Last month I entered the Bath Novel Award, a competition for first time novelists judged by a panel of literary agents. The quality of the finalists is exceptional and listed novelists have a remarkable record of publication. Just as important, the organisers seem like nice people. I really wanted to make the longlist.
I did not make the longlist.
So, was it worth the pain? Should I have bothered submitting? What did I learn? (more…)
Synopsis writing is essential but dreaded. How can you explain your whole story in a short summary? Recently, I had to drop everything and write a one page outline for my new novel. This is for reasons that will either turn out to be bloody brilliant or will be forgotten, consigned to history and never spoken of again. But whichever way it works out, getting the synopsis right was important. So why is it such a hard job? And how do you do it well?
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Welcome to the new website! Thank you all for your patience while I painstakingly rebuilt from the ground up….
You should find everything where you left it. Please note that the old keithcrawford.org is currently obselete, and everything will be under aboutwriting.org for the time being. Posts are organised by category in the sidebar, footer and a new search section. The site should run much faster than it used to. Most importantly, it is ready for big new projects coming this year ™.
There are one or two new things you can see right now.
First, if you particularly enjoy the post you can now give it a “like.” This will make it easier for other people to find. Like a post by clicking on the heart symbol beneath the date or at the end of the post on the right. You will also find a list of ways to share on social media.
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Have you been asked to critique someone’s story? Been given a short story, screenplay or novel to discuss and have no idea where to start? Fear not. This is a guide to giving good feedback on creative writing. It explains how to deliver your critique and the key questions you should answer. As a reader, it will make you very popular with your writer friends. As a writer, the crib-sheet for reader questions will help you edit your own work.
It may also improve your love life. I’m not even joking. Ready?
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I just finished the second full draft of a novel. I’m going to take a couple of weeks of for Christmas, then get started on the third. But the titles “second” and “third” don’t refer to a number of revisions (I have worked through each chapter many, any times). Rather they refer to specific stages in the drafting process. In this article I will describe what I mean by a second and a third draft, and illustrate my personal checklist for revising third drafts. How do you turn a rough draft into a ready draft?
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