May has been a good month for a good balance of learning and working. I’ve been completing a course on fiction editing with CIEP, which despite four years of teaching creative writing and other CIEP courses has uncovered a lot of nuance within editing. It’s been really good to check my editing alongside their model answers and to discover that I’ve uncovered all of the major issues and to discuss my responses with my tutor and on the discussion board. It shows the importance of community and that neither writing nor editing are singular activities – collaboration is a vitally important part of the writing process.
My writing sprints group has been good for this too. At the beginning of each session we go around the group and talk about what everyone’s been working on and too what they want to focus on for the next two hours. If anyone has any questions about their writing, or areas where they’re stuck then they have the opportunity to bounce ideas off the group. It works really well and even if you don’t get to that point of forward motion within the group, it’s often the case that simply brainstorming with other writers will have the effect of getting your mind working in another direction to resolve the writing issue.
I strongly recommend joining a writing group and with finding opportunities to communicate with other writers. It’s a great pre-editing step and should give you the confidence to take your writing further. On that note, Silverwood Books in Bristol contacted me with another editing role and I’ve been working with short story author, Gordon R Clarke and his collection of short stories written over the last fifty years. In addition to this first collection of short stories, Gordon has written at least two full-length novels and has another collection of short stories. I forgot to mention that he also writes poetry. It’s incredible to think that someone gets to a point in their lives when they decide it’s time to show the world the work they’ve put together. I’m so glad Gordon has given me the opportunity to work on his funny and philosophical clutch of stories and that he’s going to continue to work on the rest of his writing and share it with the world. We all need a little of that chutzpah with our writing – good luck with yours.
Happy writing,
Lesley
Author Showcase: Peter (P. C. M.) Denton, Writing Prompts, Book Reviews:
Peter, was one of my writing students and first began his novella, Blemished, in one of my classes. It received warm reviews and urging to continue with it, so I’m thrilled he’s completed it. Peter is a perfectionist writer and always lays down the plot and works on characters and setting in advance of beginning a story. This ensures he can focus fully on the writing itself because he’s thoroughly tested the water and his storylines before putting his fingers on the laptop for his first draft. Before sending Blemished over to me, Peter had been working on it and honing it to get it to its best point. It’s always good advice – from Stephen King himself – to begin a new project when you hand your work over to someone else, either editor or agent and so, while I was editing Blemished, Peter began a short story and has also fleshed out the bones for his first full-length novel – exciting times.
All good stories are based on a strong premise and Blemished is no exception. Peter is a big fan of psychological thrillers and says the idea for Blemished rattled around in his head for a while: what if a bullied child never fully recovered from their emotionally-scarring experiences? He wanted to examine the psychological impact of teenage trauma, how it could have long-lasting effects that ripple throughout someone’s life.
Blemished has evolved into its genre. Initially Peter wanted it to be quite a dark story, because that’s the genre he naturally leans towards; the one he enjoys reading. Excluding any flash fiction pieces, it’s only the second story he has ever written. Blemished began as a short story; that’s how he pictured it in his head when he was plotting. But then it naturally evolved into a longer piece. Moving from a short story to novella, gave the story a bit of ‘breathing room’ and its characters the chance to experience their situation and – hopefully – any readers a chance to empathise. The story dictated its length and Peter adjusted his mindset accordingly.
His advice for anyone wanting to approach a longer piece of writing is: Stick at it! Blemished is not a long novella; it’s only around 20,000 words. But to date, it is the longest piece he has written and that includes University dissertations! For that reason alone, Peter thinks he found it hard to focus on this one story. And this is the reason why it took the better part of two years to complete, ‘It’s the middle bit of the novella that gets you! Once the excitement of starting a new story wears off, you just want to get to the payoff: the ending. But there’s that middle bit which contains all the vital story arcs and character development … you’ve just got to put those blinkers on and power through. Having a writing schedule helped me. Setting aside a specific time each and every day to work on your current project, even if it’s just a few minutes, can help build discipline.’
Authors will often write a story from the perspective of their own gender, and that’s perfectly understandable, the advice to ‘write what you know’ is always good, but Peter’s story is written entirely convincingly from the perspective of a female protagonist. Peter says this perspective was always in his mind from the outset, so he went with it. It was important though, not to be cliched or come across as patronising. Luckily his wife was on hand to help with a few of the nuances of writing about a teenage girl and her older self. Little things like how the main character would act, what she would be thinking, how she would feel. It was important to Peter that his story was grounded, real, relatable, ‘Something that could have happened to any one under different circumstances.’
Peter’s taking his time with Blemished and feels it would work better as part of a compilation. Short stories are extremely popular in America and not many novellas are published solo, especially in the UK. A number of authors have successfully published short story compilations, including those from famous novelists and from short story authors, Brian McCabe and Graham Mort to name two UK authors. Peter assures me that when he’s a renowned novelist, he’ll include Blemished in a collection of short stories.
Watch this space, Blemished definitely has legs and I will be shouting about it from the rooftops when it appears in print.
The falling blossom blurred into a confetti of white …
Alissa awoke with a start from the most glorious dream, the rope tying her arms to the bedpost sawed at her wrists and she realised she was not alone …
What fresh hell was this? Ben raised his sunglasses to look at the scoreboard and realised he wasn’t going to get his innings. Seven hours and all he had to show for it was a sunburned face and panda eyes, but … hello …
I couldn’t warm to the main protagonist and couldn’t work out why. A young guy whose girlfriend is tragically killed is trying to just get by from day to day, with the odd slip up of drink sozzled self-pity. It sounds like a great jumping off point for a really good romantic feel-good story. But, he doesn’t have any friends around him, he doesn’t get on with his dead girl-friend’s father, or with any of her friends – it’s just him and his day job.
The author does a phenomenal job of creating character and his character is very three-dimensional and well drawn. She’s also done a great job in creating a believable character in the opposite genre – no mean feat. Settings are evocative and visual.
Unfortunately, for me, the plot could have been developed more with regard to external conflict with his ex-girlfriend’s family and friends and would have benefitted from him being surrounded by a support base. This is a good example book for learning about premise.
This book gripped me from the outset. Marion is questioning what is going on in her life, alongside the reader trying to cement an image of what’s going on, and it works well. The reader quickly understands that Marion’s questioning goes beyond the medical procedure she’s about to have and extends to her life in general and the only bright spot being the opportunity to swim in the atmospheric vacuum of her local swimming pool alongside complete strangers.
What could possibly have gone so wrong for this previously quirky, strong-willed girl? Importantly too, is there a way out of this situation and is she brave enough to make changes to her life?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and tore through it, championing Marion and the initially tentative friendship that she re-kindles with the ‘weird girl’, Julie, who her mum forced her to befriend at school. When another colleague moves desks and forces herself on Marion she’s wary, but something changes. A flower begins to bud within.
No spoilers here, you’ll just have to read it for yourself, and I hope you will.