When author Liz Flanagan wanted to learn how to write young adult (YA) fiction she spoke to some of the best YA novelists in the world. Now a YA writer herself with two books published and a Carnegie Medal nomination under her belt, she reveals the advice that stuck.
Featured writers
When Jackie Buxton was diagnosed with cancer, she did what she always does when life presents her with a challenge: she started writing. Author of award-winning book Tea & Chemo, Jackie shares her 7 best tips on how to write a memoir and develop a piece of life writing. [click to continue…]
From draft zero to published author, Julia Crouch wrote her first novel during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). She shares her life-changing experience with us and offers advice on how to find the time to start writing, beating procrastination, getting productive and most importantly – finishing your NaNo novel. [click to continue…]
Brian Clegg is a highly prolific author of 68 fiction and non-fiction books. Yep, you heard me, 68 – and counting. Now one of the world’s top popular-science writers, Clegg first cut his teeth in journalism after a corporate career. We interview him about his motivations, his writing process and how he keeps going. [click to continue…]
Helen Sword is a guru in scholarly writing circles. She’s spent a decade finding out what makes academic writers tick and publishing evidence-based books and articles about various aspects of scholarly writing and publication. Whilst her research has focused on academics, it applies to any writer wanting to smash their writing goals and strike a more balanced relationship with their muse. [click to continue…]
With 28 published books Joanna Penn is prolific by most standards. Her print books, however, are just the beginning – those 17 novels and nine non-fiction books by three author names are the foundation for 110 e-book and audio products; that’s dwarfed further by her 1,300 blog posts, 360 podcasts, 500 videos, a handful of short stories, and a side-line writing sweet romance with her Mum. All of this has been achieved in 10 years – the time researchers reckon it takes to master a skill. So how does this New York Times bestselling author manage it? [click to continue…]
Writers’ block hits – you’re overwhelmed and paralysed by the fear you’ll never write again, let alone be productive and build a regular writing routine. Do you give up or take action? Find out how novelist Jenn Ashworth created #100daysofwriting to overcome writers’ block and fall back in love with her book with a gentle productivity challenge. [click to continue…]
In his hugely popular podcast The Writer Files, Kelton Reid studies the habits, habitats, and brains of a wide spectrum of renowned writers to learn their secrets of writing productivity and creativity. Having now interviewed over 70 top authors like Douglas Coupland, Joanna Penn and Austin Kleon, we asked Kelton to reveal to us what secrets he’s learned along the way. [click to continue…]
K.M. Weiland is one of the best known writing mentors and coaches in the world. An internationally published author of the bestselling Outlining Your Novel and Structuring Your Novel, Weiland also mentors authors on her award-winning website Helping Writers Become Authors and writes historical and speculative fiction too. How does she get down to write and what processes does she use? She talks exclusively to the Prolifiko blog.
Writing deadlines have always been important to Alice Lowe, TV and movie actor, writer and soon-to-be writer-director of another feature length comedy film – still under wraps. Writing deadlines are now set for her, at one time they were rather more self-imposed. [click to continue…]