As teachers of creative writing with more than thirty years' worth of experience between us, we have long felt it was time to produce a practical, experience-based handbook for our students. We talked to lots of our students about what they want from a creative writing handbook - and also about what they don't want!
Creative writing students want help, advice, practical exercises, industry insights, encouragement and - most of all - to believe they can make their creative writing dreams come true.
Creative writing students don't want condescension, masses of arcane critical theory, rules, regulations, and - most of all - they don't want to come away with the impression that creative writing is just for people who have university degrees, are celebrities or are rich enough to buy their own publishing companies.
All creative people are special and, as teachers, we want to celebrate this.
We hope everyone who reads our handbook will enjoy it. We'll welcome feedback and we intend to update the handbook from time to time, taking account of this feedback.
You can contact us through Facebook, Twitter and through www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk.
Click on the cover to the right of this post to take you to the UK's Amazon website or use the links to the Kindle version of the book here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Creative-Writing-Students-Handbook-ebook/dp/B00JS5LQ4M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1398001183&sr=1-1&keywords=creative+writing+student%27s+handbook and http://www.amazon.com/The-Creative-Writing-Students-Handbook-ebook/dp/B00JS5LQ4M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398003549&sr=8-1&keywords=margaret+james+the+creative+writing+students+handbook
I'm looking forward to reading it, Margaret. It sounds great!
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent idea, Margaret and Cathy. I wish you well with this - I'm certain that it will be of enormous benefit to a great number of people.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea, Margaret and Cathie. Sounds exactly like the no-nonsense advice I wish someone had given me when I first started out.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, ladies! We enjoyed writing the book.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Margaret and Cathie! It looks to be full of the sorts of things any aspiring writer wants to know. I'm sure it will be a great success.
ReplyDeleteExactly what the market needed. Congratulations, I'm certain it will be a great success. Xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Wendy and Melanie!
ReplyDeleteHurrah, information from the coal face! Sounds a great idea. There are lots of books out there but some of them bit worthy, this sounds much more down to earth.
ReplyDeleteWe've certainly tried to be down to earth, Jules. We know writing is hard work, but we also want it to be fun and we don't want to scare anyone away.
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