Emma Darwin
@emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social
Writes fiction & non-fiction, teaches, blogs @ This Itch of Writing https://linktr.ee/emmadarwinwriter
Reposted by Emma Darwin
An excellent article by @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social on the concept of psychic distance in #writing! bsky.app/profile/emma....
November 26, 2025 at 11:33 AM
An excellent article by @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social on the concept of psychic distance in #writing! bsky.app/profile/emma....
Still time to sign up. Do join us!
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Wed 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
November 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Still time to sign up. Do join us!
Reposted by Emma Darwin
This, from @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social's The Bruegel Boy, perfectly encapsulates how I feel reading her book...
November 25, 2025 at 11:00 AM
This, from @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social's The Bruegel Boy, perfectly encapsulates how I feel reading her book...
We allk know that the most important stage of writing is actually the re-write: join us at Blue Pencil tomorrow, Tues 26 at 6pm to find out what that *really* means., and what to do about it!
Revising & Editing - November 25 - Blue Pencil Agency | Literary Consultancy
Craft Tutorials: Revising & Editing – a Zoom workshop with writing tutor Emma Darwin, November 25, 6:00 - 8:00 pm GMT.
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 8:14 PM
We allk know that the most important stage of writing is actually the re-write: join us at Blue Pencil tomorrow, Tues 26 at 6pm to find out what that *really* means., and what to do about it!
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Wed 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
November 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Wed 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
November 24, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
Reposted by Emma Darwin
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 6:
The trad publishing industry has many flaws. But if you want to be part of it, you have to understand it. That means: gatekeeping; filling in forms; accepting editorial advice. Don't blame the system if you don't get exactly what you want. Embrace it, or step away.
The trad publishing industry has many flaws. But if you want to be part of it, you have to understand it. That means: gatekeeping; filling in forms; accepting editorial advice. Don't blame the system if you don't get exactly what you want. Embrace it, or step away.
November 24, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 6:
The trad publishing industry has many flaws. But if you want to be part of it, you have to understand it. That means: gatekeeping; filling in forms; accepting editorial advice. Don't blame the system if you don't get exactly what you want. Embrace it, or step away.
The trad publishing industry has many flaws. But if you want to be part of it, you have to understand it. That means: gatekeeping; filling in forms; accepting editorial advice. Don't blame the system if you don't get exactly what you want. Embrace it, or step away.
Oh, this, SO much this! Henceforth, I’m following Lisa in calling it “mysterioso syndrome” lisapoisso.substack.com/p/is-your-su...
Is your "suspense" creating sheer confusion?
On overly "mysterious" openings, marketing support from publishers, the D&D approach to character development, and excellent habits for writers—plus upcoming seats in my coach-led workshopping group.
lisapoisso.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Oh, this, SO much this! Henceforth, I’m following Lisa in calling it “mysterioso syndrome” lisapoisso.substack.com/p/is-your-su...
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
November 24, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
Last chance to get your question in, for a chance to win an Itch post all about it, plus an exclusive Itch of Writing Notebook. The comments will close at 10pm UK time.
Heads up for all Itch of Writing subscribers and supporters: it’s our second birthday, and I’m celebrating with a competion. Enter before Mon 24 Nov for your chance to win your question answered as a full Itch of Writing post, and an exclusive Itch of Writing notebook! buff.ly/1RjLLxe
November 24, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Last chance to get your question in, for a chance to win an Itch post all about it, plus an exclusive Itch of Writing Notebook. The comments will close at 10pm UK time.
A writer's intelligence can be whatever it take to write good books, and certainly being a magpie snapper up of unconsiderd trifles can be helpful. But then, so can serious thinking.
But haphazard amateur *books* are not good books.
But haphazard amateur *books* are not good books.
“I’m not a serious thinker. I’m a writer: that’s very different. I think a writer’s intelligence has to be alive, has to be incomplete. It has to carry contradiction. It has to be sort of haphazard and amateur.”
- Benjamín Labatut
- Benjamín Labatut
November 24, 2025 at 10:11 AM
A writer's intelligence can be whatever it take to write good books, and certainly being a magpie snapper up of unconsiderd trifles can be helpful. But then, so can serious thinking.
But haphazard amateur *books* are not good books.
But haphazard amateur *books* are not good books.
Reposted by Emma Darwin
Narrative Setup and Psychic Distance in The Bruegel Boy emmadarwin.substack.com/p/narrative-... @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social #writing #WritingCommunity
Narrative Setup and Psychic Distance in The Bruegel Boy
Five examples of how I used my favourite writing tools of all in my new novel
emmadarwin.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Narrative Setup and Psychic Distance in The Bruegel Boy emmadarwin.substack.com/p/narrative-... @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social #writing #WritingCommunity
Brand new on This Itch of Writing for everyone: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
November 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Brand new on This Itch of Writing for everyone: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
One of the things that's such fun about doing events for The Bruegel Boy is having such gorgeous images to work with! Wonderful evening chaired by Lucy Popescu for The Author's Club. I'm probably saying, "Gil modelled for St Michael, there in the middle, and both of the angels in white dresses..."
November 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
One of the things that's such fun about doing events for The Bruegel Boy is having such gorgeous images to work with! Wonderful evening chaired by Lucy Popescu for The Author's Club. I'm probably saying, "Gil modelled for St Michael, there in the middle, and both of the angels in white dresses..."
Still thrilled at Antonia Senior’s review of The Bruegel Boy in The Times, Book of the Month and top of their list of the best historical fiction of 2025: vividly creates a rich, lost world and dives fearlessly into deep themes. buff.ly/73oYYWR
November 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Still thrilled at Antonia Senior’s review of The Bruegel Boy in The Times, Book of the Month and top of their list of the best historical fiction of 2025: vividly creates a rich, lost world and dives fearlessly into deep themes. buff.ly/73oYYWR
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
November 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Brand new for everyone on This Itch of Writing: thinking about how the fundamental decisions about narrative setup and psychic distance work together - and using The Bruegel Boy as a real-world example.
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
buff.ly/SbEzkgq, linktree in bio or search this itch of writing substack
This is a lovely piece!
John Masefield’s The Midnight Folk is probably my favourite children’s book. I tried to explain why.
The Midnight Folk: memory, magic, and consolation
The private griefs and terrors behind John Masefield's classic children's book
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:50 AM
This is a lovely piece!
Found myself thinking about this all over again, as The Bruegel Boy was launched with so many family there...
“What glowed at me with such potency that I would willingly immerse myself for all the months of writing slog?” @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social on writing about family (and taking inspiration from 16th century painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder).
Emma Darwin on Writing About Her Family and Finding Inspiration in Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The brute reality of a professional writer’s life is a Venn diagram of intersecting circles: i) what you’re capable of writing, ii) what you can sell, and iii) what you want to write. Every novel n…
buff.ly
November 19, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Found myself thinking about this all over again, as The Bruegel Boy was launched with so many family there...
Reposted by Emma Darwin
This Itch of Writing: Ten Better Ideas than "Write What You Know" ~ and why "Write what you know" is nonetheless worth bearing in mind emmadarwin.substack.com/p/ten-better... @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social #writing #WritingCommunity
November 14, 2025 at 1:06 PM
This Itch of Writing: Ten Better Ideas than "Write What You Know" ~ and why "Write what you know" is nonetheless worth bearing in mind emmadarwin.substack.com/p/ten-better... @emmadarwinwriter.bsky.social #writing #WritingCommunity
Heads up for all Itch of Writing subscribers and supporters: it’s our second birthday, and I’m celebrating with a competion. Enter before Mon 24 Nov for your chance to win your question answered as a full Itch of Writing post, and an exclusive Itch of Writing notebook! buff.ly/1RjLLxe
November 17, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Heads up for all Itch of Writing subscribers and supporters: it’s our second birthday, and I’m celebrating with a competion. Enter before Mon 24 Nov for your chance to win your question answered as a full Itch of Writing post, and an exclusive Itch of Writing notebook! buff.ly/1RjLLxe
Reposted by Emma Darwin
'Through Marguerite’s searing internal monologue, Arnopp offers not just a glimpse into the psyche of a warrior queen, but a fully realized portrait of grief transmuted into memory and rage.' ##Review
http://mybook.to/mhhnf
##HistoricalFiction ##WOTR ##Medieval
http://mybook.to/mhhnf
##HistoricalFiction ##WOTR ##Medieval
November 17, 2025 at 7:00 AM
'Through Marguerite’s searing internal monologue, Arnopp offers not just a glimpse into the psyche of a warrior queen, but a fully realized portrait of grief transmuted into memory and rage.' ##Review
http://mybook.to/mhhnf
##HistoricalFiction ##WOTR ##Medieval
http://mybook.to/mhhnf
##HistoricalFiction ##WOTR ##Medieval
All writers know that the most important stage of writing is actually the re-write. Join me on 25 November, 6-8pm, @bluepencilagency to find out what that REALLY means, and just how much better you can make your writing when you know how to tackle this crucial stage:
Revising & Editing - November 25 - Blue Pencil Agency | Literary Consultancy
Craft Tutorials: Revising & Editing – a Zoom workshop with writing tutor Emma Darwin, November 25, 6:00 - 8:00 pm GMT.
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 9:02 PM
All writers know that the most important stage of writing is actually the re-write. Join me on 25 November, 6-8pm, @bluepencilagency to find out what that REALLY means, and just how much better you can make your writing when you know how to tackle this crucial stage:
Reposted by Emma Darwin
Brand new for supporters on This Itch of Writing: have you been told to “write what you know”? Was it unhelpful? Limiting? Pointless? I’ve come up with TEN better ideas about writing than “write what you know”... yet that apparently unhelpful adage is still worth bearing in mind: buff.ly/OTT9Zlc
November 14, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Brand new for supporters on This Itch of Writing: have you been told to “write what you know”? Was it unhelpful? Limiting? Pointless? I’ve come up with TEN better ideas about writing than “write what you know”... yet that apparently unhelpful adage is still worth bearing in mind: buff.ly/OTT9Zlc
Beyond thrilled at Antonia Senior’s review of The Bruegel Boy in The Times, Book of the Month and top of their list of the best historical fiction of 2025: vividly creates a rich, lost world and dives fearlessly into deep themes. buff.ly/73oYYWR
November 15, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Beyond thrilled at Antonia Senior’s review of The Bruegel Boy in The Times, Book of the Month and top of their list of the best historical fiction of 2025: vividly creates a rich, lost world and dives fearlessly into deep themes. buff.ly/73oYYWR
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Weds 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y
November 15, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Writing historical fiction? @sanjida.kay and I have taught 1000s of writers: join us for a masterclass! 7-8.30 pm GMT Weds 26 November. Through the lens of our own fiction we'll explore what makes historical fiction resonate. research vs storytelling, characters, voice & pitfalls: luma.com/0m0ddh4y