Did I Mention that I Won?!

People who are connected to me on Facebook and Twitter are most likely thoroughly sick of me going on about this (to say nothing for my poor family, friends and husband!) but, let’s face it, my writing achievements haven’t exactly been overwhelming this year – I need to celebrate! I’m absolutely delighted that I’ve won a Write Invite competition and will clearly continue to talk about it for quite some time!

I’ve blogged about the Write Invite competitons here before and you can also read about them on their website (as well as read my story!). It’s such a lovely feeling to win something and a first for me too. I’ve already treated myself to all sorts of goodies and plan to savour the happy feeling for as long as possible!

All in all, I had a pretty happening weekend (why does all the excitement always take place at once?!). Good friends of ours held a fundraiser in Stafford called Have Fun for Williams! – a day of bouncy castles, photography, books and crafts, a racing car simulator and lots of yummy cakes to support the Williams Syndrome Foundation.

Their very gorgeous son (and my very gorgeous godson) has this rare, genetic condition. People with Williams Syndrome tend to be very gregarious and friendly – most are an absolute joy to be around. There are downsides too though – they are at risk of heart problems, are often hypersensitive to noise and can have learning difficulties as well.

Our friends did an amazing job to create a fun day for all the family which not only raised over a £1000 for the Foundation but also increased awareness about Williams Syndrome too. Whilst the big UK charities do some very important work, I always think it makes a nice change to support less well known ones too. In this writing competition, run by the Erewash Writers’ Group, entrants are placed in a prize draw (which is, as I understand it, separate from the writing comp itself) and the winner gets to pick a charity for a donation to be made – you can guess which charity I’ll be choosing if I’m lucky enough to win…

I was really happy to be helping out on the book stall (best place for me!). We had, ahem, rather a lot of books to sell, as you’ll see below…

Me on the (massive) book stall…

World Book Night 2013

So, as I’m sure many of you know, last Tuesday was World Book Night 2013, and this year, I decided to join in the fun and apply to become a ‘giver.’ In case anyone’s not sure, World Book Night has been going for three years now and involves a selection of books being handed out for free by volunteer givers. The idea behind it is to make reading more accessible and to encourage those who have less access to books to have a go at reading one.

Now, there are those who don’t think this is such a great thing, despite liking the principle of increased accessibility to books. They ask whether it does authors and booksellers any great favours for this volume of books to be handed out free of charge. Last year, Nicola Morgan, who I greatly admire, made a very eloquent case for an alternative method of promoting reading, which you can read here. I tend to agree with her points… Also, I’ve started to notice that World Book Night books from the previous two years are appearing for sale in charity shops and second hand bookshops, when the whole point is that these are books that shouldn’t be bought and sold, but given to those who would like to read them.

So it seems very hypercritical then, that I put myself forward this year! Well, I work in community engagement and volunteering (until I get my big break as an author that is – she dreams!) and regularly visit community centres and charities in areas where there’s a lot of disadvantage. To bring books to these places just seemed like to good an opportunity to miss, and I’m fairly confident that I’ve reached people who might not otherwise get much encouragement to read.

Despite my mixed feelings, I have to say I was really delighted to be handing out copies of The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. True, it’s an incredibly sad book, but it’s one that’s really stuck in my mind and made me ask some pretty fundamental questions – hopefully the copies I’ve sent out into the world will inspire others to think and question themselves too.

In terms of my own writing news, I don’t have to much to report… I continue to do reasonably well in the Write Invite competitions (which I have to say are quite addictive – I do it most Saturdays now…) though have yet to reach the top three. Magazine editors continue to encourage me as well, which is great, though of course, I’d love it if they actually bought some of my work! I’ve joined an online critique group though, and it’s really helpful to gain some honest feedback from people who write short stories too. Lots of them are very successful with their writing so it’s definitely a good move

To finish off, here are a couple of competitions to get stuck into – I’m planning to enter both

Doris Gooderson 2013 Competition which is run by Wrekin Writers – all profits are donated to the Severn Hospice.

The Northampton Literature Group Flash Fiction Competition  - judged by Morgen Bailey

Good luck if you decide to have a go too!

Characterisation with Alex Wheatle MBE and Start That Novel Part 6

Well, this is my last post about Start That Novel, as our six brilliant sessions are now all finished But, talk about ending with a bang! Rosie had organised for Alex Wheatle MBE to come and talk to us about characterisation and we were lucky enough to gain two hours of his tips and expert advice – it was very much appreciated.

Alex is an award winning novelist with numerous published books, the first being Brixton Rock in 1999. He started us off with some really thought provoking questions about what we most wanted out of life, and our biggest regret. I could have written reams on both those subjects (couldn’t everyone?!), yet Alex encouraged us to be short and snappy and not go into too many personal details. We wrote our answers down on slips of paper and put them in the middle of the room.

Next, Alex asked us to brain storm various facial characteristics. Round, small eyed, crooked teeth and snub nosed were thrown into the mix. Then, Alex asked us to think about personality traits. Jolly, gentle and spiteful were among the many adjectives we came up with. And, lastly, we were asked to think about different types of occupation. Amongst others, we mentioned lawyer, librarian, banker, actress and, of course, writer!

The excercise was fun in itself, but when Alex asked us to take a step back, suddenly we could see all the possibilities in front of us: a round, jolly librarian, a snub nosed, gentle writer etc.

As a group we decided that the most fun character to work on was a ‘small-eyed, spiteful, banker’ and, using a selection of the wishes and regrets from the middle of the room, we created a whole life for this delightful sounding individual! Alex explained to us though, that were we to develop this character, we would need to send him on a journey of change and give him some redeeming qualitites, otherwise our readers would never be able to identify with him, and would quickly tire of reading our work.

Alex also explained that a problem for our main characters (bankers or otherwise) would need to be made clear at the offset, in order to drive the story and keep our readers engaged.

Alex was also generous in sharing his thoughts and expertise on our current works in progress, which certainly proved helpful to me.

So, that’s it. A huge thank you to Rosie for putting on such an interesting course. It’s helped me progress with my often neglected novel and make some key decisions about it too. It was also lovely to meet so many other writers and hopefully we’ll keep in touch

The Art of Conversation – Start That Novel Part 5

I’m feeling more than a little bit sorry for myself… I’m on my second cold of the year, and not only has it spoilt my week off work but it’s also had an impact on my writing. I’ve moaned about feeling ‘fogged’ on here before – somehow anything viral seems to sit in my head like an unwanted toad, blocking all creativity and ability to write. It’s times like this that I realise how much I need to write for my sanity – I get incredibly annoyed and upset when I can’t manage to get on with it…

But anyway, before I wallow anymore, I’ll get on with telling you about the latest session in Start That Novel – this week, we looked at dialogue. We thought about the uses of dialogue and decided that it:

-       Develops character.

-       Moves plot.

-       Is useful for ‘show not tell’.

-       Adds colour and texture to the story.

-       Adds drama.

-       Can lighten the mood.

-       Adds to the psychological action – why our characters are motivated to  act as they do.

-       Helps our characters to be identifiable by the way they speak.

And one very important thing it doesn’t do is:

-       Mimic real life – all those umms, repetitions and clichés we use in our speech – don’t use ‘em!!

Rosie explained to us that when deciding about the way each character speaks, it’s important to consider:

-       Their educational level.

-       Their characteristics; are they nervous, impulsive, aggressive or shy etc.?

-       Their geographical background – do they have a regional accent?

-       The relationship with the person they’re speaking to.

-       Their attitude to the topic of conversation – are they keen to discuss it or would they rather avoid the subject altogether.

This struck me as useful things to ask yourself about your characters anyway – it can only lead to stronger characterisation.

In any case, the golden rule we have to bear in mind is: ‘Every word of fictional dialogue must add to the novel.’ Remember this and surely we can’t go too far wrong.

Next we did a couple of fun exercises. During the first one, we wrote out a completely one sided conversation, where we saw how much of a story we could tell this way, and in the second one, we did a spoken role play where we had to imagine that one person is desperate for information from the other. This was to help us think about how dialogue can illustrate the balance of power in relationships.

Many moons ago, I used to do a bit of acting, and whenever stuff like this comes up, it takes me back… I certainly couldn’t do it now though and am firmly convinced that writing has become my arts based activity of choice, now all I need to do is shake off this cold!

Storytelling – Start That Novel – Part 4

Oh dear, I’m back to my usual last-minuteness with this blog update, but to be fair, it’s been a very busy week for me.

Last Monday’s course was as interesting as ever, as we turned to looking at viewpoint. Rosie asked us to think about the different ways of telling a story. We listed – dialogue, descriptions, narration, explanation of subject and thought.

We also thought about the order we tell our stories – are they told from beginning to end, or from the end to the beginning?? (Sarah Waters did this in The Night Watch, which is brilliant, btw). Is it framed by another story, like Susan Hill’s creepy tale, The Woman in Black? Are there multiple viewpoints (Kate Atkinson does this very skilfully in her books). Is there a great chronological distance between the narrator and the story or is it a stream of consciousness? Is it narrated in first person, third person or second person?? Rosie quoted David Lodge from his book, The Art of Fiction.  – Point of View is the single most important choice a writer makes. It will determine how your readers respond and relate to your characters and the action in your novel.

Rosie then set us off on an exercise to alter a couple of pages of our work into another viewpoint. Whilst this felt like quite an uncomfortable task – as many of us are quite far into our stories, playing around with one of the most fundamental choices we’ve made, felt quite weird. But, as Rosie explained, this  really helps us question our choices and think about how stories might change if we use a different view point.

We then had a go at telling someone else’s story in the third person view point. Our partners gave us a basic narrative and it was then up to us to add feelings, colour and texture to bring their stories to life.

I mentioned that the second person (when you speak to someone, addressing them directly throughout the story) can work well in flash fiction. There’s a free to enter flash fiction comp here, with the Erewash Writers’ Circle – I’m planning to enter though have yet to find an idea which matches the theme.

Beginnings…Start That Novel Part 3

Oooh, get me! For once I’m not leaving my Start That Novel write up till Sunday night. Mind you, before I get too cocky, I haven’t done my homework for this week yet…

So, we met on Monday evening to learn more about opening paragraphs and first chapters. We took it in turns to read from the beginning of several novels: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Bell Jar by Syliva Plath, Before I go to Sleep by S.J Watson, One Day by David Nicholls and Life Class by Pat Barker.

We thought about whether the opening paragraphs involved tension, whether they set the mood of the novel and whether they had a hook. We concluded that whilst it isn’t strictly necessary to include all these things at the beginning of a novel, it definitely helps. Incidentally, we felt that the opening paragraph of One Day was a little weak and not particularly engaging, and those of us who had actually read the whole thing had to convince everyone else that it turns into a very, very good read!

We then had a go at writing our own opening paragraphs and shared them afterwards. Reading your own work out loud is an acquired taste… it  gets easier to digest with practice! But I have to say that our group are all really helpful and supportive of each other’s work. Plus, it’s really interesting to hear all the wonderful, imaginative and moving ideas as they fly around the room.

Next, Rosie set us an exercise which allowed us to get to know our main characters and really think about how they contribute to our novel. In pairs, we asked ourselves, ‘what makes people want to read about our characters?’ and thought about why we, as writers, feel the need to write about them. We also thought about character’s secret wishes and whether anyone or anything might try and prevent them from fulfilling them.

I came to the conclusion that my character is something of a ‘female Peter Pan’ as she’s a twelve year old child, who’s very resistant to growing up… Anyone who knows me personally, or has followed my blog for a while, will know that I’m very much a big kid myself, as this photo shows:

Me at DisneyLand Paris, looking cold!

It would seem, it’s a good thing, I want to write for children!

Oh, and in other news, I’ve booked my place at the fabulous Writers’ Holiday in Caerleon, which takes place this July.  I’m so excited to be going again! This year, there’s a Writing for Children course, run by successful writer, Anita Loughrey – needless to say, I’ve booked myself on that! This is the last time they’re holding it at Caerleon and, having only recently discovered it, I feel quite sad. It’s moving to a hotel in Fishguard next year though, which, I’m told is also a wonderful venue. Let me know if you’re going too

Old Habits… (and Part 2 of the Start That Novel Course)

At school I was a terror for leaving all my weekend homework till Sunday afternoon. Even now, I can really remember that looming dread which would start to build up after lunchtime… It would seem, some fifteen years later, that some habits never go away, as today is Sunday, and I’ve only just got round to doing my homework for the Greenacre Writer’s Start That Novel course, in time for tomorrow evening.

Now, this was nice homework, and not of the physics and algebra variety that I hated so much as a kid, yet I still left it till the last minute. Sometimes I wonder how I’ve ever managed to complete a piece of writing given my tendency to always put things off, yet, as with all writing related tasks, once I get into them, I hugely enjoy doing them.

Rosie, who leads the class asked us to look at as many novels at home as possible and write out the first sentance of the narrative. The books I chose are here:

If you notice that a lot of them are for children and involve magic, that’s because this is the type of book I want to write. (Having said that, Affinity is definitely not for children, but is pretty other worldly). This was a very intersting task and certainly made me think about the importance of that first sentance – it has to grab the reader and hook them in immediately. How many of us pick up a book in the bookshop, then glance at the first few lines to see if it appeals? That first line has to be a winner, or we might as well not bother writing the rest of the story… I’m now not sure at all about the first line of my current W.I.P, but hopefully tomorrow’s session will help me make it the best it can possibly be.

During last week’s session, we thought about the planning of our novels and, most importantly, the point of entry we choose for the story’s beginning. Rosie told us about the ‘inciting incident’, which can be described as ‘an event that radically upsets the balance of your character.’ It might ignite the character’s desire or force them to take action in the pursuit of a goal. This gets our stories started and should also hook in the reader, so they want to know what happens next.

Rosie also encouraged us to get to know our characters and their worlds better and with the help of plain paper and pens, we drew maps of the worlds our character’s live in and then thought about how they respond and react to their surroundings. I found this to be a really useful excerise. I’ve been imagining my main character’s world for some time now, but to see a visual representation of it was really inspiring. However, a degree of imagination is definitely still required, as speaking of old habits, this excercise also made me realise that I still draw people, houses, trees, dogs and cars in exactly the same way as I did when I was about six years old (and as for the dragon, I can’t even tell you what it looked like…). Suddenly my school days don’t seem so long ago after all…

Thank you, Rosie and everyone in the group. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow