Here are ten links we've seen that are worth sharing.

David Ireland's play Cyprus Avenue was shown on BBC Four recently. It's on the BBC iPlayer for another two weeks. You can also listen to David Ireland on a recent episode of the Putting It Together podcast.

American Theatre has released their list of the top 20 most produced playwrights of 2019/20 in America  Lauren Gunderson regains the no 1 position. Here's the 10 most produced plays. 

Wendy Erskine speaks to Edge Hill University about short story writing. My process is always similar.  I think about the story for about four weeks without writing anything down.  I’ll consider the characters, the shape of it, the sentiment, the dynamic.  I’ll have it on my mind a lot.  I compare it to having coins in my pocket, turning them over and over, considering what I am going to buy.  The anticipation is enjoyable. And then I’ll write the story quite quickly and it will possibly be double the length that I actually require.  Then, and this is probably the most significant stage, I look really carefully at what I have done and see what is important.

Crafting a good opening sentence in a short story by Peter Jordan on theshortstory.co.uk.

There's currently a campaign to put up a statue of playwright Joe Orton in his hometown of Leicester. In one of the best crowdfunding rewards we've seen, for £5,000 Kenneth Cranham will come to your house for an hour. Sir Ian McKellen has made a video in support.

The New York Times presents the Habits of Highly Effective Writers. Novelist Ruth Ware, “My desk faces a blank wall, which is deliberate, because I prefer to make sure the pictures in my head are more interesting than the view in front of me.”

Most people these days will write their plays, novels, scripts etc on a computer, but some people prefer to write longhand in notebooks with pens or pencils. In this 2011 article from The Guardian novelist Lee Rourke explains the benefits. In the Booklist Reader in 2014 Daniel Kraus looked at the number of authors who preferred this method, they all provided examples of their longhand work. In 2006 Neil Gaiman spoke to Time Out about writing longhand.

Neil Gaiman's website has a wealth of advice and a good chat on it. Including this bit on being asked where he gets his ideas from. You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it. This is something he also covers in his excellent Masterclass.

Another site with a lot of advice about the creative process as well as a number of other things is Nick Cave's Red Hand Files. Here he is answering a question about creativity. I have rarely sat down at my desk with something to say, other than I am ready. The sitting comes first, turning up with a certain alertness to possibility. Only then does the idea feel free to settle. 

Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode have a brilliant range of insightful film reviews on their YouTube channel. Their latest tackles all the Joker controversy. 

 

The best of the writing and theatre related Twitter threads we noticed in September.

Kerry Hudson asks writers for their number one tip. Lots of suggestions in this one. A couple of spin-offs as well.

Writer Kevin Carr tweets a thread about barriers to a writing career. This does also evolve into something else, so worth a read.

Bizzy Coy on what freelancers can do to help each other.

Single quotes or double quotes? asks Chris Rosser.

We're back at the Gilded Balloon on Rose Street, Edinburgh on Wednesday 6th November with six new short plays. Tickets are £5 and you can get them on the Gilded Balloon website.