Andrew’s Comments (group member since Feb 08, 2014)

Andrew’s comments from the The Creative Writer's Toolbelt group.

Paul wrote: "Great to hear you're starting the podcast again!"

Thanks Paul, I hope you find it useful. Best wishes, Andy

Hi all,

I have news!

The Creative Writer’s Toolbelt is relaunching on Friday 3rd September.

To catch all the new episodes you can subscribe to the podcast here:

https://the-creative-writers-toolbelt...

After a hiatus of about 18 months I am restarting the podcast. The core mission of the podcast won't be changing. Like you, I love writing and The Creative Writer’s Toolbelt will continue in its purpose of helping you and me to become better writers and produce great work.

To do this I’ll be working to identify the best advice for the writing life, as well as craft tips and insights, and techniques to help us navigate our way around the ever more complex world of creating, publishing, and distributing our work. I’ll be joined by guests who I think are interesting and have something to say that’s worth listening to.

One thing I need to tell you is that I have changed my podcast hosting platform, so the people who host the podcast files for me. It will still be available in all the usual places: Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music Overcast and the like, but via Castos so if you like the Creative Writer’s Toolbelt, check your subscription to make sure you’re still getting new episodes.

Subscribe via your favourite provider from this page:

https://the-creative-writers-toolbelt...

You’ll know you’re in the right place if you start to see episodes 162 onwards.

So what can you expect to hear on the Creative Writer’s Toolbelt in the coming months?

Well, we are going to start with a short series, three podcasts, where I speak to some determined and courageous authors about the writer’s life. How do you keep faith in your work? How do you practice good disciplines as a writer? How do you hold on to the truth that your voice matters? And how do you manage the relationships and responsibilities around you and still find the time and energy to write?

After this, we’re going to revisit the subject of story. We’re going to look at the structure of stories, and we’ll try to work out what a great story looks like. Now I love looking at this topic, and the theories of story fascinate me, but as ever we’ll try to keep it grounded in good practice, so we will look at the theories but we’ll always tie it back to practical examples. We’re going to find out how stories really work, and we’re going to get to grips with the ancient truth that we humans keep telling each other the same kinds of stories, and have done so for hundreds and thousands of years. I’ll be joined by a number of experts some of whom are writers and some will be from very different backgrounds that may surprise you, but they’ll all have something important and interesting to say.

After that, I want to revisit character and characterisation. We’ll look at what I think are the fundamental elements of a successful character, managing your cast, and hearing from different people on the subject of creating and presenting great characters, and once again I hope that we’ll be able to look at the challenge of writing the other.

Beyond that we’re going to have some series that look at genres, writing formats, the process of editing, and the big decision that confronts nearly every writer – do you try to be published traditionally or as an independent author, and if I go the indie route what are the options – spoiler alert there are quite a few of them and quite a lot to think about, but don’t let that put you off.

All this will be coming your way in the next months. The first of these new episodes, my conversation with the author and teacher Sarah Moorhead, is coming soon as episode 162.

I am delighted to be launching the podcast and I look forward to you accompanying me as we explore more aspects of the craft and the writers life. Please do subscribe and look out for new episodes, thank you, Andy.

Toni wrote: "I discovered the podcast last week and I am thrilled! It looks like I popped in at the right time. Just wishing you all the luck and cheers to a new season! :)"

Hi Toni, many thanks for the words of encouragement. The podcast has been on hiatus for a year or so and is indeed restarting, the first new episode will be out on 3rd September. You can subscribe at any of the major distributors from this link:

https://the-creative-writers-toolbelt...

Best wishes
Andy

If you are a Christian Writer living anywhere near Cambridge UK, this one is for you!

For more details and to book click here

The first Independent Christian Writers' Conference will be held at Ridley Hall in Cambridge England on Saturday 4th September 2021.
Join us for an intensive day of craft insights and publishing and marketing options for independent Christian writers. With plenary sessions on the pathways to publication, and genre tracks covering Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, and Memoir.

This year the conference will be held in the beautiful setting of Ridley Hall, in Cambridge on Saturday 4th September. Doors open at 9.15am with refreshments served from then, the programme starts promptly at 9.45am and will finish at 4pm.

TICKET PRICE: £45 including lunch and refreshments.

For more details and to book click here

The conference will feature plenary sessions on publication and marketing options as well as case studies from authors who have worked with independent Christian Publishers. In the afternoon we will offer genre tracks covering Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, and Memoir. There will be a speaker's bookshop available at lunchtime.

SPEAKERS

Andrew J Chamberlain is a writer, speaker, and creative writing coach who has published fiction and non-fiction commercially and as an independent author. He is the author of The Centauri Survivors, a near future first contact novel, and two books in The Masters Series of Christian Thrillers, Urban Angel and Cain's Redemption. He is the host of The Creative Writer's Toolbelt, the podcast that offers practical, accessible advice on the craft of writing, and in 2017 he published a book to accompany the podcast: The Creative Writer's Toolbelt Handbook.

Michael J Harvey is a fantasy novelist, blogger, adventurer and traveller. After reading History at Leicester and Cambridge he worked in the Charity sector and is now part of Tearfund's Global Fundraising Group. In 2020 Michael published the Oron Amular fantasy trilogy, the culmination of over two decades of research, worldbuilding and imagination. Michael is currently working on more titles in the Oron Amular universe.

Ruth Leigh is a freelance writer and novelist, and is married with three children, one husband and assorted livestock. She blogs at Big Words and Made Up Stories, Authors Electric and More Than Writers. In 2021 Instant Apostle published her debut romance novel, The Diary of Isabella M Smugge with a virtual book launch of blogs, champagne, and confetti cannons! Ruth describes herself as a 'recovering overachiever' who these days is happy to do the school run in her onesie!

Malcolm Down has been at the heart Christian Publishing in the UK for over 20 years. He was the publishing manager at Authentic Media for 15 years where he oversaw the publication of over 400 books and Bibles. In 2015 he founded Malcolm Down and Sarah Grace Publishing, an independent publishing company who offer a variety of genres mainly, but not exclusively, from authors who have a Christian background. Malcolm is a keen athlete and still runs in a variety of distance and track races.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

Our intensive programme will cover:
The current publishing and marketing landscape for independent Christian authors
Two case studies from writers who have worked with independent Christian publishers
Genre breakout sessions for writers in Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Memoir / biography
Tips and resources to build your own expertise as an independent Christian writer
There will be opportunities to talk to our speakers and network with other Christian writers.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Paul wrote: "Andy, any plans to restart the podcast or have you moved on to other things."

Hi Paul,

In case you are not on my mailing list (I have no way to be sure you are unfortunately) I'm just letting you know that I am now in the early stages of planning to relaunch the CWT podcast, there will be more news soon A

Greetings!

It’s been nearly a year since a new episode of the Creative Writer’s Toolbelt Podcast was released, but if I restarted the podcast what topics would you like to see covered, and who would you like me to invite on as a guest?

I’d love to hear your opinion..

Andy

Hi Paul, I have moved onto other projects but I might come back to the CWT podcast in the future. As well as whether I have the time to do it, this would be determined by whether I have enough really useful topics to cover, so if there's any aspect of creative writing you'd like em to focus on please let me know!

Your welcome Jennifer, best wishes with your writing.

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for your question. The very short answer is: yes, in certain circumstances I think you can change a character's motivation and mind about something, and in fact if you handle it well, it can enhance the story. As you say, you can't have a character flip-flopping between viewpoints, unless that's a very specific and overt feature of who they are, and even in this case you'd need to be careful how you handled the character.

Let's consider a few examples of where characters successfully change their minds. (Spoiler warning!!!) In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett spends much of the book having a poor opinion of Mr Darcy, only to change her mind radically towards the end. In the Harry Potter series Harry has a certain opinion of Snape for nearly the whole of the seven books and only changes his mind at the end of book 7. If you've seen the Star Wars movies you'll know that Han Solo starts the first film made (Part IV: A new hope) as a mercenary who only cares about money and himself, but he changes his mind as he interacts with Princess Leia.

So it's quite reasonable to change a characters mind, their opinion and their motivation. The key, I think, is to ask the question "is this change credible, is it believable?" You'll find that I mention the issue of authenticity in the podcast quite a bit, and I think it's is at the heart of this issue. So in your example if I as the reader can believe that your character would change her mind and want to stay in the kingdom then it's okay to have her change her mind. How believable and authentic this is will depend on the character of your protagonist, her current motivation, and the nature and consequences of the event, and her new motivation.

Again, using this example, you can enhance the believability of the change of mind by subtly blunting the desire to return home to start with, so maybe she just wants to return home because, in some general sense, everything she knows is there. You can complement this by, as a contrast, making the desire to stay very specific and sharp, she has a close friend in the Kingdom who we've got to know and that person is abducted or murdered maybe. A reliable option would be she falls in love, as we see her lover specifically, although your reference to a 'horrible tragedy' may preclude this. Duty, solving a problem, helping a friend, or vengeance - these all might be good reasons for her to stay.

One caution I'd raise with this would be - if she does change her mind and stay, is she staying until she completes a task or is she staying forever? Is it something she needs to do so that she can then go? Or is it something that will keep from ever returning? It's worth thinking that through carefully upfront.

So yes, if you can make your character's change of heart believable, do it! Always be asking what the character would do? Does it make sense? Will the reader believe it? Does it still make for a good story? If you can answer these questions satisfactorily then go for it!

I hope this helps, good luck and best wishes with your work

Andy Chamberlain

Greetings fellow writers,
 
I hope you are managing to keep well, and staying safe during this weird and scary time.

Some of you will know that I had said I would be stopping the podcast at the end of March, but in a change of plan, I'm releasing an episode today, and maybe one or two others in the near future.
 
My excuse for changing my mind is, of course, the virus. So much has already been said about this topic but my focus will be on us as writers: how do we deal with these strange times? How can we survive and even thrive in this situation?a
 
To explore how we can make the most of these strange times, I am going to be releasing a couple more episodes of the podcast. Today, 3rd April I'm speaking to two writer / entrepreneur's about how we can survive lockdown as writers, they are:  Wendy H Jones, and Abidemi Sanusi, here are their top 5 tips for the current crisis:

 
 
1. Establish a space, and a routine – find the space and the good discipline that will help you to get the work done
 
2. Get started – don’t be daunted by the big project, make a start and pace yourself
 
3. Be accountable – find a process whereby you can report on what you’ve achieved, and helpfully work with others
 
4. Speak up for your work – this one is about marketing, be prepared to speak up for your work, be proud of what you have created
 
5. Look after yourself – perhaps the most important one of all. From what you eat and drink to sleep and rest, learn the rhythms and practices that will allow you to look after your emotional, physical, and mental health
 
You can find that episode on your favourite podcast provider and also here.


Also, I have two offers for you.
 
Prompted by these crazy times, I am offering my two main books at a huge discount on Kindle for a few days.

The Centauri Survivors is just 99c on amazon.com and 99p on amazon.co.uk from 3rd to 8th April.
 
With an average rating of 4.5 on Goodreads and 4.6 on Amazon this first contact story explores the best and worst of humanity as we travel out to the stars.

 
You can also pick up a copy of The Creative Writers Toolbelt Handbook also for just 99c on amazon.com and 99p on amazon.co.uk from 3rd to 8th April. This is the book that accompanies the podcast, on Kindle, at a massive 90% discount for just 99c on amazon.com and 99p on amazon.co.uk from 3rd to 8th April.

For now, I wish you well, feel free to drop me a line and tell me how your writing is going; stay safe, and look after yourself!
 
Best wishes
Andy

Glad to have you with us Nathan!

Hi Paul,

Synopses can be hard! A couple of quick bits of advice would be - don't focus on the characters, try to think about the story and write a synopsis of that, and when you write it, to start with forget about the 300 word limit, write the synopsis and make it as long as it needs to be: 500, 1000 words, whatever is required. Then when it's done go back and refine it (keeping copies along the way) with a view to chipping away at it and talking out the bits that you think you won't need. This is a n intensive process, but you will get down to 300 words in the end.

BW
Andy

This episode is a conversation with Barbara Poelle, agent with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. We talk about the importance of having good critique partners, how to approach an agent at a conference, and that old favourite – showing not telling. Enjoy!

This episode is a conversation with the Vietnamese born writer, Abbigail N. Rosewood, about her first novel 'If I had two lives'. In this conversation we talk about withholding judgement to maintain the story, how to use sensory information to introduce a character, how honesty can lead to empathy, and what it means to be understood as a writer.

Writing is hard, branding and marketing can be even harder! So I was delighted to have the chance to talk to branding and marketing expert Dana Kaye. Dana works with authors to develop a coherent authentic brand, and effective and innovating marketing initiatives.

This episode features a friend of mine who has worked hard to overcome the issues so many of us writers face. Joan Histon is a writer, a speaker, and a spiritual director. She has faced the kinds of challenges and obstacles that you and I have faced with our writing, and yet she overcome these, and has now published a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and she has a three-book publishing deal. How did she get there? How did she power through to the success she has now had? I invite you to continue listening to find out.

This episode is a conversation with Hollywood script writer, ad exec, and YA author Gregg Millman. Gregg has been on the writing teams for documentaries, films and TV series, and more recently has worked with a number of global brands across a range of media and platforms.In this episode we talk about the process by which TV drama’s get written, how advertising works, and the power of editing. We also talk about the changing nature of YA writing, the importance of the book cover, and how complementary characters can enhance the story.

Have you ever wanted to write for the theatre but haven’t had the incentive or help to get do it? Have you ever wondered what makes a Broadway producer decide to bring a show to the bright lights and the big stage? Well you are about to find out because this episode is a conversation with Tony award winning Broadway producer Ken Davenport. Ken shares his insights for writing and launching your work.

This episode can be summed up with a single, wonderful word: encouragement! My guest is the author, artist, and coach Cynthia Morris, and in this episode we discuss the fears writer's feel, the need to be kind to ourselves, and how we should sneak up on ourselves to write something great.

Do you trust your work? Do you trust yourself enough to let your work go wherever it wants to go, to be authentic? That’s one of the questions, and challenges I explore with my guest in this episode of the podcast. His name is Brother Guy Consolmagno, and he is a Jesuit Brother and also an MIT trained research astronomer and he is currently the Director of the Vatican Observatory, making him in colloquial terms, the Pope’s Astronomer.