Jericho Writers: Review of an Inspired and Comprehensive Online Resource for Writers

Jericho Writers is a resource that has emerged from The Writers Workshop, an online resource masterminded and instigated by Harry Bingham a highly successful crime author, who, along with his own writing career, is dedicated to providing exhaustive resources for writers.

Jericho Writers takes its name from Harry Bingham’s location, which is Jericho, an area of Oxford. I must admit that my first thought when I saw the new name of his online resource was the lyrics of the Negro Spiritual: “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho And the walls came a-tumbling down.”

The irony of course, is that for many writers, it’s a very good image of the writing journey: we are indeed fighting a battle, and as for the walls which must come tumbling down, well, I think we may all have our different ideas of what they symbolise for writers.

I first came upon Harry’s online resource The Writers Workshop several years ago, and have used some of its resources, seeking feedback on my manuscripts from two of their editors. In addition, I’ve sought and received advice by email; I’ve studied and used the agents submission kit; and have also watched some of Harry’s videos. In particular I found one on “The inner world of your characters” excellent and very helpful as I self-edited “A Passionate Spirit”. Over the course of time I have come to respect Harry Bingham’s voice as one of the few unfailingly sensible, honest and realistic voices online that offer encouragement and genuine practical help to authors.

Those who’ve heard my author talks will know that during my talk I cover the subject of “The ups and downs of the writing life” and in feedback I’ve discovered that the details I give are often new to my audiences. Many of them had previously had no idea whatsoever of the difficulty of writing a strong, saleable novel, and of getting it published.

 

One of the points I make is about the support and advice available to authors. I specifically refer to  “advice given online to authors.” I have learned that in the writer’s journey there are many voices online, who all want to give advice to you as an author. And one of the most common themes is this. “How I became enormously successful, and sold x thousands of books, and how you can do the same if you follow my advice.”

There’s one fatal flaw to all this barrage of advice: human beings are unique, and every person’s individual journey is different. And what works for one person will not necessarily work for another.

I have come to think of these people as “Siren Voices.”  In Homer’s The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus was sailing home across the Mediterranean from the Trojan War.

He came to a region of the ocean where the sirens could be heard. The sirens’ hauntingly beautiful voices would lure sailors to their doom on the rocks. So what did Odysseus do? He stopped up all the ears of his sailors, and he lashed himself to the mast. Thus he sailed past the sirens, beyond the range of their voices, saving his own life and the lives of all of his sailors.

And this is what I have learned to do, with the siren voices of the internet.

However, I can recommend Harry Bingham to you as one voice on the internet which is genuine, down-to-earth, full of integrity, and belongs to someone who has a passionate commitment to helping fellow-authors navigate the treacherous seas of the writing journey, and achieve their goals.

For those of us who are innately suspicious of yet more emails full of advice and handy hints and tips and resources that they claim are going to help us and transform our lives, let me add this: Harry is also very funny. And as far as I’m concerned, that is the one saving grace that probably first made me give him my time and my attention, and has continued to do so. I can be shaking with laughter as I read his observations on the publishing world (in particular, most recently, his remarks about vanity presses and one in particular which he called Austin Macawful). Because his observations are funny, they’re also true; and that works in reverse too, especially in the world of writing and publishing. And the things he talks about, I recognise. It’s happened to me.

So here’s a review of Harry’s new incarnation of The Writers Workshop: Jericho Writers.

This is a most amazingly comprehensive resource; as I looked through it I realised that it truly does cover everything an author might need at any stage of his or her journey, including the equivalent of a Creative Writing MA.

Jericho Writers itself is a club which you pay an annual fee to join; and then you have the run of of four main services: Editing; Courses; Events; and a Library of Articles. The full range of what’s on offer can be overwhelming; and you may find yourself thinking, where shall I start? What would be most helpful for me, at my stage? In that case you are welcome to send them an email and explain your situation and they will advise you on what might be the best place to start. For myself, on joining Jericho Writers and looking through their resources, I found myself thinking there was so much I wanted to do, how would I handle the time-management aspect of it?

Well, it’s all a matter of your priorities and the perceived value to you of what’s on offer. And that’s something you have to ask yourself and carefully consider as you read through the website.

Under the category of EDITING, you’ll find several levels of manuscript assessment: the entire manuscript; or an agent submission pack review of your synopsis, query letter and first 5,000 words; or an assessment of your first 8,000 words; or an assessment of children’s picture books, and screenplays and scripts. They also offer copy-editing, essential for self-publishers.Each service attracts an appropriate fee and you can look through them all to decide what would be best for you.

Under COURSES  I was most impressed to discover Daren King’s Complete Novel course – this is one-to-one, online, and with no fixed duration, and works as a personal mentorship with Daren King, bestselling adults’ and children’s author. You will get prose tutorials, constant feedback and advice, will work through Drafts 1-3 with Daren, and when the book is strong enough you will also get help to reach an agent with it. Of course, this is at a significant cost. Yet some have said it’s “like an MA in Creative Writing, only better”.  I can well understand that for writers in a certain position, who are genuinely considering a Creative Writing MA, this might be a better, more appropriate and more effective choice.

Under COURSES, the website also includes video courses of different types, to meet varied requirements; whether that be “Snapshot” advice, filmed masterclasses, or training in Self-publishing.

There is also an AGENTMATCH database to make the task of finding an agent easier, and in addition a forum called The Jericho Townhouse.

Under EVENTS, Jericho Writers runs two different one-day events at Regents College, London: one on Getting Published and one on How To Write. They also run an annual Festival of Writing which brings together authors, publishers and agents over a weekend. This includes one-to-one meetings between authors and agents, and it is claimed that often a writer will come away having attracted the interest of an agent, and subsequently landing a publishing deal and a successful literary career.

Finally, the LIBRARY on the site contains articles with good practical advice, on such subjects as How to Write a Book; How To Get Ideas; How Many Words in a Novel; How To Plot, etc.

So do  find Jericho Writers here, have a look through the website, and see if it might be what you as a writer need at this stage of your writing journey.