Two months ago I challenged you to make the most of the last quarter. To finish those half-written stories, to sign up for a workshop or join NaNoWriMo. How many did it? A friend was telling me that since she stopped doing a creative writing course...
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...
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...
Whether it’s an article or your first chapter, you need to make your first lines work hard. They must hook the reader, wind them in, convince them to read on. They need to set up your story. They usually establish point of view; they often introduce...