Pat Boran

Creative writing can be a lonely activity. Sit down to it and, even in a crowded room, you're on your own. To write is, in a sense, to explore that solitude. But if you'd welcome a supportive, encouraging and by times challenging companion, this is the book for you: a new guide for writers, poets, as well as reading and creative writing groups around the country.

How do writers practice? What do they do to warm up? When they have no ideas, do they write at all?

Whether you belong to a writing workshop running low on steam, or you're struggling to continue working on your own, this book offers a wide range of games and exercises to help stimulate you in your writing.

In three main sections covering The Raw Material, Poetry and Fiction, prize-winning poet and fiction writer Pat Boran takes a hands-on approach to the creative writing process. Through some 200 pages of games, exercises and challenges, he not only explains many of the techniques and central concepts of creative writing, but he also shows how these can be put to work in your writing.

Written by former Rattlebag presenter and acclaimed poet Pat Boran, this is the first creative writing guide of its kind. Offering all the advice and tips of the classroom, the book is aimed for use both in the creative writing forum and at home.

Accessible, with exercises and style guides, this unique book is the best starting place for anyone setting out on the writing road.

ISBN: 9781904301714; B PB; 200 pp; March 2005