G HELPING YOU BECOME A BETTER WRITER BESTSELLIN AZINE WRITING MAG
JUNE 2021
You’re a WRITER! Don’t let imposter syndrome get to you
WIN! £50,475
How to judge YOUR success on YOUR terms
IN PRIZE S 31 C O M T O E N T EP S R
WRITE BETTER SHORT STORY MASTERCLASS
RIGHT NOW Quick ways to improve your writing
Creating characters of virtue
5 WAYS
STAR INTERVIEW
to make your children’s story shine
EVA DOLAN on writing crime with a conscience
WITH
PLUS
EASY-READ
06> 05>
to get published
right now
success stories
99 770964 770964 916273 916273
£4.50
BONUS VIDEO AND BOOK NEWS YOU CAN USE ARTICLE Opportunities Ideas to try 37 47 15 14VIEWER 16 WM ReaderEXTRACTS 14
Confused about self-publishing? YPS are the one-stop-shop for self-publishers Copy-editing & proofreading Full book design service Printing & binding Promotion & marketing Book distribution Commission-free online bookshop eBook production & distribution Free & friendly advice Cup of tea and a chat!
Recommended by the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook York Publishing Services Ltd tel. 01904 431213 enquiries@yps-publishing.co.uk
www.yps-publishing.co.uk
CONTENTS WRITERS’ NEWS 68 Your essential monthly roundup of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news
INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES 14 Star interview: Acclaimed crime writer Eva Dolan discusses social justice and crimes against society 24 My path to publication: Anita Sethi The nature writer’s response to racial abuse led to her first book 34 Shelf life: Author, journalist and radio presenter John Suchet picks his top five books 38 Circles’ roundup: writing groups share their interests and news 40 Subscriber news: WM subscribers’ publishing success stories 62 New author profile: Why Kate Bendelow made her lead character a SOCO like her 85 My writing day: Emma Eker shares the solutions that drive her writing routine
CREATIVE WRITING 10 Creative writing: How to avoid the most common rookie errors 26 Beginners: A worksheet to guide you through the writing process 46 Fiction focus: Learn how to evoke strong senses in your fiction 48 Masterclass: Study a classic to explore creating characters of virtue 56 Writing for children: Add the final polish to make your story shine 58 Fantastic realms: Using tropes in science fiction 60 Under the microscope: A reader’s first 300 words, analysed
WRITING LIFE 12 Self publishing: How to find and work with the right experts 22 Book-to-screen bonanza: major book adaptations coming soon 30 Imposter Syndrome: what it is and how to overcome it 32 The business of writing: Judge your successes on your terms 36 Talk it over: How to come across well at a virtual literary event 37 Under the Covers: Gillian Harvey is glad to have found her tribe 86 Notes from the margin: Lorraine Mace sparks a book group bust-up
ASK THE EXPERTS 8 Writers’ voice: How to work with television producers 9 From the other side of the desk: Agent Piers Blofeld assesses the impact of wokeness on the publishing world 21 Ask a literary consultant: A reader wonders whether to switch agents 65 Behind the tape: Get the details right in your crime fiction 64 Research tips: Biographical research
POETRY
WELCOME 50 14 TAP HERE TO WATCH A WELCOME FROM THE EDITOR How do you know you’re a writer? The question comes up time and time again, primarily because, to wildly generalise, we writers are a neurotic bunch. The answer should be simple. Work in a bank? You are a banker. Paint houses? You are a house painter. Write? You are a writer. But it doesn’t feel Jonathan Telfer quite the same. We each have Editor our own markers of what would qualify or validate us and (because we a neurotic bunch) that marker seems to always be one step ahead of wherever we are. Having written a novel fits the definition, but I’m not a writer because it’s not published... or not a bestseller... or I’m not full time yet... or it’s only my first one. This has become something of a theme this issue, with key articles on the dreaded Imposter Syndrome, and how we should judge success on our own terms, not by comparing with others, but it crops in our interviewees too, and not just this month, from authors at every level. So don’t get hung up on it. You write. You are a writer. See? That’s the validation you needed. All you have to do now is keep writing.
Never miss an issue of Writing Magazine
51 Poetry launch: Enter WM’s competition for wheel-themed poetry 52 Poetry winners: Read winning poems from WM’s Open Comp 54 Poetry workshop: A reader’s poem written at the beginning of lockdown 55 Poetry in practice: Creating a list can spark a new poem
SUBSCRIBE NOW see p44 Claim your FREE Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook
COMPETITIONS AND EXERCISES
GET THE WM DIGITAL EDITION Direct to your device
27 Short story competition launch 28 Short story winner: Read our winning Open Comp story 38 Writers’ circles: Memory exercises for your writers’ group 50 Free-range writing: Exercises to explore fatherly feelings
REGULARS 4 Miscellany 6 Letters 18 Editorial calendar 73 Going to market 79 Novel ideas 83 Travel writing know-how
ORDER A COPY DIRECT, with free postage https://writ.rs/wmissues SIGN UP FOR OUR REGULAR NEWSLETTERS at http://writ.rs/signupnow GET THE WRITER’S APP For daily prompts and opportunities http://writ.rs/writersapp JUNE 2021
3
MISCELLANY
The world of writing Automatic poetry, an amateur adaptation, a new quest and an old trick... people will try anything in the wonderful world of writing
SM
A
RT
PO
EM
S
The Collective Message is an AI-generated poem in couplets beamed onto the facade of the UK Pavilion at Expo 2021 Dubai to celebrate World Poetry Day on 21 March. It was written by a computer poetry algorithm created by brand experience agency Avantgarde, who worked on it with The Poetry Society, the Poetry Archive and Scottish Poetry Library. It uses words from over 15,000 poems by more than 100 UK poets and worked towards creating an AI voice that was both modern and timeless. ‘It was fascinating to witness the way that the AI entity came to first understand the rudiments of poetry construction and then to generate nuanced and meaningful lines, which, by the end of the process were almost as sophisticated as those created by human poets,’ said
Avantgarde’s creative producer Steve Austen-Brown. ‘It will be exciting to see this develop into a collective message telling our shared story of humanity’s hopes and aspirations.’ Here is an example of the AI’s poetry: and soon I am staring out again, begin to practise my words, expecting my word will come. it will not. the wind is calling. my friend is near, I hear his breath. his breath is not the air. he touches me again with his hands and tells me I am growing old, he says, far old. we travel across an empty field in my heart. there is nothing in the dark, I think, but he. I close my eyes and try to remember what I was. he says it was a important and interesting day, because I put in his hands one night the box of light that had been a tree. To animate it and generate a sense of collective identity, visitors to the UK Pavilion are invited to contribute a word that they feel represents humanity on Earth. The AI will then generate these into poem couplets that will be projected onto the surface of the Pavilion from 1 October to 31 March.
FINDING THE KEEPERS Anyone frustrated at the long wait for the upcoming Lord of the Rings television adaptation, interested in ambitious low-budget adaptation, or just looking for a few minutes of baffling diversion, might like to take a look at Khraniteli, thought lost since the early 1990s and now rediscovered. Khraniteli (The Keepers) is an adaptation of The Fellowship of The Ring, the first volume of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, made for the Russian television channel Leningrad TV on an extremely low budget with primitive computer effects, a soundtrack by grassroots Soviet prog rock legends Akvarium and costumes borrowed from various Leningrad (now St Petersburg) theatres just as the Soviet Union was about to collapse. Consequently, the serial was never reshown, and
4
JUNE 2021
some people who never saw the broadcast came to believe it never existed. Now Russia’s 5TV, which owns the rights to the production, has uploaded it to YouTube. There are no English subtitles, but if you are familiar with Tolkien’s novel it is perfectly possible to follow the general storyline. Irina Nazarova, a Russian artist who saw the original showing, told the BBC ‘It was a desperate attempt to present a much-loved book to the masses through the medium of television. They made it without anyone’s help. There was no money, there were no experts. People at that time would go for half a year without getting their wages paid and they didn’t know how they would feed their own children. ‘Bearing all that in mind, have
www.writers-online.co.uk
a bit of mercy on the people who made this and give them credit for trying at least. I’m not sure anyone else could have done better in the circumstances.’ And although Khraniteli looks something like a pantomime crossed with a low budget Continental children’s TV series from the 1960s or 70s, it does have something that Peter Jackson left out of his more celebrated version made a decade later: a visit to Tom Bombadil.
MISCELLANY
IT WAS JUST A NOM DE PLUME, OFFICER In a scenario straight out of a crime caper, enterprising fraudsters are targetting the hitherto cosy world of lit prizes with phishing emails, and even securing a £30,000 payout from one. The technique is simple – the fraudster emails the prize organisers very soon after the winner is announced, cites Covid-related bank trouble and asks for the payment to be made to Paypal instead. At least four UK prizes have been approached in this way, reports The Bookseller, with the Rathbones Folio Prize paying out before the deception
was discovered. The real winner, Valeria Luiselli, still received the appropriate prize, and ‘the lost funds were absorbed by cost savings elsewhere within the charity’. The scammers previously approach the Baillie Gifford Prize, The Forward Prize for Poetry and The Society of Authors. Elsewhere in the industry, agents and publishers have been phished by email with the apparent motive just of getting early access to highly anticipated manuscripts – with no attempt to benefit from them financially, or extort ransoms. The identity of the fraudster, or fraudsters, remains unknown, although some suspect them to be quite close to the industry, as The New York Times reported, ‘given the person knew whom to contact and when to send the messages. [Toby] Mundy, of the Baillie Gifford Prize, said he wondered
whether the scammer might be a disgruntled author “who’d never won a prize and was furious about it, trying to claim what’s rightfully theirs, by fair means or foul.” ‘Did any authors come to mind? “There’s plenty,” Mundy said with a laugh. “But I’m not naming names.”’ The Times continued, ‘Few share that idea, though, for one simple reason: The emails lack a certain literary flair. “The prose was a bit dead, and there was no warmth,” said Patrick McGuinness, the winner of last year’s Encore Award, who had been passed the scammer’s email. “As a literary critic, I would say there was all the right words, but none of the fire.” ‘[Craig] Brown, the Baillie Gifford winner, agreed. “I’m not thinking, ‘My God, it’s Salman Rushdie,’” he said. A published author would have put more effort into the grammar, for starters, he added.’
A FRIENDLY QUEST Readers of a certain age will surely remember the 1979 publishing sensation Masquerade, the bestselling book in which illustrations hid cryptic and devilish clues to the real world location of a golden hare. Now a new ‘quest’ book hopes to capture some of that spark, with an even more impressive prize and what sounds like an impossible challenge. The Golden Treasure of the Entente Cordiale will lead readers to the location of a historic casket donated to Britain by the French president at the signing of the Entente Cordiale in 1904, valued at €750,000. Worth a punt? To track down the prize, hunters simply have to solve nine puzzles, with codes hidden in illustrations and clues in accompanying text, to come up with the full text of a conundrum which, when solved, will give the location of a geode crystal key buried somewhere within the UK. And then do the same again for the location of a second geode key buried in France. With clues in a second edition of the book published in France. In French. Only by combining the two geodes will the winner be Published by Warners Group Publications plc West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH Main office: 0113 200 2929 Subscriptions: 01778 392 482 Advertising: 0113 200 2925 Publisher: Collette Lloyd, email: collette.lloyd@warnersgroup.co.uk Editor: Jonathan Telfer, email: jtelfer@writersnews.co.uk Senior designer: Nathan Ward, email: nathanw@warnersgroup.co.uk Marketing: Collette Lloyd, email: collette.lloyd@warnersgroup.co.uk
able to unlock the cabinet in which the book’s mastermind illustrator Michel Becker is keeping the casket. The two-part quest intends to replicate and celebrate the spirit of the Entente. ‘It was Michel Becker’s idea,’ puzzle creator Vincenzo Bianca told the Guardian. ‘He found the golden case, bought it, and learned everything that you can know about the Entente Cordiale. He fell in love with this story between France and England, which existed thanks to the will of the two men [King Edward VII and Loubet]. He wanted to bring this story to the world with this treasure hunt.’ Let’s hope it all plays out rather more smoothly than Masquerade’s endgame. When two Manchester teachers eventually cracked the code and found the location, in 1982, they had been beaten to the haul by a friend of author Kit Williams’ ex-girlfriend, who, presumably, had not spent too long poring over the text. The quest is not going to be easy, and the creators believe it will take a cross-Channel collaboration, although theoretically one bilingual person or team could complete both halves. Allons-y!
Advertising sales manager: Mark Dean, email: mark.dean@warnersgroup.co.uk Subscriptions: writingmagazine@warnersgroup.co.uk Typeset by: Warners Group Publications plc, West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH Printed by: Warners (Midlands) plc, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH Distribution: Nikki Munton, email: nikkim@warnersgroup.co.uk, tel: 01778 391171 Warners Group Publications plc,West Street, Bourne, Lincs PE10 9PH
www.writers-online.co.uk
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. © Copyright Warners Group Publications plc. ISSN 0964-9166 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. 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. Warners Group Publications plc cannot act as a licensing or accreditation authority, but will investigate complaints against advertisers.
JUNE 2021
5
LETTERS S TA R L E T T E R The best medicine time without the stick, I went out this morning for the first from where I sprained it even though my knee is still hurting, ting a ceiling! I called into coming off the step ladder after pain l, to get the May Writing mal ping the newsagent up at the shop Magazine. my knee, with a coffee When I got home, I sat down to rest , before earmarking ugh thro flip k quic and the magazine for a shor t stories, but the I read the articles of interest. Sometimes not always. This morning I did! y Dadsdeadtemporary Haydn Cavanagh’s winning shor t stor ! My eyes were erics hyst in me –WhatsAppGroup (p54) had
watering so much, I had to take my glasses off. The coffee sat undrunk ’t until I’d read the whole thing. I don t wha is this if and ia, med al do soci hI might happen, I don’t dare... althoug with se cour a did I p, grou wonder if the still online in Febr uary, with RNA, are ...? ther toge get on their WhatsApp er. The knee still hurts, but I feel bett
MAUR EEN CL AYS ON Stratford-upon-Avon
s a copy of the Writers’ & The star letter each month earn of Bloomsbury, Artists’ Yearbook 2021, courtesy
WRITERS’ NEWS
UK COMMERCIAL FICTION MARKET
We aim to please I am just writing to say a huge thank you to Writing Magazine. In the February 2021 edition (page 84) there was a piece on Cahill Davis Publishing looking for manuscripts. I sent off my first crime novel and am thrilled to announce that they are publishing my debut novel Daisy Chain in the summer of 2021. The magazine has been an inspiration to me for many years with great advices from so many people including Adrian Magson and Lorraine Mace. To all those writers who may be struggling I say please keep going. Find the method that works for you to get the words on the page. Talking of which... need to carry on with Book 2... JULIA VAUGHAN Telford, Shropshire FLASHES
The Kent and Sussex Poetry Society Open Competition closes on 31 January, for poems, max forty lines, on any subject, in any form or style. Prizes are £1,000, £300, £100 and 4x£50. Entry fee is £5, £4 each for three or more. Details: The Competition Organiser, 58 Glebe Lane, Maidstone, Kent ME16 9BD; email: kentand sussexpoetry@ gmail.com; website: https:// kentandsussex poetry.com/thekent-sussex-poetrysociety-opencompetition/
Poet Jay Bernard won the £5,000 2020 Sunday Times/University of Warwick Young Writer of the Year Award, for Surge. The collection expores the New Cross Fire, which killed thirteen young Black people in 1981. The award recognises the best work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry by a British or Irish author aged 18-35.
‘Women have been hidden from history, and it’s only thanks to the efforts of a new generation of historians that we’re beginning to hear different stories emerge. When I was researching, I began to realise that black people have been airbrushed out of history, and nowhere is this more apparent than the story of enslaved black women.’ Stella Dadzie
84
FEBRUARY 2021
Commercial savvy Tina Jackson
digitalCahill Davis Publishing is a new independent in fiction first publisher of full length commercial was born English, launched in October 2020. ‘CDP the weekend trips from a love for books, stemming from as a to the library that I took with my grandmother my first ‘I wrote kid,’ writes publisher Cassandra Davis. time and I know book in 2012 while I was working full for authors. the pitfalls of writing and self-publishing authors both in After connecting with many likeminded that even with the person and on social media, I realised there growing popularity of ebooks and self-publishing,house publishing was still a need for a more traditional consider when approach. There are so many things to in itself and self-publishing that it becomes a business writing. do you than admin on time you spend more Which is why I set up CDP.’ of the Cassaandra’s aim is to combine the best with the advances traditional publishing team approach ‘So that you in technology and the rise of social media. without book, can find the perfect audience for your said. she needing to do everything yourself,’ and Cassandra’s formal background is in businesspassion had a social media marketing, but she’s always the for writing. ‘My aim for CDP is to combine the with traditional structure of a publishing house publishing. responsiveness and flexibility of digital to start the Lockdown has given me the opportunity eight years. There business I have wanted to for the last that not enough are so many amazing stories out there, of them doesn’t people get to read because the marketing make it off reach the right audience. Or they never place. I want to an editor’s to-be-read pile in the first plan for change that by creating a bespoke marketing book finds so your each and every book CDP publishes, the people who will love reading it.’ so initially CDP’s focus is on quality over quantity small but as the amount of books published will be of books they the company grows, so will the amount
for well-told, intend to publish. Cassandra is looking original stories. different; ‘CDP is looking for new, interesting and ‘Stories with not more of the same thing,’ she said. that crazy twists that get you thinking, manuscriptsit, books expect make you laugh or cry when you least level. Being a that connect with the reader on a deeper focus on one book smaller publisher means that we can and attention it at a time and give your story the care deserves.’ At the moment CPD’s focus is on commercial with books fiction. ‘We do not accept literary fiction, YA’, said a lot of images or children’s books, including of genre, Cassandra. What she’s looking for, regardless makes you that is: ‘A story that you feel drawn into, and best books are think about what you’ve just read. The it’s headed early the ones where even if you guess where you.’ on, the journey to the ending still captivates to publish able As CDP grows, Cassandra wants to be to a quality over more books. ‘But we’re keen to stick focus on each title quantity ethos,’ she said. ‘We want to bespoke marketing individually. This includes things like to publish and PR plans for every title and not rushing make sure that before the book is ready. We want to with the happy are both the editor and the author like to branch out finished product. Eventually we’d also long-term goal. into children’s books too but this is a books as As a digital-first publisher CPD publishes also make your ebook first, and pays royalties. ‘We’ll at the book available as a print on demand paperback an also create same time,’ said Cassandra. ‘We may book’s initial audiobook version, depending on your success.’ Submit complete manuscripts by email. ishing. Details: email: submissions@cahilldavispubl co.uk; website: www.cahilldavispublishing.co.uk
Glittering prize for Raven
Leilani New York born and based author Raven Fiction has won the $50,000 Kirkus Prize For won the for her debut novel, Luster. Raven also remarkable Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a new double which establishes her as a major her figure in the US literary world. Making fifteenth awards even more lucrative, to mark the money was year of the First Novel Prize, the prize increased this year from $10,000 to $15,000. The Kirkus Prize was established in 2014
to celebrate ‘‘eighty-plus years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry Prize and readers at large.’ This year’s Kirkus for Nonfiction was won by Mychal Denzel American Smith for Stakes Is High: Life After the Dream, while the Prize for Young Readers’ and Literature went to author Derrick Barnes illustrator Gordon C James for I Am Every Good Thing.
www.writers-online.co.uk
I have been a late-onset scribbler for several years now, initially subscribing to Writing Magazine for inspiration and encouragement but then letting my subscription lapse as too many unopened editions sat mocking me on the shelf. When Covid hit a year ago I relished the opportunity of re-sharpening my pencils, preparing my desk and getting down to some serious writing but… nothing happened. Absolutely zilch. It was as though a shutter had come down between me and my writing brain, and no matter how hard I tried to lift it, it was stuck fast. A week ago, on a whim perhaps inspired by the spring bulbs in my garden, I re-subscribed to the digital version of Writing Magazine and within a few minutes I had downloaded it onto my tablet. It was just like opening a birthday present, and as I browsed through the interviews, writing tips and competition winners, somewhere deep in my brain it felt as though a tiny spark was igniting. Inspiration, excitement, engagement – for many people, myself included, these nouns have been silent in our dark year of collective trauma. But this magazine has genuinely helped me to rediscover my lost creativity. CAROLINE BOOBIS Seghill 6
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
15/12/2020 14:27
A hive of ideas Lynne Hackles’ article (Novel ideas, WM May) really struck a chord with me. I have written two speculative novels, two lad-lit novels, a children’s novel and a children’s chapter book series. I have also written two musicals, a comedy TV series and some poetry. I don’t know which to focus on when looking for an agent or a publisher, and I want to keep writing but I can’t spare the time to write and search for an agent. Has anyone got any ideas? CHERRY TOMPSETT Edwinstowe, Notts I write as someone who has an imperfect relationship with punctuation. Even so, I would differ slightly from the letter McCreet critiqued (WM, May). Through these simple marks on a page it becomes possible to create an exact sense and purpose as to how a piece of writing should be configured. Used correctly, punctuation has the ability to transfer understanding and extend the reach of communication. It gives us the tools to work with precision, to convey intended meaning even in the most complex of wording. Punctuation is also flexible enough to incorporate more than just conventional forms of writing: where it is applied to slang or dialect. I do recognise, and appreciate, that punctuation may become an obstacle for something like therapy-writing. Yet, this would be an instance where the rules of punctuation can be uncoupled in order to achieve the primary objective of therapeutic expression. Also, when it comes to something like the powers of imagination – there should be no rules – until, that is, it is packaged into text for the general consumption of others. MICHAEL WILSON Newcastle
Shivering with excitement I hate it when authors sell themselves short. In The First Five Pages (WM, February) Allie Reynolds left a disclaimer, ‘I’m no writing coach. There are way more qualified and experienced people than me out there to give you writing advice.’ This initially put me off reading the piece. Fast forward to the beginning of April and I’m now glued to this article. I recently read her book Shiver and was in awe. I haven’t been as engrossed in a book like that in a while! How did she do that? How did she get me that invested right from the beginning? Her answer was right in that article. In front of me was the insight I needed to really be able to look back at my work and edit it in a way that it should be edited. I cannot express my gratitude for this piece and have now bought all of the writing books she recommended. Today I received the May edition of WM and noticed The First Five Pages has made a comeback. Fingers crossed this article becomes a signature piece in the magazine as I’m finding them incredibly useful at the moment! CHARLOTTE BARKER Hartlepool, Co Durham
Ear worm Reading our own work aloud certainly reveals the camouflaged nasties that get missed by the skimming eye. But reading our own work may not entirely do the job. When we read to others in a writing group, we will inevitably include our own intonation and expression to convey what we intend future readers to experience: what we as the creator hear clearly in our own head. But future readers won’t have this add-on: for them our written words must speak for themselves. Which is why it might be a very good idea to get another member to read our work aloud for us. For only then will we hear an awkwardly constructed sentence, ungraceful rhythm, accidental rhyming. We’re made aware of possible ambiguities of meaning, unconvincing dialogue, slips in point of view, confusion over who is speaking. All the faults to which we have remained curiously blind. Then there’s always the delightful daydream. Who would we choose as the narrator should our novel ever be turned into an audiobook? Thankfully in real life and in the meantime my wonderfully sharp-eyed, sharp-eared and timegenerous writing group ninevoices.wordpress. com can always be relied on. TANYA VAN HASSELT Tunbridge Wells, Kent
A fine vintage In response to Helen CornerBryant’s article (Is my age an issue?, WM April. I’m pleased to announce that at the tender age of 74 I’ve just published my first slim collection of verse: The Dream And The Flowers, though the writing has spanned some 35 years or so. I only considered publication after working up the courage to read some in public and receiving positive response. I followed advice in Get Your Book Published issued by Writing Magazine, that suggested looking at books you’ve purchased in the genre you’re writing in to see who has published them; through this I discovered Words Are Life Publications and with their help and encouragement my work is now available on Amazon, fantastic. Obviously I conclude that no, age is not a barrier to writing or publication. PETER FOSTER A S K A L I T E R A RY C O N S U LTA N T
Is my age an issue? a writer Helen Corner-Bryant reassures that their age is against them
worried
more experience If you’re older, though, you might have a may not have the I’m 49 years old. Is it too late to have in life, offer a different perspective, and be less idealistic, more writing career? same financial pressures, so you may more prolific and focussed and so on. You also might be frequently compared to someone not alone! have time to write more you may already We’re asked this question a fair bit so you’re younger. Or by the time you’re discovered, writers published each year. There are many examples of successful have a repertoire of books that can be mid-life: to a deadline, who started their writing career in their You can sit back, not worry about writing Chandler… In JRR Tolkien, Annie Proulx, Raymond and continue to write at your leisure! career. age and far more short, it is never too late to start a writing Ultimately, though, it’s far less about be perceived as saleability of your Some writers worry that their age will about the uniqueness and potential shouldn’t be the If you’re a negative to the trade. Of course, age book. It’s also about you and your ambitions. is it brilliant? pouring out of focus. It ought to be all about the book: undeterred by age, and find great books does the author have that should see talent raw and How will it sell? What other books persistence you, it’s that to you as a writer – an in mind? And when the gaze turns your name on the bookshelves. guru, Louise agent will think, can we work well together? If you’re in any doubt, look to self-help factor she was 50 years So, while age is unlikely to be a prohibitive Hay. She wrote her first book when bear to considerations are set up a publishing in getting published, there old, sold over 50 million copies, and in your 20s, let a little thing like in mind. Whether you’re a rising star house, Hay House. Imagine if she’d or you’re slightly successfully launched in your 30s-50s, age get in the way! age can be a unique later to the party in your 70s-100s, Sir Tom Moore selling point. Think of the late Captain hour of need, and – an inspiration to the nation in its movie deals. Mary then followed by a flurry of book and from switched – Lawn Camomile The of Wesley – author 70s and continued writing children’s to women’s in her of the spectrum CONSULTANCY Y CONSULTANCY well into her 80s. At the younger end #1 TRANSATL ANTIC LITERARY their fantasy novel, there are the Guptara twins who wrote and after many drafts Conspiracy of Calaspia, aged eleven and Alec Greven got published when they were seventeen; nine. who wrote How to Talk to Girls, aged Victoria I had some wonderful mentoring with most writers it is not If age is not your USP – which for which was For the majority through Cornerstones at first draft stage – don’t mention it in your cover letter. of Helen isn’t relevant incredibly helpful, and through the support of the trade, an unremarkable age bracket to come. An draft and and the team, I worked towards a final – it’s about the brilliant book and books naturally present itself impression of how old you are will managed to get myself an agent. and by then they’re when an agent or editor meets you One Dog Walking Agency’ already interested. - Kate MacDougall, ‘London’s Number the following: if (Bonnier, Spring 2021) Of course, it’s practical to consider have more years of you start when you’re younger, you’ll may well see you as writing under your belt. A publisher to invest their time a safer bet when considering whether too mind in Bear career. your and money in launching a loyal readership, Structural editing, copy-editing and proofreading, that it can take a few books to build A writer who makes scouts for leading agents which hopefully translates into sales. to write a (0) 1308 897374 +44 it when they’re younger and who continues accrue more sales book every year is probably going to www.cornerstones.co.uk They have the time figures and a steady revenue stream. diversify into to grow as a writer and possibly even different genres.
Q A
The whole package I have just received my May copy of Writing Magazine in its new paper packaging and am very impressed. Not only is it easier to open and recyclable, it is very useful for writers. Once carefully opened using its front opening flap, with the magazine removed the envelope provides a pristine clean A4 piece of paper ideal for jotting down notes, plots, characters, or for just doodling. Opening the envelope out provides a large blank sheet of white paper, again immensely useful for plot matrices, back story notes, character sketches both written or drawn. With this new packaging Writing Magazine really does provide the writer with everything they need. TERRY BALDOCK Droitwich Spa, Worcs
“
”
18
APRIL 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
16/02/2021 09:21
p18 cornerstones.indd 18
I was delighted to see that this month’s magazine was delivered in a paper envelope rather than the usual plastic one, not only in the context of reducing plastic waste and global warming, but it’s a boon to writers, as well. I’ve just used the back of mine to draft this letter. DAVID A JONES. Wrightington, West Lancs
Tiny tweaks I’ve just read Writing Magazine for the first time. What an enormous amount of information and advice in this inspirational magazine. My favourite section was Under the microscope. The insight and editing advice is invaluable. So much improvement from such tiny tweaks. Thank you, that is the page I will be turning to first in future. HELEN YURETICH Kaitaia, New Zealand
Write to: Letters to the editor, Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD; email: letters@writersnews.co.uk. (Include your name and address when emailing letters. Ensure all 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.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
7
WRITERS’ VOICE
Screen credit
Find out what the SoA could do for you at www.soc ietyofauthors. org and get 15 mo nths for the price of 12 with the code WRITINGMAG20
Theo Jones, contracts adviser at the SoA, outlines the deal when you work with television producers
I
n our casework with writers, we advise many who work with television production companies. The obvious cases are those writing scripts, or others whose novels are adapted for television. But there is a less well-known group of writers whose involvement with television often goes unseen – namely non-fiction writers whose work is used as source material in programming. And because they are the less visible face of television writing, they often go unrewarded for the work they do. If you write history, biography, science books or other factual work, you may find yourself approached by a researcher or producer, working on behalf of a television production company, inviting you or asking for your work to be included within a piece of factual TV programming. This can happen be either during the initial research and development stage of a production or in during preparation of a commissioned programme. This can sound enticing – but before you say yes, make sure you know what you are getting in return. We have come across too many cases where writers have been expected to provide their time for free, not even with expenses paid, where they have not been credited, and even where their work has been used as source material but not acknowledged or paid for. A couple of years ago, we teamed up with PACT, the association for independent TV production companies, to agree a set of good practice guidelines for authors and producers when making programmes together. If you write nonfiction, you should familiarise yourself with the principles outlined in the code and if a production company comes 8
JUNE 2021
knocking at any point, do let us know if of any problems you encounter. A few key areas of the PACT code are outlined below. Hold back on your best work
A researcher or producer will likely want to schedule a telephone conversation so that they can brief you on the nature of scope of their project and discuss the nature of your involvement. You should take care to limit the amount of information that you share at this initial stage and be clear that the initial discussions shall not be the contribution itself unless you expressly agree to this. How will your work be used?
It will be important for you to understand the context in which your contribution is to be used in the programme and how substantial it will be to the finished work. You may want to clarify that if there are any significant changes to that context resulting, for example, from any editorial changes affecting the narrative arc of the programme, you would want the producer to come back to you to clear further consent.
appropriate fee. Where there is to be a high degree of reliance on your written work then it may be appropriate to negotiate an option agreement. Talk to our advisors if you need specific advice on this. Make sure you are credited
You don’t want your contribution or work to go unnoticed – or uncredited. Always seek assurance that your contribution will be accompanied with an appropriate credit. You may have to accept that the producer will be bound to some extent by the requirements of the commissioning broadcaster, but you should always make your case in advance. Every effort should be made to resolve any issues arising under the code with the relevant producer, but these can be escalated to the head of production at the company as may be appropriate. Keep records
Make sure you keep clear and accurate records of everything you agree with producers. This could be formal contracts, commitments made by email or other paper trails.
Negotiate a fee
Your experience
Remember it is your responsibility to engage in discussions about payment. It may be appropriate to negotiate a fee with the producer, or at least the reimbursement of any travel and subsistence expenses that you might incur in preparing and delivering your contribution. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the producer will be able to guarantee that your contribution will be used in the programme, and so you should consider this when you agree an
We are very keen to hear from writers on their experiences working with factual TV to help us to ensure the code remains fit for purpose. Please write to our advisors at info@ societyofauthors.org to let us know how the code works for you. Visit our website for the full PACT guidelines and to find out more about what we do for scriptwriters and other authors whose work is featured in broadcast: societyofauthors.org.
www.writers-online.co.uk
From the
OTHE R SIDE OF THE DESK
WOKE UP From a publishing perspective, Piers Blofeld argues that wokeness is a creation of right-wing further educational policies
T
oday saw the announcement that a group of largely anonymous women writers have protested the inclusion of a trans woman on the shortlist for the Women’s Prize. It is yet another salvo in the woke wars being fought in publishing. Of course, this particular fight I have nothing to do with so am not going to comment in any way on it. Indeed, as a middle aged, public school-educated white male there are some good reasons why I should be incredibly careful about commenting on wokeness in general. In part that’s because I risk just coming across as a bit of an idiot – given that my name is Piers I perhaps feel a bit extra sensitive about that… But also because I do need to be careful. Publishing is a fairly universally liberal industry. There are some Tories in publishing, but as a rule they are pretty shy and by the way, spoiler alert, this is not me coming out as a Tory: as my children will confirm I am pretty classically centrist dad. But the Wild Women furore is a reminder that the whole conversation is so often toxic. In a sense that starts with the term woke itself. To call someone woke is about as helpful as saying OK Boomer to someone like me. And of course one of the defining issues in the whole ‘woke culture
wars’ is intergenerational tension. Millennials and Gen Zers think that Boomers etc are hopelessly individualistic and selfish and older generations tend to think the young are depressingly naïve in their view that they can create a frictionless world where injustice has been eradicated. But perhaps the single most depressing facet of today’s culture of divisiveness is the way it is being used – effectively it must be said – by the right-wing press as a wedge issue to shore up their support. In places like the Guardian you can hear people try to argue that none of this exists, it’s all a myth cooked up by the right. I think that ship has sailed – if enough people think a thing exists, then it exists. I also think the left are missing a trick. Wokeness (intersectionality is a better term by the way) is I think generally agreed to have originated as a campus phenomenon. It seems to me that it can be no mistake that US and UK universities, the epicentres of global wokeness, are also the places where students, as a result of short-sighted right-wing politicians, are forced to pay for their university education. I suggest that wokeness, far from being the bugbear of the right, is in fact their fault. Bear with me. Now that universities are businesses, students are customers who consume the universities’ product. Because there is no sensible way of evaluating the worth of that product, student www.writers-online.co.uk
satisfaction is a crucial metric. If they think they are getting value for money, then they are getting value for money. Now, without wanting to be too sweeping, if one was to look for themes which are universally popular with nineteen-year-olds unfairness and injustice would rank high. Not only is the experience of adolescence characterised by frustration at one’s own experience of injustice on a very personal level (‘that is so unfair!’ is the cry of every teenager) but that sense of injustice is cruelly compounded by making the poor sods pay twice for the chance to have a decent career. Going to university is of course a societal benefit. It is of course also a personal benefit, but that will be paid for through taxation over the course of a working life – making them pay fees as well is double dipping. It is therefore not surprising that selling them their own anger back at the wider injustices of the world – all the isms of race, sex, gender, colonial and imperial – is not exactly hard. It is the right which has created the circumstances whereby university teachers gain job security by telling their students what they want to hear, so I suggest if they are serious about the ‘war on woke’ they put universities back under public ownership where they belong and that way professors and lecturers can focus on the transmission of knowledge and not on keeping their customers satisfied. JUNE 2021
9
C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G
r e t t Be ing t i r w NOW ough the Author James McCreet runs thr tice most common errors made by appren ke writers so they can be solved at a stro
’ve been writing the Under the Microscope pieces for around ten years now and I’ve noticed certain patterns. Apprentice writers always struggle with the same things – sometimes for years. But imagine if you could solve all of those problems in one go. You’d be a better writer almost instantly and save years of workshopping or rejections from agents and publishers. This is not a fanciful notion. Most of the reasons for ineffective prose are simply addressed – often in a matter of minutes. The difficulty is twofold. One: accepting that one has a problem. Two: identifying exactly what the problems are and how to address them. The first is up to you. The second is my aim in this article.
I
Punctuation I’ll be quite honest: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a piece of work from an apprentice writer who understood the rules of punctuation. That’s a sweeping statement and it’s true. The problem is that most writers believe they know the rules without ever learning them. Grammar works this way – we learn structures intuitively without formally knowing the rules – but it’s different with punctuation. Most apprentice writers punctuate according to ‘feeling’. A comma to signify a pause or a breath. A semi-colon because, well, it’s something between a comma and a full stop, right? No. There’s very rarely a cause to use a semi-colon. Its usage is highly concrete and yet also quite subtle. If you’re using more than one on a page, it’s likely you’re using them incorrectly. And if you can’t quote the rules (very simple, actually) you
10
JUNE 2021
are certainly using them incorrectly. There’s no excuse for bad punctuation. It’s just laziness. The solution is fast and easy: buy a book and learn the rules. You can do this in an hour or two and you’ll master it with use. In two hours, you’ll be a better writer with more control over your prose. Paragraphing ‘How does paragraphing actually work?’ a creative writer once asked me. She was a third-year university student who was writing vast blocks of text. That was an extreme case, but bad paragraphing is very common and it can powerfully affect the impact of prose. The simplest way to understand paragraphing is as visual editing. Watch any TV programme or film and note how the different shots work. First there’s an establishing shot, then a close-up, then another close-up when a different person speaks. The camera directs the viewer where to look and thus controls the focus and narrative of the scene. It’s the same in text. Whenever the focus changes – from person to person, from thought to description, from dialogue to exposition – there should be a paragraph break. This makes each scene much easier to understand, even if (or especially because) the action is quite complex. Paragraph breaks order the narrative. Moreover, as in film editing, the cuts become invisible if they are in the right place. Long paragraphs are dense and require much reader focus. Shorter paragraphs skip across the pages and control pace. In this way, you can further control the reader’s attention.
www.writers-online.co.uk
Description This is the part of writing that most writers like the most. It’s an opportunity to use all the tools. Still, many people make the same mistakes. The worst of these is cliché. Cliché is not description. It’s not even writing – it is collage using pre-masticated nuggets of language. True description asks the writer to consider each phrase individually and to create a unique phrase or choose exactly the right word. Vague or imprecise vocabulary is another common enemy. Which word would you choose to describe the surface of a rain-spotted car: glisten or gleam? Why? Which word would you use to describe the smell of a bakery: aroma or scent? Why? In choosing the right word, we must justify to ourselves exactly why we have chosen a word, based not only on dictionary definitions but also on associations and connotations. In time, this becomes intuitive, but first it must be conscious. Good description should be multisensory. That is, it should appeal to the senses most relevant to the scene but also to the literary sense. The sound and shape of the word is important. ‘Glisten’ is the best word above because the ‘st’ sound suggests sparkles of light. ‘Aroma’ is better because of its prolonged vowel sound (and because a ‘scent’ is more often associated with artificial smells or animal effluvia). Dodgy similes The problem with similes is that few things are exactly like other things. If we’re going to compare, we need to make sure that the comparison is as apt as possible. I can say, Her face crumbled like a landslide and she began sobbing but it’s not a good simile. A landslide is colossal, heavy, rumbling, destructive and probably muddy. Also, ‘crumbled’ suggests a friable nature. A face is none of those things. On the other hand, consider: His enthusiasm collapsed like a wet tent. Enthusiasm is an abstract and therefore has no appreciable appearance. The wet tent image is bathetic: a small failure with a plopping, apologetic sound. Moreover, it’s not a phrase you typically hear. Narrative perspective This is the most difficult part of writing because it’s invisible when we read but must be highly conscious when we write. It’s not simply a question of third-person or first-person address – it’s about how the author manages the reader’s relationship with the action and the characters. At the most basic level, we’re talking about the showingand-telling problem. Too many writers cannot relinquish control of the narrative. They insist on summarising the action rather than portraying it. The difference? Portraying means letting the scene unfold so the reader can observe it while also being part of it. This is done by moving invisibly between authorial ‘housekeeping’ (saying what’s happening) and the characters’ own thoughts or reactions. The reader shouldn’t notice such transitions. Consider: Dave struggled for control of the car. The tyres
squealed. Too fast! Not going to make it! The wheels left the road and the car soared into the void. The first sentence is the author telling us what’s happening. The second could be either the author’s or the character’s perspective (the ambiguity being a subtle transition) then we’re in Dave’s mind to evoke the panic before returning to authorial control. Nothing is overtly signposted but it’s all clear. The reader is pointed towards what they need to see and feel. Narrative logic Another common but complex problem is what happens when a scene is clear in the writer’s mind but not on the page. It often happens that we read a few lines or paragraphs before being told that, in fact, it’s dark. Or the character is a woman. Or that we’re in a subterranean garage. It’s necessary to give the reader such information in the right order so she can picture and conceptualise the scene. This is narrative logic. Narrative logic also means thinking about what is possible in a scene. If something is not described clearly, the reader will start wondering what it looks like or how it works... by which point they’ve stopped reading. I recently critiqued a piece in which the protagonist is hyperventilating with a panic attack but the person talking to her hasn’t noticed. That’s literally incredible and thus the whole scene falls apart. Ignoring the reader The common fault in all of the above is concentrating on the writing at the expense of the scene. Too many apprentice writers are more concerned with the language than with what it’s supposed to be evoking. They are writing for themselves but not for a reader. Good writing relies on two essential pillars. The first is having a proficient grasp of the craft (punctuation, narrative, paragraphing, etc) and the second is understanding that every line, every word, every scene must be created with a specific effect in mind. The writer must know what they want to achieve in terms of positioning the reader: telling them what to see, how to feel, what to expect. If you’re not tacitly asking yourself these things at every stage, you’re not writing well. Any part of a paragraph or page that doesn’t have an explicit purpose is not working as prose. The choice of words, length of sentence, position of clauses and order of narrative should all be aimed at a desired reader reaction. Otherwise, you’re just writing to yourself. All of these points look obvious – even condescending. However, they remain the most common mistakes I’ve seen and continue to see in all apprentice work. I made them myself for years, thinking I was above them. Slowly, painfully, I learned to address them. Eradicate them from your own writing now, this week, and you will become a better writer immediately. The next steps are harder and slower and involve developing a distinctive voice. First: the essentials.’
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
11
SELF-PUBLISHING
THE PROFESSIONALS In part four of her self-publishing series, indie author DJ Bowman-Smith helps you to find and work with the right experts
C
ongratulations, you have finally finished your book and after as much self-editing and rewrites as you could manage, you’re thinking seriously about getting it out there. To get your copy ready for publishing, you are going to need expert help. An editor, a proofreader, and possibly a formatter to make the interior files readable and pleasing to look at.
High-tech help
Every writer needs an editor. There really is no way around this. Even if you have a very tight budget, this is the one area where you cannot do-it-yourself or enlist a well-educated friend. The first editor the modern author needs, is a good robot. Yes, that’s not a misprint, get yourself a robot! The two most common ones are Grammarly and ProWritingAid (see box). Both have a free version if you’re strapped for cash. But if you can splash out and buy a licence, the extra tools are well worth it. Each have free trials of their paid-for versions, which is a good way to find out which fits your working method and writing style. Keep a lookout for discount codes. The whole point is to get your writing into its best potential state before your editor receives it. Because if they are not drowning in a sea of rookie mistakes, they can concentrate on the tricky, 12
JUNE 2021
expert stuff that you’re paying them to fix. When you have squeezed every nuance out of the robot, it’s time to find an actual human being. The editor
Nothing about the writing life is easy and finding the right editor and type of editing that your book requires is tough. Editing can take many forms, and what your manuscript requires depends on your individual needs. I will not discuss different aspects of editing but focus instead on the process of identifying and working with these professionals (see box: Editorial Freelancers Association to clarify types of editing). These days, especially in these times of Covid, much of your search will be conducted online. But beware, there are many people who set themselves up as editors with limited or no experience. Use websites that have pre-vetted professionals like Reedsy. The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) site has a list of approved service providers. A little research could save you time and money. Picking an editor is very much about finding a proper fit for you and your writing. An editor of sweet romance will not enjoy your dark, horror story and may be, well, horrified. A good editor will have a portfolio of previous work which will show their preferred genres. So it is necessary to find a professional who will understand your www.writers-online.co.uk
work. When you discover someone who seems like a perfect fit, ask if you can send them a sample and request a quote. But if your writing has content that may offend, email first and make clear what they can expect to find within your pages. If they don’t like the sound of it, they can say no thanks and everyone stays happy. At this stage, let them know anything else that may be relevant for example, word count and whether you will supply a style sheet (more on this later) and, most importantly, when you hope to complete the project. Look before you leap
As before mentioned, it is prudent to investigate the editor’s work, which is tricky, yet not impossible. This is my method. Look on their website. Read it throughout. I’m afraid if there is a typo, spelling mistake or grammatical slip, it’s a no from me. If they are not diligent enough to correct their own work, that doesn’t leave much hope for yours. If all aspects are perfect, brilliant. Onto the next stage – their portfolio. On their website, there should be a list of books they have edited. Select a couple that seem most like your own. Find them on an online bookstore, and either download a sample or use the look-inside facility if available and have a read. The good thing is, oddly, most of us can spot mistakes in another’s work when we can’t even judge a comma placement in our own. How
does it read? Are there any errors? Verifying if an editor did in fact work on a book can be problematic. Not all authors credit them. However, a reputable editor will provide references if you feel you need them. And most authors have a website where they can be contacted so if you’re still unsure, send them an email and ask. Most indie authors are happy to help. Also, social media can be an invaluable support. Track down the authors and ask if you can send them a direct message – so you can have a private conversation without offending anyone. When your sample is returned, be wary of praise. Whilst you hope to find an editor with whom you will get along, flattery is not their job. Rather, it is to rap you over the knuckles for sloppy prose and pin you to your desk, sorting out your plot holes and passive voice. Remember, you are hiring somebody to criticise you. So don’t be needy. They don’t have to love your work, and most professionals won’t comment one way or another.
USEFUL WEBSITES • Editorial Freelancers Association Check out their Resources link and go to New Author Guide, which gives lots of info about types of editing. They also have a guide to editorial rates. www.the-efa.org • Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) Advice and information on all things indie author and a list of vetted professionals. www.allianceofindependentauthors.org • Reedsy Lots of freelance editors. Free quotes available and informative blog and newsletter. www.reedsy.com • Get yourself a robot Grammarly: www.grammarly.com ProWritingAid: www.prowritingaid.com • Mark Dawson’s Self-Publishing Formula Many free and useful books eg Writer’s Yellow Pages and very much more. www.selfpublishingformula.com
Help the editor
Once you have found someone and agreed prices, payment methods, availability and deadlines, it is time to send off your manuscript. Hooray! It is good practice to supply your manuscript in your editor’s preferred format. If they have not stated their preferences you can always ask, but the following guides will probably suffice. Label your (Word) document sensibly. ‘Latest version book 8’ is not helpful, and neither is ‘Aunt Flo’s copy’. Make certain it contains the book title and your name. Attach a header on the actual manuscript with your name, book title, and email address and a footer for page numbers. Use double spacing, one-inch margins and a 12-point font in something inoffensive like Times New Roman. Any work with a degree of complexity will require a style sheet. List your characters and their names and all else that may cause confusion. Invented place names, superpowers, made-up words, time zones and magic – include them all in a nice alphabetised list on a separate document for ease of use. Don’t leave the editor to work out whether the strange spelling is a new word in your epic fantasy or just a massive typo.
process. Make a nice empty time slot where you can sit down and go through the track changes and suggestions. The bottom line is that you do not have to agree to everything. It’s your work and ultimately you get to decide what to accept or reject. To rewrite a passage or more or alter something that felt fundamental – or not. For myself, I generally approve 99% of the proposals. Occasionally it may take a bit of thought and soul searching, but give yourself time to consider. It is still your work and you will know if a change is just not right and that’s okay too. This is subjective stuff. So whilst I do believe that the editor is most likely correct, be confident and hold on to your authorial voice – that is, after all, what makes your writing unique. Proofreading
After the editing, and before formatting, a proofreader is a great idea if you can afford it. Because no matter how carefully you executed those track changes, mistakes will be made. Let those aforementioned robots do their thing again and if money does not stretch to this last bit of editing, seek some educated eyes to read through the manuscript.
Take it on the chin
Formatting
When your work returns, make sure you acknowledge the email and it goes without saying to pay promptly in the manner agreed. Seeing your precious words covered in corrections and markups for the first time is daunting. Especially after employing the robot to such good effect and reading the whole thing through again before you sent it off. There is not one among us who is unsurprised by what an editor can find fault with. Don’t be disappointed – this is part of the
This is the final job, and it is all about making the words sit nicely on the page. You can hire someone to do this for you. Don’t forget to use websites with approved professionals and make sure you understand which files they will give you for the various platforms where you will publish. Or you can teach yourself how to do this. Next time I will discuss formatting in more depth.
www.writers-online.co.uk
www.djbowmansmith.com JUNE 2021
13
S TA R I N T E R V I E W
JUSTICE
FOR ALL TAP HERE To read an extract from One Half Truth
Eva Dolan creates popular crime novels with social justice at their heart, as Tina Jackson discovers.
I
f you like your crime writing cosy and nostalgic, step away now. But if your idea of a cracking contemporary crime novel is one that interrogates the wrongs society commits against the overlooked and underprivileged, then check out Eva Dolan – outstanding crime writer as social justice warrior. For example, the issue of land contamination doesn’t sound a promising premise to base a novel on, let alone one as gripping as Eva’s latest, One Half Truth, the latest in her DI Zigic and DS Ferreira series. But in her hands, investigating the murder of a young journalist exploring the web of crime and corruption that spins out from a shady property deal creates a propulsively thrilling read that illuminates the ripple effects social injustice has on people who’ve already been clobbered by profiteers. ‘The crime on the surface is representative of the deeper narrative in society,’ explains Eva. ‘Looking at deeper levels of crime is exactly what
14
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
I want to do. You can write about anything you want in crime fiction as long as you get to a murder. I’m thinking, someone will kill over this. We have literally book after book where a woman is killed – so how to get people to understand that land contamination is something people could kill about? That’s very different. Yeah, we’re living on contaminated land, breathing contaminated air – you need to get people to see how high the stakes are.’ One Half Truth is Eva’s seventh novel, and the sixth in the Zigic and Ferreira series. She wrote it in the first few months of lockdown. ‘It’s a world that feels very real in my head,’ she says. She’s friendly and fiery and an absolute pleasure to talk to – and happy to admit that beneath her welcoming manner, she is, yes, seething. ‘There’s so much to be angry about,’ she says. ‘Crime fiction is a chance to hold a mirror up to parts of society. I understand why people are looking for escapism but it can do so much more.’ In Eva’s talented hands, it does – without ever forgetting that the human stories are what draw you in to understand the bigger issues that are often overlooked. ‘With crime you can tell stories other people don’t want to tell,’ she says. ‘You make a decision – I’m comfortable with telling
the truth and writing about things most people would turn away from. It feels important to me to talk about things other people didn’t want to discuss and dig into.’ As a crime writer, it’s vital for Eva that what she’s working on deals with something that matters to her. ‘Write what engages you!’ she says. ‘It takes a lot of energy to write a book and if it was about nothing I’d feel like I’d wasted a year of my life. You give up a lot to be a writer – you can be in a room with other people but they can’t really access you – and to get to the end of it and think I’ve written about an unhappy marriage in North London would feel like a waste of life. If you’re going to spend a year working on a book it has to be something that’s really important to you. I’m actually really lazy but it has to be something other people want to talk about. I think I’m a natural provocateur. I like getting the rise out of people.’ In lockdown, she’s been reading a lot of nonfiction, which is fuelling the rage. ‘I’ve been reading a lot of history, non-fiction history and it’s been making me very angry –the Peasants’ Revolt, the English Civil War. We’re still having the same arguments. It keeps pushing me to keep writing – I keep finding new things to be furious about. It starts to feel like a fight you probably aren’t going to win – but it’s how you keep yourself engaged.’ Eva says she doesn’t set out to write books charged with politically motivated anger and saturated in social commentary, but she can’t help herself. 2018’s standalone This Is How It Ends, which deals with women activists and protesters, is a case in point. ‘I don’t think I’ve written the book on gender I want to write yet,’ she says. ‘This Is How It Ends – that’s one for Tesco I thought and it gradually became more and more me. The book I’m working on now, I start with such good intentions of writing something nice and easy and within a week it was into the most vicious politics you can imagine.’ Eva comes from Cambridge – the other Cambridge, a world away from the punts and gowns and scholars and privilege. She writes authentically about people from working class backgrounds because that’s what she knows. ‘Obviously I’m working class and I grew up with working class stories and as a writer you’ve got to pick on the things that engage you. ‘
The series characters at the heart of her DI Zigic and DS Ferreria books evolved from her own experience of coming from an immigrant background ‘The last two books are more personal because I come from an immigrant family,’ says Eva. ‘The first book was written three or four years before the Brexit vote and people from BAME communities say the racism has never gone away. The books didn’t feel overtly political – it just felt like the polarising effects of social media have made them seem more political. The world has changed. Immigration has an incredibly toxic discourse around it.’ Her lead characters are in the police force because it suits her to have them there as investigators, rather than because she’s fascinated by the workings of the police. ‘I can’t say I give the procedural aspect a huge amount of thought,’ she shrugs. ‘It’s just a cheat really isn’t it? Zigic and Ferreira are outsiders and it’s not really a series which is about the police perspective. They got pushed into Hate Crimes because they’re foreign.’
“I’m comfortable with telling the truth and writing about things most people would turn away from. It feels important to me to talk about things other people didn’t want to discuss and dig into.” DI Zigic had been a character in a previous manuscript of Eva’s that didn’t sell. ‘I started writing the next book and he kept popping up so I thought I wanted to write about him. I wanted to write about hate crimes so I thought I’d put him in that unit. Ferreira’s a lazy character – me with no filter.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
15
Easy as anything, an actual joy to write.’ Although Zigic and Ferreira ring true, Eva’s police characters are there to allow her to explore issues rather than reflect the reality of police work. ‘With police procedurals, most detectives in books would not be police officers – their mindsets are completely different from real police officers,’ she says. ‘With Zigic and Ferreira you need people to like them, to have empathy. They’ve suffered racism from the moment they came into this country. I do ask myself though if these people shouldn’t be coppers. We’re told detectives are rebels or mavericks and that comes down to not respecting the rules. But Zigic and Ferreira are in opposition to the system. It’s just me. I can’t blame anyone else for that. I think I just enjoy putting them in opposition to a system and seeing what happens.’ She gets understandably incensed at the way she feels the largely middle class publishing industry divides working class writers into good and bad stereotypes. ‘Posh people don’t get working class characters right because they’ve no experience of that. There’s this question of what is working class fiction and how there is a correct and incorrect kind of working class writer. The correct way is somebody who has left the working class and writes about it – a cartoonish version. They want abuse narratives. The idea that you’ve stayed in it and quite enjoy it makes people get suspicious about that.’ Eva was shortlisted for the CWA’s career-making Debut Dagger award when she was still in her teens. In her case, though, it wasn’t the launchpad that it might have been. ‘This is the biggest regret of how I’ve handled my career,’ she says. ‘I was writing crime, being too influenced by Elmore Leonard. I entered the Debut Daggers and got shortlisted. I thought, “oh I haven’t won”, and that being shortlisted was essentially meaningless. I didn’t know anyone who was a writer. I knew people who welded cars
16
JUNE 2021
“Crime chimes with the way my mind works. You can take a crime that touches the most precarious person in the most precarious position, and someone with privilege, and crime unites them. Corruption fascinates me and that’s another crime. Unpeel away the layers, peel away the artifice.” together. So I didn’t go to the ceremony. And my career could have started 10 or 15 years earlier.’ She does admit that although that decision might have cost her a decade of a writing career, she’s more in the driving seat now than she would have been if she’d been the hot new teen crime writer. ‘I think I wasn’t such a good writer then. I’d just have been pushed into writing what the market wanted. I’d have ended up writing things I didn’t believe in and burnt out. I wouldn’t have been old enough to argue my corner and I’d have been miserable. The way I behave now, I would not have behaved then.’ Instead, she honed her craft, quietly, intently, and on her own. ‘I spent sixteen years writing a book a year and shoved them in a desk. And then I wrote one that I felt it might be good enough. I sent it out at two or three in the morning and was offered representation at 9am the next day.’ She decided crime was the genre for her very early on, but as a self-taught writer, her progress was far from easy. ‘I wanted to be a writer ever since I was nine, ten years old,’ she says. ‘Making little books out of sugar paper. I didn’t know what to write, and I got pulled to gothic first, and sent some stuff at sixteen to an agent. They said you might do better with crime fiction. So I then spent sixteen years just trying to work it out. I mean, in the deepest countryside, I never knew anyone else who was a
www.writers-online.co.uk
writer. I wanted to work it out on my own. I think one of the reasons working class people struggle in the arts is because they can’t ask for help. So that’s what I did. I worked it all out.’ She admits that if she had her career again, she’d probably do it differently. ‘If I was starting out now and I could afford it, I’d do an MA. I firmly believe that if you’re good you’ll get published. It is a difficult job and the good stuff shines out.. I think my whole journey was more difficult than it needed to be. Get all the help you can get. Do all the networking. Don’t put yourself through sixteen years of hell if you don’t have to.’ Crime was an instinctive choice for her. ‘Crime chimes with the way my mind works. You can take a crime that touches the most precarious person in the most precarious position, and someone with privilege, and crime unites them. Corruption fascinates me and that’s another crime. Unpeel away the layers, peel away the artifice.’ When she started writing crime, she read a lot of procedurals. ‘I looking for a road map of how to do crime fiction at that point. I was looking at writers who were like me and what they were writing. Procedural stories give you a skeleton – murder, and investigation and the resolution – and it gives you a lot of scope.’ To give her writing its edge of authenticity and veracity, Eva’s process involves different types of research. ‘I read a lot. I always want to get the political undertones of it correct so I read a lot of non-fiction. Because it’s all set in a world that I know – it’s a world I’ve been alive in for the last forty years – I talk to people with direct personal experience. I’ve got this absolute terror of the idea of anyone thinking I’ve read their story and exploited them – so I tend to use people I know who know what we’re discussing and know I’m trustworthy. The contamination story in One Half Truth happened to someone I know, it happened on a building site and these guys got seriously ill.’ The grassroots research can yield real pleasures. ‘The real joy of this book is that I got to open it in a working men’s club like my Grandfather used to go to. I know they still exist! If you don’t have working class writers writing about working men’s clubs, who’s going to?’ Seven books in, her process has changed. ‘I used to be an absolute pantser. No order, put it down and write. Now after sixteen years of not getting published, I structure it. I spend a couple of months researching it. I’ll sit down and write an outline – one page per chapter – with all the structural necessities and the information flow. That leaves the most interesting part of the book to happen
spontaneously. Having all of that structure sorted means I sit down and write.’ Once her plot is in place, Eva lets the story evolve organically. ‘It’s instinctive. I work out my plot and everything else is instinctive and gutled. Characters and dialogue is a kind of subconscious thing. If you’re going to write for a living, this political-personal thing should be instinctive. You take the subject, who it affects. I instinctively veer towards the people who are clobbered by society. When you’ve got used to getting clobbered from all sides, it breeds empathy into you from an early age.’ She gave up gambling during lockdown, but before that she’d ease herself into a writing frame of mind with a few games of poker. ‘It’s organised structured lying and it fits with the people who create a crime narrative. I play with crime writers. I love playing online. Before I started writing I’d play online for an hour. I’d play mathematically, systematically. It’s a palate cleanser between the hassle of the day and starting work.’ In her book, if it’s not fast and intense it’s not working. ‘So I write at night. I sit down at 11 and write through till 4 with espresso, roll-up fags and a bit of chocolate if I feel like I’ve earned it. When it’s going well I can write 3,000, 4,000 words. If I’m not writing fast I’m not writing well. I need to sit down and type fast – then I’m doing good stuff. If it’s not flowing I walk away and leave.’ This enraged, humane, uncompromising writer says its vital to write the books that aren’t there and that only you can write. ‘You’re trying to write something to fill that gap. I think you need to try to find the idea that only you will have. Looking at the market will only tell you what’s out there. You have to find something you care about to make it into a book. It’s got to be personal.’
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
17
Editorial calendar Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions. Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.
100 years ago: August 1921
90 years ago: August 1931
• The R-38 class airship crashed into the Humber Estuary, killing 44 passengers, in the world’s first great airship disaster.
• The UK National Government, a coalition, was formed after the resignation of the second Labour government, with Ramsey MacDonald as Prime Minister.
• Swimming champion and aquamusical synchronised swimming star Esther Williams was born.
• Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author William Goldman was born.
• Alex Haley, author of Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, was born.
80 years ago: August 1941 • The National Fire Service, which amalgamated local authority fire brigades with the Auxiliary Fire Service, was created. • Actor Martin Jarvis was born
75 years ago: August 1946 • The Family Allowance benefit was introduced. • The School Milk Act provided free milk for all pupils in state schools.
• The first army Jeep was produced
• League football recommenced after being suspended during WW2.
• American singer-songwriter David Crosby was born • Hawkwind founder Dave Brock was born. The space rock band has been going since 1969.
70 years ago: August 1951 • The film version of An American in Paris, directed by Vincente Minelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron and with music by George Gershwin, premieres in London. • Queen bass player John Deacon was born • Heavy metal singer Rob Halford, of Judas Priest, was born. 18
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
60 years ago: August 1961
50 years ago: August1971
• Britain applied for membership of the European Economic Community (EEC). It didn’t join until 1973.
• Scottish yachtsman Chay Blyth became the first person to sail round the world in the ‘wrong direction’ – east to west.
• Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Tivov was the first person to experience motion sickness in space.
• The Who released their album Who’s Next
• Construction began on the Berlin Wall. • Showjumper Harvey Smith flicked the Vs at the judges after winning the British Show Jumping Derby and was stripped of his win.
• Barack Obama, former US President, was born. • US singer-songwriter Billy Ray Cyrus was born.
• George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
• American fashion designer Tom Ford was born.
• US tennis champion Pete Sampras was born. • Comedian and author David Walliams was born.
40 years ago: August 1981 • General Motors launched the Vauxhall Cavalier Mk 2
30 years ago: August 1981
• The BBC News’ Moira Stewart became the UK’s first female African-Caribbean newsreader.
• British scientist Tim Berners-Lee published the first ever website.
• MTV had its first day on air on 1 August. • Steve Coogan and Armando Ianucci’s character Alan Partridge first appeared on BBC Radio 4’s comedy programme On the Hour.
• The UK’s runner Sebastian Coe set a world record fastest speed for 1 mile. (3.47.33) which remained in the top ten until 2014.
• Finnish student Linus Torvalds created the Linux project.
• Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, was born. • Tennis player Roger Federer was born.
20 years ago: August 2001
25 years ago: August 1996 • George RR Martin published A Game of Thrones.
• Anne Hathaway’s film debut, The Princess Diaries, was released.
Looking ahead
10 years ago: August 2010
In 2024 it will be 100 years since EM Forster’s novel A Passage to India was published. How is this novel, Forster’s last, relevant now, and how has it stood the test of time?
• Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO, and was succeeded by Tim Cook.
PICS All CC BY-SA, Wikipedia: Alex Haley, University of Texas at Arlington Photograph Collection; William Goldman, nl Peters, Hans/Anefo; David Crosby, Toglenn; Hawkwind, Andrew King; John Deacon, Eddie; Rob Halford, Aaron Rubin; Tom Ford, nicholas genin; Harvey Smith, Rob Mieremet/Anefo; Concert for Bangladesh, Richard Waren Lipack; Pete Sampras, Craig O’Neal; David Walliams, Ana maria wiggins; Sebastian Coe, Mohan, Doha Stadium Plus Qatar; Meghan Markle, Office of the Governor General; Roger Federer, Squeaky Knees; Tim Berners-Lee, Paul Clarke; Alan Partridge, Popcornduff, Linus Torvalds; George RR Martin, Harry Söderlund; Steve Jobs, matt buchanan.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
19
Getting ready to self-publish…? The friendly team at SilverWood can help!
• Complete ‘done-for-you’ self-publishing • Copy-editing and proofreading
• Book layout and cover design • POD, bulk printing and ebooks • Marketing tools and support
How can we help you…?
Book a FREE Discovery Call today to chat about your book.
T: 0117 318 0566 | E: enquiries@silverwoodbooks.co.uk
www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk
Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Writing CENTRE FOR LIFELONG LEARNING ONLINE STUDY
Contact Us Telephone: +44 (0)1904 328482 Email: lifelonglearning@york.ac.uk Web: york.ac.uk/creative
“ ” (PDLO VHFUHWDU\#VZDQZLFNZULWHUVVFKRRO RUJ XN RU FDOO
FREE
ADVERTISE HERE For more information contact: mark.dean@ warnersgroup.co.uk
INSIDE
£1.2M TO BE WON! OVER 820 COMPETITIONS TO ENTER
TRYING TIMES
WINNING CHANCES Why it’s worth enteri
comps and what are your chances?
How to write through difficult experiences
ng
Self-publishing Iconic authors who funded their own publication
GET ON LIN E
✦ How to run your own online works ✦ Holding a virtua hops l book launch
NEWS YOU CAN USE
33
Opportunities to get published
www.writers-online.co.uk
3
15
Ideas to try right now
STAR INTERVIEW
How crime bests eller
PETER MAY
creates havoc remote communitiein s
12
WM Reader success stories
04> 9 770964 916273
£4.50
JUNE 2021
COMPREHENSIVE COMP ETITION LISTINGS
APRIL 2021
p001_wmagApr.indd
20
THE WORLD’S MOST
A S K A L I T E R A R Y C O N S U LTA N T
Who’s in the driving seat? Helen Corner-Bryant considers the next move for a writer wondering if they should change their agent I have an agent and they got me a two-book deal with a major trade publisher a few years ago. I couldn’t have been more delighted. My novels went on to be published but only one has earned out. I’m now out of contract. I’ve written a third book and my agent’s had it for two months. However, they’ve not given me any feedback and despite several respectful nudges I’ve not heard a thing. I don’t know what to do. Should I keep nudging or should I look elsewhere? I really feel I need an agent who has my best interests at heart. At the moment I feel I’m their lowest priority. If I were to change agents how would I go about that?’
A
I completely empathise that you feel like things have ground to a halt. You want to know if your book is submittable and if not, how you might go about revising it; or perhaps it doesn’t stand up to the previous books and you need to write a new novel. To not have any indication at all must be very frustrating. Of course, you have earned that agent money with your first deal, which effectively puts you in a much stronger position than if you were unpublished (where an agent might have to get you a deal to no avail). That said, we’re in extraordinary times. Agents haven’t been in their offices for months, and although London Book Fair 2021 is planning for a Covid-safe physical event at the end of June, most have had to resort to meetings and deal-making via Zoom. It’s a really busy time and everyone’s doing their best in these current circumstances. So, let’s break down what might have happened here. Either the agent has had a cursory look and found that: a) the MS isn’t yet submittable; b) they haven’t had a chance to read but don’t want to admit that; or c) it’s submittable but not one for them, and so they’re mulling over how to tell you. During ‘fair season’, agents need to make swift decisions about which books to focus on and sell in, so it’s not unreasonable to expect option b). Consider how long you’ve waited. Two months isn’t unheard of in this glacial industry, and so your agent may just be getting to your MS. It’s worth a gentle nudge or two before considering your options, and in the meantime you might want to draw up a list of dream agents/prepare a new submission package. Some authors ask me if it’s okay to approach agents while they’re still with their current agent. The truth is that some agents are very quietly open to this; they might hear you out and reassure you that they couldn’t do more than what your current agent has. Sometimes it’s enough to encourage an author to stay put. Some agents are also open to expressing interest in an already-agented author, especially if that author has a proven track record and
the match seems good. Honesty is the best policy here, though. Express your feelings to your agent and give them a chance to redress the balance, or mutually agree to part ways (bear in mind that they’ll continue to earn from the books they got deals for). If the latter happens, you’re in a good position. As you’ve been published before it may only take an email or a phone call for a new agent to register their interest. You may even be faced with more than one agent to choose from; Angie Thomas was reportedly inundated with offers after parting from her original agent. If you do partner up with a new agent, you’ll be able use your past experiences to communicate what you need from them in order to feel more in control. However, there is always a risk in changing agents – you may not be able to sign with a new one, or someone you click with as well as you’d like. If you’re still convinced that a new agent is the way forward, rest assured, I’ve known agent switches to happen very quickly. If that’s the case, you’ll be in time for Frankfurt in the autumn.
#1 TRANSATL ANTIC LITERARY CONSULTANC Y
“
For me, the most important aspect of working with Cornerstones is the feeling of taking yourself seriously as a writer. Thanks for providing the expertise to help me on my way and long may you continue to help many others on the road to publication too!
”
Julie Ma, Happy Families (Welbeck, Winner of the Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller 2020) Structural editing, copy-editing and proofreading, scouts for leading agents
www.writers-online.co.uk
+44 (0) 1308 897374
www.cornerstones.co.uk JUNE 2021
21
WRITING LIFE
Book-to-screen BONANZA
Rosalind Moody highlights six major book adaptations coming to the screen this year
t’s every writer’s dream to consult on their own script, set or production. Here are the most successful stories coming to life on the small and big screens this year, and most importantly, what the author themselves might think of the transformations. Though Netflix snatched away precious weekend writing hours, it offered us all a welcome break from a pretty bleak lockdown reality. Will our obsession lessen now life is getting back to ‘normal’? Not with these awesome adaptations, it won’t. And if you’re anything like me, you love nothing more than discovering your favourite books optioned for production. Or, indeed, the other way round, when you find that your new favourite binge-watch originated in the written word (You by Caroline Kepnes, Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, need I go on?). See if these titles take your fancy, but please, do your imagination a favour and read the book first – dates are on each to help you get ahead.
I
NETFLIX Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, April Stardust star Ben Barnes brings the bestselling Grishaverse novels to life, but beware of spoilers because it’s out already. If you’re missing the weekly jawdrop each Game of Thrones episode provided, you’ll complete this boxset of eight episodes in a bank holiday weekend. Orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov goes on a hero’s journey to unlock her extraordinary power that could decide the destiny of her war-ravaged fictional world. It’s a unique production that combines elements from the Shadow and Bone book trilogy and Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology set two years later, pulling together multiple mini-universes. Author Leigh Bardugo co-creates with her fellow ‘world-builder’ Eric Heisserer, who together were tasked with inventing ‘prequel stories’ for the key Six of Crows characters this season to fit alongside what is happening in the Shadow and Bone storyline. What do dedicated readers of the books think, first off? ‘It’s the cast from my favourite book Crooked Kingdom from Six of Crows that excites me most,’ Emily Milsom says. ‘I guess that’s what makes this adaptation so unique, that it shows the two book worlds as one whole universe, as the author has always imagined them.’
CINEMAS • Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway by Beatrix Potter, May Live action kids’ films are a Sunday afternoon classic, a metaphorical hug to relieve a late-night writing marathon hangover (or, let’s face it, a real one after an
22
JUNE 2021
evening in the pub garden). Beatrix Potter’s tales are always going to be a family favourite, especially now Peter is set to explore our world outside his garden. Though Potter may no longer be alive to comment, this adaptation written by Patrick Burleigh and director Will Gluck looks unlikely to reflect her original stories. Who are we to criticise though, when the first film made $350 million on a $50 million budget? Film critics warn of its moral dilution, cautioning that it’s catering to a Marvel-obsessed audience who ‘enjoy seeing lots of kicks to the face’ rather than adhering to Potter’s famous fables. For a May half-term jolly, it could be worse, just don’t forget to bring your face mask to the cinema.
www.writers-online.co.uk
• 2019 WM cover star Taylor Jenkins Reid has two forthcoming screen adaptations slated for the end of the year
• Dune by Frank Herbert, October If you’re looking for a sci-fi fix, look no further. The 1965 cult classic has been attempted before, most famously by director David Lynch. This modern version of the Paul Atreides protagonist is played by Timothée Chalomet and written by my personal hero, A Star Is Born writer Eric Roth, and is set to showcase ultra sophisticated CGI under Denis Villeneuve’s directorship. Heir to the House of Atreides, which rules desert planet Arrakis, the source of the most sought after commodity in the galaxy, Paul must battle against metaphysical, spiritual and powerful enemies. This adaptation turns out to be a family business, with the author’s son Brian Herbert coming to the rescue when his father passed away before his last book was written. ‘I was thrilled to actually be on the movie set in Budapest last year, where my wife and I watched the filming of several scenes’ he told Inverse. Will it thrive under the pressure of adapting what many call the greatest science fiction novel of all time, though?
• The House of Gucci, November This ‘true-story’ account celebrates the fashion house’s centenary, which is as good a reason as any to get dressed up this year. Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, its gaze into the world of Gucci glam, dynasty and Maurizio Gucci’s estrangement (and eventual murder) hasn’t pleased the real character’s nearest and dearest. ‘We are truly disappointed,’ Patrizia Gucci, one of Maurizio’s second cousins, said according to Associated Press. It’s been written by Robert Bentivegna based on fashion journalist Sara Gay Forden’s book The House of Gucci, potentially diluting its authenticity even further. Mark Twain had it right when he said ‘truth is stranger than fiction.’
All six books read? OK, now you have permission to judge every single creative decision they make on the screen. However Oscarwinning they turn out to be, we’ll still think we could have made them better... just sayin’... www.writers-online.co.uk
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, end of 2021 In this film adaptation, the author is to be completely involved and on-side. Commissioned by Disney-owned Freeform network and said to involve The L Word and Handmaid’s Tale production alumni, it’s set to unfold in a ping-pong between present day and 1950s as we piece together Monique’s ghostwritten memoir for Hollywood actress Evelyn Hugo. Loosely based on the lives of legends Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner, this 2017 historical romance will have to wait to hit screens (and its own red carpet) until the end of this year. • AMAZON Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, end of 2021 Reid strikes again with this Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, picked up for thirteen episodes by Hello Sunshine production company founder Reese Witherspoon. Splashed across many of my friends’ bookstagram posts, the uniquely formatted story of the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s band The Six was a hit in 2019. It promises plenty of he-said-she-said due to its interview-like format – almost as if it was always destined to become a TV script. Reid is a busy woman, having been attached to pen this series adaptation and with her very first book Forever, interrupted also due to become a major motion picture. JUNE 2021
23
M Y PAT H T O P U B L I C AT I O N
Anita Sethi The nature writer describes how her response to racial abuse led to her first book, I Belong Here
‘I
can’t remember a time I did not love writing, and it’s been a vocation of mine since childhood (but for the brief time before that I dreamed of being an astronaut). Since I learnt to read and write I’ve been entranced by the powers of language and wanted to try and use it in the very best way I could. I also have a bit of an obsession with the actual tools of writing – and a geeky love of fountain pens and ink. ‘I didn’t know any writers and writing wasn’t particularly encouraged as a profession for me to pursue – I learnt to love reading through the local library and subsequently went on to study English Literature at university. I was offered a place on the MA in Creative Writing at UEA but couldn’t afford the fees. I went into freelance writing and journalism and was published in several anthologies before
‘Along the path to publication there have been setbacks as with most paths through life, literal or metaphorical. I Belong Here is partly about actual paths – indeed, the longest footpath in Britain, the Pennine Way, and it got me thinking about other paths through life, including my path to publication. The publishing industry is still quite undiverse and over the years I’ve faced obstacles from some in the industry not thinking the North is worth writing about and that a book set in the North won’t sell, to someone who told me that stories about brown people won’t sell – all these are awful prejudices exposing a narrow mindset which needs to change to ensure that writers of all backgrounds are heard and valued. ‘I’ve always been empowered by the quote by Toni Morrison: “If there’s a book you want to read and it hasn’t been written yet, then you should write”. That’s how it felt to me. ‘There’s a Northern saying, “it’s all grist to the mill” and that’s powered me on at various points. As with my journey walking through the Pennines, it was about putting one foot in front of the other and just keeping going. Quite often it’s possible to feel despairing but I’ve never given up completely as writing is a core part of who I am. In true northern tradition, cups of tea have also fuelled me on. ‘I don’t keep a spreadsheet of rejections – though I’ve heard of writers that do. I followed a direct path of submitting straight to a publisher – one I instinctively felt would be the perfect home for my story, and it was. ‘The main lessons that my publication journey taught me were always keep hold of the fact you love writing and never lose that core passion for writing. To have a self-belief that will power you on along the tougher parts of the path. Those from non-traditional backgrounds such as myself can struggle with self-confidence, but having the courage of your own convictions is invaluable. My debut book is dedicated to my friend Sophie Christopher who died aged 28. At her funeral an Emily Dickinson poem was read: “If your nerve deny you, go above your nerve”. That’s a sentiment I try to hang on to on the path to publication and beyond, and on
“Always keep hold of the fact you love writing and never lose that core passion for writing.” my first book was published, including the anthologies Seasons, Common People, and am forthcoming in Women on Nature. I’m also lucky in that I’ve got to interview some of my favourite writers – I went birdwatching with Margaret Atwood as a setting for an interview, for example, in the UK’s oldest nature reserve an experience that informed by thinking and writing about nature. ‘My first book, called I Belong Here: a Journey Along the Backbone of Britain, grew out of my experience of being racially abused while on a TransPennine Express train journey through the North. The man who racially abused me told me to go back to where I’m from and in the book I do: I’m from the North and made a journey through the Pennines, the so-called backbone of Britain, as a way of saying: I won’t let having been the victim of a race hate crime stop me travelling freely and without fear in a country where I belong. It’s a journey through the natural landscapes of the North and explores how nature helped me to heal from the traumatic experience, and why it’s urgent we realise nature belongs as much to the world as humans do. It’s the first book in my nature writing trilogy.
24
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
Sarah Broadway, head of Special Interest Publishing, Bloomsbury Publishing
my various paths through life. Then there’s the timeless advice from Samuel Beckett, “Fail again, fail better” – a philosophy akin to that grist to the mill. Another valuable lesson is to embrace the unexpected – keep open to the stories and pathways you may not have set off along but may yet still offer up wonders along the way.’
‘I Belong Here is a vital book. The story of the author’s long-distance walk through the Pennines in the aftermath of a hateful racist attack immediately struck me and my colleagues at Bloomsbury as one that needed to be read, one that had lessons that had to be heeded and learned, and one that could perhaps help trigger some much-needed change. It’s imperative that the British countryside becomes more accessible to minorities, and every step taken in I Belong Here represents a call to action, for everyone interested in how we access, use and preserve our green places. ‘There remains a striking lack of diversity in nature writing; the genre sorely needs to expand its author base, in order to give a voices to those from different backgrounds, and this brave book is a step in the right direction. I Belong Here heralds a paradigm shift in both nature writing and in how the people of this island access British wildlife. At a time when walking and travelling alone as a woman is particularly pertinent, this story is essential.’
Personalised writing courses to help you achieve your goals • Choose your own tutor from the comfort of your home • Up to two years to complete • Spread the cost and pay monthly Courses include: Fiction Short Story Writing for Children
How to write crime How to make money from your writing
10% OFF
FOR MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBERS
BOOK ONLINE AT: www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-courses www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
25
BEGINNERS
A writer’s worksheet Are you a new writer? You’ll get off to a great start with Adrian Magson‘s guide to getting the writing process right.
F
or those new to the writing game (welcome!), it’s worth pointing out that, no matter what you might have been told, writing is not a closed shop. Nor is it one of the dark arts carried out at dead of night over a rotting sheep’s carcass overseen by a murder of crows. Nor is it done while reclining on a sofa with a glass of bubbly. Well, not always. And while many writers do so at night when the situation demands (me too sometimes), it’s more mundane than it might seem. Which is not to say it’s boring. Never that. But it is a process, pure and simple. You pour in words at the top and see what comes out at the bottom. Along the way there are numerous steps to take which help make the writing easier, albeit without the mystique. This word-driven process takes time, stamina and perseverance in order to get it done… along with imagination, flair, enthusiasm and the ability to string words together into a conscious whole. All that. • Decide what you want to write. The genre is all-important. Choose what interests you. It will focus your attention and make your writing day more fun. Struggling to write against the grain because it isn’t what you want to do is merely another day job. • Study the market. Look at what sells, which publishers and agents are active and the kind of stories they take on. Targeting your efforts and approach will save you time. • Start with a bang, not a whimper. An intriguing opener is sure to draw the reader to want to know more. You need the reader to wonder what happens next and to turn that page. • Set a deadline. A month, a year – make a date to aim at. This kind of professional discipline helps you keep your eye on your progress. Having no idea of an end date in mind will merely make the writing process flabby. Flabby doesn’t get the job done. • Edit. This is an ongoing process, a regular item on the moving escalator of things you need to do. Don’t look on it as a chore; regard it as a way of making your story better. • Build your main character list. Others will follow as the story unfolds, but you have to start with at least one or more of the main players. Without them you won’t know who is doing what to whom, how or when. Even one interesting character you desperately want to write about will draw you into building their story, and eventually of those around them. Finding a character you love writing about is sheer gold! • The names matter. They’ll be around a while, so you need to be happy with them. Do they sound right for the characters? Are they appropriate for the place, time and individual? You can 26
JUNE 2021
always change them later (and I do sometimes), but if they don’t sound right it will begin to play on your mind and detract from the creative process. • Character biographies. A single line of salient points (age, description, height, manners, etc), will give you their basic depth, colour and backstory. More details will be embedded in the storyline as it unfolds, but snapshot descriptions will help. As you go, add a cast list bio for reference. • Keep the story moving. Every story depends on forward motion, aka, something happening. A story that doesn’t keep moving becomes sluggish and will lose readers. It’s that pageturner thing again. • Take time. You might hear of books that write themselves. It’s an urban myth; it takes time, effort and application. If you don’t all three on a regular basis, you won’t accomplish your aims. • Perseverance and stamina. Really, two sides of the same coin. Perseverance to keep going and stamina because you need that inner reserve to keep an eye on the end goal. • End chapters on a hook. Make the reader want to read more, even if it’s late and they have work in the morning. (Actually especially that; they will remember your book and talk about it. Can you think of a better excuse for someone being late for work than blaming your book?) • Trust your instincts. If a passage looks clunky or seems to drag on a bit, it probably needs a re-think. Read it aloud. An over-long sentence often benefits by being split into two. • Take pride in your writing. Words you put on the page will be around for a long time. Doing it with pride will serve you well. • Polish your words. Kick out those glitches, typos, flabby moments, over-extended descriptive passages and unnecessary details that don’t add anything to the story. • Read-through and edit. Regular editing as you go is a must. But before you go anywhere near submitting your work, you have to read your manuscript – preferably off paper, not the screen. If an agent or editor picks up your MS and finds too many typos, conflicting details and general flabbiness, they’re unlikely to continue because there’s always another manuscript waiting for them to consider. And you’ve just given them an excuse to drop yours in favour of another. You may have written an absolute blinder that would have set the review pages alight, but you didn’t edit, you didn’t polish and you wasted the opportunity. • Be professional. This above all. Thinking ‘that will do’ actually won’t. Publishers and agents respect a professional approach. Be professional. You owe it to yourself.
www.writers-online.co.uk
WIN! £500 IN CASH PRIZES & PUBLICATION
Twist
short story competition £250 TO BE WON
Everybody loves a good twist, but keeping readers guessing can get you in knots as a writer. Make sure to sow the seeds, but not so obviously that we can see the twist coming. Surprise us!
Writing Magazine
The closing date is 15 July
SEE P67 FOR ENTRY DETAILS, FULL RULES AND ENTRY FORMS
£250 TO BE WON
STILL TIME TO ENTER With its closing date of 15 June, there’s still time to enter last month’s competition for writing on food themes. Prizes and length are as above. See p67 for full details.
OPEN SHORT STORY COMPETITION
A Short History of British Trees
WINNER
£200
(according to Hattie Webb)
Jess Crandon lives in London and writes for a living. When she’s not writing about all sorts of technologyrelated stuff, she dabbles in short stories and is attempting to write a novel. This is her second entry to
P
Writing Magazine – and her second win (which she’s utterly delighted with). When she’s not writing, Jess spends her time going on long walks, befriending local cats and dogs, and hanging out with her horse.
eter and Sheila Waugh loved this bench, the plaque tells me, the perfect resting spot as they walked this route along the Thames every day for fifty years. I’ve sat here for approximately... 0.3 percent of that time. So I guess I wouldn’t call it my bench. But nestled under this sycamore, it’s a respite from the calls and meetings and messages that plague my time in the office. In the summer it’s busy, kids running up and down the grassy slope, dogs playing off-lead, young families pushing prams along the pathway. But now in November’s heavy grey skies, the wind off the river is cold. So it’s just me, here, every day. Until it’s him as well. The first time, he flickers across my eye line like a shadow, The second and third times, I notice the books he reads, the black-rimmed glasses crooked on his nose. After four, five weeks, I work out what time he arrives and plan my lunch break accordingly, rushing from the office when meetings overrun, calming my breath as I bounce down the steps. Sometimes he turns up with a sheen of sweat on his forehead, shoulders heaving. My best friend rubs her face when I tell her. ‘You’re talking like you know him, Hats. That’s just weird. You need to stop daydreaming about strangers and like, actually go on a date with a real boy.’ He sits on his bench. I sit on mine. Until today. He walks down the path. There’s an elderly woman on his. He sits close enough that I can see his hair isn’t just blonde, but woven with flecks of red and brown. Like a tortoiseshell cat. He’s wearing a navy woollen coat that looks expensive, but fraying threads litter the hemline. Something dark – paint, maybe – stains his fingers. He catches me looking. ‘Pen explosion,’ he grins. ‘Tell me about it,’ I smile back, offering up my own inksmudged palms. ‘Sorry for sitting here. I didn’t want to take my chances with that...’ He nods over at the woman throwing slices of white bread at pigeons. ‘Wise.’ I sneak a sideways glance. 28
JUNE 2021
by Jess Crandon
He looks up. Heat rushes to my face. ‘I’m Hattie.’ ‘Will.’ A trace of an accent tugs at his vowels. ‘What brings you to these – eh – benches?’ ‘Just the usual, escaping from the office. And I really like this tree.’ He laughs. ‘Me too. The office thing, and the tree thing. I grew up with a sycamore right outside my bedroom. I could climb out the window and into the branches. Scared mum half to death.’ His eyes crinkle when he laughs. ‘I had a sycamore outside my room too! I think that’s why I love this one.’ He checks his watch. ‘Well, I’ve gotta get back to the office.’ ‘Oh yeah, course.’ I squeeze my book. ‘Uh look... I promise I don’t normally accost women underneath trees, but... you don’t fancy getting a drink tonight do you?’ ***** It’s the kind of downpour you get in Thailand where you can almost see the drops shatter on landing. Where each splash feels like a kiss, cool against warm skin. We shelter under the biggest oak and listen to the pit-tip-tap of the rain above. ‘Look at the state of us.’ He runs his thumb under my eyes, mascara smudging on his skin. ‘Who would guess you’re Mr Bigshot Film Man now,’ I press my face against his chest, sniffing through the layers of washing detergent and aftershave until I can smell him. Rich like earth after rain, sweet like oranges. Even after two years, it makes me dizzy. There’s an easy silence between us. The kind you grow together over the years, that sits with you like a houseplant. Just an hour earlier, he was up on stage, people hugging, clapping for him. A cacophony of voices and camera flashes erupting around us. As usual, he tried to talk it down. It was only a short film, only an amateur production, only his first attempt. But it won the biggest award in the country and he’s lauded as the next Denis Villeneuve. I know the doors this will open for him. I cannot be anything but happy, ecstatic, thrilled. But in the pit of my stomach there’s a twinge, a thought that haunts my waking moments, a thought I dare not name. The rain clears and we walk home. The moon sparkles, but only because the sun shines brighter.
www.writers-online.co.uk
***** Norway Spruces can live for up to 1,000 years, but it’s looking unlikely whether this one will last a day. Despite propping it up with books and boxes, it refuses to stand up straight, leaning so far to the left the baubles on its patchy branches slide off. Will heads out to pick up a takeaway and we eat on the sofa, the flat dark apart from the dim glow of the Christmas lights. I rest my head on his chest and count heartbeats. He mutters under his breath, criticising the design choices of the impossibly young, impossibly wealthy couple on Grand Designs. I doze as the hush of rain and wind build a river that meanders through my daydreams. And I think back to the years before Will, when panic attacks nipped at my consciousness in the falling dusk, when I stared at the ceiling while audiobooks repeated and repeated. Then there was him. And I started to enjoy the sunset and the navy blue nights, our bodies wrapped up in each other until breathing slowed and eyelids flicker. If only there was a way to bottle this feeling. To trap it and cork it, so even on the worst days, after the biggest fights, I could gulp down lungfuls and remember the peace that hangs like thick curtains around us. ***** Despite once being planted at plague burials to purify the ground, yew trees are poisonous. And as Will’s words land, I consider turning my head and biting off a chunk of bark from the tree behind me, gnawing away until splinters grate my gums into a bloody mess and toxins choke my heart. I stab a twig into the unyielding earth, digging a rut we never fell into. ‘America.’ ‘It’s only for a year. You can fly out and I’ll fly back when I can.’ ‘It’s too far, we’d never make it work. No. No.’ ‘I can’t turn it down.’ A tang of disinfectant hits my nose when I get home, and tendrils of pain snake around my temples. The wardrobes, the chest of drawers, the coat cupboard. My clothes hang alone in the empty spaces. ***** According to Celtic mythology, the birch symbolises renewal and purifications. People would bundle up birch twigs to drive out spirits. I stare at the silver tree in the garden and wonder how effective it is. I sit on our sofa and pull the blanket tighter around me. Will made me love sick days. I’d wake up after a bad night’s sleep and he’d order me back to bed. ‘Duvet day for you,’ he’d say, wrapping me up like a burrito in a pile of blankets. I’d hear the front door click shut softly and drift back to sleep, occasionally woken by a Deliveroo driver dropping off lunch from our favourite cafe. Then he’d leave work early and cook for us, making chicken soup from scratch, stroking my head in front of the TV. I open the kitchen cabinets. An onion, a potato growing green shoots. The fridge fares better: half a pint of milk, only three days out of date. I make a cup of tea, splashing milk over the kitchen counter, fishing the teabag out with my fingers. It’s nice to feel something.
Read the judges’ comments at http://writ.rs/ wmjun21
I need to shower. I can taste how bad I smell. My teeth feel furry and my tongue, when I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror, has a grey coating. My hair is lanker than usual but I see the upside here. With Will gone, I can stop worrying about my appearance. I’ll let my body fall into decay and disrepair, let the grass grow long, let vandals smash in windows, let tiles fall and crack, let birds nest in the chimney. ***** It’s November and I’m under the sycamore, perching on the edge of Peter and Sheila Waugh’s bench. I let the wind sting my cheeks, let my fingers freeze, claw-like, let the cold seep into my body. For months we sat on this bench, the smell of hope wrapped up in the burning leaves of bonfires, in the sweetness of freshly cut grass, in the syrupy pollen of the hydrangea bushes. I unlock my phone and the red notifications from Hinge glare at me. I don’t care, I think, who you’d invite to your dream dinner party. I care even less that you want travel tips for Japan. I hate them for trying to talk to me, I hate them for being bland and ordinary. I hate them for not being him. The sycamore leaves whisper in the wind. The sun sets and drains the light from the sky. ***** I sit in the dust at the base of a black walnut tree, and count the fanning branches as they sprawl out into the Californian sky. Imagine if we could live our lives this way. Try out new directions from birth again and again and again. There’d be the life where I’m married to an extravagantly rich banker, overseeing the nanny with my two blonde children. There’s his slouchy walk, his feet barely coming off the ground, as if gravity’s a little too strong. One where I’m a novelist living in a bedsit in Edinburgh. He lifts a hand, either blocking the sun or waving. One where he stayed. His jacket catches in the breeze, the wind carrying the ghost of his citrusy aftershave. One where I moved. He smiles and I smile and something clunks in my stomach and it’s like I’ve been holding my breath for the last five months and it’s like I’ve never felt the sun’s warmth on my skin. RUNNER-UP AND SHORTLISTED Runner-up in the Open Short Story Competition was Michael Callaghan, Glasgow, whose story is published on www. writers-online.co.uk. Also shortlisted were: Harry Ballweber, London SW9; Dominic Bell, Hull; Mary Ellen Chatwin, Tbilisi, Georgia; Joy Clews, Snitterby, Lincolnshire; Tanya-Marie Folliot, Kenilworth, Warwickshire; GP Hyde, Grimsby; Tim Mayfield, Horsforth, Leeds; Jill McKenzie, Newton Stewart, Dumfries; Kate Moore, Shrewsbury, Shropshire; Ainhoa Palacios, Riverview, Florida; AJ Reid, Heswall, Wirral; Mary Shovelin, Brussels, Belgium; Raymond Wallace, Ingatestone, Essex.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
29
WRITING LIFE
The great pretender
*** pic of someone (preferably a woman) looking as if she isn’t good enough, or hiding behind a mask, please ***
Even the most successful writers can suffer from Imposter Syndrome. Cathy White explores what it is and how to overcome it. hen someone asks what you do, do you smile and say, ‘I’m a writer’? Or do you mumble something along the lines of, ‘Oh, this and that, a bit of writing and stuff’, and hope they don’t hear the word ‘writing’? If you’re in the latter category, you – like many other writers – suffer from Imposter Syndrome.
W
What is Imposter Syndrome? Imposter Syndrome is feeling your writing’s not good enough for you to call yourself a writer. It’s feeling everyone in the writing workshop is a proper writer except you. It’s feeling that, because you’re self-published, you’re not really a writer. It’s feeling it was luck, not talent and hard work, that landed you that book deal. Who gets Imposter Syndrome? Psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes came up with the term Imposter Syndrome (or Imposter Phenomenon) in 1978. Originally, they thought it only inflicted high-achieving women, but further studies showed it plagued men too, although to a much lesser degree. Speaking of high-achieving women, Maya Angelou may have won dozens of awards and received over fifty honorary degrees but still she admitted: ‘I have written eleven books, but each time I think, “Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.”’ Not only is Maya Angelou a highachieving woman, she’s also a person of colour from a childhood of poverty 30
JUNE 2021
and abuse – factors that also rank highly on the ‘who gets Imposter Syndrome?’ league table. Neil Gaiman is a posh white bloke though, whose successes, if I listed them all here, would take up my entire word count, and even he’s quoted as saying, ‘The first problem of any kind of even limited success is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that any moment now they will discover you. It’s Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda [Palmer, the musician] christened the Fraud Police.’ So, there you go. It doesn’t matter if you started out as a poor black woman or a posh white bloke, it’s all the same to Imposter Syndrome. Saying that though, women are still more likely to experience Imposter Syndrome than men. Why is this? Freelance writer Cath Holland says, ‘Women get told we need to have Imposter Syndrome and if we don’t, then we’re braggarts, and that’s just not ladylike.’ It’s a sentiment with which novelist Jo Bavington-Jones agrees. ‘We don’t like to blow our own trumpets for fear others will think us arrogant or show-offy. It felt like bragging to call myself a novelist.’ How Imposter Syndrome affects our progress as writers If you’re a writer riddled with Imposter Syndrome, opportunities pass you by. You don’t join a writing group because you feel you’re not a ‘proper writer’. You don’t pitch to editors because you don’t think you’re a ‘proper journalist’ and you don’t go to talks or events because you www.writers-online.co.uk
think everyone else in the audience is going to turn around and wonder what you’re doing there. Even if your aim isn’t to be published and you have no interest in attending workshops or events, Imposter Syndrome can lead to procrastination and writer’s block, as self-critique sets in and stops you from writing anything at all. Angela Readman, who’s won dozens of poetry and fiction competitions, including the prestigious Costa Short Story Award, suffers from Imposter Syndrome so badly, she says, ‘I let deadlines fly over. I don’t apply for opportunities. I bury work rather than submit – Imposter Syndrome talks me out of it.’ The upside to Imposter Syndrome We all know those uber-confident writers who ooze ego and confidence. What we also know is those people aren’t usually as good as they think they are. One thing Imposter Syndrome has going for it is it stops you churning out any old rubbish and calling it brilliant. It stops you thinking ‘that’ll do’ and submitting sub-par work. Author and writer-in-residence for Sheffield Libraries, Nik Perring, says: ‘Worrying about not being good enough is okay because it shows you care. I’ve seen loads of people brimming with confidence and ego who are,
ultimately, not very good. Confidence can carry you a long way but I’d rather be known for caring and for the quality of work I produce.’ At the risk of getting political, compare former US President Donald Trump, who’s quoted as saying, ‘I’m the most successful person ever to run for the presidency, by far’ with former US First Lady Michelle Obama, who said in an interview, ‘I still have a little [bit of ] impostor syndrome, it never goes away, that you’re actually listening to me. It doesn’t go away, that feeling that you shouldn’t take me that seriously.’ Ask yourself, ‘which of these would I prefer to emulate?’ How to get over Imposter Syndrome If you rely on writing to pay the bills, try channelling Cath Holland. She says: ‘I tried to pretend to have Imposter Syndrome once but it didn’t work. Can’t afford it.’ Sunday Times bestseller Catherine Cooper refuses to believe Imposter Syndrome even exists. She says: ‘It’s a ridiculous phrase because usually people don’t think they’re impersonating someone else – they’re just doing something outside their comfort zone, so why not say that? Secondly, it only ever seems to be women who say it as a way of putting themselves down. Why not simply enjoy your success and celebrate it?’ Given Imposter Syndrome is felt by many writers, how can you push it aside and believe in yourself more? Give yourself a talking to Julie Wassmer, whose Whitstable Pearl mystery novels are being made into a TV series, overcame her Imposter Syndrome by giving herself a good talking to, ‘...with a helpful mantra or two and an important reminder that, in a world that will always be in need of good stories, everyone has a right to their place at the table. In fact, ‘give yourself a talking to’ is possibly the only advice you need. Ask yourself why you feel you’re not a writer because your novel is selfpublished, not traditionally published. You still wrote it didn’t you? Some writers feel the need for validation from a third
party but there are plenty of successful writers who have taken control and gone down the self-published route. Ask yourself why you’re too scared to send a pitch to an editor. What’s the worst that can happen? The worst that will happen isn’t that they’ll say no – the worst that will happen is they’ll say yes and you’ll have to write the article (and I can tell you from personal experience that’s when Imposter Syndrome really kicks in). Ask yourself why you have Imposter Syndrome when that person at your writing group doesn’t, even though you think your neighbour’s dog is probably a better writer than they are. Ask yourself why you can’t call yourself a writer, even though you write and the very definition of a writer is ‘someone who writes’. If giving yourself a talking to isn’t working, try these instead • Take a course. Some writers feel unqualified to call themselves a writer because they haven’t any writing qualifications. Although there is some logic to that, you don’t need formal qualifications to say you’re a writer in the way that, say, doctors need qualifications to say they’re a doctor. Indeed, some people believe creative writing can’t be taught. But learning a bit about the craft of writing can be a confidence boost, not to mention inspiring and motivating. If a fulltime degree is out of the question, this very magazine offers all types of WM Creative Writing Courses you can do at your own pace (www.writers-online. co.uk/writing-courses). Speaking of courses, it may comfort you to know even tutors have their own insecurities. I asked my former tutor, Professor Carolyn Oulton, programme director of Creative and Professional Writing at Canterbury Christ Church University, if she ever suffered from Imposter Syndrome. She said: ‘I definitely imagine someone bursting out from behind a hedge and telling everyone I don’t know what I’m talking about.’ You can probably tell from her job title that Carolyn very much does know what she’s talking about. www.writers-online.co.uk
• Be proud of your achievements. Stop thinking you were ‘lucky’ to win that competition or have that article or novel published. Be proud of your achievements – those achievements were earned, not given to you accidentally. Along the same lines, accept the compliments on your writing, the positive feedback and the glowing reviews. Imagine what you’d say to others. If a friend told you they wanted to do something but didn’t think they could, what would you say? You’d say, ‘of course you can,’ wouldn’t you? Well then, you are that friend. Next time Imposter Syndrome sticks its unwanted beak in and makes you think twice about doing something, ask yourself what you would say to a friend if they told you, ‘I can’t do that.’ • Get a mentor. Writing can be a lonely and isolating experience. With no one to look at your work and tell you you’re doing great, you can end up thinking it’s not so great. There are many mentoring schemes about – including free ones – where you’ll be matched up with a mentor who can give you feedback and guidance on your work, as well as offering support and motivation. • Fake it ‘til you make it. No one but you knows if you have Imposter Syndrome. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a writer, tell people you are. Unfortunately, they will ask what you write but this is fine. Tell them what you write, whether that’s novels, short stories, articles or your blog. I promise you they will be impressed (although you might have to explain what a blog is if you’re a blogger). Write ‘writer’ on all your social channel bios, eg Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (by the way, Twitter is a great place for connecting with other writers and finding writing opportunities.). I’d like to think by the time you’ve read this far, your Imposter Syndrome has been banished and you’re now logging onto social media to update all your bios with ‘writer’. Either way, take some comfort from knowing most writers suffer from Imposter Syndrome. In fact, if you don’t have Imposter Syndrome, are you even a writer? JUNE 2021
31
THE BUSINESS OF WRITING
DON’T GET INFECTED Comparisonitis thrives on vulnerable writers. Simon Whaley learns how two writers judge success on their own terms
T
here’s a virus spreading between writers and the infection rate is high. It has the power to destroy your creativity as it builds upon your fears and insecurity. It can contaminate you at any time, no matter where you are on your writing journey. The major symptoms are jealousy, worthlessness, and despondency. We’re most at risk when our own writing projects are not going as planned. The infection starts when a fellow writer shares their latest good news. We congratulate them with genuine pleasure and joy, but then the virus takes hold deep inside our heads. Doubt thrives on it. Why are they doing so well, and I’m not? Why did they get a four-book deal with that publisher when the same publisher rejected me? Why can’t my story or poem win a major competition? Why does publication come so easily to others, but not to me? Thoughts like this can develop into a severe case of comparisonitis. It might sound frivolous, but it can seriously harm our writing business. At its worst, it can stop us writing, if we don’t recognise the symptoms and take remedial action. Thankfully, more writers are talking about it. Constant companion
Claire McGowan, whose latest novel is The Push (Thomas and Mercer), recently wrote about comparisonitis in The Telegraph. A good writing friend shared news with Claire that their book was going to be discussed on Radio 4. And while Claire congratulated her friend’s success, she felt the tell-tale signs of comparisonitis stirring in her stomach. ‘I experience this all the time!’ Claire explains. ‘Almost every time I go on social media, I’ll see someone achieving a thing I might want for myself. It tends to make me work harder, often too hard, burning myself out a little.’ Sharon Booth writes uplifting women’s fiction and her twentieth novel, The Whole of the Moon, is published at the end of May. Despite her writing success, she too suffers from comparisonitis. ‘I experience comparisonitis almost every day! I think it’s in my DNA or something. I can’t help but look at other people’s achievements and think how well they’re doing. 32
JUNE 2021
It’s not as bad as it used to be, but at one point it impacted heavily on my writing,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t help feeling there wasn’t much point in carrying on with the WIP, because who would want to read it? There were so many other authors out there, who were clearly so much better than I was, judging by their chart positions, bestseller flags, social media followers, or new publishing deal, so what was the point?’ Social distancing
As with any virus, the risk of catching it increases significantly in social situations, particularly on social media platforms. Doing so when your immune system is already fragile, such as after a rejection, can be especially dangerous. ‘It’s definitely caused by social media for me,’ confirms Claire, ‘and of course is worse if I’ve experienced any rejection or setback in my own career.’ Sharon agrees. ‘Comparisonitis is at its worst when I’m on social media. When I’m writing, I tend not to think about it at all, as I’m so involved in my story. Scrolling through my Facebook feed, or Twitter timeline, is the very worst thing I can do. It can be paralysing at times.’ Comparisonitis thrives on social media because we filter what we put on our timelines. I know I’m guilty of that. We’re extremely good at sharing the good news, but perhaps not so great at sharing the less than perfect days. As a result, our timelines become one long feed of amazing successes, rather than a genuine reflection on what life is really like running a writing business. We must share our successes, because we know how hard it’s been to achieve them. But perhaps we should learn to share our difficult days too, which will better reflect our real writing journeys. An injection of common sense
While we can’t be immunised against comparisonitis, we can look out for the symptoms and then take measured steps to reduce them. Share your feelings with other writers who will understand, and focus your energies on your current project. ‘Try getting off or reducing social media,’ advises Claire. ‘Talk to other people about it and you’ll find it’s very common. Try to focus on doing the actual work, rather
www.writers-online.co.uk
than the outcomes of it.’ To make accurate comparisons, we need to compare like with like, and no two writers are alike. We’re unique. Therefore, any comparisons are a complete waste of time. Writers specialising in science fiction have a completely different writing business to those writing romance. Short story writers have different journeys to those writing articles or poetry. And we shouldn’t compare ourselves with writers in the same genre because we’re all at different stages and different points of our writing journeys. The only comparisons we should make are those between our past selves and our current self. Compare Today You with Last Year You. Don’t compare yourself with anyone else. Sharon recommends focussing on what you want from your writing business. This is more important than comparing yourself with other writers and their writing business. ‘The best way to deal with comparisonitis, in my experience, is to stay off social media as much as possible when you’re feeling particularly low or vulnerable. Try to focus on your own journey. Look at what you’ve achieved in the past year, or five years, or ten years. See how far you’ve come in that time, how much you’ve learned, how many words you’ve written, how many stories you’ve created. As long as you’re moving forward in some way, you’re winning.’ ‘Also, think carefully about what it is you really want from your career. Another author may have announced a four-book deal with a publisher, but did you want to be tied to a publisher, or would you rather be indie? Your Facebook friend might have a book on sale in an actual, physical bookshop, but maybe you’re happier focusing on ebook sales? A writer might be all over social media doing live video broadcasts, book readings and interviews, but are you the sort of person who’d enjoy doing that, or would it be something you’d dread? Once you start breaking down what it is you want, and which path you want to follow, comparisonitis often melts away.’ Turn it to your advantage
For those of us who suffer with comparisonitis, it’s not just about finding a cure, but learning to live with it. When we do that, we can turn it to our advantage. ‘It can definitely open your eyes to new opportunities, and spur you on to try new things and finish projects,’ says Claire. ‘Looked at a different way, it can actually be beneficial when you see that certain things are possible – you can use it for inspiration to aim higher.’ Likewise, Sharon agrees there are benefits if it makes you stop and think about what it is you’re trying to achieve on your writing journey. ‘Comparisonitis can be beneficial to writers in the sense that it makes you look at your own path, and what it is you want for your career. More importantly, it can be a huge inspiration, seeing someone doing so well and realising it’s possible to achieve the most amazing things. For instance, seeing an indie author reach number one in the overall Kindle chart and sell so many copies of her book, was massively
exciting. If you can get past the feelings of inadequacy and focus on the possibilities, it can be empowering.’ Mindfulness matters
Comparisonitis is part of who we are. For some of us, we need to accept that it’s part of the job, and to succeed in our writing we should be kind to ourselves. It’s about having the right mindset that stops us from pressurising ourselves with other people’s successes. As Sharon explains, nobody’s writing business is perfect. We all have good days and bad days. ‘Comparisonitis and its sister affliction, Imposter Syndrome, are so common that it’s important we realise we’re not alone in suffering. Guilt about our feelings makes it seem so much worse, and we’re often afraid to admit to it. But talking to some of my writer friends, I think it’s perfectly normal. I know some hugely successful authors who suffer massively with both these things, so it’s not really about actual failure. It’s all about our perception of ourselves. Writers do seem to have low self-esteem!’ So the next time you see on social media yet another writer successfully securing a film-deal, revealing their latest book cover, or announcing their competition win, remember the Government slogan: Hands, Face, Space. • Hands: Apply your fingers to the keyboard and crack on with your own writing journey. Ignore every other writers’ project. • Face: Use a mask to cover your eyes so you can’t see what’s happening on social media. Better still, muzzle all social media notifications. • Space: Distance your writing dreams from those of other writers. Think about what you want to achieve with your writing business. Finally, perhaps we should all pluck up the courage to share more of our not-so-good writing days on social media, so our timelines aren’t a seamless string of successes. We all need to talk about comparisonitis more. We’re all incomparable. Focus on your uniqueness. For that’s what your writing business is all about.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY: WRITERLY REMEDIES
www.writers-online.co.uk
Claire McGowan: ‘Being a writer comes with many emotional pitfalls, rejections, jealousy, feelings of failure, and blocks. Comparisonitis is just another of those. Be compassionate to yourself and others is the best remedy. As well as getting off Twitter!’ Sharon Booth: ‘Pick the path that’s right for you, be happy in what you choose to write, and you’ll stop worrying about what other people are achieving, because you’ll be so excited to see what you can achieve for yourself.’
JUNE 2021
33
SHELF LIFE
JOHN SUCHET The author, journalist and Classic FM presenter shares the five books that shaped him as a writer
‘Mozart - The Man Revealed has just been published in TAP paperback. I had HERE previously written To read an extract from Beethoven – The Man Revealed Mozart and The Last Waltz – The Strauss Dynasty and Vienna. My boss at Classic FM said he’d like me to write a biography of Mozart. “But there are so many books about Mozart already,” I protested. “Yes but none of them have been read by my Mum,” he replied. That is how Mozart – The Man Revealed came about. ‘I wrote all five composer biographies while presenting the morning show on Classic FM each weekday morning from 9am to 1pm. I would then get home, have a light lunch, and write for four or five hours until mid-evening. It nearly killed me. I am naturally a morning person. I would rather get up at 5am and write, than do it in the afternoon/ evening. I now present an evening show on Classic FM – perfect opportunity for another composer biography, but not until I’ve enjoyed a nice lengthy respite from the laptop and the research.
‘Scratch a journalist and they’ll tell you that one day they’ll write the great novel that’s inside them. I’m no exception, except that it turned out to be composer biographies, and they didn’t come along until I was in my sixties. That was when some advice I once read from a writer (can’t remember who) came into its own. Set a deadline, work out how many words you need to write a day, and stick to it. Leonard Bernstein put it perfectly: To be creative you need an idea and not quite enough time. ‘I’m a great admirer of Frederick Forsyth, not least because I (almost) met him before he achieved fame. I was a young journalist working for Reuters in Paris. One day a tall young man with wavy blonde hair in a leather jacket and jeans walked into the bureau, with a willowy young woman on his arm. Our resident Frenchman greeted him like an old friend, they chatted, and the young man left. “Who was that?” I asked. “He used to work in this bureau,” Louis replied, “but he resigned to write a novel about an assassination attempt on President de Gaulle. Everyone knows that never happened. Il est fou!” Years later I heard Freddy say in a radio interview, “There’s only one way to write a book. Put your backside on a chair and keep it there till you’re finished.”’
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck ‘I read this in my early twenties and it was the first novel to make me gasp out loud – twice. Near the beginning a truck driver is hurtling along the highway, sees a turtle, and swerves to hit it. That word “hit”, so unexpected when you assume he’ll say “avoid”, exploded in my head. It taught me to keep surprising the reader. Lead them in one direction, then utterly confound their expectations. A single word will do it. I tried to do this as often as I could in my composer biographies – end each chapter with a totally unexpected sentence. It whets the appetite to keep turning the page. Then on the final page of the book the Joad family take refuge from a storm. In a barn they see an old man who is starving. Rose of Sharon, whose baby had been stillborn, exchanges a look with her mother. No words are said, but she understands what she must do. She gives her breast to the old man. Again I gasped out loud. I remember reading a critic who described this scene as mawkish. I wanted to strangle him. I still do. I learned from this book that powerful fiction can change things. Steinbeck said he wanted to shame the “greedy bastards” responsible for the Great Depression. What he did was afford a dignity to the poor and dispossessed.’ 34
JUNE 2021
‘I have always had a penchant for the Big American Novel. Steinbeck obviously, but also the likes of James Jones (From Here to Eternity, Go to the Widow-Maker), Irwin Shaw (The Young Lions, Rich Man, Poor Man), Herman Wouk (The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War), James Michener (The Source, Centennial). But the writer who got me going on these doorstops was Irving Stone. I was convalescing from jaundice in my late teens. My mum was going shopping and asked if there was anything she could get me. Thoughtlessly I asked if she could find Irving Stone’s The Agony and The Ecstasy in paperback. Incredibly she came back with it. I loved every word. Here was biography made accessible, educational, and absorbing. Because Stone wrote scenes with dialogue, it brought you into the room with the characters. You could almost touch them. Earlier he had done the same for Van Gogh in Lust for Life. It was this new way of bringing historical characters to life that inspired me to recount Beethoven’s life in fictional form in my trilogy The Last Master.’
www.writers-online.co.uk
Shelf life The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
‘Somebody once said that journalism is the first draft of history. This book is exactly that, and more. It is journalism as history. I remember asking my dad to buy it for me when I was seventeen. I had recently returned from a trip to Vienna organised by the Anglo-Austrian Society. I had fallen in love with Vienna and the music of Johann Strauss (which has not faded) but knew nothing about the dark undercurrents of the Second World War. This book ignited in me the desire to become a reporter. Shirer was an American correspondent based in Germany in the 1930s. He witnessed the birth of Hitler’s thousand year Reich – and its downfall. In 1968, as a young Reuters journalist, I witnessed the 1968 student and worker revolution that would bring down de Gaulle. Later, as an ITN reporter, I covered the Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Lebanese civil war, the Philippines Revolution. In each case I was aware I was witnessing global events that would be written about later as historical events. Shirer’s book was, and remains, an inspiration.’
‘Ernest Hemingway is the writer’s writer, by which I mean he is the writer you read if you wish to become a writer, whatever form of writing you aspire to. Hemingway is the foremost exponent of less is more. Much of the action in his novels is conveyed by dialogue. You won’t find screeds of description, what the weather is doing, what the scenery is like. In For Whom the Bell Tolls a single short question of lover to lover tells us all we need to know. “Did thee feel the earth move?” Parodied mercilessly, and inaccurately, as “Did the earth move for you?” it perfectly illuminates Hemingway’s genius. The original sentence is crisper, containing the all-important word “feel”. I remember, when I first read it decades ago, finding the use of “thee” unnecessary and archaic. Once you are under Hemingway’s spell it becomes perfect. I decided that if ever I was to write, I would emulate his economy of words. Alas my motto seems to have been the opposite: why use 100 words when 1,000 will do. My fictional biography of Beethoven, The Last Master trilogy, began as a single volume. One became two, two became three.’
‘The starting point was, of course, the musical. Then I discovered the novel from which it was adapted is over 1,000 pages long. I decided to read it, expecting to give up around page fifty. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. At its heart it is a simple story of redemption. Jean Valjean, former convict, steals a pair of candelabra from a priest. The priest convinces the police he has given Valjean the candelabra as a gift. He urges Valjean to repay him by leading a virtuous life. Valjean sets out to do this but is mercilessly hunted down by a vindictive police officer. I remember, towards the end of the book, I was reading in bed late at night, my wife fast asleep beside me. I read the words “Your mother’s name was Fantine”. I started to sob. Tears coursed down my face. I could not stop sobbing. Hugo said himself of his story: ‘It is a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth, from night to day, from appetite to conscience, from corruption to life; from bestiality to duty, from hell to heaven, from nothingness to God.” I’d put it rather more simply. When a novelist can make you sob uncontrollably, he has done a pretty good job.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
35
TA L K I T O V E R
m o o Z Bloom in later this year and I y first book is published rt in a small literary have been asked to take pa orded on Zoom. I am event – which will be rec y and had never heard not particularly tech-savv emic. The few times of Zoom before the pand and sounded meetings – I have looked I have used it – for work motion d that this sort of book pro an rst de un I as t Bu r. lia pecu ow I must some time to come, I kn is likely to be the future for any tips? ve at taking part. Do you ha become more competent SHEILA HANDLEY Yorkshire
M
Jane Wenham Jones offers a new writer reassuring tips on coming across well at her first virtual literary event
I
do, Sheila. But only because this has been a learning curve for me too. I had never heard of this cloud-based video conferencing tool either, before lockdown struck, nor had used anything like it, before. However, on average, I have probably taken part in a Zoom gathering at least once a week over the last year, which has included several literary events. So, I will tell you what I now know. Firstly, we all think we look and sound odd, at first. It is just a case of getting used to seeing and hearing yourself on screen. It’s a bit like the first time you ever heard a recording of your voice, and thought: can that really be me? (I can still remember listening back to my first ever radio interview. I sounded like Pollyanna on Speed!) The great thing about Zoom though, is that you can experiment with, and set up your screen well before the ‘meeting’. There is a small box in ‘video settings’ called ‘touch up my appearance’. Definitely tick that! Then play about with the lighting. One thing I learned from my forays into daytime TV in the sometimes-ill-advised pursuit of book publicity, when I was starting out, is that lighting is everything. It can bleach out all fine lines or highlight every crevice, and literally add or detract decades. So, try sitting in different parts of the house with different lamps on. You may like to look up ‘ring lights’ too. They can be transformative. And while you are doing this, think about your background. As a member of my local BroadstairsLit, I was due to interview the super-bestselling Clare Mackintosh in my 36
JUNE 2021
seaside town last year – an event that naturally had to be cancelled. I did my first Zoom interview with her instead. You can find it on my YouTube channel or Facebook page. You will note that as the screen opens, Clare – consummate professional that she is – is beautifully lit, before a backdrop arrangement of her books, her hair and make-up immaculate. In the window next to her, I am sporting a wonky fringe, have failed to remove my computer-glasses and noticed too late that there is a clear view of the pile of junk from a stalled decluttering project, piled up on my writing-room sofa. I was using my desktop iMac which has a very large screen. My natural instincts were of course, to look straight at Clare while talking to her but in fact this meant I was not looking directly into the camera which is positioned along the top rim of the computer. So while the end result shows Clare smiling calmly at the audience, my eyes dart shiftily from side to side. I have since learned to direct my remarks to the camera aperture even if this is above my subject’s head, or to use my lap top positioned on a pile of books. I have also discovered ‘virtual backgrounds’. If you upload your own picture or graphics to Zoom you can display a slide of, say, your books or the event name, behind your head, instead of a view of the laundry or your unmade bed. When I interviewed Peter James, my virtual background showed the Guildford Book Festival logo and our names. Peter had a real backdrop – showing a display of police headwear. The only slight problem with the virtual background is that they work best in conjunction with something called a green screen. And while these are easy enough to buy
www.writers-online.co.uk
on line, they are less simple to actually use. My first one – a huge circular affair you attached to your chair, which a myriad of YouTube videos demonstrated being erected and then stored away with a flick of the wrist (ha!) was so cumbersome and impossible to manoeuvre, it ended its life being stamped on in a fury and wrestled into a recycling bin. I now have a pull-out-of-a-base affair, which is much more user-friendly but which can still ripple and create a strange effect if you are anywhere near the slightest draught. When I was presenting this year’s Romantic Novelists’ Association awards, I had to abandon said screen after someone sent me a message mid-proceeding to say my appearance was breaking up to the point where I looked like an alien. So for my most recent event – for the French Festival du Roman Féminin – I simply sat in front of a blank wall (fortunately my dining room had just been painted) against which I arranged a pile of my books and a bunch of daffs. I think it worked as well as anything. If you feel apprehensive, hold onto the upsides of a Zoom event compared to sitting on a physical stage. There’s no travel involved, you can have notes in front of you, to remind you of the salient points you need to make, and you only have to worry about what you look
Under the covers Finding my tribe
Gillian Harvey is proud to be part of a community of writers As I write this column, it’s just over two months until Perfect on Paper hits the shelves. And I’m nervous. But I’ve come to realise that the feeling of nervous excitement as a launch approaches is an unavoidable part of publishing a book – after all it’s a sign that I care about it. I’ve also realised just how much more qualified I am to cope with the nervousness and review dread and excited sleeplessness releasing a book will bring. This time, everything is different. And it’s mainly due to the fact I’ve connected more with other authors and writers this year. Someone recently posted on Twitter that authors ought to watch their backs, that other authors were ‘The Competition.’ But I’ve come to find over the year that other writers are the ones who best understand the trials and tribulations that come with publishing something, and can best empathise and advise.
like from the waist up (my awards ceremony was done in evening top, If you pearls and pyjama bottoms). Keep have a question your new book lose at hand too, you would like Jane to to wave at the camera. consider, email jane@ Finally, Zoom can be a great janewenham-jones. tool for catching up with friends com as well as doing events. One of the unexpected joys of the last year has, for me, been the weekly gathering online of a bunch of ten author friends on a Friday afternoon, including Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Milly Johnson, in which we have chatted writing, books, life, the news and whatever has befallen us in the last seven days. We are all now very relaxed at it and natter on as if we were in the same room. You could maybe try something similar with some pals to help you get used to the platform, so you are equally at ease. Above all, look interested and keep smiling. You will be able to link the recording on social media, your website etc, afterwards as a permanent publicity tool. As you say – this sort of promotion is going to be increasingly employed in the post-covid age. Embrace it and enjoy! Good luck.
And I feel held up. Already, I’ve planned an online launch with three other authors who are releasing books around the same time. I’ve become part of a panel for the Stay at Home Literary Festival with five other ‘uplit’ writers. I’ve even made connections with some of my literary heroes online and none of them have taken out a restraining order (at least, not yet). When my first launch was approaching I felt very black and white about things. I saw two potential futures: bestselling chart-busting success or failure. But since connecting with other authors I’ve seen people lose agents and find new ones, feel miserable about sales then get a new deal. I’ve watched people hit by lockdown setbacks, pick themselves up and find a new way to reach readers. I know that highs and lows are part of the long game for most of us. I’ve also discovered there may never be a point at which – whatever my level of success – I feel completely ‘safe’ in this writing game, where fortunes can change from book to book. But on the plus side, I’ve learned that it isn’t a case of ‘I’ve got a deal and this is my one chance,’ but the start of a career in which there will be highs and lows, chances and missed opportunities. Through connecting with other writers, I’ve had people to turn to when things have gone wrong; and I’ve also been someone who’s advised others on their down days. I’ve read books that I may never have picked up, and discovered some amazing writing I’d never have experienced. And you know what? Whoever tweeted that nonsense about competition has it all wrong. We’re all in it together
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
37
WRITERS’ CIRCLES
Retro revival Invite writing group members to take a trip down memory lane in these exercises from Julie Phillips
T
here’s nothing like settling down on the sofa in front of an old film, popcorn to hand, to take a trip down memory lane and relive or imagine yourself in a different time and place, perhaps as a lady in Regency dress takes your hand for the dance at the grand ball or you’re chased through a jungle being hunted by a T-Rex. No matter your age, occupation or passions, there’s a film for you. Do you remember trying to master the original Rubik’s Cube, bouncing down the road on a space hopper or racing along a lane on a Raleigh Chopper bike? Perhaps you remember Listen with Mother, or playing with toy soldiers, dressing in mini skirts of the 1960s, or strutting your stuff down the High Street in platform boots? Whether you’re a 40s classic film connoisseur, a 90s video game addict, a swinging 60s music lover, or have a thing for silent films of the 20s, this month it’s time to take a nostalgic look back and use your passions of the past to inspire your writing today. What is your favourite film? Ask your writing group this and you’ll get a variety of answers from a wide range of eras. Ask them to note down the title of their favourite film and what it is about that film that they like. Next ask them to recall a film they disliked and why. Perhaps they disliked the cast or lead actor, or the dialogue was stilted and unrealistic. Maybe the plot didn’t make sense or the film was too slow paced, boring them, or two fast, racing away, leaving them behind. Make a list of the common elements that make a good or bad film.
Type or write some film titles from a wide range of genres, for example, It (horror), Finding Nemo (children), Some Like it Hot (classic), etc, on pieces of paper, fold them, and ask each group member to pick one out. Try to include some obscure ones from different eras as it’s useful if they have not seen the film. If they pull one out they have seen, they should replace it and choose again. Ask them, from the title alone, to write down what they think the storyline might be. They should then read them out and see how close they are to the actual film. Did they get it right, or had they imagined a different film altogether? 38
JUNE 2021
Next, ask them to choose another film title and amalgamate that film title with their original one to make a different film idea altogether. For example, The Golden Toy (James Bond meets Toy Story), or The Green Scream (The Green Mile, Tom Hanks’ film, meets Wes Craven’s Scream). What is the new film storyline going to be? What about items of yesteryear? What toys did they play with? Cabbage Patch dolls, Action Man, jacks or marbles? What music made them dance? Did they wear neon green and acid yellow rah rah skirts with batwing sleeved jumpers, 1940s tea dresses with a victory roll hairstyle, or spiked hair, nose rings and a multitude of other piercings? Using all their senses, going back in time for a retro feel, can inspire writing. A memory of an experience (dancing at an all-night rave, a taste (Spam), a smell (gammon boiling in pan), a sound (a clock in your grandparents’ house chiming), etc, can be great starters for story inspiration. If you weren’t born in an era that you are inspired to write about, ask someone you know who was, or look it up online. Try writing the plot of a film set decades ago but transport it to the here and now. Alternatively, go the other way, placing a recent film in the past. What changes would there be? What would be similar? Think of something from your past that either isn’t around anymore or is but in a different, modern format. What memories does it evoke and how do you feel about its modern reincarnation? Do you remember dancing to the Bee Gees on a Saturday night? How did you feel? Did you roller-skate down your street in strap-on metal skates, or did you drink lukewarm milk from a bottle with a straw at playtime at school? What games did you play on the playground? Close your eyes and immerse yourself in those moments. What can you see, hear, taste, smell and see? What other memories does it throw up? What were the big stories in the news at the time? Thinking about the past and using elements of those memories for your writing now can bring about some interesting results. You don’t have to use the whole memory or every detail, just a part of it is enough to inspire your writing and let others into the world of the eras you experienced.
www.writers-online.co.uk
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, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
SPOTLIGHT ON... I set up the All Seasons writing group in October 2017, writes Cilla Shiels. I’d sadly lost my husband earlier that year and asked for donations to be given to Warrington Disability Partnership (a service and support centre for supported living in Warrington). We’d both taught Special Education in the local college and we’d liaised with the charity on numerous occasions on behalf of our students welfare. I dropped £500 into the Centre reception and thought, that’s the end of that – or so I thought. A Centre colleague who remembered us, rung to offer her condolences, but at the same time apologised for being an opportunist. The Centre wanted to offer local people a writing group and she thought I’d fit the bill. I decided to give it a go as it was only a six-week programme and it would give me a focus during a difficult time in my life. Eight people joined the group and after four weeks they were asking if it could continue. I passed on their wishes to the Centre manager and his reply was positive: ‘Cilla, you can run the group for as long as you wish. The six-week deadline was there in case the project wasn’t viable.’ This was music to the ears of my members and myself. Some members left for personal reasons, others have joined, but the group is a solid base for anyone with or without disabilities to join and start writing. We meet on
All Seasons’ Writing Group
Wednesdays 1.30-3.30pm at the Centre and enjoy reading out our work, critiquing others sensitively and taking up suggested writing topics. A cup of tea and a biscuit at break time makes for a pleasant afternoon. In March 2020, I suggested to the group that all their short stories, poems and anecdotes could be compiled in a book and published on Amazon and any royalties donated to the charity. No sooner asked, the group took up the baton and submitted many pieces of their work for the publication. Many of the group were pleased to see their work in print for the first time. One member suggested that, given many of our articles are aimed at different times throughout the year such as Christmas, Easter and Bonfire Night, we entitle it All Seasons, which reflects our work. The book is on sale via Amazon with all royalties donated to this very worthwhile local, but internationally-recognised charity. Although Covid-19 put paid to our meeting temporarily, we’ve kept in contact via email and telephone with my sending ideas to keep the writing juices going. Members are also sending contributions to me for Version 2 of All Seasons book. One member and myself have featured on Radio Warrington, promoting our group and our writing. We aim to keep writing, stay focussed and encourage others to join us, either online at the moment via allic147@gmail.com or telephone Warrington Disability Partnership on (01925) 240064 after the lockdown for a start-up date.
Slough Writers winner thanks members for short story success Michael Ranes, a retail technology consultant from Taplow, has won first prize in the Southport short story competition with his chilling tale In Every Angel, writes Lorraine Forrest-Turner. The competition, to write up to 2,000 words on any theme, attracted over 200 entrants from seven countries, including New Zealand, Japan and the USA. In Every Angel looks at the blurred lines between good and evil. ‘We all have both inside us,’ said Michael, ‘so perhaps they
are not anyway distinct. I put a bad priest, an angel and a very painful way to die in a room together to see what would happen. What came out was a story about justice.’ Southport’s leading judge Ailsa Cox (Professor Emerita of Short Fiction, Edge Hill University) said of Michael’s winning story: ‘A wonderfully controlled story that is deeply chilling; a true and very original horror story. The writer makes you pity and possibly even empathise with the abuser turned victim. It is rooted in a banal, everyday world, with slow unleashing of the horror.’ Michael has been a member of Slough www.writers-online.co.uk
Writers for about two years and is grateful to the group for its constructive feedback on his first draft. ‘The story would not have come alive without the gentle criticism, suggestions and support my first draft received from the group,’ he said. ‘This made me rethink the pacing and layering of the story and made it a better read.’ Slough Writers usually meet at The Palmers Arms in Dorney on Monday evenings. Due to the pandemic, it has been meeting online since March 2020. For more information about the group, visit www.sloughwriters.org.uk JUNE 2021
39
SUBSCRIBER NEWS A society affair ‘My working life had always been in “personnel” but joining the Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ) in 1986 as a Probationer member was the beginning of my writing career,’ says subscriber Pamela Birley, who writes as Bradley Bernarde. ‘I was fortunate enough to achieve a place in a number of SWWJ short story competitions and after completing a creative writing course, I published a number of short stories in national magazines. ‘Following retirement from fulltime work, I began writing under the pseudonym Bradley Bernarde, but it was my first novel The Apothecary’s Gift, a time-travel fantasy set in Austen’s England, and published by Whydown books in 2003, that launched my career as a novelist. (The Apothecary’s Gift was later published as an ebook with the title Twelve Days to Dream.) ‘Around this time, I was invited onto the Council of the SWWJ as Minutes Secretary, followed by promotion to Hon Secretary in 2005. ‘My writing then travelled back in time to the 17th century and the Commonwealth with To Thine Own Self, followed by the vastly different ebook, Pas de Deux for a Cop, a 20th-century thriller set in New York. ‘Four Masks of Deception returns to the Regency period and I wanted to illustrate that not all England was made up of a genteel public living calm and composed lives. But at the same time, I also wanted to show that there were English men and women who could conduct their lives without encroaching on the welfare of the less fortunate, and were very aware of the difficulties these people had to face. ‘The idea began to form (in my head) during the Autumn of 2019, and slowly the characters began to come to life. By the beginning of the first lockdown, I had a rough synopsis written and by the end I had my first complete draft. ‘As most of the major characters conceal their true personalities, I was trying to work out how this could be achieved without revealing any of the plot – and then hey presto we all began wearing masks. But there are other masks that can be worn; invisible ones that can hide a person’s true nature, and so was born the Four Masks of Deception. ‘From then, the characters really came alive; and because this was going to be a political, as well as a romantic novel, there were the good and the bad. Therefore, none of the leading characters are what they seem, and only reveal their true natures when
40
JUNE 2021
faced with danger or deceit. Only in the case of Sir Robert Masters are we permitted to know his real personality, before learning the secrets of his companions. ‘As regards the Regency period I also wanted to show that it was fraught with discontent, especially among those who had survived Waterloo. It was a country riven by Corn Laws which increased the price of bread, chronic unemployment and the enclosure of open pastures which aroused a great deal of public animosity. ‘There was also the shadow of the French Revolution lingering in the background to concern those who were discontented with their present mentally unbalanced Monarch and his bevy of profligate sons. ‘So, as we travel through an England wrought by dissent and treachery, a most unexpected romance begins to blossom. As a distraction from drama there are also seven children and a number of pigeons who play an important role. ‘Like most aristocrats, Sir Robert has a country dwelling, although he lives for most of the year in great comfort in Grosvenor Square, but as the tale unfolded, I realised that he also needed a country house to which he could retreat in accordance with the practices of those times. I also needed a country dwelling for the denouement which takes place outside London, where everyone achieves their objectives, both successful and otherwise. ‘I could have invented one, but I have been fortunate enough to be affiliated, through my membership of the SWWJ, to Chawton House in Hampshire, once the home of Jane Austen’s brother Edward Austen Knight. A superb Elizabethan house set in fabulous grounds, it is now open to visitors, although anyone wishing to visit must first contact the office to arrange a date. It is also the home of a considerable library of books written by women up to the 1830s. ‘So, I wrote and asked for permission to use that glorious dwelling as Sir Robert’s country establishment Hawton Hall. To my delight they not only gave their permission, for which I was most grateful, they also agreed that a picture of Chawton House could be used as the cover of my book. ‘For anyone wishing to investigate this journey into the past, copies can be purchased from Amazon in both paperback and ebook copies. ‘Awaiting publication is a family saga, Yoke of Heaven, based on my own family history, in which Jewish and Christian families prove that understanding unites true affection. ‘I still sit on the SWWJ Council and was made a Vice President in 2019. Also, I am a member of the Emile Zola Society and the Society of Authors.’ Four Masks of Deception is available to buy at http://writ.rs/ fourmasks. The SWWJ’s website is www.swwj.co.uk
www.writers-online.co.uk
Two writers, one book
Trevor tries a new thing
‘It is rare for a novel to be written by two writers who live several miles apart, and when Covid-19 struck, it meant Colin Payn and I could only meet online,’ writes subscriber Dawn Knox. ‘The story of The Future Brokers began with Colin’s dislike of the traditional post-apocalyptic scenario of humans at war with artificial intelligence. He could see another way the two forces could resolve the conflict, but needed a way of writing a book that used layers of emotion that were not his normal style. ‘Colin recognised that my writing and background could prove to be complementary to his own as my qualifications are in science while Colin has longstanding connections in politics. ‘I liked Colin’s outline and initially, we decided each chapter would be written in the first person from the point of view of one of the two main characters – me writing the female protagonist’s chapters and Colin, the male’s. However, we eventually wrote each chapter together. I was keen to maintain the integrity of Colin’s story and although I made suggestions, I deliberately didn’t attempt to change the main ideas. Colin, despite the idea being his, was very flexible and accepting of my ideas and suggestions, and somehow, we both agreed on all the chapters. ‘This led to various chapters repeatedly being changed until both agreed the chapter was ready. The resulting book is a new voice which we both agreed was more powerful than either could have written alone. ‘The Future Brokers is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle: http://mybook.to/ TheFutureBrokers
‘I’ve just published Gazda – a new genre for me,’ writes subscriber Trevor Johnson. ‘Why has Lisa Stern been drugged and abducted, twice? Is her ex-husband still looking for revenge after their acrimonious divorce? ‘Who told the “ladies” they could start selling their services in the bars? DS Jochim Friedmann needs to stop the Zurich “legal” prostitution system collapsing. ‘The Celler jazz bar connects the abductions and the prostitutes. ‘Friedmann knows Gazda is the one pulling the strings. But who is he? A local football hero, a bar-owning lawyer, a war refuge, a corrupt police officer or somebody else? ‘I remember reading one of Adrian Magson’s excellent articles in Writing Magazine that suggested applying a love of words and writing skills to a different genre. I’d been trying to do this for some time, but intensified my efforts after the article. ‘My writing world had focussed on short stories for competitions, culminating in three volumes (so far) of short stories, published as Trevor’s Shorts – an eclectic mixture of thirty stories. ‘My novel Sorry’s Not Enough was published in 2018 under the name TJ Johnson. Why the pen name? Because it’s about a woman suffering abuse at the hands of her husband, written from the woman’s point-of-view, but written by a man (me). I got excellent advice on the use of pen name in this situation from Jane Wenham-Jones. I’ve never been into poetry, but writing song lyrics is a great way to find ways to express feelings in a compact, precise manner. Is there a difference between poetry and song lyrics? I’ve been entering song lyrics into the UK Songwriting Contest for some years. In 2020 I reached the semi-finals with Hope in our hearts. ‘My non-fiction book about how to stop the recurring world, financial crises, is in an advanced state of editing and should be published this year. ‘I have just finished an hour-long, animated film based on the music of Elton John, Finding love through song. ‘And now, Gazda. ‘I recommend to take Adrian Magson’s advice and try some other genres – it’ll stimulate your creativity. ‘All the above can seen and heard at https://trevorjohnson.net/
WE’LL HELP YOU SELL YOUR BOOK! Don’t miss your exclusive chance to feature on our website,
www.writers-online.co.uk Showcase your book to over 14,000 readers each month in the Writers Online Subscribers’ Showcase. We’ll give your book its own page, with blurb, cover and a direct link to your website or an online store. And if you’re a WM subscriber, the service is completely FREE. See http://writ.rs/sellyourbook for more details www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
41
An epic endeavour ‘I consider Game of Mass Destruction to be my magnum opus,’ writes subscriber Chloe Gilholy. ‘The first time the idea came to be was at school when we had to write a science fiction story for our homework. I wrote the beginnings of dystopian scifi inspired by Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. A third of the way through, I released the project was inappropriate for a fifteen-year-old and also too big. ‘At the age of 27, having had more experience writing books, I decided to give the book idea another shot. Wrote a fan fic based on the idea, then wrote it again as a novel with original characters. I learned more about advancing technology, human nature and the effects of reality TV then I ever thought was possible. ‘What surprised me the most was how loved the villain, Sia Bucks, is. Readers know she’s despicable, but they love her nevertheless.’
New adventures for Cat ‘The worldwide pandemic gave me the opportunity to live my dream life,’ writes subscriber Cat Lumb. I write this to you from my plotting shed in my garden; a private space just for me and my writing that has a blackboard to plot my novels on, and some beautiful wallpaper to feel luxurious. It was built two months after I took voluntary severance from my part-time museum educator job to mark my transition to writer and writing coach, as The Write Catalyst, in August 2021. ‘In hindsight, it was an easy decision. My health had been deteriorating with the stress of my museum role, and working from home for three months demonstrated that a slower pace of life dramatically increased my wellbeing. I have both ME and fibromyalgia, and balancing my health needs with the demands of this work was becoming untenable. ‘Since then, I’ve released my first novel on Amazon. In Lies We Trust is a spy thriller that began life as a writing group exercise, whereupon I was encouraged to further explain the naked assassin that tried to kill my protagonist. During National Novel Writing Month, the novel came to life; writing the story as it occurred to me, even I didn’t know who to trust until the end. It was such a fun novel to write. I decided it shouldn’t be hidden away from the eyes of readers who might enjoy it, so I self-published in March 2021. ‘No one was more surprised than when it reached #16 on Amazon’s Best Selling Espionage chart, among others. If it hadn’t been for the pandemic I don’t think I would have been brave enough to self-publish this novel. Yet my desire to be a good role model for my coaching clients and share my stories with the world was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and I receive messages every day from readers who are enjoying it. ‘So, if you’re looking for an adventure to read might I suggest In Lies We Trust? And I’d like to invite any writer who would like to make their writing dreams come true to join me in my free Facebook group: The Write Catalyst. Because, if I can do it; so can you.’ Website: http://writ.rs/catlumb; www.facebook.com/groups/ TheWriteCatalyst/
Lots going on for Linda ‘I’m excited to be a semifinalist in a competition for an historical romance, sponsored by Dragonblade Publishing,’ writes subscriber Linda Tyler. ‘I’ve had two historical romance novels published this year, both set in Scotland. The Laird’s Secret, which takes place in the 1950s and is published by Bloodhound Books, came out in January. The Regencyset Summer Intrigue, a My Weekly Pocket Novel,
42
JUNE 2021
available as a paperback from DC Thomson or as an ebook through Readly, was published in March. ‘My first novel, Revenge of the Spanish Princess, a swashbuckling romance-adventure, is now available in large print and The Laird’s Secret in audio book.
www.writers-online.co.uk
Horror strikes ‘I had been writing for many years, and by 2019 I had been fortunate to have had a couple of successes in short story competitions,’ writes subscriber Alan Orchard. ‘I also had a pile of unpublished short stories, several half-finished novels, and one complete novel accompanied by a drawer full of rejection slips. ‘The road to traditional publishing is long and rugged, and I wasn’t getting any younger, so I thought, “Why not give self-publishing a go?” ‘Two years later, I had two anthologies of my short stories in print as Kindle ebooks, but they are listed as literary fiction, as they are multi-genre, although there is a large contingent of horror and crime in both of them. Specific genre fiction is easier to market, consequently generating more sales, and horror aficionados have suggested that it would make sense for me to publish my tales of the macabre in one volume, so who am I to disagree? ‘Consequently, I am pleased to announce the publication of Heavy Damage. The stories in this book
originally appeared in my previous two anthologies: Things Behind the Sun and Rust Never Sleeps; with the exception of two new tales: Heavy Damage and Last Orders, which are hitherto unpublished. ‘There are lots of drawbacks to self-publishing, since you are responsible for everything: editing, proofreading, cover design, marketing. Of course, you can commission others to do this on your behalf if you can afford the associated costs. One service that I would recommend is a good producer, who will do your file formatting and conversion work, set up your Kindle ebook account, and upload the ebook file. All these hurdles aside, the overall HEAVY DAMAGE reward is complete control TALES OF HORROR AND THE over the production of your SUPERNATURAL book, and the satisfaction that goes with it. Kindle ebook royalties are – in most cases – also far higher than you would be able to secure with a traditional publisher. ‘On balance it is a route ALAN ORCHARD that I would recommend exploring if you are keen to see your work in print, so why not give it a go?’
, Unsure about grammar r sentences, structure o ? dialogue in your story Get clarity on your writing with Writing Magazine’s critique services “The comments were thoughtful, insightful and invaluable in taking my novel in a new direction. Your critique service is first class and great value for money.” Brian K
Whether you have a 500-word picture book or 150,000-word saga, our specialist writers will give objective, professional, feedback to get your book into the best possible shape.
BOOK YOUR CRITIQUE ONLINE TODAY:
https://writ.rs/critique www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
43
OOK
s.
ers
SUBSCRIPTION FORM
SUBSCRIBE TO WRITING M
Please complete the order form (photocopies accepted) and return to our simple freepost address: Writing Magazine FREEPOST: WARNERSGROUP (WM)
My details: Title ............... Forename ....................Surname .................................................................. Address ................................................................................................................................. ................................................................................................. Postcode.............................. If you wish to receive direct mail from the publisher please tick here ❏ If you wish to receive direct mail from selected third parties please tick here ❏
❏ Yes, I would like to sign up for the free Writing Magazine monthly e-newsletter
Email ..................................................................................................................................... I’m happy to receive special offers via email from: ❏ Warners Group Publications plc ❏ Selected third parties
Telephone (Inc. Area Code) ......................................................................................................... I’m happy to receive special offers via telephone from: ❏ Warners Group Publications plc ❏ Selected third parties
The subcription is a gift. Please send to: Title ............... Forename ....................Surname ..................................................................... Address .................................................................................................................................... ................................................................................................... Postcode ............................... Email ........................................................................................................................................ Telephone (Inc. Area Code) ............................................................................................................
Yes, I would like to subscribe to Writing Magazine and receive FREE access to The Writer’s App. Please select from the following payment options: £10.99 A QUARTER ON DIRECT DEBIT
£43.96 A YEAR ON DIRECT DEBIT
Please allow up to thirty days for delivery of your free gift. Whilst stocks last. Gifts only available with Direct Debit subscriptions.
Instructions to your Bank or Building Society to pay by Direct Debit. Name(s) of account holder(s):
Name(s) of Account Holder(s) ..........................................................................
Bank/building society account number
Branch sort code
WORTH
OVER
£50
Sort Code .......................................................................................................... Account Number ..............................................................................................
Name of your bank or building society: OFFICE USE ONLY Reference number
Service user number
9 4
2
2
4
Banks and building societies may not accept direct debit Instructions for some types of account
0
INSTRUCTION TO YOUR BANK OR BUILDING SOCIETY Please pay Warners Group Publications Plc direct debits from the account detailed in this instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with Warners Group Publications Plc and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my bank/building society.
Signature(s):
Date:
12 month minimum subscription term applies
Card details
SUBSCRIBE BY CHEQUE OR CREDIT CARD (FREE GIFT / OFFER NOT INCLUDED) 1 YEAR (12 issues)
£45 (UK)
£55 (Europe)
£60 (Rest of World)
would like to pay by Cheque ExpiryI date Security(made code payable to Warners Group Publications) Please debit my Visa / Mastercard / Maestro
CARD NUMBER .............................................................................................. Signature(s): Date: VALID FROM .......................................... EXPIRY .......................................... ISSUE No ............................................... SECURITY NUMBER....................... SIGNATURE ........................................... DATE .............................................. For information on how your personal data is processed, secured and your rights, our Privacy Policy can be viewed here-warners.gr/privacy or available in hard copy on request.Your order will be processed in accordance with our Terms of Sale which can be viewed here-warners.gr/termssale or available in hard copy on request.
CODE: WM/MAG2021
Complete the Claim online Or ca
E TODAY
NG MAGAZIN TI RI W TO E IB CR BS SU • Y DA TO MAGAZINE
SUBSCRIBE
TODAY AND RECEIVE FREE ACCESS TO THE
WRITER’S APP The Writer’s App • KEEP UP TO DATE with all the latest news in your writing field • BE MOTIVATED job opportunities and competitions • BE INSPIRED by the daily writing tips and prompts
3 EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: e enclosed form and send back us via FREEPOST e: writ.rs/subscribe with code WM/MAG2021 all our team on: 01778 392482
FICTION FOCUS
ALL OUR COMMON SENSES Learn how to evoke sensory impressions in your fiction with advice from Margaret James
O
ver the past few months, I’ve been reading hundreds of entries for various writing competitions. I’ve realised yet again that most novelists and writers of short stories tend to rely very heavily on appealing to the sense of sight in order to bring the action to life for their readers. I’m not judging my fellow authors, by the way, because I know I’m often guilty of doing this myself. How can referencing those other four senses make our writing stronger, more vivid and better all round? I’ve just read a powerful debut novel by Emily Koch entitled If I Die Before I Wake, in which Alex, the central character, spends almost the entire narrative in a coma, apparently unresponsive to all external stimuli. Since the story is told exclusively from Alex’s point of view, we soon learn that although his vision is so limited as to be almost non-existent – all he can make out are vaguelymoving shapes and shadows – his other four senses are superacute, even though he is completely paralysed and cannot communicate anything at all to his doctors, nurses or visitors. It’s a heart-rending story, but it’s also a welcome reminder that we human beings experience the world through every one of the senses available to us. Alex hears the medical team discussing his chances of recovery and the possibility of withdrawing his life support, which obviously terrifies him – are these people actually prepared to starve him to death? When he smells the marzipan scent of a nurse he likes, however, and imagines sitting down to 46
JUNE 2021
a slice of Battenberg, he is comforted, although the smell of his own sour sweat disgusts him. As for the sense of touch: although Alex reveals that some of the treatments he receives are painful, undignified and distressing, he also reminds the reader how much most of us value little acts of kindness. While his favourite nurse gently strokes his face, he tells us: I permitted myself the fantasy of imagining she could feel me trying to move them (his lips), to say thank you. Alex is being tube-fed, but in his turbulent dreams he tastes birthday cakes, charred burgers and lemon and sugar pancakes, and the saliva glands in my mouth work overtime. When our human sense of smell is compared with that of other animals, it’s evidently pathetic and almost (although not entirely) useless. As fire brigades the world over know only too well, the smell of smoke and burning alone is unlikely to wake a sleeping household until it’s too late. We need our sense of hearing – the crackle of flames, the collapse of burning masonry or the screech of a smoke alarm – to do that. All the same, smells can delight, torment and also warn the characters in our fiction. The multi-zillion perfume industry knows just how much we value smelling the scents that appeal to us, and how important it is to add that nauseating warning smell to natural gas. The almost permanent presence of cookery books in the top ten of the most bought and borrowed print volumes is indicative of how important the sense of taste can be. This year, I’ve read several short story entries that have described
www.writers-online.co.uk
eating and drinking so emotively that they’ve had me drooling and reaching for the snack cupboard. So appealing to the sense of taste can certainly take the reader there. While you are creating your characters, do you think about what they sound like: if their voices are high or low, harsh or soothing? What does knowing how a character sounds tell the author and the reader about this person? What a character says, and how he or she says it, are just two reasons why plenty of dialogue, as opposed to reported speech, is so important in fiction. Touch is the one sense that’s available to everyone, however disabled or disadvantaged an individual might be. It’s the sense that lets us know we’re alive, and it’s also the one that many people seem to be missing the most during our current difficult times. We can see and hear our friends and relations online but, unless they are in our own personal bubbles, we can’t kiss them, hug them, or even give them elbow bumps. There are many great novelists who effortlessly manage to engage all the reader’s senses, but for me the writer who does this supremely well is Charles Dickens, and I feel this is one of the many reasons his work is enduringly popular. The epic Bleak House transports the time-travelling reader to Victorian times on a magic carpet of sensory perception. At one point, we walk into a bare, resounding room smelling of stables. Later in the story, and in a different room, we smell a smouldering, suffocating vapour as our own clothes are smeared by a dark, greasy coating like black fat. We taste the black fat and also the putrid air of the London brick fields. We feel the cold sunlight – colder as the day declines – and the sharp wind of Lincolnshire. We smell Tom-All-Alone’s, one of many tumbledown lodging houses in a villainous street, undrained, unventilated, deep in black mud and corrupt water. We hear how it feels to be suffering from a dangerous fever. ‘I was burnt up,’ says Jo, a destitute child, ‘and then froze, and then burnt up, ever so many times in an hour, and my head’s all sleepy, and all a-going mad like – and I’m so dry – and my bones isn’t half so much bones as pain.’ We listen to the characters speaking to us and to each other throughout the story, especially in times of crisis. Sometimes, even Dickens himself comes on stage to address the reader directly, and we’re reminded that as well as a novelist he was a playwright, too. The printed or electronic book is a one-dimensional medium made up of collections of words. As writers, it’s our job to bring those words to life, to make them three-dimensional, offering the reader depth as well as length and breadth. We can do that by appealing to the five senses. But, if we fail to do that, the chances are our work will stay flat on the page.
NOW TRY THIS When you are constructing your characters, think about how the other characters and also your readers will perceive them, and give yourself a good chance of encouraging reader-identification by using all the five senses to bring these characters to life.
I wish I’d known
with Paula R C Readman ‘I wish I’d known how rewarding my impossible dream was going to be while I sat building electronic units in a factory while pondering my forthcoming birthday. It was one of those milestone birthdays when you start to evaluate your life and what you’ve achieved so far. I decided to set myself a challenge, and I settled on seeing if I could get something into print before the next big milestone birthday. ‘This might have sounded easy enough to do. But, being dyslexic and poorly educated, I knew I had set myself a real challenge. Added to this was the fact that funds were limited, and so was my time, having a young son. I decided my best option was to learn from books. I could take these into work to read in my break times. ‘As my husband had an account with eBay, I selected second-hand books within my price range, and of course I discovered Writing Magazine, too. I knew from reading How To books that I had a lot to learn. ‘After buying 250 books, my husband said just get on with the writing. ‘In 2009, I found a submission call-out by English Heritage for a writing competition. I entered it and, to my surprise, my story was selected and published. In 2011, I entered the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival/Writing Magazine Crime Short Story competition to win a luxury weekend at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. My short story Roofscapes became the overall winner in the competition, and also the inspiration for my first crime novel, Stone Angels, published by Darkstroke last year. ‘Now I know that no matter how impossible your dream might seem, if you stay true to it, there is always a way to achieve it.’ JUNE 2021
47
MASTERCLASS
Good, better – best? Helen M Walters looks at ways of creating characters whose virtue becomes an interesting element in your stories
T
his month’s story is an enigmatic little piece with an ambiguous ending. A Respectable Woman by Kate Chopin only has three characters, but it has a lot to offer in terms of showing us how to create characters with complexity and depth. As always, you’ll benefit most from the masterclass if you read the story for yourself: http://writ.rs/ arespectablewoman In the story we meet Mrs Baroda, her husband Gaston and his friend Gouvernail. It is significant that Kate Chopin only refers to her main character as Mrs Baroda and doesn’t give us her first name. This underlines that, at least at the start of the story, as a ‘respectable woman’ she is defined in terms of her husband. The story follows Mrs Baroda as she undergoes a significant period of change in her life. This is triggered by her husband inviting his friend Gouvernail to stay with them. At first, she is reluctant, feeling that she would prefer to spend the time alone with her husband. Notice how even before she meets Gouvernail she has established an image of him, both physically and in terms of his character, in her mind and has decided in advance that she doesn’t like him based on this image. This is despite the fact that the impression given to her by her husband of what to expect is a man who is clever, brilliant and promising. When Gouvernail actually arrives Mrs 48
MAY 2021 JUNE 2021
READ THE STORY AT:
http://writ.rs/ man arespectablewo Baroda surprises herself by rather liking him in reality. One of the things that makes the story interesting is that she doesn’t really know why. She is chatty and keen to make him feel at home while he remains courteous but rather silent. She sees none of the brilliance in him that her husband has previously mentioned. Her own view of him is that he is likeable and inoffensive, which seems rather to damn him with faint praise, and ultimately her frustration at not understanding her feelings about him causes her to become cross with herself. Gaston pleads his friend’s case, explaining that he is no trouble, but this riles her more and she exclaims that she would prefer him if he were some trouble. It’s almost as if she would prefer him to be the unlikeable figure of her imagination rather than the ‘lovable inoffensive fellow’ of reality. It is on this kind of contradiction and ambiguity that the story turns. www.writers-online.co.uk
Things come to a head when Mrs Baroda decides she can’t spend any longer in Gouvernail’s company and that she’ll go and stay with her Aunt instead. Notice how the following scene turns the situation between the two of them on its head. Mrs Baroda is in the garden. She is still confused about her feelings and the only thing she is sure about is that she needs to leave. Then Gouvernail joins her and this is the point at which his silent reserve ‘melts’ and he starts to talk ‘freely and intimately’ to her for the first time. Notice her response to this, and the way it is described as physical rather than of her mind. Her feelings are ambivalent. She wants to be close to him and yet she feels herself pulling away. She is torn between being a respectable woman and an unrespectable woman. The rest of the story continues to demonstrate Mrs Baroda’s mixed feelings about Gouvernail and leads us nicely
MASTERCLASS into the ambiguous ending. At first she is strongly resistant to her husband inviting his friend for a second visit. Then she changes her mind and encourages a visit, promising that she will be very nice to him this time. Is she giving in to temptation in encouraging the visit, or is she demonstrating that she has overcome her temptation by allowing it? The reader is left not really knowing which, but inclined to feel somewhat sorry for the oblivious Gaston. In this story we’ve been given some great insights into how complex characters can be illuminated not only by what they do and say but by how other people, rightly or wrongly, perceive them and what interpretation they put on their behaviour. Goodness me!
How can you come up with complex and interesting characters in your own short story writing? We’ve talked in the past about how to build unsympathetic characters and used the seven deadly sins to examine how their bad behaviour might manifest itself. This month we’re going to look at how we make ‘good’ characters interesting and employ the seven virtues to help illustrate that. Just as in real life people don’t tend to be purely bad, they also don’t tend to be wholly good. Most people are a bit of both. So when you think about writing good, virtuous characters, try not to make them too perfect. If you give them some faults as well, you’ll make them more realistic and less boring. Or you could try stretching the virtue too far, and letting your character trip over it. The seven heavenly virtues are commonly listed as kindness, humility, chastity, charity, diligence, patience and temperance. (Note how they correspond to the seven deadly sins of envy, pride, lust, greed, sloth, wrath and gluttony.) Let’s look at how you might use some of them in a story and how they might cause problems for your character. Kindness
Everyone likes a kind person, don’t they? But can a character be too kind? It’s possible that someone who is kind can be a bit too passive. Perhaps they always turn the other cheek and therefore it’s difficult
for you to bring conflict into your story. If someone is so kind that they become a doormat to others, that may mean they lack the strength to be active enough to move your plot on. How will you overcome that? Or they might be the sort of person who is constantly trying to impose kindness on people who don’t want it. This could be anything from the person who simply won’t accept that you don’t want a third slice of cake or another cup of tea, to someone who’s constantly trying to talk to other people about their feelings when all they want to do is be left alone. Or it might be the sort of person who spends loads of money on lavish gifts for other people but pays no attention to what sort of gift they might actually want. Someone like that may actually drive other people away with kindness so intense that it becomes irritating. Humility
If pride comes before a fall, then where might humility lead your character? Well, like excess kindness, it could lead to too much passivity. It could also lead to a character who is so unsure of their own abilities that they underestimate what they can achieve. So, if you’re going to make your character overly humble you might need to build in a way of them increasing their confidence. Maybe something happens to them that makes them realise they are more capable than they think they are. Maybe you can get another character to give them a bit of a push? But if you do that, don’t forget that your reader wants to see the character overcoming their own problems and not having someone do it all for them. Chastity
This might be an interesting one to throw into a story about romance and physical desire. Maybe a very chaste character finds themselves falling for someone with a reputation for being the opposite. Or maybe someone is hiding behind chastity when it’s actually fear of intimacy or fear of commitment that is their problem. Depending on what sort of story you are writing you could have some fun peeling back the layers of this one. www.writers-online.co.uk
Perhaps you could have one character completely misunderstanding the other’s intentions or inadvertently giving off the wrong signals. There’s loads of both romantic and comic potential there. Charity
If your character embodies the virtue of charity, they show generosity and a willingness to help others. There can be negative ‘do-gooder’ connotations to a character who takes this too far, but there are also some other interesting possibilities with this one. Maybe your character is spurred by their benevolence to do spontaneous acts to assist other people. This could make them unpredictable and dynamic in a way that could really help bring your story to life. Alternatively, there are all sorts of plot possibilities in having characters behaving in a charitable way that still annoys others. Think about the character who leaves everything to the dog’s home in their will and how that might affect their family members. Or the sort of person who is so busy doing a ‘lady bountiful’ act to their local community that they forget to look after those closest to them. Diligent
Your diligent character will always work hard to achieve their goals. They don’t let the grass grow under their feet and they will always be the early bird who gets the worm. What are the implications of this for your story? Well, maybe you need to give them bigger obstacles to overcome than you might for a less enthusiastically active character. If you have them achieve their goals too easily, your story won’t be satisfying. So throw everything at them. Or maybe your super-diligent character works too hard and suffers from burnout. Your challenge then is to work out how to have them come back from that. Have a think about these character traits and how you could use them in a story. How about a character who is patient or temperate? What could you do with them? When you write, don’t forget to balance virtues with faults in your characters to make them more interesting, and maybe throw a bit of ambiguity in as well to add richness to your plots. MAY 2021 JUNE
49
FREE RANGE
w r iting
Fatherly feelings
With Father’s Day approaches, explore your relationship with father figures in these creative writing exercises from Jenny Alexander ree-range writing is personal writing – no one else will ever read it, and that makes it a safe space for exploring topics that could spark strong emotions. Father’s Day falls in June and whatever your relationship with your own father or the men who have been father figures in your life, writing about fathers could get emotional. Don’t be afraid to feel the feelings. As the American poet Robert Frost said, ‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.’ If what you feel is mostly love and gratitude, enjoy it. If it’s more complicated or negative, take a step back after you have written and reflect that you are more than your relationship with your father – it is only one aspect in the kaleidoscope of experiences that make up your life. As usual, stick to the timings. With short, timed pieces, you have to get stuck straight in – you don’t have the luxury of staring at the blank page, wondering whether your idea is good enough. Your inner critic can’t get a look in.
F
Memoir
Write a list of men who have been father figures to you, perhaps briefly or perhaps over many years. This could include your father, stepfather, godfather, father-in-law, other family member, teacher, mentor, male friend… For example, when I was in my teens, a family friend, Uncle Don, took me to art exhibitions and nurtured creative ambitions in me that my own parents could not understand. When my relationship with my own father broke down, my psychiatrist was like a kindly father. Others in my life include my junior school headteacher and the choirmaster who, although a little younger than me, brought stability and wisdom into my life when I needed it in my early fifties. Choose one. Think about when and why he was important to you, and the difference he has made in your life, which might be positive or negative. Write a letter to him, reflecting on your relationship, including specific memories. Tell him what you really feel. This is personal writing in an epistolary form – you aren’t going to send it. Take twenty minutes. If you need less than that for the first one, move on and do a second one. • Note: As with all personal writing, you might discover ideas you would like to work up into a finished piece that would be sharable – in this case, a letter you could send. Fiction
In George Eliot’s novel, Silas Marner, a small child 50
JUNE 2021
arrives at the door of an isolated old man on a snowy night. Retracing her footsteps in the snow, he discovers the body of her mother, so he has no choice but to take the child in. It’s an uplifting story about the transformational power of fatherly love, for both the father figure and the child. The blockbuster film About a Boy explores the same idea. In your story, a childless man finds himself in a situation where somebody, either a child or an adult, needs a father figure. At first, make your protagonist reluctant to step up. Why does he hold back, and what makes him decide to engage? How does this relationship change both the father figure and the other character? Take twenty minutes. Non-fiction
Father’s Day and Mother’s Day began as religious festivals celebrating the Christian forefathers, the mother church, the virgin mother, but evolved into more secular celebrations of personal mothers and fathers to reflect changes in society. When I was growing up, virtually every child in my school had a mother and a father, but these days many children live in blended families, or single parent families or have samesex parents, so is the way we celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day still relevant? Write an opinion piece on how you think we could celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in a way that feels more inclusive for every child in the modern world. Take twenty minutes. Poetry
Find an old photo that includes your father or another father figure in your life. Write in prose for three minutes, describing everything you see in the photo. ‘A young man is sitting on a garden wall. He is wearing… he looks… Behind him, the cottage is…’ Focus in on your father/father figure – what is he feeling? Is there information in his body language? Copy his pose with your own body. How does it feel? Google these two poems for inspiration: On Finding an Old Photograph by Wendy Cope, and Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-Second Year by Raymond Carver. They both begin with descriptions of a photo of their father and end with a closing reflection. Write a poem about your photo following the same pattern. Take twenty minutes.
www.writers-online.co.uk
POETRY LAUNCH SEE P67 FOR ENTRY DETAILS, FULL RULES AND ENTRY FORMS
Reinventing the wheel Alison Chisholm launches WM’s competition for poetry on the theme of wheels
T
here are countless ways into writing a poem, but four are found to be particularly helpful by many poets. If you start from a single word, phrase or concept, pursuing it by mind-mapping, research, fantasy aspects or trawling memories will usually result in a hoard of material from which the poem emerges; or frequently two or more poems emerge. The challenge for the next Writing Magazine poetry competition is to consider the wheel, using any form and style of your choosing. Your poem can follow any aspect of the subject, and the four suggestions above could offer a useful springboard. A mind-map opens the subject into a range of different directions. If you write the word wheel in the middle of a piece of paper, you can draw from it any number of associated thoughts, anything to do with the physical appearance of a wheel, your experience of wheels, idioms that include the word, random references, metaphors; and each thought can be linked to the word in the middle by drawing a line between them. This makes it easier to follow a chain of thoughts through various strands, linking all associated words together. When every inch of the paper is covered with a network of linked ideas – some organised, others chaotic – examine it for any factors that catch your breath. These could be the start of the poem. Research might be scientific with regard to the crafting and materials used to make wheels, or historical, looking into this simple invention’s progress through the ages, focussing, perhaps, on the big wheel fairground ride and when it was first used, or the pithead wheel at a coal mine; or checking a specific instance, such as the torture wheel we still recognise in Catherine wheel fireworks, or the wheels that support the monarch’s ceremonial carriage. The factual basis can be explored and expanded, and given a new angle to hold the reader’s interest. Fantasy carries us into the realms of the unexplained – the wheel spinning through space defying all the laws of astronomy, the wheels on the pumpkin-turned-coach that carried Cinderella, the tiny wheels in the workings of a watch that is actually a time travel device. Memories require the least background study. Simply
recall your first experience on a bike, rollerskates, a go-kart or driving a car. Then dredge through your memories to fill in the details with anecdotes or reactions. Bring in added colour by casting your mind back to the circumstances of your life at that time, and you will be able to flesh out the poem with period colour rooted in the clothes you wore, things going on in the world then, your friends, concerns, sources of joy and sorrow. If your ‘take’ on the subject of wheels is already burning to be written, stop reading this and write your first draft. If you are still mulling over the possibilities, try any or all of these stimuli to see where you will be led. Surprise – or any other emotional response – as you work through them is a good indicator that an exciting poem is waiting in the wings and ready to take centre stage. As you undertake the processes of writing your entry, don’t forget that everyone else who enters will be focussing on the same subject as you. How can you make yours different and special? What will make it stand out? Imagine the adjudicator working through a mountain of entries. Which will make them stop, stare and re-read, tingling with the excitement of the poem? That’s the effect you are aiming for when your ideas are developing. Remember that intriguing content is only half the equation. For the poem to sing, it must be communicated with technique and flair. This means that from the title to the final full stop, every word should be the perfect one to convey your intended nuances of meaning, and fit into the rhythm of the poem. Every word should work within set rhyme patterns and metre if you have used them, or slant rhyme patterns if you are working in free verse. Every punctuation mark and line break should be perfectly placed, so that it slips by unnoticed by the reader, where its absence would have marred the poem’s flow. When you know you have revised every detail of the poem after viewing it from the page and speaking it aloud, then resting it and re-revising, give yourself the opportunity for a final check of its qualities. Go back to that image of the adjudicator’s mountain of entries. Is there something about yours that will yell – metaphorically – Pick me, pick me!? If there is, you know it is ready to submit. Good luck.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
51
POETRY WINNERS
Best of the bunch Alison Chisholm picks the winners from WM’s Open Poetry Competition
I
n the midst of a severe Covid lockdown, the challenge of writing a perfect poem for WM’s Open Competition offered a happier focus, and was embraced by legions of Writing Magazine poets, resulting in a wealth of entries. Although these covered many areas of subject matter, the virus in various guises dominated all other themes, while poems about the beauties of nature and the progression of the seasons also proliferated. Many poems were inspired by clever and thought-provoking ideas, which were pursued and explored as the poems developed. Some, though, had a good idea at their heart, but there was no apparent thinking around it to move it beyond the flash-of-inspiration stage. The good idea is the start; it’s where we take it that demonstrates skill as a poet. Entries covered all forms, from the brevity of the haiku to the drawnout sestina, with sonnets proving to be the most popular form. Roughly half of the entries were in free verse, presented in all shapes and patterns. Maybe because of the current dearth of social interaction, a number of the poems were overworded. Poetry condenses language, painting its pictures in few words, and this is part of the distinction between poetry and prose. Unfortunately several free verse poems suffered from an overflow of wordage, and needed some harsh pruning to work poetically. One thread running through a lot of poems was repetition. Sometimes this was simply part of the form, as in a villanelle or triolet, but often a word, phrase or whole line recurred. This creates an interesting effect, and 52
JUNE 2021
can be either reassuring or unsettling, depending on the wording and context. Sometimes the repeats weighed heavily, and overpowered the general effect of the poem. It was interesting to note that a number of entries included archaisms, words or abbreviations that are no longer used, or inversions to place the rhymes. These inevitably have a detrimental effect on the writing. A single morn, ‘twas or line with mangled syntax edged some poems out of the running. The greatest excitement in competition adjudication occurs when idea, execution, wording and form come together to produce the poem that tells you it’s the winner. Here it all happened with Off the Hook by Tracy Davidson of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. Her poem is dramatic, disturbing, and won’t let you put it down. The poem begins with the homely image of The last banana of the bunch, but quickly moves to the hideous scene of a suicide and its aftermath. The narrator is rushed from the room, taken to the kitchen and asked to give a statement. That’s where we discover they were present while the act took place, watched it all through a crack in his door, could have prevented the death … but in a perfect twist, made the decision and saved myself instead. The justification brings the poem full circle to its opening image, with That banana will be the last thing / in this house to be bruised. The story is multi-layered and complete, an object lesson in that all-important condensing that coils a poem into its dynamic form. www.writers-online.co.uk
WINNER: OFF THE HOOK
by Tracy Davidson The last banana of the bunch hangs off a hook, still quite fresh, just a few blemishes starting to form. He left the kitchen spotless. The same could not be said for his upstairs bedroom, the one they found him in, hanging from another hook. They think he might have changed his mind at the last moment, there were signs his frantic fingers had scrabbled desperately at the rope around his neck, that he had thrashed about as he swung, knocking things off the wardrobe, the upturned stool mere millimetres from his bare, twitching, toes. They hurried me out of that room, anxious to spare me the horror of his bulging eyes, the mess that had puddled beneath him. So, I sit in the kitchen, staring at that last banana, wondering if it would look strange, suspicious even, if I ate it. A shame to let it go to waste. Someone takes my statement. I choose not to tell them that I watched it all through a crack in his door. I choose not to tell them that I could have saved him, should have saved him. I choose not to tell them that I saved myself instead. That banana will be the last thing in this house to be bruised.
The reader’s emotions are dragged in every direction, sympathy with the dead man’s second thoughts, revulsion at the state of the room, empathy with the narrator who’s bundled out, outrage at their failure to stop the deed, and empathy when the truth is revealed. It takes very skilful writing to cover so much emotional ground in just over thirty lines. The precision of vocabulary is one of this poem’s greatest assets. The parallel use of hook, the way his frantic fingers had scrabbled and his bare, twitching toes, the mess / that had puddled and the references to blemishes and bruised all colour the
RUNNER UP MERLIN AND VIVIAN
by Elizabeth Horrocks Even a wizard grows old. He was so tired, my dear love, so burdened with cares, with memories… I lay by his side as he dozed fitfully in our great bed, in the stone chamber, in the deep green barrow, and thought of the future. So I sang to him, and my music wove a net of silver sounds; drew from him each fretful memory that caught and reflected his life in shattered glimpses: boy, man, madman, seer, counsellor, politician. They were drawn by the magic of my singing and caught in the silver strands of my song. At last his mind was quiet and it left the long years, his craft, his caring, and the glory of his life shone in that dark place, and he slept in peace, finally forgetting. And I touched his forehead, kissed him, drew a long breath, took the reflections into myself so I would know what he had known, Feel what he had felt… And stepped out to do his work
picture to bring it alive for the reader. This poem is one where repetition is used to perfection. A complete line appears three times in the penultimate stanza, reflecting the barrage of repeated questions that would have been asked; and in the same stanza, we learn that I / could have saved him, should have saved him but saved myself instead – and that becomes a mantra to take away from the poem. One of the trickier aspects of free verse is the lineation. When there are no set line lengths to dictate where to make the break, it’s possible to sever a line mid-phrase, which makes the reading difficult, or to end an unpunctuated line on an insignificant word, losing the opportunity to capitalise on the hint of extra emphasis at that point, that would benefit something more important. In Off the Hook, the lines have a natural fluency and phrasing that show how precisely they have been managed. The same skill in lineation is present in the second prize winner, Merlin and Vivian by Elizabeth Horrocks of Wilmslow, Cheshire. Her poem takes the familiar theme of Arthurian legend, but examines it from a different angle, where the balance of power shifts from Merlin to his ‘successor’, Vivian, also known as Vivien, Nimue, Nineve, etc. This is another free verse poem, wandering between the conversational Even a wizard grows old and the esoteric my music wove a net of silver sounds, but never losing the frisson that poetry engenders. Images of sight and touch are created with clarity through concrete wording. Anybody could be lying in the great bed – until we are shown it in the stone chamber, in the deep green barrow. Merlin’s achievements are revealed to the reader via the show, don’t tell advice where Vivian, in drawing from him each fretful memory, can remind the reader of his life in shattered glimpses / boy, man, madman, seer, counsellor, politician – and again we are reminded that this is www.writers-online.co.uk
no ordinary mortal. The story is the stuff of great legend, and there’s an almost biblical feel to its narrative, particularly at the end, talking about Merlin’s mind, where we read: and it left the long years, his craft, his caring, and the glory of his life shone in that dark place, and he slept in peace, finally forgetting. And I touched … This passage also demonstrates elements of slant rhyme that support free verse poetry. Listen to the alliteration of left / long, craft / caring and finally forgetting, to the repetitions, the unstressed rhyme of glory / finally, the assonance of life / finally, he / peace and slept / forgetting. The concentration of these effects within just three lines shows how the wording is drawn together into a network of sound similarities. The winning poems are both brilliant pieces of writing, and very different. The same quality and variety appears all through the shortlist, and there were many poems that just missed the list but also have great merit. An open competition brings out the best every poet can produce. Writing Magazine’s poets passed the test. SHORTLISTED Also shortlisted in WM’s Open Poetry Competition were: Margaret Aitken, Cumberland, Maine, USA; Roger Dunn, Dartmouth, Devon; Sonya Gray, Norwich, Connecticut, USA; Christine Griffin, Hucclecote, Gloucester; Derek Healy, Malvern, Worcestershire; Rachael Hill, Hulme, Manchester; Pamela Trudie Hodge, Plymouth, Devon; Madeline McCully, Derry, N Ireland; Martin Staton, Congleton, Cheshire; Linden Sweeney, Little Neston, Cheshire; Julia Vaughan, Telford, Shropshire; Jacqueline Woods, Chorley, Lancashire
JUNE 2021
53
POETRY WORKSHOP
, O L L E H SAY E Y B D O O WAVE G Poetry can be a coping strategy in hard times, says Alison Chisholm as she explores a poem written at the beginning of lockdown
W
e should never underestimate the therapeutic value of writing poetry. A poem is condensed, controlled and tautly written. It is neat and orderly. So when life is thrown into turmoil for any reason, writing a poem brings order to the chaos, and at the same time, reassurance to the troubled mind. It is not surprising, then, that people who don’t ever write poetry in the normal course of events will confess to writing a poem at a time of emotional ferment, maybe when their first love affair fell apart, or their child was born, or a family member died. The poem was written, the mind was cleared, and the possibility of moving on presented itself. The nightmare of 2020 involved unbearable pain, a curtailing of normal rights and liberties, outpourings of sympathy, care and gifts, and a few strange moments of hilarity. It also elicited a massive outfall of poetry as the world tried to come to terms with all that was happening. Every poem produced represents a human being’s need to express and share thoughts. The future will learn of these bizarre times through official records, but also through the poems that are being written now. Sue Brotherstone of St Helens, Merseyside, shares her reaction in When. The poem is a direct response, written on the very first day of lockdown in March 2020. Sue points out that ‘when my granddaughter had as usual come for her tea, it suddenly struck me 54
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
WHEN As she waved goodbye I could feel the tears Running down my face. I will miss her smile, Her company; Her infectious laughter. I do not know When I will see her again. We are isolated From our family and friends. Isolated, from life as We know it. We face an uncertain future. Will life ever be the Same again? Questions, with no answers. So we take one step, And one day at a time. Waiting to pick up Our lives and freedom. When, we do not know.
that she would not be allowed to do this for a long long time, and this is where the poem came from.’ The straightforward message, conveyed in conversational language, is all the more moving because of its starkness. While everyone was trying to work out how far they could walk for an hour’s exercise and what time the post office would be open, this one thought, summed up in the title, slams home the true impact of isolation. The therapeutic effect of writing is certainly not lost on Sue Brotherstone. The treasurer and former chairman of St Helens Writers, she is never to be caught without a pen and notepad to get ideas down onto paper. She’s a keen people watcher, and is motivated to write by life events. During the first lockdown, she kept two notepads on the go. One was to anchor her thoughts to paper. In the other she drafted a hundred poems, a poem a day. The notes and poems kept her motivated in these alien times our generation has never known before. When follows a good route, starting with the immediacy of the moment of parting, and then spreading out to the personality of the granddaughter, and fanning further to consider how everyone was in the same situation of isolation, ending with open questions about the future, and the message of hope that one day things could return to ‘normal’. There’s a clever touch at the end, where the linking of two familiar phrases creates a moment of lightness. We could have taken either one step, or one day at a time.
Poetry in practice By binding the two together, the effect is far greater than the cliché of either on its own. The piece is written in short, staccato words and phrases, and in short lines. Of the first eighteen words of the poem, sixteen are monosyllabic, and the longer words only have two syllables. There’s no expansion for sentiment, just a practical approach to the immediate concerns and future questions. This gives a clipped, nervous feel to the lines. It’s interesting to note that the poet has used capital letters to open every line, a perfectly acceptable device, of course, but nowadays many poets prefer the ease of fluency that comes from using upper case letters just to start a new sentence, especially in a free verse poem. Here, the tiny jerk of the capital letter adds to the feeling of awkwardness that suits the subject matter so well. This point is emphasised where there are a couple of difficult line breaks. These occur at the centre of the poem, the place where the focus changes, moving from the immediacy of the family situation to the wider implications for the whole community. The faltering ‘feel’ of breaking lines at as and the when a more natural phrasing would have suggested Isolated, from life / As we know it and Will life ever / Be the same again? builds on the edginess. At that point, too, sentence structure becomes more fragmented. Three of the sentences in the second half of the poem assume rather than stating the subject or verb. In a different context, this could be read as flawed construction; but in this instance it’s exactly right to reflect fragmenting and disintegrating lines of thought. While this subtle undermining is taking place, the poet never loses sight of the fact that this is a free verse poem, not a passage in prose. It’s supported throughout by slant rhyme, with repetition, perhaps, being the most effective slant rhyme device. I do not know is followed by we know it while, ironically, the poem ends with we do not know. In isolation, there are two references to life, picked up as lives at the end, where the plural gives a nudge towards hopes of renewed togetherness. The two uses of isolated at the heart of the poem hammer the point home. Isolated even begins with ice – a coincidence, perhaps, but happy chance when the ear picks up that chill. The assonance in I / goodbye / smile / life / time relies on the mournful cadence of the vowel sound. At the end, take / day / waiting have a subtly brightening effect with the open -ay sound. In the lament of the opening lines, we see imagery condensed into the wording. There’s the visual impression of the girl walking away, the sound of her laughter, and feel of tears on the face – which also imply the taste of salt. As the poem progresses and becomes more stark, there is little imagery, emphasising the impersonal, numbing effect of the lockdown. So how does a poem like When exert the cathartic effect of writing poetry? Sue Brotherstone reckons that joining a writers’ club and subscribing to Writing Magazine, alongside committing to a series of poetry workshops, have been among the best things she’s ever done. To put it simply, When, inspired in the moment the poet waved goodbye to her eldest granddaughter in March of last year, was the solace that helped her to deal with her emotions. She read it to her granddaughter, who was also touched by its message. Poetry can be therapy. Poetry heals.
Creating a list can spark a new poem when you’re stuck, says Doris Corti
T
here are times when, having worked on a poem, you are not satisfied with it, or you may think it is not the poem you had in mind. Perhaps your thoughts are in a tangle, and words won’t come together as you would like them to Or maybe the structure of the lines is eluding you. I guess every poet has had times like this. Put that poem out of sight, for the moment. This experience will most likely have left you feeling restless. If this is so, make a list. It could be about what is in the room where you are writing,or the items that you are wearing. This may all sound strange, but it can help to produce the idea for a poem. Writing a list can trigger your imaginative response to objects and in this way your list with its connections can be the start of some poetic lines. Let me give an example. Perhaps you have a room with a window? Make the first word on your list ‘window’. Make the second word on the list something that your eye is drawn to at this window. It may be the colour of the curtains, or it may be something you can see through the window – in a garden or on a path perhaps? For starters, then. we might have the following words: Window Curtains Green Garden As a poet your mind will already be triggered to embellish these words, as in the following example: Windows are clear, sparkle in sunlight. Curtains pulled back, display green of summer So far there is no particular form or structure, but as you continue with these lines you will find the need to place punctuation where necessary, which will probably lead to where a line ends and another begins. It’ s possible that some lines will have a musical quality and you might wish to make your lines rhyme. If you use my few words and lines to begin a poem you could describe a different season, or maybe it is raining? This will lead your mind into other words and phrases as in rain, teardrops on window / leaves floating from trees like coloured jewels. Think of winter and snow on the ground. Or maybe the window is smeary and its frame rattles in the wind. Don’t forget to bring an emotional element into lines. Exercise: Write a list of things you would take on a picnic. Now write a small poem from your list. JANUARY JUNE 2021
55
WRITING FOR CHILDREN
Spring cleaning PART 2 Amy Sparkes offers five more ways to add the final polish that will make your children’s story shine
S
ometimes it is the little things which can make the biggest difference. Relatively small changes can help transform a story and take your writing to a new level, helping it stand out in the slushpile. In this mini-series we look at ten areas you can develop to make your story shine. Last month we looked at hooks, character voice, visualisation, colour and smell. This month, we look at maps, tension, laughs, food and drink, and endings.
1 MAPS Maps are hugely popular in children’s fiction and tremendous fun to create. When maps are included in the pages before the story begins, they can help stir up excitement for the adventure ahead. Maps can also help young readers navigate an unfamiliar area or a completely new world which you have created. When you are planning your storyworld, especially if it is a fantastical or alternative world, creating a map can be hugely helpful for you as a creator. Maps can keep your geography on track, expand your vision of your world and its possibilities, and also help inform and direct your storyline. If you have drawn a map to help plan your world, and think it would work well included in the beginning or end of your book, why not share this when you submit your story? A professional illustrator will be used to create a map in a published book, but there is no harm in submitting your own hand-drawn map to share your vision.
2 TENSION Keeping tension running through a book is essential for good storytelling. It draws young readers on and makes them desperate to turn the page. What is at stake for your protagonist should they fail? How do things get worse? How does the setting add to the tension? Can you add slow tension (such as creeping through a forest) to vary the pace, as well as having fast tension (for example, being under attack from something)? You can also have macro-tension and microtension throughout your story. Macro-tension usually relates to the escalating stakes and main conflicts of the story, such as the driving external conflict and major plot points. Micro-tension is tension on a much smaller level, which can keep your readers engaged in elements like the characters and the setting. You can demonstrate tension through different ways, including dialogue, interactions between characters, or a moment of suspense in a strange setting. Tension, at its heart, is a feeling of things being unresolved. We read on to find out what that resolution will be.
Top tips
• When you are creating your map, be mindful of overdone and overfamiliar concepts and names within your genre. For example, avoid Misty Mountains or Dark Forests. Can you think of other, more creative ways to describe features of your world? • When you’re creating your map, think about the reality of geography (unless geographical or physical rules are different in your world to ours). Make sure the map feels credible unless you are intending a humorous map to accompany a funny story. • Draw a map to the best of your ability, rather than including something which looks too scrappy. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you’re concerned your attempt doesn’t look very professional, consider commissioning an artist or illustrator to create one based on your sketch. It doesn’t need to have bells and whistles – simple yet attractive is ideal. 56
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
Top tips:
• Look for places where characters can disagree with each other and add tension via dialogue, body language or subtext. • Use the emotional reactions of your characters to create tension. • Create small surprises along the way, in addition to big plot twists. Unpredictability is a great way to keep the tension going and keep the reader on the edge of their seats. • If your book is generally fast-paced, remember to include slower moments to vary the pace and create moments of micro-tension. Think about moments like slowly pushing a door open in a haunted house.
3 LAUGHS Humour can make a huge difference to a text. Funny moments in children’s fiction can create a feeling of warmth, towards the story generally, or characters specifically. And as laughter releases feel-good chemicals in the brain, it can act as a positive reinforcer to read on. A story doesn’t need to be a full-blown ‘funny book’ to include humour. Sprinkling humorous moments through action, dialogue, characterisation or description can be effective and engaging for young readers.
4 FOOD AND DRINK Food and drink are often an important part of children’s lives and including them in a story can make it more engaging and exciting. Do you remember stories from your own childhood which would include descriptions of picnics? The glorious descriptions of any food, drink or meal can add depth and context to a scene. Taste is often a neglected sense in writing, and including food and drink is a great way to stimulate this sense. This can be the case even if the food and drink being consumed in unfamiliar to the reader. If your world is fantastical or magical, including information about how or what characters eat or drink can help hugely with worldbuilding. Where does the food come from? What are the customs surrounding it? How is it different or similar from our experiences? Giving your characters chance to actually stop and eat or drink also helps create a sense of reality. Unless your characters are robots or a certain species which don’t need regular refreshment or nourishment, it can feel unbelievable that your characters can keep ploughing on without any sustenance. (Bonus tip: the same goes for sleep!) The need for food and drink can also be used as a conflict point in the story. If your characters need to search for nourishment to survive, then this can add extra conflict or escalate the stakes, or take the plot in another direction. Top tips:
• Look back at your text and check when your character last ate or drank. They may actually be at death’s door. You don’t need to show them having every single meal but taking some kind of sustenance or refreshment here and there adds to the believability of your story. • Try to find ways to make food and drink work on more than one level. If you stop your characters for a meal, snack or refreshment, what else can you work into the scene so it doesn’t purely become about eating and drinking? Can you use this scene to slow your characters down and engage in conversation about an important plot point? Or reveal character through the event? What are your characters’ attitudes to food and drink? How are they different? What food would they enjoy? In what manner do they eat, and what more can we learn about their character when we watch them partake?
Top tips:
• Make sure humour is consistent and believable. Don’t give jokes to a character to deliver if they contradict that character’s personality or voice. • Sometimes just changing the way something is phrased or described can raise a smile and bring a lighter moment to the text. Look for opportunities to be playful in your writing. Children will appreciate it. • Keep funny moments punchy and tight. When humour is too drawn-out, it can lose its impact.
5 ENDINGS The way you end a section of your writing is very important and can make a huge difference to how the story is received. If you want your reader to get as far as the End of Endings, you have to tempt them along the way. Chapter endings are incredibly important – do they end in a way which makes the reader want to read on? Can you pinpoint exactly how? Are you ending the chapter on a hook? Perhaps mid-scene, or posing a question that the reader cannot answer? How you end spreads in a picture book is also very important. Picture books spreads are like mini-chapters. What will make your little reader want to hear more and turn the page? Sometimes splitting the last line of a spread to create unresolved tension works well. How does the sentence end? What’s the punchline? What’s waiting on the next page? Even the way you end sentences and paragraphs can make a difference. Endings are your parting gift to a reader. What are they taking away from the ending of your paragraph? Top tips
• Look carefully at your closing words in a paragraph. Can rearranging the sentence create a stronger feeling? Are you ending on a strong word or idea? Or does it feel weak? • If you use split-sentences for a page turn in a picture book, be mindful of how often you do it. Sometimes the more you use something, the less effective it can become. Using them sparingly will create more of an effect when you really want to use it.
Established in 1994, we are a literary consultancy service providing advice and training to children’s writers. We offer: • Manuscript appraisals • Consultancy services • Courses and workshops We work alongside children’s publisher Wacky Bee Books. Shakespeare House, 168 Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TG T
020 7801 6300 E info@writersadvice.co.uk
www.writersadvice.co.uk JUNE 2021
57
FA N TA S T I C R E A L M S
A load of old trope:
SCIENCE FICTION Alex Davis looks at using over-familiar elements in your SF
T
ropes always present an interesting challenge for an author – in many ways they are the things that define the genre, but they can become tired and staid over time. But equally it’s important not to veer so far away that the story becomes unrecognisable as its chosen genre and provides a little too much of a puzzle for a reader – or, and more likely I would guess, the publishing industry more widely. Books that cross or blend genres are not just a creative risk, but also a very real risk in the market sense – sometimes those chances pay off, but many times they don’t. We’ve taken a look recently at some of the tropes that recur in fantasy and horror. Of course that’s not to say that science-fiction doesn’t have its share of facets that come back time and time again. So today we’re going to take a look at some of the main tropes of sci-fi, thinking a little about why they exist and how we can use them in interesting and relevant ways today.
Space travel A leading and oft-seen element within the genre is that of interstellar travel, with people hurtling through space at astronomical speeds from one place to the next. Sometimes this can be a rapid process, while in other cases the crew go into some sort of hibernation/‘cryosleep’ to ensure that they can survive until the other end of the journey. This makes absolute sense for SF in many ways, which was born at a time of scientific advance and exploration – in that spirit humanity would surely seek to explore the vastness of the universe. Naturally authors have tried to take this in varied directions, with more and more ships having personalities rather than being simply machines. There have also been efforts for the travel to be achieved in new ways – faster-than-light travel is an old favourite, but you can certainly push beyond that with things like wormholes, teleportation etc. Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice does something totally different, with a starship placed into the body of a human. A spaceship doesn’t 58
JUNE 2021
have to be the Millennium Falcon or the Starship Enterprise to connect with a reader. Time travel No doubt one of the most challenging things that a writer can tackle, time travel has the potential to be an absolute minefield of paradoxes and complications – and often for a reader the feeling can be similar. The theoretical effects of even the slightest changes to the timeline are well depicted in stories like Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder, although the concept goes back much further than that. Some would even argue that time travel can’t affect the timeline, because whatever changes you make back then would already have been made. Primer is a movie claimed to be one of the most accurate depictions of time travel, which is why so many viewers have found it difficult to understand. If you want to do something different, you could easily look at time travel achieved without technology, or the impact of paradoxes – you might even be able to take things down a parallel timeline or ‘multiverse’ concept. There could be some legs in multiple time travellers, or a sort of ‘time war’ breaking out that can drive the story. But however you want to play in this particular park, it’s important that you do a lot of planning to avoid completely tying yourself in knots. Aliens Of course when you go investigating planet after planet as a genre, there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll bump into some aliens of different stripes. An old classic is the idea of the alien invasion, or at least an alien aggressor, that speaks to what can often be an innate human fear of ‘the other’. If it’s not human, then evolution-wise it makes sense for us to be afraid of it, at least until we come to understand its intentions. Some SF has focussed on a world where aliens live among us, or there is at least an effort to build a functioning society featuring both humans and extra-terrestrials. It could even be the case that aliens are quietly and secretly living among us, with either peaceful or warlike intentions. And of course the stories of first contact are
www.writers-online.co.uk
very famous – how would an initial meeting go, with all the paranoia and amazement and fascination that would accompany it? It may be tried and true, but what fresh takes could you bring to it? There could be scope for alien-human hybrids to be developed in fiction, or maybe takes where the aliens are neither a threat nor a help – you could certainly invert expectations with a fairly useless and ineffective race of interplanetary creatures. It’s also fair to say that a whole host of aliens in media tend to be fairly humanoid, but there’s no reason at all this has to be the case – they could well have anatomy, language and culture that would be utterly baffling to their human companions. Technology Of course technology plays a big part in SF, and we’ve talked previously in these pages about how you can deploy technology and indeed advanced science within the genre. The trope tends to be that things have come on immensely and the future is far more sophisticated than our current timeline. Not to mention the host of tropes that have that technological flavour – time machines, spaceships and starships, transportation devices, robots (more to come on that shortly) and many more besides. There’s a number of ways in which you could employ technology in a story though, and it’s not any sort of prerequisite to science-fiction. Dystopias often see technology busted and broken down – I’ve always liked the visions of technology in the Warhammer 40k universe, with its flourishes of religion surrounding it – while subgenres such as steampunk and dieselpunk tend to be significantly more backwards-looking in terms of tech, reversing time rather than looking to the future. You might even cook up a world where technology has been outlawed or made anathema, or exploring a civilisation without technology that encounters a highly technologised society – what would happen in that sort of situation? Don’t get trapped in to a narrow idea of SF – and if you’d like more info you can look back at my previous pieces on these pages about steampunk, cyberpunk, alternative history and more. Robots There are any number of tropes I could have covered here, but within the word count limits I’ve had to settle on just the five here. For those of you who’d like to look at tropes more widely you might want to also consider cloning, nanotechnology, virtual reality and more besides. But the last one I’m going to look at here is the idea of robots, another much-loved element of the genre, and one that goes way back in the so-called ‘golden age’ of science-fiction.
A common question is how much intellect and power to make decisions AI should have – the questions of consciousness are now spilling in fascinating ways into real life, and the ‘humanity’ that robots can show has made for many an interesting story. We’ve also seen plenty of robot uprisings, with the machines deciding that maybe they could do a better job of things than humanity and shaking off the limitations and restrictions put upon them by their creators. As I say, there are some genuinely exciting – and sometimes slightly chilling – new experiments and creations in the field that could make this trope ever more relevant. But again, there could yet be new ways to do things. What about robots creating other robots, or robots being a part of a relationship with a human being – whether as part of its programming or through free choice? Then there are those cyberpunk-style questions of humans having robotic additions made to their body – again ever more common in reality – that still have plenty of fuel left in the tank going forward. This is the third article exploring the world of tropes in genre fiction, although this is a question not exclusive to horror, fantasy and science-fiction. Romance, comedy, Westerns are plenty more besides all have the tropes that helped make them, but as time goes on readers get ever more hardened to those tropes. The first time you encounter them might feel fresh and exciting, but by the tenth or hundredth time you see them in action a lot of that initial buzz is bound to be lost. That’s certainly not to imply tropes have now lost their value – many are key factors in what will make any genre what it is, whether it uses one or a handful of old faithfuls along the way. Done well, a trope can still feel fresh and exciting – but it certainly requires a good understanding of the genre, with solid reading in the field being a huge benefit in this respect. But fiction – like all artforms – never stands still, and every genre needs to experiment and push further in new directions. The tropes of yesteryear may never vanish, but they might be presented with a new spin or a fresh angle that feels relevant to the time in which the story is written. Indeed what we even mean by a trope could change over time – the things that defined a genre a hundred, fifty, maybe even twenty years ago could easily slip into relative irrelevancy over time. What is crucial if you want to play with any sort of trope is to be aware of how that trope has functioned within the field, and the reason you are choosing to do something different with it. It should never be just for the sake of standing out – you should be able to justify it in the story sense, and for it to fit with your intentions and aims for your project. Who knows, you might even be the one to create the next significant trope that changes your genre forever. www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021 JUNE 2021
59
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Your writing critiqued
James McCreet applies his forensic criticism to the first 300 words of a reader’s manuscript
Fred Johnson is retired and took up a creative writing class to prod him to do the writing he has always thought about. WM has been a particular godsend during lockdown, giving him ideas and stimulus when there have been no classes.
Adam was used to separation,1 and this time was no different2 - sudden, arbitrary and disorienting.3 A rough voice.4 ‘Come with me. I’ve found someone to take you off my hands at last.’5 Woken from sleep and ten years old,6 he wasn’t sure what this meant but he did not expect much good. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes7 he followed the man’s heavy boots into the farmyard.8 A maid watched from the kitchen.9 ‘Lord,’ she said to the cook. ‘He’s only a scrap of a boy who’s done no harm to anyone but the master treats him worse than the dogs.’10 The cook shrugged.11 ‘He wasn’t asked for and he isn’t wanted. He’s lucky something was done for him and his sister. It’s better than the workhouse.’12 ‘You should have seen him cry when they sent his sister away. I’ve never seen anyone so broken hearted.’13 The cook slammed down the dough she was kneading
’Separation’ has the flavour of a psychological term or at least an abstract concept, but the story takes place in the early 19th century and with the focus on a ten-year-old boy. There’s a danger of ‘tonal drift’, where the author colours the story or character with the concepts or language of his own period. It’s only very minor here, but read on. No comma necessary before ‘and’.
1
If he’s used to it, then saying it was no different seems redundant. It’s a common enough phrase, but that could be the problem. We use such phrases whether they contribute to the sentence or not.
2
I like dashes (this is a hyphen) but the grammatical sense is a bit woolly. What exactly does ‘sudden, arbitrary and disorienting’ refer to? Separation in general or ‘this time’?
3
60
JUNE 2021
He has had a couple of SF-based stories published but this story, Gold Rush, which is historical fiction based on the events leading to the building of the Stockton to Darlington railway in the early 19th century, is a new direction for him.
raising a cloud of flour.14 ‘Soft. Soft in the head too if you ask me.15 Hardly says a word. I don’t think he’s learned proper.’16 ‘Oh, he can talk alright. I’ve heard him prattling on to the horse.’17 ‘Talking to the horse! He’s not all there.’18 ‘Maybe he is a bit touched. But who wouldn’t be in his place?’19 ‘You get on with peeling the potatoes.20 The boy’s going.’21 Adam felt a kinship with the horses and dogs on the farm that had as little control over their lives as he did.22 He slept in the stable and groomed the great carthorse which, in return,23 warmed him at night and listened uncomplainingly24 as Adam told of happier times. But now Adam stumbled out into a cool morning with a carrier’s cart waiting at the farm gate.25 There was no chance for goodbyes.26
This is good. Very economical. But start a new paragraph with this because the focus has changed.
4
Also good. The speech seems naturalistic and tells us about the relationship between the two.
5
New focus: new paragraph. It’s an odd descriptive combination, referring to both the immediate situation and the boy’s age. Normally something like this would seem like a mistake but it causes the reader to pause and think momentarily. It has a certain elegance.
6
The second sentence in a row that has started with a subordinate clause. This kind of structure creates a convoluted ‘round the houses’ flow if done inadvertently. Use a comma after ‘eyes’.
7
www.writers-online.co.uk
I like the idea of following the boots rather than the man. It’s a subtle way of suggesting the boy is looking down or simply that it’s so dark he has to follow the sound.
8
Where is the kitchen? Above, looking down? At the same level? The reader needs to see the perspective. Also, we started with the boy’s perspective but immediately switch to a different point of view. It would be more consistent to stay with him if we start with him. Who is the reader following? Where’s the focus?
9
. The dialogue is clumsy – used too overtly to give the reader information. If the boy has been living there for some time, the cook and maid would have talked about this long before. By now, most of their discussions would be based on prior knowledge and experience. She’d more
10
If you would like to submit an extract of your work in progress, send it by email, with synopsis and a brief biog, to: jtelfer@writersnews.co.uk
probably say something simple like, ‘Lord – the poor lad.’ . Good physical shorthand. We can envisage it and the gesture shows she doesn’t care.
11
. This is better. It provides the reader with information but it’s more credible as something she might say in the circumstances.
12
. Again, this seems too explicatory. Try something like, ‘You didn’t see him sobbing when they took her.’ The brokenheartedness is implied in the crying.
13
. The cook is a woman? It wasn’t made clear earlier and I assumed it was a man, either because I am one or because something in the tone suggested it. The sound of the dough and the flour cloud are good visuals, though we need a comma after ‘kneading.’
14
signpost for the reader. The cook’s speech, however, is consistently taciturn. Her grammatical mangling is a nice ironic twist reminiscent of Dickens. . This is something only the maid might know so it seems legitimate for their conversation, as well as adding useful information.
17
. Again, this seems like a characteristic response from the cook, who clearly has a hobbyhorse in terms of the boy’s mental state.
18
. This is better. Nothing overt or unnatural in these observations.
19 20
. I hadn’t pictured the maid peeling potatoes all this time. It should have been made clearer earlier.
. Do we need to repeat that the boy’s going? It’s been clear from the start. If the cook has something more to say, you can elaborate.
21
.Commas either side of ‘too’.
15 16
Is it necessary for the cook to state out loud that the boy doesn’t speak much? It must be something they both already know so it looks like another
. Now we switch back to Adam’s perspective after the interlude with the cook and maid. The brevity of their section makes it look too obviously like an expositional technique to give the reader
22
information. Rather, it has broken the narrative flow by focusing neither fully on the boy nor fully on their part of the story (if they have one.) Also, who is speaking here? It seems unlikely that the boy – just ten and possibly uneducated – has made the philosophical comparison between the lives of the animals and his own. That seems more like an authorial imposition. . Is there any sense in which the horse knowingly or purposefully warms the boy ‘in return?’ Is the boy thinking this or is the author telling us? It’s not clear.
23
Clearly the horse didn’t listen, which suggests we are now in the mind of the boy, but the terms of reference do not seem those of a child.
24
The sentence suggests that the morning has a carrier’s cart waiting. Or is it Adam who has the cart waiting? The grammar is a bit clunky.
25
I wonder if anybody wanted to say goodbyes. It doesn’t sound like there was much familial spirit. This seems like a touch of pathos added by the author rather than something authentic to the situation.
26
Tap here
In summary
to read James McCreet’s suggested rewrite of this extract
There’s some good writing here. Paradoxically, there’s also some rough-hewn prose. The cooks tone and speech is very economically done, but the maid is an authorial ‘plant’/ Meanwhile, Adam – like Oliver Twist – comes across as a pitiful and potentially idealised victim without being a credible character. Why the inconsistencies? I think the main issue with this piece is narrative perspective. The author has too strong a hold on the action so the characters can’t fully come alive and the narrative can’t flow or breathe on its own terms. Note how Adam is a kind of cipher who has attributes and context pinned to him but who doesn’t really exist a character. He’s ten, but he seems to think at a more sophisticated level. The facts of his life – his relationship with the horse, for example – work more as fiction than as convincing reality. Note also the focus. We begin with Adam but then jump
almost immediately to a kind of ‘Greek chorus’ perspective of the servants, which is designed too overtly to give the reader information. This is a literary technique and looks like one. It would have been better to start with the cook and the maid and then switched to Adam. Or vice versa. As it stands, the scene is fractured, with neither part getting enough space to hook the reader. This all sounds bad when taken together, but the solution is simple. Put the emphasis on the characters and the situations rather than on the writing. The reader shouldn’t notice writing at the level of narrative perspective and focus changes. In fact, they don’t – they just notice that something is ‘off’. If it continues to be ‘off’ for a few pages, the reader loses interest. The way to keep them is to let the scene unfold consistently and for the author to keep out of it.
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
61
NEW AUTHOR PROFILE
Kate Bendelow Adrian Magson talks to the police officer and new novelist, whose lead character is a Scene of Crime Officer, just like she is
I
t’s unlikely that Kate Bendelow, whose Definitely Dead is published by Bloodhound Books in May, is likely to run short of insider knowledge for her planned trilogy of crime novels. As a SOCO (scene of crime officer) in Greater Manchester, she has plenty of material with which to arm herself. ‘Many years ago,’ says Kate, ‘I had the pleasure of meeting Lynda La Plante. During a conversation she asked why I didn’t write about my day job. My husband had suggested this previously, but I always thought it was too much of a cliché. I then realised there were very few protagonists out there who were a SOCO/CSI. On the train home from London that day, Maya Barton was born. Having had the pleasure of advising so many crime writers over the years, I’ve realised how people are fascinated with what goes on behind the crime scene tape, so what a great way to give an insight into my role by creating a fictional character doing my job.’ Definitely Dead is the first in a trilogy featuring her protagonist, SOCO Maya Barton. Embarking on her dream job as a SOCO, Maya attends her first sudden death. The post-mortem deems it to be non-suspicious, but Maya has her doubts. As other notorious criminals are found dead in seemingly nonsuspicious circumstances, Maya remains convinced there’s a killer on the loose. The book follows Maya as she tries to adjust to her new role as a SOCO whilst inadvertently alienating her colleagues with her sudden death conspiracy theory. Maya is also desperate to escape from her troubled past whilst finding out who she can really trust. ‘I work part-time and when I’m not on shift,’ says Kate. ‘Those are my writing days. It has taken eighteen months to write Definitely Dead and subject it to countless edits. Because it is part of a trilogy, a lot of
62
JUNE 2021
that writing time has gone into the building blocks for the next two books and accompanying research.’ Her writing career began by composing and performing poetry at spoken word events. ‘Some of my poems are on YouTube but are adult themed. I’ve also written lots of short stories and flash fiction as well as a ‘practice’ novel, which is still hidden away waiting patiently to be massively re-worked one day.’ Kate wrote a non-fiction book, The Real CSI: A Forensic Handbook for Crime Writers, (Crowood Press/ Robert Hale imprint in August 2017). ‘It came about once I started advising crime writers, something I love doing as I can combine the passion for my job with my love of writing. Although I’m so proud of The Real CSI, I always thought that I wouldn’t feel like a real author, the one I dreamed of being as a child, until I saw my first fiction book published. So signing a threebook deal with Bloodhound was a dream come true. ‘As a result of being a voracious reader I always wanted to be an author. Looking back, it was never going to be an option for me not to do it.’ Dealing with cases ranging from burglary and armed robbery to rape, arson and murder, you might think Kate would be immune to surprises. Not so. ‘When I wrote The Real CSI,’ she recalls, ‘I was researching the technical term for “breaking” rigor mortis and inadvertently stumbled across a necrophilia website. After nineteen years of being a SOCO I thought I was un-shockable – until then.’ She submitted her manuscript to agents first, then to several publishers who accepted unsolicited work. In all, it took 27 submissions before she hit the right one. So what’s next? ‘I was hoping to have Maya Barton #2 ready for publication in August, but in reality, it won’t be ready until the end of the year. As most people will recognise, during lockdown I’ve really struggled to write with my husband and daughters being at home. I realise now how lucky I was to have the house to myself during weekdays. I need complete silence to concentrate and listen to my characters. Does that make me sound like a diva?’ No, Kate. It makes you sound like a normal writer.
www.writers-online.co.uk
K AT E ’ S T O P T I P S • Don’t compare your rejections to other people’s successes – your day will come. • Don’t worry about who is going to read what you’re writing. If you’re going to imagine your Auntie Margaret reading that sex scene, you’ll never write it! • Listen to your characters. They know more about the plot than you do. • Read. I honestly believe it enriches your writing.
Win £1,000 in the
Writing MAGAZINE
Grand Prize 2021 After an incredibly strong showing in 2020, we’re pleased to announce the return of the £1,000 Writing Magazine Grand Prize. The open competition invites your short stories in any form, on any topic. The only stipulation is that your story should be a maximum 2,000 words.
Runners-up prizes are £250 for second, £100 for third, a WM Course mini-critique for fourth and a twelve-month subscription for fifth. Stories will be judged by the Writing Magazine editorial team – editor Jonathan Telfer and assistant editor Tina Jackson – and the winner published in Writing Magazine
ENTER NOW: Online, at
CLOSING DATE 30 JUNE
http://writ.rs/1k2021 The entry fee is £15, or £10 for WM subscribers. Your submissions should be in a single document, www.writers-online.co.uk with your contact details on the first page.
APRIL 2021
63
RESEARCH TIPS
Biographical research Tarja Moles shows you how to delve deep into the lives of individual human beings
B
iographical research techniques and sources can be used to explore both public and private individuals. So, whether you’re interested in writing about a celebrity or preserving your ancestors’ life histories, here’s how to get started.
information. Find out if you can access diaries, journals, academic records, account books, business records, scrapbooks, unpublished memoirs and autobiographies, photo albums, home videos, letters and/or digitally-stored records, such as emails and computer files. Such personal records can be highly revealing about a person’s character and life, and they will add depth to your writing. These materials may be tricky to get hold of and often it’s only after the death of a person when they may be released. If you make enquiries, you may get the family’s permission to use their deceased relative’s documents or, in the case of public figures, these types of records may be deposited in a library or archive. You can explore material available in the British Library at www. bl.uk/subjects/manuscripts-and-archives and in all the UK archival collections at http://writ.rs/advancedsearch.
Mapping out what’s already known As you begin to research a person, it’s a good idea to identify what’s already known. If s/he is a public figure, you’re bound to find all sorts of details fairly easily. A quick online search would be the first thing to do, followed by checking out biographical dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Examples of these include the famous Marquis Who’s Who (https://marquiswhoswho.com) and the Wikipediastyle Biographical Dictionary (www.s9.com). There are also numerous subject-specific reference books and websites, ranging from famous Scottish women to the FBI’s most wanted criminals. If an actual biographical or autobiographical book has already been published, add that to the top of your reading list too. Newspapers can be great places to find biographical details. Obituaries may be particularly useful as they give more structured accounts of deceased people’s lives. The British Newspaper Archive (www. britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) is an excellent site for searching for articles in hundreds of UK and Irish historic newspapers. However, it doesn’t allow you to read its content for free. If you don’t want to pay for a subscription, find out if you can access those newspaper articles through your local library’s online resource section. Some libraries subscribe to the British Newspaper Archive itself while others have arrangements with other newspaper content providers.
Family research If the person you’re researching is not a public figure and you can’t seem to find much information, you could try using family research techniques and sources. Although these techniques are unlikely to unearth huge amounts of in-depth details, they may help you find certain facts, such as dates of birth, marriage and death, migration records and military records. The National Archives’ guides to family history research (http://writ.rs/3famhist) are a useful starting point for advice and resources. You could also consult the Society of Genealogists (www.sog.org.uk). If your main focus is on family history, it’s worth spending some time studying its techniques and sources. You can borrow guides from your local library, and there are numerous useful websites you can take advantage of. To find them, check out Family Tree’s list of fifty best websites for family history research (http://writ.rs/50best).
Private records Now that you know what’s available in the public domain, you may want to extend your research into more private
Interviews Interviews are a great tool for uncovering more biographical information – provided the person in
64
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
question or the people who knew him/her are still alive. Your interview(s) could concentrate on certain aspects of a person’s life or cover the whole lifespan. When preparing questions for the interview with the person you’re researching, think about the areas you want to explore. They could include, for example, the person’s early life and family origins, education, community background, employment, hobbies, relationships, later life, any significant turning points, beliefs and values. Your aim is to dig deep, so allow the interviewee to take their time to reminisce, and perhaps even go off on a tangent. Don’t assume that silence means that there’s nothing more to say. Sometimes people need to pause. By not interrupting someone’s quiet moment you may prompt him/her to reveal further information. Interviews with people who know/knew the person you’re researching can be fruitful. However, you may need to do some detective work to find them first. If you’re struggling, try contacting organisations the person used to belong to or his/her former workplace. You could even write a short article in a local newspaper and ask relevant people to contact you. Once you start interviewing these people, don’t forget to ask them questions about themselves as well as their relationship with the person you’re interested in: this always colours the way the interviewee talks about the person. There’s nothing wrong with having a biased view about someone – as long as you are aware of it and are able to interpret the findings accordingly. In general, always bear in mind that any interviews are likely to be interwoven with biases and personal views that may cloud the objective realities. It is also possible that interviewees may convey inaccurate memories. This doesn’t mean that you need to discount all subjective information. In fact, such insights may be highly revealing about someone and you might not get that kinds of details anywhere else. Good luck!
Further resources • The University of Sussex’s Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research: www.sussex.ac.uk/clhlwr/links Colorado State University Libraries’ biographical
Behind the tape Expert advice to get the details right in your crime fiction, from serving police officer Lisa Cutts
Q
What are the standard police procedures and approach for dealing with a missing person inquiry? For example, a young person hasn’t come home and the parents can’t locate them. What would officers be looking for and how would they proceed? David Laws, by email
Unless or until someone’s safety and their whereabouts can be ascertained,
A they should be treated as a missing person and all inquiries followed.
It’s obviously very difficult to locate everyone in an acceptable time frame as thousands of people are reported missing every day. Many turn up safe and sound, but some sadly don’t. Initial details are recorded on a log relating to the person and the record updated with all inquiries. The most obvious and urgent would be to try and call the person if they have a phone, look at their social media accounts and contact friends and family who may have seen them. Officers should attend and family encouraged, if safe to do so, to try and look for them and pass any information to police. By this time, most people have usually returned home or been found.
Q
I am writing a story about a sex tape that gets put onto the internet without the consent of the girl involved. She didn’t even know the video was being made. I think this is a crime but I don’t know if you’d go to the police to report something like this? And if you did, what would the likely outcome be? Becky Jones, by email
Absolutely it’s something she should report to the police. The Criminal
A Justice and Courts Act 2015 made ‘revenge porn’ a specific criminal act and disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress can mean the offender faces two years’ imprisonment if found guilty. It was possible to prosecute something like this previously under malicious communications offences or harassment but this sets it out as a specific offence.
Q
The central character in my YA novel is a sixteen-year-old girl who is being questioned by the police about her membership of a gang of pickpockets, and possible involvement in the supply and sale of drugs. She has no family, so I’m assuming that she would be allowed to see a solicitor before being questioned in the presence of an appropriate adult.
Tessa Buckley, by email
She would be allowed a solicitor if she was either arrested or interviewed under caution without being arrested. Whatever the scenario, as you’ve correctly said, she would need an appropriate adult present when she’s spoken to. Her rights, such as asking her if she would like to speak to a solicitor or would like one at the police station with her, would also be given to her with the appropriate adult present. If you have a query for Lisa, please send it by email to If you have a query for Lisa, please lisacuttsenquiries@gmail.com send it by email to lisacuttsenquiries@
A
research guide: http://writ.rs/biographica Lisa Cutts is a serving detective constable and her novels are published by Myriad and Simon and Schuster. JUNE 2021
65
CLASSIFIED
ADVERTISE HERE Contact Mark Dean Tel: 01778 395084 or email: mark.dean@warnersgroup.co.uk
Critique & Advisory
Courses
Peak District Escape at Foxes' Retreat! Year Round Bespoke Catered Writing Retreats plus Online Courses/Workshops Festival of Writing 13th to 20th August 2021 Contact: Myszka 07734 328762 myszka@foxesretreat.com
www.foxesretreat.com
ADVERTISE HERE For more information contact:
mark.dean@ warnersgroup.co.uk ING BESTSELL G MAGAZINE
E A BETTER WRITER HELPING YOU BECOM
WRITIN
JUNE 2020
WIN!
Competitions
£38,600 IN WRITING PRIZES
Write on! How to stay creative and
healthy
during difficult times Keep your writing on track new normal’ ns for ‘the THE WORLD’S MOST COMPREHENSIVE Adapting your submissio COMPETITION LISTINGS with other writers Online resources to connect
FREE
INSIDE
APRIL 2021
IN 4 WEEKS?
Editing & Proof-Reading Services
Proofreading, Editing & Full Self-publishing Services
Plot holes plugged, Typos tidied, Stories straightened
www.michelleemerson.co.uk
Contact Barbara at info@barbarajholten.com
t: 07887 685922 e: michelle@michelleemerson.co.uk
www.barbarajholten.com
Let me take care of publishing so you have more time to write
Visit writers-online.co.uk
£1.2M TO BE WON!
£4.25
OVER 820 COMPETITIONS TO ENTER
STAR INTERVIEW
WINNING BEST LEARN FROM CHANCE S THE Why it’s worth How to overcome writer’s
entering Why Michelle block, from Julie Cohen comps and what are Paver is returning your chances? age Martin Edwards on to the stone updating golden age world of her Wolf crime for the 21st century Brother series p001_wmagJune.indd
1
TRYING TIMES
How to write through difficult experiences
NEWS YOU CAN USE Opportunities to get published Competitions to enter Reader success stories 20/04/2020 14:18
Self-publishing Iconic authors who funded their own publication
GET ONLI NE
✦ How to run your own online worksho ps ✦ Holding a virtual book launch
33
Opportunities to get published
p001_wmagApr.indd
3
15
Ideas to try right now
STAR INTERVIEW How crime bestselle r
PETER MAY
creates havoc in remote communities
NEWS YOU CAN USE
12
WM Reader success stories
04> 9 770964 916273
£4.50
Short Stories always required for Scribble, the short story magazine. Over £100.00 in prizes every quarter, with critiques offered on any unsuitable material. Each issue of Scribble contains 82 pages of quality fiction, readers’ letters and advice for writers. For further information and submission guidelines, please visit www.parkpublications.co.uk or send a s.a.e. to Park Publications, 14 The Park, Stow on the Wold, Cheltenham, Glos. GL54 1DX.
06>
Barbara J Holten
9 770964 916266
WANT TO PUBLISH ON AMAZON
16/02/2021 16:25
Sign up to receive our regular emails to stay informed Park publications.indd 1
17/10/12 09:30:05
Get all of the latest news from the writing world Information of new competitions and publishing opportunities Stay creative with our howto-write articles, exercises and expert tips Be the first to know about special offers and discounts
Register today at: https://writ.rs/signupnow 66
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
Competition rules and forms Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or by post, with the ref code in the address, to: Writing Magazine Competitions (Ref Code xxxxx), Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH. Remember to add a front sheet with full contact details and the name of the competition you are entering (see Rule 3)
To enter: • Twist short story competition (see p27) For short stories with a twist, 1,5001,700 words; entry fee £7.50, £5 for subscribers; closing date, 15 July. Ref Code: Jun21/Twist • Wheels poetry competition (see p51) Poems on the theme ‘wheels’, any form, up to 40 lines; entry fee £7.50, £5 for subscribers; closing date, 15 July. Ref Code: Jun21/Wheels
How to enter Competition Rules 1 Eligibility All entries must be the original and unpublished work of the entrant, and not currently submitted for publication nor for any other competition or award. Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form, printed here (photocopies are acceptable), unless stated. Open Competitions are open to any writer, who can submit as many entries as they choose. Entry fees are £7.50, £5 for subscribers. Subscriber-only Competitions are open only to subscribers of Writing Magazine. Entry is free but you can only submit one entry per competition. 2 Entry Fees Cheques or postal orders should be payable to Warners Group Publications or you can pay by credit card (see form). 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 and the name of the competition. 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, odt 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 three 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
• Food competition (see p27) For writing, 1,500-1,700 words, on ‘food’ themes; entry fee £7.50, £5 for subscribers; closing date, 15 June. Ref Code: May21/Food • Children’s short story competition For stories for YA/children, 1,500-1,700 words on the theme ‘separation’; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 15 June. Ref Code: May21/ChildrenYA
Competition Entry
Competition Entry
I am enclosing my entry for the .......................................
I am enclosing my entry for the .......................................
......................................................... .............................
.................................................. .....................................
Ref code .....................................and agree to be bound by the competition rules
Ref code ................................................ and agree to be bound by the competition rules
TITLE..................................................................................
TITLE..................................................................................
FORENAME .......................................................................
FORENAME .......................................................................
SURNAME .........................................................................
SURNAME .........................................................................
ADDRESS...........................................................................
ADDRESS...........................................................................
...........................................................................................
...........................................................................................
...........................................................................................
...........................................................................................
POSTCODE ........................................................................
POSTCODE ........................................................................
EMAIL................................................................................
EMAIL................................................................................
■ I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc
■ I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc
TELEPHONE (INC. AREA CODE) ...............................................
TELEPHONE (INC. AREA CODE) ...............................................
Tick here if you wish to receive our FREE monthly e-newsletter
Tick here if you wish to receive our FREE monthly e-newsletter
ENTRY FEE (please tick one)
ENTRY FEE (please tick one)
■ £7.50 ■ £5 for subscribers ■ Free entry (subscriber only competition)
■ £7.50 ■ £5 for subscribers ■ Free entry (subscriber only competition)
I enclose my entry fee (cheques/postal order payable to Warners Group Publications) OR I wish to pay my entry fee by:
I enclose my entry fee (cheques/postal order payable to Warners Group Publications) OR I wish to pay my entry fee by:
■ Maestro ■ Delta ■ Visa ■ Access ■ Mastercard
■ Maestro ■ Delta ■ Visa ■ Access ■ Mastercard
CARD NUMBER ................................................................
CARD NUMBER ................................................................
VALID FROM........................EXPIRY DATE .....................
VALID FROM........................EXPIRY DATE .....................
ISSUE NUMBER .................................................................
ISSUE NUMBER .................................................................
SECURITY NUMBER ..........................................................
SECURITY NUMBER ..........................................................
CARDHOLDER NAME ......................................................
CARDHOLDER NAME ......................................................
SIGNATURE .......................................................................
SIGNATURE .......................................................................
DATE .................................................................................
DATE .................................................................................
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
75
WRITERS’ NEWS
Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets, opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.
Poetry London calling Win £5,000 for a single poem in the Poetry London Prize 2021. The Poetry London Prize is a major international competition given annually for original, unpublished poems in any form, up to eighty lines in length. There is a first prize of £5,000, a second prize of £2,000 and a third prize of £1,000. Winning poems will be published in the Autumn 2021 issue of Poetry London. This year’s judge is Malika Booker. The entry fee is £8 per poem for non-subscribers to Poetry London, and £4 for subscribers. The closing date is 26 June. Website: https://poetrylondon. co.uk/competition/
Funny women roll up Now in its third year, the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021 is inviting entries. ‘As an eighties comedian, actress, writer, I had to set up CWIP to create parity in the comedy literary landscape for witty women authors and to enable an unpublished witty writer to win a publishing deal,’ said comedian Helen Lederer, the founder of the prize. ‘Believe it or not no such prize existed, so I had to do it. CWIP is needed. Not only does an unpublished witty writer achieve their dream of becoming published, but established authors receive deserved attention, a prize and empowered women really do get seen.’ There are categories for published and unpublished funny novels by women writers. The winner of the unpublished category will receive £5,000 and book deal from HarperCollins. The runner up will be offered a place on the University of Hertfordshire’s MA in Creative Writing or a cash prize of £2,000 and a week of mentoring from the MA Creative Writing department team. A second runner-up will be offered a place on the online MA in Comedy Writing from Falmouth University. To enter, send the beginning of a completed manuscript. The winner of the published novel category will receive £3,000. To be eligible, novels must be published between 2 March 2020 and 12 April 2021. This year’s judges include Joanne Harris, Steph McGovern, Nina Stibbe, Thanyia Moore and Gloria Hunniford. Entries close on 28 May. Website: www.comedywomeninprint.co.uk
A hand up for new writers The DRF Writers’ Award is inviting applications. The £10,000 Award for a new writer has been brought forward from 2022 to 2021 because of lockdown. The biennial DRF Award from the Deborah Rogers Foundation supports a previously unpublished prose author of 68
JUNE 2021
fiction, non-fiction, short stories or writing for children. The winning author will receive £10,000. Two shortlisted writers will each receive £1,000. The judging panel is chaired by Colm Tóibín and includes Deepa Annapara, Ingrid Persaud and Anna James. The Award was next scheduled to run in 2022, but has been brought forward a year. Gill Coleridge, Founder of the DRF, said: ‘Deborah was passionate about supporting new writers and so, in the spirit of this prize set up in her memory, we want to help them towards publication now rather than wait another year. I hope this opportunity will help the longlisted and winning writers become as successful as the roll call of previous DRF winners is proving to be.’ The enter, writers must be citizens of a British Commonwealth country or Eire, and must not be under a contract with a publisher or literary agent. Submit the first 15,000-20,000 words of a work in progress. Include a brief synopsis and a biographical note. The closing date is 1 July. Website: www.deborahrogersfoundation.org/writers-award
www.writers-online.co.uk
WRITERS’ NEWS
ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET Vox calling Gary Dalkin
High profile progressive American news site Vox is launching a new biodiversity reporting initiative and editor Brian A Anderson is accepting pitches. He is looking for future-forward stories on the science, politics, and economics of the global biodiversity crisis. Your approach should be geared towards accountability and intelligent responses to the crisis, taking into account why a radical rethinking and prioritisation of conservation is needed. What Anderson isn’t looking for are stories about cute wildlife or the beauty of nature, or about mass extinctions or the loss of individual species. He notes that ‘biodiversity is about abundance, healthy functioning ecosystems, and cultural diversity too.’ In short, he needs material that recognises problems while looking towards solutions. Pay rates are negotiable and will depend a lot on the scope and length of your story, as well as the amount of reporting required. However, Anderson says he is inclined to pay a minimum of 50c per word. Email your pitch to brian.anderson1@vox.com. He is on Twitter at @thebanderson while Vox is @voxdotcom You can also make more general pitches to Vox using the form at www.vox.com/contact. Launched in 2014, Vox focuses on what it calls explanatory journalism, covering politics (mostly from a US perspective), environmental issues, science, technology, business and current events through in-depth features aimed at an informed readership. Read some of the articles at www.vox.com before pitching.
Rewarding writers of colour The shortlists have been announced for the fifth Jhalak Prize. The Jhalak Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour 2021 shortlist is: Antiemetic for Homesickness, Romalyn Ante; Inferno, Catherine Cho; My Darling From the Lions, Rachel Long; The First Woman, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi; Are We Home Yet, Katy Massey; Rainbow Milk, Paul Mendez. The Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize 2021 shortlist is: The GA Picture Alphabet, Nii Ayikwei Parkes & Avril Filomeno; When Life Gives You Mangoes, Kereen Getten; And the Stars Were Burning Brightly, Danielle Jawando; Queen of Freedom, Catherine Johnson; Eight Pieces of Silva, Patrice Lawrence; A Fox Called Herbert, Margaret Sturton. ‘There is much that feels precarious, fragile and all the more precious this spring, including any progress regarding equity in publishing,’ said prize director Sunny Singh. ‘However, despite the challenges, this year’s Jhalak judges have selected – with much care and affection – two incredible shortlists that exemplify resilience, rebuilding, community and joy in literature. These are books that ask painful questions, are searingly honest in their confrontation with terrible realities, and courageously shine a light on aspects of human experience that often remains hidden. In doing so they offer much needed solace, inspiration and joy… for our times and into the future.’ The winners will be announced on 25 May. www.writers-online.co.uk
Beavering away The Beaver Trust has launched a new eco-poetry competition in association with Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, the Nature and the Ecological Emergency International Poetry Competition 2021 For the inaugural competition, which will be judged by Terry Gifford, poems are invited on any aspect of nature and the ecological emergency. All the funds raised by the competition will be used to support the work of the Beaver Trust. Chris Jones, Director at Beaver Trust explains: ‘Beavers are the quintessential natural engineer. Their activities create water, habitat and food for a very wide range of animals and birds that spreads beyond water courses; they reduce downstream flood risk; they make the land more resilient to drought and their dams collect silt and pollutants. Beaver Trust has the mission of restoring Britain’s rivers and their wildlife with beavers. We work with landowners, communities, businesses, other NGOs, Government departments and agencies to restore the species.’ There is a £150 first prize, and second and third prizes of £50 and £25. There is a special £100 prize for the best poem about beavers, and a plasticine beaver made by renowned Aardman sculptor Jim Parkyn. The winning entry will be published in the print edition of Resurgence & Ecologist, and the other prize-winning poems will be published online. All winners will be invited to visit the Cornwall Beaver Project for a guided beaver walk. The entry fee is £4 for the first poem and £3 for any subsequent poems. The closing date is 31 May. Website: https://lodge.beavertrust.org/competition/
JUNE 2021
69
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
UK FICTION MARKET Diverse titles wanted for YA readers
The Bath Flash Fiction Award, which runs four times a year, is for 300-word flash. The first prize is £1,000 and there are second and third prizes of £300 and £100. Two commendations each get £30. 50 longlisted entrants are offered anthology publication. The entry fee is £9. The closing date is 6 June. Website: https:// bathflashfiction award.com/
Jenny Roche
Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House, published by Serpent’s Tail, has won the 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize. The £30,000 prize is open to all works of literature written in English and published in the UK during the previous calendar year. Carmen Maria Machado’s In The Dream House, published by Serpent’s Tail, has won the 2021 Rathbones Folio Prize. The £30,000 prize is open to all works of literature written in English and published in the UK during the previous calendar year. “I was attacked with words and I felt how hurtful and harmful words can be, so I wanted to use words to create something healing. I wanted the book to be a force for good and for something joyous to come out of this horrific experience.” Anita Sethi, author of I Belong Here
70
JUNE 2021
An independent traditional London based publisher SmashBear Publishing has a hands-on approach to editing and publishing titles for 16+ young adult, new adult and older readers and, unusually, accepts submissions with either British English or American spellings. Specialising in paranormal romance and fantasy, including urban fantasy, horror and sci-fi will also be considered. ‘We only publish what sparks within the editorial team… marketability will come second to how much we enjoy reading it.’ The publisher likes to hear from a diversity of authors and to receive book proposals with a diverse cast of characters and to see innovation, unique plot lines and characters, shocking/ twist endings, happy endings and a strong sense of an author’s voice. They do not want to see manuscripts which glorify, glamourise or condone problematic behaviours or content such as
rape, sexual assault or any type of abuse. Although only novels with a minimum word count of 60,000 words will be considered initially you should email the first three chapters of your book, a detailed synopsis and a cover letter with a brief synopsis, the genre and theme of your book, the targeted age range and the titles of any previously published work. You may also include a note of authors who have inspired you. It is advised you proofread your work. Email to: info@smashbearpublishing.com Website: www.smashbearpublishing.com/ submissionguidelines
A #Merky future for Jyoti Jyoti Patelhas won the #Merky Books New Writers Prize 2021. More than 2,000 submissions were received for the award for unpublished, underrepresented young authors. The prize is a publishing contract with the #Merky Books imprint at Penguin Random House UK. 28-year old Jyoti’s winning book, Six of One, is a coming-of-age story that explores being a young person of colour in Britain today. ‘I’m delighted to be joining the #Merky Books family and am so grateful for the opportunity to have my novel published,’ said Jyoti. ‘Penguin has been my dream publisher since I was a child so it’s very exciting to know that my debut will be in such great hands. I’m very much looking forward to working with Lemara and the #Merky Books team and can’t wait to get started. Thank you so much to everyone involved in organising the New Writers’ Prize, including the guest judges, and all those in the industry who are fostering space for stories like mine. It means the world.’ The panel of judges included #Merky Books founder Stormzy, Candice Braithwaite, Emma Dabiri, Guz Khan and Katarina Johnson-Thompson. In April, #Merky Books in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature will be launching their New Writers’ Alumni, which will offer previous, current and future longlisted writers with mentoring, advice, and a space to connect with each other. Emma Wallace, senior brand manager for #Merky Books said: ‘Not only did we receive nearly double the submissions than the previous year, but we also received a higher number of works of fiction. It really felt like many of the young writers were sending us fictional stories that were based around themes of hope, fantasy and escapism during a time that was extremely difficult for so many. Jyoti’s writing in particular was extraordinary and, just like with our previous winners Hafsa Zayyan and Monika Radojevic, we’re all really excited to be publishing One Of Six under the #Merky Books imprint. I’m also overjoyed to be able to stay in touch and continue to work with the bold and innovative writers who made it through to our longlist via our newly launched New Writers’ Prize Alumni, in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature.
www.writers-online.co.uk
BLAZING A TRAIL Heather Clark has won the £2,500 Slightly Foxed First Biography for Red Comet, her biography of Sylvia Plath. Heather Clark, a Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Huddersfield University, has drawn on new material to present a more detailed and balanced overview of Plath’s life that doesn’t follow the familiar Plath trope of viewing everything in her life as a harbinger of her death by suicide. ‘Red Comet is an astoundingly detailed reappraisal of Sylvia Plath and her influences,’ said judge Alexander Masters. ‘Through the exposure of fresh material and a bold critique of the many clichéd interpretations of Plath’s life, Heather Clark has brought us a groundbreaking biography of great narrative and perceptive force.’
WRITERS’ NEWS
UK NON-FICTION MARKET Life in Exisle Tina Jackson
Exisle is an independent publisher of non-fiction titles for adults and children. ‘Exisle publishes a range of non-fiction including popular psychology, self-help, health and better living, natural history, memoir, military, fine art and biography,’ said CEO Gareth St John Thomas, the son of late Writing Magazine founder David St John Thomas. ‘EK Books, the children’s list, specialises in making complex issues understandable with enjoyable picture books for 4-11 year olds. Gareth founded Exisle around thirty years ago in New Zealand in the 1990s, after having worked in the UK for many years in his father’s business, David and Charles, before it was sold. ‘In 2005 the business opened offices in Australia and in 2011 Exisle stopped selling any English language rights to its titles. Today Exisle prints in China and the United States and publishes simultaneously in all the major English markets. Exisle’s close knit team is based across the world with staff in Edinburgh, Dunedin, Croatia, Poznan, Boston, Brisbane and Sydney.’ Exisle’s recent development has been to create the Exisle Academy which serves writers in various ways. ‘Having seen many submissions doomed to fail from almost the first sentence, the Academy was established to provide non-fiction and children’s writers who are serious about getting published with a range of study modules, lectures and mentoring services to close the gaps between the writer’s abilities and publisher’s commercial needs,’ said Gareth. Exisle and EK Books publish up to forty new
titles per annum. ‘We’re looking for enthusiastic experts with the ability to vividly communicate around the world alongside its publicity teams,’ said Gareth. ‘Exisle keeps books in print often up to ten years, sometimes more, so we are looking for enduring work that is globally relevant. As many books are also sold into many different languages Exisle prefers its books to be around 50,000 words. We work most happily with authors who comprehensively understand their audience and their needs – demonstrating this in your proposal will be a huge boost. Exisle publishes text only, lightly illustrated and highly visual books in all popular print formats, as well as ebooks, and has just started producing audiobooks for select titles. Exisle pays royalties and prefers to work with authors over several titles. Prospective authors should submit via the series of prompts on the ‘contact us’ section on the web site: http://exislepublishing.com/getpublished
New award for writers inspiring change
SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS The Grindstone Literary Short Story and Novel Prizes are inviting entries. • 2021 International Novel Prize: For unpublished novel manuscripts more than 70,000 words for adult and YA readers by unpublished or self-published, unrepresented authors. Manuscripts may be finished or not yet completed. The first prize is £1,000, with £500 for second and £100 for two runners-up. Winners and shortlisted writers are published in a chapbook that is sent out to literary agents. The contest is judged by literary agent Helle Ogden of Janklow & Nesbitt. Enter the first 3,000 words and a synopsis. The entry fee is £20, with various Early Bird discounts. The closing date is 1 October. • 2021 Short Story Award: For original, unpublished short fiction between 1,000 and 3,000 words, in any genre for adult readers. The prizes are £500, £200 and 4 x £50 and the winners and shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is £12, or £10 before 1 May. The closing date is 1 August. Website: www.grindstoneliterary.com
The World of Books Impact Award is for writers working on books that focus on social impact, sustainability or education. It will run twice a year, awarding the winning author a grant of £5,000 to support them to complete their work. Applications are open to writers of books in any genre that have the power to inspire progressive behaviour change. ‘We understand that words have the power to change the world,’ said Graham Bell, chief executive of World of Books Group. ‘Writers play a vital role in inspiring necessary changes in behaviour that go far in protecting the planet and making society a better place. We were founded on an ethos to support communities and protect the planet – and we’re delighted to be able to provide support to writers who are working on exciting books that align with this purpose.’ To apply for the new World of Books Impact Award, writers should either have been commissioned to write a full-length work of poetry, fiction or non-fiction and need funding for research, travel or other expenditure, or be uncontracted to a publisher but have had at least one commercially published title and a strong likelihood that their next book will be published in Britain. The closing date to apply is 1 July. Website: http://writ.rs/worldofbooksimpactaward
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
71
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES Erewash Writers invite entries for their latest free themed competition. Enter short stories up to 500 words and poems up to forty lines on the theme ‘holiday romance’. One winner will be awarded £10 and their entry will be published on Erewash Writers’ website. Entry is free. Each writer may send up to two entries. The closing date is 27 May. Website: https:// erewashwriters competition. weebly.com/ Win a £100 first prize in the Erewash Writers Open Short Story Competition 2021 Stories must be original and unpublished, and may be on any theme, up to 2,500 words. There are cash prizes of £100, £70 and £30. The judge is Helen Baggott. The entry fees are £3 for one story, £5 for two and £2.50 for any further entries. The closing date is 22 July. ebsite: http://writ.rs/ erewash2021 “The ‘feeling’ of constructing a mathematical proof is identical to the feeling of constructing a sentence, paragraph or plot. This is largely down to the nature of pure maths as opposed to applied maths. Pure mathematics is very abstract: it’s a language of ideas rather than numbers.” Author and robotics lecturer Catherine Menon.
72
JUNE 2021
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET Make YesYes say yes PDR Lindsay-Salmon
YesYes Books has been publishing ‘provocative collections of poetry, fiction, and experimental art since 2011’. They seek ‘work that acknowledges and celebrates our passionate, complex, and boundless natures.’ There is an annual Open Reading Period from 1 March until 15 June. For full-length poetry manuscripts, submit the collection through the online submittable system. ‘Manuscripts must include 48-120 numbered pages of poetry and a table of contents.’ Collaborations by more than one poet are acceptable for submission as are manuscripts which combine poetry and visual art. Don’t forget a brief bio in the cover letter. Simultaneous submissions are accepted with the usual proviso. Full-length fiction manuscripts are welcomed ‘in a broad range of genre and narrative styles but, in general, we desire fiction with a strong voice and ebullient ingenious imagination.’ Think Terry Pratchett or Nnedi Okorafor. Submit an excerpt consisting of up to fifty pages of the novel, novella, or short story collection. A cover letter with a summary of the project, about two pages, is welcomed but not required. Collaborations by more than one author are acceptable as are manuscripts which combined prose and visual art. A brief bio in the cover letter is optional. Simultaneous submissions are fine. YesYes Books team run two contests. The Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest is open to poetry, prose, and mixed genre chapbook manuscripts, 20-30 pages in length
including title page and table of contents. Collaborative manuscripts are eligible for submission and subs open 1 August until the 15 October. The Pamet River Prize is an annual, nomination-based contest open to first or second full-length books of poetry or prose by women, nonbinary, and Native writers. Writers may nominate their own work or the work of others during the nomination period. Response time is 2 to 3 months. Payment for poetry collections and fiction is ‘forty author copies, $1,000 advance toward royalties, 15%-25% royalties, and $500 toward tour expenses. Details: YesYes Books, email: info@yesyesbooks.com; website: www.yesyesbooks.com
Mags that go bump in the night Haunted magazine, edited by Paul Stevenson, is aimed at anyone who loves all things spooky and scary. ‘Loves haunting ghost stories, loves a bit of history and mystery, loves the supernatural, the paranormal and all the weird stuff and shizzle that is associated with it,’ said Paul, who founded the magazine in 2009. It is published in print and digital editions and has worldwide distribution, with strong readerships in the SA, Canada and Australia. Haunted covers a wide spectrum of topics. ‘Anything with what we call paranormal linkage, anything from ghosts to UFOs, haunted locations to haunted investigations, monsters, creatures, paranormal TV shows, celeb interviews, just anything with that linkage that falls in the weird and wonderful,’ said Paul. Feature content is typically a mixture, from short punchy 1-page features to 6–8-page lengthy features. ‘The beauty of the paranormal is that there is a backlog of paranormal things, events, happenings, and stories that can be researched, and I think we are just scratching the top of the ghostly iceberg.’ Readers are fascinated by all aspects of the paranormal. ‘A typical reader is like a lover of paranormal TV, a lover of ghost stories, a lover of history and mystery, a lover of www.writers-online.co.uk
legends and urban myths, a lover of scary and spooky stuff and of course a lover of magazines to take them on a roller coaster ride through the paranormal!’ Haunted is written by people who, like Paul, are fascinated with and knowledgeable about the paranormal, and he welcomes contributions. ‘If it’s readworthy and we think it’s something the readers will enjoy, it has potential to be in the mag. We have published first-time writers who have gone on to write books in this subject. I’d like to think that in some small way, the confidence we gave them helped them progress. Paul likes writers to pitch the topics they’re really engaged with. ‘That way we know a) it’s a subject they are passionate about and have probably already started researching it and b) it will be written with passion and from the heart (and the head) rather than somebody being told to do it.’ Send him ideas or fully written articles. Paul is not currently in a position to pay writers, but hopes to compensate them as soon as Haunted is breaking even. Details: email: paul@hauntedmagazine.co.uk; website: www.haunteddigitalmagazine.com
G OW I NRG ITE TO R SM ’N AERW KS ET
ONLINE NON-FICTION MARKET Get a positive reception Gary Dalkin
Inverse is a New York based website with sections devoted to Science, Innovation, Culture, Entertainment, Mind & Body and Gaming. It is one of nine sites in the Bustle Digital Group, which boasts being the fastest growing publisher in modern media and to have the ‘largest reach and engagement of any Millennial and Gen Z focused publisher’, with 84 million readers and 55 million social media fans. Content is very strongly geared towards young adult readers. The editorial team welcome pitches from people without a lot of experience – translated, they want young writers – and are happy to develop ideas with new freelancers. What they want to see in a pitch is a clear sense of what you intend to write about, why you think the story is newsworthy and your basic idea behind the story. Which is to say, what is your point of view on the material. Plus, they need an outline of how you plan to structure the story: narrative, an oral history, guide, list, etc, some indication of what multimedia materials you have, or intend to produce, such as photographs or audio interviews, and finally an estimated word count. This latter isn’t binding as the editor may change it. For Science & Innovation stories email senior science editor Sarah Sloat: sarah@ inverse.com with ‘Mind/Body Freelance Story Pitch’ as the subject line. For Entertainment,
Mutual aid for pitches primarily about TV, movies and popular culture, it’s TV and movies editor Josh Wigler: josh@inverse.com Be sure to include ‘Ent Freelance Story Pitch’ as the subject line. To pitch about video games email the video games editor Jen Glennon: jen@inverse.com titling your message ‘Video Games Freelance Story Pitch’. For everything else email editor-in-chief Nick Lucchesi at nick@inverse.com with ‘My pitch doesn’t fit into the other buckets’ as your subject line. Inverse pays high professional rates in the region of 50¢ per word. Recent stories have included ‘13 Covid-19 Vaccine Facts Every Millennial Needs to Know ASAP’; ‘9 Gaming Figures Reveal How Their Habits Changed During Lockdown’; ‘Managing ADHD At Work’, and a look at Volkswagon’s first ‘real’ electric car. It’s essential to read some of the stories at www.inverse.com to get a feel for the house style before pitching.
Challenging reads Every year the American Library Association releases a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books, which are books targeted for removal from libraries, schools and universities. In 2020 a total of 273 different books were challenged, with the top ten including perennials To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (for including racial slurs and portraying a ‘white savior’ character), Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (for racial slurs and racist stereotypes) and Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Number 1 on the list was the same as in 2019, George by Alex Gino, which was ‘Challenged, banned, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, conflicting with a religious viewpoint, and not reflecting “the values of our community”’, while a new entry at number two ran smack into the rising tide of racism in the US, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds being ‘Banned and challenged because of author’s public statements, and because of claims that the book contains “selective storytelling incidents” and does not encompass racism against all people.’ You can see the full list at www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/ frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
Hit the city The City Academy Short Story Competition is inviting entries of original, unpublished short stories on any style, up to 4,000 words. The winner will receive £1,000 and a £300 City Academy Voucher. Two runners-up will each receive a free writing course of their choice. All three winners will be published online. Three further shortlisted writers will receive written feedback from the judging panel, which consists of Freddie Machin, Shyama Perera and Merrie Joy Williams. Once they have registered, entrants will receive a series of eight writing prompt emails. The entry fee is £15. The closing date is 25 May. Website: www.city-academy.com/online/writing-competition/ www.writers-online.co.uk
Including others in your publicity works to everyone’s benefit, says Patrick Forsyth
R
egularly both local radio and independent booksellers get positive mentions in these pages and I am a fan of both. Each have been affected in different ways of late. Booksellers, like all retailers, have had problems of course. Local radio may seem to have continued much as usual but many presenters now operate from home and when I did an interview recently, it was conducted by telephone. I live in a small town, which for many years had no bookshop, but one opened in December 2019; the year after that could not have been more different from what the proprietor imagined but it is still there and managing to continue to make sales online, and by delivery and collection. And the other day I heard Olivia, who runs Maldon Books, speaking on local radio. Well done her, especially as she mentioned me as a local author (and I had mentioned the shop in my recent interview as somewhere to buy my latest novel). All publicity is welcome and all this came about with little effort. All this makes a point: local authors can work together with bookshops of all sorts in a variety of ways and clearly that is not completely ruled out at the moment. Nor is planning more elaborate collaborations for a future when Covid restrictions begin to permit retail activity to get going again. Maybe there is time currently for such planning for new initiatives. Maybe there are conversations you could usefully have, approaches you could usefully make. It’s worth thinking about. Meantime, I must see what I can order from Olivia. She sells some of my books so the least I can do is get some of my book purchases from her.
SEPTEMBER 2020
73
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES The Globe Soup 2021 Short Story Competition invites entries of original, unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words in which the setting or location plays an important part. Any location may be considered but it must play a vital role in the story. The winner will receive £1,500. The entry fee is £12; closing date, 15 June. Website: www. globesoup.net/ short-story-2021 Kandace Siobhan Walker has won The White Review Poets’ Prize 2020/21. Writer and filmmaker Kandace wins £2,500 and her winning portfolio will be published in The White Review. The shortlisted portfolios were judged by Jay Bernard, Emily Berry and Kayo Chingonyi. Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2021 is for short fiction up to 3,500 words. There is no set theme. All stories must be original and unpublished. There are prizes of £150, £50 and £25. A longlist up to 20 stories will be published in an anthology. The entry fee is £5 per story. Each writer may enter up to three stories. The closing date is 1 June. Website: http:// leicesterwrites. co.uk/prize/ “All those empty times, the bored times, are when ideas come.” Novelist Jessie Greengrass
74
JUNE 2021
GLOBAL FICTION MARKET Dread call Gary Dalkin
The Dread Machine is a subscription magazine, publishing house and community where writers and fans of dread-inspiring fiction can read and connect. The editorial team, headed by acquiring editor Monica Louzon are permanently open to submissions and are looking for futuristic dark fiction, speculative fiction, cyberpunk, slipstream, and science fiction up to 3500 words. Payment is 3¢ per word. They will also consider reprints up to 7,000 words, payment for which is 1¢ per word. Apart from the above genres, they are particularly interested in magical realism, alternate realities, diverse protagonists, unique dystopias and utopias and unconventional societies. They do not accept religious fiction, fetish horror, or erotica or material involving suicide, torture, child or animal abuse, sexual assault, incest, school or mass shootings or graphic depictions of domestic violence. They may consider but are very unlikely to buy folktales, myths, legends, Lovecraft pastiches, sword & sorcery or pandemic stories. All submissions must be in English. Simultaneous submissions are okay, but notify if accepted elsewhere. To get an idea of the sort of stories required read some of the free content on the site. Note that not every ending has to be dreadful. The editors sometimes enjoy a wholesome and happy conclusion even to the darkest story. See the full guidelines and submit through the
website: www.thedreadmachine.com • Meanwhile the editors are also reading for an anthology, Darkness Blooms. The theme of this anthology is ‘identity, security and community’, and how these influence us and our perception of reality. Submissions must explore the theme of the anthology while inspiring a sense of creeping dread. The editors recommend Black Mirror, Tales From The Loop and Love, Death + Robots as inspirations. All submissions must be original, unpublished, and between 2,000-10,000 words. You may submit up to three stories, but these must not be submitted simultaneously elsewhere. Payment is 8¢ per word plus one hardcover and two paperback copies of the print editions of the book. The deadline is 31 May. To make a submission follow the full guidelines at www.thedreadmachine.com/submit/submit-darkness/# and then make your submission starting on the same page (you will need to create a free account.)
The Neverending Story George RR Martin has signed a new contract with HBO ‘worth mideight figures’ and running for five years to develop several new television series. These appear to be in addition to five projects the Game of Thrones / Song of Ice and Fire author already has with the network and which include a Game of Thrones prequel called House of the Dragon which is due to start filming any time now for screening next year. Other projects already announced include a drama called 10,000 Ships, set a millennia before Game of Thrones; a show about Flea Bottom; an untitled House of the Dragon spin-off; an untitled animated series and a screen version adapting three novellas chronicling the adventures of Dunk and Egg. On top of all this, The Guardian reports that Martin is developing a stage play which will serve as a sort of prequel to A Game of Thrones, exploring a key event which happened sixteen years before the beginning of the first novel. The official announcement says, ‘The play will for the first time take audiences deeper behind the scenes of a landmark event that previously was shrouded in mystery. Featuring many of the most iconic and wellknown characters from the series, the production will boast a story centered around love, vengeance, madness and the dangers of dealing in prophecy, in the process revealing secrets and lies that have only been hinted at until now.’ It is intended that the as yet untitled play will be produced in the West End, on Broadway and in Australia. And on top of all this Martin is serving as an executive producer for adaptations of two novels by other writers, Roadmarks by Roger Zelanzy and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Just don’t expect the author to complete his decade-and-counting in the writing The Winds of Winter anytime soon.
www.writers-online.co.uk
New dawn for writers Writing East Midlands invite entries of new fiction and poetry for their national writing contest, the Aurora Prize for Writing 2021. Winners in each category will receive £500, feedback on their work from a leading literary agent or editor, a year’s membership of the Society of Authors and an introductory session with the SoA. Runners up get £150 and the third prize is a one-day course from Writing School East Midlands. There is also a regional prize of £100 for the best writing in each category from the East Midlands. The fiction judge is Jon McGregor and the poetry judge is Debris Stevenson. Enter original, unpublished short stories up to 2,000 words and poems up to 60 lines. The entry fee is £9 for the first entry and £7 for any subsequent entries. The closing date is 7 June. Website: https:// writingeastmidlands.co.uk
WRITERS’ NEWS
UK THRILLER MARKET A new adventure in publishing Tina Jackson
Hobart Books is a new independent publisher of popular fiction. ‘At present we publish fiction with a slant towards military/ espionage/general thrillers,’ said publisher David Roy, who formed the company with Adam Gardner. ‘We would consider any well-written fiction for which there is a market.’ The company officially came into existence on 1 January this year. ‘I had been writing for years,’ said Dave. ‘Adam had been in publishing for years. We knew each other from the army and university and belatedly teamed up to publish Smoke Without Fire, an account of my dismissal from my teaching post and subsequent tribunal victory.’ Hobart intends to publish two books per month. ‘Although this is a daunting task at present,’ said David. ‘Hopefully as we expand we can take on more staff and increase our publishing output.’ David is firmly of the opinion that a publishing company is shaped by writers – and readers. ‘We want to expand and build a good reputation with our writers, with retailers and of course readers. Our top priority is to maintain a high level of quality. Readers almost certainly don’t show loyalty to a publisher so we need good writers to do the job of maintaining our readership.’ In terms of submissions, David and Adam want well-polished manuscripts of between 80,000 to 120,000 words. ‘Generally speaking we will publish fiction but we are open to any genre if the quality is there. We will work with our authors to get their books to a publishable standard if we take them on.’ Hobart Books is looking for fast-paced, topical fiction, particularly in the fields of crime, espionage and military thrillers. ‘We want page-turning, high quality, original fiction,’ said David. ‘We want books with a beginning, a middle and an end. We have a small team of cover designers to bring the entire
package to life. At present writers don’t need an agent. In time that may change.’ David’s advice to prospective authors is based in his own experience of writing more than twenty books.’ I have given this a lot of thought,’ he said. ‘At this point I should say a prospective author needs resilience. However, before they even get to that point they need three other things. Firstly, they must have a story to tell. Secondly, they must have the skill to tell that story. Thirdly, they need the discipline to sit and write their book. If they satisfy those conditions, that is when the resilience comes in.’ Hobart Books publishes in paperback only at present. ‘The ebook market is arguably full to capacity,’ said David. ‘Primarily we want to be a traditional publisher.’ Hobart Books pays writers royalties. ‘We aim to pay royalties that reflect the skill and effort involved in writing a book,’ said David. ‘That is very vague, but these are early days for us. We want our writers to feel appreciated and adequately recompensed for working with us.’ Details: email: info@hobartbooks.com; website: www. hobartbooks.com
All forms of writing invited The eighth annual Christopher Hewitt Award is open to entries of fiction, poetry, drama and creative non fiction. The contest honours the first literary editor of A&U magazine and aims to ‘showcase outstanding responses to the AIDS pandemic and the realities of individuals living with or affected by HIV/AIDS’. Fiction and non fiction entries should be a maximum 1,200 words and be double spaced. Drama submissions should be a ten-minute, maximum ten pages play of 1,400-1,600 words using Dramatists Guild format (www. dramatistsguild.com/script-formats). An excerpt from a longer work will be considered and this should include a separate page with a synopsis and full character cast list. No restrictions on length are given for poetry. All submissions must be unpublished, be AIDS/HIV related and be submitted as a doc or docx file which does not contain any author identification. You may submit any number of entries but each should be submitted separately. There are prizes of $75 in each category and all winners and named runners-up will be published in the magazine. First North American serial rights will be secured along with electronic archival rights. Email entries before the deadline of 15 June with Christopher Hewitt Award, your name and entry genre in the subject line to: chaelneedle@mac.com Website: https://aumag.org/chrishewittawards/
For published writers If you have published a novel or book length collection of fiction with a reputable book publisher or at least three short stories or novellas in magazines or journals with a national distribution you will be eligible for entry to the Drue Heinz Literature prize. Digital only and self-publication do not count towards this requirement. The prize for the winner will include publication, promotion support for their book and a $15,000 cash prize. The award is open to international authors writing in English and you may submit unpublished short story manuscripts of 150-300 pages or two or more novellas of a maximum 130 pages which are part of a larger collection. Although stories and novellas may have been published in magazines, journals or anthologies they should not have been published as a whole. All work should be double spaced on numbered pages which do not include any author information. The closing date for submissions is 30 June and you may submit by post or the Submittable link on the website. If using the latter include in the separate Submittable link a list of all your published work with full citations. Postal entries should be unbound and contain two cover pages, the first with the manuscript title and author name, address and contact details, the second with only the manuscript title. No entries will be returned so keep a copy. Postal entries to: Drue Heinz Literature Prize, University of Pittsburgh Press, 7500 Thomas Blvd, 4th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Website: https://upittpress.org/prize/drue-heinz-literature-prize/
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
75
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES The Farnham Flash Fiction competition is open to submissions of stories of less than 500 words. First prize is £75 with a runners-up prize of £25 and £25 for a Best Flash Fiction featuring Farnham. The entry fee is £5 per entry and the closing date is 4 June Email to: competition@ FarnhamFlashFesti val.org.uk Website: www. farnhamfringe festival.org/ farnham_ flash-2021.html Recipients of the prestigious WindhamCampbell literary prizes, administered by Yale University, receive $165,000 in support of their writing, at any stage of their career. This year’s recipients are: Vivian Gornick, non-fiction (US); Kate Briggs, non-fiction (UK/ Netherlands); Dionne Brand, fiction (Canada/ Trinidad and Tobago); Renee Gladman, fiction (US); Canisia Lubrin, poetry (Saint Lucia/ Canada); Natalie Scenters-Zapico, poetry (US); Nathan Alan Davis, drama (US); Michael R Jackson, drama (US). Love your main characters: The leading characters may be bottomless pits of naivety or wrong-doing, but they’re yours and the reader has to live alongside and within them. Crime writer Tony R Cox
76
JUNE 2021
UK AGENCY OPENING
Aitken opens doors Jenny Roche
London based Aitken Associates Literary Agency represents fiction and non fiction writers from around the world and across all media and that’s not all. ‘We have a highly successful film and TV department with an exceptional book to screen record.’ Amongst their writers they have Booker Prize and Costa Book winners. ‘We welcome voices of all backgrounds and also encourage submissions from writers who do not have an existing connection to the publishing industry.’ If submitting your work it is requested you ensure you have a full manuscript ready and it is of publishable standard. There are guidelines and tips on the website to enable you to do this. For novel and short story collections send the first three chapters or fifty pages of your book along with a short synopsis. For non fiction submit a proposal of approximately 10,000 words
outlining what your book is about and why you are the best person to write it. With all submissions include a cover letter with a description of your book, information on any writing credits or qualifications you may have and a brief biography. Email your work to the general submissions email with the name of one agent only in the subject line. It is advised you check out the agents on the website to ensure you submit to the best agent for your work. If you have not gained a response to your submission within three months this unfortunately means your work will not be considered further. Email: submissions@aitkenalexander.co.uk Website: www.aitkenalexander.co.uk/contact/ submissions/
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
Common appeal PDR Lindsay-Salmon
The Common is an American biannual print and online magazine with a team of editors who are inspired by the idea of ‘Finding the extraordinary in the common’. Hoping to use the magazine as a kind of town common, they seek to be a public gathering place for the display and exchange of ideas’ and ‘deepen our individual and collective sense of place’. The Common publishes fiction, essays, poetry, documentary vignettes, and ‘images that embody particular times and places both real and imagined’. The editorial team seek ‘literature and art powerful enough to reach from there to here.’ Writers’ work should give ‘a modern sense of place.’
The website publishes original content four times per week, including book reviews, interviews, personal essays, short dispatches, poetry, contributor podcasts and all pieces need to be worked around the themes of place, in order to provoke readers to reflect on their situations and place in things. Sense of place is ‘simply, the feeling of being transported, of “being there”.’ No reprints or multiple subs but simultaneous submissions are allowed with the usual proviso. Submit only one story or essay per reading period, or no more than five poems. Note that all fiction subs will be considered for print publication, but short fiction may also be considered for online version.
All non-fiction is considered for print and online publication, essays for Long Reads, short pieces for the online column Dispatches. Notes, news, and impressions from around the world are also considered for Dispatches. These may be in prose or verse form and must be under 800 words. Reading periods are 1 March to 1 June and 1 September to 1 December. Response time is four months. Payment is for the print journal, ‘$100 per prose piece or image portfolio, and $20 per poem.’ Website: www.thecommononline. org
Out of this world New, original, unpublished science fiction stories of 1,500-5,000 words are invited for the quarterly Infinite Worlds Magazine which was founded in 2018 and sees itself as ‘progressive and inclusive with a mind for science and reason and a semi punk/metal aesthetic’. All submissions are reviewed before each issue of the magazine is planned and as there is only a small staff it may take some time to hear back abut your submission. No response within ninety days should be considered a ‘no’. www.writers-online.co.uk
Payment is $100 per story plus a copy of the issue containing your work. The magazine also publishes commissioned and non commissioned science fiction illustrations and comic/ graphic novel shorts of 4-10 pages. See website for details. Email submissions to: submissions@ infiniteworldsmagazine.com Website: http://infiniteworldsmagazine.com/ submissions
WRITERS’ NEWS
INTRODUCTIONS Writing Magazine presents a selection of current submission calls from history publishers. We strongly recommend that you read back issues, familiarise yourself with their guidelines before submitting and check websites for submission details.
ACE-funded independent publisher Cipher Press, who were interviewed in WM (April 2020) has a #NewQueerVoices window for booklength submissions from trans and gender non-conforming writers, queer writers of colour and queer working class writers up to 28 May. Submit book-length adult fiction and creative non-fiction. Work may be in any literary genre or style and should reflect some aspect of the LGBTQI+ experience. For fiction, submit the first three chapters. For non-fiction submit the first 5-60 pages. Include a synopsis and a 200-word biography. Website: www.ccipherpress.co.uk
Emma Layfield, Manchester-based picture book development director, North for Hachette Children’s Group, is looking for Northern, Scottish and Irish picture book writers and illustrators for fiction and nonfiction picture books. Emma is looking for stories about community, stories that reflect place, health, happiness and mindfulness stories, stories about love and emotions, nature stories, non-traditional family stories, and adoption and fostering narratives. Writers from the North of England, Ireland and
Scotland should submit a complete picture book text up to 700 words. Writer-illustrators, submit text and three colour images, and illustrators should submit three images. Include a 200-worrd bio and include your name, location and whether you’re a writer, illustrator or writer/illustrator in the filename. Email: emma.layfield@hachettechildrens. co.uk
ALL Foundation, a community-based organisation that promotes the health, wellbeing and crativity benefits of the seashore, is inviting writers to get in touch if they’d like to be involved in creating its upcoming projects – journals, books, booklets, coursework, social media, newsletters. Writers may submit stories, articles and poems up to 1,000 words by post, on the theme of ‘Seashore’. Payment is by negotiation. Details: ALL Foundation, PO Box 8617, Troon, Scotland KA 10 9BG Out-Spoken Press, a London-based, ACE-funded publisher of poetry and critical writing by writers whose voices are under-represented in mainstream publishing, has a call out for poetry pamphlet and full collection submissions.
Incoming editor and award-winning poet Wayne Holloway-Smith will be commissioning seven new titles to be published in 2022/23. Send a sample of between three and five poems and an introductory letter, including any publication history, before the submission window closes on 31 May. www.outspokenldn.com/presssubmissions
Science fiction and fantasy journal Shoreline of Infinity has a submission window open between 11 and 13 May for submissions by transgender, non-binary and gendernonconforming writers. Writers may submit one story, up to 6,000 words. Payment is £10 per 1,000 words. The next submission window between 11 and 13 June, will be for general submissions. Website: www.shorelineofinfinity.com/ Independent Scottish publisher Luna Press Publishing will open a novel submission window between 21 and 27 June. Luna Press publishes speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction and dark fantasy. During the submission period, send the first three chapters of original, unpublished manuscripts between 70,000 and 110,000 words, a full synopsis and a brief author bio. Website: www.lunapresspublishing. com/submissions
GLOBAL FICTION MARKET
A new home for new Holmes Jenny Roche
If you’ve always liked Sherlock Holmes stories and fancied writing a few here’s the publisher for you. MX Publishing is devoted to bringing readers ‘the best in new Sherlock Holmes novels, biographies, graphic novels and short story collections every month.’ Already they have a catalogue of over 400 new Sherlock Holmes books and over 100 Holmes authors. The editorial team accept all genres ‘from very traditional pastiches through to modern novels, fantasy, crossover, children’s books and humour’ but it’s all about Sherlock. The team are devoted fans and keep their focus on Sherlock Holmes books.
To submit email in a 1-2 paragraph synopsis of the storyline, the title, subtitle, author name in full, an approximate word count, a brief bio, and 10 to 15 keywords or phrases that fans would use to find your book, to email: authors@mxpublishing.com Also do add information about ‘how you found MX Publishing and why we are a good fit for the book(s).’ Response time is ‘reasonable’. Rights and royalties discussed with the contract. Website: https://mxpublishing.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
77
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET
Aqueduct for women in SF The Wigtown Poetry Prize has £1,500 and £500 prizes, with £500 and £200 in categories for entries in Scots and Scottish Gaelic, for poems up to forty lines, as well as special prizes of mentoring, for the Dumfries and Galloway Fresh Voice Award, and thirty published copies, in the Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize. Entry fee is £6.50, £17 for three; closing date 31 May. Website: www. wigtown poetryprize.com The 2021 Dylan Thomas Prize is worth £20,000 to the winning author of an exceptional published literary work, aged under 39. There are four debuts on the shortlist: Alligator and Other Stories, Dima Alzayat; Kingdomtide, Rye Curtis; The Death of Vivek Oji, Akwaeke Emezi; Pew, Catherine Lacey; Luster, Raven Leilani; My Dark Vanessa, Kate Elizabeth Russell. The winner was due to be announced on 13 May. “I have spent a long time facilitating the process of other creatives. I spent a long time teaching, a long time being an editor, and a long time listening and supporting other people. My time now. Mine.” Leona Ross, whose third novel is more than fifteen years after its predecessor
78
JUNE 2021
PDR Lindsay-Salmon
Aqueduct Press dedicates itself to publishing ‘challenging, feminist science fiction’. Kathryn Wilham, managing editor, promises to give readers work that will stretch the imagination and stimulate thought. Whilst not a mainstream genre this editorial team ‘can afford to go against the current, to raise new ideas, to challenge the status quo, in the hope that with time an audience will be found’. Follow the guidelines, especially the formatting ones. They welcome feminist SF novels of any length plus, for the Conversation Pieces series, ‘original novellas, poetry, and prose work of every kind at lengths ranging from 20,000-35,000 words.’ Always query before submitting nonfiction or a collection of short fiction. The team also publish a magazine, The Cascadia Subduction Zone, which publishes ‘writing across a variety of
genres: essays, reviews, manifestos, poetry, interviews, cartoons, flash fiction, and combinations thereof.’ The magazine team want ‘work that engages, stimulates, and entertains the thinking reader.’ A feminist bent is not required but is liked. Submit by email to the magazine as rtf or doc files. Essays should be no more than 5,000 words. Query for reviews
Lucky Thirteen Thirteen Podcast is an Imaginary Comma production. They produce ‘audio-drama/audio fiction podcasts specialising in feature length (about one hour) productions that are characterised by slow-burn, atmospheric stories horror/ghost/ occult stories.’ The team know that ‘the horror genre is vast and there are many great ways to produce a scare’ so they have wide tastes. If possible submit work in a script format. Submit horror stories 5,000 words or more because the podcast is one hour and 5,000 words plus usually fits the time slot. They prefer stories with ‘a first person central narrator and supporting characters’ but other formats are also welcome. The team seek great characters to make great stories. They insist on ‘excellent character development’ in a well crafted story, ‘full of atmosphere, that takes time getting to the scares’. Keep the cast members down to four or fewer. Response time is reasonable. Payment is $50 for broadcasting rights. Details: Thirteen Podcast, email: info@thirteenpodcast. com; website: https://thirteenpodcast.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
and art work and articles. There’s a modest payment for work purchased. Submissions of novels for the Press must include a cover letter with a brief introduction of the writer, the work to date and include a website or other web locations that showcase work. Include a synopsis of under two pages, single-spaced. Submit doc or rtf files. There are more detailed formatting instructions at the website. Follow them. Response time is slow. Rights and royalties are discussed with the contract. Details: Aqueduct Press, website: www.aqueductpress.com; zine website and guidelines: http:// thecsz.com/
Where spiritual meets supernatural Silent Motorist Media seek stories for Mysterium Tremendum, a chapbook anthology intended to explore the intersection between weird fiction/horror/ fiction and the holy. The editorial team call themselves ‘a weird fiction and horror blog and press’. Editor-in-chief Justin A Burnett wants to encourage new writers, and publishes several anthologies to showcase their work alongside experienced writers. He wants ‘writing that shimmers with intelligence and impassioned creativity’. There’s a detailed explanation at the website, but in brief work should explore ‘the strange, sublime borderlands between terror and religiosity’. Nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry that in some way examines or exists within this liminal space is what they want. No reprints, multiple or simultaneous submissions. Prose should be 3,000 to 6,000 words in length. Response time is ‘reasonable.’ Payment $50 for fiction and non-fiction (film studies welcome), $25 for poetry. Website: www.silentmotoristmedia.com
WRITERS’ NEWS
ONLINE SPECFIC MARKET
The Portalist opens Gary Dalkin
The Portalist is a US website which describes itself as a haven for science fiction and fantasy fans. The editorial team, headed by managing editor Carolyn Cox, formerly of The Mary Sue, says that they value imagination and science equally, and welcome all who are curious, passionate, and eager for an uplifting, inclusive view of the universe. As well as featured articles on the homepage, The Portalist has four main sections, Books, Pop Culture (covering all other aspects of science fiction, including film, TV, comics and games), Future Present (science and technology, but with a particular focus on the parallels and differences between actual science and science fiction) and Bizarre – covering everything from aliens to cryptids to unexplained phenomena, in other words the weird and wonderful. Recent stories have included an exploration of the ‘Best Completed Fantasy Book Series’, a look at ‘20 Great Sci-Fi Movies Directed By Women’, a retrospective feature on the Challenger space shuttle disaster and a report on ‘Iceland’s Obsession With Elves’. Many of the features on The Portalist are list-based – for example, ‘10 Best Episodes of Babylon 5’ – so this could be a good way to pitch the editors. Payment is $150 for a 1,000 word feature. Check out the site here: https://theportalist.com and then send your pitch to editor@theportalist.com.
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
Marketing matters Jenny Roche
Completed book manuscripts of poetry, fiction and non fiction of a minimum ninety pages are invited by Prolific Press from both emerging and established writers. The publisher has a mission to support artists and the arts and ‘strives to discover and publish great literary works by writers in the United States and abroad’. The Press also publishes eight established literary magazines and provides free writing techniques and arts education resources. Publication decisions are basically market orientated and include the popularity of the author, the market for similar books and the quality, size and genre of the book. The publisher has a wide distribution network and if your work is selected for publication you will receive a token cash advance and a standard royalty contract. Submit your full manuscript as a doc file using the website submission manager and include your name, address and contact details, the number of words or pages of your book, a biography and a note of how you plan to market your book. Alternatively you may submit your work on a USB memory stick by post. See website for full submission details. Details: Prolific Press Inc., PO Box 5315, Johnstown, PA 156904 Website: https://prolificpress.com/book-submissions/
What you like Win a £1,500 first prize in the Write What You Like 2021 competition from independent publisher The Wit To Woo. For this contest, entries are invited of anything you like: poem, short story, memoir, flash fiction, or anything else. There is no lower word limit, but entries should be no longer than 10,000 words. The first prize is £1,500 and anthology publication. There are second and third prizes of £750 and £500. All entries must be original and unpublished, and may be of any genre, theme or format. The entry fee is £7; closing date, 28 May. Website: https://thewittowoo.com/write-what-you-like-2021 www.writers-online.co.uk
Novel Ideas Cloak of confidence Lynne Hackles has a trick up her sleeve when it comes to self belief There were over 100 people in the hall when I gave my first talk. The organiser led me in. I understood what the French aristocrats must have felt like on their way to the guillotine. It wasn’t only my hands that were shaking. Everything shook. The camera around my neck bounced against my thumping heart. I couldn’t do this. ‘Give me a minute,’ I said to the organiser. We came to a standstill. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pictured myself giving a successful and much appreciated talk. I donned my imaginary As If cloak. It helps me act as if I know what I’m doing, as if I know what I’m talking about. As if I am confident. Many years ago, I wrote down some wise words from the journalist, Lynda LeePotter. ‘It’s foolish to be destroyed by nerves, because it takes away much of the fun.’ She was right, you know. I thought about this as I was being introduced as ‘Lynne Hackles, our lively and funny speaker for this evening.’ Now there was something to live up to. I confessed to the audience that this speaking lark was all new to me. Was it an attempt to get their sympathy? Possibly. Now, back to the camera. I aimed it at the audience. ‘I’d like to remember this moment,’ I told them, ‘so, with your permission I’d like to take a photo of you all.’ They smiled and waved, and after that we all had a joyous hour. My As If cape had done the trick. My latest, and now my favourite quote from an online shopping site also involves a cape and is perfect for those lack of confidence moments. ‘Whatever you have to do today, do it with the confidence of a four-year old in a Batman cape.’
JUNE 2021 DECEMBER 2020
79
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
ONLINE NEWS MARKET Balancing the news
Poems, up to 40 lines, on the theme ‘Family’ could win £150 in The Gerard Rochford Poetry Prize, launched by Mist and Mountain Creative Residency in memory of Scottish poet Gerard Rochford, who died in 2019. Two runners-up will each receive £50 and a small commemorative plate. Entry is free. Each entrant may submit one poem. The closing date is 30 June. Website: https:// mistandmountain. co.uk/ The consolidation of major publishers into ever larger conglomerates continues as in the US HarperCollins Publishers, already the second largest book publisher in the world, is in the process of buying Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s (HMH) publishing company, HMH Books & Media. The deal will add over 7,000 titles to the HarperCollins US catalogue, and is reportedly worth $349m. “It’s ridiculous to me that there weren’t more kids’ books with deaf protagonists. It is a symptom of a mainstream culture that is failing everyone. So my book is having a life beyond what I could have dreamed of, and that is really exciting.” Raymond Antrobus, whose latest book is about a deaf bear, Can Bears Ski?
80
JUNE 2021
Gary Dalkin
Unbias the News is a new online cross-border newsroom dedicated to showcasing underreported stories with a global relevance. The editorial team, led by editor-in-chief Tina Lee, aims to open up reporting to emerging voices and local journalists who have not yet had the privilege to publish at traditional outlets due to ‘structural barriers or discrimination’. Unbias the News is seeking to expand its geographically diverse team, working with local journalists wherever there is an interesting story to be told. Their stated principles and manifesto are focused on promoting upcoming voices based on the quality of work, not on contacts and connections, anti-racism, feminism, inclusivity and in providing a counter to the biases of established media. Your story can involve any aspect of crossing borders, address under-reported or secret histories or taboo subject matter, it may take a second look at little known topic, and it may tell a complex narrative in-depth. If you have any questions email the editorial team at pitch@ unbiasthenews.org. Otherwise make your pitch, no longer than 250 words, using the online form at https://
unbiasthenews.org This page also contains the full guidelines and lots of other useful information. All applicants will have the opportunity to take part in free digital journalism training and peer-to-peer networking, regardless of whether your story is accepted. Accepted submissions will be paid €250 (personal narratives, op-eds, and shorter pieces) or €500 (long reads, multimedia, and investigations). Collaborative projects are welcome. The site is developed by Hostwriter, a German nonprofit organisation which looks to provide an open network to help journalists to easily collaborate across borders. It is supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Adesseum Foundation. Find out more about Hostwriter at https://hostwriter.org/about Details: Hostwriter c/o Haus K166 Karl-Marx-Straße 166 12043 Berlin +49 30 23544414.
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET Publishing with a boutique feel PDR Lindsay-Salmon
Two Plum Press is a unique US niche press producing ‘slim volumes of literary works both contemporary and classic’. Titles published ‘include works of poetry, essays, fiction, philosophy, visual art, travel and food writing.’ The editorial team at the press operate in a manner similar to ‘an independent record label, where the artists are tied to one another through their friendships, common location, history, and collaborations.’ Indeed the team are now producing songs to go with the selected works. Check out the website and the books
carefully before submitting. The team are open to queries all year round and welcome work by post or email. Details at the website. Response time is slow and rights and
royalties are tied in with the contract. This is a team to get to know as working with them means a commitment to the group. Website: www.twoplumpress.com
Wildlife and wit The Friends of Manning’s Pit Saki Short Story Competition 2021 is inviting stories with a spark of wit that relate to wildlife or the countryside. The Manning’s Pit fields in Devon can be seen from the childhood bedroom of the celebrated short story writer Hector Hugo Monro, known as Saki, who died in 1916. The competition in his honour is for original, unpublished short stories up to 3,000 words. Stories do not have to be in his style, but they should contain an
www.writers-online.co.uk
element of originality or wit and in some way relate to wildlife or the countryside. There are prizes of £500, £200 and £100. The judges are James Lovelock, Sir Richard Eyre and Peter Christie. There is an entry fee of £5 per story. The closing date is 30 June. Website: https://manningspit.com/saki/
WRITERS’ NEWS
INTERNATIONAL ZINE SCENE The Wondrous Real is a new ‘bimonthly online literary fiction magazine’ whose editorial team focus on ‘finding the magic within the reality we live in’. They want ‘extraordinary tales of the mundane and mundane tales of the extraordinary’ to bring magic to the readers. Is there ‘a marvellous world that parallels our own?’ Think of ‘magic realism, contemporary fantasy, and surrealism’ and ‘a border between fantasy and reality.’ and give the team fiction, poetry and flash which bring ‘magic and mystery into a contemporary social relevance.’ Submit by email: flash fiction, three pieces with fewer than 1,000 words each, or one short story no more than 4,000 words; poetry 1-3 poems in one document, no longer than ten pages. Submit by email: wondrousrealmag@gmail.com Response time is around ‘70 days’. Payment is ‘$10 for short stories, $5 for other pieces.’ Website: www.wondrousrealmag.com
and prose poetry. They welcome work which ridicules the ‘travel broadens the mind’ philosophy or that idea about travel being seen as ‘cultured and aspirational’. Submissions open at the end of June for prose, no more than 5,000 words, in the form of ‘personal essays, impersonal essays, CNF and fiction.’ Prose poetry of no more than a page is also accepted. The team particularly welcome submissions from the most travelled and least travelled areas of the world, ‘writers who are indigenous to a colonised country; and people who have never travelled abroad’. Submit by email: sundamagedmag@gmail. com Response time is ‘reasonable.’ Payment is $10. Website: https://sundamagedmag.com
A brand new nonfiction site, Wild Media Journal aims to create an education platform with ‘a mission to connect, inspire, and inform the world’s wildlife filmmakers, conservation storytellers, science communicators, and next-generation content creators’. Submit the bare details of your proposed article through the website. By June they should have samples of work online. Check out the website and explore the ideas. Website: https://wildmediajournal.com
Short Story Town is a website zine devoted to short stories. ‘from new, emerging and established writers,’ stories which are ‘wholly stories, with all or most of the elements (characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution) present… (good) grammar…evocative images and minute details…important to painting a picture of words for the readers.’ Make your writing sing, ‘rise off the page and lilt in the air’ but no flowery language for the sake of sounding pretty. Genres wanted are contemporary, general, literary or magic realism, perhaps ‘a narrative poem that reads like a short story, but is poetic’. Stories, 1,000 to 5,000 words, and narrative poems, 500 to 2,000 words, should be submitted by email: SweetycatPress@ gmail.com Response time is ‘usually within 3 days’ Payment is $10. Website: www.shortstorytown.com
Sundamaged is just the magazine for these virus ridden, locked down days, an ‘antitravel travel magazine... for new voices writing about travelling, celebrating the wonder of nature and cultural discovery, but also exploring the impact of travel’. Submit articles, essays, creative non-fiction, fiction
Kaleidotrope is a speculative fiction zine but the editorial team will accept ‘compelling work that blurs the lines between these and falls outside neat genre categories.’ Spend time online reading the stories and poems in the back issues to see what they mean by writing outside the genre categories. For fiction the team like stories between 250 words and under 10,000, but work in the middle range 3,000 to 5,000 words is preferred. Poetry in all forms is accepted www.writers-online.co.uk
by PDR Lindsay-Salmon
although they are not fond of ‘haiku, or other very short poems.’ Artwork in the form of full-colour illustrations is always wanted for cover art. Submissions are open during the months of February, May/June, August and October/ November. Submit by email with Fiction, Poetry, or Artwork in the subject line, to: kaleidotrope@gmail.com Response time is ‘Typically 1 to 3 months.’ Payment is 1¢ per word for fiction, $5 per poem and $60 for cover art for First Serial Rights. Website: https://kaleidotrope.net Longleaf Review has an editorial team who believe that ‘everyone has a story to tell.’ They are committed to be open to publishing fiction and poetry which ‘encapsulates all it means to be human, with a particular interest in outsider perspectives which force us to look at the everyday in new and inspiring ways.’ Open to submissions in May the team seek fiction and CNF, (creative non-fiction) and flash fiction is also welcomed. Prose, no more than 5,000 words, or no more than three micros of no more than 500 words each, should be submitted in one document. For poetry, 1 to 3 poems should be submitted in one document. Submit a docx file through the website: https://longleafreview.com The Split Lip Magazine team are seeking submissions for their idiosyncratic zine. They claim that their literary journal is ‘totally bonkers-in-love with voice-driven writing, pop culture, and the kind of honesty that gets you right in the kidneys.’ This team love ‘stories and poetry and art which create spaces in which to be brave, silly, honest and weird.’ Submissions are free in January, March, May, August, September, and November. There’s a small fee for submitting during February, April, June, October and December. Response time is ‘up to 16 weeks’. Payment is $50 for poems, memoirs, flash, fiction, and art, and $25 for interviews/reviews for first-time electronic publication rights. Website: https://splitlipthemag.com JUNE 2021
81
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET Share your Dissent
First prize is £1,000 in the Live Canon 2021 International Poetry Competition for poems of any length and in any form. Fifty longlisted poems will be published in Live Canon’s annual anthology and sixteen poems will be performed at the annual prizegiving event. Entry fee, £6.50, £12 for two, £16 for three, £20 for five and £35 for ten. The closing date is 21 May. Website: www. livecanon.co.uk Six novels are shortlisted for the €100,000 2021 Dublin Literary Award, the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English. The winner was due to be announced on 20 May. The shortlist is: Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo (British); Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli (Mexican); Apeirogon, Colum McCann (Irish); Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor, trans Sophie Hughes (Mexican); On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong (VietnameseAmerican); The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (American). “I trust my readers to know that, at times, I’m going to write wickedly and in a messed-up way, about messed-up characters who may behave in an unreliable or suspect manner.” Jeff VanderMeer
82
JUNE 2021
PDR Lindsay-Salmon
Dissent is proud to be ‘A pillar of leftist intellectual provocation’ and this quarterly magazine of politics and ideas publishes ‘the very best in political argument, and takes pride in cultivating the next generation of labour journalists, cultural critics, and political polemicists.’ The editorial team at Dissent focus on the real issues, and seek challenging writing from writers everywhere. Don’t overdo the panvirus theme, but unique critical views might be acceptable. They like educated rants. Open to subs for the online and print versions the team do not want ‘unsolicited pitches, simultaneous submissions, fiction or poetry submissions, or book excerpts.’ They will not reply to submissions that do not meet the guidelines. The team accept writing on politics, economics, and culture. Don’t be too academic; footnotes are discouraged. Keep article lengths to between 2,500 and 3,500 words, but blog posts ‘can be as short as 750 words.’
Submit work by email: submissions@dissentmagazine. org Response time is ‘within 2 to 3 weeks’. Payment is by agreement. Website: www.dissentmagazine.org
Read all about it National Crime Reading Week is a new literary festival promoting the crime genre, hosted by the CWA, that will take place throughout June. ‘We want to invite bookshops, libraries, publishers, conventions and festivals that celebrate the crime genre, to take part,’ said Linda Stratmann, Chair of the CWA. Our sister network, the Crime Readers’ Association (CRA), is one of the largest communities of crime genre
readers in the world, so this June is a unique opportunity to get an author event or reading initiative in front of that dedicated audience.’ It is expected that most of the events will be online or hybrid. ‘This summer, nobody knows if they’ll be able to escape abroad on holiday,’ said CWA Secretary Dea Parkin. ‘One thing that is guaranteed is the option to escape through a good book. We hope National Crime Reading Month
this June will lead the great escape we all desperately need after such a difficult year, and book lovers support this exciting celebration of reading.’ Website: www.thecwa.co.uk
Say it on a greetings card The 38th biannual Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Competition is open for original rhyming or non rhyming poetry for greetings cards, although judges find that non rhyming poetry reads better. They suggest, ‘You write about real emotions and feelings and that you have some special person or occasion in mind as you write’. Poems will be judged on ‘originality and uniqueness’. There is no limit to the number of poems you may enter and there are prizes of $350 for the winner and $200 and $100 for second and third prize winners respectively. There is no entry fee and the closing date is 30 June.
Submissions can be made using the contest form on the website or by posting a hard copy with a relevant SAE if you’d like your work returned. If posting include your name, address, phone number and if you have one, your email address. Details: Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Card Contest, Editorial Department, PO Box 1007, Boulder, CO 80306, USA. Website: www.sps.com/contest-3
Produce the goods The Fiction Factory First Chapter Competition is inviting entries. Win £500 and an appraisal from a literary agent in the competition for writers who have completed the first draft of a novel. As well as the £500 first prize, the
winning entry will be read by Joanna Swainson of Hardman & Swainson Agency. All shortlisted entrants will receive a free appraisal. To enter, send a maximum of the first 5,000 words of the first chapter. If the chapter is longer, send it in www.writers-online.co.uk
full but clearly mark the 5,000 word point. The entry fee is £15 for entries received before 15 May, and then £18. The closing date is 31 July. Website: https://fiction-factory. biz/
WRITERS’ NEWS
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
G
TR
IN
A
L W RI E T V
PDR Lindsay-Salmon
K
N
W
Arkansas bound
The Arkansas International is a biannual print magazine seeking ‘the best literature from the United States and abroad’. It is part of the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing & Translation and publishes ‘fiction, poetry, essays, comics, as well as works in translation.’ The editorial team have an interesting system of submissions. ‘During September, October, January, and February, there will be no fee to submit unsolicited submissions.’ For the rest of the year there is a $4 fee. Check out the website and read the guidelines carefully. The editors are committed ‘to promoting both established and emerging voices’ and are seeking quality submissions of original unpublished works. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, with the usual proviso. No reprints or multiple subs. Prose submissions should be no more than 8,000 words, poems may sent in ‘packets of up to five poems,’ all poems in one file. Payment is ‘re-evaluated based on the budget of each issue’. The last issue paid $20 per printed page, maximum $250, plus copies of the journal. Website: www.arkint.org
Behind the mask The HG Wells Short Story Competition 2021 is for short fiction on the theme of ‘Mask’. The annual HG Wells Short Story Competition was founded by BBC Aeronautics Correspondent Reg Turnbull and his wife Margaret to celebrate the life and works of HG Wells and encourage creative writing. There are two entry categories. The Junior (writers aged 21 and under) category has a £1,000 prize and the Senior (writers over 22) category has a £500 prize. This year’s theme is ‘Mask’. It may be interpreted in any way. Enter original, unpublished short fiction between 1,500 and 5,000 words. Winning and shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology. Entry in the Junior category is free. The Senior entry fee is £10, or £5 for writers with student ID. The closing date is 12 July. Website: https://hgwellscompetition.com/
Lots to win at Ledbury Ledbury Festival Poetry Competition 2021 is inviting entries. There is a first prize of £1,000 in the contest, which will be judged by Anthony Anaxagorou. The competition is for original, unpublished poems up to forty lines. Poems may be in any style, and on any subject. In the adult category the first prize is £1,000, and there are second and third prizes of £500 and £250. In the young poets category there are smaller cash prizes, and in the under-12s category, the prizes are book tokens. All winners will be invited to read at the 2022 Ledbury Poetry Festival. The entry fee in the adult category is £5,75 for the first poem and £3.50 for each additional poem. The closing date is 15 July. Website: www.poetry-festival.co.uk/poetry-competition-2021/ www.writers-online.co.uk
O W-H O
First, third, second Patrick Forsyth looks at the order in which things go t is possible that prospects for travel may have improved by the time that this appears – who can tell? But this month I shall ignore everything about Covid and consider one particular travel writing technique. Let’s consider the shape, structure and sequence of a travel piece and take an article as an example. Given that you have a topic, where do you start? A member of a writing group I attend is much travelled and likes to write about travel. She is adept at description and can conjure up the atmosphere of a place very well. But her pieces always have something of the ‘what I did on my holidays’ style about them. By that I mean that they are strictly chronological and many a paragraph starts repetitively with various permutations of: And then… which renders them less striking than they might be. Once you have a theme – and that is important too, you do not want to just write about something – you can consider content and order. Often what makes the best start may be a central point. This could be anything: an incident, a person, a place (or an individual something in that place) and it could be used to set the scene – indeed it could be something that you go back to before the piece ends. The theme may then largely dictate the subsequent order of things. If you are writing about somewhere exciting or relaxing, somewhere where for example its history, food or culture is important, or are focused more specifically – on a particular festival say – all of that may help order things. Maybe someone you meet and write about early on reappears, maybe you end where you began. Consideration here injects variety and pace, things that and then… and then… and then… almost guarantees you will avoid. Working in this way helps fit your writing to the reader, who is most likely not so interested in exactly what you did in what order but rather in what you experienced and how knowing about that informs them. Writing chronologically demands less thought. One decision is made, perhaps by default, at the beginning and that’s it. The effort that a more considered sequence involves is worthwhile. In longer pieces, a book say, there may need to be an element of continuity but variety can still be injected by dealing with individual elements as described here. Overall, of course, travel writing should certainly include good, perhaps unusual, description but also be informative, interesting and stimulating, and the fact is that how you deal with continuity plays a major part in creating this. I’ll end with beginnings – the one beginning many are currently hoping for is just to be able to take a trip again!
I
SEPTEMBER 2020
83
WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
UK NON-FICTION MARKET Hot on the Press Tina Jackson
Stories of under 3,500 words, set at least 35 years in the past, could win £500 in the Dorothy Dunnett/ HWA Short Story Award 2021, plus publication and a mentoring session with an author and agent. Two runners-up will be offered mentoring. Shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology. Entry fee, £5; closing date, 1 July. Website: https:// historicalwriters. org/awards/ ddshwassaward-2021/ The CrimeFest Awards shortlists, for the best crime books published in 2020, have been announced, including the £1,000 Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award: Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, The Creak on the Stairs; Marion Brunet, Summer of Reckoning; Robin MorganBentley, The Wreckage; Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club; Mara Timon, City of Spies; Trevor Wood, The Man on the Street. Winners of all the CrimeFest Awards will be announced online in the summer. Website: www. crimefest.com
Canbury Press is an independent publisher of modern non-fiction. ‘On a variety of topics, but generally at the heavier end – politics, environment, health, biography and tech,’ said managing director Martin Hickman. ‘We tell important stories about our world, with a view to changing things. So, our biography has to have a point – like Lily Bailey’s mesmerising book Because We Are Bad, which explains what it’s like to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.’ Martin set up Canbury Press in 2013. ‘I’d been a journalist at The Independent and wanted to tell stories in more depth than in a newspaper article,’ he said. ‘Canbury is the name of the local area in Kingston upon Thames, Press speaks to the journalistic background.’ At the moment Canbury Press publishes around five titles each year. ‘We’d like to do more,’ said Martin. ‘The reason we publish sparingly is that we’re fussy about quality. We lavish attention on our books, to make them the best they can be.’ In the future Martin hopes Canbury Press will be: ‘Expanding our publishing and burnishing our reputation. One extraordinary book at a time. We’re small but ambitious: we want to be Britain’s best nonfiction publisher. Help us.’ In terms of submissions, Canbury Press requires a combination of strong author and book. ‘For author, that means someone who is hugely committed to seeing their work in print – who sees it as the most important goal in their professional life. Preferably they will have a good standing in their field and/or have media contacts and/or a strong social media following. And be confident, determined and humble. The book itself
You can’t write well without reading, and you don’t read so well as you might unless you write. Speculative history novelist Natasha Pulley
84
JUNE 2021
www.writers-online.co.uk
has to have an important message. There has to be a pressing need for it, whatever it is. A good book for Canbury Press would be an important modern factual story with commercial appeal, well told by a gritty, will-work-as-hard-as-it-takes author.’ As a former journalist, John’s advice to prospective authors is to be workmanlike and as professional as possible in the way you tell your story. ‘Two pieces of advice: start and finish,’ he said. ‘1. Do it. Writing is a bums-on-seat-business. Your first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Get it down, roughly probably, then rework it later. Writers are people who finish books. If you haven’t already, start now. Get a piece of paper out. What is your story about? Why would someone who is not a friend or relative want to read it? If you read it aloud to a live audience, would their eyes dance or close? 2. Revise like hell. Not revised it five times? It probably isn’t ready. Submit your very best effort to a publisher. It will still need work, but this is your chance of catching a break. And remember to explain why your book will sell. I don’t know any publisher who want to publish an unread masterpiece; I certainly don’t.’ Prospective authors should submit by email, sending a short covering letter putting forward themselves and the book, a sample chapter structure and a chapter or two (at least 2,000 words). Canbury Press publishes in print, ebook and audio formats, and pays royalties. ‘Writers shouldn’t worry too much about money at this stage,’ said Martin. ‘Until you get a publishing deal, you’ve got 100% of nothing.’ Details: email: info@canburypress.com; website: canburypress.com
M Y W R I T I N G D AY
Emma Eker The author of a ‘solution-based memoir’ tells Lynne Hackles about finding her way
E
mma Eker is a life coach and author from London. Trained in Psychosynthesis Psychology (PG Dip), Emma has worked as a coach for over fourteen years. How does she fit writing in alongside her therapy work? ‘I could tell a fib and allude to the fact that there was much juggling that needed to take place and a fair bit of organisation, commitment and dedication on my part, but that is not the case,’ she says. ‘Initially, I was working to a moveable deadline (which I enjoyed stretching into the ether) and when I made the decision to self-publish, there was no deadline at all, apart from my PR company and editor who made it quite clear that January 2021 was a good time to launch Liberation. Therefore, for the most part, I was not feeling a huge pressure, although as time moved on, I recognised that the book’s time had come and I needed to get the show on the road. ‘I’m not sure how professional or helpful it is to tell you that there was and is no structure to my day at all, at least not with regard to set writing times. I’ve never been a leftbrained, stay-between-the-lines kind of person, leaning much more towards trusting the process. Meaning, if the energy and desire was not with me to write, I trusted that at the right time it would find me. I was also lucky to have a free enough schedule to allow myself the luxury of writing when I found myself in the flow and putting my energy and attention elsewhere when that wasn’t the case. ‘The process of writing has always been a little frustrating for me. I was flabbergasted to learn how easily distracted I could be – I also made procrastination into an art form. I would usually open my laptop, feel overwhelmed, stare at the screen, get up and walk around, make a cup of tea, sit down again, feel overwhelmed, make a phone call and maybe then I’d attempt to sort through the chaos and try to put the pieces of the jigsaw back together. I will say though, once I’m in the zone, regardless of how long it takes me to get there, it’s wonderful. ‘I’m super organised when it comes to keeping my home, making to-do lists, following up with people and phone calls, replying to emails, etc, but when it comes to focussing on something I’m uninterested in, or having to read large chunks of information, my avoidance tactics are exceptional. ‘When it came to writing Liberation I had absolutely no intention of writing a memoir, none at all but, around three years ago, life showed me that this was a project I had to bring forth. I explain much of this in the book. I have always been interested in the human experience and have
been the person people come to for help. I have always loved this part of me and I am skilled at holding space for and helping others. My life experiences have been incredibly emotionally challenging for me and I recognised that there was a story (my story) that needed telling in order to help others who are suffering. My mission has always been to serve humanity and Liberation is one of the ways in which I am doing that. ‘At many times I didn’t think there was anything worth telling. When I did find myself writing about certain challenges and difficulties, I found myself wanting to soften the edges for fear of ridicule, judgement, embarrassment. I also wondered – doubted – if I had the ability to create anything good, anything worth reading. Writing a book seemed like such a huge ordeal and I had no idea how all the pieces would come together, but then life is benevolent and if our desire is to serve others and we have pure intention, Life does the organisation for us, we just need to show up and do the work. ‘Honestly, my sole / soul intention is to serve others. With and from my heart this is my truth. Too many human beings are struggling and in pain, grappling with day-to-day life, oftentimes feeling dejection and despair. This is not the way we are meant to live. We are not here to struggle and survive, we have come to planet Earth to thrive and whatever I can do in service to this, it is my heartfelt desire and mission to do so.’
WRITING PLACE ‘My favourite writing places are coffee shops. I’ve always loved getting up and dressed, tucking my laptop under my arm and making my way to my favourite café. I can sometimes be distracted or bump into someone I know whilst I’m in midflow but for the most part, I greatly enjoy it. It also feels like I’m going to work. Having said that, I wrote the bulk of my book sitting at my kitchen table. I lived alone at the time so didn’t run the risk of screaming kids, blaring TVs or external demands on my time.’
www.writers-online.co.uk
JUNE 2021
85
NOTES FROM THE MARGIN
BOOK GROUP BUST-UP Lorraine Mace describes how she inadvertently sparked an online barney when she turned up for a book group talk recently gave a talk to a book group by Zoom which left me feeling as if I’d stepped into the middle of a power struggle. I’m not sure if I was the prize or the bone of contention between the warring factions, but either way I felt like piggy in the middle. If you have seen the video of the council meeting which erupted over who was in charge and went on to show arguments regarding when people could speak, it will give you a good idea of the background rancour during my talk. (If you haven’t seen the footage which went viral, but would like to watch it, simply type Handforth Parish Council into any search engine.) I promise, if you watch the video, you will have instant sympathy with my plight. In many of the talks I’ve given, my screen was filled with little boxes, each containing a group member. In this way, I felt as if I were communicating with everyone. For the talk I’m referring to in this column, the set up was completely different. Although I could hear all the voices, I could only see the Zoom organiser on the screen. On occasion she must have pressed a button because one of the other members briefly appeared, but for most of the time I was looking at her, yet speaking to someone sight unseen. My first intimation that all was not going to be well was when I began by thanking the group for inviting me. The voice of an unseen member piped up, ‘it wasn’t put to the vote, you know!’ The organiser looked annoyed and said, ‘Not now, Gregory!’ ‘Well, it wasn’t,’ said Gregory, making it clear he may not be seen, but he was determined to be heard. ‘I didn’t like your book,’ said another voice, querulous in tone and decidedly female this time. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said and was about to ask why when the organiser told me to ignore the woman and get on with my talk. I have to digress here to explain that the invitation came about when a reader (who I later learned couldn’t attend on the day) contacted me to say he’d loved my series and
I
86
JUNE 2021
to ask if I ever gave talks to book groups. I said yes and a date was set. I have no idea what went on behind the scenes, but it appears my fan had booked me to come to the online meeting, but hadn’t cleared it through the proper channels. This caused the group to split along partisan lines – the organiser had her following and Gregory had his. He did his best to assert his authority, but was shut down each time. The earlier querulous voice interrupted me several times while I was speaking. Eventually, the organiser threatened to mute her, so I thought I’d better step in and find out what it was that was bothering her. ‘I only read the first chapter of your book and it was a bit you know…’ she said. ‘Not really,’ I answered. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, it’s not proper is it?’ Still none the wiser, I was about to ask another question when she piped up again. ‘It’s not the type of crime I like to read. Miss Marple and Hercule would never behave like that!’ Considering the opening chapter of the book is shown from the point of view of a serial killer, I sincerely hope they wouldn’t have behaved in a similar fashion! By the time I got to the end of the talk I was exhausted, had developed a nervous tic and was coming close to detesting two unseen but very vocal members. I have, of course, had many positive Zoom and Skype book group talks since the pandemic began, so I don’t want anyone to think this is the norm. All the other online meetings have been absolutely lovely (if less lively) and I’ve enjoyed ‘meeting’ readers I would not normally get the chance to speak to about my writing and books in general. If you want to put my name forward to your book group (always making sure the Gregory equivalent is on board), please do. I’d be delighted to drop in for a virtual chat even if one or two of your members don’t like crime. My talk doesn’t have to be crime related. After all, I’d hate to be the one who stopped a reader from enjoying the genre. Oops! Too late!
www.writers-online.co.uk
Why Not Be A Writer? What our students say: “In 2019 my memoir, On the Line - Life and Death in the Metropolitan Police, was published in paperback. As a direct result I have since been commissioned by the BBC to consult on the production of a new crime drama.I have also been paid to appear at crime writing festivals and appeared on BBC Breakfast and BBC London Radio. I have also secured an excellent literary agent and finished my first crime novel.” Alice Vinten “The course has given me, not only the confidence, but the opportunity to experiment with different writing styles and techniques. The writing assignments have encouraged me to work outside of my comfort zone, and to write about subjects, and for markets, that I would never have considered. Although it’s only been nine months since I started the course, I have earned £500 from writing and I’m awaiting further payments.” Mike Smith
“The Writers Bureau course has given me the confidence to become selfemployed - something I never thought I'd be brave enough to do - and I love the freedom, flexibility and variety that this brings to my life. So far I've earned over £1,400 and I've appeared live on ITV's This Morning. The course was challenging and enjoyable. My tutor was so kind, encouraging and helpful. Thank you, Writers Bureau, it has been an absolute pleasure. You've changed my life.” Laura Ansbro “The course gave me confidence in my writing, and I rediscovered my love of writing humour. I’ve also changed my career and am now so much happier as a technical writer.” Simon Miller
Being a writer can offer you a second income, extra spending money or it can even be a full-time career. It’s your choice. But whatever your writing ambitions, we have a course that will help you to achieve them. That’s because our first-class homestudy creative writing course contains all you need to know to become a successful, published writer. You learn how to write articles, short stories, novels, TV, radio, drama and more. You are shown how to develop your writing style, present your manuscripts, contact editors, find markets and HOW TO SELL YOUR WORK. What’s more, you do not need any previous writing experience to succeed on the course as it’s suitable for the absolute beginner. Throughout the course you will be tutored by a professional writer, who will offer constructive feedback on your twenty marked assignments. In addition, you can count on the support of our dedicated Student Services team who will do all they can to ensure that you get the most out of your studies. When you enrol, your full course is sent to you on a fifteen day trial. Your studies are then flexible to your requirements. Moreover, we offer you a full refund guarantee. If you do not earn back the equivalent of your fees by the time you finish your course we will refund them in full. So, if you would like to learn how to earn from writing, try our risk-free course. For a free prospectus visit our website or call our freephone number TODAY!
www.writersbureau.com FREE CALL 24
“During my studies I learnt writing techniques that have stood me in good stead as an author and copywriter. I am now lucky to be earning a living doing something I love, and it all started when I studied the Creative Writing Course." Heather Burnside
Enrol on The Writers Bureau's Creative Writing Course for only £444 (instalment terms available) and you could be writing your own success story.
0800 856 2008
www.facebook.com/thewritersbureau www.twitter.com/writersbureau
Writers Bureau
32
Quote: EE621 Members of ITOL and NAWE
Years of Success
email: W1@writersbureau.com Please include your name & address
YES! Please send me free details on how to become a successful, freelance writer. No stamp required. We do not share your details with any other person or organisation. EE621
Name: Address:
Postcode:
Email:
#
“It was with The Writers Bureau that I launched my writing career and it continues to steer my writing directions. What has helped most is the one-to-one tuition from an expert. Today I am the ghostwriter of a series of foster carer books published by Trinity Mirror.” Theresa Gooda
HRS
Freepost THE WRITERS BUREAU
Enrol online to access your course modules TODAY at: www.writersbureau.com APRIL 2021 63 www.writers-online.co.uk
LIVE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM
35+ LIVE ONLINE EVENTS FROM JUNE – AUGUST ‘21
OVER 35 HOURS OF EXPERT TALKS, ASK ANYTHING SESSIONS, BOOK DOCTOR SURGERIES AND INTERACTIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHORS, BIG FIVE AND INDIE PUBLISHERS, TOP AGENTS AND EDITORS
THREE EVENTS EVERY WEEK FOR 12 WEEKS PLUS OUR FAMOUS FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE COMPETITION In 2020 over 1,000 writers joined us from across the world “I hope I will be able to attend this festival every year from now on.”
“The Summer Festival of Writing was the best thing that ever happened to me. I learnt everything I needed to go forward as a writer.”
“I have grown as a writer and in confidence thanks to the Jericho team and the festival.”
Mark Dawson • Amanda Prowse • Caleb Azumah Nelson • Bolu Babalola • Abigail Dean • Phoebe Morgan • CD Major • • Poorna Bell • Onjali Q. Raúf • Sarah Ann Juckes • Martin Latham • Naomi Ishiguro • Bookouture • Simon & Schuster • Joffe Books • Catapult Press • Eve White Agency • Greene & Heaton • Folio Literary Management Plus many, many more…
JOIN US FOR THE BIGGEST ONLINE EVENT OF THE SUMMER • DON’T MISS A WORD
JUST £120
FOR A FULL FESTIVAL TICKET
OR
£75
WHEN YOU BECOME A MEMBER OF JERICHO WRITERS
VISIT: jerichowriters.com/events/summer-festival-of-writing