Word Count 52: Ada Lovelace Day is back! Fieldwork update, Clarke Award shortlist

June 20, 2023

Plus Alex North webinar available for catch-up, visualising plots, Blackadder lost pilot, why it’s hard to hear dialogue, group dynamics and more! Hi there, A couple of weeks ago, when I decided to move to a fortnightly schedule, I didn’t think it would be difficult to just write less. But did I really miss writing […]

Read the full article →

Fieldwork: Do you know where your keys are?

June 19, 2023

Are you sure? Absolutely sure? Because I know I don’t have them. I’m just over a month into the background research for Fieldwork and have already carried out half a dozen interviews with ecologists in a wide variety of disciplines. We’ve talked about everything, from the challenges of surveying plants in highland bogs, to working […]

Read the full article →

Needing help doesn’t make you a bad writer

June 14, 2023

We’re all always learning more about our craft and we should celebrate that as growth, not chastise ourselves for failing.  Some writers seem to instinctively know how to structure their novel or TV script, never paying much attention to acts or turning points as they lay down their first draft and, later, revise their final […]

Read the full article →

Word Count 51: Alex North webinar on Thursday, insights from sword fighting, planning your writing year

June 6, 2023

Plus Hollywood’s death spiral, the DGA deal, and Grabbity’s poorly again. Hi there, As I thought it might, my current period of underemployment is drawing to a close and I am soon about to be very, very busy indeed. So this newsletter is going to move to a fortnightly schedule and I’ll be alternating it […]

Read the full article →

You might never close The Gap and that’s OK

May 31, 2023

As I thought it might, my current period of underemployment is drawing to a close and I am soon about to be very, very busy indeed. So this newsletter is going to move to a fortnightly schedule, alternating every other week with Word Count. Meanwhile, don’t forget that bestselling crime writer Alex North is joining […]

Read the full article →

Word Count 50: Kickstart your plot, Wosson Cornwall, anti-perfectionism

May 30, 2023

Plus a post on self-promotion, and Cassie & Polly make an appearance. Hi there, Last week was a short week, thanks to an extra-long weekend in north Wales! So this week’s newsletter will also be slightly shorter than usual. It’s also my 50th newsletter, which feels like a nice milestone to mark! Tip-top tip: Two […]

Read the full article →

Self-promotion: The hardest form of writing

May 24, 2023

We all hate doing it. We all worry that others will hate us for doing it. But no one else is going to blow our trumpets for us. If there’s one type of writing that everyone I know hates, often with a white-hot intensity that could melt iron, it’s anything that even remotely whiffs of […]

Read the full article →

Word Count 49: Alex North webinar, how to survive new book promo, the LLM-generated shit tsunami continues

May 23, 2023

Plus loads of TV scripts to download, author Madeleine Dore talks about her writing career, and Grabbity does something silly. Hi there, I am extremely excited to launch my new webinar series, in which I’ll chat with a variety of writers about the craft of writing, their processes, and how they deal with those moments […]

Read the full article →

Fieldwork: A look at what’s to come

May 17, 2023

It’s always good to have a plan so that you can point at it and laugh when reality has other ideas. I thought I’d go through the rough project plan for Fieldwork so that you can see what’s involved and the sort of things I’m going to write about. To some extent, this newsletter is […]

Read the full article →

Patience is its own reward

May 17, 2023

When to trust your subconscious to work through a problem on its own. The first rule of Writer’s Block Club is you don’t talk about writer’s block… Wait, no, that’s stupid. The first rule of Writer’s Block Club is that you always need to interrogate your block to find out what kind of block it […]

Read the full article →

Word Count 48: WFTV Screenwriters’ Lab, comedy mentoring, Virago Press Furies short story competition

May 16, 2023

Plus Sitcom Geeks look back on the Big Comedy Conference, how to sell a book on Substack, showrunner John Rodgers on the WGA strike, king cheetahs, and more! Hi there, There’s much to share in this week’s newsletter, so let’s just get on with it! Opportunity: WFTV Kay Mellor Screenwriters’ Lab 2023 Women in Film […]

Read the full article →

When the easiest route becomes the hardest

May 10, 2023

Today’s post is brought to you by the battle of trying to come up with today’s post. If there’s one form of writer’s block that trips me up consistently and frequently, it’s the mistake of trying to find the easiest thing to write instead of working out what the right thing to write is. This […]

Read the full article →

Word Count 47: Why we should all care about the WGA writer’s strike

May 9, 2023

Plus the importance of the WGA’s AI demands, Fieldwork, The Lacemaker, and opportunity costs. Hi there, Happy 1st Birthday to Word Count! It’s about a year since I started this newsletter, and I’m slightly surprised that I’ve stuck to my weekly schedule. I have to be honest, I thought that my initial enthusiasm would wear […]

Read the full article →

The opportunity cost of not writing

May 3, 2023

What are we sacrificing when we decide to do something else instead of write? When we talk about “opportunity” in relation to writing, it’s often in the context of all the opportunities that exist for writers now. It’s so much easier to find literary agents to submit to these days, and so much easier to […]

Read the full article →

Introducing Fieldwork

May 2, 2023

Everything you need to know about Suw’s latest creative project. If you’ve ever been on a science field trip, you’ll know that, in amongst the experiments and data gathering, things can go hilariously wrong. The longer you spend in the field, the more likely you are to have had animals carry off your equipment, experienced […]

Read the full article →