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5 Reminders If You Want To Write This Holiday Season

Want to write this holiday season? If you want to write this holiday season, you’re not alone. Lots of writers dream of time off to write their screenplays or novels — and the festive period can offer writers time to get writing done. However, not everyone will be able – or even want – to write over the holidays … and that’s okay too! In this short video (under 15 mins) I break down 5 reminders for writers this Christmas. They will hopefully help you either get writing done … or help you let yourself off the hook!! Enjoy and… Read More »5 Reminders If You Want To Write This Holiday Season

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10 Powerful Affirmations For Writers & How To Use Them

All About Affirmations Affirmations are positive statements that can help us to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and/or negative thoughts. When we repeat them often, we start to believe in them. This means we can start to make positive changes. I first came across affirmations when I had cancer. My therapist at the time challenged me to use affirmations to challenge my belief I was doomed to die. I had only just survived a breakdown and could not face yet another journey back to health. She told me to repeat to myself the following as a starting point … ‘I will not… Read More »10 Powerful Affirmations For Writers & How To Use Them

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30 Top Tips For Your Younger (Writer) Self

Advice For Your Younger (Writer) Self Got some advice for your younger (writer) self? It’s so easy to look back with hindsight and go ‘Ooops! My younger (writer) self was a bit of a tit.‘ Yup … Been there, done that! I sat down and identified a whopping 30 pieces of advice for our younger (writer) selves. Have I missed any?? Be sure to add your own in the comments. Let’s go … 1) Start NOW Seriously … now. Don’t wait. Conditions will always be impossible and the odds will never get better. So get going! 2) Follow your passion Never… Read More »30 Top Tips For Your Younger (Writer) Self

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10 Quick Tips For Your Writer’s Resumé

All About The Resumé Most writing submissions require a writer’s resumé now. Bang2writers are always asking me what they should include in theirs, so I thought I would pull together my top tips for you. Ready? Let’s go … 1) Presentation is everything First impressions count. Make sure your resumé (aka your CV, if you’re a Brit like me) LOOKS professional. There’s no set way to do this, so don’t panic … It’s more a case of ‘you’ll know it when you see it’. Swapping with your writing peers is a great idea to see what works and what doesn’t… Read More »10 Quick Tips For Your Writer’s Resumé

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5 Ways To Create A Powerful Premise

What Is A Premise? ‘Premise’ comes from the Latin ‘premissa’, meaning to ‘set before’. It is also known as a central concept, controlling idea or even ‘seed of the story’. Whatever you call it, it is one of the foundations of writing craft for both screenplays and novels. A story is only ever as good as its premise, which is why we must work hard on ours. Figuring out what works and what doesn’t in good premises is really important. Otherwise we could end up with a draft built on a half-baked idea. So if you want to create a… Read More »5 Ways To Create A Powerful Premise

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10 Ways To Write 1000 Words By 9AM

1000 Words By 9am What if you could write as much as 1000 words by mid-morning, and enjoy the ride? Even though you love writing, it’s probably the most challenging activity you tackle each day. Here are some of the best tips that will let you “eat that frog,” sidestep procrastination, and 1000 words done by 9 AM 1) Create an outline the day before Sitting down in front of a blank screen first thing in the morning is a recipe for low productivity. What you should do instead, is to create an outline the day before, so you’ll immediately… Read More »10 Ways To Write 1000 Words By 9AM

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INFOGRAPHIC: Why Writing Can Be Therapeutic

Therapeutic Writing If you believe writing can be therapeutic, you’re not alone. As writers we can often be very tough on ourselves. We strive to meet deadlines or send out pitches. We scrutinise every piece of work,wondering if we will ever  get published/produced, or reach our readers and viewers in the ways we wish. But how often do we throw off the shackles of our own or others’ expectations and just write whatever we feel like writing? What if we could write for self-reflection and contemplation rather than writing for others? Would that be too indulgent? Therapeutic writing allows us to explore… Read More »INFOGRAPHIC: Why Writing Can Be Therapeutic

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

All About Mental Health in Writing Good mental health is key in writing … not just for us as creatives, either! As writers we also need to represent mental health in authentic and meaningful ways in our writing too, as I described in my previous article on How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing. So I’m delighted to welcome junior psychiatrist and author Rosie Claverton with some big NO-NOs and pitfalls to avoid in your scripts and novels. Over to you, Rosie … Mental Health Representations As we talk more about mental health, depictions of people with mental health problems… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

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Writers, Everyone Hates Us On Social Media. Here’s Why …

Social Media Hate If you spend a lot of time on social media like I do, you’ll have noticed a LOT of writers blotting their copybooks lately with their potential friends and followers. Here’s what’s happened to me lately, in just the past 2 or 3 weeks: Facebook Fiends. Writers may send me Friend requests. That’s obviously fine, but within SECONDS of accepting their request, they may send another asking me to LIKE their page. (Plus the really persistent ones will send a private message as well). Facebook Fiends #2. Writers on Facebook may ‘tag’ me from their timeline, especially into… Read More »Writers, Everyone Hates Us On Social Media. Here’s Why …

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FOCUS ON FORMAT – When To Use Captions

What is a caption? On a screenplay, ‘captions’ are those bits of text you may see flash up on screen – i.e.: 24 HOURS EARLIER NEW YORK DAY 32 COLONY 1, THE MOON BAGHDAD, IRAQ INSIDE DEREK’S LOWER INTESTINE You know the ones. You will have seen them countless times whilst watching movies, TV dramas, sitcoms, documentaries and even short films, web series, sketches, YouTube reviews etc. Lots of Bang2writers ask me how to format these. Well, it’s pretty simple. You just need to write: SUPER: [Caption you want to put in] Apparently, ‘Super’ is short for ‘Super impose’. This… Read More »FOCUS ON FORMAT – When To Use Captions

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Erotica

Cringey Capers You only have to dip into the erotica section of Amazon to see that it is distressingly easy to write poor sexy tales.  Yet just by following a few simple rules you can lift your erotica from tacky to tantalising … Just don’t make any of THESE clangers … 1) No story! Where’s the story? If you are going to write your own sexual fantasies, then don’t forget to make it part of the story and not just a cold happening. 2) Being OTT Keep it your erotica simple and relatable. Use something ordinary and familiar as your starting point-… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Erotica

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21 Top Tips To Get More Creative

One of the most searched-for terms that lead writers to this blog is ‘get more creative’. When writers discuss creativity, we nearly always focus on stuff like writing exercises and prompts – but creativity is a STATE OF MIND. We need to change our thinking to get our writing going and create good work. This is why I love this infographic from the good folks at Custom-Writing.org. It ranges from the obvious to the not-so-obvious, but crucially also offers tips, quotes and snippets on the subjects too – the attention to detail is brilliant! I particularly like numbers 9 and… Read More »21 Top Tips To Get More Creative

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