Story: The Heart of the Matter

What can't we get enough of? Food? Sex? Alcohol? Stories? We devour hundreds of stories every day in television news, magazines, novels, movies, jokes, plays, newspapers, and we never get tired of them. Stories always leave us hungry for more.

In this book, 15 established writers explore their own practice and ideas about storymaking. These novelists, journalists, poets, screenwriters, playwrights, documentary makers, oral storytellers and stand-up comics are also leading academics in Creative Writing and Journalism in UK universities. What do they have in common? Story.

Their examinations of storymaking shed new light on what different forms, media and genres have in common. These writers don't tell you how to write a play, or novel or poem, but they offer personal insights which are the fruit of years of experience. They share some of the ways to create that all-important connection between the idea and the audience - how to make the magic happen.

About the author:

Maggie Butt worked first as a journalist, then entered BBC television where she directed and produced features and documentaries. She has had many poems published in magazines and literary journals and in 2003 her poetry pamphlet Quintana Roo was published by Acumen. She is now the head of Media at Middlesex University, London, where she has taught Creative Writing since 1990. She lives in north London with her husband and her two daughters.

184  pages

ISBN: 978-1-871551-93-8