How Many of These 12 Essential #Writing Tips Do You Use?

All writers - authors, bloggers, journalists, screenwriters - have writing tips that help them.  I feel these twelve are essential for all writers.

1. Write

It may seem obvious that writing is the best way to improve your craft,  but without deadlines, it’s easy to slip into the habit of not writing. I’ve recently picked up an old habit of handwriting something, however short,  in a notebook each day. Most days it’s not the only writing I do, but some days it is, and that very act keeps me in touch with who I am - a writer!

2. Read

Read anything and everything you can find the time to put your hands on. Listen to books or articles if it’s not possible to read. Reading is the second best thing you can do to learn how to write well. Check out my post on #Authors, an Infinite Resource. which shows how we have an endless resource from the world of books and authors in print.

3. Explore the World Around You

Inspiration can come in many forms, but most characters whether in fiction or non-fiction are based on real people, however larger than life we end up making them. So sit in a cafe and eavesdrop. Public transportation is a perfect way to overhear what people say, and if you’re lucky you might glean a few different accents too.

4. Embrace the First Shitty Draft

I love the phrase “First Shitty Draft” and first heard it from Catherine Smith , my tutor during my initial semester at my Creative Writing Certificate course at the University of Sussex, UK. It's such an appropriate phrase and an essential part of the process. Just write the thing down before you do more than a cursory edit, otherwise you’ll slow the process and potentially lose your train of thought & interrupt the creative flow.

5. DON’T Share Your Work in Progress with….

...friends and family. Generally speaking , and there are always exceptions, I think it’s a bad idea. They are not going to give you impartial advice and if you’re unlucky may even become a negative influence on your self confidence.

6. DO Share Your Work in Progress with ….

... other writers. There’s a point where we need to write alone, and not be interrupted by other peoples views of what we’ve written. But after a certain point, it is good to get feedback from other writers you trust, and who’s opinion you value. These impromptu editors will be more and less skilled in the ability to critique. Jeri Walker -Bickett wrote a great post about The Necessity of Critique Groups which I recommend you check out. You will find at the very least a camaraderie about the process you are going through, and most likely the fresh eye your work needs.

7. Be Passionate about Your Work

If you’re not passionate about your subject matter it will show in your work. And for a novelist, it will be an unbearable long slog to get the book finished. So choose your subjects carefully if it’s anything but a short article.

8. Exercise

Writing is a usually a sedentary practice, and makes it even more more important for writers to get physical exercise. Murakami wrote a great book called What I Talk about When I Talk about Running, which is mainly an insight into his writing habits. But exercise does a body good in many ways, not only your heart and lungs etc, but your brain, as well. Who knows what you might see on your morning walk? The other morning I saw a snake!

9. Don’t Give Up

It’s hard to finish projects sometimes - any projects actually. Garages across the world are a testament to unfinished projects. But it’s even easier with writing to say it’s not good enough or I’m bored, or it’s too hard, or whatever. Sound familiar? The world is full of people who have lots of great ideas, and lots of half finished manuscripts, short stories and articles stuck in a drawer or file gathering dust on their computer. Do you want to be one of them, or do you want to put your work out in the world? If so, don’t give up.

10. Write New Creative Work During the Revision Process

If you’re a writer, you’re going to spend a lot of time revising or editing. After all  "All writing is re-writing". But if you’re a novelist you may spend years in the revision process. I think it’s important to write new creative work even during your big edit. It's realistic if you stick with a short work - flash fiction, or a short story. It’s a very different skill set to edit than to write new work, so don’t get too out of practice with the latter.

11. Don’t Become an Isolated Writer

I feel it’s essential to seek out other writers, not only to help with critiques, but also to not feel isolated. Find other writers where you live if possible and talk about your work, or problems that might arise because of it. Social Media is also a great place to meet other writers and I’ve made good writer friends through a variety of online groups. It’s another way of being out in the world, and hearing new voices, opening yourself up to new information and experiences.

12. Learn to Accept Criticism

This is absolutely essential for any writer who wants to have their work published. Not only as I mentioned, will you get constructive criticism from your critique buddies, but you will also -hopefully - get feedback from your readers, and not all of it will be positive. So develop a thick skin early on in the process. I was surprised how unnerving I found blogging when I first started, as it puts your opinions out into the world. I’ve been lucky that I've had a lot of support from other bloggers. But I’ve made mistakes, and had a bunch of rejection letters from prospective agents for my novels too. You just do the best you can, change the work as necessary, and realise people will have different opinions to yours, which only makes life more interesting.

Believe in yourself. Isn’t that the most important thing of all that will help you continue your life as a writer?    ~   A.K. Andrew

What writing tips do you use?  What good one’s do you have that I’ve not listed? What have you found the best or most difficult aspect of being a writer? 

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Do you Want to Start #Writing Like #Steinbeck?

 

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the the film release of Grapes of Wrath so I thought it was appropriate to re-purpose this post. If you want to start writing like Steinbeck, then take a look at some of the things he found important and include them in your writing. "Learn from the best"

John Steinbeck’s writing methodology was stringent and meticulous. When writer's you love talk about how they write, it’s hard not listen.Steinbeck really wanted Grapes of Wrath to be good  - exposing the exploitation of people in 1930’s Southern California, was a story he thought needed telling. I re-read the novel a while ago, and the style blew me away.

[tweetthis] "Nothing about The Grapes of Wrath is dated."[/tweetthis]

It's incredibly refreshing to read a book with such valuable social commentary that's also just a damn good story. Part of its success lies in the fact that we live, eat and sleep with the Joad family. Everything is personal, so we care about what happens to the characters, and it allows us to see the injustice very clearly, without the point being hammered home. Steinbeck simply tells a story.Below is part of John Steinbeck’s interview in the Paris Review*(Please note: Steinbeck died in 1968. A lot of the quotes were compiled in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters and published in October 1975 by Viking. Hence the Paris Review article was not until 1975.)The comments in italics are mine.

 ON GETTING STARTED

Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone's experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts.

 1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.This is the most important one & can’t be said too often. One page at a time.

 2. Write freely

...and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material. Don’t worry about anyone looking over your shoulder. Just get the work written. Good tip for all of us procrastinators.

 3. Forget your generalized audience.

In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn't exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.I’ve heard this before, and I think it's an excellent way to keep yourself on track. You can't write for everyone. So write for one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you

...and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.Rewriting – its all there is. But don't be afraid to write non-sequentially. Sometimes one just isn't in the mood to write about a dramatic moment, so switch gears and go to a section you do want to write today.

 5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you,

...dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.Tough to give them up isn’t it?

 6. If you are using dialogue

...say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.Excellent tip. If you read it out loud it will sound strained immediately if it’s not working.On my writers resources page I refer to his book Working Days, which is the diary he kept while he was writing Grapes of Wrath. (He wrote his first draft in 6 months BTW!). It’s a great book for writers if only to show how persistent one has to be to make the end product worthwhile.Are these methods  you can work with? Do you have different ways of attacking the same problems? 

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*Paris Review has rich resource material in their decades of interviews of famous people, writers included.I first saw part of this particular interview in one of my favorite blogs www.brainpickings.org

Can We Compare Steinbeck's East of Eden to Breaking Bad?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMjKq8xk-E&app=desktop

Trailer of Steinbeck's East Of Eden

“I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer -- and what trees and seasons smelled like -- how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.” John Steinbeck from East of Eden

Steinbeck is well known for his work Grapes of Wrath, but East of Eden is an incredibly powerful work, which many of you may know more from the film with James Dean that the novel itself. The clip of the movie above, is great because it is of such an era where both the music and the fonts across the screen portray the the film in a very time specific dramatic way. The trailer itself is relying on our senses to make us believe something is a particular way.

Trailing the Senses

Some of you may be familiar with the TV show Breaking Bad that finished it's final season earlier in 2014. It was anything but a light show. It focused on Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston), a science teacher who starts cooking crack cocaine initially to pay for his medical bills. But his family's life deteriorates as Walt becomes more and more involved in the violent life of hardcore drug manufacture. Hardly light fare, or full of fields of green, childhood memories.So back to our title:  Can we compare John Steinbeck's East of Eden to Breaking Bad? They are both about families, and failures within those families; fathers failing their sons. But that's not what drew me to look at the two together. What brought me to the comparison of the two films were the two trailers I've put in this post, and how we as the audience are manipulated by what we see and hear. Through our senses we draw conclusions.Here's another video where the accompanying music completely changes the conclusions we draw about what we see. This trailer is a spoof of Breaking Bad as the serious, violent show it actually is.Try Breaking Bad as a sitcomhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZpo89mmJo&app=desktopI was stunned by how my perceptions could be manipulated by what I heard - the accompanying laugh track, and happy comedy music intro soundtrack.

The Senses Made Me Do it

 As the audience you are drawn in by what writers, and film makers, want you to hear and see. Just as Steinbeck drew on the senses he remembered from his childhood, in this spoof trailer of Breaking Bad, we are seduced by our associations and memories induced by our senses to look at something in a completely new way.My conclusion is that the works may both have their similarities in terms of family dynamics being integral to the plot, but aside from the trailers, I think that's where there comparison ends. I touch more on using the senses in writing in my post Savouring Taste Treats: Using the Senses in WritingWhat is the strongest sense for you? What memories are the most easily sparked and by which sense?

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How to Avoid 7 Deadly Sins of Short #Story #Writing

This post is a reblog from a Bridget Whelan Post. Click here for the original post

This post grew out of an article I originally wrote for the Hysterectomy Association when I was writer in residence of their annual writing comeptition earlier this year.I recently came across the WikiHow entry on how to write a short story. The actual article contains good advice, but I arched an eyebrow (see above) when I read the introduction.

“While writing a novel can be a Herculean task, just about anybody can craft and, most importantly, finish, a short story.”  wiki

No, they can’t – unless the writer means that almost anybody can produce 1000+ words of grammatically correct sentences that somehow link up together, but that’s no more a short story than a roll of material pinned into a tube is a dress.I resent the idea that short stories are an easy option. The very size means there’s nowhere to hide flabby ideas and weak sentences. A clunky phrase stands out as brashly as if it had been highlighted in neon yellow. Usually a short story has a very restricted range of characters and the action takes place over a relatively short period of time – days rather than years – and there’s no room for time slips or flash backs. Usually. As soon as you try to formulate any rule of writing you can think of brilliant exceptions, but I read a lot of short stories by emerging writers and here are some of the most common problems I come across.

1) Too much information

I don’t need to know that the head gardener is called Barry and is a veteran of the Falklands War if all he does is knock on a door. It may sound like being a member of a spy ring, but everything’s on a need to know basis. If Barry only has a walk on part readers don’t need to be introduced.

2) Too many names

Not every character has to be named. They can be refered to as their occupation: the vicar, the postman. Or by their relationship to others: grandad, his wife, her teacher….

3) Too much back story

Sir Angus Wilson who helped set up the first UK Masters in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in the early 1970s thought that short stories and plays were similar.

“You take a point in time and develop it from there; there is no room for development backwards.”  ~ Sir Angus Wilson

I think Alice Munro, the Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013, was saying much the same thing when she described short stories as ‘a world seen in a quick glancing light. ’

4) Too much description

If you think of a story as a journey, description forces the reader to stop. It’s as if the author is saying hold on a moment, I know you want to find out what happens next, but I’ve created a whole new world for your enjoyment: stop and look at the sun reflecting on the water, the child’s soft curls and the cold blue of the spring sky… Too much description and the reader might not bother to wait for the journey to start again. Too little and the reader might not care where the journey is heading.

5) Too timid

Safe stories about safe subjects don’t linger long in the memory. Once you’ve got an idea ask what if? and keep on pushing the boundaries…Avoid timid titles too. Think of it as the first line of the story – which is most likley to make you want to find out more: The Party or Jiving with St Joseph?

6) Too Over the Top

You can’t encapsulate the complexity of a novel-length idea in a few thousand words without losing something vital. Accept that you have a small canvas.

And finally...

7) Starting in the wrong placeDo you really need to set the scene? And do you need to do it in the opening paragraphs? Introductions are needed in academic essays – not short stories. The great American writer Kurt Vonnegut said start as near to the end as possible. Experiment – see how far you can push that idea.And here’s the rest of Kurt's rules for what you should put into a short story.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyQ1wEBx1V0photo credit: FLASHFLOOD® via photopin ccphoto credit: Urban Woodswalker via photopin ccBridget Whelan is a London Irish novelist and Creative Writing teacher. She has taught at the prestigious Goldsmiths Collegein London, UK as well as other locations in both London and Brighton. Her first novel is A Good Confession, and this year she released a fantastic book called Back to Creative Writing School which is now OUT IN PAPERBACK! as well as an ebook. Click the link below.You can reach Bridget at Bridgetwhelan.com  and on twitter @agoodconfessionCan you think of any more sins?  What other problems do you have writing short work?

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Do You Need the Ideal Time and Place to #Write?

Do writers need an ideal time and place to write?  Is it the right time or place that gets you going? We all have our different routines and rituals when it comes to writing, so there is no right or wrong answer here. That said, some writers feel the reason they are not more successful in their work is because they are constantly fighting an uphill battle in seeking out an ideal time or place to write. Let's look at the different factors involved.

Where do you most like to write?

Where you most like to write will be different for everyone.  I think place can both influence and be influenced by what we are writing. Many people talk about the ideal being the ability to go on a writer's retreat - whole days of  doing nothing but write, often in a country setting which may or may not include other writers , depending on the situation.That sounds great, and it may work for some people. Personally I like the comforts of home, and I’m fortunate enough to have quiet if I need it, or at least an uninterrupted space. I like to work in an easy chair, or even propped up in bed with pillows. That said, I also enjoy being in a cafe having the buzz of people around me, which doubtless drifts into my subconscious and effects what I write.

It’s nice to be able to put yourself in an environment where you can completely accept all the unconscious stuff that comes to you from your inner workings of your mind. And block yourself off to where you can control it all, take it down…  Bob Dylan

What time is it? Are You a Morning Person?

In “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running", Haruki Murakami tells us that he starts working at six, and his best writing time is early morning. But he is very clear on noting that his most fruitful time is when he’s finished writing and he goes out into the world.We all have different circadian rhythms which determine the sleep and feeding patterns of animals, including human beings. There are also clear patterns of core body temperature, brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration, and other biological activities. In short, with regard to writing, we all are at our most productive at different times of the day. So it makes sense that if we had no other commitments, we would have a time of day that we work best. Of course, many writers have day jobs which interfere with that lovely theory, and have to squeeze in an hour in the morning or perhaps after the kids have been put to bed, if there is any energy left. I generally think of myself as a morning person, but in truth I do most of my writing in the afternoon, in part because I consider it a reward for the chores of daily living that need to be done.

Sounds of Silence or the Sound of Music?

We all have different needs when it comes to sounds, and I think just like place, ambient sound can effect how we work and the work itself. This post was prompted by Maria Popova at Brainpickings.org when she was discussing Robert Kellog's book, The Psychology of Writing.

“The lack of interruption in trains of thought may be the critical ingredient in an environment that enables creative flow. As long as a writer can tune out background noise, the decibel level per se may be unimportant. For some writers, the dripping of a faucet may be more disruptive than the bustle of a cafe in the heart of a city.”  The Psychology of Writing (public library) by Robert T. Kellogg

Some people find music is essential, whereas other people like to write in silence. I’ve experimented with both, and discovered that for me it depends on what I’m working on. When I was writing my first novel set in WWII, then I listened to 40's jazz or “Trio Lescano” an Italian trio similar to The Andrew Sisters. Cole porter was another favourite. It was particularly important as music played an key role for both the protagonist and the antagonist. Much of the time though, I write in silence, or I find if someone else is in the room listening to the radio or the TV, it doesn’t bother me either way.

Do You Need The Ideal Time and Place To Write?

I feel the important thing is to not worry too much about the situation being ideal. Life doesn’t always work like that. So make the most of whatever time and place you have. Whenever I have to frequent a waiting room whether it be at the airport, hospital or the mechanic’s, I like to have a notebook, or at least a phone to take notes, or actually write sections.  I find these situations more conducive to planning, or changing a plot point, or how a scene ending might change. But the actual work is possible too.Some people are able to create an ideal time and place to write on a regular basis. Fabulous if you can, but I think unrealistic for many of us. But it’s good to notice what we do like in terms of time and place for our work. Sometimes even a small adjustment might lead to more productivity. After all, writing should be enjoyable shouldn’t it? Ok , so it’s sometimes just hard work that  needs to get done, but why not make the most of it while we’re there? Where do you like to write, and what is your best time of day? Do you write with music, if so what really get's your muse going? 

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Tips for Pitching to Literary Agents at a Writers’ Conference

I'm thrilled to have Jeri Walker-Bickett as my guest blogger today. She's given us an incredibly informative post on pitching to literary agents.Welcome Jeri!Attending a live pitching session shows agents a devotion to craft and a higher likelihood that the writer can deliver a polished manuscript. Submitting a written query may be less daunting, but a face-to-face meeting increases the chance of getting noticed. These tips for pitching to literary agents will help prepare you for a successful encounter.Even if you are pursuing less traditional paths to publication, any time spent clarifying the core essence of your work can only be a good thing. No writer writes alone, and as entrepreneurs, writers need to be able to sell themselves in all mediums. In the big picture, the costs of attending conferences and paying for editorial services are small prices to pay to ensure your work is top-notch.

#1 Completing the Manuscript

A million great book ideas exist, but bringing a concept to fruition has killed many drafts. An agent is looking for work to acquire for representation now. That being said, I’ve pitched my work in progress two summers straight in the name of practice. When you’re finally ready to submit, make sure the manuscript has also undergone revisions.

#2 Doing Homework

Conferences often list the agents who will be attending months in advance. Research each agency and follow their blogs and social media sites. At the very least, attend the agent panel at the conference where they will briefly state the types of books they are looking for.

 #3 Preparing Materials

This includes not only your pitch, but also a logline, query letter, and synopsis. If you don’t know the difference make sure to utilize the almighty Google to get informed. If writing nonfiction, a proposal is most likely in order as well. It’s also a good idea to have your social media stats available in case an agent is curious about your platform building efforts.

#4 Perfecting the Pitch

Tons of advice exists for how to write a great pitch. I’ve gravitated toward the Place, Person, Pivot model (http://jeriwb.com/how-to-pitch-a-book-lost-girl-road-pnwa-2013-6789/)   described by literary agent Katharine Sands. Make sure you know comparable titles as well.

#5 Practicing Delivery

It’s not uncommon for conferences to offer rooms for writers to practice with each other. I like to practice by filming myself using my iPhone camera. No matter how much I think I have my pitch memorized, bringing along a half-sheet of paper to the session helps keep me focused.

#6 Looking the Part

Aim for business casual. Even though my favorite garb may be T-shirts and jeans, a grubby shirt from my Broadway musical collection isn’t likely to make a great first impression.

#7 Conquering the Session

Make eye contact, shake hands, introduce yourself. Dive in! Nerves serve the purpose of keeping us on our toes. A pitch session of three or four minutes will fly by, but if the session is longer, feel free to use the time to ask the agent to critique your query letter or answer a publishing question or two. Remember that agents are people too, plus it’s their life’s work to find the right stories for the market they represent.#8: Line-Waiting StrategiesDo the math as you wait in line. If five people are in front of you and the sessions last four minutes each, that’s twenty minutes of standing in line. When the final bell sounds, if your current line is too long take that chance and pitch to an unlikely agent with a shorter line.

#9: Submitting Materials

If an agent is interested they will make a request and hand you a business cards. You should not hand any materials to them. The sooner the requested information can be submitted, the better. If querying more than a year later, try to see if it’s possible to re-connect with the agent at another conference before submitting. Emailed queries should indicate the conference name and year in the subject line. Also, don’t submit to more than one agent per agency.

#10: Gauging Interest

Not all agents will request material, and many will offer sound reasons why. If an agent merely says feel free to query according to the steps listed on their site, this might be their way of avoiding saying they’re not interested. Do they request ten, twenty-five, or fifty pages? What about the full manuscript? No matter what, don’t give up.The more effort a writer puts into finding the right audience, the greater the likelihood for success.Have you ever attended a pitching session? Feel free to ask more questions or offer points of your own in the comments below.Jeri Walker-Bickett (@JeriWB) writes short stories, creative nonfiction, and psychological suspense. The rough mining town she grew up in—with its mix of bars, churches, and whorehouses—populates her literary landscape. Food, travel, and photography also inspire her creativity. She lives in Idaho with her wonderful husband and their demanding pets. You can connect with her at JeriWB.com where she blogs about writing tips, lit chat, and more. Please explore her titles via Amazon. She also works as a freelance editor.Blog: JeriWB Author & Editor http://jeriwb.com/Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/Jeri-Walker-Bickett/e/B006UHV4CA  

Kickstart Your #Flash Fiction With #PhotoFlash

PHOTOFLASH

Flash Fiction + Photo = Photoflash

Do you want to kickstart your flash fiction into high gear?  Using photos as inspiration for your flash fiction gives your writing the double whammy kick in the pants it might need. Writing short bursts of flash fiction can also jump-start your writing mojo and make your regular prose taut and clean.

How Do I Write PhotoFlash?

When you start, don't think too much about what your writing.  Consider it a free-write. Look at the photograph and just go with your intuition. Then you can peel off the layers until all you're left with are the essentials. Less is more.

"Did my actions mirror my thoughts? I had the intention, but the boundaries were so unclear I pushed them to the point of invisibility. She put up her hand to stop me from speaking and walked away before I could finish my excuse."

How Long is Flash Fiction?

Definitely 1000 words or less, others say anything under 150 words. Sometimes as little as six words can tell a story. The most famous, and arguably the first six word story was by Hemingway.

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn"

In recent years flash fiction has become a recognized and well respected form of the written word.Jon Jefferson regularly writes excellent flash fiction on his site under the category Quick Beats. There are also loads of six word stories on http://www.sixwordstories.net. Another source if you want prompts, is from IndiesUnlimited. They give a weekly flash fiction prompt, along with other great resources  for indie writers. Also check out http://flashfictiononline.com

*

Can you add a line or two of flash fiction to this photograph? What does the image make you think of?

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Autobiography: Will Yours be Fact or fiction?

What kind of autobiography are you going to write? Fact or fiction? I’ve been thinking about this issue, as the main protagonist in my current W.I.P, Under the Bed,  is writing an autobiography set mostly during the McCarthy years. Her dilemma is what “truths" to include and which to omit.

Memory

If the book is an autobiography rather than a posthumous biography, then one key factor is going to be memory.  Try discussing a long ago event with someone close, and you will almost certainly find you both have a completely different recollection of what happened, or even where it happened.

Even without deliberate intent, memory is the most unreliable witness to our lives.Share on Twitter

Truth or Dare

Autobiographies tend to be either serious works, or tell all. I’m dividing them into the categories of Truth (Seriously, it's all true)  or Dare (I Dare you read this " tell all" book) They both have their place and both fulfil different needs, just like different  genres in fiction.  The author's all carefully chose what to include. Sometimes what's been omitted might have given a more realistic insight. But who am I to say? Like any history, peoples lives are open to interpretation.

Behind the Lights: Music and Movie Stars

Music and movie stars lives are often filled with drama and tragedy. Some have more than most. Tammy Wynette and Liz Taylor both spring to mind.  Tammy Wynette's autobiography Stand By Your Man, touches not only on her singing career, but also the abuse she received at the hands of her ex-husband George Jones. So while the style was light reading the subject matter was not. So, Truth or Dare?Elizabeth Taylor’s autobiography, was definitely under the “Dare to Tell All’ category. ( Forgive me, I don’t recall the title of the one I read in the early ‘90s). But aside from the trail of husbands, Liz Taylor’s life was also filled with ill-health and endless surgeries. Despite all she went through, she became a great champion of AIDS awareness and fundraising. Despite the “tell-all” nature of the book, it was both entertaining and interesting to hear about her marriages and how her life changed both because and in spite of them.

The Door Stop Autobiography

Why do people feel the need to give every last detail? The doorstop autobiography that comes to mind is My Life, Bill Clinton’s autobiography published shortly after he left office. The man has certainly led an interesting life, and I loved all the photo’s he included , especially the ones of he and Hillary in their university days. But you would think with all the people the man knows, and has influence with, that a good editor would be on his list. And that's the truth.... 1008 pages?.... Really?

Look into My Soul Autobiography

Speaking of presidents, I read and really enjoyed President Obama’s Biography - Dreams from My Father. This was back in those heady days of being thrilled Bush was out, inspired by America electing its first African-American president, and hope was still alive. It was a readable length, and truly interesting from the perspective of where the man had come from.What made it even more valuable, was it had been written in 1995, years before Obama became President, so it was not the self aggrandizing work it would have been if penned after the election. Rather, it showed an optimism for a better world, from the perspective of a young man trying to make sense of his heritage. It rang true with me.

 Multiple View Points.

This to me is the best kind of Biography. The only one I’ve read where this has been done effectively was about the painter Jackson Pollock: To A Violent Grave by Jeffrey Potter. The method the author used leaves “the truth” to be decided by the reader. It’s a group of interviews with people who knew Pollock . Aside from being a fascinating look at the beginning of the abstract expressionist movement in New York in the 1950s at a time when the Hamptons were a little known artist enclave, it gives the reader completely different perspectives on events in the artist's life. It touches not only on his painting, but his alcoholism and his relationship with his wife Lee Krasner. She was an artist in her own right, but her own career was  eclipsed by the looming presence of Jackson Pollock. Frankly the guy seemed like a total jerk, but I can’t deny his innovative process which changed the landscape of experimental painting back in the day.So of all these I mention  - how many of them are true? And how much is the style in which they are written  geared to a particular market? If the latter is the case, then does that make supposedly non-fiction works so very different from fiction?Do you feel the autobiographies you have read have been fact or fiction? What will your autobiography be like? Truth or Dare?

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Scrivener: The Essential Writing Tool For Any Scribbler

"Use Grammarly's grammar checker online because you don't want the iconic quote to say "Keep Clam and Carry One"

Scrivener

What's your favorite writing tool? A pen a pencil, a special notebook? In any craft, if you don’t have the right tool for the job, then the job becomes an arduous task. Think "Cutting down a Redwood Tree with a butter knife."  (I need Susan Cooper  for that visual!)Scrivener is hands down my favorite writing tool. Frankly, I believe Scrivener is the best tool for any writer, whether you're writing a screenplay, a thesis, a series of blogs, a business plan, or a novel. It has completely changed how I organize my work, and is absolutely masterful at handling larger documents.  I first came across the software  about a year ago, and now can't imagine how I managed without it.What does Scrivener do?Here’s what the software developers say:

... Scrivener: a word processor and project management tool that stays with you from that first, unformed idea all the way through to the final draft. Outline and structure your ideas, take notes, view research alongside your writing and compose the constituent pieces of your text in isolation or in context.  Literature & Latte

Optimum Efficiency = Being More Productive

One of the key aspects of the program is that all your notes, research, and text are all within the program, which makes the whole process more efficient. For me, the beauty of Scrivener is it easily allows you to break up your writing into small sections, and as we all know smaller jobs are easier to do than big ones. It enables you to look at your work in bite size chunks so that you can fit each section in the best order possible to complete the verbal mosaic that is the final product.Here are some of Scriveners' features:

• Visual organization

  Scrivener gives you the ability to view your work in a number of different formats. Are you a visual person? You can organize your work with index cards on an electronic corkboard. Prefer lists, no problem. Like to split your screen to view two chapters at once - Scrivener has it covered.

• Moving the Scenery:

  The ability to restructure your work in Scrivener is phenomenal. Want to move a scene from Chapter 3 to chapter 10? No problem. Forget a long, scrolling, cut and paste procedure of Word— just click on the scene or section of text you want to move, and drag it down to Chapter 10. Boom, done.

• Keywords:

  Want to find the first scene Aunt Doris is in? Just do a search for ‘Aunt Doris’ (you will have made her one of your keywords, every time she was in a scene), and all the scenes are there for you to scan through.

• Self Publishing: 

  Auto-creates files for a myriad of different file formats including .mobi (for Kindle) & ePub

• Other Features

  There are way too many features to list in this post, but here are a 4 more I like:

• Continually saves your work  every 2 to 3 minutes, though I also save mine to Dropbox, which the program makes it very easy to do.
• Keeps tabs on draft stages - 1st, 2nd, final draft, etc.
• Saves online research right next to your work, without needing to leave the program
• Distraction Free Writing. Scrivener will give you the words and nothing but the words,  blanking everything on your computerscreen , except for your  writing. A quick toggle and you're back out into full view mode.

Support

There is a very detailed manual that comes with Scrivener, as well as video tutorials provided by the software developers.  I won't lie, there is definitely a learning curve to the program, but I think you'll find it worth the effort.There are a myriad of free How to use Scrivener posts online. This one, by Nicole Dionisio, is the best and most complete one I’ve come across : http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/your-guide-to-scrivenerI found David Hewson’s ebook on Scrivener  an invaluable shortcut to getting to grips with the program, well worth the $5.99. He also gives away — yes for free— a Scrivener template tailored to novel writers  which was a big help when I first started.Where Can I Find Scrivener:Scrivener is available for both Mac & Windows from http://literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php for $45 USD. There is also a 14 day free-download trial period.BTW, Since writing this original post, I have become an affiliate for Scrivener. But I would not recommend it if I were not an an avid user who loves to share the good things I come across with my friends. I'd like to thank  one of my favorite bloggers who turned me on to the program — after reading Joanna Penn's article on Scrivener I knew I needed to make the switch.

Whether you like to plan everything in advance, write first and structure later—or do a bit of both—Scrivener supports the way you work. -Literature & LatteWhat has your experience been with Scrivener? Do you have a favorite writing tool you tell all your writer friends about?

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Author in Focus: Ernest Hemingway and the Iceberg Effect

Author in Focus: Ernest Hemingway and the Iceberg Effect 

Hemingway Bio:

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. WikipediaBorn: July 21, 1899, Oak Park, ILDied: July 2, 1961, Ketchum, IDMovies: For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, MoreSpouse: Mary Welsh Hemingway (m. 1946–1961), MoreChildren: Jack Hemingway, Gregory Hemingway, Patrick Hemingway

Why Hemingway?

Ernest Hemingway, was many things to many people and widely criticized for his machismo.  But for this purpose, let's focus on his style of prose known by a term coined by Hemingway himself: The Iceberg Effect.

The Iceberg Effect 

If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing. ~ Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway's prose bears out this philosophy which is in essence saying less is more. As a writer, I find nothing more liberating in my work than to edit out text, reducing it to what I consider to be the essential words.But this is very subjective and to reduce prose in the extreme way that Hemingway did, is difficult.It’s particularly difficult when you are dealing with events in the past, pertinent to the narrative. But the reader is there for a good story, not a history lesson.

“Hills Like White Elephants"

One of his most famous short stories is “Hills Like White Elephants". The couple in the story is drawn in such sparse prose, it leaves much to the reader's interpretation. The man is never given a name, and though it appears the couple are simply killing time while waiting for a train, they are in fact alluding to whether or not the girl should have an abortion and whether they will split up. All if this is done in basic exchanges of dialogue, and straightforward snatches of information. Here is an excerpt:‘They’re lovely hills,’ she said. ‘They don’t really look like white elephants. I just meant the colouring of their skin through the trees.’ ‘Should we have another drink?’ ‘All right.’ The warm wind blew the bead curtain against the table. ‘The beer’s nice and cool,’ the man said. ‘It’s lovely,’ the girl said. ‘It’s really an awfully simple operation, Jig,’ the man said. ‘It’s not really an operation at all.’ The girl looked at the ground the table legs rested on. ‘I know you wouldn’t mind it, Jig. It’s really not anything. It’s just to let the air in.’ The girl did not say anything. The whole of the story is full of metaphor and innuendo, leaving the final interpretation up to the reader to make assumptions about the couples’ dynamic and what they are actually talking about.

Why The Iceberg Effect?

Supposedly Hemingway and others of his era, chose this style of writing as a backlash to the elaborate style of some 19th century writers e.g. Henry James.What is your response to this minimalist style of writing? Do you know any 21^st Century writers who write like this?

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Author in Focus is a blog series featuring vignettes on some of the greatest writers of the 20th & 21st century.

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say."  ~ Italo Calvino

6 Resources for Writing Inspiration

 Waiting for Inspiration?

Do you ever feel you lack inspiration? Or are you someone who starts the New Year with amazing goals and manages to keep the creative juices flowing all year round? Most of us belong to the first category. Writing, whether it's fiction, non-fiction, a poem  a blog, or even a journal entry, requires a certain amount of inspiration to even get us started. And there we immediately hit the nail on the head: Get started!!! 

The First Shitty Draft

If every journey begins with a first step, so every piece of writing begins with one word. One word becomes a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph - you get the picture. The first shitty draft is important for all writers. Get the bare bones of the blog, article, essay or story down. It's particularly important for novelists who are working on a long haul proposition. But, whatever you're writing, it's important to get that first shitty draft written, otherwise you'll get bogged down in a bunch of second guessing, plot angst and a passel of procrastination.

 6 Resources For Inspiration

Okay, so you're finally in front of the computer after your third cup of coffee, and the dog has been walked till it's poor little legs have all but fallen off. And still your mind is a blank.First step - don't worry!!!  Inspiration is all around you, you just need to keep an open mind and be proactive. Here are 6 resources to use, when you're searching for inspiration.

1. Newspapers

Yes they're all full of bad news, and you might wonder how an article on yet another economic downturn be inspiring. Keep an open mind for a moment.  An economic downturn means unemployment, which means peoples lives change , and they struggle to find work, which can lead to domestic problems, and an argument that might mean the end of a marriage that was failing anyway, or one partner says to hell and has an affair... you see where I'm going with this. The heart of any fiction is conflict. That one article has provided a whole barrel of conflict.I find it's the small stories that peak my interest in newspapers. "91 year grandmother dies while boarding a bus." Horrible headline, but makes me wonder what happened to the women in her life span, and how did she manage to live long enough and remain fit enough to catch a bus at 91 years old.My favorite headline of all time was in a local borough paper in London, the Hackney Gazette. The headline was "Lucky Victim Stabbed 7 Times".  I mean really - you couldn't make that stuff up.But if you think this is all a load of baloney, then think 'In Cold Blood'  by Truman Capote. Not only a bestseller but a successful film. Real events give the inspiration for an amazing amount of imagination - or serious discussion.

 2. Photographs

  My personal favorite are old photographs, and the stories behind the people in them. With Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram and endless other internet resources, the availability of still images to ponder over and speculate about and travel to a different physical location in your minds eye, is endless.  

3. Books

Before we learned to become writers, the chances are we were all readers. And why not learn from the best. I  covered this issue in more detail in the post Authors An Infinite Resource, but when I'm struggling over how to write a particular scene or indeed what to write, I always find inspiration in reading a good book. It doesn't have to be anything to do with what I'm writing, but a good writer is always inspiring.If you're a blogger then read another blogger's work that you admire.    

4. Family Affairs

So you think your life isn't interesting enough to write about? Don't be so sure. You know what happened so there's no suspense for you, but your readers may be more interested in things you consider mundane than you think. It can be hard for us to write about personal experiences that have been traumatic, but that's an individual choice. The issue you had to deal with might be  something other readers can relate to. The beauty of using your own experiences for inspiration, means you can slack off for the most part on the research. But the most important part of using your own life as a resource, is you have the power to change your own past. Fictionalize it - and I'm not simply talking about changing names, change what happened.   

6. Music

 As we all know, music plays to one of our strongest of the senses -pun intended. You can hear the first few bars of a song and be immediately transported to a different period in your life, or have an emotion grab you by surprise. I like to feature music in my novels, as many other authors do. Murakami is one who comes to mind, featuring jazz quite prominently in many of his books (He owned a jazz club in Japan, which he gave up to become a writer.)Music does not have to be an actual feature in your work, but listening to music, and different kinds of music, will affect what you write as you are writing.

 How to Maintain Your Inspiration

This is the easy part - write. Then write some more. It's really as simple as it sounds. If you stop, your creative juices will dry up, and trying to get inspired will be that much harder. I'm a  big believer in little and often when it comes to writing. That will mean  different things for different people. Some writers have a very rigid everyday writing regime. I don't always write every day, but I'm often sorry when I haven't. If you like routines, then find one for your writing, even if it's only ten minutes a day. Even for the most time-challenged person, ten minutes a day is an achievable goal. But if you're like me and prefer to be more freeform, go with that, but be sure not to lose sight of what you're trying to achieve.What do you do when you are lacking inspiration? Do you have tricks you play with yourself to keep yourself inspired? Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. Many Thanks!

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Is the Beginning of a Novel more important than the Ending?

The beginning of a novel is crucial. Without  a good beginning, you won’t have a reader. But if the ending is unsatisfactory, it's unlikely your reader will recommend your novel or read any more of your work. So which is more important?What links the two is the beginning and end of a circle. Yes - I know there is no beginning and end to a circle , and that of course is the whole point. Hold that thought OK?

A Journey

On a personal level I’ve recently been experiencing both endings and beginnings: I’ve left the UK, my country of birth, to return to Northern California, my adopted home where I spent more than 20 years of my adult life. It’s been a long journey, hence my absence from all things social media. Apologies for the gap in my blog, but it really has been a long 6,000 mile trip. I’d undertaken the same process, in reverse, ten years ago, so I thought I knew what to expect. And in some ways, similar to the way in which we develop the plot of a novel, I did. But like all good stories, there were unexpected, but necessary twists and turns. And like writing a novel, it took longer than I'd like.We have our furniture unpacked, but not arranged. Most of my paintings seem to have made it in one piece, though are sitting facing a wall waiting for me to hang them. Again, like writing, it’s been a lesson in patience. Rush it and you end up with a really shitty first draft.This blog is where life and writing collide. Endings and beginnings are significant stages in both. I was sad to say goodbye to my friends and family in the UK, but thrilled to be back in the USA  and see old friends in California. New beginnings are always exciting - the promise of new experiences, new people to meet, new characters to write and plot arcs to develop.

Endings

Aside from friends and family, I will miss living so close to the sea, watching the quirky English weather.And  of course I shall miss the English countryside. From twee to wild, almost always green.

England, green England, by A.K.Andrew

Beginnings

But  sights I welcome back with open arms: Northern California is an area of incredible natural beauty: the Pacific ocean at the Golden Gate spanned by the eponymous bridge, acres of vineyards, olive groves and stunning state parks, and centuries old redwoods as tall as the eye can see. Yes, things really are bigger in America!

Coming Full Circle

Let's go back to my original comment on the beginning and ending of a novel, and the continuous circle they can present. Life and literature really are all about the journey, and that journey continues ad infinitum. The real challenge is to create a piece of work where the beginning and ending are so closely linked they form a circle. Every writer strives to achieve a scenario where the reader carries the characters with them, wondering what happens after the last page has been turned, and if appropriate, looks forward to the sequel. Beginnings are fun and the first essential step, but the real challenge is the ability to follow through and satisfy your readers once they've reached the end.What do you think is the most important part of a novel? As a writer, do you struggle with the beginning more than the ending? As a reader, how does it color your impression of the book as a whole if it has an unsatisfactory ending?Come join the discussion, and please share this post on your favorite social media. 

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Does Every Picture Tell a Story?

Pictures are a very emotive media, in whatever form, and everyone responds to them differently. Children love story books with pictures. It's often our first way of learning, but do pictures always tell a story?Look at this photograph for example. What does it suggest to you? What emotions does it evoke?

Who sprayed the graffiti? What's the story behind the image? Is the person throwing a the molotov cocktail or just a beer bottle? Who came later and painted the red? (It was added a week after the original image had been sprayed.)

Does the mural below evoke the same emotions as the graffiti of  the bottle thrower?

They're both wall paintings, but entirely different in content and execution.The effect they have will reflect that difference, no matter what you think of them as individual images.

I was a painter before I was a writer so I respond to images very well. Leora Wenger makes an interesting comparison between the two in her recent post What Artists and Writers Share in Common. But irregardless of our artistic or scientific inclinations, we all have some response or other to visual imagery guided by our personalities and life experience. A drawing of a favorite cartoon character might fill you with nostalgia, or it could simply make you laugh.You might think everyone would smile at golden sunsets right? Wrong. It could evoke a sad memory or be perceived as too schmaltzy - a fuzzy Hallmark moment.

Artists of all types use images to get inspired and marketers use them to sell products. But they're not always what they appear. Take a look at this image below. A jellyfish?

It's actually an intricate antique glass model of a Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia arethusa)  The 'float' is about 55mm wide by 90mm long. Total height: 240mm. There are about two hundred tentacles made of thin coloured glass, supported and attached by fine copper wires. So things are not always as they seem.

Whatever reason you’re writing, the chances are you want to evoke a particular emotion in your readers, whether it’s appreciation of  a new product,  to create empathy for the issue you're sharing, or stirring a call to action behind a social or political problem. Maybe you’re writing a love story, or trying to create a dystopia in which there’s a shortage food or oil. Perhaps the landscape has been changed by time or natural disaster. Looking at the imagery in a particular photograph, drawing or painting, can trigger an emotion we want to pass on to our readers, and helps us choose the right words to convey what we want to say.

If you’re a blogger  or producing a catalog, you can break up a long section of text or literally illustrate what you’re talking about. Susan Cooper does this beautifully in her blog Findingourwaynow.com. Either way, give the reader a break. Give people an alternative way to look at the subject. Communication can often be more effective when more than one media is a play at the same time. I've explored this a little in my Musemedium posts.Whatever your reason for using images, my question still stands. Does every picture tell a story?  Generally speaking I think people  like stories. No matter if bedtime stories are happy, scary or sad, they play an important part in our early lives. Many cultures use story-telling to pass down traditions and myths from one generation to another. In modern media that same tradition is being repeated, only in a different way. Now, for the most part, we look to moving images to spell things out for us.Over to you. What do you think? Does every picture tell a story? Is the need to tell a story inherent in our makeup,  as well as a source of inspiration? Or is a picture sometimes just a picture? Come join the discussion. Please leave your comments or share on your favorite social media.

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Developing a #Plot without Flat Lining

Developing the plot for a novel should be like replicating a heart monitor. You want to see ups and downs on the screen, but you don’t want to see it flat lining. There’s nothing more likely to bore the pants off your readers than creating a story without any variation. Think of it in terms of real life’s ups and downs, except in fiction things need to be larger than life, however small they might be.Huh?Your story doesn’t need to be an action packed thrill ride; even small events can be brought to life by great prose.I came across this news item, that frankly made me laugh, but I could see its potential in relation to the ups and downs of a plot. (FYI for US readers, crisp packet  = potato chip bag. In England they ‘re usually in a single serving size, not a US jumbo pack.)‘Hedgehog Trapped in Crisp Packet in Weston-Super-Mare’“A baby hedgehog which found itself stuck in a crisp packet has been released after a three-and-a-half hour rescue involving six people.The animal became trapped after it crawled into the empty wrapper in a railed off area near steps in Weston-super-Mare.A shopkeeper heard rustling and saw the hedgehog - now named Crispian - stick his nose out.Workers had to cut through the railings and help rescuers reach the hedgehog.”http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-20151566What struck me was that they cut through railings to rescue it, and six people had been involved! Clearly this tiny animal had created an event, which produced substantial effort on the rescuers part. It went from being a simple rustle in the wind to a conflict that needed resolution.If you were writing this scene how might you develop it?The conflict begins when the shopkeeper hears the rustling, which poses a question i.e. what to do? Imagine the thoughts of the shopkeeper (inner dialogue) or perhaps she discusses it with a passerby (spoken dialogue), and they both go and look at the hedgehog. (Action) As a reader, I’d want to have some description of the railings, the railed off area and the hedgehog poking his nose out. Where do the steps lead? Was this the scene of a kidnapping a couple of years earlier, or had there been a fire, and the house subsequently torn down?The middle of the scene then develops after the authorities are contacted. (Action) No doubt there are now two or three people waiting and watching until help arrives. Don’t forget there are six people involved in this incident! What was their interchange? (Dialogue or reported speech) Were there concerns about their ability to get through the railings? (Tension) Did they encounter any snags, like the saw blade breaking? (Building suspense) Would the hedgehog survive, even if they managed to cut through the railing? (More tension)The climax of the scene is the hedgehog being rescued. (More description, dialogue/ reported speech) Is the animal going to live or does it stop moving? Is this the complete end of the story, or do two of the people find a connection and become involved in each other’s lives? Perhaps this is where a murderer first meets his next victim?On its own, this is obviously a very simple scene. It could be made engaging in a myriad of ways from comedy to fable, the beginnings of a thriller to rich descriptive prose. Regardless of stylistic approach, there’s dramatic action, however small, which sends a character in a new direction. In this prickly tale (!), the shopkeeper was going about her business until she was on a mission to save a helpless little creature. To be successful, it needs to have ups and downs. The pitfalls encountered are dependent on the writer’s interpretation.Simple story does not mean boring plot. Complicated plot does not mean interesting story. Getting the right balance is something an author needs to look at for each scene. And not all scenes have the same cadence or intensity. Some might give you some respite after one with high tension. Or perhaps towards the end of the novel, you might ratchet things up by piling on one crisis after another.Balancing the tempo of each scene is a good start. Putting them together is like cooking a favorite dish: you combine the ingredients to suit your particular taste. But one shake too many of the saltcellar and the whole dish is ruined.How does the plot progress in the novel you are reading or writing? Is it a slow build, or does it pack a punch from the beginning. Which to you prefer? Run, Crispin, run!.......................

The Next Big Thing week 15: Interview with an Author

The Next Big Thing is an author's Work In Progress project  from SheWrites. When I read Jeri Walker-Bickett’s  blog last week,  I immediately thought what fantastic questions for any author to ask themselves. So I was thrilled that afternoon, when Jeri emailed, and invited me to participate. A Big Thank You to Jeri.What is the working title of your book?‘Under The Bed’. It comes from the phrase ‘Red’s Under the Bed’, used in 1950’s America.Where did the idea come from for the book?I was set to write the sequel to my first book Radio Echo, catching up with the characters a few years after the end of WWII, but I decided to spread my wings as a writer, switched countries and found a completely different voice. The 50’s anti-Communist era in America struck a chord with me as part of the backdrop. In doing my research and seeing how widespread the effect of McCarthyism was, I didn’t want to focus on the more publicized Hollywood Blacklist, so decided to move cross country and settle my characters in New York.  What genre does your book fall under?Literary fiction. Specifically mid-Century historical literary fiction. Set in both the early 50's and late 60's, makes it a tricky time frame, as some camps argue historical fiction has to be 50 years in the past. Other’s say it can be considered historical fiction if the time period - and its depiction - is at the core of the story. I think if the work involves major political or social events of the time and the character’s role in those events are interlinked, it’s historical.Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?I'll let the two main characters in the novel comment on this.Midge: “I know Izzie said I was a pissy mess the other week, but I'm trying darling, I really am. Putting on a few pounds wasn't a crime the last time I looked, but pudgy is such an ugly word. And these Chanel suits don’t buy themselves. I was a very successful business woman before the shit hit the fan. Life Magazine was always doing some article on Boswell Designs. Seems a lifetime ago now... like someone else’s life.... Er,... where was I?  Oh yes... The actress would  have to play a younger me as well wouldn't she?  To do both roles justice,  I think Sharon Stone  would be marvelous. She’s got the same coloring too, don’t you think?”Izzie: “Do you think I give a shit who plays me in the film? How hard can it be to write some crap poetry, and take a few lousy photo’s in the East Village?  [Takes a hit on a joint]. OK, fine. So I do care. I bet that skinny-assed  Girl With a Dragon Tattoo actress would could make a stab at being me. Yeah, Rooney Mara. She’d be good.”What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?Two women, a generation apart, each burdened by guilt regarding the death of a sibling, find their own lives in danger during the Vietnam era, when the older woman’s brush with McCarthyism emerges during their collaboration on her autobiography.   Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?I will definitely look for an agent to represent me.How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 11 months. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?I obviously wouldn't dream of comparing myself to these authors, but I have certainly been inspired by them. These came to mind, each for different aspects of their content.Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. This is one of my favorite novels and spans the narrators lifetime, who is in her 80's as she is writing.The novel pays particular attention to the pre & post WWII years, but goes far beyond that in  encapsulating a number of different story lines as well as time lines.Toby's Room by Pat Barker. Well know for her incredible "Regeneration Trilogy" ,  this is a sequence to Life Class,  though it's also a stand alone novel. Set during WWI, the novel is as much about the interpersonal relationships as it is about the era. However, the two are interchangeable and it is the societal times of the era on the life of the individual that, for me is the real correlation between this and Under the Bed.The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. This is mid 20th century fiction, set during WWII. But Waters deals with the time frame in a very interesting way as she goes from finish to start.  Who or What inspired you to write this book?After a friend told me about growing up with parents who were in the Communist Party in the UK, and what it was like as a teenager in the sixties to have your phone bugged, it made me think about the invasion of people’s privacy and what effect it has on them. Since 9/11 the invasion of privacy has became almost an accepted ‘right’ by Western governments in the quest to protect our freedom. CCTV tracks us constantly and emails are tagged continuously in the fight against terrorism. I questioned the end justifying the means. Eventually I decided to follow how anti-communist fervour has moulded certain key elements of American history, and chose to juxtapose the eras of the Vietnam War and McCarthyism, with 1969 being 'present day'.What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?The novel blends the struggle of the individual with that of the bigger picture of the political events of the time. Can we as both individuals or as nations, learn from our past? I believe we can, and yet, as we know, history repeats itself. ‘Under the Bed’ explores how an individual’s lack of control over their fate can be in the hands of the government, even a generation apart. But ultimately the fight for survival and coming to terms with past mistakes is up to the individual. Here are the authors I’ve tagged for the project. Check out their websites and you'll be able see their interviews posted there next week.Claire CappettaDoreen PendgracsHemmie MartinSusan CooperBridget WhelanSally O’Reilly I’d love  your feedback on the interview, so do leave a comment below. Or post this blog to your favourite social media.Connect with me on: -Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/artyyah/Twitter: @artyyahLike my Facebook page : http://facebook.com/akandrewwriterFor regular updates of my blog: Subscribe Here

10 Rules for Writing: Margaret Atwood

Every author has their favorite rules or ways of writing. Our work can benefit  from learning their process. In the same way it's accepted painters  learn from the masters , writers too can learn from other writers. ( I wrote in more detail about this in the post An Infinite Authors Resource .) The writer doesn't  have to be your favorite, but their work must be relevant. When you're having trouble with a piece of work - your blog, fiction or non-fiction  - don't reinvent the wheel or plagiarize, but  look at how someone else tackled the problem. For issues on social media, the internet or  websites, I'd go to  Sherryl Perry or Leora Wenger . If you want a slow build up of fear try Helen Dunmore's 'The Betrayal'. For a more 'in your face' scary scene maybe go to Stephen King. Margaret Atwood's 10 Rules for Writing Fiction1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.6 Hold the reader's attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don't know who the reader is, so it's like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B.7 You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there's no free lunch. Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ¬essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine.8 You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.9 Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page.10 Prayer might work. Or reading something else. Or a constant visualization of the holy grail that is the finished, published version of your resplendent book.NB: Margaret Atwood's rules for writing fiction, originally appeared as part of a feature in  The Guardian . I'd like to give a special thanks to Robert Bruce of  http://101books.net/ ( a fantastic site for book-lovers), who reminded me of her list in a recent post he did on Steinbeck.

------------------------------------------------I really love her dry sense of humor and sticking with the basics, like using a pencil, or your arm!  The rules could also apply to virtually any kind of writing.

OK, my turn...though I have made it easy on myself by only doing three.

A.K. Andrew's Top 3 Writing Rules :1. Write little and often. (Whatever  interpretation works for you)2.  Always carry a notebook (paper or electronic). Odd words or thoughts come  at any time day or night and trying to rely on your memory to recall them is hopeless. I've learned how to write small groups of words in the dark, then decipher them in the morning.3. Write what you enjoy. If you're not enjoying the process, your reader will never be engaged.What are your top 3 writing Rules?  (See I've made it easy for you too!) I'd love to hear your thoughts - and perhaps between us, we can come up with a really great new list of  10 Writing Rules.Note: This will be my last post for a month, so enjoy the end of summer and I'll see you back here near the end of September. Follow me on: -Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/artyyah/Twitter: @artyyahFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/akandrewwriterFor  regular updates of my blog: Subscribe Here  

Want to Change The Use of Space in Your Home?

 How do you use your home?Is it somewhere you dash in and out of between work, or a place you like to spend as much time as possible?  I was attracted to this film of the Eames house after watching the London Olympics opening ceremony where the house in the center of the  stadium was used for a montage of British music. It made sense, as the home is where so much happens when we're growing up. But how we use our homes has changed in recent decades. For myself, I no longer go out to work and spend a lot of time at home. I write at home, though I also write in a notebook in odd places outside, whether catching snippets of an idea or small sections of a scene.httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7ipQdUrYkLive and WorkMany people now use at least part of where they live as a home office. They might even run a business from their home. For most of us that means being creative. Can you use a cupboard or an alcove for your computer? Are grown up children willing to share a painting studio when they come and visit? Rooms in houses do not need to be static. Most of us don't have the freedom of space the Eames had, but when did you last try and think how to rearrange your living space to satisfy your current needs?I loved the fact that the Eames used the house to work as well as live. Their passion was clearly integral in their lives. What struck me about this film is the exploration of beauty in small things - a leaf, a chair spindle, a flower -  as well as the modern design of the Eames. We see the change of the seasons, a symbol of the changes of life itself. Sometimes change can mean small touches that make all the difference.The Eames House, built in 1949, is a landmark of mid 20th century architecture. It was designed by the husband and wife design pioneers Charles and Ray Eames.  It's construction was part of a project launched by Arts & Architecture Magazine in response to the need for housing following WWII.If you don't watch the whole film, dip in and out at the amazingly beautiful images. I particularly loved the way they invite the outside nature inside with the shadows of the trees. The beautiful play of shadows is prevalent throughout the film.How has the use in your home changed?  What "use of  space" changes would you like to make in the future? http://eamesfoundation.org/Details of the house and it's design:http://www.artsandarchitecture.com/case.houses/pdf01/08.pdfFilm by:  http://pyramidmedia.com    

Writing #Location as #Character

 In many works of fiction, location is so vital to the heart of the book, it's essentially another ‘character’. This doesn't apply to all novels, but in others the author  creates a location, just like a character, that's incredibly memorable whether real or imaginary. To me this is part of the beauty of reading – I’m transported to Leningrad  in Helen Dunmore’s The Siege, Newfoundland in Annie Proulx's Shipping News, or to a mythical place  "off the edge of the map" in the sizzling debut novel Snake Ropes, by Jess Richards.As a writer, I think about the location almost before anything else. To me, that sets the scene, and from there the theme and characters can grow and live and become as three-dimensional as characters in a novel can be.I currently live in Brighton UK. It’s on the south coast of England and is surrounded by the chalky cliffs of the South Downs. Think ‘White Cliffs of Dover’, and that’s what they look like. There have been a number of novels and films set here, the most famous being Graham Greene’s ‘Brighton Rock’.The book was written in 1938, and the original film made in 1947 with a very young Richard Attenborough as ‘Pinkie.’The underworld of violence and crime is juxtaposed against the perception of Brighton as a fashionable resort only fifty miles away from London.  In the film,   location is key  – Brighton railway station with the beautiful arched ironwork, characteristic Brighton architecture of tall, sweeping  terraces  painted cream, and of course the pier, where many scenes, including the finale are filmed. My most vivid memory from first reading the book as a teenager, was Pinkie pouring vitriol onto the wooden railing of the pier to frighten his girlfriend - what would happen if it was thrown in her face! Scary stuff back then.There used to be two piers in Brighton – the West Pier, and the Palace Pier. The West Pier was closed in 1975, and burnt down in 2003.The remaining Pier is now simply called Brighton Pier. But the West Pier, now the town’s very own metal sculpture, stranded about 50 yards from the shore, has become an icon as well as something of a bird sanctuary. In the winter a murmeration of starlings appears and swirls between the two piers finally coming to land on the West Pier.In thinking of location as a key part of a novel, as vital as the main protagonist, I thought about the West Pier as that character. Starting as the darling of the Victorian era, coming into her heyday when the British seaside tourist trade gets under way in the 1920's and 30's. Eventually, like an aging dowager she starts to get a little tarnished and shunned by everyone. She falls into disrepair, and is closed off. Finally, in mirroring the fate of Miss Faversham in Great Expectations, the West Pier is set alight, and any thought of restoration vanishes . Once she's stripped to a skeletal structure, she takes her place in today's history as a modern sculpture, a new landmark icon for the city of Brighton.What a story you could weave around the life and death of the West Pier. Mmmm… maybe for my next novel.Now it's your turn. Is location important to you when you read a novel? If you wrote a book set in the place you live, what kind of novel would it be? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Changing #Procrastination Creatively

Procrastination is the master of endless lists, even for things we supposedly want to do – I don’t have time, my artwork sucks, not enough room, too busy to focus, too tired, too________. You name it. They’re all valid reasons. Work, children, ill-health and a myriad of other things stop us from doing what we love. But if we love it so much why do we self-sabotage? Fear of failure? Fear of success? Anticipation creates as many reasons to stop as to start.  If you want to change procrastination, sometimes changing the way we do things creatively can provide a  solution to why we find it hard to pick up the tools of the trade. Shake things up and see what falls out. If you can't do one thing do another.I didn't come to this conclusion by choice, but through developing Lupus, an auto-immune condition. I’ve been a visual artist for over twenty years, but  health problems started overnight almost thirteen years ago. My mobility was severely affected by joint and muscle pain, as well as fatigue. Creatively, it became a learning process of changing how to do things in order to continue doing what I loved.Painting large canvases standing at an easel, now out of the question, became small works sitting down. Stretching my own canvases was impossible and pre-stretched canvases were initially traded in for flat canvas or paper. Oils became acrylics or watercolors, and long sessions switched to short ones.Pacing myself is everything. At first I hated it. All of it. But I was determined not to give up. Then I found the challenge of being forced into new ways of working affected the creative process. The change became a source of creativity itself and I produced work I'd never otherwise have done. Procrastination was booted out.More importantly, I also started writing. At first it was just a journal, but I read so much, I thought why not write? Illness jumpstarted my creative writing, but writing helped me through the process of dealing with my illness.  Synchronicity at it's best. Writing can be a problem because of joint pain, but it’s something I can do in short bursts, more easily than getting out painting materials. I also use voice activated software when I need to.I’ve recently been re-introduced to computer art   by Susan Cooper* This has been SO fantastic and I’ve been painting on my iPhone. Now that’s a pretty small canvas! And the non-existent cleanup, leaves more energy for painting. Remember how much fun drawing and painting were when you were  child? Well it can be now. Right now. Whatever age you are. It doesn’t matter what it looks like - no-one's  going to see it unless you want them to. It’s just fun to doodle. Instead of being bored on your train commute home, or waiting for a dental appointment, why not doodle on your phone or ipad?For a  ‘painterly’ app, I’d recommend either ‘Brushes’, which is the app David Hockney uses, or ‘ArtRage’ which is a live simulation of the properties of real paint. Both are good for drawing too. At £1.59 for the app, you can’t beat it.  There are also lots of free apps to choose from. (SketchbookX & iDraw are two I've used) We all have things holding us back from what we want to do, but I say if you can’t be a full time artist,  find ten minutes at lunch to write a few lines about a character, or make a sketch for your next painting. After the kids are in bed and you’re tired, jot down a few ideas, knit a few rows , think about what glaze to use in your next ceramic project. If you can't do one thing do another - keep it small, think 'different' and you'll be able to toss procrastination out with the garbage.Illness has been a great teacher - I've learned to embrace change instead of fighting it, which leaves me open to try new things creatively, or use new tools. When procrastination comes knocking I look for different options. Are you ready to join me?What draws you away from your creativity? Are there ways you can think of to break things down so that you can take smaller, more manageable steps?Let me know. I’m always looking for new ways to do things. Don't forget to subscribe for blog updates: SubscribeFollow me on Twitter: artyyah 

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• Download David Hockney's Playful Drawings for the iPhone and iPad(openculture.com)http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11666162*http://findingourwaynow.com/2012/03/draw-on-an-ipad-part-3.html

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