3 Writers enter Mr McGuffin’s Plot Device and Writer Unblocking Emporium in dire need of help. Will Mr McGuffin be able to save the tragic lovers of the romance novelist? What’s in the bloodstained suitcase? Just what is going on with the world’s most mysterious dog? And how long can one pun be stretched out over an entire blog post? Click the bait to find out.
Ah, young adult fiction. So much potential, so small a world. It’s almost like they’re fully-grown adults, but in a slightly younger suit. Life would be so much more in context if we were to live with the protagonist of one of our favourite young adult novels. Or would it?
Dublin’s favourite arseholes consider what it means to be Irish, and how that might work to their financial gain. Don’t tell the European Union.
The notion of artists working for free is a frequent hot topic online. Is writing or performing for free in order to get so called ‘exposure’ the great modern swizz which is destroying the potential of a generation? Perhaps that question has already been answered, because a lot of high-quality free internet content is disappearing. And it’s making me think.
When it comes to selling your book, what’s the difference between marketing and shouting? Is it possible to promote through social media without your friends and family feeling like they’ve come under attack? I asked social media guru and non-fiction author Lorna Sixsmith – is it possible to market a book without annoying people?
You love the cops in crime novels. So careworn, and yet mysterious. They have money, and yet never spend it on themselves. Granted, being married to one is just asking for trouble. But you could just share a house with one, right? That would be exciting, and spice up your humdrum existence no end!
Let’s take a look, and see if you might want to think this through a little more…
Three Narrative Points of View attend their regular Writer’s Group meeting in a licensed premises, and proceed to have an argument. If you think that sounds like a very contrived joke, you’d be right. The punchline, however, is what you might least expect.
Where did pieces of glorious human creativity go, before the internet? Where were the cat pictures, the listicles and the punny prose, before they appeared on our Facebook news feeds? The internet has had a lot to do with the way we consume our entertainment – but it’s done even more for how we produce it.
Ever had a difficult flatmate? Perhaps you’ve wished that instead of a detergent-deprived insomniac, a tone-deaf reptile enthusiast or a fiscally challenged Snoremaster, you lived with the hilarious heroine from one of your favourite novels. That would be so much better! Much more fun!
Or would it?
There are certain classic novels which we all know, because they’re still widely read today. But what would they look like if they were being published for the first time this year? Would Jane Eyre fit the Domestic Noir genre profile? Would the numerous plot strands of Bleak House be dumbed down? Who would supply the perfect cover quote for Robinson Crusoe? And who would dare to pigeon hole Ulysses? I would, that’s who.
Tara Sparling writes 