You might be asking why I think this is important enough for an entire blog post but in order to manage your own expectations in the world of print publishing, you need to know a little something about word counts. If you’re intending to self-publish, most of the following doesn’t apply to you because you […]

If you’re looking to get words on the page and develop consistency in your writing practice, or just shake up your usual writing methods, writing sprints may be for you! Here’s a quick guide to getting started and making the most of a sprint, including prompts to get the words flowing. What is a writing […]

Writers never stop developing their craft, but if you’re a new or aspiring writer, the Writers SA team have shared a few tips and techniques to help you along the way: Write even when you’re not feeling itNora Roberts famously said, ‘You can’t edit a blank page’ and for some of us, if we waited […]

              Back by popular demand, our scintillating series of Adelaide Writers’ Week masterclasses returns in March. Hosted by revered international authors, this is your chance to learn from the world’s finest writers, right here in Adelaide. Join copyright renegade Cory Doctorow for a fiction masterclass on Sunday 4 March. Meet Alexandria […]

By Kevin O’Brien Why not join us for the Fiction Feedback focus group? I should start this blog post by saying that good editors will ask you more than five questions about your novel, but I’ve chosen the following issues in particular as they can be the hardest to fix if left until the end […]

By Katy McDevitt NB: SAWC is holding an Editing Bootcamp. Register early to avoid disappointment. Here’s a proposition for you: editors are the most misunderstood of any publishing professional. Let’s test it out. What do you think of when I ask you to imagine an editor? Perhaps a dainty woman in spectacles, wielding a red […]

By Emily Davis In general I’m a bit of a communic-a-tard. This is kind of like being a lactard (allergic to milk), but perhaps with slightly more serious connotations and consequences. I can assure you I can write, and read and speak, and I’m not too bad at a boozy dinner party when I’m tasked […]

Here are some great writing prompt sites to help you bust through any moments of writer’s block (or just keep you in an internet spiral all day long):  Writing Prompts on Tumblr Creative Writing Prompts  Awesome Writing Prompts Daily prompts sent to your inbox  200 Fantasy Writing Prompts  Spec Fic writing prompts  (don’t forget to […]

By Sue Fleming Give yourself time in your life for your writing and do justice to your muse! Preserve the ideas as they come to you – scribble them down, cut them out or scratch them on the wall! Read, read and read. Always draft and re-draft your work until it shines like summer. Proof […]

By Steve Evans We all form opinions, and more or less continuously. You finish reading a book and ask yourself, would I recommend it, and why? Perhaps you began to realise early on in which direction such thoughts were heading. On the other hand, maybe you got part way through and were later surprised at […]

By Katrina Germein    JOIN KATRINA FOR HER EXAMINING EXCELLENT PICTURE BOOKS WORKSHOP   Dear Katrina, I want to write a picture book but I want to do it my own way. I’ve read that picture books should have repetition and I think repetition is boring. I’ve read that publishers like stories where children solve […]

By Steve Evans We are all creatures of habit. Sometimes we try to shuck those tendencies—give up smoking, be fitter, become a better friend, learn how to write a bestseller. Sometimes it seems we are offered, if not a miracle cure, then an easy way through. No-one is immune to the temptations of inside information […]

By Jennie Cumming Thanks to the proliferation of specialised websites and zines, short fiction has become more popular in recent years. Because of the time involved in providing feedback on each other’s work, the writing group I belong to restricts the monthly submission from each member to about 1500 words. We critique no more than […]

By Walter Mason  Have you ever read any of the work of Steven Pressfield? He is very much the creativity guru of the moment, and I like him because he really deals in a type of tough love for artists and writers. No molly-coddling, no delicate nurturing of the creative heart. He is all about […]

By Threasa Meads In his memoir, Speak, Memory, Vladimir Nabokov says: Neither in environment nor heredity can I find the exact instrument that fashioned me, the anonymous roller that pressed upon my life a certain intricate watermark whose unique design becomes visible when the lamp of art is made to shine through life’s foolscap. By […]