StorySALOON: Short Stories Centre Stage
You know when you get an fabulous idea, and you just can’t let it go because it’s SUCH A GREAT IDEA? It’s so good that if you don’t make it happen you know for sure you’ll die with regrets. That’s how I felt about my idea for StorySALOON. Had to do it. Couldn’t let it…
Need an advanced writing workshop?
An advanced workshop for writers with a full manuscript underway.
H2O: RAIN, OCEAN, TEARS, ICE, in Meniscus
I should have been polyamorous from the start. I learned the hard way with my first two books, Night by Night and Provenance. I barely wrote any other fiction during the years of those two novels, and, much as I loved writing them, I was hostage to them. Then towards the end of Provenance, the…
The intimacy of Unspoken thoughts in Third Person
In this post, I’m looking at varied ways in which unspoken thoughts can be conveyed amidst other forms of speech. We’re all familiar with the back and forth of ‘she said/he said’ of Direct speech (i.e. speech said aloud in conversation). But Direct speech is just one of the forms of speech and dialogue used in fiction…
Do you have a manuscript substantially completed or well underway?
My Manuscript Masterclass Act 2 starts soon — July 2. The masterclass hosts a maximum of 6 writers and I currently have 2 places available. I was motivated to design the Manuscript Masterclass for writers who need both in-depth feedback and then the time to develop their work and return for further feedback. As some of…
Narrative thrives on the promise of disturbance
You can use a foreshadowing opening as a generative writing tool, to challenge yourself to explain the promise of what is yet to happen.
Reading aloud for revision and performance
Reading aloud is so physical, and revealing. That’s exactly why reading aloud is such an excellent writing and editing tool.
What we’ve been talking about. Time & Time-Shifts.
The post discusses the narrative use of time and time-shifts and the challenges they pose for writers. It emphasizes the importance of purposeful time shifts, providing examples and insights from a writer’s workshop. Additionally, the post invites writers to join Jane Messer’s interactive online workshops.
Don’t bother with resolutions, just write.
New workshops for 2024. And other news. There’s no need to be writing into the ‘void’ as one of my workshoppers described the very solitary journey of writing her novel. For many of us writers, at one time or another, working on our own, without a readership to encourage, critique or in any way appraise…
Reading Like A Writer
Thanks to Lee Kofman for inviting me to contribute to her blog, ‘The Writer Laid Bare’. See below for a brief bio on Lee. Read my original contribution at: Reading like a Writer: A Guest Post by Jane Messer (leekofman.com.au) Reading has been essential to my development as a writer. I don’t just read as…
Eros, beauty and friction: what happened when Susan Johnson took her 85-year-old mother to live on a Greek island
This is a copy of a review that I wrote for The Conversation recently. Sydney folk, you might like to know that Susan Johnson is going to be talking about the book at a few venues in early May – I might see you at the Marrickville Library event, May 3. She’ll be in conversation…
Speech and silence in narrative
One of the things I love about my writing workshops is that all sorts of questions come up spontaneously during our discussions, and directly from the creative works underway. Using these prompts, I prepare short essays, or micro-lessons, about these questions of technique, revision and editing that the writers have raised along the way. What…
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