Skip to content

journalism

Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

Pivoting From Novel Writing To A Screenwriting Career If you want to pivot from novel writing to a screenwriting career, you’re not alone. Of course, you may just want to be a screenwriter full stop (and that’s okay too! Or maybe you want to write a novel of your script??). LOTS of novelists have tried their hand at a screenwriting career. Some have had more success than others! Here’s just 10 of them. Let’s go … 1) Roald Dahl Frequently left off lists like these, Roald Dahl boasts an impressive screenwriting career. As well as adapting his own classic book… Read More »Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

Share this:

Writers, Here’s How You Make Money Online

Making Money Online As A Writer Lots of Bang2writers ask me how they can make money as a writer. The good news is, this is easy nowadays. The bad news – you may have to write stuff you don’t actually want to! I started as a content writer waaaaaay back when I was still a teen single mum. This was before social media and even before blogs because virtually no one was online … I actually got my start writing ‘advertorials’ for newspapers! I’ve written about everything under the sun … Incontinence pads, dog breeds, arguing with your teen, how… Read More »Writers, Here’s How You Make Money Online

Share this:

4 Top Tips To Become A Full-Time Freelance Writer

Want To Write Full-Time? Lots of writers dream of making a living writing full-time … Maybe you want a career where you can both support your family and make your own rules? You might be dreaming of a job where you can set your own hours, choose your own clients, and depend on no one but yourself for your livelihood. There’s no doubt about it, full-time freelance writing can fit the bill! But how do you actually make the leap into full-time freelance writing? 1)  Make a Financial Plan Whether you’ve already been gigging and have a client base established, or… Read More »4 Top Tips To Become A Full-Time Freelance Writer

Share this:

Malcolm Gladwell: ‘It Takes 10,000 Hours To Become A Writer’

All About Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell has a unique perspective on pretty much everything. His views on the world bring him fans and foes. Gladwell is a British-born Canadian journalist and academic. He is also a podcaster, public speaker and New York Times Bestselling author. But like most successful people, it didn’t just land in his lap, he worked hard for it, as anyone who has read his work would know. Gladwell spent his early career gaining recognition for his work via networking, shameless self-promotion and testing out his ideas on friends and family. But what can Malcolm Gladwell teach… Read More »Malcolm Gladwell: ‘It Takes 10,000 Hours To Become A Writer’

Share this:

30 Experts On The Art And Struggles Of Screenwriting

1) Hugh Laurie “Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. Actually, it isn’t, but it should be.” MORE: 6 Things You Need To Know As A Screenwriter If You Want Your Scripts Made  2) James Cameron “Writing a screenplay, for me, is like juggling. It’s like, how many balls can you get in the air at once?” MORE: B2W Writing Resources 3) Ridley Scott “The hardest single thing you do is get the bloody screenplay right.” MORE: B2W Free Downloads 4) Richard Attenborough “There’s nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.” MORE: B2W Courses & Talks 5) Mara Brock Akil… Read More »30 Experts On The Art And Struggles Of Screenwriting

Share this:

How to Deal With Writers’ Block: Top 6 DON’Ts

Creative block – we’ve all been there. It can be a total nightmare for a professional writer who relies on their creativity for their bread and butter. The big question is how do we recognise if it’s really creative block and how do we overcome it, so that we can get our creative ideas flowing freely again? 1) DON’T think there’s only one right answer Do you ever stop to consider that there might be more than just one right answer? This is one of the biggest flaws in our rigid education system, they suppress our creative thinking by making… Read More »How to Deal With Writers’ Block: Top 6 DON’Ts

Share this:

How Do I Become A Freelance Writer?

Updated for 2017 Writing and making money from it is probably everyone’s dream … and we ALL dream of the six figure deals for our novels and screenplays! But before we get to that fabled return, we have to earn money – so it feels like we may be stuck in the boring day job FOREVER. Yet it IS possible to make money writing in OTHER ways while we write our specs and unpublished novels – welcome to the wonderful world of the freelance writer! Freelance writers are available to hire for any number of writing jobs, small, medium or… Read More »How Do I Become A Freelance Writer?

Share this:

Are You On The Write Path?

When I was a child, I wrote to the journalist Julie Burchill and told her I wanted to be a writer. She wrote back with: Are you sure? Better to be a vet.  I thought she was nuts and promptly forgot all about it. Later, I decided I wanted to be a screenwriter. I did the BA (Hons) Scriptwriting for Film and Television at Bournemouth University and during the course of my dissertation, I interviewed a stack of working screenwriters at various stages of their careers. Each time I asked them the question, “Why be a screenwriter?” every single last… Read More »Are You On The Write Path?

Share this:

How To Get A Literary Agent

So, You Want An Agent One question I get a lot is “How do I get an agent?” My first reply is usually, “Do you REALLY NEED one?” If you are a screenwriter and just starting out, then you probably don’t. Here’s an epic rundown of how to get produced WITHOUT the need for an agent. If you are a novelist, you still might not need an agent. Check out Authors Publish, which carries listings of publishers who accept manuscripts without agents. Alternatively, you may want to self publish – here’s 5 strategies for doing that on a budget. How… Read More »How To Get A Literary Agent

Share this:

When Do I Give Up My Day Job?

Following a short flurry of conversation on Bang2writers yesterday (and having been asked many times before), I thought I’d address this question. [DISCLAIMER: obviously these are just MY experiences and thoughts on the matter, not absolute gospel, so please consider all the factors and important people in YOUR life before making any huge life-changing decisions… End of disclaimer.] First, the obvious answer: You give up your day job when the bills can be paid via writing and not a moment before. Except there are the following problems with the above: 1) A freelancer’s life is “up in the air” –… Read More »When Do I Give Up My Day Job?

Share this:

My Writing Story, pt 1: University

Miss Read has been writing about her own experiences at university doing a scriptwriting degree, which has got me thinking about mine. I’ve had a roundabout journey in scriptwriting, falling into script reading on the way and giving up on this whole lark more than once in pursuit of a more “sensible” job. But it seems I just can’t keep away, ‘cos I’m still going… Let us know how you got into it in the comments section.————————————————————————————-When I decided to become a writer, I was 18 and had dabbled with the creative arts my whole life. I’d done a journalism… Read More »My Writing Story, pt 1: University

Share this:

Needed: Your Delicious Brain

I’m writing a new magazine article and doing some research…I need to talk to produced or commissioned writers and filmmakers of genre movies (sorry, no unproduced spec writers at this time, but if you want to chat about genre with me on many of the posts on here about it, please feel free… I get alerts even on old posts, so promise I will pick up any messages. Or drop me an email). So, have you been involved in a genre film? It doesn’t have to have been massively successful (though that would be great!), it doesn’t even have to… Read More »Needed: Your Delicious Brain

Share this: