resources

2016 workshops

Canberra and Canberra-adjacent members should check out the newly-updated Workshops and Courses page. You will find details of a number of short courses for writers being offered in the first half of 2016 by CSFG members Chris Andrews, Ian McHugh and Gillian Polack.

2019-07-06T21:57:56+10:0027th January, 2016|Tags: , , |

Flensing your filter words

CSFG member Simon Dewar, currently editing the Suspended in Dusk 2 anthology, has been reading a lot of slush lately. He offer this very useful advice on tightening up your prose by hunting down and eliminating filter words: One of the worst culprits for weakening your prose, distancing our reader [...]

2016-01-19T17:57:59+11:0019th January, 2016|Tags: , , |

Writing versus storytelling

Guest post by Ian McHugh As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, lots of people (ie, jealous writers) love to disparage novelists like J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer for the quality of their writing. It’s clunky, repetitive, boring, grammatically questionable and blah. At the same time, they love to idolise writers who possess a [...]

2019-08-01T07:57:43+10:0015th December, 2014|Tags: , |

Helsinki Bus Station Theory for writers

Guest post by Ian McHugh Helsinki Bus Station Theory is the creation of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, employed as a metaphor for the career of a photographer. It goes like this: Helsinki Bus Station has a number of platforms and a number of different bus routes start from each platform. All the [...]

2019-06-26T08:36:47+10:0025th November, 2014|Tags: , |

How to Handle End of Novel Blues

Guest post by Zena Shapter Let’s say you’ve been working on a novel for a while – maybe a year or two, fitting it inbetween work, life and kids. Now you’re approaching its end… you’re past the novel’s climax and you’re starting to wind everything up… You should feel elated. Yay [...]

2014-11-15T04:50:04+11:0015th November, 2014|Tags: , |

What to do if you’re bored by your characters

Guest post by Ian McHugh KILL THEM! Obviously. There’s a short story that I love called “A Dry , Quiet War” by Tony Daniel, which is basically a space-western that recounts a conflict between superhuman veterans of a war at the end of time. At the climax, the hero goes on [...]

2018-06-15T06:41:09+10:0025th October, 2014|Tags: , |

Clean Your Novel, As If It’s Your Home

Guest post by Zena Shapter Getting a manuscript ready for submission to agents or publishers is much like cleaning your home or car. Since I’m no mechanic, and we all have homes, I’m going to go with the home analogy for now. But why, do you ask, is preparing your [...]

2014-10-15T04:47:31+11:0015th October, 2014|Tags: , |

Title

Go to Top