Are there any good websites, groups or guilds out there which help or give advice to aspiring writers?
There are writers groups all over the country. Just ask your local library or find out on the net. Norwich has something called the New Writing Partnership which encourages new talent www.newwritingpartnership.org.uk but this is mainly for aspiring professionals. There Arts Council initiatives all over the country. School magazines are a good place to start for younger people. Make your own little books. Keep them. They can be a lovely reminder when you are older. What advise would you give all the young aspiring writers out there? Keep writing! And try to remember that stories are never about everything being all right. Stories start with problems which in real life are not always easy to solve. But you can make anything happen on the page. Words are magic. They conjure up characters and worlds. They make pictures in the mind. With words, and lots of imagination, you can work miracles. It’s a good idea to use your own life as a starting point, then to be inventive with it. www.joycedu