Andrew Ferguson
Children's/YA Author
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Pants, Plants and Plans: A Beginner’s Guide
Posted on April 17, 2021 Leave a Comment
If you’re struggling with whatever method comes naturally to you, it may be time to try a different approach. And so, what follows is my own concise analysis of each approach, comparing pros and cons as evenly as I can.
Not Sure Where To Begin With Your Story? Try Free Writing.
Posted on April 14, 2021 Leave a Comment
Free writing is a time honoured prewriting technique which works by encouraging the writer to write without fear of criticism or failure for a set period of time.
Ink and Pixel: Writers’ Edition
Posted on March 1, 2021 Leave a Comment
Last year, I wrote a post about the pros and cons of e-book readers compared to traditional paper books. Well that’s all well and good for reading, but what about for writing fiction? How do you write? On paper or with a computer? These days, it’s not really much of a choice. You’ll have a hard time getting anything published if you don’t at least type up your drafts before you send them to anyone who edits or publishes for a living and (as I recently discovered) manual typewriters are hard to come by these days.
But what about in those glorious early stages, when you’re still figuring out character profiles, chapter outlines and scribbling out rough zero drafts?
6 Mental Cobweb Shakers for Writers
Posted on February 18, 2021 Leave a Comment
Ever sat down to write and found your imagination covered in so many cobwebs that you can’t even remember how to pick up your pen? Ever sat staring at a blank screen for hours without even the faintest idea where to begin? Ever wasted your set writing time reading patronising articles on the internet telling you writers’ block doesn’t exist (when you know better) because you just can’t quite seem to get settled into your day’s work?
No?
Well I have, and whenever that happens to me I need something to quickly shake away the cobwebs to help me get off the starting block. Therefore, I am going to commend a few of my favourite cobweb shakers to you today. I don’t know if these will work for you or not but they work for me so… you might as well give them a go, eh?
What To Do When You Hate Your Story
Posted on January 24, 2021 1 Comment
The worst possible thing that can happen to any writer is for them to look at their work (especially their half finished work) and decide that it’s rubbish. Any idiot can overcome writer’s block with just a little bit of perseverance, but despairing over your story can be crippling. Not only will it halt you in your tracks, but it will probably make you want to give up writing altogether. Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Quitting is NOT an option! That includes quitting your current story, as well as quitting writing altogether.
Typewriter: An Old-Fashioned Solution for Modern Writers
Posted on January 13, 2021 Leave a Comment
I guess there’s not that much demand for word processors with virtually no functionality whatsoever. I found a grand total of three that ran on my PC plus one for Mac called Rough Draft (I don’t have a Mac so I cannot tell you if it’s any good or not. Let me know if you’ve reviewed it on your blog and I’ll maybe reblog it for you). Of those three, one appears to no longer be available except as a fifteen day trial version and the other was a very clunky web-based app that I found needlessly complicated to use. The other problem with both of these apps was that they emphasised the look and feel of a typewriter more than the simple functionality — which is what I really wanted.
Then I found it.
Typewriter – Minimal Text Editor.
Throwback Thursday: 6 Mental Cobweb Shakers for Writers
Posted on July 16, 2020 Leave a Comment
Ever sat down to write and found your imagination covered in so many cobwebs that you can’t even remember how to pick up your pen? Ever sat staring at a blank screen for hours without even the faintest idea where to begin? Ever wasted your set writing time reading patronising articles on the internet telling you writers’ block doesn’t exist (when you know better) because you just can’t quite seem to get settled into your day’s work?
No?
Well I have, and whenever that happens to me I need something to quickly shake away the cobwebs to help me get off the starting block. Therefore, I am going to commend a few of my favourite cobweb shakers to you today. I don’t know if these will work for you or not but they work for me so… you might as well give them a go, eh?
Throwback Thursday: Typewriter: An Old-Fashioned Solution for Modern Writers
Posted on October 10, 2019 Leave a Comment
Typewriter – Minimal Text Editor is a very simple ASCII text editor which runs on Java (and thus, will run on just about any computer) and includes absolutely zero editing functionality.
10 Minute Story Challenge
Posted on February 24, 2019 Leave a Comment
I’ve picked a random writing prompt using Arc Apps’ Plot Gen Pro for Android and have given myself exactly ten minutes to write a zero draft based on it and post the results here, typos and all…. I’ve also filmed the whole thing so you know I didn’t cheat.
Pants, Plants and Plans: A Beginner’s Guide
Posted on August 5, 2018 Leave a Comment
If you’re struggling with whatever method comes naturally to you, it may be time to try a different approach. And so, what follows is my own concise analysis of each approach, comparing pros and cons as evenly as I can.
Andrew Ferguson 