The NWN Journal is a place for us to share insights from across our work, as well as for writers from the North to share the ideas that interest them.
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Showing articles that are tagged Northern Writers' Awards×Clear
Jessica Sinyard, our December blogger in residence, offers tips for aspiring screenwriters on entering competitions
"When asked that old question, ‘Why study Creative Writing?’ I used to shoot back, ‘Because I want to be a waiter’. It’s a spin on a Billy Connolly joke that guarantees a cheap laugh. Yet, like many arts graduates I know, I was a waiter after my Creative Writing BA. A temporary fix that lasted years, as I struggled to compile a first collection I felt confident with..."
"Having a standard way of communicating allows readers to be undistracted by trying to decipher a new form each time they read a script, and instead to immerse themselves in what really matters – your story, your characters, and the world you have created."
“I thought I’d be out of here at eleven but that was actually really interesting!” A lady confides in me as she drops her evaluation form in the box on the way out. Sitting in a room for four hours with the temptation of a Christmas market sparkling outside is difficult, but evidently worth it. Besides, our audience are writers so they’re used to a challenge.
Each year we take to the road to spread the word about the Northern Writers’ Awards, visit new places and meet writers. It was a genuine pleasure to head to Sheffield last weekend for a special poetry-themed Roadshow run in partnership with pioneering publisher, the Poetry Business. As our expert speakers arrived for the day, I was tempted to abandon the planned programme and rapidly instigate a series of poetry readings. Clare Pollard, Degna Stone, Anna Woodford, Suzannah Evans and Mark Pajak formed a striking gathering of poetic talent in a single room, but we kept to the script and stuck to prose.
