Hello Reader, This week on the water Another report, I’m afraid, from the shadowy hinterland of my dreamlife… I know these can be irritating. After all, what have dreams to offer the practical world of the hard-working writer? He’s only interested in the nuts-and-bolts of his craft, the “how to” and “what to avoid” advice that will, he hopes, guide him towards the sunny upland of publishing success. But these dreams won’t stay buttoned up where they belong. And this one, truly, feels as if...
11 days ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, This week on the water In a recent New York Times opinion piece titled "An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here's How to Survive," Ross Douthat paints a sobering picture of our digital future. He argues that we're entering an evolutionary "bottleneck" where many aspects of human culture and existence face extinction unless we make deliberate choices to preserve them. As writers in this accelerating digital age, we face an existential challenge. When AI can generate blog posts,...
18 days ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader, Thanks for joining us for the art of observations webinar. If you missed the live discussion, you're in for a treat. We explored how developing a keen eye for detail can transform your writing from ordinary to extraordinary. Participants gained valuable insights on distinguishing between generic description and telling details, with Dorian discovering that "less is more" when it comes to effective detail. Drikus learned how to determine whether to focus on a character's clothing...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, This week on the water It is true that all good stories depend for their creation on the same basic set of skills. The list is probably endless, but we’d all agree, I think, that it includes the ability to create credible characters, to devise compelling plots, to build believable worlds, and to simulate recognisable relationships between characters. And yet different genres as they’ve evolved over the decades have promoted one or other of these skills above the others. Let’s...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, I’d like to extend an invitation to you to join me in that most charming of Cotswold market towns, Stow-on-the-Wold, to explore the art and craft of creating story. It’s our seventh retreat in Stow and I have no doubt it’ll prove as inspiring and productive as each of the previous ones were. Richard Murphy said of last year's weekend: I loved the course and had a fantastic, creative weekend that left me fuelled and raring to crack on with my writing. Fantastic setting and hosts...
30 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, This week on the water Act One is always the easy one. It’s like spring – which we’re enjoying in the northern hemisphere at the moment. Spring steals up on us. Temperatures rise. Blossoms burst out in woodlands and along the river. It’s a great start, right? Starting a story might not be a slam dunk, but it has a lot of things going for it. We’ve pondered it for some time. We’re not constrained by what we’ve already written because we haven’t yet written anything! We have a...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader, This week on the water We've all experienced coincidences in our lives – running into an old friend in an unexpected place, thinking of someone moments before they call, or discovering shared birthdays with strangers. These moments make us pause, perhaps wonder briefly about fate or meaning, but we typically move on, accepting them as random occurrences in a complex world. Yet when these same coincidences appear in fiction, something changes. They suddenly feel contrived,...
about 1 month ago • 5 min read
Hello Reader, Last week we were swimming in fairly murky conditions, when a vast eagle ray swept by a couple of metres beneath us. I didn’t see him. Once he was pointed out, though, my eyes adjusted. Where, a moment before, I had seen only cloudy water and waving kelp, I could now see his wings, his whip-like tail and his projecting snout. We followed him for quite a way, swooping and diving above and in his wake. I didn’t have my camera, so I can’t share him with you, but that experience is...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader, This week on the water Robert Pirsig’s 150 000 word novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, was a surprise bestseller when it was published in 1974. It was surprising because it was, essentially, a philosophical tract. It can best be summed up somewhat along these lines: A troubled philosopher embarks on a cross-country motorcycle journey with his son, interweaving motorcycle maintenance, personal crisis, and an examination of the concept of “quality" to reconcile...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read