Having lost most of my body weight in sweat I started thinking about the effect weather has on characters and mood. There is a wonderful term for this, Pathetic Fallacy, which basically means the mood of a character or the tone of a scene can be beautifully captured when human emotions are ascribed to weather and seasons. Poets love using this method but authors can also benefit. I'd love to know if anyone has any examples of this or books where weather and seasons are masterfully described and crafted. I think Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath describes the dust bowl so well its advisable to have a cool glass of water on standby before reading. Mary Shelly also utilises the environment beautifully by presenting humanities coldness in scenes set in the artic.

Hi folks I deliver one-off workshops and ongoing courses for a local college (for adult learners). The topics are all aspects of writing and publishing, fiction related. The college has asked me if I’ll deliver next year, and for the first time requested that I pick my classes for the whole academic year, now. For various reasons (that I won’t bore you with) they can’t currently give me insight into student requests - which would have been my starting point! I’ll definitely be repeating my intensive 1-day course on novel writing and probably the sessions on self-publishing. I was thinking of offering a short one called ‘Getting it done!’ About productivity/ procrastination/ plotting, etc. So… my question is, if someone was offering classes very close to your home, what would you love to see on the prospectus? I’m sure we’re a varied bag of confidence, skills, backgrounds, and experience here, so I’d really appreciate any thoughts! I also realise some things may be beyond my own skillset (always learning) but without boring you with my whole CV, I’m happy to take any ideas for reflection. Courses are face-to-face and can be pretty much any length, but intensive Saturday ones work better much better for my schedule. NB. I can assure you I’m not trying to sell you anything - unless, in the extremely unlikely event that you live on the same tiny island as me off the coast of France! 😁

The Literary Consultancy are offering two free sessions ‘for writers on lower incomes who have not had access to professional development opportunities’. It’s a self-identifying process and they just ask people only attend if they legitimately feel they’re in this demographic. I thought I’d share as the hosts look to be knowledgeable. Pitching Non Fiction 26th May 6-7pm BST Join Agent, publicist and former Publicity Director of Faber & Faber Anna Pallai as we go through top tips about how to pitch your full length creative non fiction project with confidence. Register below using the password FreeReads26 https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/event/pitching-non-fiction/ Pitching Fiction 28th May 6-7pm BST Join literary agent and managing director at the Ampersand Agency Jamie Cowen for top tips on how to pitch your novel. Register below using the password FreeReads26 https://literaryconsultancy.co.uk/event/pitching-fiction/

Just received feedback from a different competition I entered. It was the same piece as I entered here, and was also waitlisted for Harper Collins Author Academy last month. I was absolutely disgusted by the completed disinterest shown by the reader/s and there was no attempt at finding positives in the extract. I don't usually grumble about stuff, but really the feedback was practically an insult. Compared to Issy's feedback, it was chalk and cheese! Anyone else had this from other competitions? It was a national one, so no excuse.

Hi ive written part of a crime thriller its currently at 15k words. It kind of has 2 or 3 mini storys should I keep going for a full novel or to people prefer shorter stories now