Archive for the 'creative writing' Category

Creating a Sense of Place

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 2 October 2008 in Craft of Writing and creative writing. 2 Comments

Have you ever read a book - fiction or non-fiction - in which you felt you had been transported to another world? You could almost feel it, taste it, touch it and smell it. How did the writer achieve that?

  1. They used their senses.
  2. They focused on a few choice details.
  3. They used imagery.
  4. They established power relations between the narrator / character / reader and their environment.

Continue reading ‘Creating a Sense of Place’

Cape Town workshops - Hout Bay!

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 5 September 2008 in Asides, Courses and creative writing. 0 Comments

Cape Town creative writing workshopsThere has been such an overwhelming response to The Crafty Writer Creative Writing Workshops that are going to take place in Stellenbosch on Saturday 13 September, that we’ve decided to add another date and venue. The following Saturday 20 September will see The Crafty Writer road show move to Hout Bay for a repeat of the Stellenbosch workshops.
Venue: 6 Vineyard Way, Berg-en-Dal, Hout Bay.
Time: 10am

As some of the people who have signed up for Stellenbosch would prefer to move over to Hout Bay, there are now some places still available for the 13th, so please contact us for registration and payment details.

Intros: hooking your reader

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 29 August 2008 in Craft of Writing, Feature Writing, Fiction, Magazines, Non-fiction writing and creative writing. 0 Comments

Most writers, including myself, tend to write their way into an article or story. We only ‘warm up’ by about the second or third paragraphs. On editing, you will hopefully see that your first paragraph can usually be scrapped, or incorporated elsewhere in the piece. For non-fiction writing, a good tip is to consciously start with a who? where? when? what? working intro, then give it some sparkle on the rewrite. For more on the 4W intro, see my post on How to Write a Feature Article and for fiction intros see writing short stories , although it can equally be applied to novel openings.

For some excellent tips on creating the perfect intro visit Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen’s article on Writing Great Leads in which she encourages you to shock, challenge or provoke your readers into reading on. Laurie, along with yours truly,  is one of the regular contributors to the Write On blog carnival.

Cape Town Workshops filling up

Published by
Fiona Veitch Smith
at 27 August 2008 in Courses, Publishing and creative writing. 0 Comments

Cape Town creative writing workshopsThere are only five more places left on the Cape Town workshops, so if you want to ensure a place, book today! Remember, your place is only confirmed after you pay. I will be away on holiday from 30 August - 6 September, so if you have any queries during that time email gill at mseed dot co dot za. She will be able to give you directions to the fabulous venue in Stellenbosch and bank details to pay your workshop fees.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there!