-
1 month ago | 
litopia.com | Peter Cox |Agent Pete |Rachel McCarron |Katie-Ellen Hazeldine
Will soon be removed… On The Honest Authors’ podcast, Gillian McAllister once mentioned that she was asked, “Do you really think that?” about something controversial she’d written in one of her novels. Her answer: “No, of course I don’t!” But at least in this instance she was asked.
-
1 month ago | 
litopia.com | Peter Cox |Agent Pete |Katie-Ellen Hazeldine |Laura Rikono
Litopia’s Book Club, run by @Jason, is an unmissable monthly event. There are – happily – lots of book clubs around. But none like ours. Quite simply, it’s a club run by writers for writers – so the perspective is altogether different. We’re looking at the monthly choice with both readers’ and writers’ eyes.
-
Jan 24, 2025 | 
litopia.com | Claire Gallagher |Agent Pete |Rachel McCarron |Laura Rikono
If you want to be traditionally published, the chances are that you’ll need a literary agent. Their job is to sell your book to a publishing house and manage the ‘business’ side of things for the author, including contracts and royalties, and rights in other territories, in translation, audio, film and TV. Many agents also work editorially with their clients, helping to get the manuscript into the best possible shape before sending it out on submission.
-
Jan 22, 2025 | 
litopia.com | Peter Cox |Agent Pete |Rachel McCarron |Laura Rikono
About a year ago I was visiting at a friend’s house and noticed they had a book table. It’s literally what it says – a table of any size you happen to have, on which you throw a random assortment of ancient dog-eared friends, shiny new acquisitions, and in our case, books unpacked from deep storage that we haven’t seen for decades – in itself quite a pleasure. This is not for the TikTok folk, there’s little to no prestige in it. It’s mostly just for you.
-
Jan 19, 2025 | 
litopia.com | Claire Gallagher |Agent Pete |Rachel McCarron |Laura Rikono
What Do We Mean by ‘Pace’ And Why Is It Important? We often hear that books are fast-paced, slow burn or ‘saggy in the middle’. In a nutshell, pace is the speed at which a story unfolds (note that this is not the same as the speed at which a story takes place, e.g. over a day, months, a year, decades). Pace relates to rhythm, tension, rising and falling action, positioning of plot points (like reveals and twists) and overall story/character arcs.
-
Jan 10, 2025 | 
litopia.com | Peter Cox |Agent Pete |Rachel McCarron |Laura Rikono
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…” wrote authors’ rights activist Charles Dickens as A Tale of Two Cities began its epic unfolding. He could easily have been writing about the general state of affairs today, particularly the circumstances in which authors find themselves. 2025 IsPublishing Year ZeroYes – that’s what I’m calling it. I’ve been aware of the impending signs for a while now.
-
Jan 2, 2025 | 
litopia.com | Rachel McCarron |Agent Pete |Laura Rikono |Pamela Jo
Do you remember your first time? Was it exciting? Were you nervous? Did you just want to get it over with? One of the most wonderful of the many wonderful features of the Litopia Colony is The Lab, where writers can go to experiment with their writing in a safe space. Mutual exchange of ideas and feedback given and received freely is the utopia we came to Litopia to find, right? But it can be scary too. We thrive on the praise, but we need it to be sincere.
-
Dec 29, 2024 | 
litopia.com | Agent Pete
Writers are, by definition, people of heightened awareness and sensitivity. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t – couldn’t – be a writer. Yet in a world that increasingly seems to fetishize cruelty, revenge and malice – as attested by our ever-degenerating political discourse – how can the sensitive person protect themselves? The coming period will not be easy on our minds or souls. So let’s get some self-defence measures in place.
-
Oct 14, 2024 | 
litopia.com | Rachel McCarron |James Charles |Eva Ulian |Agent Pete
Giving FeedbackThe title of this post is a sentence that’s often used at the end of a fellow writer’s feedback in the Lab, and I think it’s perfect. The first time I submitted work for critique and someone responded with this line, I felt a huge wave of relief.
-
Oct 14, 2024 | 
litopia.com | Rachel McCarron |James Charles |Eva Ulian |Agent Pete
We gazed from Cardiff’s seafront as the diamond radiance of a million stars glittered in autumn’s midnight. . I spoke of my soul’s breech by the songs of Bassey, Jenkins and the Jones’ boy, . of my tears’ cascade at the majesty of Snowdon, the Mumbles and the hills of Abergavenny. .
