Category: words

  • BLACK INK, WHITE PAGE

    You sit on a desk with a black ink pen in your hand and you free the thoughts stuck in your head; you exercise the grandest of freedoms in a world that previously crushed such ambitions. To be a black and bisexual woman who jots down words that won’t be judged by the colour of…

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Writing

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    From manufacturing to healthcare, artificial intelligence has revolutionised many industries. Its impact on writing as a profession has been debated. Some say AI threatens the writing industry, and others say it can improve it. There is no doubt that there are potential threats and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence in writing as a profession. With…

  • Setting Achievable Writing Goals

    The process of writing a book can be frustrating, to say the least. There’s the initial stage when you just write and tell everyone you know you’re working on a book, “the next great South African novel” by setting attainable and realistic writing goals, writers can stay motivated to outline, draft, edit, and revise their…

  • How many drafts for my fiction writing?

    We came up with a foolproof three draft step to writing fiction; he whole process takes time, but you will notice the results in the quality of your manuscript if you put in the effort.

  • If 2020 were a book…

    …it would definitely be Charles Dicken’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, particularly the opening line (re very long sentence) as it creates awareness and explores the societal conditions that lead to collapse, havoc and people fighting against forces bigger than themselves. He writes: It was the best of times, it was the worst…

  • FIVE LONG BOOKS WE’VE READ (AND LOVED)

    There’s no greater feeling than finally putting down a really thick book and thinking “Yep, I read all that!” Bearing in mind that the average word count for a novel is 250 – 300 words, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite long books: ACID ALEX – AL LOVEJOY (400 pages) Stuck at his first…

  • ABOUT: Nic

    Nic is a retired photographer who leads a relatilively private life. Nic has has worked mainly in Asia and returned to South Africa in 2010 to live his truth. The excerpt submitted is from his unpublished book,  Becoming Nic, which documents the many changes in his life and is loosely based on the journals he…

  • 2020 READING CHALLENGE TIPS

    It’s a new year and you’ve made some resolutions, one of them being “read more” and you’ve joined a reading challenge but now what? It’s easy to say “just pick up a book and read” but that only works if you’re a seasoned reader. Reading is a fun and numinous habit with many benefits and…