Who fascinates you? Perhaps it’s an ancestor you’ve learned you have something in common with. Maybe it’s someone who didn’t fit the mold of the time and society in which they lived. It might be someone you still know well in your own life today. It could even be you. My current fascination is with […]
I recently had a friend tell me her son had created an imaginary world, but was worried about not being able to get his creative ideas out of his head. I love encouraging and supporting into young writers, so I’m developing a series of prompts to help him share the world he’s creating. Maybe these […]
What do Jackie French, Dav Pilkey and Agatha Christie have in common? Yes, they are all well-established and popular writers. They also all have dyslexia. And they are featured in Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes who Changed Our World, written by Shannon Meyerkort and illustrated by Amy Blackwell. Shannon initially wrote her book Brilliant Minds for […]
I recently realised that ten years has passed since I published my first (very brief) blog post, here on Treefall Writing. Turns out that so much can change in 10 years, and so much can stay the same. This has prompted me to think about time in the context of memoir and family history. So, […]
In his book The Novel Project, Graeme Simsion mentions the questionnaires we can find and fill out to get to know our characters – but he doesn’t use them. He says, “There are real people I’ve known for years whose star sign and preferred drink I wouldn’t be able to tell you. If a character […]
The seasons can refer to the weather and the physical changes of our natural world, but we often use the word metaphorically to describe and explore various stages, moments and turning points of our lives. Katherine May, author of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times says: Below are a number of […]