PJ Greystoke - Creative Writing Tuition

A deep dive into the psychology of fear, and how literary writers and writers for cinema and screen use this to create some amazing work.

My new series: 'The Anatomy of Fear.'

This week: Why is silence so terrifying?

Have a read or a listen and let me know what you think.

Why Is Silence So Terrifying? Why is silence so terrifying? A horror writer explores the psychology of quiet, from anechoic chambers to campfire folklore that keeps us on edge.

Don’t think I’ve ever tried Utter.

How often do you use adverbs?

I think overusing adverbs in your prose is like having a garden full of weeds. They halt the natural beauty of the landscape and prevent flowering. And they certainly ensure that no one else is going to want to visit and relax in your garden.

Adverbs (and adjectives to a certain extent) are seen as amateur and lazy. They tend to be less forceful, specific, and objective than nouns and verbs.

“She cried loudly” is uninspiring and does nothing to allow your reader to WANT TO empathise with and step inside the head of your main character.

Instead, don’t be in too much of a hurry to paint an accurate picture.

So, “She cried loudly,” if we remove the adverb (loudly) might change to something like:

“She howled, clenching her fists and screaming as she glared up at the sky, tears racing down her cheeks and free-falling to the pavement below.”

The latter sentence may not be perfect, but it is certainly more immersive than:

“She cried loudly.”

See what you can do to transform that sentence into something amazing.

To all my writing students: keep up the good work and as always

… Dare to be Brilliant!

I was watching the Beatles film ‘Get Back’ a few nights ago and was intrigued by their approach to songwriting.

Watching, as they created their masterpieces (I know that is subjective, but I’m a Beatle fan) and knowing what the finished product would eventually sound like allowed me to study the process.

To begin, they seemed to have a general feel for the song, maybe have a few rough lyrics in mind and from there they completely made it up – the most important task being to get to the end of the song. Thereafter they would go back to tweak and revise till they had something worthy of a being a Beatle song.

This is entirely relatable to the first draft of your novel. Don’t try and create a masterpiece in your first draft. Your only goal is to tell the story and get to the final period (full stop).

Thereafter you can tweak, edit, and rewrite to your heart's content.

By approaching your writing in this way, you will create more novels and keep the pace and momentum constant AND as a happy side effect, you will avoid the oft-dreaded situation in which you spend months (or even years) amending sections of your first draft before it has even reached its natural conclusion.

So, thanks John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

To all my students: keep up the good work and as always … Dare to be Brilliant!

Exercise done, now, let's see what trouble the characters in my latest novel are getting into. 😁

Have a great day everyone, and to all my creative writing students: keep up the great work and as always...

Dare to be Brilliant!

Authors use dialogue in a great many ways. I especially like the witty and clever way that Jane Austen can sum up character relationships and state of mind in just a few simple lines, as seen here in this conversation between Mr and Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice.

To all my creative writing students, keep up the good work and, as always…

Dare to be Brilliant.

Personification is where something non-human is given human qualities. An amazing example of this is in the third stanza of Margaret Atwood’s poem: ‘The Moment,’ in which the planet speaks back to the humans as they proclaim ownership of the Earth.

Also notice the series of short sentences to give emphasis, and the word ‘were,’ on the second line (past tense). This seems to be an angry Earth, no longer welcoming to humans.

To all my creative writing students – keep up the good work and as always …

Dare to be Brilliant!

Good morning class 😂. Have an amazing day and to all my creative writing students…. Dare to be Brilliant!