Footsteps of a Writer

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Sunday, 9 March 2014

Kicking back with the books

Half term ending today with exams to come Monday morning – because there’s no better day to have one of what will feel like an endless number of trails; and I can’t say I have much to show for all my ‘well-spent’ free time, other than many, many completed series of anime. Not all the time was wasted – which eases the welling guilt. I have made a good start into editing my next book, which I hope to approach publishers with soon, and I’ve taken a few bites out of revision, namely French and Japanese grammar; once again Spanish fights to get a look-in.

It’s my father’s 50^th next week, and I’ve had to devote a lot of time into choosing the right gift for him, especially as he’s a modest person who insists only a card is necessary. I’ll be flying back for the sole purpose of spending the day with him, (because I’m nice once in a while), I’m sure there will be plenty I can accomplish while away from my studies for a week too.

On to business, I must say I’ve fallen out of the loop in reading since I finished Madam Bovary all those weeks ago, I’ve been buying manga in French and Japanese to improve my linguistic skills, but I will start on something a little more challenging in the next few weeks I suppose. I have however, started skimming through blogs for inspiration such as, probably my favourite poet around, Katy Evans-Bush at http://baroqueinhackney.com . After meeting her in Bangor last year (or so) I’ve enjoyed stopping by when I’ve had the time to keep up to date with her going’s on – which I do more frequently than watching the news, to put into context how isolated I can be. Every time I look at an experienced blog though, I see how it’s certainly a good thing to look to your seniors for advice and example.

Naturally being on Erasmus has given me the opportunity to do everything I’ve not had time to do over the last decade, being in full-time education; however as people tell me, I can’t do ‘everything’ whatever that means, thought I would agree I can’t do ‘everything’ as well as I’d like, but I could say the same for French. Research time is on its way as well as exams and martial arts tests; as it all builds up, this should really be the proverbial kick up the behind I need to get things moving.

I am proud to say though, that I have not followed the stereotype of moving to a foreign land to eat, drink and party, though my sins do cover the first two. I found time to watch some television last night, something I do not do too often in France, due to the frustration factor, what I found was I have a taste for late night TV in France 4, discovering the singer GiedRé, who I imagine no one who reads me would know about. I found her songs and on stage comedy hilarious, to say the least, her sense of dark humour was enough to keep me glued to the screen to the end before watching the French adaption of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The latest book, which I have the intention of getting my hands on when back in the UK is Zoë Skoulding’s ‘The Museum of Disappearing Sounds’, which can be bought at http://www.serenbooks.com/book/the-museum-of-disappearing-sounds/9781781720714 . As anyone who’s familiar with my work and life knows, I adore poetry, it’s what started me on this journey all those years ago, it’s also the first literary form that offered me a warm place to curl up and grow into the writer I am today; I particularly enjoy sound poetry, and those which carry a good rhythm. This is why this new collection sounds perfect for me. In fact, it’s through this poet (and lecturer’s) events that I’ve met a lot of international poets, most of which have really impressed me and inspired me not to give up on publishing my own collection one day. Though as in ‘Waiting for Godot’:

Vladimir. You should have been a poet.

Estragon. I was. (Gesture towards his rags.) Isn’t that obvious?

Yes, I’m a student and a writer, needless to say money isn’t abundant, but the work sure is.

There are plenty of other things I’d like to do, like to read and of course write, but I have to sit down and take my studies and sales seriously at some point. I’ll be appearing in my local newspaper any day now the ‘Wrexham Leader’, okay it’s not a big bit of media but I think it suits me well really, the size and scope being modest but known. I do add in a shameless plea to support this new author (so I can release my second book) by buying a copy, or spreading the word.

Right now, it’s gorgeous, at least for the Brits, in the south of France or Lyon, in between mid and North to some. And the last thing I want to do is stay indoors and study, but I can at least take comfort that I can tan while I work as I sit down to a cup of tea and some miso soup.

For this week, that’s me done and I hope to have another on time update next week, providing I have time. It has been my pleasure to update you all this week on an inside look at my world and interests. So until next time, Read, write, live.

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Monday, 3 March 2014

The Book is Done, So What’s Next?

So now that painful experience of writing, editing, rewriting, more writing, more editing, researching and submitting to publishers is all done, what is the next step to becoming a successful writer. At this juncture, I have to admit, without shame, that I have no idea, whatsoever. I do however, have a plan.

Once back in Great Britain I hope to learn how to arrange some ‘meet an author’ nights. I would also like to work on getting some retailers to stock my books and to even get some media coverage for my finished masterpiece. I am however both stuck in a foreign country, with no one who specialises in arranging those things for me to do. I would like to point out, I write books, I don’t manage people who write them otherwise; I would have studied Business, not English.

It perhaps is not so cool for someone who aims to be a future best seller to announce to the world that he (or she) is as lost as everyone else, but I would feel bad if I lied about it. Yes, writers too find themselves on the throne without bog roll sometimes too. However, while I’m worrying and planning on this side of the unknown; I’m working on things that I am good at too, that is, my next book.

It should not be long now until I begin launching it through the virtual rocket (that is the internet) into the battered, paper encrusted walls, belonging to the editors (i.e. their inboxes) hoping that with the success of my first book, they will be more apt to receive my second. So, I leave you all at the end of another short update (as I’m hungry and have editing to get on with (unusually); I wonder what marketing strategies all the new writers have out there in getting the word out.

Until next time, Read, Write, Live

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My book is now available to order at

Sunday, 23 February 2014

Fear of Ridicule is ridiculous.

As the title suggests, my blog for this week targets those writers who fear ridicule or criticism for what they want to write (or publish). It was this week when I had a friend, give me their reasons why they don’t write seriously despite having some, frankly, great ideas that I’d love to read personally. Their reason being that they feared ridicule for the plot; well what am I supposed to say? I have written, and am probably publishing a book that will offend and be criticised by thousands despite my good intentions to gender equality and neutralisation of religion, it’s a simple theory which I put forth, with many, more complicated ones within making up the story, but this is a quick read blog, for a deeper discussion leave a comment below.

I would like to say to the world, particularly to anyone out there who can write, wants to, but cannot find the courage to do so; that the world you create on a page, so long as you justify everything in its context you cannot be ridiculed. That is to say, you can’t be criticised critically, of course there will be many who will make you a dart board for their opinions, as I expect and relish with my own work. I direct you, reader, to my post on fantasy writing, and the words of Terry Pratchett, one of many sources of wisdom for my work. All is fair in writing, so long as it has purpose and reason, that one is one of mine.

I would like to, if I may, encourage writers to plan their works before writing, I remember many years ago now, meeting a Scottish amateur horror, writer, whose method it was to write with no plan; I’m all for streams of consciousness and letting your imagination guide you, but this leaves a lot of room for plot holes and means a lot of needless editing later on. For me it’s best to get emotional as you plan and detach yourself in either the second editing or final editing phase, to be kind to your editor in principle.

For me and many who were born to write, the act is therapeutic; and act of completing one’s self, some of us were never meant to write and publish, those who do deserve saluting. It takes a lot of courage to subject yourself to the ravages of the critics and the world alike. Personally, I admire those who came before me and aspire to be as good as those who write better than me now and in the future. We all are born with a story, but not everyone has the ability to write it themselves. We have enough poets and writers, but that does not mean those who want it enough can’t find their place where there was thought to be none. It’s all uncharted waters in a continuum where nothing is original. So write, and find that missing part of yourselves on the blank page.

That will do for today. Now get to your desks, to your favourite armchair, or find a spot where you aren’t too squeezed and can have enough light to see the page and write/read good people.

Until next time, read, write, live.

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Saturday, 15 February 2014

Keeping up with the times

This week will be pretty short, I have been studying, training for an upcoming grading and working more on reading for university, in short, I’ve been swamped. This week I offer a reminder that everyone needs time to rest, no matter what the deadline, what the task, the aim, you cannot do your best if you don’t give yourself time to recover from the last battle.

I’m very fortunate that I have office 2013, once I got my head around it, using it on the move eliminates a lot of bugs that plagued previous versions of word, though I did love office 2010. I still face on a daily basis the annoyance of my web pages not displaying properly, which I have no idea how to fix and of course the rest of the world giving me it’s worst.

My book will no longer be released next week (the 19^th) but on the first of March, for any of the Welsh population who may be following me, we know that this is St David’s day, appropriate in my opinion. So for the week, set yourself a goal (like me) and keep those increments small, those battles will all build up if you fight them all at once.

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Friday, 7 February 2014

Look back to remember why you’re going forwards

Another week has gone by and therefore another post has been written, although in some hurry this week. Now I make a point to have my blog posts written well advance of when posting (especially if it’s a theoretical topic as they take some thinking about) but this one was last minute; this is because, this week I’ve felt worse than if I’d gone on holiday with a group of Germans. At the time it feels amazing, but the hangover isn’t something you want to talk about for a few years following. I’ve not been drinking, to clear that up, I’ve just been struck by a rather potent bout of influenza. However I’m nearly back to full strength again.

This week I think it’s important to talk about how my mind has been able to look back over the last few years and realise all the efforts I’ve put into getting to where I am and how I could not have gotten here without having people I could depend on. Family, no matter how little you can see them and my friends, mostly the non-British ones have kept me on the straight and narrow in the course I’ve chosen; I suppose this means I’m dishing out a lot of Birthday presents for the next few years.

I remember four years ago, when I started learning to write at a level that was not just considered childish fantasy; I began by learning poetry, reading different poets, different forms, and even over the last few years I’ve met many poets from around the world, much to my delight. Fiction has always been what I found hardest to write (or write well) but I’ve always wanted to go against what was natural to me and write fiction, after a few years, and many punctuation mistakes – that I still make all the time – I’m here with an editor cleaning up my multiple messes.

So, in Eleven days from now, I hit the official launch date of my book, do I feel ready for the critics and those who misinterpret my work and disagree with me? No! But I made the commitment to start and finish this book, the edits and Nocturnal Press put their faith in it too, I suppose that means it was meant to be out there. Even now I’m working on another book (or few) to hopefully publish next year or so, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Until next time, I have a week of work to catch up on. So read, write, live.

My usual hideaways

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Friday, 31 January 2014

Writing Satire, Telling The World What Is Wrong

Satire is a long lived and converted art, that really only became a true art from thanks to the likes of Alexander Pope and the Romantic Poets and writers of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. It is something always under censure and even in present society it is still in effect every day, restricting what we say and hear.

This form of writing has been around since not too long after the form of writing, used to express an opposing political opinion, which at one point could cost you your ears or fingers! It came to a head when censorship laws were passed to restrict the press. The centuries above are in my opinion the most fascinating time to see writers express their opinion that the world is ruled by morons and that things needed to change.

Satire is the practice of criticizing a person or group of people, there are many ways a writer will go about doing this, which I will name three types for today and let you all experiment with them:

Caricature: used for the effect of exaggerating for comic and satiric effect one particular feature of the target, to achieve a grotesque or ridiculous effect. This type of satire mainly refers to drawings, rather than writing, but of course, blowing up something in literature works just as well.

“He was a large man, eating a burger, and the sweat that glistened from his pours formed greasy globs, as they slid down his fat face’.

Burlesque: No, it’s not what you think, this form of Satire involves a person who plays a specific social role, such as a musician who speaks like a politician.

‘In his grimy jeans, which drooped down to the floor and run-of-the-mill band t-shirt, he turned to the crowd “I would like to address the people down below, thank you for your patience, but we really cannot tell you the situation involving our music as it is regarded as top secret, however, what you may have heard from a certain website was unfortunately stolen by someone who does not agree with what we sing’.’ Though I would love a musician to say something like that on stage at a concert!

Irony: This is probably the most confused literary term, but here it is, the academic definition is when the real meaning of the words is different from (and opposite to) the literal meaning. Irony, unlike sarcasm, tends to be ambiguous, bringing two contrasting meanings into play. For example,

“I think that students shouldn’t be given money because all they do is read all day”. In a sense the sentence is considered ironical because working for students involves a lot of reading, and also most of the money a student is given is part of a loan which they will repay once working.

These are your three types of satire to try out, and personally I think we should be writing more of it, however there are rules to writing good satire, not just knowing the theory. You must always keep in mind that you need to know what you’re talking about, or you’ll be no better than the cleaner saying they will be a millionaire one day, you must learn to never say sorry for your beliefs, if you’ve written it then it’s your view and that is okay! Finally you need to know that you will receive the same in return in greater and more painful portions, but no one smarts so much as a fool, so if you’re ashamed of something, don’t do it, it’s how to avoid being the subject of satire. Now go out there and tell the world what really bugs you the most, but be careful where you use it, or you may find yourself subject to censure!

As always you lovely people, read, write, live!

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Friday, 24 January 2014

The right conditions

This week I'm going to step out of my depth and talk about having the right environment in which to write; or rather, the right conditions to evoke the writing condition – yeah, not my best one-liner.

I think it’s important for a writer to have their own space in which to write; personally, I've tried lots of different environments during my years of practising the art. I've found many work for me, generally they have all had a positive atmosphere, a surplus of coffee and have been laid out to encourage positivity. Now I know you’re asking, what is he talking about? Laid out to encourage positivity sounds a little far-fetched, I know, but it’s all to do with an ancient Chinese practice called feng shui. Which is literally the art of decorating in order to encourage good energy to flow in your surroundings, or at least that’s as much as I understand as a novice to the whole concept myself.

I have made some progress in implementing it at home, my own room has a bonsai, which I call ‘leafy’ when it actually has leaves… My very basic approach is to keep a wide open space around my desk and a few of my writing charms at hand. I eventually lose myself in my rush. When I'm out and about, I obviously can’t change my surroundings too much, but the wide open spaces of good bars and cafés, typically symmetrical and full of life do more than enough for the writing buzz, especially when married with caffeine.

Now I know, hold up a second, writing charms? I've never heard of them, what are they and why mention them now? Right? Well they’re something I've made up for myself, I'm no doubt the first, but I may well be a minority for all I know; there are all sorts of spiritual stones and such like, so why not play a trick on your mind and have objects that inspire you mean a little more than just a reminder, for me I have an earring, a necklace, a silver spoon, a pocket watch and a scarf as mine, I suppose my lamp would count, but I think I’d just not see the keyboard as well without it. Each of these things hold some significance to me, I didn't just go out and say hey I need a writing charm and this is pretty.

I can’t really say the latter of these two topics of the day work for everyone, but I recommend arranging your working space is not something you want to be in and if out and about, then try to find somewhere that gives you all the feelings I've described here, or make sure their cappuccinos are at least worth the money you pay for them!

For now, that’s me out. Read, Write, Live.

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Friday, 17 January 2014

Filling in the gaps, or not!

When I found myself unable to find a relevant topic for this week’s blog post and decided now was the time to write about nothing in particular did this, rather clever, topic hit me squarely between the eyes. See what I did there? No? Look again. Still not sure? Then this week I’m talking about the dos and don’ts of fillers. Naturally we will start with the question of what is a filler, what is its use and the pros and cons of using them, when and where. Let’s do this.

Fillers – are words or phrases inserted into a sentence which have no use other than to make the sentence flowery, or add a little more detail. They are much more common in full length novels and older works, but you will rarely see them in fast-paced novellas or thrillers.

Fillers are used in a whole variety of ways to give your reader time to immerse themselves in your scene from more than just the passer by point of view. Even in language we use terms, such as ‘like’, and ‘y’know’, all used in a way that does not convey their inherent meaning; but these examples only apply to oral language, great for when you want to write speech, but not literature around it.

In a simple sentence you may often see a filler in between two commas, for example ‘Mike’s ball, which was red, flew out of the park with a single swing of his leg’. The filler here being ‘which was red’ it isn’t essential to our understanding of events, but also ‘single’ it was not essential to the clause either. For those who have studied English at a higher level, it’s all a case of –spot that non-essential clause.

Moving on, we now know what a filler is and why we use it, now when and how to use them, that is their pros and cons are our next focus. Fillers are really useful in chapters where you, as the writer, want to slow down the pace of the story and give the reader time to catch up with evens and deliver some more complex information. The idea of sentences including fillers is, that they are rarely contained to what we call ‘simple sentences’ that is a sentence with one verb and one noun, not strictly true, but it’s less common.

If you want to write good action, or good horror, that leaves the reader reeling from every blow you inflict, and each limb you sever, you must remember the golden rule of these genres and scenes. Simple sentences win. Your aim in these scenes is to contain any action to a simple sentence for maximum speed and impact, that way you are able to reflect on events later in each gruesome detail; we will talk more about these genres another time.

Final note on this topic, do not abuse the filler, and avoid overuse like the plague. Common filler errors; unless you write in an older style, eliminate 90% of the words like, seemed and was. If it is like something, then show it, nothing ‘seems’ like something, it is or it is not! And was is too passive, make things active. More on some of these again another day

Until next time; read, write live.

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Friday, 10 January 2014

An Author on the Edge

So for the last few weeks now I’ve been either giving advice or pushing out some motivational words in the hopes that someone who started off this year like I did, will finish it in kind of the same manner. Today, I am not going to do either of these things.

There remains about a month until my first book, ‘Mr Locke’s Diary’, becomes available for those of you out there who are interested to buy can finally do so. I don’t know your individual interest levels in this, but let me say that I’m sweating pretty hard right now! I’ve learned a writer not only suffers for their art, but their art does a pretty good job of rounding off the experience on its way to the public. I don’t doubt the quality of my work, as many painstaking hours have gone into preparing it for its maiden voyage, but I, like any chef or parent out there fear its rejection.

This, I suppose, after the dreaming, planning, editing, begging, publicising, cover art designing, more editing, more campaigning and dreaming and once again editing we arrive at publishing. The last step is no less difficult than all the previous steps, even if it is the goal.

Of course, anyone who is serious about this line of work knows the writer’s job does NOT end at this last step, your role just shifts slightly to marketing. If you have been good you’ve already amassed online followers, blogged regularly and talked avidly about your achievement since you first signed that contract. I think I would score well on my effort. When I first found out that I was being taken on, I wasn’t sure, in honesty, if it was my friend or I who was the most excited, either way I found myself pinned to the ground in a hug as we were both shouting for joy.

Now I’m at my desk, checking, rechecking, getting myself out there (and sometimes I’m actually doing University work) all in preparation for my and my book’s futures. I’m still as elated as that first day, because after many reasonless rejection letters, I will soon be in print.

I suppose two words of advice to round off this mostly intimate talk; a rejection letter doesn’t always mean you’re a bad writer, it just means, ‘we have enough people’ or ‘it’s not what we’re interested in’; and secondly, you can always benefit from having a friend on hand for the tears and to pop open the champagne.

Until next time, read, write, live.

Ciao

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Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Writing Fantasy, a quick how-to introduction

This time, to spark off the New year; lots of people will want to start off the new year saying, ‘this year I will write a book’ and then have no idea where to start. I’m going to borrow words from many well respected writers, to name one, Terry Pratchett, who have donated words of pure gold in the leaves on our shelves, and given us threads of silver to stich and weave into our own masterpieces.

So let us tackle some theory; for all those aiming to be fantasy writers, we have to ask the question of what is fantasy? Then we must ask, how is it written well? But finally a third question, what genres of fantasy are there?

Fantasy is a difficult genre to pin down, like Science Fiction (which I’ll tackle another day). This is because it bears the features of many other genres, fantasy can talk about a love story between mythical creatures and humans, it can be an adventure to destroy some dark artefact, or even about people waving magic sticks at one-another. The main defining feature of Fantasy is that it involves some kind of supernatural, or other-worldly (rather than extra-terrestrial) power that takes a foreground position throughout the work.

A final note on this is that in some cases where you create realist fantasy, something I’m very interested in due to my dissertation subject, Fantasy does not have to contain anything I have just mentioned, but it can simply borrow from what has been, and transform it into a story. where nothing and everything can be based on fact. Again, it’s a hard genre to pin down unless you spend a lot of time with it.

Secondly, how can we write it well? I refer you back to my post in December about how to write well generally, but here I will expand on how you should treat your reader, gently. I was told once, back when I started seriously chasing my dream by a much more experienced writer that ‘a reader is like a child, they do not like to be shocked or alienated. You must make each step small, take them by the hand and guide them, still filled with wonder, into the world you created’. Pratchett says something very similar, though I will only paraphrase his words; Fantasy is a genre where there are no rules, as long as you can explain why that person has two heads, or why this sword is the only one that can defeat the king of darkness, you can do anything your heart desires.

Finally, what other genres does Fantasy interact with? Well this is why it is the easiest genre (and for some the hardest) to write, it can interact with all of them! A short list of examples, in no particular order could be: High Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Comic Fantasy and Heroic Fantasy. Fantasy can be funny, scary, charming, mysterious, in-your-face, anything at all, so long as it is written well.

I leave you with this thought, if it’s fiction, it can be Fantasy, but it is not we the writers who ultimately define our book’s genre but the readers. Aim for what you want, write it well (which means learning the rules of that literary genre, a more advanced talk) and then doing it well.

Until next time, read, write and learn.

Ciao

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