'How to evoke, with sensuous conviction; immediacy, with personal engagement; these hidden stretches of human time?'

How to evoke, with sensuous conviction; immediacy, with personal engagement; these hidden stretches of human time, dwarfing written history? How to say it in ways that seem irrefutable?

The post Paul Mills appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I'd like to think that this makes us better at understanding other people,... On the other hand it probably makes us more moody and solitary.'

I'd like to think that this makes us better at understanding other people, but I have no evidence... On the other hand it probably makes us more moody and solitary.

The post Morgen Witzel appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Everything I wrote was so awful that I came to a full halt; terrified of what dire nonsense would spout from my fingers next. '

Everything I wrote was so awful that I came to a full halt; terrified of what dire nonsense would spout from my fingers next. I had taken a wrong turn.

The post Ros Barber appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Writing's a tightrope. Don't look back, don't look down; look ahead, walk on... I looked back.'

Writing's a tightrope. Don't look back, don't look down; look ahead, walk on... I looked back. Blamed Brexit, my zero hours contract, its possible disappearance. I blamed the internet.

The post David Spencer appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I was influenced by Ntozake Shange's seamless style and the choral element in Ted Hughes' Oedipus. '

I was influenced by Ntozake Shange's seamless style and the choral element in Ted Hughes' Oedipus. Not long after that I began to read a lot of books by black American women authors.

The post Trish Cooke appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I do still write fiction, but it tips into life. I start with twists of yellow gold and before I know it I'm growing daffodils.'

I do still write fiction, but it tips into life. I start with twists of yellow gold and before I know it I'm growing daffodils, and that's gardening, not art.

The post Sue Roe appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'A sentence that seems perfect when scribbled down in the middle of the night, can often appear, in the bracing light of day, flat and banal. '

A sentence that seems perfect when scribbled down in the middle of the night, a line of poetry that seems to be the beginning of a successful lyric, can often appear, in the bracing light of day, flat and banal.

The post Nicholas Murray appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'The next best thing to stopping time is to chronicle it, and then forge its intangibility into a physical object.'

The next best thing to stopping time is to chronicle it, and then forge its intangibility into a physical object; an article or a book.

The post Andrew Martin appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I'm proud of you. It takes guts to be a classical music-loving, poetry-writing, six-foot, teenage lesbian from Burnley. '

I'm proud of you. It takes guts to be a classical music-loving, poetry-writing, six-foot, teenage lesbian from Burnley. And while we're at it; you're beautiful.

The post Clare Shaw appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'You begin to not see the page, but to see yourself from across the room, looking blankly at a blank page. '

You begin to not see the page, but to see yourself from across the room, looking blankly at a blank page. Perhaps you begin to believe in that image; the frozen woman or man who can't write.

The post Lizzie Nunnery appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.