NovelWriters.co.uk Blog

Free studio space in NYC

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:22:00 +0000

If you've got the cash to spend 9 months in NYC, this is an amazing opportunity:

http://www.lmcc.net/residencies/workspace/apply

Interesting Quote

noreply@blogger.com (Debbie Ruppenthal) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0000

I'm not sure who to credit for this, but it appeared in a newslettter I got yesterday:

'Only dead fish swim with the tide'

I'm not sure how applicable it is to getting a publishing deal, but I think it's fairly key to writing!

"Books every writer should read"

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:14:00 +0000

This is an exhaustive but good list of books recommended to writers. I will vouch for the following: 8 / 12 / 21 / 22 / 25 (!!!) / 33 / 44 / 47 / 62 (!!!) / 63 / 65 / 72

**The Artful Edit will change your prose; A Moveable Feast will change your life. No, I am not being a drama queen! :) **

Author's Quote - Kevin MacNeil

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:24:00 +0000

"You must believe in your characters. For if you don't, its hypocrisy to expect your readers to believe in them."

Kevin MacNeil - Highland Lit Salon, Inverness (Jan 19th 2010).

Author seeks 100 stories for Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:07:00 +0000

Folks, there's a new post on the site for all you short-story writers. It's a competition, but all in a good cause. Please check it out on:

http://www.novelwriters.co.uk/competitions.asp

Cheers,

T

Weekly updates

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:37:00 +0000

Folks,

Two new writing events added to the site this week:

Edinburgh Book Festival - 14th to 30th August
University of Aberdeen 10th Writers Festival - 14th to 16th May

Have a look at the site to read more: http://www.novelwriters.co.uk/events.asp

Tony

Websites for Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:44:00 +0000

Guys, we made Websites for Writers! And we're being tweeted throughout the tweetosphere.

New Year - New Stuff!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Folks,

The site has now been updated with some new competitions, events and book reviews. Please feel free to have a look.

I'll be updating the site with this kind of thing once a week from now on (probably Mondays), so feel free to pass me anything like competitions, events, resources or reviews of books you've read (on email - not via this blog please) that you feel would be of benefit to our visitors and I'll get them up there at that time.

Happy New Year to you all.

Tony

Websites for Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:21:00 +0000

An excellent website to bookmark.

http://www.websitesforwriters.net

Tweet, tweet

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:04:00 +0000

I've spoken to many of you about how useful Twitter is for me. I'm not a tweeter of all things; I keep my followers to friends (I block those which look like spam) and my 'feed' is mostly writing-related stuff.

Mashable's general guide is good.
Inkygirl's guide is focused on writers.

Once you've logged in, do a search for names and then 'follow' them. Ones I've found helpful:
BubbleCow: A fantastic filter of daily blog postings, articles, and other tips on writing.
Book2Book: Daily news about the publishing world.
Pitchparlour: Pitching books
HPRW: How Publishing Really Works
nicolamorgan: Edinburgh-based author who runs the 'Help! I need a publisher" blog
AuthorTech: tech-savvy tips for writers

Links to all of these can be found from my Twitter site (twitter.com/kramblings)

- KP

Ten Rules of Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:24:00 +0000

This series is excellent; particularly Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing.

Chuck Palahniuk - 13 Writing Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:58:00 +0000

This guy has a way with words.

Why do CAPITAL LETTERS so annoy us?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:19:00 +0000

This is an interesting little ditty on the BBC News site today - check it out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8234637.stm

T

Art vs Craft

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:02:00 +0000

An interesting post from Write to Done about the art of writing vs. the craft of writing.

Oxfam Bookfest

noreply@blogger.com (Debbie Ruppenthal) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Oxfam is launching it's first ever book festival from 4th to 18th July. Most events are in England, but they do have stores in Inverness and Elgin, and will be at the Tartan Heart Festival (Belladrum 7/8 August). The local stores are promoting collectable books inparticular.

They also have a 'book blog' here: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/books/

They are one of the largest retailers of second-hand books in the UK and as well as the local shops they sell books on line - always worth a look for hard to find and out of print books!

Writing Short Fiction for Anthologies

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:30:00 +0000

One of the best ways to get your creative ideas flowing is to search through calls for submissions into anthologies. Anthologies are generally collections of short stories based around a central theme.

While the pay rate for fiction published in anthologies is generally not high, there are many advantages to writing for these compilation markets.

1. You have a new published credit to add to your portfolio.

2. You can stimulate your own creativity by reading through the submission guidelines of anthologies that interest you.

3. You have the opportunity to break out of writer's block by writing something short on a topic created by someone else.

4. You can learn to hone your writing skills by mastering the short story.

5. You are able to show a future novel editor that you're able to write.

6. You get that unique warm-fuzzy-proud feeling of being able to hold the completed book in your hand once it's published.

7. You might actually receive a check for a few extra dollars!

There are plenty more reasons why writing for anthologies can be hugely beneficial for all writers, but these are the main ones that came to mind. Now we've looked into why writing and submitting short fiction to these markets can be a good thing, what happens if the story you write isn't accepted?

Potentially, any anthology editor is going to receive several hundred submissions for a book that can only hold 20 or 25 stories. How can you increase your chances of getting your story accepted?

Let's look into some things you should remember when you're dealing with anthology editors.

Theme

The object of most anthology collections is to compile several stories that revolve around a central theme or genre. Most editors are very thorough about telling writers exactly what kind of story they want to see. They usually make a huge mention of the things they don't like or things they won't accept too. Keep those limitations in mind when it comes time to write.

When you're browsing through lists of anthology markets, try to stick to themes or genres that you enjoy or that you feel you could work for you.

Light a Spark

As you read through each set of guidelines, you'll notice that some just won't appeal to you, however there will be others that light a bit of a spark within the creative part of your mind. Write down the first idea that comes to you surrounding those particular guidelines and then see if there's room to expand on that idea.

Think Outside the Box

Always keep in mind that the most obvious idea that pops into your head is very likely to be the similar to every other submission that editor will receive. Take a careful look at your original idea and see where you can add a unique twist or if you can approach the situation from a fresh angle.

The more unusual or unexpected your story line is, the more chance you have of making your tale stick in the editor's mind.

Submit Early

Most anthology listings have a clear deadline by which your submission needs to reach the editor's desk. Many writers tend to
leave their submissions until the last possible moment. If you
imagine several hundred submissions landing on that editor's desk
within a couple of days, how focused do you think that poor editor
is going to be after reading through them all?

If you can get your story submitted early then you have a much
bigger chance of the editor reading it with fresh eyes without the
distraction of all those other submissions.

Submit!

It's surprising how many writers create beautiful stories and then
can't find the courage to submit them to a market. Be brave and
send your story out the door!

Finding Anthology Markets

There are plenty of sites offering anthology listings. One of the
biggest genre anthology listings is www.ralan.com/antho/index.htm .
Do a simple search on any search engine and you'll be sure to find
plenty of places offering submission guidelines for these
under-rated markets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lee Masterson is a freelance writer from South Australia. She is
also the editor of Fiction Factor - an online magazine for writers,
offering tips and advice on getting published, articles to improve
your writing skills, heaps of writer's resources and much more.
http://www.fictionfactor.com

Interesting thoughts on agent/author roles

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:47:00 +0000

This posted on my agent's twitter today.

Sci-fi writer signs £1m book deal

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:07:00 +0000

I saw that headline on the BBC news site this morning (click here if you wish to read the article).

Don't you just hate it when published authors tell people "don't write thinking you'll make money"?

I've heard that from many authors but whilst I believe they say this essentially to protect the budding writer from a potential disappointment, there ARE ways to ensure that you can make money from writing. I'm not saying that you can guarantee becoming financially "rich", but quite frankly (and especially these days); money is money. Even if you haven't managed to get a novel together, and based on the advice given by various published authors:

Entering Short story competitions can provide financial prizes
Magazines and other publications will pay authors for stories and/or articles

This list is by no means exhaustive.

Research the marketplace for the genre you prefer to write and find out what sells strongly. Look for authors who write in your preferred genre and work out what they're doing and how they're doing it. For example, my favourite genre (Crime Fiction/Police procedurals) has a very strong market in Scotland, having apparently been that way for the last 20 years or so and showing no signs of abating. With the advent of the internet, detailed research is becoming easier to do, even in the comfort of your own home. So, get digging and find some pay-dirt!

I'm sure that there are tons of people out there who write not only because they like to, but because they have very little else they can do. For example, there are some who can't get a job, some who are single parents with young children at home and need to stay with them (a la JKR), and some who are disabled and unable to leave their homes. Fantastic writers come from all sorts of backgrounds and I am certain that there are thousands out there who have yet to be discovered.

So, start churning out those short stories - I'm going to start digging through every publication I can find and make a section on the site to hold details of these publication's preferred submission methods and payment details, etc. That should help us to move forward and achieve our goal of getting published.

As Clio said last night, we're more likely to be taken seriously as authors if we've got some notches on our writing belts and the quickest way to do that is to get some short stories published.

Let's go team!

Tony

Clio Gray

noreply@blogger.com (Debbie Ruppenthal) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:21:00 +0000

Of the websites mentioned last evening the highlands and islands writers short story association is already on the website resources. The Highland society of authors is this and I'll get this added too:

http://www.hsauthors.co.uk/

Anyone interested in what Clio had to say about writing can find most of the details in an interview she gave to Solander in Nov 07. See here:

http://textline.wordpress.com/solander/reviewsinterviews-clio-gray/

I have copied some of the text below:

It was my sister who told me to stop writing novels that would never get any further than my study, and start entering short story competitions. It was the best piece of advice I have ever been given and I spent the next two years writing short stories and entering competitions.

Writing short stories is a tremendously disciplined way to write: you learn to cut out all those verbose descriptions and they force you into forming the framework of your story, having a beginning and an end that are satisfying for both yourself and any potential reader. Up until that point, I realised I had been writing for myself and myself only.

There are a few things I wish I had realised when I first started writing – namely that it always takes ages to get anywhere, but never to despair! Short stories are an excellent route to go – to get them right requires discipline and a willingness to be unprecious about your work: chuck out what doesn’t belong, hone it right down, never use ten words when five will do. I would also strongly advise people to review their work – if you’ve written a novel, leave it lying for a couple of months at minimum and then go back to it. It is astonishing how much clearer the overview is from a distance, and how many of the mistakes/good points will suddenly leap out at you. Woods and trees come to mind. Try and get advice from a completely unbiased source – friends and family will undoubtedly be supportive, but may not tell you what you need to hear. Find someone who reads a lot, or maybe writes themselves, and ask them to give you an honest opinion, good or bad. It can only make whatever you are working on stronger in the end.

As most of this was said last night I hope Clio wouldn't object to it appearing on the blog!

How to get a book deal

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Pedroja) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:27:00 +0000

Thanks, Tim Clare.

Literary Salon @ Inverness

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Brinton) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:38:00 +0000

Launching the Inverness Literary Salon

I've been doing some research on the history of literary salons and the format used by modern salons. It would be helpful if the Eden Court Writers group members looked at the three links below and gave some thought as to what we are hoping to achieve from a monthly gathering. There seem to be three types in operation:

• The Paris Salon is highly organized and offers in depth discussion of assigned texts on a weekly basis as well as special events in Paris and London. http://literarysalon.free.fr/wordpress/?page_id=9

• The new Edinburgh Salon (called Cobalt) launched in March with an organized event including brief readings by authors of their work and a discussion. http://living.scotsman.com/books/Scotland39s-capital-adds-to-.5077823.jp

• There seems to be an even less formal option on the Edinburgh scene, where 40-60 people gather on the last Tuesday of the month at a bar to drink and discuss books they love, things they are working on, etc. but without a formal agenda or program moderator. http://www.cityofliterature.com/projects.aspx?sec=6&pid=27&item=484s

We can of course follow these formats or create our own. If we want a more organized monthly gathering with specific texts to discuss or authors to be invited for discussion/presentation, I would suggest we use Eden Court and try to find an organizer among us (Kristin, I nominate you!!) to line up guest speakers. Having the Eden court venue and name behind us would give us credibility and make the job of bringing in experts and authors much easier I suspect. If we do not intend to have a planned agenda, then a local pub like the kind Kevin is exploring will be perfect.

Definition of a Salon from Wikipedia -- A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ("aut delectare aut prodesse est"). The salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical salons of the 17th century and 18th century, were carried on until quite recently in urban settings among like-minded people of a 'set'. Two of the most famous 17th century literary salons in Paris were the Hôtel de Rambouillet, established in 1607 near the Palais du Louvre by the marquise de Rambouillet and, in 1652, in Le Marais, the rival salon of Madeleine de Scudéry, a long time habituée of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. Here gathered the original "blue-stockings" (les bas-bleus), whose nickname continued to mean "intellectual woman" for the next three hundred years.

Kafka

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Ross) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:18:00 +0000

Hi All,

Kristen kindly sent this one to me, so I thought I'd stick it up here for you to enjoy. Apparently, it's a brilliant 30-minute piece about Kafka and the myths surrounding his life. Interesting how we want to believe legends. Go here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00fr8j9/Kafka_Uncovered/

T

Hero's Journey-Plot Devices

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Brinton) — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Hero’s Journey Plot Structure

LEAD Identification, Sympathy, Likeability, Inner conflict
Why is the LEAD in the story:

- To get something
- To get away from something

Book I : INTRODUCTION AND CALL TO ACTION

1) Introduce the Hero's world
2) "Call to adventure" or disturbance interrupts the hero's world
3) Hero may ignore the call Book I
4) Hero crosses the threshold into a dark world

Book II: DOORWAY OF NO RETURN

5) Mentor may teach the hero
6) Various encounters with forces of darkness. Best if Opposition is as strong as or stronger than the LEAD.
7) Hero has a dark moment within himself that he must overcome.
8) A talisman aids in battle.

Book III: FINAL CONFRONTATION. (MAJOR CLUE OR INFORMATION. MAJOR SETBACK.)

9) The final battle is fought.
10) The hero returns to his own world

Writing is hard!

noreply@blogger.com (Debbie Ruppenthal) — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Quotes from writers abound. I like this one from Gustave Flaubert:

"I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within."

As someone who tries to write poetry, I want to capture the world in high definition -but from a different angle; I rarely achieve the desired result, but generally it's fun trying!

Dialogue, Dialects, Foreign Languages, Telephone

noreply@blogger.com (Janet Brinton) — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:28:00 +0000

From John Mullan’s how novels work (Oxford University Press 2006)

On dialogue see

Graham Swift’s Last Orders for dialogue that seems unstudied, as if simply overheard by the reader (and inserting grammar mistakes in sentences of less-educated characters) and without commentary (I said, he said, she says, tapping the letter in her hand.)

DH Lawrence’s Women in Love, dialogue filled with explanations of tone, feelings of speaker (protested, cried, retorted, jeered, said warningly).

On foreign languages see

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Guests at a diplomatic party are taken hostage. They all speak different languages and for the most part can’t understand each other. All printed dialogue is in English but English is rarely spoken by the characters (most speak Spanish, German, Russian or French).

Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities. French characters speak in English with foreign traces such as thee, thou and sentence structure that is decidedly un-English.

George Eliots Romola (1862) 15^th century Florence characters speak Victorian English peppered with Italian expressions.

Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone, in which the narrator says, ”I translate Mrs Yolland out of the Yorkshire language into the English language” noting that even her husband has trouble understanding her.

On dialect (use of non-standard English) see

Andrea Levy’s Small Island, Jamaican RAF soldier and his wife in wartime Yorkshire then post war London.

Emily Bronte’s Wurthering Heights. Yorkshire dialect spoken by servant Joseph.

Sir Walter Scott’s Old Mortality. Educated characters speak with only occasional marks of Scottishness (aye for yes) while other characters have dialect speech patterns that challenge most speakers of standard English.

On phone conversations see

Andrew O’Hagan’s Personality, where dialogue (including phone calls) is presented without speech tags or comment.

Jonathan Coe’s The House of Sleep, one-sided phone conversation.

Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, family’s ineffectiveness in communication highlighted in many two-way phone conversations.