A few years ago (well into my career as a Children's Author and, um, Creative Writing Guru) I googled the term, How to Write a Picture Book. The results were kind of hilarious. And depressingly useless. Basically, I got articles such as: How to Write A Picture Book: Five Easy Steps or How to Write …
Why I closed the Scribbles Creative Writing Academy. (And why me and Bilbo Baggins are alike.)
Oh dear reader. I'm tired. So I'm blogging. Why do I always want to blog when I'm tired? It's perverse, right? (Global comment. Expect more typos and grammatical faux pas than usual.) It's raining. Steady, soaking, let's-pretend-it's-winter rain. Somewhere it's a Cup Day. Melbourne? Bendigo? Kyneton? Moscow? Dunno. There are so many cups and so …
October Overview: News from Home
What I've Been Doing by Jen Storer Researching and writing The main character in my new middle grade novel is from 'old money'. She lives in a rambling country mansion. Indeed she does. So I went to Buda in Castlemaine and had a poke around. Got the 'old money vibe'. Fantasised. Pretended. Reminisced. (I have …
Don’t Trip on Story Structure!
Last month in a Scribbles live call, we were discussing structure in storytelling. People often trip when it comes to structure (ahem). We tend to overthink it. We make it way more complex, more intimidating, than it needs to be. Sure, looking at story pyramids and narrative arcs and structural triangles and, erm, Jen Storer …
Fairies, Flowers, Cottage Diaries and Character Creation
Cottage Diaries September 2, dear reader, and here in Australia it is day two of spring! Sprrrrrrriiiiiing! Peachy peach. A baby last year. Now look at her! Tangelos in a pot on the front verandah. Not only that, it's also warm, sunny and windy in Rrrregional Victoria and what's more it's a good drying day. …
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The Saddest Letterbox in Christendom
My Lockdown Letterbox. Or, what to do when there's nothin' to do. Pimp your letterbox!
One thing that’s often missing in children’s stories
Never forget how important freedom is to children. As a kidlit author you must consider this every time you write.
Here’s what I bought!
Years ago when I had my much loved, rather topsy turvy blog, Baxter Street, I would occasionally write about what I'd bought while out and about. The segment was called Shopping With Mother and was inspired by my Ladybird reader of the same name.Meantime, in a recent g&d Live Call we were chatting about the Artist Date. This is a …
How to handle rejection. Or here’s what Jane Godwin said…
How successful authors handle rejection.
The delicious mystery of creativity
Exploring the mystery of creativity.