Writing Funny

Here are a few notes on pointers received during the Listowel Writers’ Week course on ‘Writing Funny’, given by Gerard Stembridge. When writing comedic prose the most important thing to convey to the reader is the comic idea. What is…

Call Yourself a Writer?

The first edict of advice establishing itself boldly at the top of self-help and how-to lists on writing is simply – write. It seems a glaringly obvious suggestion, but one which if not set out to remind most of us…

The Write Site

We’ve all read our share of books about writing, but my recent trip to the States brought home to me what an enormous range of magazines are also available on the subject. Borders Bookstore displayed a baffling range of periodicals…

The Writer’s Library – Some Suggestions…

Over the years, we’ve had a number of useful books recommended to us by visiting writers. Here’s the list so far, in no particular order: Negotiating with the Dead, Margaret Atwood The Writer’s Voice, Al Alvarez What If? Writing Exercises…

Cross Purposes

Anyone who has ever attended a writers’ workshop is probably familiar with the kind of exercise where three random words are chosen from a hat or a book and used as the basis for a narrative or poem. This exercise…