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Dear Reader

Faced with a blank page, or the prospect of finally giving in to your urges and putting your work out there for the world to see, many of us struggle one way or another to get started with writing. But there’s nothing to it. There’s no magic formula. You just start. Strip away all the psychological obstacles and there really is nothing stopping you, and one of the best things about being your writer is that you truly are in charge of your own projects, but a little planning can go a long way to help you build walls, instead of running headlong into them. If you’re struggling to get started, Patsy Collins encourages you this month to just get on with it (p12), and Simon Hall offers valuable advice on casting your net wide to find the writing style and approach that suits you (p14),

A WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR

worth considering by all of us, however experienced, to find new ideas and approaches. Further down the writing line (or for the very ambitious beginners!), James McCreet helps you lay a solid foundation for your novel

Editor: Jonathan Telfer Email: [email protected]

(p16) and Simon Whaley explores how, when and why to get an agent (p28).

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do bear in mind a much more widespread problem than the fear of getting

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So don’t delay. Get off the starting line and we’ll help you to The End. But started: you won’t want to stop.

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When you have finished with this magazine please recycle it

DR CLIVE BROOKS

HELEN WALTERS

SIMON HALL

has been writing since 1985. Over a long career, he has had several hundred articles published in a wide variety of magazines, and is the author of twelve books that span fiction and nonfiction genres. His recent PhD examined the effects of technology on modern life. Having concluded his business interests, he now writes full time.

writes short stories for magazines including Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly, The Weekly News, The People’s Friend, Best, Yours and Take A Break Fiction Feast. She also writes short non-fiction pieces, mostly real-life or nostalgia inspired, and on writing-related subjects, and teaches writing to adults in a number of different settings. Her website is: www.helenmhunt.co.uk

is a crime fiction author and a BBC Television news correspondent. His novels are about a TV reporter who covers crimes. He has contributed short stories to a range of magazines and is also a tutor in creative writing, teaching at writers’ schools such as Swanwick, Fishguard and Winchester, on cruise ships and overseas. His website is: www.thetvdetective.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Warners Group Publications plc. No responsibility can be taken for artwork and photographs in postage. Whilst every care is taken of material submitted to the editor for publication, no responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage. Email submissions preferred. All mss must be typewritten and accompanied by a sae for return. © Copyright Warners Group Publications plc. ISSN 0964-9166 Warners Group Publications plc are not able to investigate the products or services provided by the advertisers in Writing Magazine nor to make recommendations about them. Readers should make sensible enquiries themselves before sending money or incurring substantial costs in sending manuscripts or other material. Take particular care when responding to advertisers offering to publish manuscripts. While few conventional publishers seek a financial contribution from authors, many such advertisers do seek a payment (sometimes thousands of pounds) and readers should remember there can be no guarantees such publishing arrangements will prove profitable. There have been cases in which subsidy publishers have provided unduly optimistic reports on manuscripts to encourage authors to commit themselves to financial contribution. Readers should be aware of this and should not allow their judgement to be blurred by optimism. Manuscript advisory services do normally charge for their time, but agents normally do not (although some agents do quote a reading fee). While Warners Group Publications plc cannot act as a licensing or accreditation authority, they will investigate complaints against advertisers. Complainants must, however, send complete documentation and be willing for their names to be disclosed.

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NOVEMBER 2016

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A PUBLISHING DEAL

In this issue ... INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

61 £250 in cash prizes and publication in or latest subscriberonly short story competitions

ON THE COVER 30 Beat the bestsellers The style and technique of Katie Fforde

44 Shelf life: Dinah Jefferies The bestselling novelist shares her five favourite reads

WRITING LIFE

74 Crime file: Laura McHugh Setting is vital for the mystery author

23 Beginners: Burning up with ideas A radical clear-out can be just the thing to generate fresh ideas

86 Author profile: Robert Bryndza The million-selling WM subscriber discusses what’s behind the success of his thrillers

24 Writing life: Unplugged Check out these hardware and software options for distraction-free writing

108 My writing day: Victoria Fox The bestselling bonkbuster author conjures sultry scenarios as an antidote to domesticity

34 Talk it over: Food for thought Bad eating habits and snacking are constant risks for home writers, so follow our advice to stay healthy in body and mind

38 Get writing: And now for something completely different Step back to see things in a

STAR INTERVIEW THE £1M SELF-PUBLISHER

different way and reinvigorate your writing 46 Writing life: Hell is other people Some writers’ groups are better than others but most (hopefully!) manage to avoid what Lora Bishop found at her local session

Teaching himself the process from scratch, Adam Croft has grown to be one of the UK’s most successful self-publishers

PUBLISHING 10 Grumpy Old Bookman Our champion of wired writing is delighted to discover something of a renaissance in the world of printed literary magazines 12 From the other side of the desk It’s time writers took off the rose-tinted spectacles, says literary agent Piers Blofeld 28 The business of writing: Agent attraction Attracting an agent can be the start of a long business relationship, so learn more about the wooing process

110 Notes from the margin Researching online romance puts our columnist in a murderous mood

WRITERS’ NEWS

78 Technology for writers: Write your own adventure A runaway success in the early days of home computing, the text-based adventure game is enjoying a resurgence on modern mobile devices. Here’s how to get started

p4 contents.indd 4

21 A publishing deal with The Book Guild and a £1,000 advance in our exclusive competition

39 £500 in cash prizes and publication in our latest open short story competitions

26 How I got published Debut children’s author Martin Stewart

NOVEMBER 2016

WIN!

27 A place at Iceland Writers Retreat including flights and accommodation worth £1,500

11 On writing: William Golding

4

See page 11

88 Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:37

page 11

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER

St rtionugt

12 The starting line How to get yourself off to a great start as a writer

14 Pick and mix Help yourself at the writer’s buffet and find the flavour that most suits you 16 Novel foundations Start solidly or your story will collapse later, says James McCreet, revealing the planning process of his current novel-in-progress

NON-FICTION

FICTION 48 Under the microscope The first 300 words of a reader’s manuscript are subjected to a forensic micro-critique

70 Writing for children: Mistakes to avoid Part two of our mini-series looks at how not to scupper your children’s book with its submission package

50 Fiction focus: The big picture Planning an epic? Then you need to start thinking on a grand scale

ON THE COVER

76 Fantastic realms: Feel the fear Understand how fear works to keep readers on the edge of their seats

68 Short story masterclass: The masters’ point of view Handle narrative viewpoint in your fiction by learning from the best

ON THE COVER 72 Feature writing: The front line Writing reportage requires dedication and rock-solid narrative skills 83 Going to market 85 Research tips: Take note Make your research easier with note-taking software

Back soon!

OUT AND ABOUT 32 Get away from your desk Forthcoming events to inspire your writing life

103 Travel writing know-how

COMPETITION WINNERS AND EXERCISES

POETRY 42 Poetry winners: Read the winning entries in our Midsummer Night’s Dream poetry competition 64 Poetry workshop: Skeletons in the cupboard Explore two poems – one classic, one sent by a reader – that illustrate the power of the dramatic monologue

36 Pen pushers: What you don’t say Try these exercises to discover that what you leave out of your writing can be as effective as what you put in

65 Poetry workout Pay careful attention to how your punctuation affects your poetry

37 Train your brain: Red editing pen

59 Circles’ roundup: Game, set and match Playing board games can enhance group members’ writing skills

66 Poetry from A-Z An alphabetic guide through the language of poetry

40 Competition winner: Read the winning entry in our crime story competition

62 Competition winner Read the winning entry in our nostalgia writing competition

AUTHOR EXPERIENCES 52 Subscriber spotlight WM subscribers share their publishing success stories 58 Circles’ roundup Writing groups share their interests and activities 67 Time shift Shifting her setting by just a decade brought subscriber Fiona Veitch Smith’s historical crime novels to life

RESOURCES 6 Miscellany

81 Computer clinic

8 Letters

82 Helpline Your writing problems solved

22 Editorial calendar 35 Novel ideas 80 Writer’s web watch www.writers-online.co.uk

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Game, set and match

OCTOBER 2016

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MISCELLANY

THE WORLD OF

WRITING

Comedy quibbles, the best baddies, romance reimagined, dark days and definining drive... serious matters weighed up in the wide world of writing

Drive to work

Ben Myers, of the New Statesman, reviewing DBC Pierre’s Release the Bats: Writing Your Way Out of It, referred to ‘the age-old question: can creative writing be taught?’ He continued: ‘To which the answer is invariably: well, yes, probably, a bit, to wildly varying degrees of success. To dismiss academic degrees, residential writing courses and writing guides outright is to deny budding writers from all social backgrounds a chance to have a go. Nevertheless, the best a teacher can do is inspire and encourage, or add finesse to any existing talent. Because the real work takes place alone in rooms, day after day, month after month, driven largely by delusional desire – a point DBC Pierre notes here. No one is born a writer: rather, you are shaped by experience, stimulus, ambition. You can’t teach hunger. ‘Nor is writing a science to be broken down to simple formulas, which can render “how to write” books problematic. The only fixed factor is that the novelist crawls to his or her desk to play God. Words are their weapons to be deployed in deadly combinations, and the imagination remains a largely unexplored planet, through which the writer wanders, treading a thin line between brilliant and batshit mental.’

Figures of speech

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Tartan Noir spreads its gloom… Is Scotland’s obsession with dark comedy and dourness turning into an international phenomenon? David Manderson, of the University of the West of Scotland, who has co-authored the book The Glass Half Full with Scottish director Eleanor Yule seems to think so. Pamela Paterson of The Scotsman reported that David Manderson has now started a new study on how the world is becoming more downbeat. The creative writing lecturer, said: ‘We see this side of the Scottish psyche almost every day, from comedies such as Still Game, Limmy and Rab C Nesbitt and films like Filth and Trainspotting, to our prolific Tartan Noir output from the likes of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride and Christopher Brookmyre… ‘And it’s not just here. Nordic Noir is more popular than ever. Hollywood’s films and heroes are getting darker and it’s increasingly hard for anyone who wants to have a “cheery” drama or series commissioned for television.’

Mammy’s boys beat Dad’s Army? The people who run the BBC don’t know what makes ordinary people laugh, claimed Christopher Stevens of the Daily Mail when Mrs Brown’s Boys was voted the best British comedy of the 21st century. ‘Apparently it’s the finest comedy we now have to offer the world: Brendan O’Carroll, dragged up in a wig and cardie, spitting F-words while a crowd of extras mutter “Yes Mammy”and “No Mammy”.’ He invited comparison with real ensemble comedy, such as Dad’s Army, where every personality was distinct. ‘Almost fifty years after the show first screened, we still think of these characters as archetypes – everybody knows someone as pompous as Captain Mainwaring, or as miserable as Private Frazer.’ Christopher wrote: ‘We’re still here, laughing at the classics, gobbling up boxsets of everything from Monty Python to One Foot In The Grave, Citizen Smith to Father

Ted. British comedy writers didn’t leave us behind – modern comedy writers had ‘veered off in terrible directions. We’re just waiting for them to find their bearings and come back to us.’ He recalled that Only Fools And Horses, written by John Sullivan, ran for more than twenty years, and this year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first real British TV sitcom, Hancock’s Half Hour.

26/09/2016 09:37

MISCELLANY

Baddies are good for you Online bookseller The Book People surveyed 1,003 UK mums and dads and found that 33 percent would steer clear of buying books containing frightening characters for their children. A fifth of parents found the Wicked Witch of the West from L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as the scariest of their childhood, with the Child Catcher from Ian Fleming’s Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang in second place. (Although it didn’t escape comment in Miscellany Manors that the Child Catcher was Roald Dahl’s creation for the film and does not appear in the book.) Third was the Big Bad Wolf, ‘in his grandmotherswallowing Little Red Riding Hood incarnation’, fourth the Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl’s The Witches and fifth, and fifth Cruella de Vil, from Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians. But psychologist Emma Kenny said: ‘Being frightened by a book helps forge resilience,’ adding: ‘The world can be a scary place – children will get into situations where they’re told off by teachers, or fall out with friends. Knowing how to confront fear is a good thing. ‘Children are often being wrapped up in cotton wool. Risk and fear are something we need in childhood. We know that people who take risks, in the long term, do better than those who don’t.’

Reimagining romance They have been called patriarchal and formulaic, but an academic is making the case for Mills & Boon romances to be considered as feminist work, revealed Mark Brown, arts correspondent in the Guardian. Val Derbyshire, a doctoral researcher at Sheffield, had said: ‘It is such a shame that they have been so vilified, and that people treat them as trash and the black sheep of the literary family. There really is literary value in them, which is why I continue to read them.’ She added: ‘They are definitely not anti-feminist. These are novels written primarily by women, for women – why would they set out to insult their target audience? It doesn’t make any sense. Instead, they are largely stories of feminist triumph, with the brooding male hero often forced to acknowledge his sexism and change his ways.’ Mills & Boon was created in 1908 by Gerald Mills and Charles Boon, who made romance its principal concern in the 1930s, and went on to publish thousands of easy-reading novels. The company recently announced a fun series of humour books, ‘celebrating the sisterhood from A to Z – with a knowing wink’. Taking their cue from the hugely popular Ladybirds for Grown-Ups, the Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guides will contain ‘vital advice every woman needs’ to survive the modern world on topics such as ‘drunk Ebay-ing’, office fridge etiquette and explaining your job to your parents. They bring together nostalgic black and white archive photographs of 20th century women with witty 21st century commentary from a dynamic writing duo under the pen-name Ada Adverse. Priced at £6.99 each, the Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guide to Working 9 to 5 and The Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guide to Happy Hour will be published on 3 November, with two further titles, The Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guide to Helping Yourself and The Mills & Boon Modern Girl’s Guide to Happy Endings published on 29 December and 26 January respectively.

www.writers-online.co.uk

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TITLE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers – and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue... Write to: Letters to the editor, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD; email: [email protected]. (Include your name and address when emailing letters. Ensure all

STAR LETTER VOCAL LESSON My Mother always said I ‘wouldn’t be told anything’. She was referring to my inability to follow instruction. Thankfully I’ve reached an age where I realise I don’t actually know it all and I’m willing to listen. When I came across Ian Ayris’s practical advice (WM, Oct) I followed his step-by-step instructions to find my inner voice. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of short story ideas I’ve produced as a result. The only problem I have is the inner voice I uncovered sounds a lot like my Mother’s. NICOLA BEDFORD Stalham, Norfolk

The star letter each month earns a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2017, courtesy of Bloomsbury, www.writersandartists.co.uk

TOPSCARE It’s past one o’clock in the morning and Melanie Napthine’s tale (WM, Oct) had me scared witless. As a avid reader of horror and the paranormal, it takes a lot to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but this one did it. Although not stated, we know the unspeakable horror the protagonist is about to discover as the story ends. Stephen King could not have done it better. PAMELA HIBBERT Crowthorne, Berkshire 8

NOVEMBER 2016

p8 Letters.indd 8

letters, a maximum of 250 words, are exclusive to Writing Magazine. Letters may be edited.) When referring to previous articles/letters, please state month of publication and page number.

BABY BOOST Last time I had a baby, I cancelled my subscription to Writing Magazine, reasoning that I simply would not have the time or energy for reading let alone writing. I felt deprived, missed the magazine terribly and hardly did any writing. I’ve just had another baby and this time I’ve kept the subscription. Before I had children, I was too much of a perfectionist. I mistakenly believed that there was one proper way to write and that if you couldn’t find it you would never be any good. The brilliant idea in my head would fall flat and sprawl flaccidly across the paper, frustrating my attempts at translation. I suffered from a paralysis, a fear of writing it wrong. Now, I feel quite blasé when it comes to writing. I think, I will give it a go, I will experiment. I will write the same idea three different ways and see which works best, and then I will keep rewriting. I think of WM as my trusty writing companion. Whenever I am working on something it is there whispering away in my ear, ‘keep on writing… keep on reading… kill your darlings,’ and so I do. Most importantly, it reminds me that where there is a will there is a way. Finding time to write will never be easy but at the same time it will never be impossible either. JENNIE GARDNER Upper Swainswick, Somerset

Feelgood festival Thank you so much for the article about writing conferences and festivals in the September 2016 issue. On a whim, after reading the article, I bought a ticket for NAWGFest and had a fantastic time. As a newbie, and knowing nobody else there, I may have been a bit overkeen. I collected loads of recommendations for books/videos/resources/ retreats, entered the mini tale competition, volunteered for an exciting collaborative writing project that’s taking place next year, got asked to write two articles for the NAWG online magazine, joined two writers’ groups, read out one of my stories to the assembled masses after the gala dinner and got hypnotised to unlock my unconscious creativity. It was fantastic to spend time with other writers, exchanging experiences and encouragement, and having other people really understand what I’m going through with my writing. The conference was incredibly well organised by the tireless committee, and all the workshops I attended were both entertaining and informative. I have come home re-enthused, re-motivated, and with a ton of projects, ideas and opportunities to explore. ANNIE PERCIK Enfield, Middlesex www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 09:44

L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I TO R

INSPIRED BY AUTHORS What an inspirational edition the October issue of WM was. As a disabled author myself (I have Asperger’s Syndrome), it was interesting to read articles by others who are also disabled, especially Robert Laing, who has Asperger’s too. All these authors have made me determined to carry on with my writing and to try to write about my own disability again in non-fiction as well as in fiction. So thank you authors. JULIE DAY London SE23

The power of understanding Robert Laing couldn’t find articles that spoke to him directly on living with Asperger’s, so he decided to write them and help others in the process

A MARK HARDIE

s writers, we are always being problem child, as difficult, told to write about what as lazy, as others, that there was (and stubborn and unable to process still is) a even the ‘lost’ generation of Aspies, out there, simplest of instructions. good and bad. Use things some of whom may still, even you’ve seen on TV, in the now, need street, in your help to come to terms with mind’s eye. Use things you’ve An insider’s voice their own felt. Use apparent differences from things you’ve heard people I had never seen an article, their peer say, both in written by an groups, their friends, their families and context and out. Every writing insider, for the parents who group are so sick, society in general. A generation I have been to, every writing fed up, angry and frustrated who magazine by their need help in making that step from just I have read, every writer I children, because everyone have spoken else’s children getting by to moving on and making with, they have all, at some could do things so easily and point, so simply. a real connection said essentially the same thing with the world. I For their own, everything wasway to me – such a also thought back on a lot in the write from the heart, about gargantuan of the wellsight stand effort. I wanted your own refused to let losing his to show intentioned, but incomprehensible author personal experience. them The debut the mechanics Magson It may be about of Asperger’s from Adrian to me, ‘help’ I’d been given his dreams, he tells the something really deep, intense of pursuing inside, help them ease the during and friction in my formative years by friends, family, personal, you don’t know the parent-child relationship if there is a that they teachers, support workers market for it, but you have may, unknowingly or not, and colleagues. got to get be causing I wanted to show those people this thing right out from inside them how show them and their child publisher.’ or and you. a an to give us advice that would review to a “real” agent that I wanted to write. alternative imagine have the ne might path instead. I wanted be a writer? to get my So why the desire to intended effect and to avoid the ability voice heard. I waswriter SoofI adecided whoforloses making the looking sense to write these articles. a brand ‘It came mostly out same mistakes again. new paying market. I felt forgets the rules that the to spell find time was right to show I feltor couldn’t I had paid find of frustration. I just Mistakes such as giving advice would my dues long enough others why my own, self-developed of punctuation along in the that I considered the lines of ‘watch what you’re T Hamarket. E BU S I N E S Sdoing-freepublished. reviews O coping strategies, such as F W R I T Imany N G books saying it huge obstacle to getting writing down to people’ and expecting the completely satisfying.’ I decided my feelings new good and whose debut Aspie to Hardie, use my having But nottoMark Asperger was bad, had and Broken brings aboth Burned know what they Broken meant. Syndrome asprocedural and worked Mistakes such wherefiction their intended advice had seen police a hook. IBurned to the crime lots year. as explaining a whole task duo of detectives had this of articles for thosebyworking seemed to fail. in one go a More importantly, toJune published Sphere in investigating support and not picking up on the genre, tasked withI needed people with vital tools was fact that Asperger’s. to showhisthem why this may losingI these However, had seen burned inside lots we were not following them colleague’s death,have of articles written happened. problem. and did, hispeople under while only part ofby younger in fact, need the respective car on the sea frontThere explains, than me, ‘I’m Mark task on how has, to particularly theyblind,’ totally have learned over the past by the professional be broken down just a little to cope with of writing has investigation ten years, process further. beenproblem syndrome. an explosion in the field physical Their ‘so thethe I found Mistakes such as giving the standards department. lots of those interesting of research of Asperger’s areas same advice its My issue with difficulties in theand enjoyable doesn’t wantliterature. time and again, when it hadn’t is that the forcethat to read. But,editing, isby that worked the they field itself is in danger of what them seemed to and none of too.’ the first time. Show them reputation damaged really speakBut becoming livesofin Southendhow this had to me swamped anotherwith expert (and, andwho Mark, people But there’s my made me feel. Show them might uncover.sometimes, age (38, since you why certain a his wife, Debbie, certainly not so expert) ask). involving on-Sea with opinions and things weren’t working and strand to the storyline, in the way I needed the voice to get – even more an article of the Aspie fromwas, I felt, in allowed forthis people hasn’t girl released of my importantly – the things that vulnerable young generation (those being a fulldanger of dream possibly gettingtolost. who his were is trying of pursuing born of in the would work, in their place. the care system Iwho late 1970s and would knew her were losingofhis eyesight in Aftercome best other people out time writer. have the death ofthere age understand It may hurt course or anger just before the turn there, to whom I had to reach them creative writing to get this, took ‘I sent it out theamillennium). 2002, he of he admits. out, in in the short term,process,’ friend, Alice.order An article for someone I reasoned, but, course at the to let them an advanced haveknow that they were followed by who had been officers to agents first,ifand only had ‘The two police Writers they read on, they will hewith disabilities strive to achieve thought of when growing which their of not goals know (and on both a daily what basis. are not) I am now agent saw the alone. up as a Open University, miss. My views about getting at and then, as one very different Simon Whaley chats to two writersI needed result, beinfarit not to dismiss abouttohow prove, disability writinga business. to myself andinfluences passed with distinction. enough to bettertheir character of the dead man,’ able to help the Aspie in their and the courses I wrote poetry, lives.asked me to 26 OCTOBER‘During it entirely 2016 explains Mark, ‘but as they My now agent saw short life writing, radio plays and www.writers-online.co submit something else.’ circumstances of.uk uncover the piece enough in it not to stories, and had one short What about the his death, their views change, runnerit won fter the spectacle online after of the Rio so different. p26 Aspergers.indd 26 published insight to I firmly physical writing process? dismiss it entirely andDisability believe us an which gives writes book actually OlympicThe a competition. laptop with Games a that the updeinJaneiro use difference ‘I submit between a to characters.’ own me their asked ‘I only began to write when and short stories comes thethose Paralympic from Games, reader which locations writer and grew a wannabe a screen is how researching When 22/08/2016 forced me to11:04 something else. the MonSter all, it took witharound physicaltwelve you deal text to speech. play. Inathletes a where life’s obstacles.’ his wife is converts his writing, forwith retire far too young from disabilities to complete.’ show the world the internet months Meg an ‘Debbie refers to her help. disability This makes invaluable a silly-hours job. So it what they’re of.advice Not allabout writingas her MonSter, describes has some Hecapable the location to and allows me to type accessible generally because she would be fair to say thatthen edits ‘Don’t get hung uphas multiple sclerosis (MS), – disabilities are physical, however.something Debbie courses, my me, then I imagine – or re-imagine MSmanuscripts. is the root of all my stage At some Prince Harry focused too many. on during this a condition on doing make it suitable for of thewhen I sit down to write.’ central result Itohave the the scene writing. written a that year’s recent to step out Invictus have Games, but of correcting things living nervous system. you will lucky in the submissions very body’s humans, ‘I was The lot aboutincluding for disability, but I’ve which submitofyour workimmune with a disability and creates a range and spelling, environment system attacks the like alsopunctuation had fiction and factual losing challenges on a daily basis. coating surrounding the nerve forgotten since have seem to on Imaterial other subjects behind Yet those determined enough will find fibres, which can interrupt for the detail sight. And published my commercially in a ways to overcome them, and that’s just the messages I have a friend who used scenes, TIPS along the TOP travelling variety of magazines. MS is MARK’S as true for writers with disabilities as it those nerve fibres between the DCI in the Essex Major work as a part atosignificant of my life, is for Paralympic sport stars. Having a brain and the rest of the body. and he kindly verifies team,dominate.’ Incident but it doesn’t disability need writing not aprevent youcourse. from • Take It can even cause damage to three or procedural authenticity.’ for in work the The writer Meg has also to read your work. (Choose people the being a writer, or force tootomany give up askyou nerve fibres themselves. nextlifebook, as yet untitled, • Don’t Mark’sthis exploited experience, writing, but itfour will be might change who the honest). way of governmental What this means is thatgoes theme thecame it, is onshe which is how to write The had many Meg’sathealth Meg you run your Ifwriting business. isn’t working and variesyou’ve on a day use. psychological to day basis, with some • something conspiracy, MonSter and the Rainbow. later Like for many it in a drawer Christopherchuck Nolanit was or put out born with and identity, and days being worse than others. Kingston This experimentation writers’ ideas, the book filled a gap hing journey can be very cerebral palsy and, despite only being The writing-to-publis means her approach to her writing available in 2017. • Grow a thick skin. she’d foundshould in the be market. able to move his head and eyes,ego. went business changes from day to day. to the bruising ‘I wanted to write the book I on to write poetry and novels. His ‘Everything takes more effort than it would have liked to read when I first childhood memoir, Under the Eye of the used to. It randomly messes with .uk my experienced weird symptoms and had www.writers-online.co Clock, won the Whitbread Book of the physical abilities and steals my energy, to cope with other people’s reactions 86 OCTOBER 2016 Year Award in 1987. so I have to manage my resources 19/08/2016 to my changed status. At that time, carefully. The sheer unpredictability there were a lot of misery memoirs Life’s hurdles of the condition complicates even the 86 by disabled people and medical texts p86 Author Profile.indd Meg Kingston, author of The simplest task.’ about illness, but none of these were MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir One of the most debilitating symptoms written to be readable, and none of a Disability (http://writ.rs/ of MS is fatigue, which not only affects told me what I wanted to know. megmonster), points out that every the physical body, but can make thinking Since publication of The MonSter, writer has challenges in their life, not and, therefore, being creative, extremely I have had grateful feedback from just those with physical disabilities. challenging. Despite this, Meg has gone people with various chronic medical ‘All writers have hurdles to overcome. on to develop a flourishing writing conditions, from medical professionals A chronic health problem doesn’t business. She’s a successful independent and people who just wanted to know need to stop you writing. I have a author, her short stories have won more about life at wheelchair height.’ MonSter, while other people have competitions, and she’s also contributed Meg is now in discussions with her kids, different health issues, elderly to publications such as the New Scientist local health board about ways in which parents, demanding jobs, all of which and the Radio Times. Ironically, much of her book can help medical students get steal your precious writing time. All this may not have happened if it hadn’t a wider understanding of the condition writers know how life has a habit of been for her MS condition, which forced and the day-to-day impact it has on ruining their plans. A disability isn’t her to re-evaluate her life. those diagnosed with it.

ILE R P R O Fyou TH know. N E W AU UseOexperiences both

O

CONQUERING CHALLENGES “”

A

Occasionally an article appears in WM that simply lifts one up. I refer to October’s New Author Profile. I had never imagined that blind writers even existed! Here we have Mark Hardie, whose devoted wife acts as his eyes, carrying out research for him, etc. And there’s me regularly moaning about this and that regarding my hitherto unfinished novel, and especially getting the seemingly neverending research completed. This man is an inspiration to us all to simply keep plodding on regardless. I shall cut out the article, pin it above my computer and every time I feel grumpy or fed up, I shall look up at it and remind myself how lucky we writers are who have no disabilities. JEFF ADAMS Swindon, Wiltshire 46

OCTOBER 2016

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THE UK’S BESTSELL

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22/08/2016 11:13

As someone with a disability I enjoyed the article Conquering Challenges (WM Oct). In my thirties I suffered significant hearing loss. I should have been in the prime of my life, propelling my career (in finance) forward and working towards being a manager. Instead I struggled to take simple telephone messages, couldn’t take part in – let alone lead – meetings and my boss called me ‘gormless’. The prospect of not being able to continue working gave me the impetus I needed to start writing. I signed up for WM and after a few hits, but plenty of misses, I saw a request from Pen & Sword for people to write books for the Your Towns and Cities in the Great War series. My hearing means I’ll never be able to interview someone for an article, or join a writing group, but I can write about something I love – history. I pitched Pen & Sword and my book Isle of Man in the Great War was published in 2015. Since then I’ve had a few other articles published, given a talk at a local WI and somehow managed to do a book signing – catching someone’s name is always difficult if you can’t hear correctly. I have also been asked why I wrote the book. There are various answers to that, but the real reason is simple. I admire people who write – they are not ‘gormless’. Inadvertently, WM gave me my self-respect back. Thank you. CAROLINE SMITH Onchan, Isle of Man

ING WRIT I N G M AG A ZINE

Writing

Competition

Special 2017✑

COMP DRIVE

✑

ENTER over 200 competitions WIN £570,000 in writing prize s

Spring – from that very first completion I entered – is printed right there in it. So, have you already left that competition special on the shelf? Thought, what’s the point? It’ll never be me... Ignore that little voice. Go grab it! Start writing! With a little perseverance, yes, you (really, honestly) can do it! NATALIE POYSER Edinburgh EH11

SEE your work in print

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Comp.indd 1

You (really, honestly) can do it! In April, I sat with my Writing Magazine Competition Special. My plan? Enter at least one competition every month for a Special year. For the first week or two, I dilly-dallied. Procrastinated. The comp special almost ended up in the recycling bin many times. But I persevered. My first piece was to for the Win Your Way to Swanwick competition. Despite a broken printer’s best attempt to thwart me, and a last-minute dash to the post box, my story made it in just before the deadline. The thrill of submitting, then expectantly waiting in hope for the results, felt like a prize in itself. So month after month, I returned to my Writing Magazine competition supplement, reminded myself of the deadlines, and persevered with my novels and stories. Six months later: I dash to the nearest Waterstones, and grab Writing Magazine Competition Special off the shelf. The 2017 competition listings magazine – proclaiming ‘you can do it!’ – is already my new bible. I’ve circled and starred numerous competitions. The difference this time? My own prizewinning story 22/08/2016

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CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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poetry

NOVELS

SHORT STORIES

photographs

family histories

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COOKBOOKS

Self-publishing a book is cheaper and easier than you think

biographies

From design to distribution

It’s clearly not desirable that all competition entries are published in a costly anthology bought only by the contributors (Talk It Over, WM, Oct). However, of the 200-plus competitions listed in WM’s Competition Special 2017, only a small number are free (and many of these have criteria as to who can enter – see also Wendy Dranfield’s letter in the same issue). All the other competitions listed in the Special have fees, ranging from £3 to over £30. A writer could easily spend £40 on only four submissions and have nothing to show for it. It’s easy to see the temptation to spend the same amount and have the pleasure of seeing one’s work published. Entry fees have become ubiquitous and prohibitive. LINDA TYLER Banchory, Kincardineshire

YORK PUBLISHING SERVICES LTD Tel: 01904 431213 email: [email protected] www.yps-publishing.co.uk YPS are recommended by the Writers’ and Artists’ YearbookNOVEMBER 2016

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26/09/2016 09:44

GRUMPY OLD BOOKMAN

Litmags live on

Michael Allen may be a champion of wired writing, but he’s pleased to discover something of a renaissance in the world of printed literary magazines

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n the library of a quiet country hotel I recently found something that I had thought was extinct. That something was a literary magazine. The term ‘literary magazine’ is a loose one, but generally speaking it means a small printed booklet, published on a monthly or quarterly basis, featuring book reviews, articles about writers and about the arts generally, and – perhaps most important from a writer’s point of view – short stories. There were never very many of these magazines, and I thought that they had died out long since. But apparently not. The title of my newly discovered magazine is Slightly Foxed. (Foxing is an antiquarian bookseller’s term for the kind of brown age spots which appear on the pages of an old book.) Slightly Foxed is a quarterly; the subscription rate is £40, or £10 for a single issue; so it ain’t cheap. The issue which I saw was the fiftieth, so it has been around a while. The contents consist mainly of short articles about books, many of them published years ago, but ones which the reviewers think are well worth our renewed attention. Slightly Foxed has a website (naturally), but its submissions page makes no mention of short stories; so it’s probably no good sending your latest in for consideration. Nevertheless, an article published in this relatively upmarket journal might well be a good way to publicise a new book of your own, or to catch the eye of an agent or publisher. A few days after my visit to the country hotel, and quite by coincidence, I received an email newsletter from an organisation called ShortStops. (Just Google the name.) This describes itself as ‘getting excited about short stories in the UK and Ireland – in print, online and live.’ And guess what – it also refers to the ‘ever-growing listings of literary magazines that publish short stories’. So apparently the literary magazine, in one form or another, is still alive and well. 10

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The ShortStops list of such magazines runs to about 150, usefully classified as to print, ezine, paying, and so forth. This is a valuable list, and if you’re looking for somewhere to get your story into the public eye, it could take you some time to sort through the 150 possibilities. Personally I just investigated a few at random. I began with Albedo One, listed as print, paying. This turns out to be ‘Ireland’s longest-running and foremost magazine of the Fantastic.’ But you don’t have to be Irish to appear in it. Stories, reviews and interviews. Published between two and three times a year. Ambit I do remember hearing about before, years ago, and in fact it was founded in 1959. It is said to be put together entirely from unsolicited submissions in poetry and short fiction. But they issue a warning: ‘Due to the amount of submissions we receive, we are only able to print about 1 to 3% of the work that comes in.’ Third in my random choices, I come to Brittle Star Magazine. This is a print magazine which, for almost fifteen years, has been publishing ‘scintillating short stories, poetry and articles from new and early-career writers.’ No mention of payment. Speaking of payment, I also noticed that Shooter Literary Magazine takes the view that ‘Far too many magazines and literary journals pay their contributors nothing… Even a small amount of money provides significant encouragement for emerging writers and artists.’ Well, I think we would all agree with that. But the history of magazines suggests that it’s a hard trick to pull off. In fact, my unexpected re-introduction to the small literary magazines of this

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world brings to mind my oft-repeated dictum that, if you wish to spend your life working among books, the best background to have is a substantial private income. In the 19th century, things were different: the literary magazine could reasonably claim to be a power in the land. The Strand magazine, for instance, which was published monthly between 1891 and 1950, had a circulation of about 500,000 per issue, and stayed at that level until 1930; the regular appearance of Sherlock Holmes stories no doubt helped. Another well-known journal of the same type was Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, which ran from 1817 to 1980. In Victorian times, Blackwood’s often published horror fiction, and this is regarded as having been an important influence on the Brontë sisters and Charles Dickens, among others. However, with the advent of cinema and radio, the readers of such commercially successful magazines soon found other forms of entertainment. The circulation figures for these oncepopular magazines began to dwindle, and by the 1920s and ’30s writers were complaining that the short story was ‘unwanted, unprinted, and unwed.’ Argosy, for example, one of the last monthly magazines to publish nothing but short stories and serials, finally gave up the ghost in 1974. But the last ten years have seen significant improvements in printing technology. And this, plus the search facilities of the internet, may perhaps have made it possible for readers to find writers who produce their kind of story. The old-fashioned print magazine might become financially viable again; and writers might even get paid worthwhile fees. But breath should not be held.

Apparently the literary magazine, in one form or another, is alive and well.

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ITLE AGENT OPTIN ION

On writing

From the

OTHE R SIDE OF THE DESK

Tony Rossiter explores great words from great writers

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It’s time writers took off the rose-tinted spectacles, says agent Piers Blofeld

Novelists do not write, as birds sing, by the push of nature. It is part of the job that there should be much routine and some daily stuff on the level of carpentry.

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WILLIAM GOLDING

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f you want to become a published novelist – or, indeed, any other kind of writer – you need to work at it, and that means some kind of writing routine. Exactly what that is, is for you to decide. What suits me may not suit you – and vice versa. It’s an individual thing. The important thing is to establish a routine of some kind – and, importantly, to stick to it. That’s the key. William Golding’s carpentry probably means, above all, editing and rewriting. Many novelists like to begin a writing stint by going over and editing what they have written the previous day. But even if you do that, unless you’re a genius, further editing and rewriting will be needed. Some writers find it difficult to press on to chapter two until they have made chapter one as perfect as they can. But many others find that it’s much better to get the whole thing down, from beginning to end, before they begin any serious editing or rewriting. Completing a first draft, however imperfect it is, can give you a strong sense of achievement. That can set you up to take a fresh look at the whole thing – and to begin serious editing. A writing routine should ideally involve doing some writing every day. If you’re holding down a full-time job, that’s not easy, especially if you have family commitments. It might involve getting up extra-early and writing before you set off for work (that’s how I wrote my first book). If you commute by train, you might be able to write as you travel to work. If you have a lunchbreak, that might give you a little writing time. Or you might be able to work when you get home in the evening – or well into the night, if that’s what suits you. If, try as you may, you simply can’t find any time to write during the week, a few hours of uninterrupted writing at the weekend might be the answer. Experiment and find out, by trial and error, what writing routine works best. Then stick to it, come hell or high water. Like many other things that are worth doing, writing is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.

recent survey tells us that the most desired profession amongst young people in the UK is that of writer. Aside from the fact that I am not quite sure that ‘writer’ really qualifies as a profession (after all what qualifications are required?) it always rather amazes me the degree to which people see being a writer through rose-tinted spectacles. In my job I am sharply aware of the truth in the adage that everyone has a book in them. No dinner party is safe from that special glint in someone’s eye when they discover I am a literary agent. Sheil Land, the agency I work for, receives hundreds of submissions a week from people pursuing the dream of being a published author. I realise there are many terrible jobs in the world. Even being a literary agent, which on the whole I count myself extremely fortunate to be, has many, many moments of frustration and boredom, but being a writer is a long way from being a piece of cake. Most aspiring writers don’t really look much beyond that magical goal of getting published. But for the majority of writers who do have several published works under their belt and who can justifiably call themselves ‘professional’, life as a writer is a whole lot tougher and more gruelling than most people realise. Yes, they don’t have unpleasant bosses to deal with, but the flipside of not having anyone to tell you what to do is that very often there is no one to tell you if you are making a terrible mistake. Writing is lonely, not just because when you are writing you are living very much in your own head, but also because there is no one to tell you that an idea that you think is brilliant in fact stinks the place up. It is also a treadmill. For most authors the expectation is that they write a book a year – and a book that is markedly similar to what they have written before: you can’t suddenly veer into historical fiction or crime if you’ve been writing romance or science fiction. And then, having written your latest novel there’s generally little time to reflect: you are then thrust by your publishers straight into promoting your previous one – a book you may have become heartily sick of – yanked from your comfy solitude into the limelight of radio studios and literary festival stages. Above all writing has an attrition rate that can make working as a Premier League football manager seem positively benign and supportive. But as long as there are JK Rowlings in this world I don’t suppose anyone will listen to me. I just wish I represented one of them.

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g n i t r t S out WRITING LIFE

The starting line Get yourself off to a great start as a writer, with advice from Patsy Collins

The absolute basics To get started as a writer you really only need two things. The first is a way to record your words. Paper is the traditional medium to receive our prose or poetry and a pen is ideal for getting the words onto it. Fortunately both of these are widely available and not too expensive. The other thing you need is enough interest to give it a go. You have that. Okay, that’s really just an assumption on my part, but I’m right, aren’t I? Excellent; you’re all set to start! Get the draft of the short story or opening chapter of your novel down and proudly tell people you’re a writer. ‘But it can’t be that simple, can it?’ I hear you ask. (I’m a writer so it’s okay for me to hear voices, even the imagined voices of readers for an article I’m still in the process of writing.) ‘Don’t I need a fancy desk, creative writing MA, to be able to spell, have an obliging muse and encyclopaedic knowledge, not to mention first-hand experience of everything I might want to write about and industry contacts and a quiet office and lots of free time and a style guide and an agent...?’ No. You don’t. Some of those things might come in useful once you’re writing and submitting work, but to get started you really only need a way to record your words and be willing to have a go.

The exceptions All right, maybe it isn’t always quite that simple. There are people who can’t physically write by hand or simply prefer another method. If that’s you, perhaps you’ll type instead. Maybe you’ll use technology 12

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which converts spoken words into a computer document, or dictate into a device so the words can be typed up later. You might need a sophisticated system which converts eye movements into words (Professor Stephen Hawking has written several books using this method.) They all amount to the same thing – a way to capture your thoughts so that you, or others, may access them later. If you already have something which works, use that. A cheap pen and scrap paper or almost obsolete technology won’t show in the finished product. Neither will gold plate or the latest gadget. The reader only cares about what you’ve written. If you really can’t create so much as a shopping list without extra equipment then buy or borrow it, but I suggest starting with the bare minimum you need in order to record your words. Until you’ve made a start with your writing you don’t know exactly how you’ll want to proceed and won’t be sure which method will suit you. It’ll take up time to master new equipment and meanwhile technology will have moved on.

Getting going So now you really are all set. If you want to be a writer but haven’t actually written anything yet, start now. I mean RIGHT NOW, not after you’ve finished reading this article, or drunk a cup of tea, but now. It doesn’t need to be a lot and it doesn’t need to be any good, but unless you actually write you’ll never become a writer. Okay, so now you’ve got started. (If you haven’t, read those last three

sentences again.) Perhaps that will be enough for you. Some people are perfectly happy jotting down thoughts as they come and never doing more with them than to read them back occasionally. That’s absolutely fine. I’m now going to make another wild assumption – that you’re not one of those people. Judging from the fact you read Writing Magazine, I suspect you’d like to improve as a writer, perhaps have work published, maybe make money. That’s absolutely fine too.

Helping yourself You really will improve just by writing more. As you transfer thoughts to the page, you’ll learn what you enjoy writing and begin to see where your strengths are. Often what we think we’ll want to write isn’t the form or genre we eventually concentrate most of our efforts on. Many novelists, for example, began by writing short stories or with careers as copywriters or as journalists. Once you start writing, you’ll use up all your most obvious ideas and be forced to get properly creative. It seems contradictory, but using our ideas somehow increases rather than reduces those we have in stock for further projects. Holding on to one until we feel we can really do it justice simply prevents new ones forming. Trust me on this. That brilliant plot you’ve been carrying around will not be your only idea, it probably won’t be your best idea, but it is an excellent place to start. Get it written. It’s quite likely that once you begin writing more seriously you’ll

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S TA R T I N G O U T

realise you don’t know how to do something. Exactly how should dialogue be set out? What should we do if we want to write about events happening in two different time periods? Can we keep information from the reader without cheating, or perhaps let them know something our character doesn’t? Being aware of a gap in your knowledge is the first step in learning the answer. Experimentation can help, as can reading well-written, properly edited books. Writers often read differently from normal people. We notice different sentence structures, uses of tenses and point of view (POV), how the author has tackled any issues we ourselves struggle with. At least we do if we pay attention. Sometimes we’ll want to read simply for pleasure. Writers can’t do that; subconsciously we’ll absorb information on spelling, punctuation and grammar at the very least.

Further improvements Useful as writing and reading are, they can only achieve so much. For the biggest improvements in our work we’ll need help in the form of advice and feedback. Books on writing can also be very valuable. Be wary of relying too heavily on old ones, as some information is liable to be out of date. I recommend, as you might expect, the shiny new From Story Idea To Reader by Patsy Collins and Rosemary J Kind, which will be out in time for Christmas. Writing Magazine is also an excellent source of information and again it’s better to read the most recent copies. A dictionary is also a good investment. If you can, take a course or workshop of some kind. These can be one-off events for an afternoon (your local library might offer these for free or a nominal charge) or a term of evening classes. You can sign up for online courses (some are free), distance learning, as with WM’s Creative Writing Courses, or enrol yourself at university full time. Just don’t wait to begin writing until your first homework assignment! Joining a writing group, either physically or online, can be hugely beneficial, if it’s the right one for you. Some are great for encouragement and support, others provide

information, run competitions and host interesting talks. You might be lucky and get excellent feedback on your work, or it could just be tea and chat. Try a few and stick with whichever best serves your needs. A word of caution; writers are generally nice people and being part of the group is a pleasant experience – don’t join so many there’s no time left for writing.

Next steps If you intend to successfully offer work for publication, self-publish or be placed in competitions then you will need honest, constructive criticism which points out the flaws in your work. A good writing course will provide some, but for most writers this won’t be enough. The most cost-effective way of obtaining regular feedback is to join a critique group. In theory this could be a face-to-face group, but in practice this is difficult. Ideally you’ll all write in a similar form and genre. A group consisting of a poet, horror novelist, author of children’s short stories and someone writing their memoirs would struggle even if they are all available at the same time each week. There are already a number of established online critique groups which you could try – an internet search or request on social media will give you the links. Alternatively set up your own either as a closed blog or forum, or by email. Search for members through social media and Writing Magazine’s Talkback forum (the fantastic group I belong to was set up this way and has members in three different countries). You ‘pay’ for feedback on your work by providing it for other group members. This is far less scary than it sounds and will help you improve your own writing.

The fancy desk, quiet office and lots of free time would be ideal, but you don’t need those at all. I wrote my first three novels and hundreds of short stories at work during lunch breaks, on the bus and at the kitchen table.

Beyond the basics Once you’re ready to send work out then you will need a computer. In theory you could use a typewriter www.writers-online.co.uk

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or word processor, but not being able to email your work, or use the internet for research and joining groups will be a big disadvantage. Text uses very little memory so the cheapest machine you can get will do the job. You’ll need software. Many computers will have Microsoft Word already, but if they don’t you can buy and install it, or use open source software such as Open Office (there’s no charge, but users are invited to make a donation). ‘But when I asked you about needing a computer, you said I didn’t and haven’t you back-tracked a bit on some of the other stuff too?’ I can hear you muttering. Glad you’re still with me! I said you don’t need those things to get started, not that they were all a bad idea. Of course being able to spell, punctuate and use grammar are important, but you can learn as you go. The muse will show up if you put pen to paper often enough and you can research anything you don’t know. The fancy desk, quiet office and lots of free time would be ideal, but you don’t need those at all. I wrote my first three novels and hundreds of short stories at work during lunch breaks, on the bus and at the kitchen table. If I’d waited until I had a proper office of my own to write in... I’d still not have written a single word. A literary agent might be useful when it comes to selling your books, but she can’t help until you’ve written them. Many writers do have contacts within the industry, but often these are made because the person is a writer rather than existing beforehand – and again they can only help once you have work for them to buy or promote. ‘So, there’s no need to wait, I can just grab a pen and paper and get started?’ You’ve got it! Oh good, the voices are silent now. All I can hear is a pen gliding across the page. NOVEMBER 2016

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St rtionugt

x i m a n d Pick

RESEARCH TIPS

Help yourself at the writer’s buffet and find the flavour that most suits you, suggests Simon Hall

T

he old saying tells you that travel broadens the mind. But travel around the world of writing and it can not only broaden your mind, it can enhance your talents and benefit your pocket, too. One of the things I love most about writing is how many different forms there are. For me, it’s like being a child in a huge adventure park. Getting bored with the dodgems? Try the rollercoaster! Getting jaded with writing novels? How about a short story? Or some poetry? Or journalism, flash fiction, or so many other attractions… I’m lucky enough to work as a news correspondent for the BBC, and to have had seven crime novels published. And don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for my good fortune. But the creative soul is prone to wandering. So I fancied trying something new, and got a couple of short stories published. And turned my first novel into a play. And then wrote a young adults book, and then a pantomime, and now I’ve just finished a radio comedy and a pilot for a TV drama. Every ride in the adventure park has been great fun, and hugely fulfilling. But perhaps more importantly, it’s taught me something important about the writing art. Each area of writing is interconnected in some way with the others, and can feed useful lessons into your range of work. And the more you explore, the more you learn about everything there is in the park, and the better the writer you become.

Short stories Arguably, the short story is the best place to start learning the craft of writing. Just think for a moment what a strictly limited word count forces you to do. 14

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You have to make your characters live, create a setting and build up a story as quickly as possible. Not a word can be wasted, and brevity is a talent which will serve you well in all other areas of writing. Short stories also teach you ruthlessness. There can’t be any extraneous characters, dialogue or wordsmithing. Get in there, get to the point, and get on with it. And no matter that you may have a hundred times the number of words in a novel, such discipline will still help you. It’ll keep your story pacey and tight, your characters lean, and your settings sharply drawn. Brevity also feeds well into journalism. Remember what George Orwell famously said in one of his rules of writing: if it’s possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. And that’s not a bad guide for all other areas of writing, as well.

Journalism What is journalism if not a short story of fact, rather than fiction? Try writing an article and stray off the point. Your editor will be straight down on you, and not politely. Believe me, I know. I started my working life as a journalist and still enjoy it, a quarter of a century on. It led me into all the other areas of writing I now delight in, it brings a range of insights into the writing world, and I can strongly recommend giving it a try. Because producing articles for papers, magazines or online is a highly commercial beast, a story is only commissioned if an editor thinks people will be interested. And that means it gives you a great understanding of what audiences want. That’s invaluable when thinking about writing a novel, screenplay, or short story. It’s far more likely to be published if it has resonance in society, features some

current hot topic, will get people talking. Journalism is also useful for teaching writers about the importance of titles. As a headline lures the way into a news story, so does a title for any writing project. How can you not read stories with headlines like – DAY THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (on the 9/11 attacks) WORST OCEAN DISASTER IN WORLD’S HISTORY: TITANIC GOES DOWN And the legendary SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS Be they straightforward news to mark a major story, or something more mysterious to draw your attention, headlines and titles are essential for a writer. Trying a little journalism can have other advantages. Research is the foundation for much of what we do as writers, and journalism really makes you understand what a fact is and how to go about finding it. It’s also useful for learning how to interview people for material to go in other works. Another aspect of journalism is its relentless focus on the opening line. You’ve got to hook the reader from the start, especially in the internet age. There’s so much content competing for attention; if you don’t make an instant impact you’ll be discarded. And think how that opening line feeds into short stories and novels. It tells your readers immediately that you know what you’re doing, and you’re a writer worth spending time with. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… All children, except one, grow up… It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen… How can you not go on to read stories which begin like that? And perhaps most importantly… It is a truth universally acknowledged (apologies, Ms Austen) that a writer

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with a compelling headline or title, and opening line, has hooked the reader from the start and is well on their way to success.

Plays My play, An Unnecessary Murder was based on my first novel, The TV Detective, and was an extraordinary experience. We raised thousands of pounds for the hospice movement, a cause which has been very close to my heart. But in terms of the writing art, it certainly taught me about dialogue. When what the characters are saying is the mainstay of a play, you have to weigh each word with care. What does it tell you about the person and their situation? Are they powerful or weak, optimistic or pessimistic, relaxed or stressed? The clothes a character wears are also a great insight into their personality. Imagine two men of similar age, both in shirts, but one wearing a tie and one not. In a single glance, you’ve conveyed a significant element of character. And that’s something which can be used in all other areas of writing. Body language is also fascinating in a play. Who stands tall and dominates a scene, and who shrinks back into the shadows? See those interactions in your imagination and they can help you bring scenes to life in other areas of your writing.

Screenplays Probably the most important lesson I learnt from writing a screen play was the characters’ expressions. Imagine the close up image on TV. The tic of a pulse in the neck tells you far more than mere words about the pressure someone is under. Seeing small details like that in your mind, and conveying them in words, can help create powerful scenes. Think about the difference between

Each area of writing is interconnected in some way with the others, and can feed useful lessons into your range of work. And the more you explore, the more you learn about everything else.

a woman who is impeccably made up and one whose mascara has smudged. Who’s cool and in command? Which are you more inclined to trust? Screenplays are also remarkable in their use of the art of silence. Sometimes, saying nothing can say everything. A man and a woman, having a romantic dinner in a posh restaurant on Valentine’s night… and they’re not talking at all. How’s that relationship going? Exploring a silence is a very worthwhile art to cultivate in many areas of writing.

Teaching When you’ve had some success with your writing, why not try teaching? I find it hugely rewarding, passing on what I’ve learnt and seeing others benefit from it. The pay’s not bad, you get to travel and meet some fascinating people, too. But on a more selfish level, nothing makes you think harder about the writing craft, and forces you to really explore it, than when you teach. I took hours working out how I create characters, make settings feel real, and construct plots, before I dared stand at the front of a classroom. And that experience, and depth of understanding, can make you a much better all round writer, whatever your field.

The voice The voice transcends everything in writing. How often do you hear the saying You’ve got to find your voice? And how easy does it sound, compared to how difficult it actually is? I found my voice in novels. But you can discover it in any area of writing. As a practice, try a short story in the hard-bitten detective Raymond Chandler style, then one in more of a Miss Marple www.writers-online.co.uk

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voice. Or the opening of a novel in a wry, Jane Austen way, compared to a more brutal Ernest Hemingway manner. And why not have a go at some poetry? First in a Ted Hughes, jagged way, then a John Betjeman reflective or humorous style. Imagine a screenplay or play when the character voice is dominant. What would James Bond say when presented with a bar which only serves cheap lager? Now compare that with the reaction of Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. Once you’re confident in the art of voice, whether it’s yours, as the author, or the attitude you give to your characters, you can use it in so many different ways. The more areas of writing you try, the more you become adept at adopting a range of different voices. And that’s a powerful weapon for a writer.

Playing in the adventure park One of the great advantages of switching between the rides in the adventure park of writing is that it’s so stimulating. Each new experience keeps you fresh and can be highly energising. One other point worth mentioning is the pricelessness of ideas. They’re the very essence of what we do as writers. Everything stems from that beautiful moment of creation. So if you’ve got a good idea, why not recycle it? From short story to novel, then to screenplay, or poem, or whatever you like. Doing so can be great for your abilities, your income, and can also teach you a remarkable amount about all the attractions there are to entertain you in this great playground called writing. NOVEMBER 2016

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g n i t r t S out

Novel

foundations Start solidly, or your story will collapse later, says author and lecturer James McCreet, revealing the planning process of his current novel-in-progress

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’ve just started a novel, by which I mean I have written nothing. For me, the start of a novel is the idea. What follows is a process that allows me to either reject the idea or write a complete and effective novel. I’m not going to tell you my idea (because it’s really good!) but I thought it might be interesting to reveal what comes before the writing. All of the following elements are necessary for a workable novel. It doesn’t matter in which order you gather them – it’s usually a case of simultaneous accretion – but you do need to feel that each one has been addressed. Without them, the novel is likely to fail. I keep an exercise book with the following headings and add to them whenever I think of a new idea. In time, the exercise book fills and there’s enough material to start.

The germ Ideas take many forms. It could be a character, a location, a story premise, a historical period, a theme... or a combination. Critically, it must be something that excites you – 16

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something you want to pursue to the end. My idea concerns two characters, each representing a different stage of life and experience. On meeting, they will learn a lot from each other. I also have a firm idea of where the action will take place and a rough sense of theme. However, this is not enough to begin writing a novel. What is the story that will develop chapter to chapter? Just two characters limit your narrative possibilities, especially if they’re always together. What ‘shape’ will the book have in terms of chronology and structure?

But as I said: two characters limit your narrative and storytelling possibilities. We need some second-tier characters to provide interaction, tension, conflict, desire, questions and expectations etc. More characters mean more interesting options – more people for the reader to engage with. Who might these people be? How might they flesh out the idea we already have? How might they represent our themes? Draw a spider diagram with your two main characters and how others relate to them.

The characters

Who’s telling the story? This most critical consideration is often overlooked by first-time novelists, but getting it wrong can ruin the book before it’s even begun. Will you tell the story as an omniscient narrator, seeing into each character’s mind? Will one character tell it from a first-person perspective? Will each character speak for himself? Whatever you decide it’s necessary to see it from the reader’s point of view. Who should the reader be supporting? Will this person be

Okay, so we have two protagonists, each one a mirror to the other. It’s now necessary to do a little work on them. What are their names? What is their past? What is their motivation? Why do they meet and do they stay together? What are their respective arcs – how do they change throughout the book and what do they learn, if anything? How does each character end? Does each character have his own story, or do they share the same one? So far, so easy.

Narrative perspective

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S TA R T I N G O U T

reliable or unreliable, good or bad? Do you need to maintain an air of mystery, or are your characters transparent? I’ve opted for one semi-reliable character speaking first-person because I want the reader to see and understand more than he does.

Structure and shape A number of things can dictate the structure of your novel. Genre is one. Crime/thriller and romance tend to have quite standard forms that are easy to follow. Sometimes your overall idea is a classic storytelling model such as the quest, the mystery, the challenge, the journey. Choice of story might dictate shape, or character might be the primary driver – it all depends on your original idea. My idea is a classic road-trip so the structure will be a movement from place to place throughout the book. There will be a start and a destination. Each place will have some kind of significance as we go along while also providing a change of scenery for the reader. Knowing this, I can begin to think in terms of how many places I’d like to visit and why those places might be relevant.

Research notes The broad location of my story was part of the idea, as was the selection of characters. However, I’m going to need much more detail to write chapters about these places and people. My research entails Googling a few maps and sketching out the route of my road-trip, learning a few things abut each place. At this stage, I don’t need to do the full research – I can quickly search for smaller details once I’ve begun writing. What I need now is sufficient detail to influence character and story: more ideas to build my germ of an idea. I started with some assumptions about my main characters. Now I need to check a few details in order to bolster chronologies and backstories. They need to be believable, so I’ve already made a few notes that should convince a reader when my people are first introduced. Again, I can gather more later if necessary.

Desirable scenes This category can be extremely useful once we get to plotting. As I collect my lists of characters, locations, arcs, themes and other research, I inevitably begin to visualise scenes. ‘Wouldn’t it be great if A did this to B?’ ‘What if I put them both here and made them do this?’ If you gather enough such scenes, they sometimes coalesce into nice chunks of storyline and you can even begin to pencil them into overall structure. For example, I already have my final, my mid-point and my opening scenes. These are important elements that help me to conceive the rest of the story. Desirable scenes are also ones you’d really like to write. Put your characters on a paradise beach at sunset. Put them into a train crash or a shoot-out. When you have a collection of such scenes, you know you’ll always be motivated to write because you know what’s coming and you’re excited for the reader. Moreover, visualising these scenes in advance helps you to flesh out larger storylines.

Your role as author is to combine your scenes, characters, locations and themes in such a way that something is always happening and about to happen

What’s the story? Ah, the trickiest part. Indeed, it’s so tricky that some writers believe it’s impossible to conceive a story before you begin writing. Better to just start and see where it takes you. This can be a mistake. A story is designed to take the reader on a journey, but the writer is responsible for knowing the story in advance. When we write as readers, we often get lost. It’s really not as difficult as people think. You already have an idea, a location, characters, scenes, research and some arcs. These are pieces in a puzzle that must be completed. The trick is knowing what ingredients an effective story must have. For example, a story must constantly move and develop, carrying the reader with it. Something new has to happen regularly: new challenges, new characters, new bits of information. www.writers-online.co.uk

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Each new thing is a crumb in the trail that the reader fixes on. Or think of it as steps. If you’ve hacked out a rudimentary structure – either chapters or stages – consider what step will feature in each part. At every step, the reader must be aware of two things: what’s happened so far, and what might happen next. If either of these is vague, or if there’s a stretch with too few steps, it’s game over. Stories work (or don’t work) based on age-old techniques that we’re all familiar with as readers. Conflict. Tension. Suspense. Anticipation. Reversal. Surprise. It’s not enough that your characters simply exist – that’s too much like real life. They have to be part of a process that carries them, challenges them, motivates them and subjects them to experiences the reader wants to empathise with. Therefore, your role as author is to combine your scenes, characters, locations and themes in such a way that something is always happening and about to happen. A character is introduced, is offered a challenge, accepts it, stumbles, tries harder, succeeds. A character faces a rival, reflects on himself, changes his strategy. A character falls in love, is vengeful, gives up hope. Stories grow out of the materials you gather. The rest is a game of ‘what if?’ as you play with the possibilities. Only today, walking to the shops, I thought of two more characters I can add, thus creating a triangle that will drive the middle third of my structure. That goes in the exercise book and I keep on thinking until I’m ready to start. By then, I’ll be itching with anticipation... or I won’t be able to gather sufficient materials to write a novel and it won’t happen. That’s the process. • Follow James’s progress with the novel in future issues of WM. NOVEMBER 2016

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S TA R I N T E RV I E W

The £1m self-publisher Teaching himself the process from scratch, Adam Croft has grown to be one of the UK’s most successful self-publishers. Tina Jackson finds out how he did it

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dam Croft is living the writer’s dream. He’s a bestselling novelist. He works full-time as an author. His most recent standalone novel, Her Last Tomorrow, sold 150,000 copies in twenty weeks and enabled him to pay off his mortgage. He’s on target for £1m sales this year. 29-year old Adam is one the UK selfpublishing scene’s biggest stars. And it never really occurred to him to get his work out there any other way. ‘I finished my first book in 2010. I’d always wanted to do it, I had an idea and fancied giving it a go,’ says Adam. The book was his debut thriller, Too Close for Comfort. ‘I didn’t know anything about the self-publishing process at the time. I discovered you could self-publish so two weeks later I decided to put the book out myself on KDP. Traditional publishing was in the back of my mind but after a couple of weeks I saw the appeal of self-publishing. Financially it just didn’t stack up. All I wanted was for complete strangers to find it. I put it up by January 2011 and it was alright, I got some feedback.’ So far, so much like any other self-publishing newbie. But then something happened.

THE SKILLS I’VE LEARNED: • Mailing list, and knowing what the long-term gain is. It’s not just about selling a book – if I ask you to join the mailing list you might buy the next four or five books. It’s all about long-term. • On the writing side of things, I’ve got hundreds of books on the craft of writing, on character development, constructing a story. I read heavily on

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story structure, plays, films – everything is a story. Learn your craft – not by paying thousands of pounds to do a creative writing course taught by someone who had a book out in 1993 that sold 300 copies and is teaching you to write like them. You’ve got to find your voice, and write like that. It’s thinking about the long term and taking it seriously.

• Even if you want to go down the traditional publishing route, you need the writing skills but you also need the marketing skills. You could find yourself with a twobook deal and when that runs out, no access to your customers. With traditional publishing the way it is now, you still have to do a lot of the marketing yourself.

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S TA R I N T E RV I E W

‘On 1 April I went to look at the sales and there had been something like 7,000 downloads in a few days,’ says Adam. ‘I didn’t know why that had happened so it made me interested in the marketing side.’ Between then and 2015, Adam published eight more books in his two series, the Knight & Culverhouse crime thrillers and the Kempston Hardwicke mysteries. The game-changer, though, was 2015’s standalone, Her Last Tomorrow, a seat-of-your-pants page-turner about the abduction of a child which lives up to the tense buildup of its strapline: ‘Could you murder your wife to save your daughter?’ ‘Her Last Tomorrow was probably my breakthrough because of that hook,’ says Adam. ‘So far this year I’ve sold 150,000 copies. It’s paid my mortgage off and my wife’s been able to leave her job. It’s changed things permanently. This year I’m projecting about £1million sales.’ In the wake of its success, Adam was approached by Thomas & Mercer, Amazon’s thriller imprint, which offered him a lucrative deal for a revised version of Her Last Tomorrow which will be published in October. ‘They don’t take submissions, they reach out to people. We got chatting. I wanted to go with them because they can take the books to another level, get in sales, break it in America. They put their money where their mouth is and can take the books to a whole new readership. It’s like the self-publishing world I know but with the marketing power of the third biggest company in the world – I even used it today to buy door handles.’ The original self-published version is a lean, mean 45,000 words, but the Thomas & Mercer edition will have much more in

line with what’s expected of a traditionally published thriller. ‘When they bought the rights to it they asked me to do a rewrite and they paid me a lot of money to do it. It’s about 80,000 words, almost double the length of the original (45,000 words) and has the wife’s point of view as well.’ But Adam is more than aware of his strengths as a writer – and the expectations of his readership. ‘I definitely wanted to keep it lean and stripped down – it was one of the things I wouldn’t move on, it’s very much my style. The new version may be longer but it’s kept the style. There’s no padding, no fluffing it out for the sake of it. I’ve got the way I write and what I know the readers like.’ He started out as a novelist with the straightforward aim of writing the kind of book he read himself. ‘I write what I like reading. It’s what I know and what I enjoy. I always try to write a book I would want to read myself. I like books that are fast-paced, with no fluff. I like mystery and intrigue and a bit of a puzzle. Twists and turns, and not knowing who to trust.’ One of the hallmarks of his writing is a very contemporary understanding of how the internet can be used by both criminals and investigators. ‘The internet is an area I know, and it interests me – it’s where crime gets committed.’ Adam was part of the digital media

“”

industry when he started writing fiction, doing web design, marketing and copywriting. ‘A lot of people have said I’ve had the success because I had a background in marketing but it’s not something I necessarily believe – I’d have had a lot of success five years ago! I was selling personalised number plates through search engines,’ he laughs. He has, though, got a sharp business brain, and an innate understanding that to be successful, a self-published author’s up-to-date business skills are just as vital as their ability to write a book. ‘As a self-published author you need to be interested in marketing as well as writing. You have to run a business as well as being a writer. It’s all about business, having a good product, thinking outside the box. ’ As an example, in the wake of the success of the hook of Her Last Tomorrow, Adam has been thinking of ways to exploit the potential of a good hook. ‘I’ve been sitting around some nights writing marketing hooks and advertisements for books that don’t even exist. Perhaps you can write the marketing hook first! It’s thinking outside the box really. It sounds a bit cold and clinical but readers want to be entertained so why not start with a hook or a grab?’ Ideas are vital currency for any writer, and when your self-published writing is also your business, a flow of them is essential. ‘In business you have to come

Often I’ll have one story idea that’s stronger than the others, but if I don’t know, I’ll go back to my bank of ideas. It’s only when you start writing them down you realise how quickly they come

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up with ideas – my product is books. I get ideas from all over the place. I’ll see a news story, watch a film, read a book, come up with a storyline. I’ve got notebooks and apps full of ideas. Often I’ll have one story idea that’s stronger than the others, but if I don’t know, I’ll go back to my bank of ideas. It’s only when you start writing them down you realise how quickly they come.’ Given that Her Last Tomorrow is Adam’s breakthrough book, it’s worth mentioning that he almost decided not to publish it. ‘I nearly didn’t put Her Last Tomorrow out, it sat in a drawer for a few months while I put out two more series books,’ he says. But then he discovered how to make Facebook advertising work for him. ‘Mark Dawson runs a course called Facebook Advertising for Authors – I came across that and went on that course. I started experimenting and doing my own things with it, and it worked. Big time.’ One of the things he learned was the power of the hook. ‘It was only really when I discovered Facebook advertising that I realised the hook was very important – and Her Last Tomorrow has got a great hook to draw other readers in. So Facebook advertising gave me the awareness to put it out there.’ These days his Facebook advertising policy is to speculate to accumulate. ‘I spend a lot of money on it but I profit on it every time. I make 50 to 100% on top. I do a lot of experimentation. I started off spending about £3 a day and now I throw money at it – £250,000 this year. There are months when I’ve been spending £1,000 a day. I target users who like similar books, crime thrillers,

“”

fiction. And I go wider with it. For instance, I targeted mothers of children under the age of eight who owned a Kindle. They might not be thriller fans but they might not be likely to pass up the opportunity to find out what happens when a child is kidnapped.’ Once he’s got a reader interested, his main marketing tool is his mailing list. ‘My mailing list is vital,’ he says. ‘At the end of each book is an advert for my VIP Club – mailing list – and I send people things, and do giveaways. That gets people in, and I can mail them and let them know there’s a new book. This way, I can keep in touch with readers – it’s five figures at the moment. It’s vital to me because although Amazon has all the information about who buys the books, I know who my readers are and I can get in touch with them.’ As a savvy marketeer, other aspects of online marketing concern him less – for instance, search engine optimisation, or SEO. ‘Search engines don’t work for books,’ he says baldly. ‘If people are searching on Google, it’s not going to be for books. People go onto Google looking for information, nobody Googles for new books. They go to Amazon, or bookshops, or friends. Facebook is like friends – people there are in a leisure mode. On Facebook they’re in a lukewarm buying mood. They’re not busy at work, they’re looking at pictures and cat videos. They’re in a social mood – receptive. Saying “buy this book” won’t work but if there’s a strong image and a hook, that might stop them scrolling through their feed.’ Self-publishing and internet

Nobody Googles for new books. They go to Amazon, or bookshops, or friends. Facebook is like friends – people there are in a leisure mode. On Facebook they’re in a lukewarm buying mood.

ADVICE • Always think of long term. Read about the craft, learn more. Writing’s something you can never be an expert at. You’re always learning and you can never learn too much. • Never give up. I spent five years just about paying the bills and I could have given up, gone out and got pretty much any job I wanted. I had to remember why I was writing and follow that dream.

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• Don’t forget your business skills. Self publishers have to be an entrepreneur as well as a writer. If you’re not comfortable with that you’ve got two choices really: you either have to get over it or find a traditional publisher. Self-publishing is not the same as vanity publishing. Traditional publishers are now looking to us to find out how to do it. We’re leading the path at the moment. You have to be brave – there’s a lot of writers and a lot of books out there. www.writers-online.co.uk

marketing may have changed the publishing landscape but they are also new industries that are constantly changing. Adam still can’t explain the initial spike in sales for Too Close for Comfort that changed his fortunes. ‘I’ve spent five years trying to work out that first spike! Things have changed a lot now and 7,000 sales wouldn’t get you near Number 1. It got a bit of word of mouth, but to be honest I’d told family and friends, Facebook and Twitter, but nothing major. But I saw what happened and it got me into thinking that this could be quite something.’ He has used all his skills as a writer and businessman to ride the wave that turned him into a bestseller. ‘When I’d written the first book, I knew I hadn’t really had any experience. I knew it was less than market length – all I wanted was to publish it, get feedback and get better at it. Self publishing became what I knew I was going to do, and in 2011 when the first book started selling well, rather than using it to get better, it became a plan in itself.’ He is not, though, sitting on his laurels. ‘I was planning being where I am now in five or ten years’ time, but if I get to Number 5 in the chart, I want to get to Number 1. If I sell 1,000 books a day, I want to sell 2,000. Onwards and upwards. In terms of the turnover and concepts, I can do 4, 5, 6 books a year without breaking sweat – that’s doing 50% writing and 50% marketing. I always want to move on to the next story, write more books, make more sales. I always feel there’s something more to aim for – I’m never happy.’ Website: http://adamcroft.net

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HOW TO ENTER

! N I W

A BOOK DEAL PLUS £1,000 Want to see your book in print, and net a tasty advance too? We’re giving one lucky WM reader the chance to win just that in this exclusive competition. The winning author will see their book published in 2017 by our friends at The Book Guild, and get £1,000 cash, courtesy of the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust. Paste each of the five required texts into a single document (see right) and enter through our website: www.writ.rs/winabookdeal

TAP HERE TO ENTER

To enter, you must have a novel manuscript of 60,000-100,000 words finished and ready to go. We need to see: • The first chapter • A one-line elevator pitch or tagline • A 500-word synopsis of the entire story • A brief account of your publishing and writing experience to date • A 500-word plan of any promotional opportunities and how you see your book fitting into the marketplace The closing date is 31 January 2017. Entry is £5

Writing Magazine and The Book Guild will pick one winning book, which will be published by The Book Guild later in the year, subject to the winner signing a contract with The Book Guild. The Book Guild will provide a copyedit, cover design, full text design and layout, one set of proofs for author to check, ISBN allocation, bookshop sales representation, marketing to the trade and media and distribution to the book trade for one year.

Good luck!

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Editorial calendar

Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions. Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.

10 February

n Miller RCA awarded Glen for the first gold record of es pi selling a million co oo Ch oo Chattanooga Ch 75 years ago

9 February

Wartime soap rationing began in Britain 75 years ago. It ended in 1950.

15 February

The Blue Danube waltz, by Johann Strauss, was performed for the first time in Austria 150 years ago

20 February

Birthdays

The Premier League was founded 25 years ago , replacing the First Division

9 February

Songwriter Carole King will be 75

10 February

Songwriter Roberta Flack will be 80

11 February

, whose Author and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon copies, was ion 18 novels have sold more than 300 mill born 100 years ago

16 February

Actor June Brown will be 90

20 February

Singer Kurt Cobain would have been

25 February

20 years ago, Scottish scientists announced that Dolly the sheep had been successfully cloned

50 rk Orange,

Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwo was born 100 years ago

Literary anniversary 2019 The first published Just William story, Rice Mould, appeared in Home magazine, introducing William Brown, Richmal Compton’s much-loved badly behaved schoolboy,

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22 February

Centenaries in 2019 1 January 2019 will be the

centenary of the birth of JD Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye.

17 March will be the centenary of singer Nat ‘King’ Cole.

7 May will be the centenary of Argentine First Lady Eva Perón.

26/09/2016 09:59

M Y WBREIG T IIN NG N EDAY RS

BURNING UP WITH IDEAS There are times when a radical clear-out can be just the thing to generate fresh ideas, suggests Adrian Magson

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ue to a temporary paucity of decent ideas for a future book and a feeling that walking through treacle might be more productive than staring at a blank screen, I recently went in search of something to kick, and happened on an antidote for this lack of direction: have a good burn-up. I don’t mean the pedal-to-the-metal, petrol-head kind of thing – impossible where I live anyway unless in possession of a death wish. I mean having a clear-out of all the old paper dross and files which have been piling up for so many years they’ve taken on the ragged appearance of the Dead Sea scrolls. Great, I hear you ask. So you’re having problems? How’s that going to help me with my writing? Well (to paraphrase several politicians of late) I’ll tell you. First, to explain further, the dross of which I speak included drafts of several novels which have now been published, a pile of short fiction and features which ditto – and a whole load of both that never saw the light of day for reasons mostly to do with being utter bilge. Now, I know I’ve said in the past that you should never throw anything away – and I still hold firmly to that. However, there comes a point at which you have to kick your little paper birds off the end of the branch because you know they’ll never fly… or words to that effect. But in doing so, you might just discover some little pearls of inspiration, as I did. Having long ago accepted that the Bodleian would probably turn up their upper lip at the idea of my crumpled gems for posterity, much less as mulch for their garden, I decided to take some BBQ gel, which is basically napalm in a bottle, and christen our newly-bought incinerator, which is basically a dustbin on legs.

I suppose I should have felt guilty, sending those hundreds of thousands of words up in smoke. After all, they represented many years of work and hope, hunched over a variety of computers, including five Harry Tate spy novels, the Marc Portman thrillers (three and counting), four Lucas Rocco novels and a novella, and the dog-eared manuscript of my latest book, The Locker, which I hadn’t got round to ‘filing’ in the back drawer. Thirteenand-a half books and lots of other bits in all, roughly a million or more words. But the truth is, my many notations in the margins, the scattered question marks and some seriously heavy underscorings and even a few pithy comments to self in language my mother wouldn’t have endorsed, didn’t mean a whole lot. Not now. They were done and dusted and taking up space. What the burn-up did, as I fed the pages into the top of the incinerator, was bring back snatches of dialogue, bursts of action and the names of characters, most of which I’d actually forgotten. How could I? I’d lived, breathed and dreamed of these imaginary people and their doings over thousands of days and nights, so how could I possibly forget any of them? Well, my only explanation is that my brain can hold only so much information at one time, and each new project is so intensely focused on the current set of characters, events and settings, that all previous works are elbowed out of the door to make room for the new one. Oddly, as the pages disappeared into the flames, I couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of the occasional paragraph which stuck. (I’m sure my neighbour must have wondered what I was getting rid of so assiduously. She knows what I do for a living and has made it clear that she thinks I’m writing from close

and personal experience. In fact, she once quizzed me about GCHQ and whether I’d ever signed the Official Secrets Act. Naturally I smiled enigmatically and said I really couldn’t comment. She wasn’t reassured.) That aside, in the heat and smoke of the moment, the little snatches that caught my eye began taking on new meanings and demanded to be stored away. Some will undoubtedly be used, others will drift away like flotsam on the tide. But culled as they were, without context or memory, the good ones began to transform into potential scenes, characters and dialogue, like a conveyor belt of fresh ideas for the taking. One especially useful event, while stuffing papers into the funnel, came by way of a police siren drifting over the hill. It was on a road which by-passes our hidden-away corner, where even the wild boar go in pairs. But in the time it took to go by and fade, it highlighted for me just how long it takes to burn a bunch of papers. Ages. Note to self where getting rid of incriminating files before the heavy mob breaks down a character’s door might be a plot point: don’t stand there revisiting old times! As to the results of my burn-up, I now have lots of ideas to explore and turn into something new.

TOP TIPS • Seen out of context, paragraphs or sentences can open up to fresh ideas. • Consider whether a snatch of dialogue can be used to generate something new. • Don’t dismiss a sudden flash of inspiration – it could be the best one you’ll get. • Just because you’ve used the words before doesn’t mean they can’t be transformed for a whole new story.

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©Clive Brooks

WRITING LIFE

UNPLUGG ED

Do you hanker for distraction-free writing but still need text you can edit or submit later? Clive Brooks guides you through the hardware and software options

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here’s a text to answer, a long list of tweets to read and you’re trying to keep up with what fifty or so people are up to on Facebook, because for some inexplicable reason that you genuinely can’t quite fathom any more, you feel that you really ought to. Your computer bleeps, bings, bloops and flashes stuff at you endlessly, and through all this nonsense, you’re trying to settle down quietly to write a first draft of that novel or magazine article. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to be like this. There are alternatives to using that constantly connected

Typewriters Typewriters are evocative, irresistible and affordable. The vintage typewriters that repair engineers recommend above all others for their build quality and longevity are those from the German manufacturer Olympia. The desktop model to look for is the SM9, and the best portable is the Traveller Deluxe S. Both are superbly made, built to last and enjoyable to use. My SM9 on eBay cost a mere £90, and my virtually unused Traveller Deluxe was an unbelievable £25! When you first start using a typewriter, or use one again after many years, you may be surprised at the long travel of the keys and the sheer physicality of the machine when compared to computer keyboards or touching the glass of an iPad. However, after ten minutes of typing, I think you’ll begin to appreciate the tactile, organic nature of imprinting your words onto paper, and recognise how finely balanced and beautifully designed everything is. There’s a melody in the sound of the type-bars striking the platen, and in the ‘ting’ of the bell when you reach a line end. It’s immersive and somehow satisfying. A typewriter encourages a more considered approach to writing too. You can’t go back and fiddle about with the words, so you tend to think more carefully about which ones to

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computer for your writing, but none of them are immediately obvious, and perhaps you just don’t have the time or tenacity to find them. That’s okay, I’ve done it all for you. Read on and I’ll show you how to embark on a very-low cost, enjoyable and completely distraction-free writing experience that could transform your writing life. I’ll introduce you to some wonderful writing machines, tell you where you can get yours, how much (or how little) to pay for them, and explain how they can dovetail effortlessly into a modern workflow that ends – as opposed to begins – with your computer. Unlike modern computer screens, all of these devices can be properly viewed outside too.

use. The typewriter is an enjoyable way to get fiction first drafts written. The temptation to edit is gone, so you’re forced to just push on.

Workflow In years gone by, a double-spaced typewriter manuscript was edited by hand and then retyped. Now there’s a much easier way to integrate the typewriter into the modern workflow. What you need is an OCR application. This is a piece of software that, when presented with a scan or photo of your printed page, recognises the typed characters and turn them into editable text that you can open in your word processor. I use the free DocScanner on my iPad available from the App Store. I use the iPad camera to photograph the typed page, then let the OCR do its stuff. I email the resultant text file to myself or save it to Dropbox, then load it into my word processor for editing. There are free online OCR sites too. One can be found at www.onlineocr.net

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:04

WRITING LIFE

Word processors

Just when it looked like the game was up for typewriters, along comes the brand new Astrohaus Freewrite. It’s a mechanical keyboard and screen combination, with the latter taking the place of your piece of typing paper. The screen is the same e-ink one used on the Kindle, and thus performs well in bright sunlight. If you feel that buying a real vintage typewriter is a step too far, then the Freewrite may be just right for you. However, you do need a deeper pocket this time, because it currently retails for around $600 including import taxes from America. I personally prefer the real thing, and use my Olympias for all my fiction first drafts. Astrohaus should be applauded for their back-to-basics approach to writing. I think we need more of this sort of thing. You can learn more at www.getfreewrite.com

Although most people have probably forgotten, word processors didn’t start life as computer software. They were carefully designed, standalone machines. Straightforward, distraction-free and productive. A now-defunct American company called Alphasmart revised this concept a few years ago, and what they came up with is a perfect tool for writers, which is now very cheap to buy. Alphasmarts are chunky, robust keyboard and screen combinations with built-in word-processors featuring word-count, spell-check and necessary editing facilities. There are two Alphasmart devices worth considering. The first is the Neo, which is the most stripped-down of the two. It sports a superb keyboard, capable word processor, battery that lasts almost forever, and text that is saved automatically as you write. It’s the most common one out there secondhand and its great. The only slight drawback is the screen, which only allows a few lines of text to be displayed at any one time. My recommendation is the Alphasmart Dana, which has the same form factor, but possesses a bigger screen and a useful green backlight. This one does require you to save your text now and again, and the most safe and secure way to do so is to a card inserted into one of the two SD sockets built into the machine. This model works on the robust old Palm operating system. They’re cheap to buy because few people recognise their benefit in our wired world. I paid £30 for my Neo and £70 for my Dana on eBay. Both are like new. I use them to write all my non-fiction drafts, where the editing is useful. I’m writing this on the Dana now.

Workflow Like a real typewriter, there are absolutely no editing facilities. You can’t go back and correct text. It’s being marketed as ‘The World’s First Smart Typewriter.’ One of its key features is built-in wifi, which enables text typed onto it to automatically float away to cloud-based sites such as Dropbox.

Psion Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a proper word processor in your pocket, ready whenever inspiration strikes and with a proper keyboard that you can type on? Well, by revisiting the well-loved Psion range of personal digital assistants, you can. The enduring legacy of this innovative British company is the Psion 5MX. It’s like a miniature Alphasmart, but built into a clever clamshell design that folds up and pops into your pocket. Unlike anything else of its size, before or since, it has a real keyboard! It features a word processor that’s every bit as good as the Alphasmarts, together with a handful of other useful built-in applications. One of these is a customisable database. I use it to store all my ideas for freelance articles. A good Series 5MX can be bought on eBay for £70. They are tough little devices, and the only problem you may ever encounter, is a fault developing in the internal flexible cable that connects the screen part of the clamshell to the keyboard. However, there are several companies out there who specialise in fixing this. One is www.psionex.co.uk who can also supply completely refurbished, as-new machines. The 5MX is the ultimate carry-with-you writing tool. There’s a somewhat less well-specified Psion called the Series 5 (as opposed to 5MX). These are marginally cheaper to buy and more common, but the MX is the one that I recommend you choose. It has more memory, faster processor and a better casing.

© Astrohaus

Astrohaus Freewrite

Workflow Both machines are designed to take knocks and do the task they were designed for perfectly – to write and edit words. They switch on and off instantly, and you can work on up to eight different documents at the same time by using the dedicated function buttons at the top of the keyboard to switch quickly between them. The batteries last for weeks, and they had an innovative way of transferring text into a desktop word processor for final finishing off; all you do is connect the device by USB, open your computer word processor program, position the cursor where you’d like the text to appear and press ‘Send’ on the device. Magically, your text begins whizzing, word by word, into your computer. It is simple and straightforward.

Workflow The desktop software originally used to sync the Psion with a Windows desktop PC is too elderly to work with new computers, but that’s okay, because your word processor document can be saved in the 5MX onto a standard compact flash card, which can then be removed and plugged into your main computer via a £3 card reader. Your text can then be imported into your favourite desktop word processor for final editing, printing and distribution. A tiny application called nConvert which is available free from www.pscience5.net/LFNeuon.htm, can easily be installed on the Psion, enabling the built-in word-processor format to be converted and saved to the card in the completely compatible rich text format (RTF).

In summary Although we probably don’t like to admit it, checking the phone, interacting with social media and surfing the web has collectively become something of an addiction for most of us. Using these venerable devices to create a distractionfree writing environment may become an addiction too, but an empowering and productive one. To get the best results, turn off your phone and disconnect your internet router. Then settle down with one of these distraction-free devices and let the writing magic happen. It will...

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I N S P I R I N G WO R D S

How I got published Scottish author Martin Stewart’s debut novel, Riverkeep, was published by Penguin in April. Interview by Dolores Gordon-Smith

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lthough the end of my publication journey was very unusual, it began in a very typical way. I’d written a couple of books that yielded a mixed bag of silence and blunt rejections. There were scraps of muchneeded encouragement too, but I was honest enough with myself to recognise that, although I could write, there was something missing from my work. It was a bit thin, inconsequential – a series of events rather than a compelling narrative. That changed in 2010, for a couple of reasons. ‘I had just begun a teaching career, and been surprised to discover an interest in writing for younger readers. I realised a more distinct voice was emerging, free from the mimicry of which I knew I was guilty. ‘In addition to this, my adored grandfather passed away, and I found grief staining my pages. Suddenly I had something to write about, and my work had the depth and consequence it had been lacking. I wrote a middle grade novel and took it into the big bad

world, joining an SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) critique group, attending an event for aspiring authors at the Edinburgh Book Festival and entering a national competition. After a long series of rejections, my shortlisting in that competition helped catch the eye of my agent, Molly Ker Hawn. ‘So far, so typical. ‘The atypical part came after a year or so. While the feedback on my middle grade novel was positive, publishers indicated that the darkness of its tone might be an issue for younger readers. Did I have anything else? ‘So my agent submitted a short story that I’d written which I’d based on an article in a newspaper supplement and, amazingly, Penguin made an offer to turn those 2,000 words into a novel: Riverkeep. The short story became the first chapter and I followed the publishers’ advice – stepping a little further away from the darkness and into the light. Feedback really is always a gift, no matter how critical!’

MARTIN’S TOP TIPS:

Shannon Cullen, publishing director, Penguin Random House Children’s ‘It’s incredibly rare for us to commission a book from an unknown author on just 2,000 words, but Martin’s writing is so arresting – dark, atmospheric and accomplished – that the entire editorial team was seduced. In those few words, which now form the first chapter of Riverkeep, you could see the potential for a wonderful story, and I’m pleased to say that our instincts have been more than confirmed. Martin is a truly talented writer whose writing not only delivers, but also promises great things for the future.’

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• Don’t be precious. Be honest with yourself. Cut anything that doesn’t work. Accepting that a particular project hasn’t worked is not a defeat – it is an exercise in the development and refinement of your talent and voice in which you should delight. Each project you set aside takes you a step closer to the one that will work beautifully. Think of the abandoned drafts as a Shed of Wonder, to which you can wander and tinker when in need of inspiration. • Research your submissions to agencies. In the days of online information you can read their guidelines, discover the interests of individual agents, and even check out their Twitter feeds. Use this to tailor your submission to each agent, explaining why you think they, in particular, might be interested in your work. 

AUGUST 2016

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26/09/2016 10:06

WIN a place at

Here’s what last year’s winner thought! “Iceland was the perfect setting for a writers’ retreat – it was impossible not to be moved by the landscape and the collective enthusiasm for all things literary – and I’d love to go back another time and explore the country further.” 2016 winner Jennifer Moore

WORTH

£1,500

including accommodation AND flights from the UK We are offering one lucky reader a chance to explore Iceland’s rich cultural heritage and expand their literary horizons at Iceland Writers Retreat, 5-9 April 2017

THIS PRIZE INCLUDES: • Attendance at five small-group workshops, other author events, and lunches on workshop days • Four nights’ accommodation in the Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Natura, including breakfast • A welcome dinner on the first evening • A literary walking tour of Reykjavik and day-long coach tour through the Icelandic countryside with a local author • Return flights from the UK To find out more about what the Retreat offers, see the website: www.icelandwritersretreat.com

To win this fantastic prize just send us up to 500 words of prose or poetry on the theme of ‘Elements’.

Enter online at £5 per entry.

The closing date is 2 December and the winner will be notified by 6 January. You must be over 18 to enter, and available to attend the retreat between 5 and 9 April. Flights are only available from UK airports.

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Images © Roman Gerasymenko

www.writers-online.co.uk

DECEMBER 2015

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T H E BU S I N E S S O F W R I T I N G

AGENT

attraction Attracting an agent can be the start of a long business relationship. Simon Whaley flirts with two agents to learn more about the wooing process.

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t this time of year many literary agents are talking Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the biggest gatherings of publishing professionals in the world. Over 600 agents from more than 300 agencies from over thirty countries will get together around tables at its Literary Agent and Scout Fair to negotiate rights and deals. As Jonny Geller, literary agent and joint CEO of agency Curtis Brown, says on the Frankfurt Book Fair website: ‘The Frankfurt Book Fair can transform the hopes and dreams of an author. A place where a book can go from a local idea to a global phenomenon.’ That doesn’t mean that every writer who secures an agent will find their book becoming the next global phenomenon, but when it comes to the business of writing, having an agent can open more doors for you. Most mainstream publishing houses only accept submissions via agents, so attracting an agent means your writing can be put in front of people you don’t have access to on your own. And then, of course, comes the negotiating skills that an agent can bring to the table when a publisher falls in love with your book. But there’s more to managing a writer’s business than trying to sell the author’s work to the best publisher, and then negotiating the best deal possible. Kate Nash set up her literary agency in 2009 (www. 28

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hawks – hawks with smartphones, katenashliterary.co.uk), and she’s obviously – so we can advise our also the author of six romance novels, authors on not just one book, but so she understands exactly what throughout their careers.’ an agent can bring to a writer’s business. ‘The best agents are career managers for their authors,’ Target agents she says, ‘guiding and providing Attracting an agent isn’t easy. There’s strategic advice how an author can a lot of competition out there, but achieve a successful author career. that’s the business of writing all over. We are advocates and champions Websites like Writers and Artists or for the author’s interests. Before Agent Hunter (see panel, right) are even the contract is signed good starting places when we are talking to publishers searching for agents who might about sales and marketing be interested in your work. Be support, book titles and specific. Don’t carpet-bomb jackets and their author every agent with your material. positioning, the things that We know what it’s like when Writers seeking make the critical difference we get junk mail through the representation to a book’s success.’ post at home, and we all know sometimes forget Imogen Howson, an what we do with it, whereas a associate agent at Kate’s letter that comes addressed to that an agent’s agency, is also a published us by name gains a little more main job is not to author of young adult attention. Remember, you’re read submissions, books. Having seen both trying to engage with people but to look after sides of the fence, she who are already extremely busy. also sees agents as career ‘I think writers seeking their current clients managers. This often means representation sometimes Imogen Howson investing a lot of time and forget that an agent’s main effort in an author, long job is not to read submissions, before a book contract has but to look after their current been secured. ‘Before a clients,’ says Imogen. ‘I’ve seen manuscript goes out on submission, writers complaining about agents who we work editorially with the author send out form rejections rather than to make the manuscript as strong as it providing feedback on submissions, can be before it hits an editor’s desk – with no apparent awareness that if an not fixing typos, but big picture stuff: agent did that for every submission, working with the author to strengthen they’d have no time to actually characterisation or tighten up plots. represent their clients!’ And we watch genres and trends like Agents work on a percentage basis,

“”

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:09

T H E BU S I N E S S O F W R I T I N G

so they don’t earn any money reading submissions. They only earn when they successfully sell one of their clients’ projects. The best way to attract their attention is to deliver what they are looking for. Do some research. Visit their website. Find out about the different agents. What are their personal preferences? There’s no point sending your non-fiction book proposal to an agent who loves romantic fiction. Nor should you send your young adult fantasy novel to an agent who states they specialise in cosy crimes set in 1930s England.

Human beings Agents are human beings (yes, it’s true!), who have their own likes and dislikes. For an agent to take us on they have to love our work, because they’re the ones going into battle for us, selling our manuscripts to publishers. Spend some time identifying agents who enjoy reading the genre you enjoy writing, and seek out those with similar interests. This might seem time consuming, but consider the business case: it’s your writing career. The right agent can boost your writing business. When you’ve identified a shortlist, look for what they want when it comes to submissions. Some agencies have a system all their agents adhere to, while others allow individual agents to determine what they wish to see in an initial submission. This is another reason for not carpet-bombing every agent you can find. Some prefer three chapters and a synopsis, others want two chapters and a one-page synopsis, while some want three chapters with a two-page synopsis and a paragraph description of the six main characters. Send something different to what they’ve asked for and you mark yourself out as a writer who doesn’t do their research properly. Would you go into business with someone who couldn’t be bothered? When it comes to submitting, it’s not just about the writing, but your whole business-like approach. ‘A great submission offers a clear, simple vision of the book and, of course, a gripping opening chapter,’ says Kate. ‘Also a telephone number – I like to ring writers I’m interested in working with.’

Submission sensibilities There’s a reason why agents are specific about what they want to see in a submission. ‘We ask for sample chapters and a synopsis,’ Imogen explains, ‘because the chapters tell us what the writing is like and the synopsis tells us what the story is like. It’s very difficult to judge the quality of a submission if we don’t get both those things. A good submission provides the correct materials, together with a query email that has all the necessary information – title, author name, genre, word count – is clearly worded and doesn’t go on for too long. A great submission provides all those things together with sample chapters that hook us immediately and that make us want to see the whole book.’ Don’t email your manuscript to agencies that only accept postal submissions. They won’t be read. Agents read submissions at times and in places convenient to them.

Conference connections There are other ways to attract an agent, such as meeting them face to face. This does not mean camping outside their offices, but attending writers’ conferences and festivals where agents are also invited. Indeed, some allow you to pitch your book to agents in a ten-minute, face-to-face interview. (It’s like speed-dating, but a thousand times more nerve-wracking.) There is a cost to attending such festivals, but remember the businessside of things. It’s an investment in your future. A chance encounter in the queue at lunch time, or a faceto-face chat at a dedicated meet-theagent session, could be the start of a long, career-building relationship. (The cost of the festival event may also qualify as a tax-deductible business expense.) ‘We go to a number of conferences and writers’ festivals,’ says Imogen. ‘It’s important for us to keep up with what’s happening in the publishing industry, and it’s nice to meet writers, editors, and other agents in person.’ Although these are the main ways agents secure their clients, authors sometimes find themselves agents through more unusual routes. ‘Some clients come via personal recommendation,’ says Kate. ‘I’ve www.writers-online.co.uk

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Although attracting an agent isn’t like internet dating, the internet can make a great starting point. The following websites offer limited information for free, but more detailed information to subscribers. Agent Hunter: www.agenthunter.co.uk Subscription rates: £5 for one month’s full access, £12 for six months, £18 for a year. Other benefits, such as cover letter and synopsis review, are included in the longer-term subscriptions. Writers and Artists: www.writersandartists.co.uk/listings A twelve-month subscription, £19.99, gives you the ability to search by genre, location or agent name, and search results can be saved.

just taken on a memoir via a lady my mother met when on holiday.’ It’s considered acceptable to send initial submissions to several agents at the same time, because waiting for a response can take weeks, if not months. Always remember though that if an agent asks to read your entire manuscript they’re investing a lot of time in you, so respect their wishes if they ask for exclusivity while they read it all. If you find yourself in the position where two agents ask to read your whole manuscript at the same time, be professional and business-like. Explain the situation to the first agent and see what they say. It’s only fair the first agent gets the opportunity to make a decision on your work first. There are several busy periods in an agent’s year when reading submissions is not a high priority. ‘Dealing with all the monies and checking royalty statements, which all come at once,’ says Kate, is one. ‘The two busiest periods being the start of April and the start of October.’ And large publishing events, such as the London Book Fair in April and the Frankfurt Book fair in October divert agents’ attentions from their submission piles for a while. But don’t let all this put you off. Agents do want to see your work. ‘The best thing in the world is finding a fabulous book,’ says Imogen, ‘and then working with the author to make it better.’ And who knows? Perhaps this time next year an agent will be at Frankfurt for you, trying to turn your local idea into a global phenomenon. NOVEMBER 2016

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The style and technique of

Katie

Fforde

A romantic novelist with a strong feel-good factor, explored by Tony Rossiter

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escribed by one critic as ‘modernday Austen’ and by another as ‘Joanne Trollope crossed with Tom Sharpe,’ Katie Fforde has written 23 romantic novels. ‘Old-fashioned romance of the best sort… funny, comforting,’ said another critic. She has been a committee member, chairman and president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA), and is founder of the Katie Fforde Bursary, which consists of a year’s subscription to the RNA and a place at its conference for a writer who has yet to secure a publishing contract.

How she began ‘It’s the only New Year’s resolution I’ve ever kept,’ said Katie Fforde. Her mother had given her the Christmas present of a writing kit – paper, dictionaries, thesaurus, Tipp-ex – and she resolved to do what she had been talking about doing for years: to start writing a novel. Her mother’s present gave her the kick-start she needed. Katie Fforde was in her late twenties, and had a husband and three small children, by the time she realised that what she really wanted to do was to be an author. She and her husband had run a narrowboat hotel business; she then worked for five years as a ‘salad girl’ in the kitchen of a wholefood shop and café. She wrote in 30

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the evenings and during the summer school holidays, when she took time off work to look after her children and to write. She had a good life before becoming an author, but once she started writing she realised what she had been missing. ‘I think it’s to do with having an overactive imagination,’ she said, ‘and wanting to communicate (which can be a posh word for chat!).’ After she began writing it took her eight years to become a published novelist. Her early books were based on her own life experiences. Working in a café, living on a narrowboat and being a cleaning lady were all things she herself had done. In her later novels she went on to explore different professions and working environments.

Early novels Living Dangerously, her first and most autobiographical novel, was published in 1995. It’s about Polly Cameron, who’s messy, 35, celibate, and lives happily with her cat and her Rayburn in a small Gloucestershire town. She juggles her hectic life, trying to do her best for everyone. She works in a local café, is involved in the ‘save our High Street’ campaign, and tries to get her pottery career started. She dodges the matchmaking efforts of her friends and her mother. She doesn’t want a relationship… or so she thinks. Her boss at the Whole Nut café, Bridget, is also her best friend, and she and

her partner Alan, with their three children, are like family to Polly. After stumbling in and out of a meaningless relationship, she meets an older man and her life begins to fall into place. Living Dangerously is an easy read with recognisable, down-to-earth characters and a happy ending – two characteristics of Katie’s writing. She worried about the novel because it was ‘so close to home’. If she is writing about people who might recognise themselves, she always checks to make sure they have no objection. In the case of Living Dangerously one of the characters, Mac, was based on a real person: he agreed to be included – provided his real name was used. Her second novel, The Rose Revived, made extensive use of Katie’s reallife experiences as a cleaning lady and narrowboat owner. The story revolves around three young women, May, Harriet and Sally, all in need of money, who are thrown together when they join a cleaning agency. All three are believable and likeable characters – and not too perfect. May, who has a feisty, winning personality, is ‘not good at apologising’, and her prickly relationship with Hugh reminded me of the Elizabeth Bennet/ Mr Darcy relationship in Pride and Prejudice. There’s a happy ending, as the financial cloud hanging over May’s continued ownership of her narrowboat is removed and all three heroines find romance.

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 12:39

A Summer at Sea Katie Fforde’s most recent novel, set mainly in the Western Isles of Scotland, was inspired by her love of Scotland and the time she and her husband spent on board a puffer steam boat in the Crinan Canal. In A Summer at Sea (2016) Emily, a midwife with a satisfying career in the south of England, spends a summer helping out her pregnant best friend Rebecca as cook on board her puffer steam boat just off the Scottish coast. When Rebecca is about to give birth and a storm prevents the ambulance getting through, Emily has to put her midwifery skills into practice. Needless to say, there’s a romantic interest, in the shape of a handsome local doctor, which gathers force as the story progresses. Readers who enjoy the feel-good factor that characterises Katie’s books are unlikely to object to the story’s predictable, happy-ever-after, ending.

How she writes Katie starts her writing day early – 5.30am or 6am in summer. She goes to her desk in dressing gown and slippers and turns on her computer and Radio 4. She checks into Twitter and checks her emails before turning them off and starting to write. She usually starts by editing what she has written the previous day. She aims at a minimum of 1,000 words a day, but sometimes manages as many as 2,000. If it’s going well she will have completed her 1,000 words before she begins to get phone calls around 9.30, but it sometimes takes longer. After her writing stint is finished, she typically watches television or goes for a walk. She has said that she often gets her best ideas while she’s on the move: ‘I set out… with my problem in my head, I march about and eventually I find the problem will sort itself out. It’s good if I’m not a mile from home when I get the answer to my plot because otherwise… I’ll forget what it was I wanted to say. Nowadays I keep my walks close to home so that I can get back and start writing again.’ She says that ideas for books are everywhere. She has got them from television programmes, small advertisements in magazines and overheard snatches of conversation. She always chooses to write about subjects

she’s really interested in; she enjoys the research and takes it very seriously. She loves exploring subjects and activities she knows little or nothing about. In the interests of research she’s been a porter in an auction house, a trainee potter, a furniture restorer, and she has delved behind the scenes of a dating agency and even been on a Ray Mears survival course. All this first-hand research has enabled her to bring these activities vividly to life in her books. Before embarking on a new novel, Katie first decides on the theme or subject – usually, a profession or an activity that she wants to make the focus of the book. She then asks herself ‘what sort of a person would do that?’ and starts to think about her characters. She believes that a good hero is key, together with a heroine whom the readers can recognise and who is likeable, but not too perfect. After that, comes the plotting, which she says is very important. For her, this means creating ‘a few really romantic scenes’. She has to think about how she can make the romance angle a bit different, and this can be difficult. It might, for example, involve having an old flame, or someone from the character’s past, make an unexpected or unwelcome appearance. She rarely knows at the beginning of a book exactly how it will end, though she knows there will be a happy ending. www.writers-online.co.uk

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Katie’s three top tips for aspiring writers are:

Read a lot

She advises reading absolutely anything and everything. She thinks it’s almost impossible for anyone who doesn’t read a lot to become a writer and says: ‘You learn more about writing from reading than you would believe.’

Persevere

‘Anyone can do it if they want it enough,’ she says, believing that perseverance and a refusal to give up is the key. It took her eight years of dogged, determined, noseto-the-grindstone work before she made the breakthrough and became a published writer. ‘If you’re really determined and you really want it enough, you will do it,’ she says, ‘but you have to want it more than anything.’

Listen to criticism

She says it’s important to learn to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful criticism: ‘If somebody says, “I can’t get into this book because it’s boring in the beginning”, don’t disagree with them… but listen. The fact is, people aren’t going to want to read it if it’s not compelling enough. When it comes to editorial criticism, usually people are telling the truth and it is best to listen to it.’

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Away from your desk

Get out of your garret for some upcoming activities and places to visit

It’s not over in Ilkley

Back soon!

With the Ilkley Literature Festival running until 16 October, there’s still time for book lovers to catch up with favourite authors including Louis de Bernières and Jacqueline Wilson in the beautiful surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales. Website: www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk

Get historical in Harrogate Freedom of expression Margaret Atwood will be awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2016, at a ceremony at The British Library on 13 October. The prize will be shared with an International Writer of Courage, who will be announced on the night. Website: http://writ.rs/PENpinterprize2016

Lovers of historical writing will be able to immerse themselves in the past in the company of stellar authors including Philippa Gregory, Janina Ramirez and Tracy Borman, at the Harrogate History Festival between 20 and 23 October. Website: http://harrogateinternationalfestivals. com/history-festival/

Swing Time for Cambridge Literary star Zadie Smith’s new novel, Swing Time, is a highlight of the autumn publishing calendar. She’ll be appearing on 22 November at Lady Mitchell Hall as part of Cambridge Literary Festival (26-27 November). Website: www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com

Way with words in Southwold The Southwold Literature Festival run by Ways with Words turns the pretty Suffolk seaside resort into a hotbed of literary talent between 10 and 14 November, with appearances including Salley Vickers, John Crace, Juliet Barker and John Sutherland. Website: www.wayswithwords.co.uk

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Book in for Book Week Book Week Scotland 2016, a week-long celebration of all things book-related, takes place between 21 and 27 November across Scotland. Scottish poets, authors, playwrights and storytellers will be bringing a packed events programme to life in schools, libraries, community venues and workplaces across the country. Website: http://writ.rs/ bookweekscotland2016

26/09/2016 10:17

UK NOVEL WRITING COMPETITION

THE MOGFORD FOOD & DRINK SHORT STORY PRIZE

We’re different...

£10,000 Final entries are now invited for the Fifth Annual Prize

The only writing competition in the world

where the judges are the public

Submissions by 15th January 2017

This competition is the literary equivalent of the ‘X Factor’ for novels!

Any writer - New work - 2500 words For further details, and to submit your entry, see our website www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk

Will you be our winner? Prizes:

1st

£5,000

2nd

£2,500

3rd

£1,000

Deadline 30th November 2016 Find out more at

www.uk-nwc.com

Matador

UK Novel Writing Comp.indd 2

®

15/08/2016 15:44

Serious Self-Publishing

Seeking reliable and realistic advice about your self-publishing project from approachable and experienced professionals?

Matador exhibiting at the 2016 London Book Fair

Whether it be writers’ services companies like The Writers’ Workshop, Words Worth Reading or Bubblecow, high street and online retailers like Lovewriting.co.uk, literary agents, even other publishers – not to mention the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook for the last ten years... time and again Matador is recommended to authors wishing to self-publish a book or ebook for pleasure or profit. We produce books for authors to their specifications at a realistic price, as print on demand, or as a short or longer print run book. As well as a high quality of production, we also insist upon a high quality of content, and place great emphasis on the marketing and distribution of self-published books to retailers. “We've always liked Matador because they have the best values in their industry. Apart from anything else, they actually try to sell books. It sounds crazy, but most of their rivals don’t. They print ’em, but don’t care about selling ’em. Matador do.” The Writers’ Workshop

But publishing a book is the easy part... getting it into the shops is harder. We offer a full sales representation and distribution service through our distributor and dedicated sales representation team.We also offer a full ebook creation and distribution option to our authors, distributing ebooks worldwide. Ask for a free copy of our guide to self-publishing, or download a copy from our website. Or call Lauren or Morgan if you want to speak to a human being!

www.troubador.co.uk/matador Recommended by writers’ services like The Writers’Workshop,The Writers’ Advice Centre for Children, Oxford Literary Consultancy, Fiction Feedback, Bubblecow,Words Worth Reading,,and PR agencies like Midas PR, Literally PR, Cameron Publicity, Booked PR and Startup PR. Troubador Publishing Ltd, 9 Priory Business Park, Kibworth, Leics LE8 0RX T: 0116 279 2299 E: [email protected]

www.writers-online.co.uk

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TA L K I T OV E R

Food for thought

Bad eating habits and snacking are constant risks for home writers, so make sure you stay healthy in body and mind with advice from Jane Wenham-Jones

I

have recently given up an office job and begun working from home. This has many advantages, as all freelancers will know, not least that it has given me more time to try to finish my novel. However, since my paid work also involves writing – often to tight deadlines – I find I am spending long hours welded to my computer and seem to survive on sweet stuff and snack food at my desk rather than having time to eat proper meals. As a result, I am finding I am tired all the time and also several pounds heavier. Several women at my writing group admitted cheerfully that they’d put on lots of weight while writing their books – I really do not want this to happen to me! But when I am on a roll, I just have to keep going and can’t stop to start cooking. What do other writers do about eating healthily while still getting the words down? Emily Ryan, Liverpool

Y

ou are not alone, Emily. I belong to a Facebook group for freelancers and when this subject was discussed recently, dozens of members contributed, either empathising with the problem you outline, or sharing their own tactics for dealing with it. It’s all too easy to slip into bad eating habits when glued to one’s desk (I speak as one who has just consumed three chocolates) but at the risk of sounding like your grandmother, good nutrition is 34

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crucial, because writing is hard work, and you will find you lose concentration, inspiration and stamina very quickly without it. Ally Oliver is currently an editor at Hearst Magazines, but says that when she was freelance she would quite often forget to eat altogether. ‘It would get to about 2.45pm and I’d suddenly have a terrible headache and feel grumpy,’ she recalls, ‘and then I’d realise why.’ This is never a good state to be in. Ally continues: ‘I’d stuff myself with carbs at that point because I

was absolutely starving. Not a great routine to get into...’ Indeed it isn’t. When you are constantly reaching for the cake and biscuits because your blood sugar has hit rock bottom, that’s when the weight goes on. And it is true that many writers do pile on the pounds when writing a book. I first wrote about the phenomenon of ‘writer’s bottom’ in a how-to book over a decade ago – mainly because I wanted to amuse myself with a section called Top Diets for Fat Scribes – but the reaction I got soon convinced me it was a serious issue. And one worth addressing early on. Freelancer Roz Ryan believes in a ‘proper breakfast’ – she has eggs, porridge or a ‘super smoothie’. Even if, like me, you can’t fancy much first thing, a nutri-bullet or similar is a good investment. You can put your entire five-a-day into one of these mega-blenders that mulches up all the good skin and fibre too, and know that at least you’ve got your vitamins and anti-oxidants box ticked. I feel much more energised on the mornings after I take five minutes to do this. After that, forward-planning is key.

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:23

TA L K I T OV E R

Ally Oliver

Roz Ryan

Maria McCarthy is the (slim!) author of The Girls’ Car Handbook and a prolific freelance journalist, specialising in motoring. However pressed she is, she makes sure she eats. ‘For me, the ideal is to have food pre-prepared that only needs to be heated up. This means you get something nutritious but don’t have to break the flow.’ Maria makes casseroles in advance (a slow cooker can be very useful here) and when she is ‘hyper-busy’ swears by what she calls her ‘garden centre lunches’: a jacket potato with salad and ham or cheese. Potatoes do pretty much cook themselves and once they have, if you buy bags of leaves, you can be ready in moments. New Zealand based editor Jai Breitnaur is vegan, so for her the rapid repast is even more of a challenge, but she offers this example of a really wellbalanced snack you can put together in no time: vine tomatoes thinly sliced over peanut butter on toast. ‘Yes, it absolutely works,’ she says. I imagine it does. Writer and coach-therapist Eve Menezes Cunningham admits to occasionally having crisps for dinner (I can put my hand up to this one too) but also makes vegetable soup all year round and has it for lunch. Soups are a great way of using up any left-over veg lurking in box or fridge. If you add chillis this boosts the metabolism and if you throw a handful of grated cheese on top, it’s a bit more filling and you get some protein too. Houmous and salad stuffed into wholemeal pitta bread is another quick and healthy fix. Pitta keeps well in the freezer and can be put in the toaster to warm up. It is quite easy to make too,

Jai Breitnaur

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Maria McCarthy

if you fancy coming over all domestic goddess when you’ve finally switched off for the day. I would also say: drink lots of water and don’t forget to exercise. Be strict about sticking to anything you do regularly such as yoga or tennis. The time spent will be worth it in terms of the renewed vigour you’ll feel in return and the subsequent surge in productivity when you do get back to work. If you don’t do anything like that, perhaps consider it? If you get stuck on a plot point or find your paid work isn’t flowing, a brisk march around the block will not only burn calories, but you’ll find the change of scene far more inspiring than simply sitting and sit and staring at the screen. Even when it’s going well, stop typing regularly and stretch or walk around the house or garden. Set a timer if you have to. For as we know, it’s not good for the body or the eyes to be at a monitor for hours on end, so perhaps take another leaf out of Maria McCarthy’s book. Maria tries, when possible, to take a ‘proper break’, rather than, as she puts it, ‘wolf down whatever is needed to sustain myself and then get back to my laptop.’ She looks at a magazine or listens to music. Relaxing in this way, will help digestion and encourage you to eat more slowly – another good strategy for weight control. In summary, working from home, staying fit and not ending up the size of the house is about creating good habits. Chocolate, by the way, has benefits! Enjoy!

Eve Menezes Cunningham

Jane WenhamJones

www.writers-online.co.uk

Novel Ideas

Don’t be like Joan

Seize the day and don’t let your writing gather dust, says Lynne Hackles

M

any years ago I met a lady who had been in the Land Army during WWII. She would read her stories out at our writing group. They should have had a wider audience but Joan never sent out her work. She didn’t think it was good enough or even interesting. I threatened to break into her house, steal her work and send it off on her behalf. Of course, I didn’t. The sad thing is Joan died without ever seeing a word of her work in print and now those stories are lost forever. You know what they say about the lottery – you’ve got to be in it, to win it. Don’t be like Joan. Send your work out into the world. Share it. But, before you do let’s cover a few points. If you read your story and think ‘that’ll do’ you can be sure it won’t do at all. You are in the wrong frame of mind to be making important decisions. Leave it and return after supper, the following morning, another day. Save it for when you are fresh again and can look at it with wide eyes. Then, when you’ve done a little more rewriting and editing and say to yourself, ‘that’ll do nicely,’ it’s time to send it off. Maybe you want to seek a second opinion before you offer your work to a magazine or publisher. If whoever reads it for you yawns as they read the first chapter and you tell them, ‘It gets better. You need to persevere,’ think again. Why should they have to? An editor or publisher’s reader won’t. It’s no good having a wonderful article or brilliantly plotted story if your best work isn’t at the beginning. Correction. If your best work isn’t all the way through. Keep aiming for perfection. Never believe you have achieved it.

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T R A I N YO U R B R A I N

!? PEN

PUSHERS

WHAT YOU DON’T SAY Try these exercises from Lizzie Enfield to discover that what you leave out of your writing can be as effective as what you put in

T

here’s a phrase, which is overused a lot in academic circles: ‘the spaces between’. When my daughter was applying to university it seemed that nearly every professor in every discipline was particularly interested in the ‘spaces between’ works of art, pieces of music or lines of poetry. It became a bit of a family joke so I am slightly loathe to introduce the phrase here but it is important to consider what you leave out of your writing as much as what you put in. The omissions can be the things that stop a piece of writing becoming prosaic and overloaded and engage the reader, as they use their own imagination to fill in the gaps. Sometimes, especially when starting out, writers often feel they need to tell the reader everything. I had a student whose character was heavily pregnant; she then went through a long and difficult labour and eventually had the baby. All this was described in great detail but when I suggested to the writer than she cut the labour scene she asked ‘but will the reader know how the baby got there?’ I assured her they would. The following exercises are designed to make you think about what you don’t need to put on paper.

ut of the picture Exercise two: O ally see the spaces which you can liter in rm fo l ve this exercise no e Th hic novel and for ap gr e th is ns tio ac strip from a between the c novel or cartoon hi ap gr a d fin to I want you azine. newspaper or mag ing which, again, someth couple of pages on or , ge pa a t lec Se 1 ce or two takes place. ip and write a senten str e th of e m fra ch 2 Look at ea taking place. describing what is e spaces between has happened in th at wh t ou ab k in th 3 Now, arguing. In the next me two people are fra e on a In es. m fra the t happened? Write a on the floor. Wha in ch en ok br is ere th scribe this. short sentence to de look at them again es in the frame and ag im e th at hints at or 4 Go back to em anything in th th is ere th if see to carefully . suggests the omission work and how w graphic novelists ho see to g in est ter in It’s e details, which are them to consider th s rce fo m iu ed m e th frames. ise above contained, in single writing in the exerc of e ec pi e th to ck 5 Finally, go ba c novel. Draw as if it were a graphi and plot the action within each or go details that will e th ne tli ou d an frames em. raph to describe th write a short parag

p36 pen pushers.indd 36

Exercise one: Pruning your prose The childbirth example above shows you how it’s possible to get to the same place in your writing without going into huge detail. If the purpose of a particular passage is to show the horror of childbirth or the stoicism of the mother, then the labour scene should remain. But, if it’s simply to say that a baby has been born then it’s not necessary. 1 Select a couple of pages of your own writing or a couple of pages from a book during which some change takes place. 2 Now take out every other paragraph and read the passage through. 3 Ask yourself how much of the sense and the detail has been lost by removing the alternate paragraphs. 4 Now think about what you need to write to replace what has been lost. Is it another paragraph or a sentence or two? 5 Having done this, can you also edit the paragraphs you did not cut in the first place and retain the overall effect?

! P ZA

! W PO BOO

M! 26/09/2016 10:24

T R A I N YO U R B R A I N

Red Editing Pen Each month, we give you a few sentences which would all benefit from some careful use of your red editing pen. As writers, and regular readers of Writing Magazine, you should not find any of these too difficult. But if you would welcome a little help, you can always check out Richard Bell’s suggested solutions below. Here are this month’s examples:

1

Her meeting with the fiction editor took place quite by chance at Wendy’s party, but it proved to be the worse possible influence on her career leaving her prospects in the shade.

2 3

The success of her novel, set in the luxuriant world of fashion, depended how much the hoped-for reviews would influence readers. A deadly silence fell over the meeting following a presentation from the rather geriatric fiction editorial team who pedalled the idea of moving the list upmarket..

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

1

Things happen if they occur by accident, without any preplanning. But when things are planned in advance then we say that they ‘take place’. So to say that a meeting took place quite by chance is not correct; it should be ‘happened (or occurred) quite by chance’. The next point to consider is the use of worse – which is a comparative, while ‘worst’ is a superlative. It follows that we can have an influence that was ‘worse’ than the previous one (in which case we would be comparing one influence with another and therefore using a comparative). But when comparing an influence with all possible others (as we do in this month’s sentence one) we need a superlative and should therefore use the term ‘worst possible influence’. Shade is good, but ‘shadow’ is often sinister. Shade is positive in that it provides protection against too much sunlight – but shadow often casts a more negative degree of darkness so, at the end of our sentence, we would perhaps be better to say ‘cast a shadow over her prospects’.

2

Things that are luxuriant are things that grow abundantly. So you can have luxuriant hair or luxuriant roses. However, it is things that reflect luxury (such as the world of fashion) that can be luxurious, and ‘luxurious’ is therefore the adjective we should be using in sentence two. Later in the same sentence we use the word depend.

However, when we use depend we should follow it with the preposition ‘on’ (or ‘upon’, which is much the same thing) and our sentence should therefore read: ‘depended on how much’.

3

We should be careful about the difference between deadly and deathly. Deadly means causing death, or capable of causing death (as in deadly weapon). On the other hand, deathly means suggestive of death, so we can certainly have a deathly silence or, for example, someone having a deathly pallor. So, at the start of sentence three, we should talk about a ‘deathly silence’ rather than a deadly silence. Then later in the same sentence we have the word geriatric which is a medical term referring to patients suffering from conditions common among the elderly, but it has now also acquired a pejorative, insulting meaning. As such it is often applied to people who are far from elderly in order to suggest that they are showing symptoms of elderly behaviour. Frankly, it would be better to describe the editorial team as ‘elderly’; that would convey much the same meaning without implying any mockery of older folk. Towards the end of our sentence three, we should be careful about the difference between pedalled and peddled. We ‘pedal’ things such as bicycles whereas we ‘peddle’ ideas, such as the idea of moving the fiction list upmarket.

www.writers-online.co.uk

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NOVEMBER 2016

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26/09/2016 10:25

GET WRITING

AND NOW FOR

SOMETHING

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Step back to see things differently and reinvigorate your writing, says Janet Rogers

L

ook at life differently and reawaken your senses. As a writer you may not travel, wander or get out much and that’s fine if your imagination is working on full charge. But there are times when you need to give yourself a jolt, see things in a different light, use fresh eyes. I had that experience recently. I’m not suggesting that you try this but it is a good way of illustrating what I mean. We had a problem with our chimney and the builders came and put up scaffolding and ladders. After they’d left on that first day, I climbed the ladders and eventually ended up on a little platform next to the chimney. And although I had lived in the same house for more than thirty years, I looked down and felt I was in a different place. I was up among the tree tops with the wind swirling round me in an uninterrupted flow. I caught glimpses of a life lived, seen with the eyes of a gull. Suddenly I was an outsider viewing my surroundings. It was certainly different from looking out of a bedroom window. For a start I had a 360-degree view and because of the height I could see much further. I could see the swell of far hills in the north and, looking south, I could just make out the sea through a clump of pines, a dark blue line where sky met water. I could see the church across the road; a churchyard tumbled with gravestones like a rockery, and in my mind the pattern of footsteps on the path where I had carried my new son to his christening, footsteps where my daughter had walked on her wedding day and where the pallbearers carried my mother’s coffin to her grave. All these thoughts flooded into my mind because I had climbed a builder’s ladder to the roof of my house. But you don’t have to climb ladders to look at life and the world around you with fresh eyes. Nor do you have 38

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to take expensive trips abroad or have life-changing experiences to give yourself new sensations.

We saw colours where we didn’t know they existed. Suddenly our world was bright and alive and we began noticing different hues and nuances. Reflections: Look at reflections in puddles, ponds, rivers and streams. See how the surface ripples and the reflected picture changes. Look into the mirrors in your house, not at your own reflection but at what you see beyond. I can see the garden in a mirror in my sitting room and it changes my view of the garden. It’s as though I am peering into the garden as an outsider. I am looking at it from a different angle. Touch: I can remember one of my children had to touch everything. It’s how they learn but adults have lost that child-like curiosity. Feel the smooth velvet on rose petals, the rough grain of wood on a fence, the pine needles on a tree. Stop and listen: To the sound of the traffic, the sea, the wind in the trees, the rain on the windows, a clock chiming. Swim: Under water, even if it’s only at the local swimming pool. Notice the way people change shape under the water. Study the mass of bubbles and the light changing. If you are feeling brave swim in the sea or in lakes looking under the water at the weed growth, light, and any creatures that might be joining you. Life doesn’t have to be the same each day. Or rather it may well be the same but you can vary your view of it and stimulate your senses and write better as a result.

Simple steps

Simple steps in your everyday life will give you a different perspective. Lie on the floor and look up; view the whole room from a horizontal position. And don’t just restrict yourself to indoors. Go outside and lie in the garden or on a park bench. Look at the sky and the clouds and the trees moving, the birds flying. See the shape of their wings, notice the canopies of branches on the trees and the subtle movement of the leaves, see the sunlight glinting and changing shapes and patterns. Do the same again at night. Take a ground sheet if the grass is damp. Look at the stars, the moon and the clouds. Listen to the night time sounds, owls screeching and twigs cracking as the night-time creatures venture out. Smell the night smells, wood burning, salty air, city smells, stale fat, car fumes. Venture out at dawn and watch the sun rise, listen to the birds waking up, the seagulls screeching, the blackbirds singing. Smell the flowers and the freshness of the new day.

Other filters

Shadows: Well, that’s a whole new experience. I once did a watercolour painting course and although I was pretty bad, it taught me a lot about observation and particularly shadows. I had never noticed the shadows under the eaves of houses or under window sills or the shadows made by plants and trees. All of a sudden I was seeing life in shadows. My only concern was what else I had missed over the years. Colours: My writing group set itself the task of going on a colour walk. We chose a colour and then went out for a walk, noting everything in that colour. One member of the group wasn’t able to get out. She stayed in her house and still found it a revelation.

NOW TRY THIS: • Sleep in a different bedroom. If you have a spare room, move in for a while. It’s like going on holiday. • Try going outside your house at night and looking in. From the black exterior you feel like a stranger looking in through the window at someone else’s home. • Take a lesson from children and hang upside down from the branch of a tree, railings, fences or indoors just by lying across a couple of chairs with your head hanging down.. • Screw up your eyes and see your surroundings with blurred vision so you only see shapes, dark patches and bright light.

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:26

£500 ! N I W

IN CASH PRIZES

& PUBLICATION

s d l r o w r e h t o n o i t i t Compe £250 Dream of previously unknown possibilities for this month’s competition for fantasy and SF stories, whether that be mythical worlds and creatures or technology-inspired alternative worlds, past, present or future.

TO BE WON

Your story should be the usual 1,500-1,700 words and the closing date is 14 December.

TAP HERE

TO ENTER

The winner will receive £200, with £50 for the runner-up, and both stories will be published in Writing Magazine. See p107 for entry details, full rules and entry forms.

£250 IME T L L I T S TER TO EN

TO BE WON

With its closing date of 14 November, there’s still time to enter last month’s Flash Fiction Competition for stories on any theme of up to 500 words. Prizes are as above. See p107 for more details.

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26/09/2016 16:49

Crime story competition

Where’s Muriel?

Winner

by Elizabeth Tyrrell

H

overing above my bed are two figures, grey and cloudy, speaking through cotton wool. Ghosts. As I soon will be. ‘Did she say cat-creep?’ The doctor’s laugh is muffled. ‘What’s that? A dance?’ ‘You find them in Brighton, Doctor! Where Mum grew up.’ It’s faint but I recognise Jennie’s posh voice. To my daughter doctors are like gods. I splutter a laugh. ‘Mum?’ Her face blurs and, through the hospital tang, drifts a whiff of perfume. That expensive stuff. ‘What’s the matter?’ Thinking I can’t hear. ‘She’s been agitated all day. Something on her mind.’ There is. One person missing. All come to say goodbye except one. Where’s Muriel? I’m trying to shout but all I produce is a croaky squeak. ‘Tell me about cat-creeps, Jennie!’ the doctor says. I can. Next door to our house was the cat-creep. I don’t know what others call them but, in Brighton, the flights of steep steps rising up between high plastered walls and linking two roads on a hillside are cat-creeps. The baker’s was at the top. So was the post office. From up high you could see descending terraces of houses with their smoking chimney pots, the trees changing colour in the park and, far away, the steam train puffing across the viaduct to Lewes. We lived on the street at the bottom. The cat-creep was our second home, our playground. ‘Over a hundred steps,’ Jennie explains. 40

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Elizabeth Tyrrell has lived in Brighton for most of her adult life and can’t imagine being anywhere else. She has always enjoyed writing and finds that writing groups, of which there are many in Brighton, and also magazines are very helpful for support and feedback. Competitions are a great motivator. She was an infant teacher for thirty years. ‘You can’t have illusions about yourself when small children are around,’ she says, ‘and, not surprisingly, I often write about children.’

One hundred and twenty-six I whisper. Got to get it right. Get everything right. Before I leave. Where is she? Where’s Muriel? They’re waiting for me to go but I’m not finished. I must remember. I’m two years old and fleeing from my mother. Dad’s away at the war so there’s just us two. On hands and knees I’m scrambling up the rough steps of the cat-creep and dirtying my clean frock but my mother’s too fat to follow. There’s a baby inside her. My sister. ‘Susan!’ A neighbour hears her screeching. ‘Come here!’ The neighbour carries me down. I get a smack but I forget all about it when my baby sister, Muriel, arrives that night. By the time my father has leave again I’m at school. Hand in hand we trudge up the cat creep to buy bread. My father uses the steps for counting. ‘If we’ve climbed fifty how many more to go?’ or ‘Have we stopped on an odd or an even?’ I’m the best in my class at mental arithmetic. I never see my father again. Muriel and I play out from an early age. The cat-creep is our special place. I’m in charge, Mum says. We haul our tin prams to the first ‘landing’, spread out dolls’ clothes and sit in the sun, singing to our ‘babies’. Some grownups tut as, on their laboured route to the top, they thread their way through our bits and pieces. All are more cheerful when they clatter down again. They smile fondly at Muriel’s blonde

curls. She’s the pretty one. With the end of sweet-rationing we suck greedily at sickly sweet lollipops and smear our faces with tarry liquorice. It tastes like cough medicine. We sit playing five-stones till our cold bums ache. I laugh again. The vague forms swimming above me respond. It’s so clear in my head but all that comes is a gurgling sound. We blow bubbles through a little metal wand. My speech is like that now, floating from my lips trapped in the thick walls of a bubble. If I could hook the bubbles to the ground, maybe they’d pop and my words would be released. We swap shiny glass beads, we bounce a ball down the steps – once we hit the vicar’s wife – we have running races to the top, hauling ourselves, gasping and panting up the last few steps by clinging to the rusty handrail. I always give Muriel a start but there comes a time when she won’t have it. ‘Is she…?’ ‘Not yet, Jennie, she’s fantastic! Hanging on in.’ Fantastic? I don’t know any more. We get the dancing bug. We go to tap classes and the flat areas between the staircases are our stage. We swing the steel-capped shoes by their ribbons

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C R I M E S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R

then ‘shuffle’ and ‘ball change’ until the sky darkens and our watches tell us it’s time. Our chalky white shoes are scuffed and grimy and our mother shudders when she hears how Muriel tried to do a Gene Kelly up and down the bottom steps. ‘You’ll break your ankle, my girl!’ A memory floats past which I try to grab. Have we already said goodbye? Perhaps she can’t come. Won’t come. We fancy ourselves as singers and attempt harmonies like the Everlys ‘Dream, dream, dream...’ One evening a voice bellows, ‘Those moggies are on the cat-creep again!’ and we hear an answering guffaw. We don’t stop. One evening, as we leaf through film magazines, we hear shouts and drumming feet and suddenly there’s a line of boys, slightly older boys, out for a run, grammar school boys, in dazzling vests and crisply-laundered shorts. A flash of white plimsolls and the unfamiliar, exciting smell of sweaty male bodies as, to the encouraging shouts of a red-faced master, they pound in single file to the top of the steps. Soon they thump down again. The one on the end winks. ‘Hello girls!’ He’s tall and suntanned with black curly hair and blue eyes. ‘See you later, alligator!’ I’m in love. We look for the runners again but they don’t appear. Then, suddenly, there’s a litter of dog ends and the landings are spiked with broken green glass. One or two bottles are lobbed into our garden. Raucous shouts ring on the still evening air and there are mutterings in the street about ‘teddy boys’ and glares towards the cat-creep. Intrigued, we shout goodbye to Mum. She has a job now and is tired so, as long as we’re not too late, she’s happy. He’s there. Andy, with the curly hair. ‘Hi girls!’ Smoothly, like the films. ‘Do you come here often?’ His friends – not a teddy boy amongst them – laugh. ‘Care for a ciggy, ladies?’ We don’t but we soon learn to. Sucking vigorously at Polos we saunter home at the end of the evening and our mother suspects nothing. We have a swig or two of beer but we don’t like it. Even so it makes us slither down the steps and we have to grab the gritty handrail.

Mum’s asleep and doesn’t hear our giggly homecoming. We become a group, no pairing off, just joking, teasing. Even so I know there’s something special between Andy and me. He flashes that film-star smile, ‘Alright, Big Sister?’ and my heart flutters. Exams are looming and I have to revise. So sometimes Muriel goes alone to meet the boys but I don’t worry. She’s only a little girl, it’s me Andy likes. Cold weather’s on the way, she doesn’t stay out long One evening I’m returning from a friend’s. I pause at the top of the steps where the branches of a sycamore sweep across, scratching your face if you’re not careful, but hiding you from view. There’s a full moon and a bright lamp-post on the street so I see the figures quite plainly. It’s Andy and the curly blonde head snuggled against his shoulder leaves no doubt who he’s with. There’s an urgency about the way the two are pushing against each other, he’s clawing at her clothes, reaching and fumbling in private places. I shrink into the shadows. A tumble of frantic thoughts. They’ll be seen! It’s so cold! How could they? I knew what it was to have a broken heart. I take the long way round. She’s home first. That night I stare into the darkness, remembering, when I close my eyes and, again, when I open my eyes, that sight on the steps. I hardly sleep. Mum feels guilty, says I’ve been overdoing the homework and is specially nice to me. Muriel’s oblivious. The next day it snows and EXPERT there’s a hard frost. Walking is analysis e’s treacherous, puddles ice over To read the judg : to go ts and, from our window, we watch en m m co / .rs cars slither and spin. I choose my http://writ wmnov16 time and suggest to my sister we have a walk. ‘No cat creep!’ Mum commands. I reassure her that we’re going up the

‘She’s distressed, doctor, ‘My daughter’s face looms and recedes. ‘Is she in pain?’ ‘Shouldn’t be.’ He touches my hand. ‘I won’t give her anything more. It won’t be much longer.’ Good. I need more time. What happened that day? Why isn’t Muriel here? ‘Who’s Muriel?’ He’s heard me. ‘Her sister, doctor. Very close they were. Her and Auntie Mu.’ What did I do that day? I was so angry with her, I know that. And scared for a little sister playing with fire. What did I do? ‘She would have come, Uncle Andy too, but they can’t travel from Australia these days. They’re out there with their son.’ Still together. Andy always was a good chap, wouldn’t leave a girl in the lurch. The doctor takes my hand. ‘That’s better. See how peaceful she looks, Jennie?’ In her voice I hear my daughter’s tears. ‘Muriel always said Mum saved her life?’ I believe what I’m hearing. I can’t remember but it’s better to believe. ‘Auntie fell down the cat creep!’ Her voice is fading. ‘…on the coldest day of the year. She always was headstrong. Just a bumped head, lucky girl, but if Mum hadn’t got her home as quickly as she did…’ Good old Mu. That’s the memory I want. It’s time. I can go.

Runner-up in the Crime Story Competition, whose story is published on www.writers-online. co.uk, is Jean Burnett, Bristol. Also shortlisted were: Michael Callaghan, Clarkston, East Renfrewshire; Stephen A Carter, Oregon, Ohio, USA; Abbey-Rose Chivers, Hull, East Riding; Tony Domaille, Thornbury, Bristol; Susan A Eames, Caher, Co Cork, Ireland; Alan Grant, Plymouth, Devon; Gladys Gregg, Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Nicola Houseago, Romford; Ian Houston, Fort William; Ian Tucker, Bristol; Lisa Wilshire, Truro, Cornwall.

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long way to look at the view. The view is certainly spectacular, silvery trees, blue sky, flurries of wheeling birds, but it’s the steps we make for. As I expected they are frozen solid, curving over into a slide of ice, too thick to see the treads beneath. The red of the setting sun makes them seem splashed with blood. ‘Can you see our school from here?’ Gently, I push my sister towards the steps. ‘Can you see Andy’s school?’

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Dream spinners Poetr y n competitio

and winners

Winners

W

Judge Alison Chisholm highlights the winners from our Midsummer Night’s Dream competition

great number of entries exhibited riting a poem for imaginative leaps that brought the Shakespeare is a tall pieces to life. Very few poems had to order, a bit like baking be eliminated for avoiding the theme a cake for Mr Kipling altogether, and writing about entirely or giving gardening different subjects. advice to Alan Titchmarsh. It was Perhaps because of the subject of a fantastic experience, then, to read this competition, a large majority the many original, inspiring, witty of the entries featured traditional and thought-provoking poems poetry forms, particularly the crafted to honour the Bard sonnet and blank verse. A 400 years after his death. perfectly executed sonnet, Maybe the most terza rima or villanelle pleasing aspect of the displays the writer’s skills competition was the Subscribers only at the highest level; but way almost every For 40-line poems inspired there’s always the risk of poet managed to find by the Battle of Hastings error. It was disappointing something new to say or Bayeux Tapestry. that a number of entries that connected with were close enough to A Midsummer Night’s See p107 for entry details traditional forms to indicate Dream. Some writers their writers’ intention, but not took up the suggestions quite close enough to deliver the made when the competition form with accuracy. Unfortunately was set. There was a brilliant there were formal poems with weak homage to Midsomer Murders, a rhymes and wobbly metre, and blank fascinating commentary in the voice verse pieces with additional feet to of the changeling boy, and some the line or inappropriate syllabic to-ing and fro-ing between Bottom stress patterns. and the Donkey. One way of helping to avoid these These three – child, weaver and errors is to say the poem aloud. If donkey – were by far the most you read aloud at every stage, starting popular characters to explore, with notes, speaking the first draft closely followed by Titania and her and then developing versions, you retinue. One intriguing idea brought will have a good chance of noticing characters from The Tempest into the hiccups in the rhyme, rhythm and arena, and several entries quoted from metre, and so have the opportunity or listed other plays. A wide breadth to correct them. If you can get of imagination was in evidence. A

Competition launch:

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someone else to read your work out to you, you have an even better chance of spotting problems.

First place Flawless poems shone. The winner relates directly to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in the form of an enhanced cast list with the fun device of a writer’s-blocked Bard seeking aid from the narrator. Every Little Helps is by Roger Dunn of Dartmouth, and takes the form of an Elizabethan (Shakespearean) sonnet. The first stanza sets the scene by showing the arrival of the struggling playwright, and the offer of the three key words that appear in the plot for jiggling into the right order and using as a title. More fascinating, though, is the list offered in the second stanza of names to be considered for the characters. The cast list works metrically and rhymes beautifully … which comes as a delightful surprise. The final couplet closes the cast list and rounds off the content by having the now happy Shakespeare knowing how to continue. Essentially this is a list poem, in which a good proportion of the content – over a third – consists of nothing more than possible character names. It’s a tribute to the poet’s skill that the list is incorporated into the piece in such a way as to enthral the reader with this roll call of

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familiar characters. We find ourselves making a mental reckoning of them, noting a couple of omissions, being reminded of possibly forgotten first names; there is certainly nothing tedious in the listing. An appropriate conversational note is sustained throughout the piece, and the direct address to the playwright has an inclusive quality. The reader is there, listening in while writer and friend thrash out ideas for title and names. Everyday phrases such as a spot / Of bother and I’ve had a go and scribbled down… help to create this illusion. The conversational quality is not compromised by the restrictions of the form, but reads fluently and naturally throughout. The masterly rhyming of woebegone and Oberon will linger in memory, as will the final fun rhyme, where Will is offered a quill. Perhaps one of the most pleasing aspects of this poem is the idea of William Shakespeare as a struggling human being rather than a remote idol to be revered. As in the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, we’re presented with a real person in this poem, and one we can all relate to. Who has not struggled for a title? Who’s thought up and rejected a dozen or more names? For the reader who is also a writer, the premise at the heart of this poem is irresistible.

Second place The second prize is awarded to the writer of a poem that recalls one of the few names not mentioned in Every Little Helps. Christine Ratcliff of Saffron Walden, Essex, has called her poem The Naming of Fairies, and introduces us to the sad plight of Moth. The first stanza shows the fairy’s habitual dream, full of typical fairyland imagery such as wearing

white, dancing with the breeze, iridescent dew, and butterflies in scented bowers. This is the dream. The reality is in the second stanza, hovering in the semi-dark even while Drawn to any tantalising gleam. The white dress is gone, and the character describes herself as cool, dripping grey / Like autumn grief. The negative images are reinforced in The saddest song and the description strange and wild. In this poem, too, the language has an immediacy with phrases such as I fail to see and it calls the tune – the latter almost a cliché, but instead a fine introduction to The saddest song. The Naming of Fairies is written in beautifully controlled blank verse, with its measured pattern of five feet of an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable in each of its unrhymed lines. The only tiny variant in the metre is the acephalous line, where the initial unstressed syllable is absent from the second line of the second stanza. Such variants are included to make minute syncopations in the rhythm, and here it gives the bonus of drawing together the two alliterative words, dusk and Drawn. Both of these words make lengthy use of their monosyllable. The voice inevitably slows down on them, providing a strong contrast with the tripping metre of the first stanza. The sound of the word when spoken aloud also adds weight to the end of the poem. Moth communicates gloom and implies a downward inflection. The name is marooned, alone on the final line like an afterthought, exactly in keeping with the poem’s message. Both the winners and all the shortlisted poems prompt their readers to grasp the nearest copy of Shakespeare’s plays and re-read A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What better recommendation could there be?

1st prize

Winner EVERY LITTLE HELPS, BY ROGER DUNN ‘Ah, Will! Come in. Sit down. Still in a spot Of bother with a title for the play? You’ve dream, night and midsummer in the plot, Just shuffling them around should save the day. Re: names of characters eluding you; May I assist? You’re looking woebegone. I’ve had a go and scribbled down a few, So tell me what you think of Oberon, Titania, Francis Flute, Demetrius; Nick Bottom, Robin Starveling, Helena; Lysander, Peter Quince, Snug, Theseus; Hippolyta, Egeus, Hermia; Puck, Fairy, Philostrate and maybe… Will! It’s good to see you smiling. Need a quill?’

2nd prize

Winner THE NAMING OF FAIRIES, BY CHRISTINE RATCLIFF I used to dream that I was dressed in white. I’d dance with every passing, glancing breeze And casting off the iridescent dew I’d lift my face towards the rising sun And with my gilded fingers, pollen-dipped, Call butterflies to bask in scented bowers. Instead, I hover in the creeping dusk, Drawn to any tantalising gleam.

Also shortlisted were: Elizabeth Bencze, Norwich, Norfolk; Heather Cook, Woking, Surrey; Samuel Dunn, Ballycarry, Co. Antrim, N. Ireland; Gillian Dunstan, Sidmouth, Devon; Caroline Gill, Rushmere St. Andrew, Ipswich; Elizabeth Horrocks, Wilmslow, Cheshire; Angela Lanyon, Worcester; Corinne Lawrence, Stockport, Cheshire; Elizabeth Parish, Old Trafford, Manchester; Margaret Reeves, Llanishen, Cardiff; S. Riley, Wombwell, Barnsley, Yorkshire; Susan Rogerson, Felixstowe, Suffolk.

You ask what’s in a name. I’ll tell you this: It colours what I am – cool, dripping grey Like autumn grief. I’m beige before my time. My name has shaped my life; it calls the tune – The saddest song that holds no note of love. I fail to see, however strange and wild, How caring parents ever called their child Moth.

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I N T E RV I E W

Shelf life:

DINAH JEFFERIES The bestselling novelist shares her five favourite reads with Judith Spelman

D

inah Jefferies was born in Malaysia and lived in many countries around the world before settling in England. She started writing in Spain when, as she explains, quite a lot of money was lost in the financial crisis of 2008. She and her husband had to sell up and move back to England to earn money again. She had been thinking of trying to write a novel but when the money was lost it motivated her to start. Knowing nothing about writing, she just plunged in, sticking Post-It notes around the house saying, ‘you will write a bestseller’. And she did. Her second novel, The Tea Planter’s Wife, became a Sunday Times number one. Her latest novel is The Silk Merchant’s Daughter and is already receiving critical acclaim.

JANE EYRE, Charlotte Brontë ‘The first book I’ve chosen is Jane Eyre. It’s a beautiful love story that deals with the role of women in a particularly clever way. I love the way that while she is incredibly independent she still needs to find her place in the world and there’s stern, crabby faced Rochester, a really flawed character – wild, dangerous and to some extent irresistible. She has to find ways to get the better of him, which she does, partly by teasing him. And she irritates him in a kind of enjoyable way. ‘Then there is the whole issue of mad, bad Bertha Mason in the attic which I suppose is a symbol of female oppression. I love also the atmosphere of gloomy old Thornfield Manor and also the terrifying red room at the start when she was incarcerated as a child. It’s all about finding a place in the world and women’s role. I think what appeals to me particularly, regardless of when it was written, or what time, is that it does deal with social injustice, particularly when she was at school. Her principles are very upright: she’s very moral, she won’t allow bigamy and she will let the love of her life go rather than do something that’s wrong. We tend to overlook Rochester’s flaws because of the strength of passion between him and Jane.’

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Image © Jenny Stewart

THE LOVE SONG OF MISS QUEENIE HENNESSEY Rachel Joyce ‘This is nothing like my books. I actually think Rachel Joyce has magic in her finger tips. I think that the way she observes the world is so original and the way she makes the ordinary characters prove to be so extraordinary is profoundly moving. It’s a dying woman’s story of unrequited love and the companion book to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. I loved the chapters set in the hospice best of all – the humour, the jokes, the warmth as each person gradually died. I think it’s about ordinary lives told in an extraordinary way, focusing on the detail and so inspiring to be able to offer you so much emotion on the pages. I think again the key to the story is that we care. We care about Queenie Hennessey, we care about Harold Fry and his poor wife who didn’t know what the hell was going on. And then there’s that awful son! I read it when it first came out and I shall definitely read it again. It’s one of those books I shall re-read several times.’

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WRITER’S BOOKSHELF

REBECCA Daphne du Maurier ‘I read it a couple of times years ago. Rebecca is the dead wife who haunts the second Mrs de Winter. I love the way that Rebecca is everywhere in the house and the way that gloomy Mrs Danvers makes sure it stays that way by manipulating the young naïve narrator who becomes more and more jealous and frightened and inadequate. Mrs Danvers preys on the second Mrs de Winter’s feelings of not being good enough. She manipulates her and undermines her and almost persuades her to jump to her death. She is a really terrific female villain, stalking the new Mrs de Winter throughout the book. She herself is a voice of obsession. She is absolutely obsessed with Rebecca and she is constantly planting seeds of doubt. I love the way a character from the past who doesn’t even exist anymore can almost drive a character in the present crazy. There are so many second wives today and no matter how open-

minded and forward thinking you are, especially if there is a family with the previous wife, it can make life very complicated and tensions can arise. In Rebecca’s case she was supposed to be incredibly beautiful and throughout the whole book, in Mrs de Winter’s eyes she grows more and more irreplaceable. I love the twist at the end. All the way through she is worried that Max really still loves Rebecca and we discover at the end that he didn’t love Rebecca at all. I like the fact that she doesn’t feel she belongs. And I like the fact that there is a fire at the end which reminds me of Jane Eyre.’

EAST OF THE SUN Julia Gregson ‘The reason I chose this is because it was the first book that made me think, maybe I could write a book set in the East. I was born in the East, I know about the East and maybe that’s something I could do. It deals with women going out as part of the ‘fishing fleet’ trying to find husbands. You learn something new when you read it. It’s not overwritten, historically. The history moves slowly and very subtly through the story and it is the story that matters and I try to do that in my books. With East of the Sun you do learn something new about how India was during the last days of the Raj. It shows the wealth as well as the poverty but it also is about women searching for freedom and love and it’s about their friendship. It is very much about women in the time of the Raj. Quite often it is men’s stories we hear and it is quite clear that Julia Gregson is fascinated by India. There is a really vivid depiction of the period and the book explores female friendship and what home is, what it means and where is home. You really care about the women. If I don’t care about the characters or care enough to want to know what happened to them, I won’t finish reading a book. I don’t have time.’

A BRIEF AFFAIR Margaret Leroy ‘I think more than any other novel this book brought home to me the really awful realities of war. Particularly the raids by the Luftwaffe. It’s the horror of it and the way it can impact on people’s lives but also the way those lives have to go on despite everything. More than any book I have ever read, it really brought it home. I was absolutely there in those air raids. The story is about a woman who discovers her own inner strength by becoming an air raid warden and saving the lives of others. She doesn’t start out like that. It’s a heart-rending story. She has a light-hearted affair with a wealthy man and that is then contrasted against the real love of someone who is working to save lives. It isn’t just the story that is heart-breaking, but it is the way she writes. Her description is unusual and spellbinding and some people might find it overwritten but I was spell-bound by the whole book and I read it over two days. It was a proof copy sent to me by a publisher. I have many sent to me and I can’t read every one but if I read the first page or so and I think I will enjoy reading it, then I do.’

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D

inah says she is still finding her writer’s voice. ‘I think the book I wrote in Spain was my learning curve. It has not been published. I sent it out and it got rejected but one agent came back to me with pages of feedback and I wrote back to her and said I was not sure I wanted to take it on and I would rather start a new book. I sent her the new one and within ten days of putting it out to publishers it had amazing deals. ‘That was The Separation. I think in writing that first book, the writing voice developed and then further developed in The Separation. I think it develops with each book. I try to make each one a challenge for me to write so I am not just repeating the same book over and over again. ‘I loved writing The Silk Merchant’s Daughter because I went to Vietnam to research it and it helped me become clear about the sensory detail. For instance, the Vietnamese quarter with its houses packed together and the aroma of charcoal and ginger and beef noodles. And there is the colour of the flowers and the silks. ‘My new book is called Before the Rains. It’s set in Rajasthan and deals with infanticide and widow burning. It is a love story between a British photographer and an Indian prince. It’s a truly romantic love story but with a bit of grit in it, too.’

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Hell

is other writers Some writers’ groups are better than others, but most (hopefully) manage to avoid what Lora Bishop found at her local session

I

t’s recently dawned on me that I haven’t written anything more creative than a fake sick note for my daughter’s school in some time. I have tried various ways to increase creative output; I’ve started listening to classical music, supposedly able to increase concentration and other cognitive functions. (It’s debatable if this effect actually exists, but of all the things to try sticking a few symphonies and sonatas on YouTube required the least amount of effort on my part.) I’ve burnt diaries in an attempt to rise out of the ashes like some gleaming innovative phoenix. I’ve banned television to free up more writing time. I’ve meditated (napped), written by hand (as opposed to Word document), written drunk (any excuse), set up a desk for myself, hung around coffee shops in my glasses trying to look all arty and intellectual with my ring-binder and selection of HB pencils... and I am still not writing the way I want. Lightbulb moment! What I need is a writing group where I can oil the somewhat stiff creative cogs. Added incentives are one evening a week away from the kids and the huge spider who recently moved its suitcase into my daughter’s dolls house. Feeling positive, I research some local events. One group immediately looks promising in that it 46

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meets in the function room above a pub. I go to their Facebook page. The first post I see is this: ‘Hi Sir, me have written some poem that cannot publish due to some problem that I do not know. You tell me little bit where I want to approach? Need help. You help?’ I know instantly that I HAVE to go to that group and sit next to that guy. (And then write about it for WM. See how calculating writers have to be?) The next scheduled meeting is entitled ‘learn how to best utilise social media as a writer’, something I hardly need assistance with since poncing about on social media is probably one of the main reasons I consistently fail to hit my writing targets. Nonetheless, I rope an unsuspecting babysitter into looking after my offspring and oversized arachnid for the evening. The group meeting is due to start at 7.30pm. I decide to give it until 8.30pm and if it’s lousy I can slip away to the bar downstairs, all the time insisting to myself that I’ve given it my best shot. I walk into the room certain that everyone in it can hear the violent churning in my stomach. Being a newbie is never fun. You are regarded as an unknown quantity who must earn the trust and/or respect of already established group members. (Or am I

over-analysing?) There are about twenty of us. I look around wondering who might be the ‘me have written some poem than cannot publish due to some problem’ person. People seem to be looking at me suspiciously. Everyone is very casually attired. I feel a bit of a plonker in my black halter-neck dress and red sequin shoes. (Well it is a night out of the house.) I start to crave alcoholic fortification from downstairs. Fortunately Diane, the group’s organiser, with whom I have already exchanged a couple of emails, comes over and we have a brief chat. Have I been to a writing group before? Yes, although it was in 1996 and everyone there seemed old to my sixteen-year-old eyes... and the guy running it seemed only intent on selling his self-published book entitled How to Write and Publish Your Book to us all. I am babbling nervously. Have I published anything? (I had my first publication in a national magazine at the age of eighteen. It was the first time I had ever submitted a short story anywhere. I thought it was always going to be that easy.) Was I writing something at the moment? (Erm, sort of, this and that, I’m not sure it is commercially viable...) ‘Well,’ says Diane brightly, ‘I hope we can meet some of your needs this

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WRITING LIFE

evening.’ My primary need has already been met: to get away from the fouryear-old and spider. Diane claps her hands and I just have time to grab a coffee from the little table in the corner before we begin. Diane welcomes us all and introduces me as the newbie. Hello Lora, they all chant. It feels a bit like an AA meeting. The guest speaker starts dishing out advice. His recommendations are things like, ‘Fully research your subject,’ ‘Consider your target audience,’ and ‘Approach agents that deal with your particular genre.’ Have I really forked out bus fare to hear such obvious stuff? I look around the room for someone I could roll my eyes at, but they are all avidly scribbling his every word down. Except one blonde woman in a white leather jacket who looks bored and glacial. As the guest speaker drones on and on I am glad not to be at home trying to get my kid into bed with an inefficient mixture of threat, bribe and pleading, but I start to wonder how all this is supposed to help my writing. During break, a tall man smelling strongly of wet dog approaches me. ‘You look like that dead singer,’ he says by way of introduction. And then with a lick of the lips, ‘I write erotic scifi, sex with aliens and that sort of stuff. Although I focus more on the erotic than the scifi. I know more about sex than I do about aliens.’ Looking at him I find this statement hard to believe. He doesn’t ask what I write, which is probably a good thing since I don’t want to have the humiliation of telling him that I have started writing five novels and never finished any of them; that I haven’t had a short story accepted by a magazine in over a decade and that I am close, oh so close to citing letters in the Daily Mail as publication padding for my writing CV. ‘Find a partner,’ Diane calls gaily. Alien Sex Man looks at me expectantly, but the glacial blonde in the white jacket swoops in. ‘Dorothy’s (she means my red sequin shoes, sarky cow) with me, Roger,’ she says with a dismissive wave of the hand. ‘Go pair up with Bernie.’ Her first words to me are, ‘Are you published?’ ‘No, I’m Lora,’ I say. She narrows her eyes at me. I smile sweetly. Every group will have its dynamics. Stick a bunch of people together and

of productivity. It’s like when I sit they will play out their natural roles. A and read my book about the 5:2 diet, writing group will inevitably contain whilst mindlessly dipping into a bag the energy sapper (think Sadness in of chocolate Brazil nuts and promising the film Inside Out) who turns every myself I will start tomorrow. discussion into a lament of how her Another problem with writing husband left her to bring up three kids groups, says publisher Jane Friedman, alone and pay off his credit card debt. ‘is that no-one tells the truth or wants There is the people pleaser who can only ever say nice things and will never find fault with the work of others. Ever. There is the Egotist who turns every sentence into a reminder of how great they are and how the When another group member has the world simply is not worthy of their audacity to suggest a small revision to her foot-fall. There is the Amazon star work, resident bitch sits down with a flounce rating obsessive and so on. It takes and spends the rest of the session with me about three seconds to figure her arms folded and her eyes massacring out that icy blonde is the group’s residential bitch. everyone in the room. ‘I’ve been part of an amazing writer’s group for the last two years,’ she tells me. ‘We decided early on that we would only let published authors join. We didn’t want to waste our valuable time teaching amateurs how to write.’ She says the to hear it.’ The blonde bitch at word amateurs the way other people group has certainly demonstrated utter the word anthrax. that. She has shown up seeking Before I can ask why she is now only corroboration as to the sheer wasting her oh-so-valuable time with brilliance of her work. When that amateurs at a writing group above a validation fails to materialise she pub, Diane has us all shuffling back becomes as bratty as my four-yearto our seats for the second part of the old having discovered that she has session; sharing and discussing our breaded chicken dippers on her plate work. When another group member instead of battered chicken dippers. has the audacity to suggest a small (Yes it really does matter apparently.) revision to her work, residential Jeff Lyons, founder of Storygeeks, bitch sits down with a flounce and a professional editorial services spends the rest of the session with her company, believes that input from arms folded and her eyes massacring writing group members usually falls everyone in the room. into three categories; empty praise, Diane takes the moment to stress vicious critique or banal suggestion. how as writers we ‘must find a way (eg make the main character a to welcome criticism, even if we feel it brunette rather than a blonde.) is unwarranted’. ‘If you want positive feedback,’ Bernie, another writer in the room Jeff says, ‘call your mother. If gets impressively irate (his indignant you want real feedback, call a spluttering is worth the £3 meeting professional. Writing groups won’t admission price alone) because his WHAT DO deliver. There are some that work, character is labelled as unbelievable YOU THINK? but I believe these to be rare for escaping the bad guys by creating Do you share anomalies. Join a group if you must. a helicopter from a pair of skis and a Lora’s pain, or are Just know that it will take more than lawnmower engine. it gives and may leave you feeling writing groups On the bus home I try to decide like you need a shower.’ whether or not the evening has been an essential and As the bus nears my stop I find a success. It’s gone 10pm. Had I been worthwhile part of myself pondering the words of Ernest at home I could have written several your writing life? Hemingway. ‘Writing is a lonely life. hundred words in the time I have Let us know at been out. The trouble with writing letters@writers Organisations for writers palliate the writer’s loneliness, but I doubt if they groups is that sitting and discussing news.co.uk improve his writing.’ how to write gives a false sensation

““

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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Under the

microscope

Author and lecturer James McCreet puts a reader’s first 300 words under the scrutiny of his forensic criticism

Annie Percik has been writing as long as she can remember, but this, a fantasy novel set in an alternative present day without electricity, is her first attempt at a novel. She likes to run away from zombies in her spare time. She enjoys Finnish emo rock music and helps her teddy bear publish his adventures in his blog. He is much more popular than she is online.

To The Mana Born1 Abelard knew it was going to be one of those days when an unexpected mana surge set his breakfast on fire.2 The Chron-E-Fact3 next to his bed propelled 5 him into wakefulness4 with its insistent buzzing and he blearily made his way into the kitchen in his pyjamas.6 Opening the Cool-E-Fact,7 he was presented with a choice of eggs, or eggs, for breakfast.8 Only on closing the Cool-E-Fact’s door did he notice the piece of paper stuck to it that read, “Go food shopping”.9 He was frying his eggs on the Cook-EFact10 when he spotted an ominous blue glow11 emanating from the artefact’s interface crystal.12 He reached out a hand13 to disconnect the mana supply,14 then immediately snatched it back as the blue light burst outwards, igniting the oil in the frying pan.15 Abelard yelped as droplets of hot oil spattered across his arm.16 He felt a moment of unreasoning panic,17 before he remembered the fire blanket he kept attached to the wall and grabbed it from its holder.18  He threw the blanket over the pan with one hand while cutting the mana supply to the Cook-E-Fact with the other.19 Unfortunately, he couldn’t reach the switches for all his other artefacts as the mana surge raced around the kitchen, causing multiple interface crystals to hiss or crackle.20 It culminated21 in a loud bang from the Wash-E-Fact22 in the corner, along with a thick plume of smoke that quickly filled the small room.23 Undecided between shutting the door and opening the window, Abelard didn’t manage either fast enough,24 and the smoke billowed out into the hallway,25 where it immediately set off the Alarm-E-Fact in the ceiling.26 “Perfect,” Abelard muttered to himself as the shrill siren27 filled the air, setting his teeth on edge.28

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1

Some puns are slyly knowing and offer added insight. Some are surprising or deft plays on words. Some are merely opportunist, offering little depth or resonance beyond their immediate gimmick. It’s too early to say which category this title might belong to, but I rather suspect it’s the third one – unless the story turns out to be concerned somehow with class entitlement and the landed gentry.

2

This is a snappy and effective first line. It sets the tone (wryly comic) and asks the reader to wonder briefly how Abelard is able to predict an unexpected surge. What is ‘mana’? We are obliged to continue reading to find out.

3

What is a Chron-E-Fact? Evidently we’re in some kind of science-fiction/fantasy alternative world. Importantly, the details are not spelled out. We’re able to guess from the name and the context what it is. This is good. It’s how a writer engages a reader.

4

A little overwritten, I think. The trick to sardonic humour is keeping it dry and subtle, but this talk of propelling Abelard is a little too eager unless he’s been literally thrown across the bed.

5 6

‘Insistent buzzing’ is a nice phrase with some apt assonance.

‘Blearily’ is a good adverb here, evoking not only his state of wakefulness but also his manner and possibly his gait. The pyjamas are another deft bit of description. We don’t need to know the colour or see a fuller portrait of Abelard. This all we need.

7

By now, we’re being educated in the vocabulary of this world and we can guess what the device is. Going well...

8

I’ve been pondering if this sentence might be punctuated differently to get more mileage from the superabundance-of-eggs joke. There are a few possibilities. Dashes? Two sentences? No commas? What’s funnier? (See the rewrite for my final decision)

9

Okay, he was bleary-eyed – but does that sufficiently excuse him for not seeing the note before he opened the door? It’s quite a wordy sentence and risks another pitfall of sardonic humour: archness. The urge towards witty sentence structure can sometimes be counterproductive and is the hallmark of much ‘Pratchett-lite’ writing.

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26/09/2016 10:36

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

10

20

11

21

By this stage, we’ve pretty much ‘got’ how these devices are named and the question arises, ‘What else do they add to the story?’ Repetition threatens to make them less distinctive or amusing.

We’re told that the glow is ominous, but we have to take the narrator’s word for it. In what sense is it ominous? Because it’s uncommon? Because it prefigures something?

12

‘Interface crystal’ is another good use of future terminology in a way that suggests it’s entirely normal.

13

Is it necessary to say it was his hand? Surely ‘reaching out’ suggests a hand?

14

The context subtly helps us to further comprehend what ‘mana’ might be.

What happens is almost instantaneous, but the sentence describing it is quite lengthy. Try to match the prose rhythm to the action. What culminated? I’m assuming the mana surge, but it took a little grammatical backtracking.

22

Is the mention of the Wash-E-Fact as intriguing as the initial Chron-E-Fact, or is it now an increasingly tired nominative conceit?

23

Everybody uses the phrase/ cliché ‘plume of smoke’ but how many people consider what it actually means? Check the etymology. A plume is a feather: a delicate wisp. Wisps tend not to fill a room. (This is why we don’t use clichés – they’re usually meaningless.)

15

24

16

25 26

I’m presuming he wasn’t able to disconnect the mana, and I’m wondering what form it takes. We’ve heard that it ‘emanates’ and now that it ‘bursts’, which seems less like light and more like a gas or liquid. More clarity needed? ‘Yelped’? Is that literally what he did? It’s a pedantic point, but I’m not sure we need to mention the droplets if the oil also spattered. One implies the other. And how about a new paragraph with this sentence (for the sake of pace)?

17 18

Tautology? Isn’t panic, by definition, unreasoning?

Did he remember it or see it? A minor point, I realise, but if he’s in the grip of an unreasoning panic then memory seems too controlled.

19

Would the blanket first require being taken out of its sleeve and unfolded? It’s a bit of narrative housekeeping that might be obviated by introducing a more futuristic solution. Maybe pressing a button to deploy the Flam-E-Fact?

Rapidity is evidently the focus here, but once again the leisurely rhythm of the sentence (beginning with a subordinate clause) has the opposite effect. Smoke always billows. Cliché.

Chron-E-Fact and Cold-EFact contained etymological clues as to their function, but AlarmE-Fact is just the normal word with a suffix. Try to stay consistent.

27

I like the weary capitulation of Abelard’s reaction, but I submit that all sirens are shrill. Maybe suggest a more functional adjective?

28

Cliché.

• If you would like to submit an extract of your work in progress, send it by email, with synopsis and a brief biog, to: [email protected]

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TAP HERE

to read James’s suggested rewrite of this passage

IN SUMMARY This is a largely effective start to a fantasy/scifi novel. We have a character, Abelard, and we understand something of his sardonic take on life. This is subtly and economically implied in his appearance, behaviour and reactions. He’s the kind of guy who leaves himself a note and doesn’t read it on time. We also have an introduction to a world that is recognisably similar to our own but also curiously different. Electricity seems to be called ‘mana’ and common household devices have strange but intelligible names. Again, this is well portrayed in the sense that the reader is expected to infer the new reality from clues given. Many writers are afraid to give their readers enough space to make such connections, but it works well here. The issues are minor. Most importantly, the writing sometimes gets in the way of the story when sentence structure doesn’t support the scene and its pace. The reader should be immersed in what’s happening rather than noticing the grammar. If it’s an action scene, it should move quickly. If a character is in jeopardy or concerned, the prose rhythms should reflect and emphasise this. At the same time, description needs to be commensurate with the narration. An action scene like this needs to move. Wherever words and phrases can be trimmed to accentuate pace, this should be done. We also need precise language – not cliché or generic vocabulary. The reader must perceive immediately and intuitively what’s happening. Later, we can afford more time to appreciate the fine detail. One final observation. Though this is an effective beginning, I do wonder what has happened in the initial 300 words. A man has burned some eggs. Some might say that this is sufficient, but a pedant (like me) might hope for a flicker of story within the breakfast scene. What does Abelard plan to do today? What lies in his future? Why should we read beyond the smoky kitchen? It’s a tough market out there and some agents are even less patient than I am. Who knows how many pages they’ll read before they stop?

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FICTION FOCUS

The

x

W

G I B

e r u t pic

hen you write fiction, do you like to confine your characters to small domestic interiors in which they can act out their stories over relatively short time scales? Or do you and they need lots of time as well as plenty of inside and outside space? Do you enjoy examining the minutiae of ordinary daily life? Or do you have ambitions to write wide-ranging stories about real or imagined world events: stories on the scale of The Lord of the Rings, War and Peace or Gone with the Wind? The average epic novel tends to be big in every respect: timescale, cast of characters, setting, theme and (often) actual physical size. Do you feel you would like to be a modern Michelangelo, painting the literary expanse of your own Sistine chapel ceiling? What makes a story an epic? The history of when and why Harry left Megan and settled down happily with Flora instead is unlikely to develop into an epic. But the history of when and why Harry left Megan and then travelled the world in search of the meaning of life, met a huge cast of characters along the way and even found a few answers to his own as well as mankind’s most frequently asked questions, might end up being epic 50

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x

both in scope and scale. Originally, an epic was (and still is) a long narrative poem that deals with deep and serious subjects such as the nature of kingship, good and bad government, and the social, moral, religious and political obligations we have to one another. It asks what happens when the natural order of things breaks down. When the English poet Milton was planning Paradise Lost, a work that examines the relationship between the Christian God and mankind, he said he wanted to justify the ways of God to men: an epic undertaking if ever there was one! Paradise Lost is the story of Lucifer’s rebellion against God, his punishment (which was of course eternal damnation) and his subsequent revenge (which resulted in the expulsion of Adam and Eve and therefore of all of us from the Garden of Eden). A few years ago, Seamus Heaney made a free verse translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, a work which (according to Amazon) is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed, in that exhausted aftermath. These days, however, most epics tend to be in novel rather than poetry form. But that’s fine because lots of novelists (and I’m guessing they’re mostly the planners among us) enjoy

Planning an epic? Then you need to start thinking on a grand scale, advises novelist Margaret James

x x x x

taking their readers on a hero’s or heroine’s personality-defining journey: a journey that will change the central character and probably result in great changes for other people, too. Big themes take time to work themselves out. A more recent epic battle between good and evil – the one between Harry Potter and Voldemort – took seven volumes to reach its dramatic conclusion. When you’re thinking about your own epic, ask yourself what sort of quest or journey you’d like your hero or heroine to undertake. It should be a very important one. What does he or she want? Maybe nothing at first, and perhaps your hero or heroine will also be reluctant to go on any kind of journey? So now, someone or something might need to force your central character to act. What kind of person should be the hero or heroine of an epic? I’d say any kind: rich or poor, drawn from the nobility or from the peasantry. The central characters in classical epics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey tended to be aristocrats or even gods. But today your hero could be a child, a hobbit or even a rabbit. Your central character should have a long way to go and a lot to learn. The challenge of a daunting or even an apparently impossible task, like throwing a ring of power into the

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26/09/2016 10:36

FICTION FOCUS

I wish I’d known…

Novelists tell us what they wished they’d known right at the start of their careers. with historical and time-slip novelist

Christina Courtenay

‘H burning heart of a volcano, finding a permanent new home after a long and perilous journey, or defeating the most powerful wizard who ever lived, should certainly be one of your main ingredients. Your readers will want to suffer with your characters, to feel despair, to be downhearted and to be challenged, because hardly anyone values anything that comes too easily. Does an epic need to be a fantasy? Not necessarily, although both authors and central characters often enjoy being transported to a fantasy world where they can be liberated from the general irritations of everyday 21st-century life such as mowing the lawn or putting out the wheelie bin. But John Galsworthy set his own classic five-volume epic The Forsyte Saga in the real world of commerce, a world in which his characters have a lot to learn and just as much to lose. Harry Potter’s life among the Muggles is certainly grounded in reality. What if your characters are rabbits, as in Watership Down, a mediumlength novel that is nevertheless the story of an epic journey and is set in the animal kingdom? Richard Adams’s rabbits are real rabbits, but they also display human traits and characteristics. So we can relate to them, and your readers will need to be able to relate to your own characters

too, whether they are gods, animals or human beings. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, they wept. But then they braced up and decided to do their best to meet their new challenge. The characters in your own epic will need to brace up, too. As an author, are you epic hero or heroine material yourself? Well, something most epic stories have in common is that they tell us nobody really knows what they can do until they are forced to try.

Now try this:

If you want to write an epic story, ask yourself: what kind of journey does your central character need to make and what difficulties will he or she encounter? How will the journey change this person?

Christina’s latest time-slip novel is The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight. www.writers-online.co.uk

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ere’s what I wish I’d known when I first started writing: ‘It’s not enough to be good at English, grammar and spelling. I should have gone to talks and workshops on the craft of writing fiction before putting fingers to keyboard, but in my beginner’s enthusiasm I just sat down and wrote without knowing anything about plot, viewpoint or characterisation. ‘I needed to read some how-to books on all the different aspects of writing. I had no idea what “head-hopping” was, for example, and I happily “hopped” along. ‘“Conflict” isn’t just two people arguing. ‘Agents and editors don’t like gimmicky submissions. Yes, primrose yellow paper is pretty and will definitely stand out in a slushpile, but it’s also likely to make your submission go straight in the bin. ‘I wish I’d found the Romantic Novelists’ Association (and their wonderful New Writers’ Scheme) much earlier on my writing journey. Getting your work critiqued by someone who knows what they’re talking about is a steep learning curve (and can be painful!) but it’s also necessary and very rewarding – the praise you receive can really lift your spirits and make you want to carry on trying. ‘I wish I’d had friends who were writers right from the start. There’s nothing better than being able to talk to someone who knows exactly where you’re coming from. I now have writing buddies to swap critiques/do brainstorming with and I find all that invaluable. ‘I didn’t know how useful networking can be. There’s nothing better than actually meeting an agent or editor in person (or connecting with them on social media) and finding out what sort of things they like and whether you gel as people. ‘I wish I’d known that I’d need lots of chocolate to fuel my muse. ‘I wish I’d known that I needed to believe in myself!’

SEPTEMBER 2015

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SAU B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

R

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O

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SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, [email protected]

On the fast track

Mammoth success ‘When I was a kid, I was always writing stories and putting on shows – and wanted nothing more than to be an author when I grew up,’ writes subscriber Hollie Hughes. ‘But things didn’t work out quite the way I planned, and I ended up building a career in youth work and teaching instead. It wasn’t until I was made redundant from a lecturing job in 2012 (at the age of 37), that I finally took up writing again as an adult. I approached writing with an open mind and, to begin with, just enjoyed experimenting with different forms. I was lucky enough to get shortlisted in a few competitions (even eventually winning one in 2014, with my audio drama A Leap of Faith), and this really helped to boost my confidence and keep me writing. It wasn’t enough to be sure I could make a living from it, but it was enough to tell me I wasn’t completely crazy trying. During this time, I took part in every writer development opportunity that came my way, and was also busily pursuing my childhood dream of writing picture books. ‘I decided I would need an agent if I was going to break through into this very challenging market – and was lucky enough to sign with Jodie Hodges at United Agents. Not only has Jodie been amazing in terms of helping me to further develop and improve my work – but she also got me my very first publishing contract, within just a few weeks of signing me. ‘It’s been a long journey to publication since those first few heady weeks of signing contracts back in 2014 (picture books take a long time to make when you’re not on The Apprentice!) but I am delighted to say that my first book – The Famishing Vanishing Mahoosive Mammoth (illustrated by Leigh Hodgkinson) – was finally published by Bloomsbury on 14 July. This was followed by Ninja Nan (illustrated by Natalie Smillie, and published by Scholastic) on 1 September 2016. I then have a further three books in the pipeline with Bloomsbury after that, hopefully publishing one a year between 2017-2019. ‘So many good things have happened for me since I embarked on this journey four years ago, that I almost can’t quite believe it myself sometimes.’ Website: www.holliehughes.com

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‘I was beside myself with excitement when I found out that my debut novel, Saving Sophie, was going to be published by Avon, HarperCollins,’ writes subscriber Sam Carrington. ‘It was the outcome I’d dreamed of and it all happened quite fast! ‘After trying my hand at short stories and gaining publication in a few women’s magazines, I decided to write a novel. Having worked in the prison service, and with an interest in psychology, writing within the crime genre seemed the obvious choice. So, in January 2014 I began! The novel was completed and sent off to a handful of agents in November that year. While I was nervously awaiting feedback, I began writing another novel – a psychological thriller, again with a crime element. In January 2015 I entered the opening chapters of this new novel in to the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, and was thrilled to be longlisted. ‘From there, it all went very quickly. I was contacted by an agent who had read my first manuscript, and, although she didn’t feel she connected with the novel I’d submitted, she’d liked my writing style and was interested in seeing any future writing I did. I emailed back straight away telling her about my longlisting and she asked to see the manuscript. Later in the year we had a meeting to discuss it further. Amazingly, despite it being unfinished, she was confident enough to sign me! ‘Over the next few months I finished the novel and with my agent’s guidance edited it so that it was ready for submission to publishers. I was lucky that Avon loved it and were keen to get it into the hands of readers as soon as possible. ‘The ebook of Saving Sophie is available now and the paperback will be published on 15 December 2016. ‘I’m now busy writing my next novel which is due to be published in 2017.’

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S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

A writing affair ‘While I never imagined becoming a writer I have kept notebooks at various times throughout my life,’ writes subscriber Carol Thomas. ‘In 2012 I was taking a break from teaching, dug out a notebook I felt had the potential to be written into a story and kept going until 86,000 words, and two years, later the first draft of Crazy Over You was complete. Several revisions, a copy edit and many proofreads later I proudly selfpublished my debut novel through Matador. ‘Crazy Over You is a contemporary romance. It is an honest portrayal of one woman’s reaction to her husband’s infidelity, while also being a story of friendship, family and love. ‘The novel opens almost two months after Abby Turner has discovered her husband Simon has had an affair. In the wake of their separation she feels ashamed of the darkness that sometimes engulfs her and unwilling to confide in those closest to her. Abby feels hurt, confused and unable to move forward in the way she had always imagined she would. ‘This, for me, was an important starting point. I had read other great novels on the theme of infidelity but often found the impact of the affair on the central character tended to be sidelined in order to progress with the story. In writing Crazy Over You I felt I had something different to offer; the exploration of Abby’s feelings is the driving force of the plot. ‘I enjoy writing from real experiences and depicting emotions people can relate to. Consequently, it has been lovely to hear from readers who have welcomed the honesty in Crazy Over You. I have also been pleased to see reviewers have enjoyed the humour within the text; especially as balancing the emotions was a piece of advice I was lucky enough to get from Mhairi McFarlane (whose books I love). ‘My second novel is a work in progress that I intend to self-publish through Matador, with a release date of the coming winter.’ Website: www.carol-thomas.co.uk

Authentic background material ‘Don’t retire – change your career,’ writes subscriber David Hough. ‘I was determined that the end of my career as an air traffic controller would not be the end of my working life. Instead of doing a job that paid the mortgage, I changed to one that had long been a wishful dream. I am a dedicated writer. Thirteen years after (so-called) retirement, I now have thirty published novels to my credit. ‘My UK publisher, Cloudberry, has just released two of my novels in paperback and ebook format. Prestwick is the first of my Danger in the Sky aviation thrillers. It’s set above the cold waters of the north Atlantic and has already earned some fantastic reviews. Heathrow is the second in the series. It tells the story of a terrorist attack on the Heathrow control tower. ‘These two books are classic examples of an author writing about what they know. Working as an air traffic controller did more than pay my mortgage bill, it gave me the knowledge I needed to write thrillers set against a genuine background. ‘My American publisher, Whiskey Creek Press, recently released Bomber Girl. It’s a humorous account of what might have happened had the south of England been invaded in 1940. Restricted to a few airfields in the north and drastically short of aircrew, the RAF recruits women to fly operation missions. ‘Prestwick, Heathrow and Bomber Girl are now available on Amazon. They can also be found on my website: www.thenovelsof davidhough.com.’

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S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

Love, politics and proofreading ‘My debut novel, East of Africa, South of India, is finally published the only way most new/ unknown writers can see their works in print,’ writes subscriber Jacques K Lee. ‘This book has been in incubation for some ten years before I started writing it seriously in retirement. Since completing it I must have re-written and revised it more times than I care to remember. In the meantime I collected dozens of rejection slips. ‘If I may use this as a warning to some new authors: get another person to read and check your MS. When you’ve written a piece and re-read it at least twenty times, you cease to “see” what you’ve written. ‘Right on the second line of my blurb for all to see is a howler that makes me feel mortified every time I think of it. At the final proofreading of the cover of my novel, I changed “America” to “Americans” and failed to see that I hadn’t amended “its” to “their”. I’ve only got myself to blame! ‘East of Africa, South of India is a fictionalised account of how the Americans acquire a dependency of Miraucia in the Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia) with the help of the British. It becomes America’s latest secret military base. In return Miraucia is granted independence and the British forcefully remove all its inhabitants to their former colony. ‘My main protagonists, Lovena Pillay and Robert Laurent, are students – and lovers – in London at the time and vow to go into politics to fight for the return of the exiled islanders. Back home and, as MPs, they become arch political rivals until they’re finally reconciled. But when it comes to fighting for the survival of the parties, they find that love and politics don’t mix.’ ‘It’s published by Troubador in paperback and ebook.’

Asperger’s and magical realism ‘After five years of being an indie author, I have finally found my niche; writing children’s fiction about autistic children meeting magical worlds,’ writes subscriber Julie Day. ‘It all started a few years ago when I wrote a book for 7-9 year-olds, calling it Boring Billy and the Strange Socks. I had an idea that Billy would do great things because of his socks at school but no idea why he was boring. Then I saw the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and read the book, and I knew. Billy has Asperger’s Syndrome so finds it hard to talk to his classmates, so they think he’s boring. I rewrote it, with memories of my own primary school days in mind; I have Asperger’s Syndrome, too. ‘From that story, came the idea for a series of six books. Then in May this year I went to a writing retreat 54

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for children’s writers and talked about what I was working on to a new friend I met up with to travel there. She suggested that I put all my stories under one umbrella. That is what I am doing, with the whole series and others I have planned to be called The Asperkids Series. It has a tagline of “Autism meets magical realism”. I am enjoying writing once more and having fun with the magical worlds. I now call myself an Aspie children’s author.’ Website: www.julieaday.co.uk

Thirties thriller

‘Finding the right title for a novel can be really difficult at times,’ writes subscriber Dawn Harris. ‘All writers want something exciting and noticeable, which I hoped I’d managed with my first two books set in the 1790s, Letter From A Dead Man, and The Fat Badger Society. With them, I had the titles before I started writing. But my third book remained title-less almost to the point of sending it to my agent! I referred to it all along as my 1930s book, it being a historical mystery thriller set in 1936. I believe a title should reflect the root cause of a mystery, and that fact finally gave me the right title: The Ebenezer Papers. ‘My agent suggested I should spread my wings a little and write a book set in a later historical era, and I’ve always been fascinated by the 1930s. The years before the second world war offer great opportunities for a murder mystery. Then, as now, refugees were fleeing for their lives, and immigration was a controversial subject. The British Union of Fascists tried to change the British way of life by copying Hitler’s methods. At the same time Edward Vlll, who’d just become King, was seriously involved with Mrs. Simpson, the liner Queen Mary had set off on her maiden voyage, and unemployment was causing great poverty and misery. Which are all part of my story, in which Liddy, the young widow of air ace Archie York VC is devastated when her friend, fashion designer Peter Crawley, is murdered. ‘The book is available on Amazon to download (£2.33) or as a paperback (£6.97). I have also just published a second volume of short stories, romantic, historical, mystery, humorous, entitled The Case of the Missing Bridegroom for download at 99p or paperback £2.99.’ Website: www. dawnharris.co.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:43

S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

Adventures of Mrs Seacole

Striking gold ‘My first novel, Gold Digger, has been published as an ebook by Mardibooks,’ writes subscriber Susan Benwell. ‘My initial inspiration for the book came about when I interviewed a Welsh gold prospector in Snowdonia some years ago. The book rattled around in my computer for ages, but I just couldn’t engage with the characters while writing it in third person. ‘So, I started it again, this time writing in first person. I took a chapter or two along to Jan Moran Neil’s Creative Ink (Get That Book Out of You) writing class in Beaconsfield and read it aloud to the other students. ‘Their positive reaction encouraged me to rewrite the book in first person. ‘Since then, I have joined Haddenham Writers’ Group, one of the interest groups at Haddenham U3A. The help and encouragement of other members has been invaluable, especially that of David Gregory, who kindly read through and helped to edit my manuscript. ‘I have ghost-written two previous, non-fiction, books. A Twitch in Time was the autobiography of Carry On star Jack Douglas. Pitkin’s PA My Life with Sir Norman Wisdom was written on behalf of Sir Norman’s ex-personal assistant, Ann Axe. ‘I can really recommend the services of Mardibooks. I feel that my writing and confidence has improved so much since working with Belinda Hunt and her team.’ Website: http://suebenwell.com

‘I write historical novels and Can her Glory Ever Fade, my latest offering, my fifth published, hit the shelves in July, to coincide with the erection of a statue of my book’s main character, Mary Seacole,’ writes subscriber Jay Margrave. ‘Mary Seacole is known as “that black nurse who went to the Crimea” despite the fact that she was not a nurse. She was much more interesting than that. And as I learned more about her, I just knew her story would make a fascinating novel. ‘I was first introduced to this wonderful Victorian character through my husband’s interest in the Crimean War. As I read her autobiography, Wonderful adventures of Mrs Seacole in many lands, and began to research her and the Victorians in some depth, my interest in her deepened and the form of the novel grew. ‘She was a Jamaican who was reviled by some Americans she met on her travels. Eventually, she became the intimate friend of English royalty, and on the way travelled in the Panama during the US gold rush, encountering some wonderful characters, and then fought with British authority to be allowed to go to the Crimea to set up an establishment to nurse the sick with her herbal remedies and provide good “comforts” as she described them. ‘When she eventually reached the peninsula, she almost single-handedly built her “British hotel”, became friends with a Turkish pasha and with many of the military officers. She was almost drowned in a flash flood which swept away her first attempt so she had to rebuild, even before her hotel opened. She walked the streets of Sebastopol after it fell to the British and their allies, nursing sick and wounded of both sides. ‘I needed to decide how the story would be told and but I didn’t want to write it from the perspective of an omnipotent narrator. I decided to create my own character, Horatia, a servant who accompanies Mary throughout her travels. She was, at first, an innocent naughty child, but grows up to be a true friend and companion, although she develops a healthy cynicism and comments on the way Mary sometimes seems naïve in her attempts to ingratiate herself into Victorian English society.’

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S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

Success for Shadow Man ‘I’d always wanted to write – my earliest attempt was a murder mystery set in ancient Egypt, written at the tender age of ten!’ writes subscriber Margaret Morton Kirk. ‘But it’s only in the last few years I’ve been able to focus on my ambition, thanks to a career break and an amazingly supportive husband. ‘I started with short stories, and achieved some competition successes. But my real breakthrough came when I attended a crime-writing course at Moniack Mhor near Inverness, tutored by Val McDermid and Louise Welsh. We had to submit samples of our work prior to the course, and they were both so encouraging it gave me a massive confidence boost. As a result of the course, one of my short stories, Still Life, was broadcast on Radio 4, which really spurred me on to keep writing. ‘When I heard about the 2016 Good Housekeeping Novel Competition, the prize on offer sounded amazing – substantial advance, introduction to agent Luigi Bonomi, and publication by Orion. So I entered an extract of my work-in-progress and promptly forgot about it. The phone call, months later, to say I was one of the ten finalists came out of the blue and meant a last-minute trip to London from my home in Inverness! ‘After a tour of the Orion offices and a meeting with agent Luigi Bonomi, the winner was announced during lunch at the Good Housekeeping Institute. When I heard my name called out, I couldn’t believe it – the rest of that day passed in a blur (though that might have been due to the champagne!). ‘And now? My long-held dream of publication is becoming a reality. My debut novel, Shadow Man, is set in Inverness and is the first in a series featuring ex-Met DI Lukas Mahler. It’s due to be published next summer by Orion.’

An edgy romance ‘August 2106 saw the publication of my novel Closer by Morning in both ebook and paperback by Pride Publishing, an imprint of romance publishers Totally Bound,’ writes subscriber Thom Collins. ‘It’s an honour to have my debut romance novel picked up by such a sensational publisher. ‘Closer by Morning is an exciting contemporary thriller set in the North East of England. Dale Zachery, an American actor, is starring in a new crime series being filmed in Durham when he meets local man Matt, a handsome young lawyer. As Dale and Matt grow closer they are unaware

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Writing is powerful magic ‘Standing beside the Mayor, book in trembling hand, an intriguing thought flashes through my mind: when you write about magic, does it leap off the page – and into your life?’ writes subscriber Yvonne Carlin-Page. ‘I take a deep breath. ‘“More than fifty years ago, I sat entranced, just like you children here today, listening to an author read a passage and then talk passionately about the magical call to adventure in her new book. Something magical happened to me that day: her words leapt straight from the page into my heart. Instantly I knew my calling: I was going to be... a writer!” ‘Shortly after this epiphany, I found myself in a dark place. My mother left home and I was sent away to boarding school. Years passed. Writing was juggled between marriage and motherhood; a career as a special needs teacher; a traumatic divorce – remarriage. “When will it happen?” I wailed each time those perfunctory “computer says ‘No!’’’ rejection slips popped through my letterbox. I felt like the children I wrote about in my stories: scared, shivery scared! But with magical characters still merrily chatting away inside my head and the magic jagged through my heart like a crazy tattoo, I couldn’t give up. And with every rejection, the blue ink spell of determination just seeped in darker and stronger! Until one day, mysteriously, miraculously, I heard: “computer says ‘Yes!’’’ A month has passed since the book launch – and my magic carpet is flying high! This, my first book for children is about a little girl searching for magic in the world – only to discover it beats strong, resilient and powerful inside her own indomitable heart. ‘Readers, that little girl, is me.’

that they are in danger. A killer is at work in the city and the murders bear a chilling similarity to the story Dale is filming. ‘I’ve always had a love for the racy 1970s novels of Jackie Collins and Harold Robbins. With this book I wanted to serve up those traditional elements that I love so much with a modern twist. Something with glamour, romance and a bit hit of danger. I live in Durham, where this novel is set. The city makes a great backdrop to the story. I have recently completed my next book, the first novel in a proposed trilogy and can’t wait to get started on the second instalment.’ Blog: http://thomcollinsauthor.blogspot.co.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:43

How to Become a Successful Writer!

Your Photo Here

By Marian Ashcroft

Rachel Dove “I won the 2015 Flirty Fiction Prima Magazine and Mills and Boon competition. The prize was £500, a three page feature in the magazine and the chance to work with Mills and Boon on my book.

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‘The course gives a student confidence in their work and the know-how to increase their chances of publication,’ explains Susie. ‘Unfortunately, the untrained writer is more likely to have their work returned to them, not because they can’t write, but because they haven’t followed the rules of the publishing world. And that, in a large part, is what we teach – how to make your work acceptable to those who will pay for it.’

The Writers Bureau is so confident in the training and support it provides that it gives an amazing money back guarantee – if a student doesn’t earn their fees back through published writing by the end of their course the college will refund them in full. Plus, the course comes on 15-day trial so you can see for yourself the quality of the training on offer. To find out more about how The Writers Bureau can help you become a successful, published writer contact them for a free prospectus:

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Writers Bureau

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23/09/2016 10:59

WRITERS’ CIRCLES

CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP

If your writing group would like to feature here, whether you need new members, have an event to publicise or to suggest tips for other groups, email Tina Jackson, [email protected] ASA

SPOTLIGHT ON…

Balsall Common Writers

First Draft Writers ‘First Draft Writers is a social group in central Northampton,’ writes founder Emma Robson. ‘We meet on the first Thursday of every month at 7.30pm in the fantastic NN Café, situated in the new Cultural Quarter, above the gallery and just up the road from the Royal Derngate Theatre. ‘Writing can be a lonely pursuit and First Draft has been founded to try and combat that for Northampton writers. We meet to get to know each other, share our work, support each other and chat about all things related to writing. We are brand new, eclectic and exciting. Currently our attendees include playwrights, poets, novelists, screen writers and philosophers; both aspiring and published. ‘Everyone is welcome, we even have attendees who don’t know if or what they want to write themselves but who attend in the hopes of becoming inspired. We never fail to leave completely enthused. We want writers to come and be comfortable, to get support, chat, relax and hopefully form exciting friendships and partnerships. ‘We have high hopes and ambitions to eventually put together some collaborative projects, competitions and maybe even enter an anthology in the WM competition! ‘I founded First Draft with the idea of it being very much a community group. It was also a somewhat self-interested move as I needed to give myself a kick to get a project started and actually sit and write, instead of day dreaming about what it would be like to be a writer! I’m so pleased I did. There is some amazing creative talent in Northampton and it’s an immense source of pleasure to me to be able to talk to so many talented people so often. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do together in the future. ‘There is no formal membership criteria, we just ask that writers contribute £3 on the evening to cover the amazing venue and incidental costs and have a good time. There is some amazing creative talent in Northampton, please bring yours!’ Details: email: [email protected]; website: https://firstdraftsite.wordpress.com/

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‘Balsall Common Writers celebrated their fifth birthday at their AGM with the launch of their second anthology The Sun Dancer, which is now available on Amazon,’ writes Anne Santos. ‘Balsall Common Writers is a progressive group with two sub-groups for writing prose and a third group for poetry. Many members are now published authors. ‘All our groups meet monthly in the evening in various venues. Our Company of Writers (COW) is a quarterly get-together morning coffee and discussion group meeting at a local hotel. We are also about to re-launch our quarterly COW e-newsletter for interested writers along with a Facebook page. ‘We welcome new members. For more information view www.balsallcommonwritersgroup.org.uk or email me at [email protected].’

Wensleydale Writers ‘When Wensleydale Writers agreed to help with the production of their third book, they could have had little idea of what they had let themselves in for,’ writes Daphne Clarke. ‘The ninety-page anthology, Wensleydale in Words, is a collection of poetry, prose… and one playlet… centred round the upper Yorkshire Dales and all the profits from its sale will go to the Herriot Hospice Homecare based in Northallerton. When we happily agreed to help with its production, we could not have foreseen what a steep learning curve we were about to embark on. ‘The printer, Peter Burradge of Country Press, presented us with the 100 sets of ninety pages to be aligned, folded, checked and put into groups of four. Then we were shown how to put the groups together, check them again, glue them and place into the covers which we had already folded. Peter then put them into the press and, later, at home, would trim them all carefully. It was fascinating, if exhausting work, but well worth doing and we feel the book has truly been ‘self-published’. ‘The launch was on 4 July in Leyburn, at which James Herriot’s daughter Rosie Page spoke of her father, Alf Wight, and his great love of the Dales. ‘Books can be ordered by post from [email protected] or 01969 640 415 at £5 or £7.50 inc p&p.’

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 10:44

WRITER’S CIRCLES

Game, set and match A

Playing board games can enhance group members’ writing skills, suggests Julie Phillips

writing group has many functions. One of these is to serve as a platform for members’ ideas and work, another is to inform and educate. But one of the main reasons why your members pitch up meeting after meeting is because writing can be a solitary occupation and they like the social aspect of the group. This month why not encourage this social aspect by allowing group members to explore their playful side? The idea of this workshop is to appeal to your members’ competitive and strategic nature. Bring in a selection of board games – this shouldn’t be too taxing a request as most of your members will have a board game or two lying about their houses. Set up each game on a separate table in a different part of the room and ask members to head for the game that appeals to them most. Don’t worry if a lot of people are drawn to the same game – everyone will have a chance to play each game if they wish. When everyone is seated around their chosen game, ask them to first note down what it was about that game that particularly drew them to it. Was it the layout of the board, the props required, the number of players, the nature of the game or something else? Knowing what makes us want to play a game is key in knowing what kinds of activities may help us in our writing. Something analytical, for example, requiring strategy and concentration, is helpful when it comes to editing and polishing our work, whereas something more artistic or tactile is helpful during the creative part of the writing process. Allow members to play the game and note down what skills they think they are using as they play. Do they need hand-eye

we become stuck on a plot point or don’t coordination, general knowledge, ability to decipher codes, a flair for good observation or know how to proceed. Taking a break for a while and playing a simple game can be something else? Can they think of strategies just enough to kick-start our imagination that might help them win the game or is it and creativity, giving us the tools to down to pure chance? go back and work through our Once members have played problematic writing. It can one game they then move often give us that ‘eureka’ on to the next one and moment. Thinking about make similar notes. Once We learn things something else can all games have been about ourselves and allow the subconscious completed, give them to loosen up neural time to consider how others’ motivation and pathways that have they and others played capabilities, which become sluggish, the game – were there allowing us to see certain advantages that is important in possible solutions. some players had over writing too. Playing games within others? What were people’s the group also allows weaknesses and how did members to get to know each they overcome them, if they did? other better and chat about their writing Did people become hyper-competitive in an informal way. This often has great, or was it all light-hearted? How did people’s unexpected results too as other writers often personalities affect their game plan? come up with innovative ways to make Playing games in this way – where another member’s writing better, or enable members are not only having to play the game but analyse each game and the players is them to look at it in a different way to excellent for developing and strengthening the come to a better conclusion. An interesting add-on to this workshop is skills needed to be a successful writer. For a to ask members to design their own simple start, members are having to communicate in games and play them if resources and time some way – whether that is in a cooperative manner as a team in order to win the game or allow. Here they are still using their creativity and imagination but in a different way. in a deceptive way to throw other players off Instead of inventing imaginary worlds and the prize, we learn things about ourselves and others’ motivation and capabilities, which is pretend people on paper, they are making up a game that other writers would want to important in writing too. The more writers play. It’s also a good idea to leave a few games know about other people and how they lying around at each meeting at coffee time so operate, the more able they are to write members can have a quick game of something authentic characters. in between writing exercises or read arounds But this isn’t the only advantage to and give their brains time to kick back and playing games. Sometimes, when we have re-energise. A change is a good as a rest. been sitting at our computers, writing away,

“”

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‘The OCA student forums and Facebook groups are a great place to meet-up, and I’ve found the tutor guidance invaluable.’ Deborah Riccio

Open College of the Arts

LIVE | LEARN | CREATE

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22/09/2016 14:55

Mslexia, the bestselling magazine for women writers, is inviting submissions on the theme of ‘Guilty’ for possible publication.

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www.writers-online.co.uk 23/09/2016 11:46

26/09/2016 11:42

! N I W sic

SUBSCRIBER-ONLY COMPETITIONS

£250 IN CASH PRIZES

Mu

& PUBLICATION

c y m o r o p t e s tition t s hor

Whether your characters love playing music or listening to it, or even discover music for the first time, you’ll need to compose a story using music as a key element for this month’s competition. Your word limit is the usual 1,500-1,700 words and the closing date is 14 December.

£125 TO BE WON

The winner will receive £100 and publication in Writing Magazine, with £25 and publication on www.writers-online.co.uk for the runner-up. See p107 for entry details, full rules and entry forms

TAP HERE

TO ENTER

£125

STILL TIME TO ENTER

TO BE WON

With its closing date of 14 November, there’s still time to enter last month’s Mid-Story Sentence Competition. Your story must include the line: It didn’t fit. Length and prize details are as above. See p107 for more details

Mother’s Little Extras

Nostalgia short stor y competition

by Loretta Smith

Winner

“W

hy do I have uncles without any aunts?” I asked my grandmother one December afternoon while I was making Uncle Bob’s Christmas card. Granny Butcher cleared her throat and folded her arms and when her chin jutted forward I knew that whatever she was about to say would be a revelation. So there it was. Not for me the knowledge that my green eyes were handed down from Uncle Jimmy or the myriad of freckles that covered my arms and face were inherited from Uncle Arthur. When I had digested the information and had been sworn to secrecy by my grandmother, at only six years old I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. My uncles who kept my mother company while father was fighting for King and Country during the Second World War were as dear to me as any of my blood relatives and the days they spent at our house filled me with joy. On Monday afternoon when my mother had finished her shift at Sadler’s Soap Factory, Uncle Bob would be waiting at the gate, his brown trilby hat in one hand and a bunch of flowers in the other. Uncle Jimmy who had lost two fingers in 62

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Loretta Smith loves writing stories and the excitement of wondering where her characters might lead her. Entering this competition was a great motivator. A retired adult education manager, she is an active member of two book groups and a local writing circle in Essex.

France usually came to supper on Wednesday – and on Friday evening Uncle Arthur would ride up on his motorcycle to take my mother dancing at the Palace. Watching my mother powder her cheeks and put on her silver dancing shoes were magical moments for me but Granny Butcher called it ‘cavorting and gallivanting’. My grandmother’s vocabulary was full of words that had no meaning to my young ears – but when my mother rode off on the back of Uncle Arthur’s red motorcycle with her cheeks glowing and her auburn hair billowing in the wind – it seemed to me that gallivanting must be a wonderful thing. I can’t say that Uncle Arthur was my favourite for all of my uncles had a special place in my heart. But when he came back from the Brush and Bottle on Saturday afternoon he could spin a yarn that lit a fire in my fertile imagination. With the smoke from his pipe hanging heavy in the air and while

Granny Butcher dozed in front of the Ideal boiler, Uncle Arthur would launch into tales of his time spent below decks in the Merchant Navy. My grandmother would open one eye and cluck her tongue whenever his exuberance let forth a b----- this or a b----- that and while I embraced every lurid detail, I don’t think my grandmother believed half of his stories. ‘I would be surprised if your ship ever left the Dockyard,’ she said looking him straight in the eye. Uncle Arthur just laughed, winking at me as he rolled up his sleeve. ‘There’s the proof me old darlin,’ he told her, waving the naked lady tattoo on his arm in front of her. Today when I hear the lilt of an Irish accent I sometimes think of Uncle Arthur, remembering how the laughter and light-hearted banter that echoed around our tiny kitchen, lessened the fear and softened the sound of the air raid siren that was part of our everyday life in those war torn days. My grandmother complained

www.writers-online.co.uk

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S H O R T S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R S

regularly about all of my uncles but I think she had a soft spot for Uncle Jimmy. ‘How’s my sweetheart today?’ he said to her when he stepped inside our back door, his dark wavy hair falling like silk over his forehead. ‘Get away with you lad,’ she’d murmur when he caught hold of her and whirled her around the kitchen – but there was a chuckle in her voice and her eyes held a sparkle. My mother thought she was fond of Uncle Jimmy because he reminded her of my grandfather. Granny Butcher’s husband had died a long time before I was born and although there was a photo of him on the sideboard, I couldn’t see any resemblance to Uncle Jimmy. My grandmother would never admit to any favouritism but there was always an extra slice of meat pie on Uncle Jimmy’s plate when he came to supper. Uncle Bob, who generally had a toffee in his pocket for me, had tried to enlist in the Air Force but he didn’t pass the medical. He had a weak chest and whatever the weather he always wore a woollen scarf around his neck. Uncle Bob didn’t go in for long conversations but he could draw lovely pictures of my mother. And when he played Danny Boy on his harmonica it was the sweetest sound I ever heard. Each of my uncles in their own way helped shape my early childhood although Uncle Arthur’s lessons in life were guaranteed to provoke my grandmother’s disapproval. ‘So now you can add conniving on the Black Market to your sins,’ she muttered when he divulged his method for obtaining ‘ration free goods’ the shopkeeper kept under the counter. I didn’t know what the Black Market was then but I remember how my mother’s face used to light up when Uncle Arthur came in with those brown paper parcels. Uncle Jimmy grew up on a farm and when I rescued a rabbit from a bombsite, he made a hutch for it in the back garden. I played with the rabbit every day until the blast from an air raid near the Town Hall blew the hutch away.

We were never far from danger in those days and on the nights the Blitz forced us to take refuge in the outside shelter, while Granny Butcher prayed for our deliverance, Uncle Bob wrapped his scarf over my knees and read me a story from Gulliver’s Travels. One evening while my mother was curling my hair I asked her which one of my uncles she liked the most. ‘Well pet,’ she said. ‘Uncle Arthur makes me laugh and Uncle Jimmy is like a breath of fresh air.’ Then her voice grew tender. ‘As for your Uncle Bob, I’m sure that man was born with romance in his soul.’ If my mother favoured one of my uncles more than another I wasn’t aware of it for she seemed to treat them all the same, standing up for them when my grandmother told her the neighbours were gossiping. ‘They are my salvation and yours too and where would we be without all the little extras they bring in?’ Granny Butcher grunted and tossed her head. ‘You will come a cropper one of these days my girl – you mark my words.’ I didn’t pay much attention to Granny Butcher’s predictions of gloom and disaster. She was EXPERT always making them and they analysis rarely came true. And even e’s To read the judg though it was impossible : to comments go to escape from the sights / http://writ.rs and sounds of war, my home wmnov16 remained a happy loving place. *********** Then one afternoon when I came home from school the steamed pudding that usually followed the cold lamb for supper on Monday wasn’t bubbling on the stove and I could hear voices coming from inside our front room. ‘Is Uncle Bob here?’ I asked my grandmother, eager to show him the

Runner-up in the Nostalgia competition, whose story is published on www.writers-online.co.uk was Nick Primmer, Dunton, Buckinghamshire. Also shortlisted were: Ed Blundell, Stockport; Gwyneth Box, Warwick; Mark Dorey, Pontypridd; David Fillingham, Eccleston, Lancashire; Jan Godfrey, Bognor Regis; Deborah Ritchie, North Berwick, East Lothian; Tracy Turner-Jones, Lewisham, London SE26; Sue Woodward, Chalus, France.

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drawing I had done in class. My grandmother shook her head and put a finger to her lips, and as the voices down the hall grew louder my stomach turned, the way it did when Billy Bracknell next door chased me down the road with his catapult. When the voices died away, my mother came into the kitchen dabbing at her eyes and blowing her nose, followed by my father who after two years’ absence I barely recognised. He swept me up in his arms and with my face buried in the rough serge of his army uniform, I knew something in my life had changed forever. That night when my grandmother brought my cocoa upstairs she sat on the side of the bed twisting her apron strings. ‘That nosey Mrs Fisher two doors down sent a letter to the authorities and they have given your father compassionate,’ she said. I wanted to ask what compassionate meant and why Uncle Bob hadn’t come for supper but I couldn’t. And I didn’t see him or Uncle Jimmy again and Uncle Arthur only came back for his pyjamas. My mother gave up her job at the soap factory and Uncle Bob’s drawings and her silver dancing shoes were hidden away in Granny Butcher’s chest of drawers. And for a little while it seemed to me that when my uncles left us that day – the heart of our house went with them.

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ramatic monologues allow the poet to assume the character of another person, creature or even an inanimate object, and to examine some situation or event through that viewpoint. From Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover to Carol Ann Duffy’s collection The World’s Wife, we are shown dramatic scenes unfolding before our eyes, and drawn into the centre of the action. Another favourite from Browning is the more subtly described but no less chilling account of My Last Duchess, and these extracts are taken from the 56-line poem. In this, readers are drawn into the event with the direct address of the proud owner showing off his collection. That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will’t please you sit and look at her?

The narrator comments on the artist’s skill, but allows us to wonder whether the selection of a man of the cloth might be a deliberate safeguard in view of his wife’s over-friendly nature. She had A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. The duke is also critical of her ranking equally the experiences and gifts that please her. She thanked men – good! but thanked Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift. He suggests that even if he were to criticise her, the comments would fall on deaf ears; and that she is rather too free with her smiles. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This seals her fate. This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. 64

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Alison Chisholm explores two poems – one classic and one sent by a reader – to illustrate the power of the dramatic monologue

The envoy on the guided tour, brimming with this knowledge, is to be escorted down to the rest of the party… and conversation moves on to another artefact. We readers have accompanied the duke and his guest, have wondered about the Last Duchess’ pleasures and pains, frustration with her husband, flightiness. We can fill in the blanks and know how her demise was arranged. We are a part of the poem, we collude with it, we admire or shudder at the sang-froid of the speaker. The joy of reading these monologues, also known as persona poems, is equalled by the fun of writing them, as poet and competition adjudicator Margaret Gleave of Southport demonstrates opposite. This poem presents us with another life story, this time one with a happy ending, and the narrative shows how the character rebels against convention to carve out the life she wants. There is no control-freak-duke lurking in the shadows. The heroine is a feisty woman, willing to go against her father’s wishes despite his extreme reactions in hiring a private detective to follow her, and she runs away to enjoy the life she wants, fully accepting that her father will have nothing more to do with her. As in the Robert Browning poem, we are beckoned into the narrative at the start, with the careful application of a cliché – dressed to kill – a familiar saying that would usually be avoided in a poem, but is the perfect phrase here to suggest familiarity of speech and an intimacy between narrator and reader. The relationship is cemented with the you know in the third line, and referenced further on in the poem where we see You’ve guessed his thoughts… See… I hear you ask… among others and, at the end of the account, another of those familiar expressions, it’s true that every picture tells a tale. The reader is gripped by the narrator as surely as the envoy of My Last Duchess was gripped by the duke. Here, though, the hold may be even tighter. There is no third person involved; the direct appeal is to the audience, and Great Aunt Dolly’s story is told to nobody but the reader. The immediacy of the imagery of Skeletons is one of its most attractive facets, with precision of description, relevant references and a strong evocation of period. The title resonates with the phrase ‘skeletons in the cupboard’, making it an ideal summing-up of the theme; certainly in the eyes of Great Aunt Dolly’s father. Both of these dramatic monologues are written in iambic pentameters, but not in the same form. The pattern of My Last Duchess is rhyming couplets, while Skeletons is written in the unrhymed version, blank verse. Where the former is in formal tone, the subject matter of the latter lends itself to the more relaxed unrhymed pattern. Both poets have handled their respective forms with panache, so that in each case the reading is seamless and full of vitality. The persona poem plunges the reader directly into the story, and here we have two amazing stories – the tale of an arrogant control freak and his crime, and the life story of an amazing woman. Either could have been presented in the form of a short story or even a novel. Both are enhanced by being shared as poetry.

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P O E T RY WO R K S H O P

SKELETONS

by Margaret Gleave

Inspired by Edward Burra’s 1930 painting The Snack Bar, pictured right

That’s Great Aunt Dolly, furred and dressed to kill; grandmother called her bold, a brassy piece. She ran away, you know, in 1930, with Fred, who worked behind the bar; see there, he’s slicing ham for railway station rolls. You’ve guessed his thoughts, a plump and juicy slice, just like my Dolly’s thighs. Her Pa forbade the match; he cut her off without a cent, refused to see her after they were wed. Bit of an actress was our Doll; she loved bright lights on centre stage in music hall. Just look; her scarlet cupid lips, her eyes, mascara’ed, Mata Hari look-alike; those shark-like teeth, voracious bites at fame, her loud-mouthed chunks of jewellery, taloned claws. They tried to stop her. See that bloke behind? with horn rimmed glasses, trilby, out-sized mac? well, he’s a private eye employed by Pa to follow Doll, report to base. He failed;

she had a cunning plan, got clean away. You see, she knew about the tail, she’d seen him in the bar-room mirror several days before. She had a mate of similar height, who, dressed in Dolly’s clothes, became a decoy. Pal Ethel crossed the bridge with Mister X behind, and stepped aboard the Glasgow train. Voila; Aunt Dolly hid and waited, case all packed to board the London train at ten with Fred – and that, my dear, is that. What next, I hear you ask. She did the music halls, with Gracie Fields and co, and Fred found work in London hotel bars. They saved and bought a pub out Dulwich way, and as a treat when they retired, embarked on world wide cruises – until Fred died of too much food and drink. Aunt Dolly lived until her ninetieth year among her picture palace memories, songs of yesterday, her Bette Davies hats, her lips like Clara Bow; well, like they say, it’s true that every picture tells a tale.

Poetry workout

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Be aware of how punctuation affects your poems, suggests Doris Corti

unctuation is something often used instinctively rather than as a poetic device. It is, however, something that helps to control a poem, encompassing both line units and the music. It can be omitted and sometimes is by contemporary poets who may feel that a poem stands on its own assets of language and imagery and that pauses will develop naturally if the poem is laid out in a given way. The punctuation in the following four lines has been selected with care. Winter has come, stealthily in the night across cracked paving stones. Frost glints coldly in early light; the air cuts clean and all the holly boughs hang heavy under snow. The long sentence at the start of these lines needed the comma after the word come for a breath pause. A full stop after the word stones divides the

images. The longer pause created by a semi-colon after the word light not only allows a breath pause but emphasises the rhyme with the word night. A full stop after the word snow was necessary to show the end of the line. When posing a question in your poems do not forget the essential question mark – and at times exclamation marks are equally important. When writing a poem in a defined rhyming pattern, one that has to be read at a fast pace, the necessary punctuation is required, otherwise readers would arrive quickly and breathlessly at the last line. When you have written your poem read it aloud and stop when you come to what appears to be a natural pause. Ask yourself ‘why is the pause effective’? You may need to make it obvious to a reader by the use of a certain punctuation mark. www.writers-online.co.uk

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A device known as enjambment is when the sense of one stanza line is run on into the next line without pause. The subtle use of this device can add emphasis to a phrase being read. The idea is to take a reader by surprise by creating a pause for effect. If used too often this device will prove monotonous and its power will be limited. Exclamation marks should be used sparingly in poetry but on occasions they can be used to define a certain tone. For example the words ‘you are not my master!’ when aided by the exclamation mark can introduce a tone of indignation or anger. EXERCISE • Write 14 lines on ‘a rainy day’ without using punctuation. • Rewrite using punctuation for breath pauses and effect.

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Poetry from

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Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry LITOTES is a figure of speech in which a positive point is made by a denial of its opposite. Emily Brontë starts a poem with No coward soul is mine, implying the opposite of cowardly with a brave outlook. Sometimes the effect is created by a simple double negative, such as not bad to suggest good. The device is used to add a touch of emphasis or irony in poetry, and is also prevalent in conversation and rhetoric. A LITTLE WILLIE is a quatrain that rhymes in two couplets, a a b b. It tells of the experiences of the eponymous hero, who suffers all kinds of disasters. Little Willie found a mouse, Hid it safely in the house Then forgot it. Strange to tell, There reared a sudden dreadful smell. EXERCISE: Think of a suitable misdemeanour for Little Willie, and construct a quatrain based on it. In LONG MEASURE, a form often used in hymns, stanzas consist of quatrains of iambic tetrameter rhyming x a x a. This is similar to the ballad stanza, where the same rhyming pattern is used but the first and third lines have just three feet rather than four. Long measure can also rhyme a b a b, in this case as the longer version of common metre, where the same rhyming pattern is used – but again the first and third lines have only three feet. These examples show the variants, first with the x a x a rhyme:

Or with the a b a b rhyme: He guessed that there was something wrong but knew he couldn’t put it right. He brooded on it all day long and fretted far into the night.

THE KNOWING OF WATER EXERCISE: Write a poem in either variant of long metre, using the example above as a prompt. You could consider what happened before this stanza, what happened after it… or both. The term LOGOPOEIA was adopted by Ezra Pound to describe one of three devices used by the poet to infuse language with extra meaning. This device is the inclusion of words that have an additional resonance beyond their direct meaning, communicating something more through other contexts recognised by the reader. LONG POEMS cannot be defined precisely by their number of lines, although many poets agree that a poem consisting of more than three pages should be regarded as long. Too lengthy for a lyric piece or short narrative, the long poem may work as a single epic poem, or divided into numbered sections or a sequence of shorter poems. TS Eliot’s The Waste Land qualifies as a long poem, as does Pope’s The Rape of the Lock and Basil Bunting’s autobiographical piece Briggflatts.

The LUC-BAT is a Vietnamese verse form, much practised in its He guessed that there was something wrong home country; although there is a rather sophisticated pattern of sound but knew he couldn’t put it right. rules there, its adaptation for use in He brooded on it through the day English is based on a simpler pattern. and fretted far into the night. 66

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The form consists of any number of lines, alternating between six and eight syllables per line, with odd numbered lines having six and even numbered eight.

Perfect your poetry with a WM Creative Writing course. See p74

In its slow slide through reed, over sullen stones, weed, stirred mud, the village’s life blood whispers secrets that could change lives if trusting men and wives knew meaning. Gossip thrives in small communities, and all who cheat, play away, fall from grace are known. The stream can trace each peccadillo, place blame, seed discontent. So take heed. EXERCISE: Take a natural phenomenon and write a luc-bat poem (with any number of lines) ascribing some unexpected quality to it, such as the water that knows people’s secrets of this example. LYRIC POETRY is, perhaps, the opposite of narrative poetry. While the story dominates a narrative piece, in lyric poetry the music of the language predominates. The theme suggests thought and emotion more often than action, a sort of thinking aloud. Originally, lyric poetry would be spoken, chanted or sung to a background of music, often provided by the lyre – hence the name of the genre. Today lyric poems may be introspective, quiet and reflective. They are not usually very long, and many are written in the first person, a good example being WB Yeats’ The Lake Isle of Innisfree, that begins I will arise and go now…

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26/09/2016 10:51

TIME SHIFT

AU T H OM R YE XWPREIRTIIENNGC DAY ES

Shifting her setting by just a decade brought subscriber Fiona Veitch Smith’s historical crime novels to life.

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iona Veitch Smith’s debut historical crime novel, The Jazz Files, is on the shortlist for this year’s Crime Writers’ Association Endeavour Historical Dagger award, the top gong for historical crime, mysteries and thrillers published in the UK. According to the CWA judging panel, the first of her 1920s sleuth series Poppy Denby Investigates, The Jazz Files, is, ‘like its heroine, buoyant and stylish but with a core of steel. Poppy Denby arrives in London from the north of England determined to make it as a journalist and gets her chance when she has to finish a murdered reporter’s investigation into the death of a suffragette. The Roaring Twenties are beautifully evoked.’ Fiona’s second book, The Kill Fee was published in September and book three is being written. But initially the series was going to be set at the end of the Edwardian period. I originally conceived of Poppy as a suffragette reporter sleuth, who would be investigating the death of another fictional suffragette who died around the same time as Emily Wilding Davison, writes Fiona. The book would be set at the height of the suffragette movement between 1905 and 1913. However, once I started writing, I just didn’t feel comfortable in the period. The clothes were boring, the music was boring and frankly, my character might have been feisty but she was downright dowdy. I felt the same writing her as I did

Getting into character – Fiona in her Poppy Denby outfit, made on a period Singer sewing machine from an original 1920s pattern, with a 1928 Ford Pheaton

playing Sheila Birling in an am-dram production of An Inspector Calls. But what I wanted to feel was like I felt when I played the delightful Maisie in Ken Russell’s The Boyfriend. I had also just started learning to play jazz clarinet and was listening to music from the 1920s. I began to conceive of shifting my story to the 1920s and having my main character an inheritor of the legacy of the suffragettes. The mystery around the death of the fictional suffragette is still central to the novel, but is now investigated as a ‘cold case’, seven years later. Once I made this shift I immediately felt an emotional connection with the character and the period and the whole thing came alive. It had taken three months to write one chapter set in the earlier period, but once I changed to the 1920s I wrote the whole 90,000 words in six months. Writing became a joy. I lived and breathed the period and, I’d like to think, this came through in my writing. I did a lot of research online as well as reading non-fiction books about the period. But the most important research for me was what I like to call the ‘emotional research’. I went down to London for a few days and walked up and down Fleet Street, Waterloo Road and King’s Road – key locations in the novel – to get a feel for the place and travelled the same routes that Poppy would travel on bus and train. I imagined myself www.writers-online.co.uk

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as Poppy and inhabited her character. I also made some clothes for her – from an original 1920s pattern – for a photo shoot. Wearing those clothes really helped me feel like I was Poppy (although I’m 23 years older than her!) I read original newspapers from 1920 in the British Library. Some of the news stories that appear in the book were genuine articles from the time. I also went to the Suffragette exhibition and fashion exhibit at the London Museum. Some of the outfits that Poppy and her friend Delilah wear in The Jazz Files are exact replicas of outfits I saw there. In addition, I researched what was playing on the theatre scene in 1920 as well as cinema and music. The songs played in chapter 3 of the book were all actually played in 1920 – and ones I’ve tried to play on the clarinet! These are small details that most people won’t notice but it creates an air of authenticity. I would encourage you to consider the period you are writing in. Does it suit you? Do you feel an emotional connection to it? Why or why not? Remember, the period can almost become a character in itself. And if you’re not writing period fiction, consider the setting of your story anyway. Where the story happens gives depth, texture and interest to the reader. Most readers don’t just want to read a story about what happens to people (the plot), they want to be immersed in another world. That may be of another time, another place or another set of experiences. Take time to get that ‘world’ right, and both you and your reader will be rewarded. NOVEMBER 2016

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The masters’ point of view Handle narrative viewpoint in your fiction by learning from the best, with recommended reads from Helen M Walters

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hen we come to tell a short story, one of the first things we have to decide is exactly whose story it is. We need to know whose point of view we are telling the story from and how. We can learn a lot from classic short story writers about how to make the most of whichever technique we choose. In this classic short story masterclass we’re going to look at two examples of the first person technique – one in which it is used to give an intimate glimpse of the viewpoint character and one in which it is used to reveal a lot about the life of another character. Then we are going to look at third person, telling the story from one point of view and also from multiple points of view. The stories I have chosen are Cathedral by Raymond Carver, Mr Know All by Somerset Maugham, The Cop and The Anthem by O Henry and Prelude by Katherine Mansfield. As always, spoilers follow and you will benefit most if you read the stories yourself. Read them online at http://writ.rs/wmnov16 Choice of point of view makes a difference to both the feel of a story and the mechanics of how it is written. When choosing first person point of view the main advantage is that the reader feels very close to the main character. Telling the story using ‘I’ makes the reader feel that they are experiencing the story along with the character and is a good way of letting the reader into the character’s innermost thoughts. 68

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The power of first-person

In Cathedral, Raymond Carver shows us a character undergoing an epiphany. That is why first person is such a good choice for this story – it means the reader can experience the epiphany along with the character. Note that the main character isn’t actually named. I think this is a deliberate decision by Carver, but it can be a problem when you’re writing your own first person stories. In contemporary stories, particularly very short ones, naming your main character helps readers to identify with them better. So, if you are writing in first person and want the reader to know your character’s name, have another character address them by name early on in the story. Cathedral starts quite slowly, with back story. Although the back story is about the main character’s wife and the blind friend who is due to visit her, through the telling of it we find out a lot about the protagonist. We discover he lacks empathy towards their blind visitor, and seems unable to register him as fully human. He cannot understand the man’s relationship with his late wife and refers to him as pathetic. We also find that he is jealous of his wife’s previous relationships with other men. He is resentful of his wife’s childhood sweetheart, who got to her first, and also of the blind man, Robert, with whom she shares so much life history. Because we are in the protagonist’s head we cannot know what the other characters are thinking. But notice how Carver gives many clues to how the protagonist’s wife is feeling in the way

she reacts to him. When he jumps to conclusions about Robert’s wife we see in both her words and the fact that she drops a potato she is preparing that she is agitated with him. We also see her becoming irritated with him when he puts the television on, and we learn that the protagonist feels that when she compares him to Robert, he comes off worse. We do not experience any of these feelings in the woman’s head, since we can only be in the man’s head. But we know about them because we see her through his eyes. The closing paragraphs of the story are where the first person narrative really comes into its own. Robert, who of course has never seen a cathedral, asks the protagonist to describe one to him. In struggling to describe the cathedral the protagonist comes face to face with his own limitations as he tries to compensate for the limitations of the blind man. Then, as the two men try to draw a cathedral together, their hands both on the pencil, the protagonist feels like his fingers take over so he can’t stop them and he has emotions he’s never had before. As we experience this intimacy between the two men through the first person narrative it is as though we are experiencing it ourselves. That is the power of first person.

First-person prejudice

In Mr Know All by Somerset Maugham we find a slightly different use of first person. We get to know another character very well through the eyes of the viewpoint character. The Mr Know All of the title is Max Kelada and we learn straightaway that the viewpoint character dislikes him.

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SHORT STORY MASTERCLASS

In fact, he dislikes him before he even meets him. This of course tells us something about the viewpoint character as well. It tells us that he is prejudiced and given to jumping to baseless conclusions about people. As the story continues we get to know Max Kelada through the viewpoint character’s eyes. We learn that he is over-familiar, chatting to people and imposing his company where it is not wanted. He is exasperating as he intrudes on a private card game and tries to take it over. But, above all, he is someone who thinks he knows better than anyone else on any matter under discussion. So much so that he is called Mr Know All to his face. At the end of the story, however, we see a different side to Mr Kelada. His judgement over a pearl necklace is called into question even though he has declared himself an expert on pearls. Despite his desire to always be right, he allows himself to be mistakenly revealed as being wrong in order to save the honour of the woman wearing the pearl necklace. It is after this that our viewpoint character realises he has been mistaken about Mr Kelada. Mr Kelada himself has not changed, it is the viewpoint character that has changed through a process of becoming aware of his own prejudices. This is a very interesting use of viewpoint because although the first person viewpoint is targeted at showing us a story about Mr Kelada, it is the viewpoint character who is most changed by the events of the story. That is why it feels right that it is told from his point of view, although on the surface it is about someone else.

Third-person observation

One of the disadvantages of first person is that it can be restrictive. In third person the narrator sits just outside the character and therefore can offer a different perspective – how big the difference is depends on how close or distant the narrator is. The Cop and The Anthem by O Henry is an example of a story told in the third person. The main character Soapy, like the unnamed protagonist in Cathedral, undergoes an epiphany during the story. But we are not experiencing it from inside his head, we are experiencing it as an onlooker. In third person the narrator can

move in and out of the action in a way that a first person narrator can’t. The story paints a picture of the person and the events that happen to them and invites the reader to view it, rather than entering into it as with first person. Notice that when we are introduced to Soapy at the beginning of the story, it is as though we are standing and observing him. We see him sitting on his bench and a leaf falling at his feet. We also get external commentary from a narrator’s voice that is not Soapy, before being told what is in Soapy’s mind. That alteration in distance is more easily achieved in third person than first. Because a voice that is not Soapy himself is describing the character to us, we learn things we might not have learnt had we been inside his head. The descriptions of his body language are exquisite and, of course, because he can’t see himself they only work when being described by a voice outside himself. Another reason that third person works well in this story is that it allows a comic twist to a story that might otherwise be pitiful. Third person makes the balance between pity and humour easier to strike than it would be in the first.

and we hear from grandmother how she’d previously had a very different life in Australia. How would we have known about these things if their points of view were missing from the story? The way in which this story has been told gives us a panoramic view of the life of the family at a great time of change. We see different facets and aspects of the change in a way we could not have done if the story had been told from a single point of view. Of course it is possible to have stories told from more than one perspective but with each told in the first person. I don’t know of any classic short stories that use this technique (do let me know if you know of any!) but it’s more widespread in longer works, and it is a technique you can use in your own stories. Bear in mind though that, with multiple viewpoints, too many in too short a story can be confusing for the reader.

Other points of view Read all four stories at http://writ.rs/ wmnov16

The omniscient third person

As well as third person stories that stick with one character, in some classic short stories the third person is used to tell a story from multiple viewpoints, as in Prelude by Katherine Mansfield. The story is about a family moving house, and is divided into sections. We see the action from different points of view as the story progresses. At the beginning of the story we are seeing the action through the eyes of a child. Therefore we are getting a perspective which is very different from an adult’s. As Kezia explores the empty house that the family has just abandoned she notices tiny details that an adult wouldn’t, and is spooked by the dark in a way that only a child would be. We also have sections told from the point of view of various other characters, including Kezia’s mother, Linda, her father, Stanley, her grandmother and her Aunt Beryl. Notice how these viewpoints are crucial to telling the story as we become privy to Linda’s dreams and Beryl’s fantasies www.writers-online.co.uk

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While I was researching this article, I came across some other, more unusual, points of view. We Wave And Call by Jon McGregor is told in second person. A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner is told in first person plural, as the ‘we’ of a whole village mourns the passing of Emily. And, finally, For Esme With Love and Squalor by JD Salinger sees a swap from first person to third part way through the story. These are all quite unusual, but worth taking a look at if you feel like experimenting! Who knows, you might end up with something really memorable.

Know your POV

These are the crucial issues to bear in mind for your own stories. • Whatever point of view you choose, make sure you know through whose eyes you are telling the story, and why. • It’s fine to change point of view if the story demands it, but don’t do it in a way that will confuse your reader or leave them not knowing which character to empathise with and therefore not really caring about any of them. • Only by telling the story from the right point of view can you ensure that your reader will experience the story in the very best way possible – exactly the way you intended. NOVEMBER JULY 2016 2015

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s e k a t Mis to

d i o v a

II: SUBMITTING

You’ve poured your heart into your children’s book so don’t scupper its chances with your submission package, says Amy Sparkes

W

hen you begin writing for children, it can seem impossible to know where to start. Last month we considered mistakes not to make when writing your children’s book; this month we consider pitfalls to avoid once your story is written, edited and ready for submission.

Hide your story If you’re happy with your story and you’d like to share it, then act on it. Finishing a story can be emotionally draining, especially if it took a while to write. You might want to take a break to catch breath but don’t let dust settle on your story or let fear persuade you it’s not worth doing something with, whether that is traditional publishing, or celebrating its completion in another way.

Don’t make a plan Focus is helpful for building a writing career. Where would you like to ‘be’ ten years from now? Would you write for different age groups or a particular one? Would you cover a wide range of genres or concentrate on a certain area of fiction? Would you like an agent? Or work directly with publishers? Would you be happy if your work was published online?

Writing for pleasure Never feel pressurised to approach publishers. Stories can be just for you, or children you know… That doesn’t make them less worthwhile. You could always get copies printed professionally so you have a wellpresented finished version. If you’re not keen on traditional 70

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publishing but would like to share your story, you could place it online. There are various story websites, such as www.shortkidstories.com where you can submit work. Always check terms offered by the website you’re submitting to – can you take your work elsewhere if opportunities arise? Be aware that publishers and agents may be reluctant to take on stories which have already been published online, so be selective.

Pick publishers and agents randomly It’s tempting to approach anyone and everyone but you’ll save time if you plan ahead. Your story will then go to the most suitable place, increasing its chance of success. The first step is research. AGENTS • Agents come in all shapes and sizes – they may be independent or part of an agency. Some agencies only have two or three agents; others are massive, working across other industries, such as acting, music and modelling. Would you prefer a smaller, personal agency, or a larger one? • Look at an agent’s list. Do they represent authors you’ve heard of? Does the agent seem to like the sort of books you write? Agents need to champion your book in the publishing world so it’s important they are 100% behind it. They receive thousands of excellent publish-worthy submissions but will select the ones they personally ‘click’ with. • Do some stalking (don’t worry; quite acceptable here!). Follow agents

and agencies on Twitter. Like what they tweet? What do they retweet? Do you think you’d get on well? Do they promote their authors? Google online and see what comes up. Ask writer friends. Choosing an agent is an important, hopefully career-long decision, so research as much as you can before approaching. PUBLISHERS • Similarly, spend time researching publishers. Do they publish the kind of books you write? For example, if they publish humorous, character-led series and that fits with your book, then you may have found a home. If a certain style doesn’t appear on their lists, they may still publish it, but you may prefer to try elsewhere first.

Submit to one place at a time You can submit to different publishers or agents simultaneously, or even publishers and agents at the same time. Obviously, prioritise the ones you feel are more appropriate. Look through the Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook; it is well worth obtaining an up-to-date copy of this brilliant resource. (See www. writersandartists.co.uk for information). Publishers and agents expect multiple submissions so you don’t need to explain. However, if you do send exclusively to a publisher or agent, then mention this in your cover letter. Finally, if you’re submitting to both publishers and agents simultaneously, then it is helpful if you tell agents which publishers you have approached, so they know where things stand. To keep tabs on what is where

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WRITING FOR CHILDREN

(especially if you’re sending more than one story), create a database of all submissions and record the responses. You may find it helpful to send out in batches of five or ten at a time; then if one batch doesn’t yield results, you can move onto the next. Then hopefully, your story will find a home.

THE MIDDLE

• This is for your story pitch. Explain the premise in about a paragraph. • Include the bare bones of the plot but don’t go into detail. • Try to make this intriguing so your book is more likely to be read.

Ignore submission guidelines What drives publishers and agents mad? When they provide submission guidelines and authors ignore them. You might think it’s worth trying your luck even if your story doesn’t meet submission requirements. However, even if your story is fabulous, if you haven’t stuck to the guidelines, it will head for the reject pile. Check guidelines thoroughly. Do they accept children’s books? Of every genre? And rhyming texts? How do they want submissions – as an attachment or in the body of the email? Attachments are frequently treated as spam, so if a publisher or agent specifies no attachments, they do mean it, and your email won’t be opened.

THE ENDING

lf: writing about yourse information f ie br de lu se nc • I blication, lfg previous pu (e ls tia en etc); courses ed cr k experience, or w nt va le little publishing, re d perhaps a s attended; an ce en able. er or nf co em or ake you m hich might m w ng icycles hi un et e m rid so snakes to n ai tr u yo if never know. For example, tion that. You en m e, tim e … in your spar a book launch in handy for Might come e, n. For exampl nt informatio va le re r he ot know if • Include any ent, let them oaching an ag blishers. pu y if you’re appr an bmitting to su tly en rr cu you’re also ank • Be polite. Th

Write an inappropriate cover letter Ah, the cover letter. Always fun. This is difficult to write but worth spending time on – it’s your introduction to a publisher or agent. And first impressions count. What do they not want to see? Basically, a long-winded, unclear, sloppily-produced, standard cover letter which is a one-size-fits-all and doesn’t communicate all the information they need. So what do you include in an ideal cover letter?

THE BEGINNING

• Put crucial information about your book here: title; age group; genre; and word count. • Explain who your potential audience is. Mention any similar books or authors (especially if these are connected to the publisher or agent). • Personalise your letter – for example, have you met the agent or attended a talk by them? Why have you chosen this particular agent or publisher?

ing. them for read

Put everything into your synopsis Most submission guidelines request the first three chapters of your story and the synopsis. It’s natural to want to include every twist, turn and detail of your story. However, the maximum length of a synopsis is usually two typed A4 sides (check individual guidelines). Cramming everything in will result in a long-winded, confusing synopsis, which probably won’t support your submission. Before you start, consider the main points of each chapter. You have a limited word count, so choose words carefully. Could you use one word instead of two? Or add a single, strong adjective to describe a character to add colour to your synopsis, with minimal impact on your word count?

Hit send/receive obsessively We all do it. We all know it’s pointless. By some cruel rule of the universe, hitting ‘send/receive’ on your laptop does not conjure up the email you’re waiting for. It’s not easy, but you’ve done your best, you’ve submitted your story, so let it fly free for a while. Save your time, your sanity and reduce the risk of RSI by working on your next story instead. At least then, when an www.writers-online.co.uk

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agent or publisher responds, you have other ideas to offer them.

Take rejection personally ‘Thank you for your submission, however we didn’t feel it was right for our list.’ The heartbreaking words that most writers hear. Yes, sometimes it’s the quality or presentation of the writing. If a manuscript is repeatedly rejected, wait a month or so, then revisit your story to see if it can be improved. However, if you’ve researched the market, read widely, spent time on your manuscript and had it critiqued (professionally or informally), that’s probably not the case. So your story is fabulous, your cover letter is stonking… why have you been rejected?

Personal preference Agents receive thousands of submissions, so they prioritise stories they personally enjoy and connect with. Publishers too may choose one book over another, due to taste. Annoyingly, as rejection letters are standardised (due to time pressures), all you hear is ‘not right for our lists’ instead of any helpful, non-dreamshattering feedback, such as ‘the story itself was brilliantly-written but we prefer funny books’.

What fits Sometimes manuscripts are rejected purely because it’s not what they are looking for at the time. You’ve submitted your funny, young fiction ghost story… but unbeknown to you the publishing house has just commissioned a funny, young fiction vampire series. The two would compete, so they can’t accept your story. But all you hear is, ‘Thank you for your submission, however…’

Give up It’s sad when talented writers struggle to find a home for their work or find the submission process too gruelling. The world needs good stories and you can be the one to write them. Yes, there are many hurdles to producing a book. Sometimes it’s enough of a challenge to finish writing the wretched thing, let alone face sending it out into the world. But do keep going. The reward of seeing your story in print is worth it. Promise. Next month, we look at mistakes to avoid once your book is published. Good luck! NOVEMBER 2016

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The front line

Immersing readers in breaking news, uncovering behind-the-scenes drama or illuminating the human condition in depth requires dedication and rock-solid narrative skills, says Tina Jackson

L

ast month’s feature in this series – on colour writing – was something of a writer’s summer holiday for you. This month it’s back to school in no uncertain terms because we’re going to look at reportage. As this is considered the highest and most prestigious form of feature journalism, occupying a space between literary non-fiction and documentary reporting, it is therefore the most likely form to inspire fear in newbie feature writers.

What is reportage? Reportage at its most straightforward is journalism that gives its reader an insight into history – both in retrospective, and into history as it is being made. It has been written by some of world’s best writers, many but by no means all working as newspaper correspondents. It may not have been written with an eye to being read years in the future, or contributing to a reader understanding a historical moment, but even if it’s been scribbled in a notebook on a battlefield, it has lasting qualities. In 1996 literary publisher Faber brought out The Faber Book of Reportage, edited by Professor John Carey, that includes eyewitness accounts of the sinking of the Titanic and WW2 concentration camps. The Granta Book of Reportage features work by some of the world’s most famous writers, including John le Carré, Germaine Greer, Martha Gellhorn and Marilynne Robinson. George Orwell’s reportage includes Down and 72

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Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia and The Road to Wigan Pier – ie, stone classics. Outstanding contemporary practitioners include the Indian novelist Rana Dasgupta and war reporters Anthony Loyd and Janine di Giovanni. These are very big footprints to follow. That is not, though, to say that other writers should not walk in their footsteps, and create work that goes beyond straightforward journalistic reporting to combine journalism with literary qualities. Some of the more fanciful names for reportage are ‘literary journalistic essay’ and ‘literature of fact’. You can do masters’ degrees in these subjects. Don’t let it put you off – if you want to tackle big stories in a significant way, know how to structure a piece of journalism and want the challenge of a deeper or more complex writing experience within the arena of non-fiction, have developed your own writing style and are prepared to get your hands dirty and participate in what you’re writing about, reportage may be for you. Reportage is harder to pin down than most hack-for-hire journalism. Reportage does not necessarily have to be long-form, but in practice it often is, and may occupy varying lengths between an extended story in a colour supplement to a full-length work of non-fiction. The writer of reportage is not breaking news – that is the job of a news story. But it is related to news, or likely to be at the very least topical and newsworthy. It is more of a narrative than a feature article,

although it is related to a feature and will require a feature’s structure, with a lead, a narrative incorporating facts and quotes, and a conclusion. It is more personal than a feature, requiring its writer to be present in the experience, but it will most likely be written in third, not first, person. And although reportage stems from the world of news media, these days you are as likely to find it in a literary journal as you are in a newspaper or current affairs magazine.

Dig yourself in Reportage immerses the reader in its subject and allows them to see, and crucially, understand, the story and its themes. Last month’s colour-writing skills will come in useful, as will as our previous excursions into news reporting and feature construction, as we now take a look at how you might go about crafting your own long-form piece of reportage. First, find your subject, and make sure it’s something that you really want to write about because you’re not just going to spend a lot of time on it, you’re going to get up close and personal. Reportage subjects are typically weighty, taking in wars and momentous social events and movements. We’re not suggesting you head out to a warzone but consider carefully whether what you want to write about has the substance to sustain an in-depth piece of work. There may be the perfect story on your doorstep, in your local area or even within your own family, but you need to be able to:

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F E AT U R E S D E S K

1) Recognise it as a story. For instance, at a local level, you might have a neighbour who spends her spare time helping out a refuge for victims of domestic abuse. Over time, talking to her, you may note that more and more of the stories she’s telling you involve abuse taking place online or via social media (read this for background: http://writ. rs/2socialmediaabuse). The issue is in the news but you realise you may be in a position, as a writer, to tell the stories of individuals in a way that makes a reader see the bigger picture behind the headlines. 2) Have the access you need to be able to bring it to life for a reader. Could your friend arrange for you not just to meet women who have suffered this kind of abuse, but spend time with them, get a real insight into what they have been though, and experience what their lives are like? It can help, certainly for a first excursion into reportage, if the topic you choose is something close to you or that you have a deep knowledge of/ interest in. This is for obvious reasons: you will know what are the potential stories significantly worth telling within your subject area. You will know what is topical and you will have the insight to be able to write your reportage with depth and empathy. If you come to a subject cold, your basic knowledge of journalism would enable you to find out the who, why, where, what, when and how of the matter, but to go deeper it will help if you already know where to dig. You do not need to write about a war zone, but conflict and injustice can take place on an epic level even in the most small-scale of environments. You may not be embedded in a war zone but the inside story of sabotage at your local allotment society might, in its own small way, provide you with the material for this kind of writing. Once you have chosen a topic, you will need to do these things: 1) Research it. This is fundamental – make sure you have a story, and all the facts related to it. 2) Think about the themes of your narrative (we are now in the realms of the kind of writing that has themes and narratives). 3) Research it some more. Find out

who you can talk to, and make sure you can get access. The more access you can get, the better. 4) Go and live it. Good reportage requires you to be a participantobserver, not a bystander. If you are invited, for instance, to spend the night in the domestic abuse shelter, do it. If you are writing about the working conditions of men who repair motorways at night, be prepared to spend nights out there with them. If you are cold and wet, so are they – and you will have a real insight into what their lives are like.

the story you are telling. You need to be able to recreate scenes, so you have to be able to see very clearly what are the crucial details that will bring the picture to life for your readers. As writers, we are very aware of showing, not telling, and in this context, the ability to use words to paint a picture will make all the difference to the success of your piece. Use details to reinforce significant elements; create dramatic scenes so that the reader is involved and understands why this story needs to be told. You will need to be patient, and tenacious. It is highly unlikely that you will be able to pop out over the Writing reportage weekend and do a bit of reportage. Think about your aims for the piece, You’ll need to commit to your subject, and what you want to achieve. It’s and put the time in. But you will also not an opinion piece, and you aren’t need the ability to work fast if you preaching or using your writing as need to, and know when to recognise a soapbox, but if you do it well, it something significant happening – will reveal and illuminate an aspect and get the words down. of lived experience or the human Above all, remember you are condition. With that in place, telling a story. Reportage may be your research done, your personal non-fiction but it must be much experience giving you images and more than simply factual. This kind insights to recreate, you can start of feature writing requires technical thinking about how to go about writing skills of course, but most writing it. Your piece of reportage importantly, creative and person will need the framework of a feature skills. Your greatest assets, as a article. You will need to introduce writer of reportage (we’ll take the your topic, preferably through Perfect your basic writing skills for granted, the use of a startling image that article writing in the way you take it as read projects your reader into the reative with a WM C that a plumber knows how to scene you are describing. e. put in a sink) are informed Knowledge of how to structure Writing cours curiosity, empathy, and the ability a feature will give you the bones See p74 to see both tight focus – and the for a reportage piece: it may be a bigger picture. longer and more complex piece of writing but it is still needs to include a thread – a narrative trajectory – that draws the reader through your narrative. It needs to contain Think of a subject or topic that could be the basis for information, quotes, and verifiable an imaginary piece of reportage you would like to facts so that the reader has a clear undertake, and plan a piece of writing around it. picture of precisely what the story is, 1) Pin down your subject, and then decide how you are and relevant background to it. It will going to tell the story. What are the themes you will need need a conclusion of some kind: you to draw out? What would you like the piece to achieve? may be writing about lived experience, a slice of life, but for the reader’s 2) Where would you need to go? Who would you need sake it should be wrapped up into a to talk to? story with a beginning, middle and 3) What other research would you need to do? compelling ending that makes sense of Write the synopsis for your imaginary reportage piece, the whole. showing how you would begin the piece, what your The most vital elements in your narrative trajectory would be, and how you would end piece of reportage are your quotes it. Demonstrate what the intention or message might and observations. You need to get be, and how reading your feature might illuminate people to talk to you, and have the something for a reader, or change their perspective on ability to recognise when they have an issue. said something that will impact on

Now try this

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CRIME

CRIME FILE

W

Laura McHugh tells Chris High how setting takes on a life of its own in her atmospheric mysteries

hat do you do when you inherit the house from which, when you were a child, your younger twin sisters were abducted, never to be seen again? This is the intriguing scenario Laura McHugh has created for her second novel, Arrowood (Century). As with her debut, Weight of Blood, setting takes on its own character and peripherally drives the action. ‘For both The Weight of Blood and Arrowood, the setting was my starting point, and the characters and plot grew from there,’ Laura explains. ‘I write about the places where I grew up, places I’m emotionally attached to. These aren’t idyllic small towns – they have dark sides. Writing about them is almost therapeutic, a way of exorcising the demons of my past. I’m originally from a small town in Iowa, tucked between vast cornfields and the Mississippi River. The town is full of lovely old homes and buildings from the 1800s, including the library. I loved to read as a child, especially anything with witches, ghosts, or monsters, and I always had overdue books because I didn’t want to return them. Later on, we moved to a rural area in the Ozark Mountains that didn’t have a library, so I started reading the books my older siblings brought home from school, and the stacks of musty old paperbacks that my mom had collected from yard sales. That was how I got my first exposure to Agatha Christie, Shirley Jackson, and many others. We didn’t have the money to buy many books, but we were taught their value early on.’

There is also an element of mysticism running through Arrowood, as the novel’s narrator, Arden, seeks answers wherever she can. ‘I am actually a sceptic, but that doesn’t keep me from wanting to believe. I would love to see or sense something that I can’t explain. The first house I lived in had been vacant for years and was supposedly haunted, but we never experienced anything strange.’

“I would love to see or sense something that I can’t explain.” It’s been a year since Weight of Blood was published. The novel has been widely acclaimed for its tight prose and deftly drawn characters. It’s been a busy year. ‘I was really thrilled with the reception Weight of Blood got. I’ve also learned a few things since publication. For one thing, I thought the process of writing the new book could speed up if I outlined it first, but I found I don’t enjoy writing from an outline. After becoming frustrated, I switched back to the process I had used for my first book, which was to figure out the characters’ motives and desires and then let the characters guide the story. That’s what works for me.’ Would Laura do anything else differently? ‘I feel like my missteps led me to where I am now, so there’s not that much really. I do wish that I had become involved in the mystery/thriller community before my first book came out though. There are some great organisations and conferences that offer mentoring, networking, and support for debut authors, and I missed out on all of that.’ What’s next? ‘I am under contract for two more books with my US publisher, and I’m currently at work on the first of those. The protagonist is still reeling from her brother’s unexpected death when she’s sent to investigate a deadly accident that has torn apart a rural community. She soon realises that nothing is as it seems.’

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Feel

the

r a fe

Understand how fear works to keep your readers on the edge of their seats, says Alex Davis

T

wo of the finest books of horror non-fiction remain – undisputably – Stephen King’s On Writing and Danse Macabre. Not only are they penned by an established master of the form, but they are books that show a great understanding of what it is that frightens people. King is a writer with a superb imagination, but it is possibly this innate knowledge of how to exploit human fear that built him such a successful career. Now, we can’t all be on a par with Stephen King – those sort of long-lasting bestsellers are almost a phenomenon – but there’s a lot to be said for a solid grasp of what it is that makes people afraid. It’s not as simple a question as it may appear, and horror in all its forms – TV, film, books – is fundamentally designed to play with your mind, reaching in and forcing you to feel a sense of dread. So how can we make the most of this as a writer?

UNIVERSAL HORROR

No, I’m not referring to the old school monster movies here, more that there are some fears that are absolutely common to all of us. When you go back – way back – in human evolution, fear had a particular purpose: survival. Primitive mankind was very little about exploration and taking risks, but safety and sticking to what was known. The fear of the unknown was a reflex that would keep early man out of harm’s way – if there’s a chance it could be dangerous, why explore it? And in the same vein, one of the fundamentals of horror is that much of it explores the unknown. The supernatural, that question of what happens on the other side of death, the monstrous, the 50 76

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alien, the otherwordly, all of these things are crucial to horror. What form these take varies a great deal, but it’s important to keep this thought at the core of your horror work.

NOTHING IS SCARIER THAN CHILDHOOD

When you track back to where people’s fears come from, very few of them are inbuilt or instinctive. Things like a fear of the dark or isolation have a biological imperative, but the vast majority of what we are afraid of is learned. It might come from a fear reaction from our parents or someone close to us – if we see an adult feeling terror at something we believe it to be terrifying. There may also be childhood traumas or unpleasant experiences that form our fears – sometimes this can be direct (ie a spider crawling onto you as a baby could bring a fear or spiders) while on other occasions it may be that something becomes associated with that fear, an indirect but still powerful avatar of dread. There are two ways this often gets employed in horror. Characters often have buried or repressed memories from childhood, that are gradually unveiled as the story wears on. Present events can sometimes have a sort of echo with the past, connections that draw current horror and previous trauma together. The lead characters may have children, whose stories or telling of events are sometimes not believed (or gradually come to be believed) – the imagination of a young person can be a powerful thing, and in horror is often the way that the unusual or esoteric is written off. You might also want to consider other ways of incorporating this into a

horror story – for example, telling the whole or aspects of the story from the perspective of a child or having a cast made up of children.

UNDER THREAT – BUT WHAT THREAT?

Fear is a fascinating thing, because the tendency is to feel afraid of something new. This is something that we will feel in some small way in all our lives – moving house, changing jobs, entering a new relationship, even leaving a relationship – all of these are significant changes that plunge us into the unknown. Fear is all about us basically imagining the worst – it’s rare that these scenarios play out as badly as we initially think. It’s all about what’s called the ‘lizard brain’, that part of the brain intended to keep us safe and protected. The question that’s important to think of is that the human mind often perceives threat where there might be none. Many horror stories have kept this purely in the imagination of the characters – if they believe that something is real and true, then that is adequate cause to fear. Whether it is actually real or not doesn’t really enter the equation. But it’s also important to keep in mind what the perceived threat is. It’s a mistake to think that all horror characters are afraid of is dying, although of course that can be a factor! Characters may be under threat of transformation, or kidnap or being trapped, of being taken to another world or another dimension – do consider what it is your character is truly under threat of and how it will affect their actions and reactions.

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FA N TA S T I C R E A L M S

ACCEPTING THE UNNATURAL To come back to the point of imagination, whenever we as people feel a flicker of fear there is a habit to try and write it off somehow. We hear a noise outside – must be a fox, or a cat, or something entirely normal. And odds are, it is. But what if that noise was inside? A creaking on the stairs? The fear would doubtless intensify, but the human mind would once again try to attribute it to something ordinary, everyday. There’s a great deal of fear in any story to be built, step by step, and the psychological response to something that would be out of the ordinary, preternatural or unnatural is simply denial. Even if your character were to flat out see a ghost, whilst the fear would certainly reach a crescendo, there would still be attempts to write it off – a figment of the imagination, or even a symptom of some mental illness – we would rather believe that we were succumbing to some form of insanity than to accept the existence of something we cannot explain.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

The human fear response ultimately comes down to one simple tenet – fight or flight. In prehistoric times, had a caveman or cavewoman been seen by a mammoth or similar beast he would have either run away in terror or lashed out in a (probably rash) attempt at survival. There is of course the possibility of being paralysed with fear, but this is a temporary reaction that will eventually give way to one or the other – attack or run. How will this play out for your character? And what are the circumstances in which they will have to deal with this instinctive decision? If they have someone with them, are they liable to try and defend them or run, leaving

their companion to fend for themselves? This could be a very different matter if it’s a stranger as opposed to a friend or a member of their family...

BREAKING THE REALITY BARRIER One of the final things that can make a horror story truly, truly effective is if your reader can believe it is real, or at least concede the possibility that it could happen. This is not an easy thing to do, and of course there are many people out there who dislike horror on the grounds that it’s simply not believable and therefore they don’t feel any fear reaction. But that thrill of terror, of unease, is central to the horror experience – it’s the same reason we step onto a rollercoaster, or play a horror computer game. It’s a safe way to enjoy an amalgam of the adrenaline rush a real-life scary situation could bring. But you can’t totally depend on the suspension of disbelief to carry this – how can you as a writer make the situation feel more plausible? For me, there are two key aspects to this. First off, the deployment of your lead character as an everyman – that is, not somebody who lives close to horror or fear – that finds themselves drawn

into an extremely unexpected situation. The use of ‘everyman’ is not to imply your characters should be bland or generic – an all-too-common failing of horror in TV and movies. However, films like Ringu and Drag Me To Hell do this extremely well – these are leads that are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, to put it another way, it could have been anyone. Even you... Secondly, it is important to remember that the best horror stories often tie back to something that – once upon a time – would have been common belief. That concept of ‘what if they were right’ is behind many stories about monsters, witches, ghosts and more besides – all of them things that are part of a common folklore, a common history, something we are all aware of in some respect and share a knowledge of. The idea that we once believed in something implies – even if in some small degree – it could have been true. Even if they don’t go that far back, you can employ things like urban legends – Candyman, anyone? – to wonderful effect.

CONCLUSION

There can be an impression that horror is a simple thing to write, but I would argue nothing could be further from the truth. Developing something to scare readers is as deep a psychological effect as a writer could create, and takes plenty of forethought and awareness of how we – as a species – tick. Done well, horror fiction can be the most impactful around, and I’ll bet even the loudest horror detractors will remember that story that scared them...

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Write

> your own

ADVENTURE

> A runaway success in the early days of home computing, the text-based adventure game is enjoying a resurgence on modern mobile devices. CHRIS GLITHERO explains how you can get started

>T

> You enter a room with an archaic machine in the corner…

ake a look at some of the latest video games with their impressive graphics, complex gameplay and epic scope, and you could be forgiven for thinking that simple text-based adventure games are a forgotten relic of the digital primordial soup. But in fact they are alive and well, and currently experiencing something of a resurgence thanks to their packaging as phone apps that can be easily indulged during the daily commute. In this article we’re going to take a broad overview of how you can create and share your own textbased adventure game, with no programming knowledge required. If you’d like to remind yourself, or you were unfortunate enough to miss text-based adventures the first time round, you can a modern clone of Zork and other classic online at www.web-adventures.org and you find the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy here http://writ.rs/hitchgame

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play games can game

First we should begin with a quick reminder of concept. In the homecomputing dawn of the late 1970s and eighties, text-based adventure games without graphics were very much de rigeur due to the relative ease with which they could be created and ported across to many different platforms. In these games, players were presented with a simple window showing textual descriptions – such as, ‘You are in a darkened forest facing north,’ – and in which they could type commands (ie ‘walk’, ‘pick up’, ‘look’) to progress through the adventure. Despite their apparent simplicity, such games became immensely popular due to their compelling storylines and the depth and detail of the worlds that they thrust players into. Popular games from this time include Zork and its sequels, Adventureland and even a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy text-based game written by Douglas Adams himself. Text-based adventures can also be described as ‘interactive fiction’,

and are the digital equivalent of the ‘Choose your own adventure’ books and similar print series in which the reader alters the story by choosing the actions taken by the protagonist.

A resurgent genre Type ‘text based game’ into Google Play or the Apple app store and you’ll see there is a veritable cornucopia of such games, with scenarios ranging from zombie survival and bleak sci-fi futures, to fantasy worlds inhabited by wizards and goblins, and noir-inspired detective plots. There are a few larger publishers outputting significant numbers of games, such as Choice of Games and Delight games, but the relative ease with which they can be created means that there are also plenty created by indie authors. Some of these games look a little more jazzed up than their prehistoric counterparts, but the basic premise is the same – the player interacts with and influences the text-based story by making choices and issuing commands. Some games use the traditional method of typed commands, while others favour a more streamlined multiplechoice prompt system to move the game forward. > You see a strange tool…

So, maybe you could be the creator of the next big text-based hit. And on that note, it’s time to introduce you to some of the tools that you can use to create your masterpiece of interactive fiction. Here we’re going to look at some of those which provide the best balance between being accessible and powerful enough to allow you to create something that will get people hooked on your creation. And you’ll be pleased to know, they’re all free. QUEST

http://textadventures.co.uk/quest

Quest is a popular and versatile tool which can either be used via your web browser or downloaded to your desktop (on a Windows computer). The great thing about Quest is that you don’t need to know any special computing language or syntax, you can simply use the program’s interface to create ‘rooms’ for the player to explore, objects for them to pick up and manipulate, exits for them to walk through and so on. Quest also enables you to choose between creating a ‘text

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T E C H N O LO G Y F O R W R I T E R S

adventure’ (in which the player has free rein to explore) and a simpler ‘gamebook’ where multiple choices are provided at the end of each passage of text. ADRIFT

www.adrift.co

Adrift stands for ‘Adventure Development & Runner – Interactive Fiction Toolkit’, and like many of the best DIY resources it does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s again downloadable for Windows and can be used to play test your own adventures and those created by other people. With Adrift you use a series of intuitive editing windows to create each element of your text adventure bit by bit, with dropdown menus making the whole experience easier to navigate. Take a look at the ‘popular games’ section of the site to get an idea of the kind of games you can create. INFORM 7

http://inform7.com

Inform is a very powerful tool for creating text-based adventures and is based on the writer creating the interactive story through use of natural language (ie to create a room you would actually type something like, ‘the armoury is a room’). But as it’s much more technically involved and requires you to remember specific syntax, it may be one for more advanced users and those with a lot of time to invest. TWINE

https://twinery.org

Similarly to Inform 7, Twine uses a text-based editing interface to create your adventure, with ‘links’ created between passages of text to create the paths through which the players will move through the game. But it’s a much simpler and more accessible tool, and finished stories can be published directly to html for web posting. Though no coding knowledge is required, more advanced users can delve deeper if they wish, by using things like JavaScript and css in their Twine stories. If you’d like to get an idea of some of the results that can be achieved, take a look at the samples on the home page. > This is not a book

The way that you create your text-based adventure will vary a little depending

on your tool of choice, but there will be largely be many similarities. There are also many similarities to writing a conventional novel or short story, but there are a number of key differences which you will encounter during the writing process. You will need to constantly create different versions of events and outcomes depending on the player’s actions. This itself can be a useful exercise for flexing your creative muscles and exploring the many possibilities that lie within one individual story. You will need to link these different versions of the story together in a logical and structured way, so that whichever path the reader chooses, the narrative makes sense and is believable within itself. It’s more likely (though not essential) that you’ll write in the second person, creating the reader themselves as the protagonist of the story, eg ‘You try to run down the narrow corridor, but something catches your shoe and you tumble to the ground.’ Once you’ve mastered the basics of creating your text adventure it’s possible to include more in-depth game mechanics such as experience points for players to earn and combat sequences, but in the first instance it’s a good idea to keep things simple.

heavily on how long you intend your adventure game to be, but it should follow its only natural course, beginning with an exposition of the world and characters, creating a rising action which keeps players interested, plenty of challenges and events, and eventually a satisfying climax and resolution to the plot. If your adventure has separate narrative strands created by player choices, you must make sure that this applies to each one.

Consistency When people are reading any kind of fiction they like to be surprised, but they also like to know generally what to expect from the story. While creating your interactive story, take care to ensure that your style of writing remains consistent and doesn’t vary wildly when they make this choice or that. Consistency will keep people in your world and eager to play on, random changes will jar them out of it.

Believable characters

Lifeline, a text-based game available on Android and iOS

> You pick up a list of tips

As with any work of fiction, and unencumbered by the need for graphics or audio as with other games, the limits of your setting, your characters and the things that they do and experience are restricted only by your own imagination. As the creator, you have the power to propel the reader/player into myriad fantastical worlds and thrilling scenarios. But for your interactive story to be successful in capturing their attention and imagination it will need a number of things:

Effective pacing Just as with any other work of fiction, your text adventure needs to be expertly paced and plotted to ensure that it keeps people reading, and playing, right until the very end. The exact pacing and rhythm that you implement will depend www.writers-online.co.uk

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This is doubly true if you’re writing in the second person. If the reader is themselves playing the role of the protagonist, they won’t take kindly to being forced into making choices which are illogical, out of character or even abhorrent. > You reach the end of the passage

When you’ve created your interactive masterpiece there are many different ways to get it out there for people to play. Depending on the platform you use to create it, you should be able to publish it on your own website or on one of the many text-based adventure repositories out there (see the web addresses below), either as a standalone package or as a game that can be run using one of the free clients on offer. > You find a treasure chest

Before you embark on your quest to create a compelling text-based adventure game, you might like to check out what other people have done recently. With that in mind here are a few more websites that are packed with free games that you can play, old and new: • Quest: http://textadventures.co.uk/ • The Interactive Fiction Database: http://ifdb.tads.org/ • Gameshed: www.gameshed.com/Text-based-Games/

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WRITERSʼ WEB WATCH Downtime web traffic

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riters are not, always, gifted with sociable natures, which is perhaps why they get so breathless about the community aspect of social media for writers – hey, we’ve found some other weirdos who get it! But even the most introspective of writers occasionally requires places where they can bask in the company of like-minded souls. Sometimes it’s nice not to have to talk to them. For those times, here are a few of our favourite online hangouts for literary types. Start with Literary Hub (http:// lithub.com/), a one-stop shop for American writing and writers that has a great deal of relevance for writers worldwide – see the recent post of wise, wonderful advice for writers from Rebecca Solnit if you have any doubt that the content might not be relevant to writers this side of the pond. Every day the site carries book reviews, literary journalism and features about the writing life. It lives up to its name, with content of interest to a writing community interested in literary qualities, and is a calm, energising place to immerse yourself in the world of words. In the UK, Litro (www.litro. co.uk) places the focus more firmly on emerging creative writers and as well as showcasing stories, poetry, author interviews and cultural commentary, offers opportunities to submit creative writing and non-fiction. It’s lively, contemporary and relevant for writers 80

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what’s trending and creating waves in interested in cutting edge social and the writing and publishing worlds. As cultural developments and how they writers, these are your worlds, so use impact on writers and writing. the web to keep up to speed on them. Still hip but with a distinctly You do not write in a vacuum or a highbrow slant, literary journal The bubble, and if you are not keeping up White Review (www.thewhitereview. to date with relevant current events org) publishes a free monthly online you might like to ask yourself if your issue alongside the paid-for print ignorance is blissful or just blinkered. magazine that includes in-depth As always though, if the content cultural commentary and arts tailored to your particular interests journalism alongside new creative doesn’t exist, why not think about writing. This is the place to go creating your own? A blog is when you want to feel cerebral, free, easy to set up, and if you energised and abreast of the want to create something latest cultural thinking, Even the most that feels like a writers’ particularly on narrative, introspective of writers cafe, you don’t have to which is one of The White write all the posts yourself. Review’s specialisms. occasionally requires Think big and start small. The last two are British places where they can You probably haven’t got but we’re big fans of the contacts, the technical internationalism and a bask in the company of knowledge and the financial lot of our online hangouts like-minded souls. resources to launch a rival are US-based. Salon’s books to the Huffington Post, but page (www.salon.com/topic/ that doesn’t mean you can’t create books/) carries high-quality, topical something relevant that will be coverage of books and literary matters. appreciated by like-minded writers. If Booklife (http://booklife.com), a there are a few of you who are local, subsidiary site of Publishers Weekly, is you could create a blog that shared a buzzy, site for self-publishing writers news and information about local that features up-to-date writing, writers and local writing activities. editing, marketing and publishing Writers with shared interests? What advice and insights. And we are very about a specialist genre blog? Populate fond, at WM Towers, of Mobylives, it with relevant, appropriate, topical the blog from Melville House (www. content, keep it fresh and up to date, mhpbooks.com), which provides and make sure everything there is clever, knowing updates and insights as good as it can be. If the quality’s into the book and publishing scene. good, you never now who might The content on all three of these sites come and hang out with you. is applicable to anyone wanting to see

“”

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:06

COMPUTER CLINIC

PAGE PERFECT

Text formatting and epub layout made easy, by Greta Powell

F

rom auto-hyphenation through to embedded fonts, this month we return to the cosmetics of text and page layouts. What is an optional hyphen and why does it keep randomly appearing in a document in Microsoft Word, and why are fonts so often embedded in Microsoft Publisher? And then, how best to approach the issue of publishing a cover page in Adobe InDesign for an epub export.

I currently use Microsoft Publisher 2016 for layouts but recently have been requested to include the fonts inside the document because apparently some seem to missing. I always thought the same fonts were on every computer and have no idea what this means or how to do it. Your help would be much appreciated in this.

A

The correct term is embedding and sadly no, not every computer has the same fonts. For example, Macs have certain ones and PCs others, which is usually due to licences. Also people tend to often simply delete fonts from their computers, so missing fonts can be problematic especially if sending out for professional print. Although you can only embed TrueType fonts you will be happy to know that all of Microsoft Publisher’s are licensed ones. It makes sense to embed fonts in a document because it ensures they are always there for both your own use or for any professional printer. There is a downside of course: the more fonts embedded in the document, the larger the file size, so you should be quite selective when embedding. To do this in Publisher you go to the File tab and click on the Manage Embedded Fonts box. In the Fonts box you will see the document fonts list with a licence restriction column telling you which ones can be embedded and which can’t. Just make your selection by clicking on the Embed button on the bottom right of the screen then click OK and your font issues should be solved.

Q

For some reason Word 2016 keeps inserting a hyphen into my writing at the end of some of my sentences which to my eye looks ugly and I would like to remove it. I have no idea what it is or why this happening and would appreciate it if you could explain what is happening and what can be done about it.

A

This is auto hyphenation and at some point the ‘automatic’ option must have been switched on from Word’s layout tab. It is an optional hyphen that Word uses when words break at the end of the line and it is easy to remove. Make sure that all your text is selected then go to the Layout tab >Page Setup and click the downward arrow next to Hyphenation then choose None from the drop down list. Now you should be able to work without optional hyphens popping up in the document.

TOP TIP

People often get quite confused with some of Microsoft Publisher’s terminology and one of the main bones of contention is in regard to print and publishing. Therefore, it might be useful to take a quick look at this useful little piece on these issues at http://writ.rs/commonpublisherissues

Q

All of my writing work has been done up to now in Microsoft Word but I would like to bring it across into Microsoft Publisher to reformat and add some graphics. I have been advised that copy and paste is the best way to do it. Is that correct or are there alternative methods?

A

Q

It’s correct that you can copy and paste text directly across into Microsoft Publisher but you could also take, for want of a better word, a less messy approach. Microsoft Office is built to share documents, presentations and spreadsheets in each application and Publisher is no different to the rest of the suite. You can actually open the Word file directly in Publisher from the File tab. Once you start the process it will tell you it is converting the file then eventually will open up. It comes in quite clean with the text threading naturally from frame to frame and pages will also be inserted automatically. You can then apply any styling and formatting to the text as and when required.

Q

Having just successfully written, laid out and set up my first epub book in InDesign CS6 to upload to Adobe Digital Editions, I am a little unsure as to which option I should use with regard to the page cover. I know what they are and what they do but I’m unsure which to use.

A

In essence you are creating a graphical cover for your book. If during the layout process you have designed the first page as a cover then you would choose the Rasterise First Page option during the Export process. But if you have, or are proficient in, Adobe Photoshop or similar software then you might wish to take advantage of their special effects and filters to produce a high-impact cover. In the latter case you would opt for the Use Existing Image File option but it really does depend on your skill and the software you have available to use. If you have a few minutes free you might like to cast your eyes over this page which is quite succinct but full of handy tips, tricks and things that might be of help to whilst creating your first epub: http://writ.rs/createepubfiles

GET CONNECTED! If you have a technical query for Greta, please email info@ curveandlearn.com or contact her via www.curveandlearn.com

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HELPLINE

Helpline

Your writing problems solved with advice from Diana Cambridge

Email your queries to Diana (please include home-town details) at: [email protected] or send them to: Helpline, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD. She will answer as many letters as she can on the page, but regrets that she cannot enter into individual correspondence. Publication of answers may take several months. Helpline cannot personally answer queries such as where to offer work, or comment on manuscripts, which you are asked not to send.

Q

This will probably sound hopeless, but I have been working on a novel for fourteen years. I do in fact have an excellent mentor and pay her a fee for critiques. She has given me marvellous advice and encouragement over the years. But the time lapse between her writing to me and my sending off the next batch is getting longer and longer – I seem to have lost confidence in myself and my ability to finish. In fact I have drafted an ending, but it’s the middle which I find almost impossible to deal with. I can’t believe I have been working on this so long – and I do believe in it. I have a demanding day job in a hospice, and used to love my writing as something I could be absorbed in when I wasn’t working. But now it’s become almost a burden. MILES JORDAN, Cheltenham

A

Q

The best thing is to put your project to one side for a certain period of time – say one month. Often by letting go of a project, ideas will spring to mind. While you’re not concentrating on your novel, your subconscious will still work for you and ideas will emerge. Why not tell your mentor that you are taking a short break from the project for a while? But do give her a date when you will resume the work. When you do look at it again, have a think about ‘flipping’ the structure – making the end the middle, or changing the start and finish of the story. These strategies can often help.

I have worked as a dietician, and often had to create special diets for special needs, and weight reducing diets. I would be very interested in doing this for a magazine, and wondered if you had any suggestions. MARIE-LOUISE LANE, Sydney, Australia

A

There could be magazines who might be interested in a ‘diet agony aunt’ (look at the weekly women’s magazines) but you’d have to do a fair bit of work first. I think you need to prepare a couple of columns of qs and as, plus a real case history, and to say you can offer this every week. With the case history you’d need a quote from your subject, plus a photograph (before and after using your diet might work well). Once you’ve prepared your submission, get ready to send it out to several journals. If one likes the idea, they’d probably get back to you fairly quickly. You’ll also need to send a picture of you, and a brief biog. All can be done via email. I think it’s a very workable idea.

Q

How long is it worth waiting for a response from a daily newspaper? I sent a comment piece regarding the British reaction to death of celebrities and politicians: I believe this has become much less restrained than in former decades. In fact it’s become mawkish and even cheap, with mourners using Facebook and Twitter for their condolences. No reply, or acknowledgement. But I think this is something that will come up again, so can I offer it again? DEREK HALLAM, Bradford On Avon, Wiltshire

A

Yes. I think it’s a good point-of view-topic. What you may have done is sounded too angry and used language that was too harsh. In an opinion piece, be restrained and factual, quoting real examples of these mawkish reactions. It’s quite possible to be forceful without being angry. Use your words carefully and don’t use too many adjectives. Let your examples do most of the talking.

Q

Is it necessary to use special computer programmes to write a novel or a play? CAROL LONGLEY, Wareham, Dorset

A

No, a Word document is fine. But you still have to follow the guidelines of the publisher or competition to whom you submit. These may include: submitting only in pdf form: submitting by paper and post: submitting via the competition website: or submitting by email to a named address. I cannot stress how vital it is to read the rules!

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Q

I’ve been looking at short stories on different websites which offer competitions. My feeling is that they all have to be ‘inspiring’ and I find many of the winning stories too sentimental. Are there competitions which welcome the more ‘black’ story? CHARLIE LACOOB, Hammersmith

A

There are… though they tend to be in the minority. Keep looking at Writers’ News for news and guidelines on short story comps. But you may be better off watching out in WN for publishers who are actively looking for dark fiction – for example Phobos (http://phobosmagazine.com/submissions) who request ‘weird fiction’ or Post Mortem Press (www.post-mortempress.com) who look for ‘dark science fiction and fantasy’. It does seem that the dark side of fiction is more concerned with sci-fi. But keep looking out for the ‘noir’ appeals as they do emerge from time to time. Make sure you collect WM’s regular supplements on competitions.

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:11

GGOOI N I NGGTO TOMMAARRKKE ET T

Q

I’m writing a screenplay about a musician who is still alive, but very elderly. Do I need his permission? I would rather not seek it. It’s not that I am writing anything negative – I’m not – but he has a reputation for not being very cooperative. I also want to fictionalise some events. ELLIE GORDON SMITH, Paris, France

A

You don’t necessarily need his permission: but it would be an asset. If he appears as a character in your script, that’s easier. But if he is the main character, then it’s more difficult. You can use anything about him that is in the public domain, and you can use posters of, for example, newspaper features and headlines about him. But making him your main character – and inventing some material – makes you vulnerable. You are liable for legal action should he choose to take it. Take care in the fictional material. It should not reflect badly on him. Some writers with strong material (not negative material, just powerful) may go ahead, reckon the possible legal costs into their profit should the play be a success. Depending on the financial status of the musician now, they may also gamble on him not wanting the cost of a legal action. Most plays about musicians still alive tend to be in the ‘tribute’ category, yet even that plaudit may upset their subjects. They may expect some financial reward for providing the content of the play. They may not; they may be thrilled to be written about. It’s a minefield. Much depends how much you believe in your own material, and how far you are willing to go to get it out there. Consider making him a character in the play, and flipping the structure around to enable that.

Q

As a historian and author of a number of factual ‘popular history’ books for Amberley Publishing, I’ve recently broken into the fiction market with MadeGlobal publishers. My first novel, The Colour of Poison, a whodunit/thriller set in 15th century London, is selling as well as I might have hoped with a small company and has received some heartening reviews on Amazon. MadeGlobal and a number of reviewers are urging me to write a sequel, continuing the adventures of the main protagonists. The next novel is well underway but my query is this: since each story is a stand-alone, how best to reprise their back stories? This was covered in book 1 and I don’t want to bore readers who have read Poison by repeating too much of what occurred then. On the other hand, I need to inform those who might read book 2 only. TONI MOUNT, Gravesend, Kent

A

I suggest you read Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels, in which she has to briefly reprise Ripley’s background and progress from the original story, The Talented Mr Ripley. She does this in every Ripley novel. What you need to do is give readers a good foothold in the new novel, but mesh in the back story carefully and with economy. You won’t bore readers – in fact they may well have forgotten all the details anyway, and welcome the words. Your editor will certainly tell you if any material needs to be deleted. I would not worry too much about this but rather move on with your new work.

Q

I’m still baffled that ebooks can make a profit for the publisher – how is it done? Because I am thinking of self-publishing my book as an ebook, but I don’t think you can charge very much, can you? LIAM BLOOMFIELD, Stow on the Wold, Cotswolds

A

There is divided opinion about ebooks. Clearly they do work for some publishers, since they’re so popular and here to stay. But it’s the marketing which is important: they need to sell in good numbers. On the plus side, if you are selfpublishing all fees paid go straight to you, and there’s instant revenue. On the debit side, you may sell so few that it’s hardly worthwhile – yet you can add more books to your list and have them all available.

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Follow the law

An 18th century economist’s law makes a lot of sense for 21st-century writers, says Patrick Forsyth

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ilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist. Pareto’s Law, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule and much beloved by management gurus, is not strictly a law, of course, but it has a lesson for writers. One of its applications is in marketing, so let’s consider this in terms of the writer’s task of finding commissions. There are many different things that can be done, from combing through this magazine’s Writers’ News section for opportunities to make new contacts, to following up, and maintaining contact with, past customers. The rule suggests that something like 20% of what you do will produce 80% of the positive results. The ratio is not exact, of course, but this type of ratio is common over numbers of activities. This means that it is very useful to keep clear records of what works well and less well and spend time on the 20% of things proven to bring the greatest amount of results. It also means being careful not to simply go for doing whatever seems ‘easiest’ (or what is least awkward or demands least work), which equates with operating blind without a clear record to guide you. The Pareto approach not only improves productivity, freeing up more time for actually writing, and allowing you to get a greater number of commissions from the least time input. It can also increase your overall success rate. Another area that reflects this law is customers (editors and others): 80% of your revenue (fees, royalties) will likely come from 20% of your existing/past customers. Another lesson here is to focus on the 20%, both because you would notice their loss disproportionately and because more from them is probably easiest to achieve. One little ratio: several lessons. NOVEMBER 2016

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23/09/2016 14:37

RESEARCH TIPS

Take note Make your research easier with note-taking software, advises research expert Tarja Moles

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hen you do research, it’s important to take notes of what you find so you won’t have to go back to the original sources at a later point and re-read material you’ve already consulted. Although using a notebook and pen/pencil is a perfectly good way to take notes, there are times when note-taking software will speed up your research process – and possibly even make it easier to decipher your notes afterwards! These days most libraries and archives allow the use of laptops, tablets and smartphones so you have more flexibility over your notetaking options. There are numerous tools to choose from. Here are three popular ones you might like to consider:

OneNote

OneNote belongs to the Microsoft Office family and it’s a great information gathering tool. If you have an Office package on your computer, it’s likely you already have OneNote. If you don’t have the software and don’t want to buy an Office package, it’s also available as a web-based version that you can use online. OneNote allows you to write notes, draw, create tables and insert different kinds of files, such as pictures, screen clippings, videos and audio commentaries, onto its pages. If you have a pen-enabled tablet computer, you can even write your notes by hand. The pages are organised into sections (you could think of them as chapters) within notebooks. The pages differ from a word-processing software in that you can write or insert material anywhere on the page just by positioning your cursor there. The pages expand to your needs so you can keep on adding new material and are not restricted by the page size like you are when using an ordinary notebook. If you’re working on a research project with someone else, OneNote allows you to collaborate with other users. Multiple people

can simultaneously edit the same page online, as if it were a shared whiteboard. As you work on OneNote, you don’t need to worry about saving anything as OneNote does it automatically for you. You can find out more and try OneNote by visiting www.onenote.com

Scrivener

Scrivener is word-processing and projectmanagement software for authors and its strength lies in helping you plan, outline, compose, Evernote edit, structure and generally manage long and Evernote is a note-taking, organising complex documents. If you’re using and archiving app and you can Scrivener for your writing, it makes choose whether to use the sense to use it for note-taking as free basic service or upgrade If you think OneNote, Evernote and Scrivener might well so you can have all your to a paid one. Generally not be suitable for you, there writing and research notes in speaking, the basic features are lots of other options to one place. are sufficient for most choose from. You can find In addition to text, Scrivener research projects. a list of notable note-taking allows you to file away images, Evernote is organised software on http://writ.rs/ pdf files, videos, sound files into notebooks which notetakingsoftware and webpages. When it’s time contain notes (you can to start writing – and this is what’s think of them as pages in a really wonderful about Scrivener – you notebook). You can write, create don’t need to switch between different screens tables and to-do lists, insert web clips, to access your research notes, but you can split photos and voice memos, and attach files the screen and have your notes visible in one onto the notes. pane while you’re getting on with your writing The ‘snap and insert’ button allows you to in another. Also, its drag-and-drop virtual index take photos on your smartphone/tablet and cards that you can move around on the corkboard automatically store them on Evernote. screen can be enormously useful in keeping your This is handy when you want to take photos research notes (and your writing) organised. of library or archival material as you don’t Scrivener is not free, but considering what it have to download the images onto your can offer, the $40 price tag is very reasonable. computer afterwards. You can try it for free for thirty days to see To help you find information within your if it might suit you. You can download it on notebooks, Evernote allows you to tag your www.literatureandlatte.com. Once you have notes. You can also use the search box to find the software installed, it’s a good idea to take what you’re after. If you’d like to share your Scrivener’s interactive tutorial as this is a quick research findings with other people, this can and easy way to learn how to use it. be easily done. You can even chat with people We are all different and have different kinds with whom you’re collaborating. of research projects. Depending on what your As for keeping organised, take advantage of the research needs are and what kind of software ‘to-do list’ function: create a tick-box list and tick you prefer to use, explore one or more of the off the tasks as you complete them. You can also tools mentioned here. You might just find a set yourself reminders that send you email alerts. new, more efficient way to take notes. The basic service allows you to use Evernote www.writers-online.co.uk

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online only, but if you need to use it offline, you can take out a subscription at a reasonable price. You can find out more about Evernote and sign up on www.evernote.com

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ROBERT BRYNDZA WM subscriber Robert Bryndza tells Margaret James what’s behind the success of his million-selling thrillers

B

I got sidetracked into going to drama school and then working as an actor,’ he says, adding that one of his first childhood memories is of his father telling stories to him and his sister. So storytelling must be in his blood? ‘On Saturday and Sunday mornings, my sister and I would sit at the end of our parents’ bed with tea and biscuits and listen to our father tell stories,’ he recalls. ‘But Dad wouldn’t read to us from a book. He made his stories up, and I thought they were wonderful. ‘Dad’s stories were like soap operas. On the Saturday morning there would always be a cliffhanger, and on the Sunday there would be a resolution. I began to understand the power of storytelling and I wanted to be a part of it.’ Where did Coco Pinchard For The Girl in the Ice come from? Major Pinchard, moaning to sell so many copies ‘I grew up loving the about his mad wife Coco and be talked about much-missed Victoria Wood and their spoilt son and, when I was at drama Rosencrantz. so much was a school, our end-of-year show ‘A few years later, my shock – albeit a was a farce in which I played husband suggested I should wonderful one/ Major Pinchard, a deaf old man write a novel. So I took all who had a mad wife called Coco,’ those emails as a starting point. Robert explains. ‘As Major Pinchard, Coco became a young woman I wrote a silly invitation to the end-ofin her late thirties, her husband isn’t show party, and when we all graduated an old major any more, but their son I continued to write to my friends as Rosencrantz has stayed spoilt. ‘I enjoy writing comedy very much, but I also like to write fiction with darker themes, which some people find ROBERT’S TOP TIPS surprising. I once wrote a darkly comic play which I took to the Edinburgh • Perseverance is the key. You must write your way to the end of your novel, Festival, and I was also shortlisted for a so don’t procrastinate. You should try to keep going, even if you feel nothing TAP HERE BBC Drama Writersroom competition is making sense. You can always go back and fix things later on. But you to listen to an with a pilot script for a gritty drama.’ won’t know what your novel is about and what you are trying to say until you extract from reach that very special milestone: the end! Was it this initial taste of success The Night Stalker that inspired Robert to embark on a • Don’t try to follow trends. Develop your own style and voice and have life of serious crime? ‘Although my TAP HERE confidence in your own ideas. We are all unique and we all have something Coco Pinchard books had been quite to buy the different to say. successful, at that point in my writing book from life I wasn’t well enough known for Audible • When I was starting out as a writer I found Writing Magazine, and I still changing genre to be a big risk,’ he subscribe to it here in Slovakia. At times it was the one thing that spurred says. ‘So I thought that if I didn’t do it me on to keep going and not to give up. now, I never would. The strange thing

ritish author Robert Bryndza’s DCI Erika Foster novels The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker are permanent fixtures in the bestseller lists, with sales of over 1 million, thousands of glowing reviews and endorsements from delighted readers all over the world. Robert’s crime debut The Girl in the Ice, which sold more than 800,000 copies in under 37 weeks, is firmly set in the UK. But American readers loved it so much that it topped the charts in both The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Nowadays, Robert’s huge success as a crime writer allows him to live his dream with his husband Ján in a beautiful part of Slovakia. But he hasn’t always written about serial killers and a feisty female detective with a fascinating backstory of her own. He writes lighter fiction too, his first published novel being a romantic comedy: The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard. This story inspired a whole series of contemporary romantic comedies starring a wonderfully quirky and engaging heroine whose life one reviewer on Amazon likened to Last Tango in Halifax on speed. Robert has always loved to tell stories. ‘But I never imagined I could make a living from writing, so in my twenties

“”

LISTEN

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is that nowadays far more people know me as a crime writer and they are surprised to hear I write contemporary romantic comedies, too. ‘The heroine of my crime novels is DCI Erika Foster, who is still reeling from the death of her husband when in The Girl in the Ice she begins to investigate the murder of Andrea DouglasBrown, a young socialite whose body has been found frozen under the ice in a South London park. ‘As Erika digs deep into the case, she realises Andrea’s influential family is withholding evidence. She uncovers a series of murders which link back to Andrea, and soon Erika is not only fighting to find the killer but is also fighting members of the British establishment, who are desperate to cover things up. ‘When I had finished The Girl in the Ice, I sent it to Bookouture along with an outline for The Night Stalker, a second novel starring Erika Foster. Bookouture accepted The Girl

Dark Water, Robert’s third Erika Foster novel, will be published by Bookouture on 20 October

in the Ice and added they wanted to publish the two books close together. So of course I got on with The Night Stalker straight away.’ How closely does Robert identify with his central characters? ‘I don’t think I could write a character with whom I couldn’t identify,’ he says. ‘You don’t always have to like your characters, but you do need to know what makes them tick. I don’t actually become my characters, but I carry them around in my head and, once they are established, I can very easily channel their voices. ‘The process of writing a novel, from starting the first draft to polishing off the final edit, usually takes me around six to eight months. As for a typical writing day – I’d love to be able to roll out of bed and start writing straight away, but dog walking comes first! Ján and I live in Nitra, a beautiful mediaeval town in Slovakia which has an abundance of lovely old buildings

and green space, perfect for walking the dogs. I try to start writing by eight thirty in the morning, and then I work through until twelve. I find I’m more productive after lunch, so afternoons are when I re-work what I’ve written in the morning. I try to write about 2,000 words a day. But, if things are flowing nicely, I sometimes write more. ‘My breakthrough moment came when The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard went into the Amazon UK Kindle Top 100. This was when I started to hear from readers via book reviews and messages on social media, and it was also the first time I was able to pay the rent with royalties from my writing. ‘How do I feel about the success of the Erika Foster novels? I’m amazed, to be honest. I wrote The Girl in the Ice in the same way as I’d written my Coco Pinchard novels – on the same computer and with all the same angst and insecurities. So for The Girl in the Ice to sell so many copies and be talked so much was a shock – albeit a wonderful one.’

NOW OPEN The Bath Children’s Novel Award for emerging novelists

Professional Self-Publishing Self-publishing services Editing and proofreading Book cover design Paperbacks and ebooks Wholesale distribution Book marketing Worldwide Amazon listing One-to-one support Author websites and social media

Prize: £2,000 with an additional £500 shortlist award Closes: 20th November 2016 Judge: Julia Churchill, literary agent at AM Heath Entry: https://bathnovelaward.co.uk/ childrens-novel-award/ To date, three in four shortlisted or winning writers have accepted offers of representation from literary agents.

Discuss your next book with Publishing Assistant Rowena Ball E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)117 910 5829

Find out more on

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WRITERS’ NEWS

Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

Love this competition On 3 November, Sceptre is publishing How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love in hardback. It’s a beautifully conceived and executed anthology that explores seven concepts of love though short literary fiction by awardwinning authors Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, DW Wilson, Nikesh Shukla, Donal Ryan, Carys Bray, Grace McCleen and Bernadine Evaristo. To celebrate the launch, Sceptre is running a creative writing competition for an original, unpublished short story on the theme of love. The winning writer will be published in the paperback edition of How Much the Heart Can Hold, which will appear in June 2017. The writer whose story is chosen will also receive £150 and a two-hour consultation about their work with Emma Herdman, senior editor at Sceptre. ‘I’m looking for a story that takes full advantage of the format – that exploits the freedom and embraces the constraints of a short story,’ said Emma. ‘And something refreshing, something that surprises me in its interpretation of the brief.’ Another of the judges, literary agent at Aitken Alexander Associates Lucy Luck, said: ‘I’d love to read something that takes me by the eyelashes and won’t let go, that makes my heart feel heavy in my chest, that has me rooting for him, no her, no them all the way to the end. I want to be uplifted, down-sized and surprised, though not too much. I’d love to come out of the world on the page with a sigh and the satisfaction of time wellspent. It is a lot to ask but that’s what the best of short stories do for me and I look forward to finding that new confident irrepressible voice.’ Chris White, fiction editor at Waterstones, who is also a judge, said: ‘Primarily, I want to find something which is self-contained and suited to its form: a true short story, not a truncated novel. I’m looking for something which will make me think, ideally something which comes at its subject from a slightly different angle. If I’m lucky I hope to find something which will move me and stay with me for a while after I’ve finished.’ To enter, email original unpublished short fiction between 5,000 and 10,000 words based on a concept of love. Send text typed in 12pt font, double-spaced. Include your full name and age. Entry is free. Each writer may enter only one story. The competition launches on 3 November and closes on 14 February 2017. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://writ.rs/sceptreloves

Write an entry, plant a tree! The Magic Oxygen Literary Prize is inviting entries for MOLP3. MOLP3 invites entries of short stories and poems. The theme is open. All entries must be original and unpublished. There are prizes in each category of: first, £1,000; second, £300; third, £100, and two highly commended, £50. The winning and shortlisted entries (ten per category) will be included in the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize Anthology. Concerns for sustainability and the environment are at the heart of Magic Oxygen Publishing, and Magic Oxygen will plant a tree for each entry in Bore, Kenya. Writers entering MOLP3 will be emailed the GPS coordinates of their tree once the competition has closed. The entry fees will also help to find the construction of another classroom at Kundeni Primary School in the same community. Short story entries for MOLP3 may be up to 4,000 words, and poems may be up to fifty lines. Type entries in 12 or 14pt Times New Roman or Arial. Poems and short stories should have the title in bold on the top line with the line count (poems) or word count (stories) beside it. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Postal entries should be typed on numbered, single sides of A4. Include a separate sheet with contact details and payment reference, and a covering letter with contact details and entry title. There is a fee of £5 per entry, payable by PayPal. The closing date to enter is 31 December. Details: MOLP, Magic Oxygen, The Flat, 53 Broad Street, Lyme Regis, Dorset DT7 3QF; website: www.magicoxygen.co.uk

Free and easy to enter This year, the creative writing competition run annually by Writer’s & Artists is unthemed – unlike in previous years, you can enter any story you like as long as it’s for adults and under 2,000 words. The winner will receive an Arvon residential creative writing course of their choice, worth up to £1,000, and their 88

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story will be published on the Writers & Artists website. All entries must be original and unpublished. Writers must register on the site to enter the competition. Entry is free, and writers may enter one story only. Enter by email, with the subject line ‘W&A Short Story Competition 2017’.

Send the story as a Word document and include email address and other contact details in the body of the submission email. The closing date is 13 February. Details: email: competition@ bloomsbury.com; website: www.writersandartists.co.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:16

WRITERS’ NEWS

UK LITERARY MARKET

Write home BY TINA JACKSON

Weidenfeld & Nicolson has a submission window open for Hometown Tales, a new series of short books that feature new voices from regions that are currently under-represented in the UK book market. ‘With the launch of Hometown Tales, we hope to open up our publishing further and actively seek out the many diverse voices that are not currently being heard across the creative industries,’ said Orion Publishing Group MD Katie Espiner. Each title in the Hometown Tales series will feature work by an unpublished writer alongside an established author, both writing about the same place. Writers who have not previously published a full-length book are invited to send submissions, approximately 15,000 words, of fiction

Get independently booked Entries are now being accepted for the 2017 International Rubery Book Award. The Rubery Book Award, which is worth £1,500 to the winner, is given for the best books by indie writers, self-published authors and independent presses. The winning book is guaranteed to be read by literary agency MBA and category winners each get £150. Both print titles and ebooks are eligible, and there is no restriction on publication date. Neither are there any restrictions on genre. Enter fiction in all genres, young adult, children’s, biographies, non-fiction, cookery, self-help, poetry and photography. Send one print copy of each book being entered, with a downloaded entry form and receipt of payment or a cheque. If the entry is an ebook, send it by email in Word, pdf or mobi formats. Include the cover in the file. Send the blurb and the PayPal receipt as separate files. Copy and paste the entry form into the body of the submission email. Multiple entries are accepted from publishers and authors. There is an entry fee of £35, and there are also various currency options for payment. Pay by PayPal, credit or debit card or cheques made out to Rubery Book Award. The closing date is 31 March 2017. Details: The Rubery Book Award, PO Box 15821, Birmingham B31 9EA; email: [email protected]; website: www.ruberybookaward.com

or non-fiction. All submissions must be about a place in the UK or Northern Ireland where the writer was born or has lived. Selfpublished writers may submit. All submissions should be sent by email as doc files, on numbered pages, with the author’s name and the title of the piece in a header on each page. Include contact details, details of any previously published work and not more than 150 words about yourself. The authors of any submissions accepted by Weidenfeld & Nicolson will receive a publishing contract, advance and royalties. The closing date to submit to Hometown Tales is 31 January 2017. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://writ.rs/hometowntales

Aeons of time Albedo One magazine, Ireland’s leading spec-fic journal, is accepting entries for the eleventh Aeon Award for short speculative fiction stories up until the end of November. The annual competition launches in January each year and closes on 30 November. The Grand Prize is €2,000 and publication in Albedo One, and there are second and third prizes of €300 and €200. Entries may be in any genre of speculative fiction, ie fantasy, sci-fi, horror or anything in-between or unclassifiable. Stories may be any length up to 10,000 words, and must be original and unpublished. To enter, paste the story into the body of an email and include your contact details. Put ‘Aeon Award Submission’ in the subject line. There is an entry fee of €7.50 per story, which is payable by PayPal, and entrants should include the PayPal transaction reference number in their submission email. All entries must be submitted by email. Writers may enter as many stories as they wish. The closing date is 30 November. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.albedo1.com

Animal spirit Wild Words is inviting entries for its Winter Solstice Writing Competition, which asks writers to send up to 1,000 words inspired by the DH Lawrence quotation from The White Peacock: ‘Be a good animal. True to your animal instinct.’ Founded by Bridget Holding, Wild Words holds online writing courses, retreats and workshops to help writers reconnect with their instinctual selves through nature-based writing and storytelling. The winner will receive a free subscription to a Wild Words online course of their choice. The winning entry and shortlisted entries may be published on the Wild Words website. Writers entering the competition may interpret the theme in any way they want. The prompt line may be present in the work, or simply used as a jumping-off point. Entries may be poetry, fiction or non-fiction, in any genre, but should be in the spirit of the Wild Words philosophy. Entries should be double spaced on numbered pages and typed in 12pt font. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Include a cover letter with contact details, stating whether the entry is fiction or non-fiction. Send entries by email. There is a fee of £7 per entry, payable through the online system. The closing date is 21 December. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.wildwords.org

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FLASHES Canadian literary speculative fiction magazine Lackington’s opens to submissions on 5 October for a themed issue devoted to ‘music’. Full details at https:// lackingtons.com/ submissions/ Richard Bath edits Scottish Field, and will consider illustrated features. Contact him with ideas in the first instance. Payment is negotiable. Details: Scottish Field Magazine, 496 Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH5 2DL; website: www. scottishfield.co.uk Rosie Nixon has become editorin-chief of Hello weekly magazine. Website: www. hellomagazine.com A Berrylands Companion is an independent monthly community lifestyle magazine delivered free to homes in Berrylands, Surbiton and Tolworth in Surrey. Details: email: karen@berrylands companion. com; website: www.berrylands companion.com Hearst Magazines UK has taken over the publication account for Jamie Oliver’s awardwinning lifestyle magazine Jamie. Hearst is also responsible for Asda supermarket’s magazine Good Living. ‘Fun is still an important part of writing. I want to bring pleasure with everything I write.’ Jonathan Franzen

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GLOBAL PARENTING MAGAZINE Fun for all the family BY JENNY ROCHE

Claiming to be America’s number one magazine for families with children aged 3-12, Family Fun covers a wide variety of topics designed to provide the ‘information and inspiration for creating unforgettable family moments’ and as such perhaps has a relevance to families around the world. Topics include cooking, holidays, parties, crafts and learning. The magazine has over 2m subscribers and is, ‘always looking for professional freelancers who are expert in the art of playful, creative parenting,’ say guidelines. ‘Content must be fun, family tested, affordable and uncomplicated.’ Child development articles, fiction and poetry are not wanted. When submitting work your writing style should be direct, upbeat and personal. Unsolicited manuscripts are only considered for the Idea of the Month and Explore travel sections. For all other sections first submit a query describing the content, structure and tone of your proposed article.

Be specific and say what makes your idea unique and why you’re the right person to write up that idea. The response time will be 6-8 weeks. The magazine has several departments: More Great Ideas and How We Have Fun pay $100 for 50-200 words. Each paying $1.25 per word, features are 8503,000 words, Kids in the Kitchen is 250-500 words and Favorite Things are 50-200 words. Payments are also made for ideas: Let’s Party pays $100-$200 for the idea; Healthy Family, pieces of 100300 words, pays $1.25 per word or $100-$200 for the idea if a staff writer is used; Happy Home pieces of 700 words pay $875 but it is far more common to be paid $100-$200 for the idea; Explore pieces of 600900 words pay $1.25 per word, $100 for the idea if a staff writer is used. The Create section covers Make It, Keepsakes and Treat of the Month and ideas only are accepted with payment being $200. Each section has a separate submission email. See the website for details: http://writ.rs/ffguidelines

A literary payer A weekly US literary magazine aiming to showcase emerging writers Page and Spine accepts fiction, poetry, non-fiction, essays, reviews and due to careful management and donations is able to pay its writers. Short stories should be under 3,000 words, 1,000 words for flash, and for poetry, send no more than three poems totalling three pages. Other sections open to submissions are: Writers’ Table, for writing-related essays, book

reviews, and author profiles, all of no more than 2,000 words; Reading Lamp, for poetry, topical essays and non fiction of no more than 3,000 words; Crumbs, for witty poems, quips and thoughtprovoking flash fiction of up to 150 words. Payment is 1¢ per word for prose, minimum payment $20, or $5 for microflash of up to 150 words. Poetry gets $20, quips, limericks and other short poems

Bookemon go!

$5. All payments are capped at $30. Reprints will not be accepted and submissions will only be considered between 1 October and 1 June. The response time should be within two months. Submit in the body of an email to: [email protected] with ‘Submission’ in the subject line. Website: www.pagespineficshowcase.com/ submissions.html

Challenging deities

‘Chasseurs de livres’ (Book hunters) is a game played though Facebook, inspired by the popularity of the Pokémon Go mobile phone app. It already has over 40,000 users and its creator, Aveline Gregoire, a Belgian primary school headmaster told Reuters ‘While I was arranging my library, I realised I didn’t have enough space for all my books. Having played Pokémon Go with my kids, I had the idea of releasing the books into nature.’ Essentially, players hide a book they no longer want somewhere public and post clues, hints and sometimes photos of its location to the Facebook group. The books are often wrapped in transparent plastic to protect them from the elements. When someone finds a book they read it, comment to the group, then release the volume back into the wild again. Gregoire says he is now investigating a possible Chasseurs de livres app. There’s no reason to wait for that – while most users are in Belgium anyone can join the Facebook group and spread the word. Website: http://writ.rs/bookemongo

A Murder of Storytellers is a US small press which publishes anthologies and novels, although currently closed for novel submissions. Needing stories up to 10,000 words, The Book of Blasphemous Words is ‘a weird fiction, horror, and speculative fiction anthology’ about humanity’s relationship with its gods. Make sure to include a synopsis of the piece in your cover letter. The deadline is 31 October, and response time is ‘reasonable’. Payment is $15 plus a contributor’s copy for the usual rights. Website: www.amurderofstorytellers.com

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:19

WRITERS’ NEWS

UK HEALTH MARKET Challenge yourself to write about fitness BY TINA JACKSON

Outdoor Fitness magazine is aimed at getting outside and using the natural world as a place to get fit. ‘Our content is all about making the most of the outdoor world and the fitness and the experiences that can be gained in all of its seasons. It’s about challenging yourself, enjoying yourself and getting fit,’ said editor John Shepherd. The idea of challenging yourself is central to Outdoor Fitness. ‘We focus primarily on endurance-based sports, such as triathlon – but more so on off-road ones and more extreme variants, such as the Ben Nevis Braveheart,’ said John. ‘Cycling too is a major component and we look to feature cyclocross, sportives, gravel riding and bike packing for example. Running is another major theme, and again our coverage is wide and literally off the beaten track compared to other running titles. In terms of runs, as a baseline we look to feature events in excess of 10kms. We do cover other outdoor activities, such as open water swimming, climbing, canyoning, kayaking, canoeing, obstacle course racing and adventure races for example. The odd adrenaline feature also crops up, such as paramotoring or skydiving.’ Outdoor Fitness aims to target 30-50 year olds. Most, but not all of them, are male. ‘Guys who have perhaps given up on rugby and football and who want other challenges that can take them places – near or far,’ said John. ‘Often this target audience like their gadgets, whether these be expensive bikes or functional outdoor clothing and camping kit. As well as the experiential challenge features, each issue of Outdoor Fitness includes Train, Food and Gear Test sections. ‘These develop on the requirements that our challenges and events require,’ said John. Contributors writing challenge features immerse themselves in the activity and write about the challenge warts and all, albeit usually positively. ‘Mental toughness – yet enjoying the challenge – and getting away from it all are regular themes,’ said John. ‘A typical issue will have challenges that people can do relatively easily, for example, off-road trail runs or mountain bike rides and those that require more specific prep.’ The key for John is that: ‘I think it’s all about inspiration. Inspiring people to get out and enjoy the natural world using their fitness and mental skills. The magazine shows that getting fit is not a sterile activity that has to be gym-based and that right on our doorsteps are often unexplored places that are much more stimulating than gyms.’ Writers are usually experts in the fields they write about. ‘Having said that we do have more beginner-friendly ones of people training up for challenges and then doing them, for example. These are designed to show what can be achieved in the outdoors. Challenge articles are between 1,000-2,000 G E T I N S H A P E T H E N A T U R A L W A Y words and Train and Food section articles 1,000-1,500. Freelance contributors should have real LOSE YOUR GUT IN 30 MINUTES experience of the topic that they are to write about. The Food section uses nutritionists ON GO TEST and dieticians, and it’s preferred that they are GETWILD OUT working with endurance-based athletes. GET DIRTY Pitch by email, explaining the challenge, ❱❱ GO GRAVEL GRINDING ❱❱ BRECON BEACONS why it’s worthwhile, the writer’s credentials SKY RUNNING IN ❱❱ THE LAKE DISTRICT and whether photography can be provided – ❱❱ STRETCH & SURF accompanying imagery is very important to IT’S MENTAL! EXTREME TRI Outdoor Fitness. BUILD RUNNING Payment for accepted features is between STRENGTH MOUNTAIN GOD £175 and £500. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://outdoorfitnessmag.com W W W. O U T D O O R F I T N E S S M

E

AG . C O M

LUNCHTIME PARK WORKOUT

MEN + WOMEN

CYCLO CROSS BIKES TREKKING POLES

GREAT TWO-WHEEL FUN

MICRO CAMPING

SCOTLAND’S HAWAII

FROM MOROCCO TO MONACO

KILIAN JORNET

ISSUE 59

AUTUMN 2016 £4.50

P L U S FAT F U EL L I N G, R EC O V ERY R EC I P E S , E X M O O R

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It’s a Funny Old World

mojis, those funny little chaps who pop up in text messages, are starring in a series of children’s books. The stories, where familiar emojis such as Heart Eyes and Pile of Poo appear, examine social media culture. They are described as ‘emoj-ional escapades in Emojitown, and news of their appearance in book form led to a ‘Twimojo-storm’, we’re told by ardent emoji-ites. • The BBC Radio New Comedy Awards have been good to comedy gurus such as Lee Mack, Sarah Millican and Peter Kay, and have raised the profiles of many other funny folk. Among these are George Lewis (‘I said to her: “Every you correct me on my grammar I love you a little fewer”’). And Sindhu Vee: (‘My child thinks that if he doesn’t say “hashtag” before a word I can’t hear it.’). • The Stratford-upon-Avon Herald is believed to have become the only local paper to have been granted the ‘honour’ of having a toilet named after it, courtesy of local company Thomas Crapper, reported the Holdthefrontpage website. Crapper has made bathroom fittings since 1861, a year after the Herald was first published in the Warwickshire town. For every ‘Herald pan’, worth £395, which is sold, £10 will be donated to the newspaper’s nominated charity, Stratford Cancer and Eye Hospital, as part of its ‘Spend a penny’ appeal. The website reported that Amanda Chalmers, editor, said: ‘We’re only too aware of the jokes and puns we are opening ourselves up to.’ … and now for the obvious: ‘We all feel justifiably flushed with success.’ • From the It Must Be True I read it in the tabloids column in The Week: ‘A 91-year-old visitor to a gallery in Germany was questioned by police after filling in a crossword that was actually an artwork worth some £67,000. The 1965 piece, by the avantgarde artist Arthur Kopcke, features a partially completed puzzle and the phrase “insert words”. ‘Taking this as an instruction, the woman got out a ballpoint pen and did exactly that. The Neues Museum in Nuremberg reported the incident to the police for “insurance reasons” – but said they knew the woman hadn’t meant “any harm”, and didn’t want her to have “sleepless nights” about it.’ • Some of the cleverest use of words come from the editors and designers who put headlines on feature articles and news stories in our magazines, newspapers and websites. Here are a few recent pearlers: ‘Vinyl destination: who is buying records’ (the Guardian). From The Mail on Sunday: ‘Daylight shrubbery! Greenfingered thieves have been stealing plants from Hyde Park and Kensington Palace Gardens.’ NOVEMBER 2016

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FLASHES Pulpcore is a German magazine which will pay €20 for first German electronic rights to publish German language translations, original or reprints, of speculative fiction. The editors are looking for science fiction, horror, crime, mystery, noir, and weird fiction. Stories should be 2,000-5,000 words. Submissions should be sent to pulpcore@ rawtext.net as a doc attachment. Website: www. pulpcore.de/submit/ DIVE magazine is a digital scuba magazine edited by Marion Kutter. Send her ideas for illustrated articles showing divers in action. Payment is negotiable. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www. divemagazine.co.uk Motor Cycle Monthly is free online and in dealers, clubs and bike cafés or you can get twelve print issues delivered for £9.99. The editor is Tony Carter. Details: email: editor@motorcycle monthly.co.uk; website: www.motorcycle monthly.co.uk New Forest Society is a monthly specialist lifestyle title for the New Forest area. Ian Murphy is the editor in chief. Website: www. dailyecho.co.uk ‘I enjoy deadlines– they give some shape to my writing year. If there were no deadlines, I might get lazy.’ Ian Rankin

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GLOBAL ONLINE MARKET Salon fitting GARY DALKIN

Founded in 1995, the US based Salon.com was one of the first entirely digital news outlets, and remains consistently within the 2,000 most popular websites worldwide. Salon covers breaking news, politics, entertainment, culture, and technology. The site publishes investigative reporting, commentary, criticism, and provocative personal essays. Submit an article or pitches is via email with the words ‘Editorial Submission’ in the subject line. Send your enquiry or submission in plain text in the body of your email. No attachments, no fiction or poetry. Introduce yourself in your email, giving your background as a writer and qualifications for writing the particular story you are submitting. If pitching rather than submitting, you can include three or four samples of your writing in the email. You may prefer to include links to pieces you have written online. Email your submission or pitch to the appropriate Salon editor using these addresses: [email protected], politics@ salon.com, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], satire@salon. com, [email protected] (this last category includes personal stories, parenting, health and relationships). Payment varies and is subject to negotiation, but averages 13¢ per word. Some articles will be paid at a flat rate of $150. If you do not get a reply within three weeks assume Salon is not interested in your submission, as due to the volume of emails the editors are not always able to respond. Read Salon first to get an idea of the sort of stories which sell: www.salon.com

Interactive intelligence The New Media Writing Prize 2016 is open for entries. Now in its seventh year, Bournemouth University’s international prize for the most innovative new media writing now has four categories: the main prize, the student prize, the Dot Award and new this year, the Gorkana Journalism Awards. • The main prize and the student prize are for storytelling written for delivery and reading/ viewing on a Mac, PC, the internet or a handheld device such as a tablet or smartphone. Entries may be any form of interactive storytelling, ie novel, poem, documentary or transmedia work using words, images, film or animation. The main prize is £1,000 and the student prize is three months paid internship at Unicorn Training in Bournemouth. Submit work for the main prize by 30 November, and for the student prize by 16 December, by email to entries2016@ newmediawritingprize.co.uk • The Dot Award is for a literary project created via the web, blogs, social media etc that could

Write your best for HE Bates Northamptonshire Writers Group is inviting entries for the H.E. Bates Short Story Competition 2016. The competition, which is for short stories up to 2,000 words on any theme, has a first prize of £500, a second prize of £100 and a third prize of £50. There is also a special prize of £50 for the best story by a Northamptonshire writer not winning another prize. All entries must be original and unpublished. Writers may enter as many stories as they like. The story title should appear at the top of the front page. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Type stories in double spacing with a front sheet including all the writer’s contact details and the story title. No entry form is required. Entries may be sent by post or email. There is a fee of £6 for the first story and £10 for two, with any further stories being £5 each. Pay this by cheques made out to N. Hamlyn or by PayPal. The closing date is 5 December. Details: Fao Nick Hamlyn, H.E. Bates Competition, 19 Kingswell Road, Northampton NN2 6QB; email: [email protected]; website: www.hebatescompetition.org.uk

be completed by the end of 2016. The prize is £500 to get a new project started. Submit by 30 November to [email protected] • The Gorkana Journalism Awards are for stories based on factual material and using innovative media. Entries must feature new media technologies and platforms. There are two categories, UK and international, each with a £500 prize. Submit by 30 November to [email protected] All entries should contain an active URL where work can be accessed, or clear instructions on how to view the piece. Entrants should include full contact details and a short autobiography (50-100 words) in the body of the submission email. Include the word MAIN, STUDENT, DOT or JOURNALISM in the subject line of the submission email. Entry is free. Website: newmediawritingprize.co.uk/

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WRITERS’ NEWS

UK PARENTING MAGAZINE

Prize for London postcodes The London Short Story Prize is inviting entries of short fiction by London writers. The competition, which is run by Spread the Word writer development agency, has a first prize of £1,000. The winning story will be published in print and online by Open Pen, and will feature in the London Story Prize Anthology 2016. Two highly commended entries will receive a paragraph of feedback from the judges, who are AL Kennedy, Irenosen Okojie and Juliet Mabey. The competition is for original, unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words on any theme, by writers resident in London. Writers unsure if they have a London postcode are asked to check www.doogal.co.uk. Stories must be complete, ie must not be extracts from a longer work. Stories should be typed in double spacing. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Submit all entries through the online submission system. Writers may enter as many stories as they like. There is an entry fee of £5 per story, which is payable as part of the online submission system. The closing date is 18 October. Website: http://writ.rs/londonshortstoryprize2016

Flash through the fence

Tears in the Fence independent literary magazine is inviting entries for its flash fiction competition. Tears in the Fence publishes twice a year and has editorial bases in the UK, France and the USA. The flash fiction competition is for original, unpublished work up to 400 words. There is a first prize of £200, a second prize of £150 and a third prize of £100. The winners, and other highly commended entries, will be published in Issue 65 of Tears in the Fence. Entries may be flash fictions on any theme. Send entries as doc or rtf attachments. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Enter through the online submission system or by post. Postal entrants should include a covering letter. Writers may enter as many times as they like, with up to three entries in each submission. The entry fee is £5 for one, £7.50 for two and £10 for three. The closing date is 19 November. Details: Tears in the Fence Flash Fiction Competition, Portman Lodge, Durweston, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 0QA; email: [email protected]; website: https://tearsinthefence.com/

Naturally for parents BY JENNY ROCHE

A bimonthly magazine with a main objective to ‘provide information that empowers our readers to make changes and supports them in being their own experts’, The Green Parent is a green lifestyle and natural parenting magazine providing ‘insightful intelligent journalism covering topics from babywearing and attachment parenting to home-education and alternative medicine’. ‘We like articles that have a strong point of view and come from the heart,’ says editor Melissa Corkhill. ‘Think about the subjects you know well and those that are under-covered.’ To give yourself your best chances you will need to have read the magazine, or at least be familiar with its topics and ethos. Topics include breast feeding, alternative education, natural health and beauty, green travel and eco-house and garden. As a guide to the ethos of the magazine it limits advertising content to 25% and does not run advertising on such products as disposable nappies and electronic or plastic toys. It will help if you include photographs and these may be sent electronically or by post in the form of prints or on a CD. High resolution images will eventually be needed Submissions should be 1,500-2,000 words, emailed as a doc attachment with a short biographical sketch at the end. Include your contact details in the email. Expect a response within two months. Payment rates, payable on publication, are £75 per 1,000 words plus a complimentary voucher copy of the magazine. Send submissions to: [email protected] For full details click on ‘Guidelines PDF’ on the website: http://thegreenparent.co.uk/about/contact/

Manc spec fic subs

For imperfect parents There are many sensible, useful and reliable parenting magazines. Then there are the ones which allow parents to have their say about the terrors of parenthood. Scary Mommy started as ‘an innocent online baby book’ but ‘quickly transformed into a vibrant community of parents, brought together by a common theme: Parenting doesn’t have to be perfect.’ Scary Mommy is always in need of well-written pieces and video clips. The range is wide. Currently submit ‘highly relatable and general humour material. Lists and short essays (under 900 words) seem to work best, while personal anecdotes or specific personal stories do not.’ Submit in the body of an email: [email protected] Website: www.scarymommy.com

Manchester Speculative Fiction is inviting submissions for its forthcoming anthology, Revolutions 2. Submissions should all be speculative fiction – science fiction, horror, fantasy, urban/ contemporary fantasy, dark fantasy, slipstream – connected in some way to Manchester or its suburbs. Stories are invited between 1,500 and 6,000 words. Writers may submit only one story. Revolutions 2 will be published in print and ebook formats, tentatively at the beginning of next year. Accepted authors will each receive a payment of £15 for their stories. Send stories by email as doc, docx or rtf files, double spaced, 12pt Courier or Times New Roman. The subject line of the submission email should be ‘Submission: [STORY TITLE] – [YOUR NAME]. The last date for submissions is 31 December. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://writ.rs/revolutions2subs

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FLASHES Autocar general interest motoring weekly has been relaunched with a new look and a new editor, Matt Burt. Contact him with ideas for illustrated features. Details: email: autocar@ haymarket.com; website: www. autocar.co.uk The TESS weekly Scottish education newspaper is edited by Neil Munro. Ideas for relevant articles and news items are accepted. Website: www. tesdigital.com The Visitor, a free local independent monthly journal, covers lifestyle topics in Somerset. Articles and letters are welcomed. Details: email: info@ thevisitormagazine. co.uk; website: www.thevisitor magazine.co.uk The Housman Society, devoted to appreciating the life and works of AE Housman, publishes an annual journal and a bi-annual newsletter. Membership is £15 per annum. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.housmansociety.co.uk The Non-League Paper covers the non-league soccer scene every Sunday. David Emery is the editor in chief. Details: email: david.emery@ greenways publishing.co.uk ‘Write what should not be forgotten.’ Isabel Allende

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GLOBAL GENRE MARKET Widen your range BY GARY DALKIN

Gamut Magazine is a new US subscription-based website and monthly digital magazine scheduled to launch on 1 January 2017. Editor-in-chief Richard Thomas will focus on publishing genrebending, hybrid fiction that utilises the best of genre and literary voices. Contributors already signed include Laird Barron, Damien Angelica Walters, Alyssa Wong and Laura Benedict. The magazine has been endorsed by Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting, who has offered the opinion that ‘Gamut will be cool, and it will be out there, right on the edges of fiction. I can’t wait.’ Similarly, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, has said: ‘I’m excited to see what Richard Thomas brings to the game. Gamut will be the new magazine not written for the little old lady in Dubuque.’ What Gamut will offer is new fiction every week, as well as poetry, original columns, non-fiction,

artwork, photography and reprints. Gamut’s area of interest is neo-noir, speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, crime, magical realism, Southern gothic, and the transgressive. Thomas requests that you don’t submit anything that might be considered ‘classic’ within the above genres, nor anything ‘expected’. You can read sample stories and non-fiction from the magazine at www.gamut.online/free_sample Stories should be 500-5,000 words, non-fiction 1,000-3,000. Payment is 10¢ per word for original fiction and non-fiction, $15-$25 per poem. The editorial team read submissions blind, so it is important to remove any identifying information from your work. Include contact details and a short bio in your cover email. Submissions must be made via the online form at: https://gamutmagazine.submittable.com/submit Submissions will be capped at the first 300 per month. After that check Facebook: www.facebook. com/gamutmagazine or Twitter @gamutmagazine to see when submissions reopen. Details: Gamut, PO Box 964, Mundelein, IL 60060, USA; email: [email protected]; website: www.gamut.online

Level pegging for indies in Booker race Novels from independent presses make up half of the six-strong shortlist for the Man Booker Prize 2016. Announced on 13 September, the 2016 Man Booker shortlist is: The Sellout, Paul Beatty (Oneworld); All That Man Is, David Szaly (Vintage);

His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet (Saraband); Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien (Granta); Hot Milk, Deborah Levy (Hamish Hamilton); Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh (Vintage). Oneworld, Saraband and Granta are all independent publishers. Oneworld also published last year’s winner, A Brief History of Seven Killings,

by Marlon James. Small Scottish indie Saraband has published both of Graeme Macrae Burnet’s books, with His Bloody Project first appearing in October last year. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on 25 October. Website: http://themanbookerprize.com

A new angle on literary merit

Going underground

The biennial New Angle Prize for Literature is inviting entries for the 2017 competition. The 2017 prize is for the best book of literary merit associated with East Anglia published between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2016. Eligible works may be fiction, non-fiction or poetry. The winner will receive £2,000, with £500 for the runner up. Entries, which should consist of six copies of the title and a completed entry form (which may be downloaded from the website), may be submitted by authors or publishers. In the context of this prize, East Anglia is defined as the region encompassing North Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and the Fens. Entry is free. The closing date is 3 January 2017. Details: The New Angle Prize, The Ipswich Reading Room and Library, 15 Tavern Street, Ipswich IP1 3AA; website: www.ipswichinstitute.org.uk/NAP.html

The New York subway system has just completed an eight week experiment in conjunction with Penguin Random House. Subway Reads enabled commuters to download five free short ebooks and samples from 175 other Penguin Random House titles. If commuters went on to buy one of the sampled titles the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took a share of the revenue. With wifi throughout the London Underground expect something similar in the capital soon. Website: www.subwayreadsny.com

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WRITERS’ NEWS

And another thing...

UK HISTORY MARKET Think local, write history BY TINA JACKSON

Amberley Publishing publishes over 500 books on history and heritage per year, making it one of the most active independent publishers in the UK. ‘Many of our books are highly illustrated and cover local history or subjects that appeal to heritage enthusiasts such as classic transport or our industrial past,’ said publishing director Jon Jackson. Amberley publishes the well-known Through Time series as well as a rich variety of titles on non-fiction history and heritage incorporating subject areas such as transport, industry, general history, military and niche specialist interests. The company was founded in 2008 by an experienced history publisher who sold his interest to investors who have owned the company and supported its growth over the past few years. ‘We focus successfully on books about history and heritage for the general reader and see lots more potential for this in the future,’ said Jon. Prospective authors can submit proposals for books in Amberley’s existing series, or longer narrative histories and biographies. ‘Have a good look at our website to see if your book could fit our list. If you think it might do then our editors will be glad to consider it. We know our readership well and are looking for books that fit with our existing publishing. This ranges from short, highly illustrated books on local and specialist history subjects, to narrative histories and biographies.’ Illustrated books are typically 96 pages long and printed in full colour with around 15,000 words and 180 images. Narrative histories and biographies are typically 100,000 words long with a section of 30-40 illustrations. For local history and sport and specialist history (transport, industry, collectables, pastimes) proposals, send a 1,000-word outline with 4-6 sample images. For general history (biographies and general interest), send a 3,000 word outline that includes a brief summary of the subject, your approach to it, a contents list if possible and information about the likely readership. Send all submissions by email as Word documents. ‘We ask authors to source and agree permission for the images they want to use,’ said Jon. Writers are paid royalties annually. Details: email: submissions@ amberley-books.com; website: www.amberley-books.com

Like the sound of this? Soundwork, which is a not-for-profit online resource for free-to-listen-to short stories, audio plays, monologues and poems, is inviting entries for its Short Story Competition. The winning writer will have their story recorded and posted on the Soundwork site. Enter stories, which may have been published/broadcast elsewhere, up to 2,000 words. The writer’s name should not appear on the script itself. Include a cover sheet with name and email address. Send entries by email as attachments. Entry is free, and writers may enter as many stories as they like. The closing date is 31 December. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.soundwork-uk.co.uk

‘I’m very fortunate that I began my writing career proper when I was still acting, and that means I had to write wherever I was… If I was in Scotland making a series or somewhere waiting to catch a plane, that’s where I had to write. And I never lost that. I write in the country, I write in London. I write in the House of Lords – they give me a little cupboard with a desk in it, and I can shut the door and write there. ‘So basically I write when I can.’ Julian Fellowes, asked about his writing habits by Goodreads ‘I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here? Let’s think of reverence as awe, as presence in and openness to the world. The alternative is that we stultify, we shut down. Think of those times when you’ve read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone’s soul. All of a sudden everything seems to fit together or at least to have some meaning for a moment. This is our goal as writers, I think.’ Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life ‘I love happy endings. The late Louis Malle called me a raunchy moralist, and that’s what I like to be known as. Because it’s a great description… My biggest critics are the people who have not read my books, they don’t realise that it is a story, and it’s the characters that drive the books, not the sex. The sex happens because it happens in life and I’m writing about life.’ Jackie Collins ‘Ideas for things come into one’s head, or bits of ideas; you feel there’s something – there’s some meat on the bone, there’s something there that lures you on. The more you think about it the more you’re led into this new world and the more of that world you see. And part of having an idea is having some ©Gary Doak/ notion of how you would tell the story… You don’t have very much choice in the matter. Writer Pictures Ideas come, characters suggest themselves, and the nature of the story and the nature of the characters dictates how it’s going to be done.’ Michael Frayn

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FLASHES David Singleton is the editor of Total Politics. He will consider suggestions for relevant articles up to 2,200 words. Payment is negotiable. Details: david.singleton@ dods.co.uk; website: www. totalpolitics.com The Jurassic Coast Magazine series of annual lifestyle visitor magazines includes Otter Magazine, Lyme Magazine, Chesil Magazine and Exe Visitor. The editor is Lucie Simic. Details: email: lucie@jurassiccoast magazine.co.uk; website: www. jurassiccoast magazine.co.uk The Writers’ Study, founded in 2005, is a fun group in Dorset where advice on markets, agents and publishers is shared. It costs £20 for six sessions. Contact Judie Jones at lanternjmj@ hotmail.com. The Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia’s most prestigious literature prize, has been awarded to AS Patric for his debut novel, Black Rock White City. The award is given each year to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. ‘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.’ Neil Gaiman

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GLOBAL FICTION MARKET Stirring stories BY GARY DALKIN

Since summer, Mocha Memoirs Press has started publishing its titles in physical print editions as well as ebooks. The US small press aims to publish romance and speculative novellas and short novels that would be overlooked by traditional houses. Publisher and editor-in-chief Nicole Givens, creator of the SF detective Cybil Lewis, is looking for speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror) and romance, including steampunk, cyberpunk, diesel punk,

alternate history, weird westerns, and mash-ups. Stories must be 10,000-50,000 words. There are four primary imprints. Dark Mocha Bites for horror, Steamy Mocha Amour for romance, Sword & Mocha for fantasy (including urban and paranormal), and Sci-Chai for SF. Espresso Shots are short stories, 8,000-10,000 words which fit into any of the above areas and sell as 99¢ ebooks. Submit a doc or docx attachment by email: [email protected] with your story’s title and your name in the subject line. Follow the full guidelines at: http://mochamemoirspress.com/about/ Details: Nicole Givens Kurtz, Publisher/Editor-inChief Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC, 931 South Main Street, Kernersville, 27284, North Carolina, USA; website: http://mochamemoirspress.com

Master your mythology Irish Imbas Books is inviting international entries for its Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition. The aim of the competition is to discover the best contemporary narratives on Gaelic/Celtic mythology. There is a first prize of $500, a second prize of $250 and a third prize of $100, and the winning stories and up to seven other entries

will be published in Irish Imbas Celtic Mythology Collection. To enter, submit original, unpublished stories in any genre up to 4,000 words. Celtic mythology or folklore should be central to all entries, and Celtic folkloric or mythological references should be as accurate as possible. Each writer may enter up to three stories. Send stories as Word

Win a residency in Wales Stiwdio Maelor artists’ community in North Wales has announced a poetry prize, the 2016 Stiwdio Maelor Poetry Competition. The winner will be given the opportunity to complete a twoweek residency, with gift vouchers from local businesses, in 2017 or 2018. The competition will be judged by Australian poet Earl Livings, who is completing his second residency at Maelor this year. Enter original, unpublished poems up to fifty lines. Type poems in 12pt font in 1.5 spacing. The poet’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Include a completed application form, which can be requested from Stiwdio Maelor by email. Send poems as a single Word doc or pdf. There is an entry form of £10 per poem, payable by cheques made out to Stiwdio Maelor or by PayPal. Poets may enter as many poems as they like. All entries must be submitted by email. The closing date is 25 November. Details: email: [email protected]; website: https://stiwdiomaelor.wordpress.com/

attachments by email. In the body of the email, include your contact details, a short biography (no longer than 300 words) and the transaction reference of the PayPay entry fee payment, which is £7 per story. The closing date is 10 December. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://irishimbasbooks.com/

UK SMALL PRESS MARKET Appeal to Artificium PDR LINDSAY-SALMON

New small press Artificium, which aims to showcase new talent and established writers with its journal Artificium, novella imprint Signo and anthology imprint Imprimo, has an open submission window until 30 November. Writers all over the world are welcome to submit. Artificium needs short fiction, 400-10,000 words, or up to three poems. Payment is £5-£30 per piece of prose, £5-£10 per poem. Signo needs novellas for print and ebook, 15,00050,000 words, in any adult genre. Submit a synopsis and the first 5,000 words, and expect a response within 8-12 weeks. Payment is through royalties. You can also submit through the novella competition, which closes on 30 November. First prize is £350 and publication, with £100 for the runner-up. Imprimo urgently needs short stories, 2,000-6,000 words, and poems, up to forty lines, on its next anthology theme, ‘time’, by 30 November. Payment is a pro rata share of royalties. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.artificium.co.uk

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INTRODUCTIONS

Writing Magazine presents a selection of outdoors titles currently accepting contributions. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and check websites, where given, for submission details.

Country Walking, edited by Guy Proctor and published by Bauer Media, is the UK’s bestselling walking magazine, and covers walking experiences throughout the length and breadth of Britain. The highly visual magazine is aimed at walkers of every level, and includes routes, reviews, walking advice and features and interviews with walkers and outdoor enthusiast. Everything in the magazine is useful and inspiring, and written in a friendly, enthusiastic way that encourages the reader. There are limited opportunities for freelance writers, and prospective contributors should contact features editor Jenny Walters with ideas. Payment varies. Details: email: jenny.walters@ bauermedia.co.uk; website: www.livefortheoutdoors.com Lakeland Walker magazine, edited by John Manning, is devoted to walking in and around the Lake District. Published six times a year, each issue contains walking routes suitable for varying levels of ability as well as features and profiles of interest to the walking community, gear reviews and news stories. Feature lengths are usually either 800 or 1,500 words. John is happy to hear from freelancers with relevant knowledge and ideas, and also from photographers. Submissions should consist of a wordsand-pictures package. Walking route pieces must be formatted in house style. New contributors should contact John by email with completed articles in the first instance. Payment varies. Walking route pieces pay £50 for a one-page (under five mile) walk, and £100 for a DPS (over five miles). Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.lakeland-walker.com

The Great Outdoors, edited by Emily Rodway, is primarily a hillwalking magazine, with the emphasis on mountain walks and a particular focus on Snowdonia, the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands. Features are between 1,500 and 2,000 words and are largely first-person accounts of adventurous trips, and the magazine also includes at least ten walking routes, which are one-page, 500-word narrative features in themselves. Emily uses freelances and asks for word-and pictures packages. In the first instance, email ideas with an angle, samples of previous work and sample images. Payment for walking routes is £120 and is negotiable for other contributions. Details: email: emily.rodway@kelsey. co.uk; website: www.tgomagazine.co.uk Trail magazine, edited by Simon Ingram, is an inspirational walking guide for adventurous walkers. Published thirteen times a year, it’s a sister publication to Country Walking, with the focus very much on exploring hill and mountain territory in the UK. The award-winning magazine is dedicated to giving its readers the best hillwalking and mountain routes and providing the best advice on tackling them. Features include routes, expert advice, inspirational stories and interviews with leading mountaineers, reader stories and gear reviews. Trail’s content is aimed both at beginners and experts, and Simon is happy to hear from knowledgeable freelances with relevant ideas. Payment varies. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.livefortheoutdoors.com

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Trail Running, edited by Claire Maxted, is an inspirational magazine dedicated to off-road running, and is aimed both at road runners looking for more exciting adventures and dedicated trail runners. Feature content is split between fitness and training and routes and destinations, and each issue includes articles on gear, training, aspirational races, routes, nutrition and interviews with elite athletes. Feature lengths vary and the magazine is image-heavy. There are freelance opportunities available, particularly for interviews, science-led features and some race features. Send pitches by email including a coverline, headline, standfirst and writer credentials. Payment varies. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.trailrunningmag.co.uk Edited by Mary Creighton, Outdoor Adventure Guide covers the full range of adventurous outdoor action breaks and activities, from camping and walking to climbing and kayaking. OAG only publishes in the spring and summer months, and all content is geared towards making time spent outdoors as exciting and interesting as possible, whether it’s creating imaginative campfire food, tracking down adrenalin-fuelled adventures or finding new urban walking trails. Mary accepts pitches for all of OAG’s subject areas (the main ones are walking, camping, climbing, bushcraft, cycling and canoeing) and is particularly keen on interesting or quirky adventures and up-and-coming outdoor sports or UK-based sports stories. Send pitches by email. Payment varies. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.outdooradventureguide.co.uk

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FLASHES Fieldsports editor Marcus Janssen will consider article pitches from writers with relevant knowledge and ideas. Payment is negotiable. Details: email: m.janssen@ bgpmedia. co.uk; website: www.fieldsports magazine.com Publishers Weekly has reported that the top five publishers in the world remained the same in 2015 as 2014. Topping the list was the UK-based Pearson, with revenue of $6.635bn. Next were ThomasReuters ($5.77bn), RELX Group ($5.20bn), Wolters Kluwer ($4.59bn) and one readers have actually heard of, Penguin Random House, with a mere $4.05bn. Marilynne Robinson has been honoured with the Richard C Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award. The author, celebrated for the Gilead Trilogy, was given the award for her work in advancing ‘peace, social justice and global understanding’. The Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel has been won by Paul Cleave for Trust No One. The judging panel described the thriller as ‘a stunningly audacious example of the genre that functions as a literary hall of mirrors’.

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET Warm welcome at Confontation BY JENNY ROCHE

With a mission to ‘bring new talent to light in the shadows cast by well known authors’, Confrontation Magazine has been in production for almost fifty years and has eclectic content of stories, poems, non-fiction and art. Maximum story lengths are 7,200 words, or 500 for flash fiction. Genre fiction will be considered if it has literary merit or transcends or challenges genre. The quality of the writing and thought or imagination will in the end be the deciding factor when a submission is being considered. Payment is $175-$250. Poetry submissions should be no more than two pages long and up to six poems may be submitted. Payment is $75-$100. Essays and memoirs, 1,500-5,000 words, make up the

COMPETITION

Poets on fire Entries are invited for the Fire River Poets Open Poetry Competition 2016. There is a first prize of £200, a second prize of £100 and a third prize of £75. Send entries in any style and on any subject. All entries must be original and unpublished. Each poet may enter up to six poems. Poems may be up to forty lines. Send each poem on a separate sheet. The poet’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Enter by post or by email. Postal entrants should include a cover sheet with titles of poems and the poet’s name and full contact details. Email entrants should list their poem titles and all contact details in the body of the submission email, and attach each poem as a separate doc, docx or pdf file. The entry fee is £4 for one poem, £7 for two, £10 for three and £3 for each additional poem. Pay by cheques made out to Fire River Poets or by PayPal. Email entrants should put their PayPal transaction reference number in the subject line. The closing date is 31 October. Details: Fire River Poets Poetry Competition 2016, 2 Deane View, Bishop’s Hull Road, Taunton TA1 5EG; email: [email protected]; website: www.fireriverpoets.org.uk

‘I aim to make the fiction flexible so that it bends itself around the facts as we have them.’ Hilary Mantel

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magazine’s non-fiction content. Payment is $100-$150. The reading period runs from 16 August to 15 April annually and the response time should be within 3-4 months. If you live outside the USA submissions can be made by email. Include your postal address in the email and specify if your submission is poetry, fiction or non fiction. Submit prose and poetry submissions in different emails. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://confrontationmagazine.org

Fantastic in every sense Fantasia Divinity Magazine is a new and unusual magazine publishing ‘stories across multiple genres’, as well as anthologies. See the website for details of a number of anthologies needing submissions, for ‘winter fantasy’, mythology, horror, fairytales and SF. Submit stories, 1,000-40,000 words, as an email attachment, with Submission and story title in the subject line, to [email protected] In the body of the email put full contact details, the story genre, and word count. Flash fiction under 1,000 words can be pasted into the body of the email. Response time is ‘up to two weeks’. Payment is 0.5¢ per word. Website: http://fantasiadivinitymagazine.myfreesites.net

Beyond the stars Martian Migraine Press is a ‘small independent Canadian press with a focus on the weird, unusual and occasionally transgressive’. It likes writing which plays with boundaries. Short stories are wanted for its anthology, A Breath from the Sky, due for August 2017, for which you are asked to consider ‘unusual possession’, ie no boring old demons and exorcisms. Submit stories, 1,500-7,000 words, or flash under 1,500 words, by email as an rtf or doc file, to submissions@ martianmigrainepress.com Put Breath, story title, and name in the subject line. The deadline is 31 January, 2017. Response time is ‘within a week’. 3¢Can per word, via Paypal, as well as two contributor copies of the anthology. Website: http://martianmigrainepress.com

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A flash start

UK ACADEMIC MARKET Design for city life BY TINA JACKSON

The Mediated Cities series is produced by Intellect Books in partnership with Architecture_ Media_Politics_Society (AMPS) and explores the contemporary city as a hybrid phenomenon of digital technologies, new media, digital art practices and physical infrastructure. ‘It is an inherently interdisciplinary series around intersecting issues related to the city of today and tomorrow,’ says series editor Dr Graham Cairns. ‘Each title within the series focuses on elements of the city as we experience, design and interact with them through architecture, visual art, film, urban design, media and community projects.’ Intellect was established in 1984 by Masoud Yazdani and Mark Lewis as an independent academic publisher in the fields of creative practice and popular culture, publishing scholarly books and journals that exemplify its mission as publishers of original thinking. It now publishes over ninety subscription journals and around 60-100 books each year. ‘We aim to provide a vital space for widening critical debate in new and emerging subjects, and in this way we differ from other publishers by campaigning for the author. Intellect has an international marketing, sales and distribution agreement with the University of Chicago Press. All of our academic content is double blind peer reviewed,’ said Graham. Submissions are being accepted for further titles in the Mediated Cities series. ‘The editors can see it becoming ever more complex and overlaid as different people approach the subject with them. For example, by looking at specific cities or themes such as activist and community uses of technologies in urban life. The intention is that they will be very varied titles to portray the scope of this topic.’ The editors are looking for submissions that reflect an interdisciplinary approach to the understanding of cities in the modern context. ‘As such, essays should reflect upon the dynamic nature of cities as they change in response to technological factors or mediated representations. We look forward to reading material that shows how media does not simply reflect the urban condition but also helps shape and imagine it. The Mediated Cities series can highlight the unique experience of different cities or the media attached to them by focusing contributing authors on the critical themes that matter most.’ Send submissions for a book proposal to the Mediated Cities series by email. ‘A good book for the series will feature challenging, interdisciplinary thinking, case studies and projected ideas, along with well-referenced and knowledgeable contributions,’ said Graham. ‘Try to make the focus international, or include international scholars and contributors. We ask for authors and editors to fill out our Author Questionnaire, which can be downloaded from our website under the Publish With Us tab.’ Books are published in print and ebook format. Writers whose works are published in the Mediated Cities series are paid royalties. Details: email: [email protected] website: http://writ.rs/mediatedcities

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Now in its fourth year, the Flash 500 Novel Opening Chapter and Synopsis Competition is inviting entries. There is a first prize of £500, and a runner-up prize of £200. The competition is for opening chapters up to 3,000 words, which must be original and unpublished, and a one-page synopsis outlining the rest of the story. If your first chapter is longer than 3,000 words, send the first 3,000 words only, with a note explaining that the chapter continues beyond this point. The competition is open to all novelists, published and unpublished, but competition entries must not have been previously published. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Send entries by email as doc, docx, odt, rft or pdf files, with separate attachments for the first chapter and the synopsis. Put ‘Novel Opening’ in the email subject line. The body of the submission email should include the novel title and the writer’s name and contact address. There is an entry fee of £10, payable via PayPal, and an optional critique may be purchased for £25. The closing date is 31 October. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.flash500.com

Rialto’s first pamphlet prize For the first time, The Rialto poetry magazine is holding an open pamphlet competition. The winner of the first prize will have their pamphlet published in The Rialto’s award-winning series, thirty copies of their pamphlet, a launch reading and up to £200 in travel expenses. Ten shortlisted poets will each get a paragraph of feedback from judge Hannah Lowe, and the winner and three others will have a poem published in The Rialto. To enter, send between 18 and 24 pages of poems. All poems must be original, and may have been previously published in magazines and anthologies but not as a pamphlet or collection. Type poems in single spacing on single sides of A4 in 12pt font, with a maximum of forty lines per page. Type each poem on a new page. The pamphlet should have a title, which must appear on each page. Include a front page with the title and a list of contents. Send two copies of the front page if submitting by post, one including your name and full contact details. Submit by post or through the online submission system. There is an entry fee of £22 (£16 for subscribers to The Rialto), payable by PayPal or cheques made out to The Rialto. The closing date is 30 November. Details: The Rialto (Pamphlet Competition), PO Box 309, Aylsham, NR11 6LN; website: www.therialto.co.uk

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FLASHES Squash Player is a bimonthly magazine edited by Ian McKenzie. He will discuss ideas for feature articles. Payment is £75 for 1,000 words.Details: email: info@ squashplayer.co.uk; website: www. squashplayer.co.uk The Society of Women Writers & Journalists holds its Annual Christmas Tea Party on 6 December at the National Liberal Club, London SW1, from 1.45pm. Festivities include a raffle, bring-andbuy, book table and inspirational speaker Ginny Vere Nicholl of the Feel Good Books imprint.Tickets are £19.50 (£18.50 for members). For details, email: [email protected] A the 16th Library of Congress National Book Festival in September Stephen King was honoured in ‘recognition of his lifelong work promoting literacy’. Fiona Wright won the A$30,000 Kibble award for Australian women writers, for Small Acts of Disappearance, a collection of essays about anorexia. Olivia Morris joined Orion as commissioning editor for ‘wellbeing and lifestyle imprint’ Orion Spring, and Orion Non-fiction, from Pan Macmillan, where she was an editor for the Bluebird imprint. ‘The best creative writing teachers, like the best editors, excel at teaching, not necessarily at writing.’ Kurt Vonnegut Jr

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GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET A burning light in the darkness BY GARY DALKIN

Three-Lobed Burning Eye Magazine is a US-based speculative fiction magazine published each spring and autumn electronically, with an annual print anthology. It went on hiatus in 2015-16 but is now returning to publication. Editor Andrew S Fuller requires quality speculative fiction in the vein of horror and dark fantasy, with a preference for magical realism, fantastique, slipstream, cross-genre, interstitial, or weird fiction. He will consider SF, suspense and westerns, though strongly favours work which contains some speculative element. Sword and sorcery, hard SF, space opera, and extreme horror are hard sells. TLBEM publishes stories which are literary or pulpy, but not experimental. Originality in character, narrative and plot are valued, and writers of all

races, cultures, genders, and orientations are encouraged to submit. No non-fiction, poetry, reviews, interviews, memoirs, fan fiction, serial stories, novel excerpts, or reprints. Issues are free to read online, and can be purchased for download in pdf format. Many stories published in TLBEM have gone on to be cited as among the best of their year by star genre editor Ellen Datlow. The magazine is open to submissions year round. Stories should be 2,000-7,000 words. Payment is a flat rate of $100 per story, $30 for flash fiction, 500-1,000 words, plus one contributor copy. Response time is around ninety days. Website: www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html

Everybody loves Tchaikovsky’s spiders BY GARY DALKIN

The UK’s most prestigious award for science fiction literature has been given to Adrian Tchaikovsky for his epic space opera, Children of Time. The award, which consists of an engraved bookend and a cheque for £2,016, was presented at a special ceremony at Foyles bookshop in London’s Charing Cross Road. ‘It’s come unexpectedly enough that I’m not sure what day it is at the moment,’ Adrian told WM the morning after his win. Then, in a comment which will resonate with those who have had the pleasure of reading Children of Time, he noted that perhaps his win was ‘A victory for spiders everywhere?’ Tom Hunter, director of the Clarke Award, said: ‘Children of Time has a universal scale and sense of wonder reminiscent of the novels of Sir Arthur C Clarke himself, combined with one of the best science fictional extrapolations of a not-so-alien species and their evolving society I’ve ever read.’ Chair of the judges, Andrew M Butler, noted that: ‘Choosing a winner for the Arthur C Clarke Award doesn’t get any easier after thirty years. The judges were passionate about all six shortlisted

titles and it was tough to narrow down to one book. Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time tells two parallel stories of the last survivors of Earth and the inhabitants of a terraformed planet – it takes the reader’s sympathies and phobias, and plays with them masterfully on an epic and yet human scale.’ • Just four days before the Clarke, science fiction’s most celebrated awards, the Hugos, were presented at the World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City. The ceremony was hosted by Hugo-winning author Pat Cadigan, a US writer long resident in the UK. In the wake of various controversies generated by the Sad and Rabid Puppies (as reported on previously in WM), this year’s Hugos proved a resounding rejection of the Puppy desire to return the genre to one largely the purview of white male authors. The winners were: Best Novel, The Fifth Season, NK Jemisin; Best Novella, Binti, Nnedi Okorafor; Best Novelette, Folding Beijing, Hao Jingfang, trans Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015); Best Short Story, Cat

Pictures Please, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, Jan 2015); Best Graphic Story, The Sandman: Overture, Neil Gaiman, art by JH Williams III. The John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer was presented to Andy Weir for The Martian. The film version of The Martian, screenplay by Drew Goddard, received the Hugo for Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation.

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INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE Duende is the online literary journal of the BFA in Writing programme at Goddard College, USA. The main zine is published twice a year but the editorial team publish original content at the beginning of every month and online. Work in Duende must have ‘authenticity and soulfulness, earthiness and expressiveness, a chill up the spine’. Supply poetry ‘slightly off-kilter’ and fiction to ‘make us feel more human and less alone’. Experimental work is welcomed. Currently it needs writing on the theme of exodus, ‘poetry, prose, hybrid work, and visual art from the hearts and minds of those who are displaced’. Poetry, under 75 lines, is welcome in all forms, ‘hybrid’ prose/poetry up to 2,500 words, and prose, up to 7,500 words. Character-driven stories ‘where things happen and people change’ are favoured. Submit online with a doc, docx or pdf file. Response time is ‘up to four months’. Website: www.duendeliterary.org Fiction on the Web is a UK zine devoted to short stories. Editor Charlie Fish calls the zine a labour of love and he personally selects and edits every story. Launched in 1996, Fiction on the Web has some claim to being one of the oldest short stories website on the internet. Short stories, anything from flash fiction to a novella, are welcomed, particularly funny, fantastic, futuristic, criminal or real-life stories. Submit a doc by email: [email protected] Website: www.fictionontheweb.co.uk

Waxwing is an unusual US zine ‘promoting the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices in translation’. It needs work from writers from all cultural identities. They wish to publish in each issue ‘singular voices — and to hear these voices together, in all their harmony and dissonance’. It publishes poetry, fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, art, and music plus translated literature but is currently only accepting poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and translations. The submission period is 1 August to 1 May. Submit 1-5 poems, one story or or three short-short stories, online. Response time is ‘within four months’. There is no payment. Website: http://waxwingmag.org The Vignette Review is all about short fiction which is a vignette, that is: ‘A brief evocative description, account, or episode’. Editor Abigail Sheaffer wants vignettes which ‘wed short fiction with fine art for a sensuous reading experience’. Submissions, 300-900 words, must be prose, not poetry and not one-sentence-style flash fiction. Attach a doc or docx with a brief third-person bio in the cover letter. Website: www.thevignettereview.org Drafthorse is a biannual online publication of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, visual narrative, and other media art.

There is one editorial theme, ‘work and no work’. Avoid an emphasis on politics – no soap box rants – so think around the topic and don’t plump for the obvious. Submissions are welcome Aug-Oct for the winter issue and Feb-April for the summer issue. Writers with something multimedia and ‘way out’ are as welcome to submit as those with more orthodox work. Submit online at: http://drafthorse. lmunet.edu/about.shtml Far Off Places is a UK zine of creative writing and illustration from writers worldwide, with a mission ‘to make you laugh, ponder, and wince’. It aims for an audience of readers who wouldn’t ordinarily pick up a literary magazine by publishing in audio, digital and iOS Newsstand versions. See the website for themes and deadlines. Submit prose, no more than 3,000 words, as short fiction or flash, or short-form prose and drama. The editors ‘always love a bit of creative non-fiction’ and poetry in any form, of up to 40 lines. Don’t submit more than three poems or one piece of prose or drama. Attach a doc or txt file or paste into the body of ‘a sanely-formatted email’, to: submissions@ faroffplaces.org Response time is ‘within six weeks of our submission deadline’. All submissions receive feedback. Website: http://faroffplaces.org

GLOBAL SF MARKET Science fiction matters BY JENNY ROCHE

Published every two months, Compelling Science Fiction aims to ‘find, publish and promote the best science fiction stories and to support the authors who write them’. ‘We believe that science fiction is important,’ says editor Joe Stech. ‘It expands the mind and drives progress through inspiration.’ Guidelines say accepted stories will illustrate at least one interesting concept and clearly explain the science/technology in the story. Fantasy stories are not published but humour and

positive stories are always welcome and a well-written dystopian future story won’t be dismissed. Stories should be 1,000-10,000 words. Payment is 6¢ per word for first world electronic print and podcast audio rights. Submit a docx, rtf or txt file by email, with all other relevant information in the body, to: submissions@ compellingsciencefiction.com Website: http://compellingsciencefiction.com

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FLASHES The Spark magazine was founded in 1993 as an ethical quarterly. Ideas for articles relating to positive change with a link to the West Country are welcomed. Payment is 11p per word. Details: email: editor@thespark. co.uk; website: www. thespark.co.uk Amy Liptrot’s story of reconnecting with her native Orkney Islands after time in London, The Outrun, was the winner of the Wainwright Golden Beer prize, worth £5,000, for the best UK nature and travel writing, named after respected country writer Alfred Wainwright. Scottish Book Trust has created a new award to be given annually to one author or illustrator and one learning professional who have had an inspiring impact on young readers in Scotland. The winners will be announced at an evening reception in June 2017. UK children’s book specialists Egmont Publishing announced senior appointments to its books team: Sarah Bates is now commercial director, books division in the UK; Ali Dougal is fiction publishing director, leading the team of five editors. Mandy Sutter won the New Welsh Writing Awards 2016 University of Wales Prize for Travel Writing for her story Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me, set in 1960s Nigeria. ‘As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand.’ Ernest Hemingway

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GLOBAL FICTION MARKET One hit wonders PDR LINDSAY-SALMON

One Story is an award-winning, not-for-profit literary publisher committed to supporting the art form of the short story and the authors who write them. It publishes two print magazines, One Story and One Teen Story, each containing just one story. The teen magazine publishes writing by young writers as well as adults. The editor is seeking literary fiction, 3,0008,000 words, on any style and subject. Submit a pdf, rtf, and txt file using the online submission system. One Teen Story needs stories, 2,000-4,500 words, with teen protagonists and about teen experiences like ‘issues of identity, friendship, family, coming-of-age’. Payment is $500 and 25 contributors copies for first North American serial rights. For both magazines response time is 4-6 months. The submission period is 1 September until 31 May. Website: www.one-story.com

Library records Since 2005 the Department of Culture, Media and Sport has recorded public library usage. It recently reported that between 2005 and now public library usage fell by 30%. In 2005/6, the first year records were kept, 48.2% of the adult population used a public library at least once. In the period April 2015 March 2016, the figure was just 33.4%. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest falls were among those who could most afford to buy books, with the decline in the demographic described as ‘urban prosperity’ by from 57% to 37%. Showing that the poorest value libraries the most, the decline of library use among those described as ‘hard pressed’ fell just 7%, to 33.5%. Currently 72 public libraries, as well as five mobile libraries, are facing closure.

Head for the peak New Zenith Magazine is a new US fiction magazine which launched in July. Edited by David Connell, the title accepts fiction in all genres except erotica. Also required are cartoons, illustrations/illustrated stories and photography/photo storytelling. The print edition of New Zenith is published quarterly, with a monthly web-only supplement. Stories should be up to 3,000 words. The deadline for the winter issue is 15 December,

spring issue, 15 March, etc. However, material which misses a deadline may also be considered for the online version of the title. Print magazine submissions should be sent to the editor at dconnell@newzenithmagazine. com with ‘New Zenith Submission’ in the title field. Submissions for the accompanying blog/website should be sent to Michelle Irby at mirby@newzenithmagazine. com. Submissions pasted into the

The Four Quarters Magazine The Four Quarters Magazine is published in India by a group of writers who ‘want to bridge the gap between the emerging and the established, and simply celebrate what needs to be read and seen and heard.’ As well as supporting Indian writers, it welcomes submissions from around the world. This is an online biannual magazine with two reading periods a year, 1 August to 31 October for the winter issue and 1 January to 31 March for the summer issue. Submit up to six pages of poetry in any form, fiction, nonfiction, experimental writing and memoirs of up to 5,000 words, work in translation and book reviews, 500-1,000 words. Submit a doc or docx file by email: [email protected] Website: http://tfqm.org

body of your email are preferred, but rtf or doc are accepted, not docx. Submit up to three stories, five poems, and five works of art/illustration simultaneously. Payment is 2¢ per word for first and non-exclusive reprint rights. Guidelines: http://newzenithmagazine.com/ submission-guidelines/

Brilliant Flash Fiction Brilliant Flash Fiction is an Irish zine devoted to flash fiction which the editor feels is ‘all about having fun’. Editor Dawn Lowe is ‘looking for writing I haven’t read before’, stories, not slice of life plotless fiction.’ Submit stories under 1,000 words, pasted into the body and attached as a doc, by email: [email protected]. Most genres are accepted. Response time is ‘within three months’. Website: https://brilliantflashfiction mag.wordpress.com

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UK SMALL PRESS MARKET

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Zitebooks is a independent publisher whose output proves that being small and staying focussed can reap dividends. Currently it has just five authors on its list. ‘One of our writers, Simon Jay, had a one-man show at the Edinburgh Fringe this year; another, Jacquie Lawrence, has just been shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and is producing a television adaptation of her book on the web,’ said publisher Martin Godleman. Zitebooks came on the scene less than two years ago. ‘We are a relatively new independent publisher, forming at the beginning of 2015,’ said Martin. ‘We have a small select number of writers whose works we edit, print, sell and publicise. There is no specified limit to the titles we will publish each year, but it is ultimately only a handful as we don’t want to dilute the power of our enterprise.’ Zitebooks like books with intentions. ‘A book that excites, informs and does not compromise,’ said Martin. ‘Serious writing but not serious writers. “Serious” can also be funny, sharp and even angry, but should always respect and never lose sight of the informed reader.’ Martin is happy to hear from writers who could be Zitebooks’ next success story. ‘Think really hard about why you write and why anyone should want to publish you. Always have a focused and unambiguous response to these two questions,’ he said. He’s hoping that Zitebooks will continue its forward momentum. ‘Depends upon the success of our writers, but upwards and outwards into space as the position demands...’ Prospective Zitebooks authors should send a personal statement, a synopsis and a chapter or ‘segment’ (minimum 500 words) by email. Zitebooks publishes in paperback, ebook and audiobook formats and pays 50% of all profits once costs have been met. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://zitebooks.com/

High five for haiku Presence haiku magazine is inviting entries for the Martin Lucas Haiku Award 2016. The competition is for original, unpublished haiku. There is a first prize of £100, a second prize of £50 and two third prizes of £25. The winning and commended haiku will all be published in Presence. Submit all haiku entries on a single sheet including your name and address, and include the same sheet without name and address details. Send entries by post or by email. There is an entry fee of £5 for five haiku, payable by cheques made out to Presence Magazine or by PayPal. The closing date is 31 December. Details: Chris Boultwood, 6 King Street, Chester CH1 2AH; email: [email protected]; website: http://haikupresence.org/ www.writers-online.co.uk

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Handle with care Patrick Forsyth considers how the times we live in affect our travel writing ong ago I was flying to London from Dublin when a delay struck: all the passengers were disembarked and after a couple of hours re-boarded. Beginning the departure procedures, the pilot came on the intercom and apologised: ‘I am so sorry for the delay,’ he said, ‘but we had a report that there was a bomb on the plane. However, we have instigated a thorough search and I can tell you now that there is no bomb on this plane… or if there is we can’t find it.’ Really. It was, I think, meant humorously and was long ago – nothing like this would be said these days when terrorism linked to travel is an ongoing consideration. In part because I have friends who live there, over the years I have visited Thailand probably more than any other country. Recently, well a while back – it is difficult to be truly topical in a monthly column – I woke to hear that there had been bomb explosions in the Thai town of Hua Hin where my friends live. I suspected that the fact that the greatly revered King of Thailand has his summer palace there would help ensure the urgency of any investigation and clamp down, but nevertheless it set me thinking. It is simply a fact of life that one of the ways in which destinations are categorised these days is by any level of threat, real or apparent. Some of the most iconic places have become suspect; for instance the interest and holiday potential of Egypt is manifest, but I for one would not want to go near it at present. Clearly such has an effect on travel writing. You may have a unique angle to write about Egypt, say, but find that an editor rejects it believing that readers would simply turn the page with a brief ‘No thank you’. Other places, hopefully including Thailand, experience more transient incidents and seem to bounce back; Thailand has many millions of tourists visiting every year and long term this does not seem set to drop markedly. Writing about such places may still find a home, but it may be that you need to include a few words about possible dangers. Perhaps on no subject must research be done more carefully: the Foreign Office will give you the official position and their information is updated regularly. Some (including tourist offices) may have a vested interest in playing down any danger and it may be that an informal word from someone on the ground will inform what you write. However you do it, an informed comment may be necessary and make what you write more relevant. It’s sad that this makes a relevant topic for this column, but such are the times we live in. Now, enough, I have a flight to Thailand to catch.

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FLASHES Lara Dunn has succeeded Carolyn Boyd as editor of France monthly magazine. Ideas for illustrated features may be considered. Payment is negotiable. Details: email: editorial@ francemag.com; website: www. completefrance.com Ghanaian-born Dodua Otoo won Germany’s Ingeborg Bachman prize worth £21,000 for her short story Herr Gröttrup Sits Down, about a scientist who worked first on the Nazis’ V2 rocket, then on the Soviet rocket programme Bath Festivals appointed Alex Clark as artistic director of words and literature, The Bookseller reported. Alex ‘is an editor and literary journalist who also hosts the Vintage Podcast, a monthly books podcast with author interviews and book news.’ Birmingham Press Club, founded over 150 years ago, has appointed its first female chairman – Llewela Bailey, who hosts BBC Radio WM’s Sunday Breakfast show and lectures part-time at Staffordshire University’s journalism department. Norwich-born author Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials trilogy), who attended secondary school in Ysgol Ardudwy, Harlech, is the inaugural Patron of Literature Wales. ‘All literature is gossip.’ Truman Capote

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GLOBAL FICTION MARKET Explore Wildwood BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON

Wildwood Publishing is an Australian publishing company which has a different way of looking for books to publish. It needs ‘fiction, mainly popular fiction, some more esoteric titles, and some highly autobiographical fiction.’ The editorial team ‘are not after the next bestseller, but seek to offer windows into places and times you otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to experience.’ They believe books should give readers that imaginary space and place. Writers anywhere who feel their fiction does provide that experience are welcome to submit. Titles are e-published first and, if successful, print editions follow. Submit by email, with your title and genre in the

subject line, including a 300word synopsis and a note about which ‘published books or authors currently in the market place’ are similar to the novel submitted. Then attach the first three chapters or 100 pages as a doc file. Response time is ‘within one month’. Payment is discussed at contract time, but authors will receive 50% of net profits. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://wildwoodpublishing.net

Five line up for story prize

The five-strong shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award, announced on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on 16 September, includes a story by double-Booker winner Hilary Mantel The shortlist is: Garments, Tahmima Anam; Morning, Noon & Night, Claire-Louise Bennett; The Darkest Place in England, Lavinia Greenlaw; In a Right State, Hilary Mantel; Disappearances, KJ Orr. ‘These short stories catapult you through distinct lives, sensibilities and in just a few thousand words, expand the possibilities of the form,’ said judge Ted Hodgkinson, who is senior programmer for

literature and spoken word at the Southbank Centre. ‘From illuminating the telling details in the everyday, to pitching us into hidden underworlds that exist in parallel to our own, these stories are full of insights, humour and revelations.’ The winner of the prestigious award will receive £15,000. The runner-up will get £3,000 and the other three shortlisted writers will each get £500. The BBC National Short Story is now in its eleventh year. It is open to UK-resident writers with a history of previous publication. Shortlisted writers over the years have included Zadie Smith, William Trevor, Rose Tremain, Jon McGregor and Naomi Alderman. ‘Every year judging the BBC National Short Story Award is a reminder of how much talent, invention and imagination there

is among the UK’s short story writers,’ said Di Spiers, books editor at BBC Radio, who is one of the judges. ‘Each year sees new preoccupations in focus and proves a litmus test for the state of the short story. This year is no exception, with stories ranging across the world but all investigating human connections – the need for them, the perils when they are lacking and the joy that can be found in recognising just who you are. The five stories this year are all very different – together they show once again how strong, vivid and irrepressible short form fiction can be.’ The winner was announced on 4 October, after WM had gone to press. Extracts from all five shortlisted stories are on www.writers-online.co.uk Website: www.booktrust.org.uk/prizes/1

Picture the horror The Creative Competitor is running a seasonal Spine Chilling Fiction Writing Competition with a Halloween closing date. There is a first prize of £500, a second prize of £300, a third prize of £200 and a fourth prize of £100. The competition is for horror stories up to 1,000 words, which may include reference to the accompanying photograph. All entries must be original and unpublished. Paste submissions into the body of an email. There is an entry fee of £3.50 per story, which may be paid by PayPal. Include the PayPal transaction reference number in the body of the submission email. Writers may enter as many stories as they like. The email subject line should read: ‘Spine Chilling Fiction Competition’. The closing date is 31 October. Details: email: [email protected]; website: http://creativecompetitor.com/

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 11:30

WRITERS’ NEWS

Book Talk BY JOHN JENSEN

UK MAGAZINE MARKET Snappers’ delight BY TINA JACKSON

Practical Photography is a magazine for anyone who’s passionate about photography and wants to improve their camera and editing skills, irrespective of their level of ability and experience. ‘It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a DSLR, mirrorless camera, compact or smartphone – everyone’s welcome,’ said editor Ben Hawkins. Readers are deeply committed to their photography. ‘Our readers are serious enthusiasts who consider themselves photographers as opposed to someone who happens to own a camera. They’re super creative, they love to be out and about taking pictures, and are always looking for the next great photo opportunity.’ Every issue of Practical Photography is packed with images, creative projects, in-depth subject guides, pro interviews, image analysis, Q&As, reviews and much more, covering anything that might capture a photographer’s attention. ‘Landscapes, portraits, wildlife, natural world, still life, macro, sports/action, travel, flash, fine art, architecture… if it’s a thing, we feature it! Getting out there and doing it is the single most important thing we encourage, as this is how you’ll learn and improve, so we aim to sell the experience and adventure as much as the technique.’ Regular features include: ‘Complete subject/technique guides, inspirational galleries, seasonal projects, motivational columns, entertaining interviews, editing step-by-steps, in-depth critiques and image analysis, single and group product tests, ‘Story behind the shot’ type pages… the works.’ Practical Photography is the leading title in a competitive international field, and Ben puts this down to a mixture of quality control and commitment. ‘It’s about passion and attention to detail in equal measures,’ he said. ‘PP is a magazine made by photographers for photographers, and everything we do is done to a very high standard, whether it’s a how-to feature about off-camera flash or an interview with Brian May. Our readers really know their onions and the fact that we’re held in such high regard in the industry tells me that we’re getting it right. Only the best photographs and photographers will do.’ All PP’s content needs to be insightful, well structured and motivational. The style and tone is friendly and as jargon-free as possible and word counts vary from feature to feature, depending on the subject, pagination and layout. Freelance contributors must be able to offer something above and beyond what the magazine’s staffers can. ‘For instance, we don’t have time to spend four days in a wildlife hide waiting for a lesser-spotted woodpecker to swing by, but you might have,’ said Ben. ‘And they must be familiar with the magazine’s style and content in order to offer something relevant – we get so many people contact us saying, “I’m great, feature me”, which is a real turn-off. We’d much rather you offer us a great idea for a new technique feature that we may not have thought of.’ Prospective writers should be familiar with the magazine, and a working knowledge of the subject is an absolute must too. ‘If you don’t understand a technique or style, make sure you do before you write about it!’ Pitch ideas by email. ‘Tell us who you are, what you do, and what your idea is, and we can go from there. Two or three lo-res jpgs illustrating your idea helps us to gauge quality and visualise how the feature might look.’ Payment is negotiable, but PP typically pays £120 per 1,000 words and £120 per DPS pro rata for images. Rates for complete packages are agreed in advance. Details: email: [email protected]; website: www.practicalphotography.com

www.writers-online.co.uk

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• Other Worlds Short Story Competition (p39) Fantasy or SF story, 1,500-1,700 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 14 December; Ref Code: Nov16/Fantasy • Flash Fiction Competition (p39) No theme, up to 500 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 14 November; Ref Code: Oct16/500words • Open Fire Poetry Competition Poetry, ‘fire’ theme; 40-line limit; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 14 November; Ref Code: Oct16/Firepoetry • Subscriber-only Bayeux Tapestry Poem Competition (p42) Poetry inspired by the Battle of Hastings or the Bayeux Tapestry; 40-line limit; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 14 December; Ref Code: Nov16/BayPoetry • Subscriber-only Music Story Competition (p61) Musical theme; 1,500-1,700 words; free entry; subscribers only; closing date, 14 December; Ref Code: Nov16/Music • Subscriber-only Mid-Story Sentence Competition (p61) Any theme, but must include the line ‘It didn’t fit.’; 1,500-1,700 words; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 14 November; Ref Code: Oct16/Midstory

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3 Manuscripts Short stories: Entries must be typed in double spacing on single sides of A4 paper with a front page stating your name, address, phone number and email address, your story title and word count. Entries will be returned if accompanied by sae. Electronic entries should be a single doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf file with the contact details, etc, on p1, and your story commencing on the second page. Poetry manuscripts: Entries must be typed in single spacing with double spacing between stanzas on single sides of A4. Entrant’s name, address, telephone number and email address must be typed on a separate A4 sheet. Entries to poetry competitions cannot be returned. Electronic entries should be a single doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf file with the contact details, etc, on p1, and your poem on the second page. All manuscripts: Receipt of entries will be acknowledged if accompanied by a suitably worded stamped and addressed postcard. Entrants retain copyright in their manuscripts. You are advised not to send the only copy of your manuscript. Enclose an sae if you want your manuscript to be returned. 4 Competition Judging Competition judges will be appointed by Writing Magazine and the judges’ decision will be final with no correspondence being entered into. 5. Notification Winners will be notified within two months of closing date after which date unplaced entries may be submitted elsewhere. Winning entries may not be submitted elsewhere for twelve months after that date without permission of Writing Magazine who retain the right to publish winning entries in any form during those twelve months

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NOVEMBER JULY 2016 2015

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26/09/2016 11:31

M Y W R I T I N G DAY

VICTORIA

Writing My

day

FOX

The bestselling bonkbuster author conjures sultry scenarios as an antidote to domesticity, she tells Lynne Hackles

‘I

always admired those big explosive eighties-style bonkbusters and relished the idea that, in these glittering worlds, my imagination could really run free,’ Victoria Fox, whose work received approval from Jackie Collins, says. ‘Hollywood Sinners was my TAP HERE first title, back in 2010. I’m now to listen to an extract from six books on, and my latest is The The Santiago Sisters Santiago Sisters.’ Victoria tries to keep to a nine-toTAP HERE to buy the five routine when possible. ‘So that book from Audible I’m in sync with real life,’ she says. ‘The words don’t always come inside important to just get started. that window – often an idea strikes ‘On days I have childcare, I’ll begin in the middle of the night, or at nine and go through until a on a car journey, or doing short tea break at eleven. Lunch the washing up – but it’s is at one and I’ll make sure What I write when good to have structure as a I get half an hour to leave starting point. the house, go for a walk, I’m up against it is ‘I wake around seven, or clear my head. Then I work often more readable whenever my baby does. through until five, when than when I have too I’ll go downstairs and make my husband comes home. long to agonise. tea for me and a bottle of On days when it’s just my milk for her. All the while I’m daughter and me, it’s more getting her dressed, I’m thinking important than ever to have about what I’m going to write so those thoughts lined up before I that when I sit down in front of the switch on the computer. As soon as manuscript, I’m ready to go. It’s that she’s napping, I’m there! At lunchtime first bit that’s hardest, breaking the we’ll head out to see friends, or find seal on the day’s word count. Having somewhere for coffee and play. As an some pieces in place makes it easier. author, it’s nice, while entertaining a I never look back or get sucked into one-year-old, to have an intellectual the tangles of the previous day. It’s pursuit to keep my mind occupied – a glamorous, escapist world that has nothing to do with nappies or MY WRITING PLACE apricot purees! On these days I can often be deep into a scene, or on the ‘I write from a handsome Georgian banker desk. cusp of a great breakthrough, when There’s a squishy armchair in the corner, beneath my daughter will wake up and the a shelf of my books, UK editions and foreign bubble is burst. Sometimes I’ll jot translations, spines out, a riot of peacock colour. A down a few very quick bullet points pink felt flamingo hat a friend made me wear on my so that I can return to my train of hen night peers over Temptation Island. Fleetwood thought later. I can’t get frustrated Mac’s darkly tropical cover art for Tango in the Night is framed on the opposite wall, and a black-and-white about interruptions with a baby, or still of Johnny Depp in Cry Baby perches on the book I’d be climbing the walls. case. Here, I can fantasise about future stories while ‘Writing a novel is a long, hard slog, enjoying the stories of others, and celebrating those a complex journey of twists and turns, I’ve already written.’ of dead ends and reverse manoeuvres,

LISTEN

“”

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but you’ve got to get on the road and stay on it in order to move. What I write when I’m up against it is often more readable than when I have too long to agonise over every detail. ‘I begin a novel with a central idea, a strong hook to hang it all on. The Santiago Sisters is a sultry, sinful, sensational story of sisterly rivalry, the intense bond between twins Teresa and Calida and how that has the power to create and destroy. This inevitably gives birth to a handful of main characters, and I let this outline percolate for a few weeks, digging into characters’ motivations and histories until it starts to feel more fleshed out. Then I sit down to sketch out a plot outline. ‘I’m currently hard at work on my spring 2017 book, a gothic timeslip novel set in Florence, called The Silent Fountain. ‘I’m organised to the point of being obsessive. There’s always so much to do that I need to have a handle on it – cue lots of scribbled lists and red-pen reminders in the diary. To look at the piles of paper all over my office, you’d think I winged it, but believe me, there is a system. ‘Being an author is a funny combination of total solitude followed by a flurry of promotional activity when a book comes out. Each summer I’ll do a range of signings, panels and interviews which means I suddenly have to edit my wardrobe, get my hair done and finally replace that pair of black courts with the heels hanging off. My ultimate promotion was a judging job I did for ITV’s Lorraine show, alongside Jackie Collins, my idol. We were out to discover the next big voice in romantic fiction and it was amazing to launch a new writer’s career, as well as celebrate a highlight of my own in meeting the mighty queen of beach reads.’ Website: www.victoriafox.net

www.writers-online.co.uk

26/09/2016 16:54

DON’T MISS THE DECEMBER ISSUE!

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PLUS The Two of Us author Andy Jones shares his writing day

Clear out your Christmas list – it’s about to get longer as we recommend our favourite books of 2016

Amazon self-publishing in print and ebook, step by step

STAR INTERVIEW STEF PENNEY tells us about the allure of exploration, writing a ‘good’ sex scene and following up her international bestseller The Tenderness of Wolves

THE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Break into writing for video games

Fighting writers’ curses • Writer’s block? There’s no such thing! • 7 steps to overcome your invisible obstacles • How to guard against plagiarism and protect yourself from accusations

We profile new author Jules Grant, crime writer Peter Robinson shares his five favourite reads and we explore the career of self-publishing pioneer JL Carr

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SUBSCRIBE NOW AND GET IT EARLY Call 01778 392482 or visit www.writers-online.co.uk p109 next month.indd 109

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N OT E S F R O M T H E M A R G I N

at your profile, my heart melted like the mechanics of the system. a Snickers bar in my pocket on a hot I didn’t want to create a situation summer’s day. I answered by saying which would have readers throwing I had that effect on most men. the book against the wall in Unsurprisingly, that was another disgust because I’d made incorrect one who never followed up. assumptions about how people made The last one I’m going to share contact with each other. with you had far more tenacity. I decided to use only the free I think of him as Camper Van sites because I reasoned that the Man. Are you famous? was the type of character I had in subject header of his mind wouldn’t pay out email. Inside he said a monthly fee as it was fortunate we that would leave had connected too much of a because he, too, trail should One email contained was a writer. the police try what has to be the most He directed to track me to a place him down. bizarre chat up line ever. on the site Luckily ‘You owe me 99c’ was where he had the victims of the subject heading placed all his my character’s journal entries crimes will all and invited me to be women of respond once I’d read slightly advanced them all, certain we were a years and widowed, so I match made in literary heaven. could use my own date of birth and I replied immediately and said, marital status. I picked out the most no I wasn’t famous and then flattering photos I could find and explained why I was on the site. uploaded them. I had to create a Within a few minutes he responded strap line, so I put: Author of crime by saying if I read his work I’d novels. Be warned – I kill people know he was the one for me. who upset me, but only on paper. Once again I repeated my earlier I wanted to let people know there assertion that I was only there to would always be a chance what they see how the system worked, not wrote might be used in my work. to find my soulmate. Or that I might base a character Yet again he came back, but on them. Amazingly, within half this time he held out the lure of an hour I’d had a few men making travelling around Europe in his tentative contact, but there were camper van. For the third time others who were either deranged I told him I was only on the site or desperate. I mean, who in their for research purposes, but his skin right mind would send the following is obviously thicker than mine message to a writer? Dis dat hoo because he completely ignored U R? I appreciated the addition of my words and responded as the punctuation so I knew it was follows: Once you have travelled interrogatory, but had no idea what the question actually was. I answered with me you will see how good life could be. I am prepared to overlook with a simple ‘yes’ which must have your faults. been the wrong answer because he I didn’t bother replying and never sent another message. blocked him from contacting me After that came an email again. Needless to say, Camper Van containing what has to be the most Man will be coming to a painful bizarre chat up line ever. You owe end in a future novel. me 99c was the subject heading. This research has been great fun. Certainly attention grabbing and I now know enough to write scenes intriguing. Hmm, I thought, maybe for my villain that won’t let me another writer making contact. No down and I’ve got a new character such luck. The message content to murder. Dis dat hoo I R? ran as follows (punctuation and You betcha! capitalisation mine): When I looked

“”

ance Romcan be

MURDER Researching online romance puts Lorraine Mace, as ever, in murderous mood

L

ike most writers I spend a fair amount of time on research. Sometimes this is gruesome stuff, such as finding new ways to kill, or looking into the horrors of people trafficking. Fortunately, not all my research is dark and depressing. This month I thought I’d share with you the fun I’ve had delving into online dating. In a future book I intend to have a lowlife villain who preys on vulnerable older women on a variety of dating sites. As I’d never dipped so much as a toenail, far less an entire toe, into such sharkinfested waters, I thought I’d better sign up to a few sites and find out 110

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26/09/2016 11:34