Flash 500

I entered two short stories into the Flash 500 competition and was delighted to have one of them shortlisted. Congratulations to the winners whose stories can be read on this link.  My story, Au Revoir, was an amended version of a longer story that was shortlisted a while back in the Global short Story competition.  It was inspired by an exercise I did with the Parisot Writing Group using the prompt of a funeral.  I am particularly enjoying writing flash fiction at the moment and the result has encouraged me to enter more competitions.  

Writing Workshop

This weekend, Amanda Hodgkinson came to do another workshop with the Parisot Writing Group.  It was a fantastic weekend and I’m now busy trying to put into practice what I learnt.   There was a lot of discussion on the importance of character and we did several exercises where we really got under the skin of our main characters.  Following the critiquing session at last year’s workshop, I felt this year we were able to critique each other’s work with more honesty and clarity.   Amanda is such a good listener and we think this has made us better listeners too.  We hope she will come back next year!

As usual, lots of eating and drinking was done and I’m still working my way through the chocolate! 

Amanda is one of the tutors at Writing At The Castle in July.

An impromptu photo call on Saturday night

           

Be Prepared!

Saturday saw me up early and on my way to London to attend the Writers & Artists’ "How to Hook an Agent" Workshop.  Having completed my novel, The Gift, I felt that I needed some guidance on the submission process before sending it out to agents.   The workshop was made up of sessions on knowing when your novel is ready, what should be included in a submission package, how to pitch your novel and what appeals to agents in a submission.  The first session was lead by Ed Wilson (Johnson and Alcock) and Juliet Mushens (UK Literary Division of The Agency Group).  The next session was lead by Juliet Pickering (Blake Friedmann Literary Agency) and Hellie Ogden (Janklow & Nesbit).  All the agents were professional, encouraging and unintimidating.   

The session ended with a ten minute one to one meeting with one of the agents where we were given the opportunity to pitch our novel.  I was nervous about my ten minute session, but I had done some research and chosen the agent whom I felt was right for my novel.  I needn’t have worried, as I was made to feel instantly at ease.  I linked up with some other interesting writers too.  I learnt another valuable lesson - most of the other attendees seemed to have business cards so I must get some printed - much more professional than scribbling my contact details on a scrappy piece of paper!     

Walking and Writing

How does it happen?  I can be walking along when suddenly I have the answer to a short story or chapter that I have been struggling with.  I’m not evening thinking about it, but in the story creeps.  It is at times like these that I wish I had a notebook and pen with me, but I never do!  Instead I have to hold on to the idea and keep playing it in my head until I’m back home.  This is what happened to me yesterday.  I was concentrating on the muddy path, being careful not to slip over and wham I had the solution to a problem with a short story I’m working on.   

There has been research linking the advantages of walking to creativity.  Here is a link to an article that appeared in The New Yorker on why walking helps us think.  It certainly works for me!

The Parisot Writing Group (PWG)

The PWG met last week for the last session of the year.  In the morning group we did an exercise on point of view and setting.  The point of the exercise was to see a building through the eyes of a character and to demonstrate that what is ugly to one person in one frame of mind can be beautiful to another.  It was also a useful exercise in writing from the point of view of the opposite sex.  As usual, we each read out what we had written.  There were some powerful pieces of writing.  I chose a pier as my building (see my effort below).  I found the exercise inspiring and I intend to develop the piece further.   

The pier had always been there.  It looked fragile, the gun metal grey of the waves lapping at the rusty framework, threatening to wash the whole structure away.  The colour of the sea matched his mood.  He walked slowly head bowed, his feet making a hollow sound on the wooden boards.   He looked up as he approached the arcade.  There were no sounds of laughter coming from the abandoned building, long since closed, slot-machines and penny falls going out of fashion.  The windows were boarded up and paint was peeling from the walls.  There were specks of white in wet patches where the plaster was crumbling away.  Briefly he wondered if here were plans to renovate it and, if so, what it would become.  Then he realised he didn’t care.  Everything was reduced to dust in the end.  He took shelter in the doorway, the smell of urine and decay strong in his nostrils.  He took out the letter from the officer, although he knew the contents off by heart.  A sudden gust of wind caught the paper, whipping it out of his hand. He watched transfixed as it was carried on the wind and then tossed into the waves.

The pier had always been there.  It beckoned to her now a solid line stretching out into the surging sea.  It held the promise of fun times.  She had often come here as a little girl running on the boards loving the sound of her feet clip clapping on the wooden floor.  She remembered the long lazy days of school holidays spent paddling in the sea below.  There was an arcade at the end, its white façade looking like a giant wedding cake.  It had once housed slot machines and penny falls, then for a while it had been a nightclub.  The windows were now boarded up and she wondered what it would become next, perhaps a café or one of those old fashioned ice cream parlours the interior painted in candy floss pink.  She plunged her hands deep into her coat pockets and continued walking.  The wind was exhilarating a sudden gust caught her hair, flinging it wildly around her face and laughing she brushed it aside.  She could taste the salt from the spray on her tongue.  She moved her hands and rested them protectively against her stomach and smiled.

In the afternoon group we did an exercise on endings by taking a beginning and then writing the ending trying not to worry about the middle.  Again, there were some great pieces of writing, which I hope will be developed into complete short stories over the winter as I’m looking forward to reading them!

The Importance of Research

Well that’s my excuse for taking an impromptu trip to the Costa Brava at the weekend. We stayed, as we normally do, at Hotel Rosa in the town of Begur.  We did our usual costal walk (see previous posts on my Nine Toed Nomad Blog).  But this time, in addition to walking, I wanted to use the visit for some research.  In my novel in progress, The Gift, I have two scenes set in the cemetery in Begur.  In my mind I had imagined a tiny cemetery perched on top of a hill overlooking the ancient town with the Mediterranean sparkling in the distance.  In reality, the cemetery is located by a mini roundabout on a busy road.  It is enclosed by tall whitewashed walls.  A group of four Cypress trees provide some green relief amongst the white and grey crypts.  The crypts, mostly family ones, are functional in design.  Some are adorned with photos in oval frames.  Some are festooned with plastic flowers.  Walking along the narrow paths, surrounded by the crypts, I felt slightly claustrophobic.  In a small clearing, I sat on a stone bench and pondered where the final resting place would be for one of my characters.  Then I found it.  A much better spot and far less clichéd than the one conjured up by my imagination.  Now it’s back to the editing! 

A great bench for contemplation

Two Literary Festivals In One Week

Last week I visited the Guildford Book Festival.  The previous weekend I had been at the Parisot Literary Festival (see previous blog post).   I was interested to see how the two festivals would compare.  The Guildford Book Festival was in its 25^th Year and the Parisot Literary Festival is just starting out.  The other main difference was that the events at the Parisot Literary Festival were free, but at the Guildford Book Festival there was a modest charge.   

The first session I went to was a workshop on The Perfect Manuscript.   It was run by Alysoun Owen, editor of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook.  The main messages I took away were the need to encapsulate my manuscript in three sentences, which I’ve now done and not to send it out until it is ready – I’m wondering if my manuscript will ever be ready!  Alysoun also spoke about the importance of joining a writer’s group, entering writing competitions and self-promotion via a blog and Twitter.

On the Friday evening I went to hear Kate Mosse talk about her latest novel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter.   It is a gothic thriller so a different genre from her books in the Languedoc Trilogy:- Labyrinth, Sepulchre and Citadel.  She explained that the idea for The Taxidermist’s Daughter had probably been bubbling away in her head for 35 years.  It is a story inspired by place, the village of Fishbourne in West Sussex.  It is set in 1912 over a short timeframe of four days.  One of the things she said that resonated with me was that all writers are learning all of the time.

If I had had the time there were other authors I would have liked to have heard, Andrew Marr, Reverend Richard Coles, Sophie Hannah to name but a few.  Ah well there’s always next year!

I enjoyed both festivals.  The fact that The Guildford Book Festival is set over a whole week is a plus, but I liked the intimacy of the Parisot Literary Festival.   I feel lucky to have been able to attend two literary festivals in one week.