https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/viewpoint-and-perspective/id1674424465?i=1000675851156
In this episode we explore viewpoint and perspective in fiction. Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen discuss the different types of perspective and the ways in which a writers’ instinct might dictate the best approach to telling their particular story.
In the discussion Rachel references “Point of View: the thing that makes all other things more doable” which you can find on YouTube here:
I wish every writer who first comes to me with the words “I’m not a real writer…” could hear all the other writers who first came to me with the words “I’m not a real writer”.
Or, “I’ll write when I’m less busy.”
InkCouragement: Dr Rachel Knightley at the Writers’ Gym is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Or, “I’ll write when I feel confident enough.”
Or, “I’ll write when I’m sure the idea is perfect.”
The thing about imposter syndrome – an easy shorthand for the feeling we don’t have a right to show up for what we would, actually, love to do or be – is it’s how our minds overpower curiosity.
Tuning into our curiosity, or not tuning into it, is the biggest difference between writing authentically and not writing at all. We cannot write the final draft before we’ve dared to write the first one. Inspiration is a great feeling but nine times out of ten it comes through writing, rather than being a necessary precursor to it. It’s habits, not inspiration, we can rely on. We can all break the inspiration addiction. And we all do it easiest by showing up one step at a time.
That’s why there’s a Writers’ Gym.
If you, or someone you know, is currently a member of the “I’m not a real writer” brigade, any of the options below are a great way to realise we all are. The only qualification is showing up to the page, and doing your thinking there. That’s where the curiosity is, it’s also where the fun is.
The Writing Room | 11-1pm Monday 4 November
FREE for everyone on my mailing list (if you’re reading this, that’s you!). Time and space to think and write with like-minded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ (totally optional) chat together at the end. Click here.
The Writers’ Gym Podcast | Wednesday 6 November
The current series of The Writers’ Gym, where I’m joined by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory, airs a new episode every Wednesday. Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast platform.
Writing Room EXTRA | 11am-1pm Friday 8 November
Members only: please check your Voxer messages for this link.
Coffee & Creativity | 3-4.30pm Friday 8 November
Quality writing time and quality company! Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here.
You don’t have to be a member to join a Writers’ Gym session. But if you’d like to access our weekly programme for free, and receive 30% off all our other creative workouts:
Email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com or
download a brochure at writersgym.com
For personal training and creative confidence coaching for life, work and art,
email info@rachelknightley.com
The clocks may have gone back last weekend but my personal clock resets tomorrow: from Spooky Season to Sparkly Season. As a child I loved winter at school: the bright multicolour of baubles and tinsel, the multicultural stories (because we didn’t just hear about Christmas in assembly; we heard the Chanukah stories I heard at home, and the stories of the festivals classmates of other cultures and religions celebrated too – even if I got told off for saying I wanted to act in the school play but not sing the words of carols I didn’t believe: personally, I would not have told me off for that!).
Then, as a teenager, Spooky Season was when the gothic and ghost stories and the witchy/rock vibe I loved also became a shared celebration. There’s a decorative spider I bought at sixteen when I visited family in America, when such things weren’t mainstream in the UK yet (maybe I brought the spirit of it back in my suitcase?). That spider was in a cupboard for the years I spent believing I ‘should’ grow out of such things and be an ‘adult’. Until I realised grown-ups were like unicorns, gryphons and other things along those lines: a beautiful idea, but they don’t exist. Adulthood if it were to mean anything – at least anything meaningful – would be about growing into who I truly am. That spider now lives on our bedroom curtain rail, all year round. Skulls, too, have always spoken to me of connection to past and future; the ultimate acknowledgement of Hineini (“I am here”/”here I am”). All this was about finding my place in stories and how we can authentically share them; that, while we may not literally believe someone else’s story (or, potentially, our own) we are richer for knowing them.
September
It’s been over a month since Winter Spring joined the Alternative Stories podcast. It was one of the harder things to get into the world because although I heard what my producer loved about it, what the cast loved about it, even what I loved about it – all were less real in my head than my memories of ‘just don’t bother’ feedback I’d had on it before. I’m sharing this with you because what I didn’t know then, and what every time I share it I remind myself a little more deeply, is even when any piece of writing is cooked instead of raw, even when (as it is now and wasn’t then) it’s found itself, even then it still won’t be right for everyone. The person who didn’t like it probably still wouldn’t like it. But you might. If you’re curious about the things I’m curious about, then you will. Then you’re who I’m speaking to; you’re the audience who will connect. What that is, by the way, is an exploration of how the stories we tell ourselves – the ones we grow up with, the ones we write in our heads to make sense of ourselves and the world – and their power to help us grow into new versions of ourselves or hold us back in old versions. Surviving domestic violence, using the cultural and religious stories of youth as an estate agency business manual, and sharing a flat with the imaginary friend you had in childhood: are we more than the stories we tell ourselves?
Read about Winter Spring in Jewish Renaissance here.
Listen to my interview here.
October
Last week I celebrated the first birthday of my short story cycle Twisted Branches with Writing a Short Story Cycle at Olympic Studios. It was my first event to have participants on three continents and was a pleasure to recap how the connected stories affected each other’s identity for the characters themselves and for me in creating them. It traces the same theme as Winter Spring, the power of stories and how they shape our self-perception and the lives we do and don’t let ourselves live as a result. Read Twisted Branches here.
So that was spooky season. Now, we enter sparkly season.
November
I’m continuing my residency at Riverside Studios with Creative Writing Toolkit on Mondays 11 and 25 November. Then, on Saturday 23 November, join me for a creative writing and creative confidence workshop in association with Hell Tor Festival: Your Fear: Your Creative Superpower. We’ll be turning the things that haunt us into connection with our audience, whether that’s prose, screenwriting, public speaking or any other form of self-expression.
December
If you’re looking for feedback on your work-in-progress and a sense of what it’s like to be a member of the Writers’ Gym community, join us for our Christmas Feedback Soirée, or for one or both of our two-part Christmas Writing Workout, Beginnings and Endings (Friday 6 and Saturday 14 December: links coming soon).
But there’s no need to wait: Our regular programme of The Writing Room, Coffee & Creativity and our evening session Cocktails & Creativity takes place every week. It’s open to all and free to Writers’ Gym members. Book here.
Not sure where to start? Start with hello! Email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/principles-of-scriptwriting/id1674424465?i=1000674954318
In this episode Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen talk about scriptwriting and offer advice to writers wishing to get started in writing for stage, screen or audio drama.
This week at the Writers’ Gym
Want to grab a workout or personal training session for your word-count this week? Join me at the Writers’ Gym…
The Writing Room | 11-1pm Monday 28 October
FREE for everyone on my mailing list (if you’re reading this, that’s you!). Time and space to think and write with like-minded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ (totally optional) chat together at the end. Click here.
Riverscribes: Creative Writing | 7-8.30pm Tuesday 29 October
A lively and supportive creative writing forum where you are invited to share, discuss and develop your work. Whether you come for one session or every session, you’re guaranteed to build your knowledge, deepen your confidence and increase your enjoyment in your creative writing. Click here
Coffee & Creativity | 1-2:30pm Wednesday 30 October
Quality writing time and quality company! Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Run this week by Bella, as I’ll be away on Wednesday. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here
Cocktails & Creativity | 5-6.30pm Thursday 31 October
Grab a drink – a pen, a keyboard or blank page and join us at the virtual pub! Hosted by Writers’ Gym staff member, Isabella Barbieri. We chat for fifteen minutes, work on our own projects and then chat again, whether that be about writing, art or life. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here
Friday Writing Workout | 12-1pm Friday 1 November
The perfect creative start to the weekend. Boost your confidence and your word-count with a lunch-hour writing workout. Whether you’re an experienced writer or just beginning, enjoy exercises, discussion, tips and techniques to build your strength, knowledge and creativity. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here
Members and VIP Members: please use your exclusive code to activate your discount. Forgotten/lost your code? No problem: just email info@rachelknightley.com or ask Rachel or Bella in the Voxer app.
Download a brochure at writersgym.com or email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/pace-and-structure/id1674424465?i=1000674090603
In this episode Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen discuss pace and structure in fiction. They ask whether pace comes from structure or can be added at the editing stage and ponder examples of well structured stories on page and screen. Join us next week for the third episode of season three in which we’ll be talking about scriptwriting.
This week, online and in-person, at the Writers’ Gym
Enormous thanks to everyone who wrote or sponsored the writers this weekend: Green Ink Sponsored Write 2024 smashed our target for Macmillan Cancer Support. With fifteen years of events for Macmillan in Green Ink Sponsored Write and Writers’ Gym history, it’s such a pleasure to be working with a growing community of loyal writers, editors and readers. Thank you all SO much. If you sponsored us through the page and haven’t received your digital anthology, check your spam folder! If still no joy, get in touch at thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com.
This week at the Writers’ Gym…
The Writing Room | 11-1pm Monday 21 October
FREE for everyone on my mailing list (if you’re reading this, that’s you!). Time and space to think and write with like-minded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ (totally optional) chat together at the end. Click here.
The Writers’ Gym Podcast Episode 2 | Lands Wednesday 23 October
Build creative confidence and grow your writing world. Every episode, we’ll discuss key writing topics while exploring the goals, exercises, tools and techniques necessary to discover what you really want from your writing — and what your writing really needs from you. Listen on Apple, Spotify or any of your favourite platforms.
Coffee & Creativity | 1-2:30pm Wednesday 23 October
Quality writing time and quality company! Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Run this week by Bella, as I’ll be away on Wednesday. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here
Writing Room EXTRA | 11am-1pm Thursday 25 October
Members only: please check your Voxer messages for this link.
Writing a Short Story Cycle | 2.30-7.30pm Saturday 26 October
It’s also not long before The Writers’ Gym celebrates the first birthday of Twisted Branches with this weekend retreat at Olympic Studios (or online), creating your own short story cycle. Develop your stories, characters and creative confidence with inspiring exercises, supportive discussion, tips and techniques. 30% off for Writers’ Gym members. Click here.
Members and VIP Members: please use your exclusive code to activate your discount. Forgotten/lost your code? No problem: just email info@rachelknightley.com or ask Rachel or Bella in the Voxer app.
Download a brochure at writersgym.com or email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com
Pleasant Lands: New Writing for Macmillan Cancer Support
Tomorrow is the day.
Back when we were Green Ink Writers’ Gym, the ‘green’ was a reference to Macmillan Cancer Support. Fundraising for that charity was the reason for everything that followed: first Green Ink Theatre, with productions and new writing showcases, then, as I realised what I loved most was also what did the best business for the charity, Green Ink Sponsored Write. It was also what gave me the personal confidence to trust the most important thing I ever learned: if there’s something you want to put in the world, don’t wait to feel like you have permission. Do it scared. Do it imperfectly. Make the world a tiny bit more full of the right things. Macmillan do that every day, listening to what it takes to help everyone affected by cancer live their fullest life.
Here’s how this works. All you have to do to support this amazing charity is read a book:
Green Ink Sponsored Write for Macmillan Cancer Support | Saturday 19 October
A world-exclusive anthology of material created in this Sponsored Write will be emailed to everyone who donates on this page before the writing day ends (19 Oct 2024). Reflecting Macmillan’s mission of quality of life, writers are sponsored for their time, not their word-count. Your anthology will arrive in your inbox (or junk mail – please check!) 48 hours after it’s written (21 Oct 2024). Team 2024 is Isabella Barbieri, Stephanie Bisby, Dan Coxon, Alex Davis, Kayleigh Dobbs, Sarah Dodd, Kim Fleet, John-Paul Flintoff, Marianne Izen, Penny Jones, Rachel Knightley, Nic Lamont, Laura Mauro, Lisa Morton, Katharine Orton, Kenny Reid, Jennifer Steil, Vanessa Thompsett, Steve Toase, Stacey Michelle Warner and Aliya Whiteley. Anthology design will be by Steve J. Shaw of Black Shuck Books and WhiteSpace Designs. Click here.
Writing a Short Story Cycle | 2.30-7.30pm Saturday 26 October
It’s also not long before The Writers’ Gym celebrates the first birthday of Twisted Branches with this weekend retreat at Olympic Studios (or online), creating your own short story cycle. Develop your stories, characters and creative confidence with inspiring exercises, supportive discussion, tips and techniques. 30% off for Writers’ Gym members. Click here.
Members and VIP Members: please use your exclusive code to activate your discount. Forgotten/lost your code? No problem: just email info@rachelknightley.com or ask Rachel or Bella in the Voxer app.
Download a Writers’ Gym membership brochure at writersgym.com or email thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/animosity-in-fiction/id1674424465?i=1000673245327
In this first episode of season three of The Writers’ Gym Podcast, Dr Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen look at animosity in fiction and the ways in which writers can use conflicts, feuds, fights and arguments to add interest and plot lines to their work.
This episode begins with a conversation about the Green Ink Sponsored Write 2024 which is taking place on Saturday 19th October. You can find out more and sponsor Rachel and the other writers here.
Writing workouts and Sponsored Write for Macmillan Cancer Support – at the Writers’ Gym this week
I am enormously grateful to everyone who reached out to me, and to others they know, on last week’s horrible anniversary. Every email, comment or text message, every post ‘like’, every scribbling-out of a swastika with a black sharpie (all actions I happen to know Writers’ Gym members and friends have chosen to show up with), thank you. Whatever level of connection feels right to you, please know it matters. It connects.
More thanks still to all of you in my writing community who are writing for, and sponsoring the writers for, Green Ink Sponsored Write 2024. I’ve been running events for Macmillan Cancer Support since 2009 and what’s now the Sponsored Write evolved from a basic idea that is the essence of creative confidence: I asked myself how what I loved doing could be something that helped the charity I supported – not simply in the publishing but in the creating? Macmillan Cancer Support are all about quality of life for everyone affected by cancer. That’s why the writers are sponsored not for their word-count but for their time. To read a world-exclusive new writing anthology, with any donation no matter how big all small, please help us help Macmillan Cancer Support right here. The digital anthology will be written on 19 October, edited on 20 October and in the inbox of everyone who donates on 21 October – that’s 48 hours from creation to publication.
Before that, though, come and see us for a writing workout or personal training session this week…
The Writing Room | 11-1pm Monday 14 October
FREE every Monday for everyone on my mailing list (if you’re reading this, that’s you!). Time and space to think and write with like-minded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ (totally optional) chat together at the end. Click here.
Riverscribes: Creative Writing | 7-8.30pm Tuesday 15 October
A lively and supportive creative writing forum where you are invited to share, discuss and develop your work. Whether you come for one session or every session, you’re guaranteed to build your knowledge, deepen your confidence and increase your enjoyment in your creative writing. Click here
Coffee & Creativity | 1-2.30pm Wednesday 16 October
Quality writing time and quality company! Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here.
InkCouragement: Creative Confidence Workout | 12-1pm Thursday 17 October
Boost your confidence and your word-count with a lunch-hour writing workout. Whatever your creative and technical writing life needs, you’ll come away from this writing workout with practical steps to turn your dreams into goals and goals into realisable habits. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here
Writing Room EXTRA | 11am-1pm Friday 18 October
Members only: please check your Voxer messages for this link.