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Today we are going to explore one of the x factors in writing fiction, faith. Writing, like any creative endeavour, involves uncertainty and requires an act of faith. Faith in our imagination, faith in ourselves, faith in the creative process and faith in the stories we want to tell. When you sit down in front […]

Exclusive extract from Social Crimes (Allen and Unwin) written by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. Murder was never my goal in life. I’m a very sentimental person at heart. I cry in old movies. I love animals and children. I’m a pushover for a beggar in the street. So if anyone had told me five years ago […]

IN THE CHILLY, early hours of October 15, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, offered their joyous country not only a new heir to the throne, but the promise of a fresh approach to royal baby raising. The couple’s intention to be hands-on parents was underlined within seconds of their […]

From migrants’ child to leading television journalist, Jana Wendt surveys her career and speculates for Michael Sheather on what lies ahead. JANA WENDT HAS a gift for understatement. What she finds “uncomfortable”, most people would find terrifying. What she defines as “a moment”, others might describe as heart-stopping. During a career spanning more than 26 […]

If you’ve always thought that fancy folds in napery were too difficult to attempt, think again. Start off with the simple and elegant pocket design. Step 1 Fold the napkin in half and in half again, to form a square a quarter the size of the original. Fold the top right corner (A) down so […]

Exclusive extract from One Sunday (Macmillan), written by Joy Dettman. Tom heard that hammering and he didn’t want to wake up and hear it took it into his dream. It was the young Ronnie, in uniform. In his dream, he reached for his oldest boy, then he saw he had no face, no arms, and […]

One of the biggest mistakes writers make is trying to do everything perfectly, immediately. Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, writes, “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness, playfulness and life force.” Most people discover that when they learn to turn off […]

Writing fiction is not an intellectual exercise. One of the keys to creating powerful fiction is to evoke emotion in your writing. You want your writing to create an emotional response in the reader. It is the emotion that will connect the writer and the reader to your characters and your story. So when you […]

Author Gabrielle Lord shares her top four writing tips: Read books about writing, especially screenplay writing, or better still, do some courses in this area. To develop good knowledge of structure, pace and narrative, there’s nothing better than understanding how a story works and that’s what happens with screenplay writing. Storyline your story – that […]

She may look every inch the glamorous supermum with smoky eyes and spiked heels, but TV personality Nicky Buckley wants every mother in Australia to know that behind the diamante and plunging décolletage she wears on Seven’s hit show, Dancing with the Stars, there’s an ordinary mum who still does the shopping and the bedtime […]