About: shelleyweiner
Recent Posts by shelleyweiner
Five top tips for a great short story – and five days to create one
It’s not true that short stories are easier to write than novels. They’re certainly shorter but have equally complex demands. A perfect piece of short fiction is as hard to achieve as a finely wrought item of jewellery. It calls for precision, supreme control, and a good strong tale at its heart. This is what…
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Greek island inspiration for your first novel
Have you always believed you had a novel in you but never found the courage to put it to the test? How about a week of expert tutoring in the inspirational setting of beautiful Skyros to get you going? THE FIRST NOVEL (17 – 24 July 2016) could be just the kick-start you’re looking for. It combines practical advice on…
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Take a leaf out of Poppy’s book
As novelists we try to create a credible illusion of reality: things happen because things happen, a causal chain of events along an imaginary timeline. And after many years of arranging narrative plot we begin to believe that’s the way things really do happen. That effort leads to success, that good habits lead to better…
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What does the new novelist really, really want?
So you signed up … or almost did … to the latest Faber Academy six-month ‘Writing a Novel’ course? Or joined me in Spain for the Literary Consultancy’s Literary Adventure? Or emerged triumphant from one of the summer Five Day Short Story courses? Well done – even for that moment of serious consideration. Out of…
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Is ‘scribomania’ a certifiable addiction?
When people want to know why I write, I look at them blankly. It feels like they’re asking me, ‘Why breathe?’ or ‘Why eat?’ And all I can say in reply is that it seems as necessary and sometimes as problematic as either of these life-sustaining activities. For, while it is true that it doesn’t usually…
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