When I started off as a journalist I was fortunate enough to work alongside Mick Brown, a brilliant writer and long-time journalist at London’s Daily Telegraph. He’d read my stories and say, ‘Claire, Cut to the chase here.’ What he meant was, get rid of the...
What’s most important in your writing is to get the reader to care – about the main character, the story, the idea. In fiction you don’t necessarily need to like the protagonist but you do need to care about him or her. That’s what keeps...
This month I started teaching Creative Writing at the Australian Writers’ Centre. The premise of the course is ‘There’s no right way to write.’ Of course, there isn’t. Anyone who tells you to do it their way is misguided. Nor is there any right way to plan...
I’m a great one for New Year’s resolutions. Starting or re-starting a writing project in the first quarter is sensible. You have the rest of the year to get it done. And if you have the right systems in place, you can complete a non-fiction book...
I’m deep into writing a company autobiography about the Kensington Colleges at the moment. The deadline is fast approaching and there’s still too much to do. When you have a big writing project it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Here are some techniques and tools I find...
No-one likes rejection. But every writer faces it. Martin Green from Pantera Press recently wrote, ‘Virtually every best-selling author was rejected by every publisher they contacted except the one where they found their eventual home.’ I thought those words were worth repeating. Except in the rare...
How often do you stop and write for yourself? Not because you must or you’ve got a deadline to make – just for the pleasure of putting pen to paper and seeing what comes out. For me, despite what I wrote in my last post, I...
Ask anyone who writes regularly in a private journal why they do it and they usually say, ‘because it makes me feel better.’ I started writing a diary aged nine. When I was growing up I did it every night. These days it’s more haphazard,...
Overlooking the town of Laurieton is a mountain called ‘Big Brother’. The day after my workshops there I went to the top and there was a parasailer preparing to jump off. I could never do that. I’m scared of heights and the thought of taking a...
Last week I ran two special workshops in the small coastal town of Laurieton on the mid-north coast of NSW. They were held in the old boat shed of the pilot station at Camden Haven. The doors were wide open and we could hear the sound...