Penstricken
Andrew Ferguson – Author
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Learning From Rejection
Posted on December 6, 2020 Leave a Comment
The reason I have decided to post just one more of my own stories this year is because it’s nearly Christmas and this story does have a bit of a Christmas theme going on in it. However, rather than just giving you the story to read and expecting you to like it, I’m going use this story as an example of how writers can (and should) use their rejected stories to help them develop as writers, by analysing their own work to see how they might improve upon it.
5 Simple Brain Unblockers
Posted on December 3, 2020 Leave a Comment
I won’t lie to you; this post is pretty much the result of an afternoon spent swimming in the ocean of writer’s block, clinging on to the driftwood of terrible ideas. There are millions of different websites and books out there offering various suggestions on how to beat writer’s block and I’ve concluded that there is simply no ‘one size fits all’ method of getting back into the groove but here are a few techniques that I find myself employing on a regular basis.
Auditioning Characters
Posted on December 2, 2020 Leave a Comment
Characters really matter. No matter what kind of fiction you’re writing, characters really, really matter… so it’s worthwhile spending a bit of time refining your characters. I like to do this by ‘auditioning’ characters…
Throwback Thursday: The Perfect Antagonist
Posted on November 12, 2020 Leave a Comment
The antagonist – what we might loosely call ‘the bad guy’ – can make or break an otherwise good story. He is the living and breathing incarnation of the obstacle your protagonist (or ‘hero’, if you insist) needs to overcome.
10 Quotes About Writing
Posted on November 8, 2020 Leave a Comment
‘There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.’
– Maya Angelou
Monday Motivation
Posted on November 2, 2020 Leave a Comment
I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.
7 Deadly Writing Sins
Posted on November 1, 2020 2 Comments
There remain some lines we should simply never cross; some crimes we can commit as authors which are just unforgivable. And so, I’ve listed a few of them here for your enjoyment and instruction.
Throwback Thursday: Take a First Draft and Make it Better
Posted on October 29, 2020 Leave a Comment
It was still the worst story I had ever written. But that didn’t matter. It was a completed draft; a full blown story with a beginning, a middle and an end which more or less made sense. The difficult bit was now at hand: writing a redraft.
After the initial excitement of finishing the first draft wore off, I quickly found myself less than enthusiastic about the second draft. It can feel a little bit like you’re starting from scratch with something you’ve already spent weeks on. However, you’ll find it a whole lot more rewarding and enjoyable to do if you remember that the point of a redraft is to make your story better. In other words, it’s about taking a little time to identify and fix the problems with the first draft, rather than starting all over again.
