This series is beginning in March 2020: eventually the whole series will be listed here, with links. It is intended for writers who would love to write a novel but find the prospect daunting, or just don't know where to start.
Before you dig in, please consider the fact that everything on the Itch is free; I don't monetise it through advertising or clicks or affiliations or anything else, but simply put it out under a Creative Commons Licence (and if you'd like to re-use any of the material, please check that link for how the Licence works). But since this series has been started at a time of unprecendented crisis, I ask that if you find the series useful, you pay it forward by donating to the UK National Emergencies Trust Corona Virus Appeal, to Unicef, or to your local foodbank or other charity working to help cope with this unprecedented crisis.
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part One: Character in Action
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Two: People in Pencil
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Three: Place
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Four: Drafting a Scene
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Five: Reading Like a Writer
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Six: Revising 1
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Seven: Point-of-View
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Eight: Thinking About Plot & Story
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Nine: Revising 2
WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL Part Ten: Building at Novel-Scale
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A bit more about Emma Darwin:
Emma's memoir, This is Not a Book About Charles Darwin, was published in 2019; the Daily Mail described her account of three disastrous years trying to write a novel rooted in her embarrassingly well-known family as ‘a fascinating journey…a masterclass’. Her debut novel, The Mathematics of Love, is probably the only novel ever nominated for both the Commonwealth Writers Best First Book, and the Romantic Novelists’ Association Novel of the Year Awards; her second novel, A Secret Alchemy, was a Sunday Times bestseller as well as earning her a PhD. This Itch of Writing gave rise to Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction which publisher Scott Pack describes as ‘essential reading’. She has taught for the Open University, is a regular guest lecturer and workshop leader, and mentors and tutors individual writers. For more about Emma, click through to her main website.
