ISSUE TEN SEPTEMBER 2015
Bibliophilia Mini Masterclass in thriller writing
Turn your first draft into a highspeed, thrill fest
Learning about form in our writing poetry feature
Plus short fiction, poetry, book reviews and more
ISSUE TEN - SEPTEMBER 2015
Copyright ©2015 by Bibliophilia Magazine All prose and poetry rights are reserved by the contributing authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the individual author. NEXT ISSUE!! We have now changed to a quarterly publication, so you have until the end of November to send us your work on the theme of LESSONS Things you have learnt, things you should have learnt, regrets and could have beens. As usual we are happy to accept poetry, short fiction, features and reviews on anything on this theme.
Submission Guidelines Our guidelines are few and simple. We want to make it as easy for you to submit to us as possible and want to make our rules (such as they are) easy to follow. So here’s all you need to know: ‣ All submissions must be sent to bibliophilia@outlook.com by the 20th of the month to appear in the next month’s issue. ‣ All submissions must be sent as a pdf or word attachment, with your name, your pen name (if different), a short author bio (no more than 50 words) and your twitter name/ blog address in the email body. ‣ Short fiction can be no longer than 2,000 words, with the words ‘fiction submission’ as the subject of the email. Longer submissions will be considered on a case by case basis. ‣ Poetry can be no longer than 40 lines, with the words ‘poetry submission’ as the subject of the email. Up to three poems can be sent together. Longer submissions will be considered on a case by case basis. ‣ Features can be no longer than 1,500 words; proposals must be sent in the first instance with the words ‘features proposal’ as the subject of the email. Longer submissions will be considered on a case by case basis. ‣ All submissions must be sent via email - we do not accept snail mail submissions at this time. PAGE ONE
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Regular Features
OUR FIRST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH PAGE 8
MINI MASTERCLASS IN THRILLER WRITING AND EDITING PAGE 5
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Happy September one and all! This time of year has always been about new beginnings for me, with the start of a new school year, which means (of course) new stationary and schoolbags, new shoes and new people. As you may or may not know, we are now only publishing quarterly in order to allow more submission of a higher quality. This does mean you won’t get a new issue now until December, which you’ll get in time for the holidays so you can devour it in comfort. As always we welcome submissions from any and all, so check out our submission guidelines and drop us a line. Until next time! Mac PAGE TWO
HOW TO WRITE POETRY, THIS MONTH FOCUSING ON FORM PAGE 11
Contents Submission guidelines and next month’s theme Page 1 Our Contributors Page 3 Mini Masterclass in Thriller writing Page 5 Book of the Month Page 8 Poetry Corner Page 10 Writing Poetry Form Page 11 Poetry Corner Page 12 What We’re Dreaming Page 14 Prompts page Page 15
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ISSUE TEN - SEPTEMBER 2015
CONTRIBUTORS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE WORDS
Editor
Our Regulars Natasha McGregor - Editor Having written various genres since she was a teenager Natasha is looking forward to a new challenge in editing Bibliophilia. She is also working on her first full length novel and writing a collection of poetry. Twitter: @Natasha2Mc
Literary Reviewer
http://natasha2mcgregor.wordpress.com
Richard Southworth - Literary Reviewer Following prolific but not terribly original writing as a child, Richard got back into proper writing in 2009 by competing in National Novel Writing Month. He currently has eight NaNoWriMo victories under his belt, in addition to writing book reviews and the occasional short story. Twitter: @PneRichard http://velociraptor256.wordpress.com/
Features Writer
Josie Alford - Features Writer Josie is 21 and lives in Bristol after finishing a degree in English Literature. She writes poetry and is saving money for a masters in creative writing. Her blog is full of all of her poetry and she aims to get into more performance poetry – follow her on twitter for updates! Twitter: @AlfordJmo http://thefaultymanufacturing.blogspot.co.uk
Features Writer
E"eMay - Features Writer Elle May lives in Lancashire but her heart is travelling around the world. She lives with her parents, sister, and any visitors who extend their stay. She spends her days quietly thinking or loudly voicing her profound thoughts hoping someone will understand what she is saying. http://masiejane.wordpress.com/ 
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Guest Writers Olivia Railton - Poetry Olivia Railton is an aspiring creator. She uses such a vague word as she pursues photography, graphic design, and writing. However writing is her true passion, which she has always loved, and eventually she wishes to be able to call herself an author. Twitter: @RailtonOlivia
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MINI MASTERCLASS with Elle May The scene is set, your characters are ready, and the plot has thickened like last Sundays gravy. You’ve served up your first draft only to find it lacking. Something must have interfered with the creative energy flowing from your brain through to the blank screen. No! Do not jump up and down on your computer! In your enthusiasm, you have merely forgotten to add a dash of thrills and a pinch of suspense. This month we will be looking at the key ingredients for a good thriller and how to change a flat first draft into a lively second revision.
Thriller or mystery? A mystery follows an intellectual character that puts together clues to solve a crime; a thriller details the prevention of a crime before it is committed. Both types of narratives can be used together but decide which will be predominant.
Weave a tangled web A good thriller is more than a good plot. Complex webs of conflict will make your
story hum with tension. There are two quests, stop the crime and deal with the main characters emotional baggage. Having a detailed plan of the story will make writing it easier.
Character flaws It can’t be said enough times, characters create story. Your protagonist needs flaws as well as virtues. If your hero is struggling with inner issues it will make their survival an open question. List 10 inner demons
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your character has to deal with. Choose the best one and work it into your characters back story. How does it affect them in the present and how will it hinder them in the future? How will the story change your hero?
Give them Hell When one bad thing has happened to your hero, throw a grenade, an injured/ dead friend and a thunderstorm at them as well, and then make it personal. Isolate your main character, force them to become self reliant.
Friends or enemies? Look for ways your secondary characters may come into conflict with your hero and each other, especially those who are meant to be allies. Tell your thriller from the point of view of the character with the most to lose. Multiple POV can give you a great range and build more dramatic tension.
unnecessary. The promise of violence will leave your reader in suspense and keep those pages turning.
Let’s get nasty The villain needs to be more than just evil or crazy. Not all crazy people are evil. It may feel disturbing but try to justify why your villain does evil things. A compelling argument and even a little sympathy will make the confrontation between the hero and villain stronger.
Expect the unexpected
Action!
Pacing is central to a thriller. Short sentences, short paragraphs, end of chapter cliffhangers, action verbs - all these things will keep the pages turning. Avoid adverbs and too many descriptive sentences. The clock is ticking so keep it quick.
If you get stuck, follow Raymond Chandlers advice: ‘When things slow down, bring in a man with a gun’. Action is best used to split up tension and advance the plot. But be wary over using violence just like too many sex scenes in a romance, it will be repetitive and
There’s nothing like a good twist. One method is to pause after a scene and write three directions the story could take, then discard those and think of another.
Speed it up
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Now slow things down
? or !
Think of a rollercoaster ride, the long climb, the rhythm of the metal cogs pulling the carriage slowly upwards, the apprehensive feeling in the pit of your stomach, the knowledge that any moment now the riders in front will disappear over the edge and you will be pulled along at break neck speed screaming, turned 360 degrees before being hurtled backwards. You’re screaming because on that slow climb, you’ve had time to think ‘What if something goes wrong? What if I’m hurtled off the tracks into the crowd below?’ Suspense happens in the stillness of a story. Promise the reader that something dreadful is going to happen if they keep reading then deliver something worse.
Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with every sentence, a sense of threat, empathy, an ominous tone. Think how you can achieve it with punctuation, vocabulary, sentence length and imagery. Short sentences will pick up the pace. A punctuation mark will add tension. Imagery can evoke terror. Complex sentences, internal dialogue and close ups will lengthen time, heighten anticipation and create suspense.
No sex please, we’re thrillers You’ve just spent two thirds of your book building up tension and you blow it all on a lovemaking scene at the end of the second act. While a love interest does add flavour, if it’s not going to increase tension leave the romance to the romanticists.
Dramatic Irony Let your reader know more than the main character in the story. ‘A Character who unknowingly carries a bomb around as if it were an ordinary package is bound to work up great suspense in the audience’ – Alfred Hitchcock. Create dramatic tension by making the ordinary seem menacing. Another way to build suspense is to thwart a characters desire. Now take another look at that first draft. Is your hero too perfect? Is the villain just plain evil? What about the plot, is it predictable? And the pace is it too ponderous, or does it fly by so quick it’s a blur? Whatever the problem (and there will be a problem, it is the first draft) it’s fixable. Next month we will hitch up our wagons and head out west on the prairie trail in search of a great Western novel. We will also look at the pitfalls and pleasures of writing dialogue and dialects.
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Book Of The Month
The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson Published by Hodder, RRP £9.99
Reviewer Richard Southworth goes non-fiction in his review of one of the greatest Britons in history This month, I’m breaking from my usual routine to review a non-fiction book – in keeping with this month’s theme, it’s a book about a man known to history as one of the great defenders of freedom in recent times.
In 2002, a poll was held by the BBC to determine the greatest Briton in history, and the winner was Winston Churchill. Many of the comments by his supporters were along the lines of “We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.” Of course, not everyone agreed: Jeremy Clarkson – who championed the poll’s runner up, Isambard Kingdom Brunel – argued that there have been many threats to Britain’s freedom over the centuries, and Churchill shouldn’t necessarily be considered special just because he was in charge for the last one. In his book The Churchill Factor, Boris Johnson doesn’t
ISBN 9781444783056 actually mention the Great Britons poll, but he does write as if he were trying to prove why Churchill does deserve the title.
The Churchill Factor is not really a biography; it doesn’t chronicle Churchill’s life in a linear fashion from beginning to end. It’s more like a character study, and it’s very logically structured. After some family background, it goes into personal qualities such as his writing and oral skills, and what he was actually like as a person; then it moves onto his actual career, both in the Second World War, and what he achieved before and after. The title of the book refers to what Johnson sees as the inherent, unique quality that made Churchill just the right man to lead Britain through its darkest hour.
There’s definitely a lot to learn in this book, particularly for those who
The Churchill Factor is more like a character study than a biography, and it’s very logically structured
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mostly know Churchill from his role in the war. You may know a bit about his political career before and after the war, but did you know that he was also a prolific writer who published more words than Shakespeare and Dickens combined, and actually won the Nobel Prize for Literature? Johnson delves into every facet of Churchill’s life and leaves no stone unturned to show off what set this man apart; Churchill’s most impressive qualities, like his boundless energy and incisive foresight, are well highlighted. My dad, who read this book before I did, was particularly taken with one quote: “It has been said that the difference between Hitler’s speeches and Churchill’s speeches was that Hitler made you think he could do anything; Churchill made you think you could do anything.”
The prose is very readable and distinct; Johnson does such things as actually placing the reader within a
certain event as though it’s happening in real time, such as Churchill’s proposal to his wife Clementine, and the May 1940 Cabinet meeting to decide whether to come to terms with Germany. Sometimes a detail will come up in these that you think Johnson must be making up for effect – but no, there it is in the original account.
It’s not flawless, however. As much as Johnson does present some of the negative aspects of Churchill’s career and personality, his bias is evident, and he tries to justify most of them, such as pointing out how Churchill’s apparent racist quotes were really just a product of his environment. He clearly wants to portray Churchill as a complicated human being, but it might work better in the hands of a more impartial author. There’s quite a bit of gushing, and sometimes the prose gets overly dramatic, like when Johnson describes an occasion before the War when Churchill almost met Hitler: “…when he agreed to loiter in the tearoom of a Munich hotel, he had no idea of the risk he was running. He was almost caught in the photo opportunity from Hell.” In another chapter, Johnson describes how he himself takes his car to the site of a World War One battleground, and briefly imagines he’s driving over No Man’s Land with shells going off around him, perhaps a little too vividly.
Overall, I learned a lot from The Churchill Factor and gained a great appreciation for its subject. At the age of fifteen, I myself voted for Churchill in the Great Britons poll. In later years, I reflected that if given the chance again, I would probably have voted for Charles Darwin. This book has certainly made me reconsider that.
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Poetry Corner A Boy on the Edge of a Cliff by Olivia Railton
A cold, dark, cobalt sky and grey wild sea, Met with the wind, howling, angry, and free, A furious storm raged at the non-silent night, Tearing into the huge cliff bathed in moonlight. A young boy was present to witness the storm, Trying to get home, his shoes sodden and worn, His eyes flicked to a shadow on the edge of the cliff, A lone girl stood there, her body cold and stiff. Her long hair lashed out in the wind like whips, She had torn and bloody clothes, ice blue eyes and lips, She stood silently, ‘til her body started to shudder, And her rage came out as the cliff struck thunder. “I will never love again!” she screamed into the abyss, Again and again, burning the oath to her lips, “You’ve taken all from me, I have no one, you hear!” Her fists were clenched as her body fought tears.
When her screams were swallowed up by the darkness, She fell to her knees, her countenance now heartless, The young boy knew that she meant every word, And that some broken hearts could never be cured. He had heard the stories, the rumours, the myths, Of a whole family killed, but a young girl missed, Now she was here, empty, alone, not quite alive, With friends and family gone, a part of her died. And now the dead girl, with nothing to lose or gain, With no trace of existence, or feeling but pain, Disappeared; consumed by wind, sea, and storm, Forgotten by night, dust and shadows by morn. The boy watched on, as a soul was lost to time, No grave, no name, none to remember her by, She was nothing but dust, rumour, story and myth, Except to a young boy on the edge of a cliff.
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How to write poetry Form by Josie Alford Continuing her series on how to write poetry, this month Josie attempts to cover form - or how it is written and set out on the page. She also provides a short (but by no means extensive) glossary to help you understand the various techniques (and marvel at the otherwise pointless words she knows) “Form” covers all manner of things when thinking about poetry, including stanzas, lineation, rhythm & rhyme, and other techniques such as alliteration. I will explore these aspects and explain how you can use these tools in your own poetry to create meaning and explore language. However it is important to remember that you don’t have to abide by any of these rules or techniques – you can make up your own and create what you want and that is what makes poetry so varied and amazing. Firstly, a poem is made up of stanzas, or verses. Sometimes they aren’t split at all, for example, a sonnet is just the one 14-line stanza and this can create a focused and singular tone. On the other hand, stanzas can break up the poem, signifying a change of topic or a progression. An example of this could be a “ballad” which characteristically broken up into regular length stanzas of regular rhyme schemes that tell a story. It is worth noting however, that stanzas do not necessarily have to be of consistent
length in a poem – the break between stanzas serve to make the reader pause for longer than just a line break, this can happen as often or as little as needed. Secondly, another important feature of a poem is its lineation – the way it is split into lines. Arguably this is what makes a poem a poem, as lineation and the way it is set out on the page is what differentiates it from other forms of writing. When writing your own poem, where and when you choose to put line breaks can be significant in creating meaning as they cause a reader to pause for a fraction of a second – longer if you use punctuation to slow them down even more. This pause draws attention to the final word of a line, which is worth bearing in mind when you really want to drive a point home. One way to use lineation to create effect is through enjambment. This is when a sentence or clause runs over the end of a line. On one hand this can increase the flow of a poem, encouraging the reader to race from line to line. However on the other hand,
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the moment of hesitation at the end of a line causes the reader to dwell momentarily on the final word. A good use of enjambment is when a phrase simultaneously has two different meanings; one with just the first line and a second when the reader continues onto the next line. For example, in Keats’ “Ode to Melancholy” he writes “Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed / By Nightshade” (lines 3-4). The first line could be a clause in itself, there is a moment of hesitation for the reader before reading “by nightshade.” This creates two simultaneous meanings; firstly it seems the poet is imploring the object of the poem to not be kissed by anyone, implying a possible sexual jealousy. Secondly the poet goes on to clarify he means he does not want to the object to die. Whilst the second meaning is the dominant one and fits with the theme of the poem, the initial impression remains and colours the reader’s perception still. Rhythm is another important tool for poets as it provides emphasis when spoken aloud and can alter the tone of a poem. For example, Shakespeare’s sonnets and many parts of his plays were written in iambic pentameter – a metre widely accepted to closely mirror English speech – arguably contributing to the idea that Shakespeare’s writing understood and reflected the human condition. On the other hand, in Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience many of his poems have shorter trochaic rhythms. This furthers the connection to childhood through mimicking a popular metre in nursery rhymes. When writing your own poetry you can chose whether to stick to a regular rhythm with a set number of syllables and stresses per line, or you can keep it irregular and maybe use it
occasionally to create effect. Some simple ways to speed up or slow down the natural rhythm of a poem are through use of punctuation; using either simple monosyllabic or complex and polysyllabic words. Long sentences with longer words that run from line to line with little to no punctuation can create a racing effect, loading the reader with information and becoming overwhelming (much like this sentence). On the other hand you could chose to slow the reader down with single-word sentences or listing, this can both make the reader focus on each word and also create a disjointed effect by disrupting the natural flow of speech. Both of these techniques, amongst others, can reflect the content of your poem and compound your intended meaning. Though commonly recognised as a poetic quality, rhyme a technique that is not necessary to make a poem a poem. When writing your own poetry, just as with rhythm, you can chose to stick to a regular rhyme scheme, rhyme occasionally or not at all. The use of a regular rhyme scheme can bring a poem together as a cohesive hole, however it can require a lot of discipline. When I was working on my dissertation which included writing a collection of 18 sonnets, I would do a mind-map of what I wanted to write about and even resorted to writing “rhyme-banks” which included key words from my theme. Not only did this help focus my writing in creating certain effects, but it also allowed me to write freely because I already had the rhymes written out. A rhyme scheme can be considered constricting and you might choose not to use one but it is worth noting a few more things before we move on. Firstly, rhyme does not have to be at the line ending; rhyming words that appear in the middle of a line are
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called internal rhymes. Secondly, rhymes do not even have to rhyme; in what’s called “half rhymes” words that almost rhyme can be substituted into a rhyme scheme. Whilst this might just seem lazy, using a half rhyme in a regular scheme can have a jarring effect and can intentionally set the line in opposition to the rest of the poem. Arguably repetition and the creation of patterns through language is a significant part of writing poetry. In addition to rhythm and rhyme one can also repeat various sounds within words. One of the most commonly known techniques is alliteration. Along with other techniques such as assonance and consonance (the repetition of vowels and consonants respectively) it used to create links between certain words and create patterns of sound throughout a poem. Techniques such as these are found in many different types of poetry, although they can be particularly useful in spoken word as they can assist in the creation of rhythm in speech. So then, through this article I have explored just a few tools that could be useful to you in writing poetry; particularly focusing on form and how it is written. This is by no means an extensive list – there is only so much much can one write about in a relatively short and hopefully not boring article. Maybe I can write something more in depth in the future; in the meantime there is a glossary below of the terms I covered in this article and next month I will be focussing on content and what people write including linguistic techniques.
Glossary Alliteration – when consonants are repeated at the beginning of words.
Assonance – the repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together.
Ballad – a narrative poem or song.
Consonance – the close repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowel sounds.
Enjambment – when a phrase or clause runs over onto the next line of verse.
Form – the shape, structure and how a literary piece is made.
Iambic Pentameter – a line of 5 iambic feet. An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. (interestingly “iamb” is an iambic foot)
Lineation – the action of writing in lines
Monosyllabic – words with one syllable
Polysyllabic – words with more than one syllable
Rhyme – sameness of the final sounds at the end of lines of verse or the ends of words
Rhythm – the movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed and un-stressed syllables. In verse the rhythm depends on the metrical.
Sonnet - Piece of verse (properly expressive of one main idea) consisting of fourteen decasyllabic lines, with rhymes arranged according to one or other of certain definite schemes
Stanza – A group of lines of verse, a unit of structure within a poem that usually doesn’t change in length
Trochee – a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
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WHAT WE'RE DREAMING Richard I make goals for myself each month (e.g. do certain blog posts, write a short story). I’m still working on my New Year’s resolutions, such as making one of my novels publishable. I’ve met with difficulty on some longterm ambitions, so I’ve branched out into a few areas: I definitely want to publish a novel or two, and record some more audiobooks besides the one I’ve done this year.
We all have a goal in life - one thing more than anything we want to achieve, whether it's this month, this year or in the next five years. Our contributors share their long and short term goals with us. Olivia
Elle May My long term goal is probably the same as every writer’s, to finish that damn book and get it published. My daily goal is much more simple. Live, love and eat a healthy breakfast. I usually achieve two out of three.
In terms of that scary thing called the future, my goal is pretty simple, and at the same time rather complicated. Ever since I was a child, my thirst for creativity has given me the aspiration to carve emotion out of words on a page, to make others laugh, smile, or cry, just as I have done when reading great works of literature, or even watching inspirational movies. Short term goals, well that’s easy. Enjoying life, and collecting all of those emotions which eventually I hope to channel into my childish scrawlings, and share with the world.
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First line: The house appeared out of nowhere… You are a child’s imaginary friend. He is growing up. You are fading away.
Prompts Page Have you hit a dead end? Or just need some new ideas? Look no further - just choose an image, quote or exercise from the page and start writing. Try experimenting with a form you don’t usually write in.
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There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.
Nelson Mandela
About her lips there played a smile of almost scorn, “My friend,” she gently said, “you have not heard me mourn.” Emily Bronte From ‘The Prisoner. A Fragment.’ (1846)
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