Crime stabbed fiction (by Jonathan Wolstenholme via Points de Fuite)

We understand a whole lot of people were given copies of The Exercise Book for Christmas. What a wise and thoughtful gift! Some shops even sold out all their copies. Maybe we have a hit on our hands . . .

For our first post of 2012, and instead of an exercise, here are some web links given by Bill Manhire in his introduction (the opening section of his introduction is here.)

Kenneth Goldsmith’s courses in ‘uncreative writing’ may interest some readers.

Creative writing tips from Edgar Allan Poe (well, maybe).

Mr Poe’s helpful thoughts come courtesy of the Gotham Writers’ Workshop’s website, which also includes very different kinds of advice from the likes of Jack Kerouac, George Orwell and Kurt Vonnegut.

Then there are the Guardian’s Rules for Writing Fiction. The Guardian pointed to Elmore Leonard’s widely circulated rules for writers, and asked a vast range of others – from Neil Gaiman and Zadie Smith to P.D. James and Ian Rankin – for their advice.

And for those feeling battered by writerly advice, here is Ashleigh Young’s nifty reworking of the Guardian’s Rules, from whose blog we lifted the image above.