19 October 2020 - What's new
19 October 2020
- ‘Get on top of the computer program Final Draft. It's expensive and buggy, but it's the industry standard and for a first-time screenwriter like me there is something magical about the way it makes everything look like a Hollywood movie script. The other thing I have learnt is, the better the scene the less of it there is on the page. It's what your characters aren't saying that's important. Subtext is all.' Writing Scripts from Daisy Goodwin, scriptwriter for Victoria, the TV series, and author of several novels, including My Last Duchess and The Fortune Hunter and of 8 anthologies of poetry.
- Advice for writers provides your way in to a mass of material on the site.
- There's just time to enter the Gingko Prize for Ecopoetry 2020, closing on 31 October. A major international award for poems embracing ecological themes, it's open to all poets from across the world. Entry fee: first submission £7 then £4 for each additional poem. First prize £5,000, second prize £2,000 and third prize £1,000. UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and poet Jade Cuttle are the judges.
- The National Poetry Competition is closing on the same day, so hurry to get your entries in for that.
- Do you want some help with your writing but don't quite know what you want - or even if you need any help? Are you a bit puzzled by the various services on offer, and not sure what to go for? Choosing a service can help you work out which service is right for you.
- Links to stories from last week's Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two.: the book business has proven surprisingly resilient and adaptable, Frankfurt Participants See Silver Linings; reimagined for 2020 as an entirely virtual event, all in-person events were canceled, At This Year's Frankfurt Book Fair, Uncertainty Was Met with Optimism; authors can "Cease the burden" of the coronavirus outbreak with their "power of observation", David Grossman calls on writers to bear witness to pandemic | Books | The Guardian; and children's books, especially educational ones, are doing well, A Surprisingly Strong Year of Book Sales Continues.
- Our 19 Factsheets from the legendary Michael Legat are full of tips for the new writer or anyone who is trying to get their book published. From Literary agents to Copyright, from Libel to Submissions, this series is full of essential background information.
- Links from writers: Bonnie Garmus's debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was discussed over email, on the phone and via Zoom, Copywriter's Debut Emerges as Big Book at Frankfurt; Oh Bill! This isn't the kind of news we need now, Bill Bryson says he's retiring - is he really putting away his pen? | Books | The Guardian; when I think back across my nearly nineteen novels, I find that no, I don't have a particular axe to grind. Quite the opposite, In crime fiction, anyone can be a murderer. That's what's so great about it. | CrimeReads; the literati is splitting into two rival camps, JK Rowling and the bitter battle of the book world | London Evening Standard.
- Finding an agent - 'Try to find an agency which is ‘hungry' for new clients. To keep their workload under control, an established agent might take on something like four new authors a year (this figure came from two agents I spoke to recently), but only to replace four departing clients. This may seem obvious, but whether or not an agent is actively looking to build their list of clients is probably the single most important factor affecting how closely they are looking at unsolicited submissions...'
- Links about worldwide trends: contrasting with publishers' optimism, Pandemic taking mounting toll on author incomes, SoA survey finds | The Bookseller; it is an intolerable situation that a company that depends on the public services run by the state does not pay an appropriate level of taxes, The Guardian view on Amazon's dominance: we have to make different choices | Editorial | Opinion | The Guardian; changes in the cultural landscape, What Happens When Literary Events Move Online? | Literary Hub.
- 'It's the most satisfying occupation man has discovered yet, because you never can quite do it as well as you want to, so there's always something to wake up tomorrow morning to do.' William Faulkner in our Writers' Quotes.
