“I would go down to my lovely little gazebo, sit down, and I’m absolutely allowed not to do anything. I’m allowed to sit at my desk, I’m allowed to stare out at the world. I’m not allowed to do a crossword, read a book, phone a friend…all I’m allowed to do is absolutely nothing —… Continue reading Writing advice from Neil Gaiman
Category: Writing Advice
Writing advice from Anne Enright
"The way to tackle writer’s block is to not believe it exists. If you run out of steam on something, switch to something else and come back later. Also, I don’t get writers block because I am not writing—I am just typing, thinking, pushing into something to see what’s there. I never sit down to… Continue reading Writing advice from Anne Enright
Writing advice from Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
Nozizwe Cynthia Jele is an award-winning South African novelist who has written two books - Happiness is a Four-Letter Word (Kwela, 2010) and The Ones with Purpose (Kwela, 2018). Happiness is a Four-Letter Word won numerous prizes (Best First Book category (Africa region) in the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize 2011 and 2011 M-Net Literary Award in the Film… Continue reading Writing advice from Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
Writing advice from Kopano Matlwa Mabaso
Kopano Matlwa Mabaso was born in 1985 and by her 22st birthday had written and published Coconut (2007) which won the EU literary award for debut fiction and the Wole Soyinka prize for Literature in Africa (and was written whilst studying to become a doctor). In 2011 she was listed as one of the US… Continue reading Writing advice from Kopano Matlwa Mabaso
Writing advice from Lauren Beukes
More local writing advice! Lauren Beukes is an award-winning South African author, and comics writer, screenwriter, journalist and documentary maker. Her books have been sold all around the world with huge acclaim. Her most recent novel is a dystopian post-pandemic piece of fiction set in the USA. Afterland (listen to her talk about it on… Continue reading Writing advice from Lauren Beukes
Writing advice from Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison was an American essayist, novelist, editor, and professor. She was the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature and was awarded a huge array of prizes for her work. She was the author of eleven novels, seven children's books, the writer/editor of nine non-fiction books, and countless other pieces of… Continue reading Writing advice from Toni Morrison
Jen Thorpe 