By Summarising A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (May 25th 1977 and this one, to be precise) George Lucas used a (by no means new) technique called an opening crawl at the start of a little space movie he’d been working on. In this opening crawl he summarised all the basic…
Tag: aspiring writers
11 Ways Not To Start Your Novel – No. 4
With Onomatopoeia EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOW KER-SPLAT! I’m really sorry to have to tell you but that is the sound of a literary agent’s expectations plummeting at the sight of onomatopoeia in the first few lines of your novel. Especially if it’s written in capitals, as they so often are. This is not to say you cannot describe…
11 Ways Not To Start Your Novel – No. 3
With a Description of the Moon Quick! Pick a card, any card. Now think of a number between 1 and 10. Next think of a colour. And a vegetable. Got them all? OK? Carrot, red, 7 and either the Ace of Spades or the Queen of Hearts, failing that something with a 3 or a…
11 Ways Not To Start Your Novel – No. 2
With Your Protagonist Looking Into a Mirror The other day as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror of my north London flat I recalled that my hair is fine and dyed a darker brunette then it would naturally grow to match my darker than average brown eyes. The shadows under my eyes…
Book Fairs and Book Worms
Jon Holder has dedicated Monster of the Month to London Book Fair and has created these bookish creatures… And Mary Darby, Rights Executive, is talking foreign rights. In the frantic run up to the London Book Fair I thought I’d take some time out from preparing for my 56 meetings and introduce you to the…
11 Ways Not To Start Your Novel – No. 1
Oh hi! How have you been? Crikey, what sort of weather have we been having? And the traffic on the way here? Absolute nightmare. Especially with these petrol prices, don’t even get me started. Still, that’s a lovely cardigan you’re wearing. Did you happen to catch the game last night? There’s nothing wrong with small…
The Darley Anderson Blog 