. Can you explain the different editorial layers, please? A You’re not alone! Authors often get confused about the order of the editorial chain and what each process is supposed to achieve. For simplicity, I’ve outlined below the various stages. This is what Cornerstones specialises in so it’s close to our heart. Ideally, these editorial layers should be carried out by a professional editor as they’re trade skills that require experience. You’ll need people you trust, who are experienced in editing your genre, so check their biography and list of published novels that they’ve worked on. Developmental editing (this is your…

January is a great time to pitch your novel to literary agents. You’ll find them re-energised and keen to discover something fresh and exciting to start the new year. To maximise your chances of getting an agent’s attention amid the deluge of submissions, it’s worth making the effort to perfect your pitch package. I’ve read thousands of pitches in my time as an agent and as managing director of the Curtis Brown Creative writing school – so here are my tips to help you nail the tricky documents that go alongside the opening of your novel as the essential ingredients of the pitch package: the agent letter and synopsis. THE LETTER 1 Target the right agents Take time over your research when deciding who to write to. There are lots of directories and…

One of the great joys of being a writer is that I get to talk to other people about life writing and to encourage them to give it a go. I do think that almost everyone’s life would be improved by writing and am never happier than when I get a letter saying that reading my work has inspired my correspondent to start writing their own story. Often they do feel a bit overwhelmed by the scale of the task in hand. They have the urge and instinct to go for it but are besieged by fears. The events they want to write about might have happened a long time ago and they don’t know where to start or are nervous about what others might say. And what about getting…