creative writing | creative life
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 …
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 …
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. …
Continue reading "Fairies, Flowers, Cottage Diaries and Character Creation"
Never forget how important freedom is to children. As a kidlit author you must consider this every time you write.
Slow living, how it worked for me. Planning my days, running my biz, writing books.
A few years ago, my friend, muse and partner in crime, Mitch Vane, said, 'Jen, you should write and illustrate your own picture book.' Me? Illustrate? Scoff. Splutter. Blush. I have NO QUALIFICATIONS. I'm not a REAL illustrator. I failed art. (Mostly because I never turned up...) I haven't done 5000 hours of life drawing. …
Continue reading "How to write a picture book, a novel, a blog post or something else that’s cool."
Creating great characters in fiction, flourishing in menopause, dealing with imposter syndrome.
How you dress your characters makes a huge difference to your story-world.
Early in the 1980s when I was working as a nurse, I decided to write a children’s book.The first story I wrote was about a rat. A rat that lived inside a muddy riverbank, wore a suit and —worked in the stock market (go figure). I think it was some kind of Wind in the Willows rip-off.I …
Continue reading "How I Became a Kidlit Author, and How I Can Support Your Kidlit Dreams, too"
A writing coach recently asked me why I don't mentor people one-on-one. Okay. So in the past five years, thousands of authors and illustrators have come through girl&duck. Whether they've joined the Scribbles Academy, hung out in the Duck Pond, completed one of my online 'capsule courses', read my blog or simply watched my videos …