Calling Young Writers

Katherine has just returned from a secret authors’ conference in a magical English shire. This is the view from her room. She’s not allowed to breathe a word of what went on behind closed doors, but she has returned full of crazy ideas that mean I’m going to have to work pretty hard in future, I can tell you!

My first task is to make this blog more useful and interesting for young writers. I’ve already posted a link to the excellent Young Writer magazine, which once ran a serial based on “Crystal Mask”, but people often ask Katherine to read their stories, too. So the Muse has decided to make the enchanted mists into a space where you can share your work with other readers (if you’re brave enough!) and gather comments about it. The Muse will also comment, and maybe even other professional authors and book people who read this blog, you never know. The idea is to get some feedback on your work and have a bit of fun with your writing. From time to time, the Muse will also include posts with writing exercises to help get you inspired.

To get things going, THE MUSE NEEDS YOUR STORIES AND POEMS! If you are under 18 and would like to publish your work on this blog for feedback, then please send a maximum of 1000 words pasted into your email (not as an attachment) with your pen name to the Unicorn. If you’ve written a novel or a longer story, then it might be possible to post this up in several episodes, but it depends how many people send in their work... we muses like to be fair.

ARTWORK is also very welcome - whether to accompany your story/poem or inspired by one of Katherine's books! Please send this as a .jpeg or .gif picture file attached to your email (keep the original for yourself).

Please note:
1. Publication on this blog does not stop you from sending or publishing your work elsewhere.
2. There is no payment.
3. You keep copyright in your work at all times.
4. If you also interested in a critique/edit of your story, please let the Muse know. This might be possible (for stories only) as a follow-up post.

Interested? Then spread the word and let’s get writing…