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Let me know if you are interested! Creating a world- in the Glorious Scottish Booktown of Wigtown A short course on the most important aspect of writing- one rarely addressed: Creating a World. 11 th to 14 th April (but you can leave on 13 th April if you have to) £350 Inc two meals a day, all tuition, and bonus sessions with bestselling authors Shaun Bythell, Robert Twigger and Jessica Fox.…
Everyone is a travel writer these days. Everyone is writing captions, shooting videos and writing social media posts about where they are. That doesn't interest me much, beyond the posting of hard core information about prices and access to places. I - along with many others- have grown to find over produced 'content' severely dull and boring! What I do love are travel journals. Handwritten, hand…
If you don't know what a character will say or how they will say it exaggerate their character until you do. Keep stretching and exaggerating some characteristic until you hear how they speak. Character shows up in contrast to environment and other characters, so you only have to stretch that which creates the biggest contrast. For example, exaggerate a gangster's love of rare first editions…
The question you want to be able answer about a potential character is: can I run with this? You can build up a character full of quirks and contradictions and then find he or she just doesn't move of their own accord- you're always having to cattleprod them from scene to scene. You know you're in this pickle when the thought of writing new scenes seems like a drag (or a bigger drag than usual).…
Embark on your novel at peril if you haven't nailed your characters. Character can be done last but it involves headache inducing rewrites. Instead get 'em nailed first. Number one- get the name right, this goes hand in hand with what I call the moment of squint-truth: this cumbersome phrase refers to the inner mental squint you make to try and capture your character in some defining moment or…
The question to ask is what picture/way of looking does this person have of the topic which makes them believe in the argument they put forward. The argument is almost irrelevant as it will never convince anyone who does not share the same picture which is why everyone disagrees so much. It is the pictures we have of things that decides stuff and a picture is altered by emotion, primarily, and at…
I have noticed that when a part of an activity is internally resisted it magnifies tiredness exponentially. When doing manual labour but under someone else's timetable the constant stop-start is resented. Internal opposition builds. This squanders energy like nothing else. At the end of the day you are far tireder than doing the same effort but without resistance. if you can PLAY while doing it-…
There is no one in the world offering a better Oman desert trip- no one following Thesiger's old routes so closely and carefully and absolutely no one with Mahmoud Mohareb's desert driving experience. I have made several trips with him and have known him for many years- he is 100% reliable. If you want a real desert experience in a wonderful and unspoilt country of deserts (and great beaches) do…
the river, or going down it changes you or something in you. you certainly feel the stress, the tension leaving. common or garden until it becomes of vital importance it really doesn't matter if you catch fish or not- others do life shouldn't be confused with a holiday so make it less like a holiday
I have been recently working on some more homemade books- these are one off or limited print runs. I will post up more information from time to time on instagram on roberttwiggerinstantart.