MANUSCRIPT ASSESSMENT AND EDITORIAL ADVICE SINCE 1996
Blog
In 2016, TLC’s 20th anniversary year, we launched a blog as a space for thoughtful, non-promotional pieces on all things writing, editing and publishing. If you’d like to pitch a piece, please email Aki Schilz on aki@literaryconsultancy.co.uk.
We’d love to hear from you, and please feel free to comment on the blogs here.
Always Another Twist – Journeys, Outlooks & Curves in the Path
August 01, 2018 | Blog
It’s a hot day when I finally emerge from the forest, sunlight and shadow leaves dripping from me. I look back and see the path’s curves that I didn’t notice while I was walking. My start point’s there, the finish and my route in between…
I cycle and walk a lot – to keep fit and also for inspiration,
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5 Tips for Getting the Most from your Beta Readers
Beta reader (n.) A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), giving feedback with the angle of an average reader to the author about remaining issues.
You’ve worked for months or years on your manuscript.
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On the Importance of Criticism and Self-belief
June 01, 2018 | Blog
Since 2001, TLC has received ongoing core funding from Arts Council England which has enabled the provision of bursaried manuscript assessments for talented writers on low income. The scheme is known as ‘The Free Read Scheme’ and offers access to TLC’s core services to writers who under normal circumstances might not be able to afford them.
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How Do You Know if You're a Writer?
A writer is someone who writes something, it’s as simple as that. Of course there are many different kinds of writers – e.g. news writers, script writers, speech writers, novelists, travel writers, poets, joke writers, bloggers, etc – but you don’t have to make money from your writing to be a writer.
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Managing Self-doubt: How to Write a Book When You Don't Have Time
I am in my early days of my writing, so you are not looking at someone who is a seasoned professional.
I’ll tell you what I am.
I am a quick learner; I chat and make contact very quickly. I am acquisitive of information,
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How to Balance Context and Story When Writing Non-fiction
March 05, 2018 | Blog
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What to Expect When You're Expecting (A Book): Promoting Yourself As an Author
February 01, 2018 | Blog
As I type this, I’ve got a little less than three months to go until publication day.
Two completed manuscripts. Just north of two hundred thousand words, and that’s not counting the tens of thousands more that didn’t make the cut. Hundreds of hours hunched over a laptop or scribbling in a notebook.
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The Art of Letting Go, or The Strange Case of the North Surrey Gigantopithecus
When novelist and TLC reader Ashley Stokes set out to write a short story, he was overtaken with a madcap story about a shouting man named Kevin, and a beast lurking in a London suburb. The story became a novel. Then, everything changed. After all the hard graft, experiments,
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Finding Your Voice through Poetry: A Conversation between JJ Bola and Jamal Mehmood
We’ve been lucky enough to have writer, poet and Associate Member of Spread the Word’s Flight 1000 scheme, JJ Bola helping out in the office recently, as part of the scheme offers three London-based aspiring publishing professionals from a background underrepresented in publishing 1000 hours over a year of training,
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An Agent of Change
November 01, 2017 | Blog | 2 comments
Launching The Ruppin Agency earlier this year was a logical step for me. But it was more than just working out how best to use my experience. There are many excellent literary agents out there, so I need to be different. And that difference comes from what I’ve come to understand about not what is published,
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