Monthly Archives: November 2024

The creative writer in a state of idleness

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne Lazing on a bench by the river Nidd in the old market town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, I was staring at people climbing in and out of hired rowing boats. A couple had just settled … Continue reading

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A philosophical approach to the slog of draft writing those early novels

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne Writing a novel is not a simple matter of writing a single draft, or even a second or a third. The first draft is merely the end of the beginning. In fact, once you have … Continue reading

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The emotional investment behind writing fiction

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne The following is a recent conversation I had with a friend that I thought would make a good blog post. I have written it up here as closely as my memory allows. We look at … Continue reading

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What makes J K Rowling’s Harry Potter so successful?

Copyright © 2013 Jerry Dunne We’ll look at Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in the series, which set the pace and standard for the others to follow. Certainly the book’s success partly reflects readers’ love of … Continue reading

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What makes Roald Dahl such a successful children’s writer?

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne Popular since he started writing for children and still popular after his death with his work now turned into a franchise, what is it that still makes Roald Dahl so successful? Many people completely underestimate … Continue reading

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A writer’s pennies from heaven

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne I was out for the day, walking by the river Nidd in the old market town of Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. Under a blue sky, the river was rippling and gleaming, reflecting the diversity and eccentricity … Continue reading

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Where do you get your ideas for your stories?

Copyright © 2011 Jerry Dunne Like so many storytellers this is a question I’ve been asked a lot. And it’s a question I don’t generally take seriously because ideas come easily and often from so little that I never think … Continue reading

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Who decides what makes a great children’s story?

Copyright © 2011 Jerry Dunne Ultimately, it is the child reader and not the adult who decides what makes a great children’s story. This makes logical sense because without children you could not have a children’s story and without a … Continue reading

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Are your core values similar to your childhood ones?

Copyright © 2012 Jerry Dunne A person changes, an average person must change, mature, quite a bit over time; but I sometimes wonder how much we change deep down. Do we have similar core values to those we had in … Continue reading

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Give child readers what they want to read; not what you want them to read

Copyright © 2011 Jerry Dunne The beginner writer of children’s fiction can run quickly into difficulties if they insist on applying their own tastes and desires to the genre. You cannot write for children some of the types of stories … Continue reading

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