Tag Archives: authors

Constant Companions

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We all like a bit of company. Yes, we vary in the amount and intensity of the company we enjoy, but, on the whole, we welcome friends and fellow travellers. We are social creatures, it’s one of the things that define us as a species. We like to to get into each other’s heads. We are interested in each other’s thoughts, feelings and experiences. It’s the reason why we love to read and why we love the exploration of writing.

But what about the silent passengers?
We all have silent company.
Inside our heads,
following our every step.

I’m talking about words.

From the moment we begin to piece our thoughts together we hang those thoughts on words.
Whichever language or languages we use, we carry our companions. Some have been with us from our first year of life. Some are new this year and others, if we really love language, are new today. They inform who we are. The shape and sound of our words decide the movements of our face. They influence how we look. They decide when we pause, when we breathe. They gather us into groups by country or class by occupation or interest.

They are wonderful, incredible things.
Take a close look at your companions.
They helped to build you.

Writer’s Reflections – Sandra Danby

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Many thanks this week to Sandra Danby for telling us a bit about her writing journey

 

My new book : Ignoring Gravity is the story of Rose Haldane’s own “Who do you think you are?” television programme. Rose is confident about her identity. She pulls the same face as her grandfather when she has to do something she doesn’t want to do, she knows her DNA is the sam as his. Except it isn’t: because Rose is adopted and doesn’t know it. Ignoring Gravity connects two pairs of sisters separated by a generation of secrets. Finding her mother’s lost diaries, Rose begins to understand why she has always seemed the outsider in her family, why she feel so different from her sister Lily. Then just when she thinks there can’t be any more secrets…

The publishing world is changing rapidly now, as indie publishing becomes established alongside the traditional business. Ignoring Gravity is a part of this, published by a new crowd-funded publishing imprint by BNBS books, called Britain’s Next Bestseller. This is a hybrid indie/traditional publishing deal in which the author has control in the early stages (cover design, PR, Book trailer, social media promotion). Once an agreed pre-order target is hit, BNBS takes over as a traditional publisher, publishing the book in traditional and e-book formats. My provisional publication date is September 2014 when the book will be available from Amazon.

Why I wrote Ignoring Gravity: I was an imaginative child. I would lie awake in bed at night and wonder what it would be like to live in another country, with a different family…what if…I was a boy, or lived in a busy city, or was good at arithmetic? If I had grown up in France not England, with a father who was a businessman not a farmer, would I be a different person now? Or have I, through my personality and life experiences, essentially made me, me?

This idea stayed with me. It wasn’t something I actively thought about but it stayed in the back of my mind. I’m not adopted and had a happy rural childhood in Yorkshire. When I turned from journalism to fiction 15 years ago, I started to think about my identity again. One day, when I was at my creative writing class,  a sentence came to me fully-formed. Rose Haldane thinks children should be served lightly grilled with a green salad. Rose has a very clear idea of who she is until the day she discovers she is adopted. Her family history is a blank page, but Rose is still Rose.

My tutor Nina said,”That’s it, that’s the first line of your novel, now go away and write the rest of it.” And that was the beginning of ignoring gravity. It changed along the way; the biggest alterations were a switch from first person to third, and the introduction at an agent’s recommendation of a storyline for Rose’s sister Lily.

The first draft was a whopping 140,000 words. The thought of cutting it was frightening, but I was ruthless and cut it to 99,000. Anything less, and the story would be lost. “Rose”, as the manuscript was (and still is!) known in our house, spent various periods sitting in a box while I wrote other things. It is 13 years since that first writing exercise, and the story has changed out of all recognition. I learned to let the characters do the things they wanted to. I learned a lot about story planning, character arcs and sowing clues and red herrings to keep the mystery alive.

Watch the book trailer http://youtu.be/dGjnw-7qaa4

Watch my author interview here http://youtu.be/VOnFDPr90y0

Who Am I?

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I’m a writer currently living in Middle England. I am taking time this year to write a collection of twelve short stories.
I have a great and very patient Editor. I hold an Honours Degree in Applied Human Psychology and I tend not to talk about myself very much mostly because I put all the interesting things on the page, and when you have done that what is there left to say?
I read a great deal and widely. I’m currently listening to a lecture series on Plato’s Republic because, well, I haven’t before. I think it’s important to always be learning and growing.
I enjoy writing and I try to make each piece better than the last.

So, where can I put a comma?

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The comma is quite an expressive punctuation mark and is governed by a set of fairly complicated rules or guidelines. One of the most accessible descriptions of its use can be found in Perfect Punctuation by Stephen Curtis.

The comma acts as both a linker and a separator.

Commas are used to link the items in lists of words. phrases and clauses of the same type, usually replacing and. If the comma cannot be replaced by and, it is in the wrong place.

There are two systems for using commas in lists: A, B and C and A, B, and C. The final comma in the second system is called the ‘serial comma’.

Commas also link subordinate clauses to main clauses.

Commas acting as separators generally work in pairs, except when they are placed at the beginning or end of a sentence.

They also mark off sentence adverbs.

Commas are not used with defining relative clauses ( those in which the subject of the clause is one of a number of people or things of the same type).

Commas are used with non-defining relative clauses (where the subject has already been identified and the clause gives additional information).

Commas are used when you put the name of the person or people you are speaking to into your sentence.

It is easy to misuse commas but just as easy to use them effectively to get your exact meaning across.

 As usual this list of guidelines can seem a little confusing but in practical terms the comma is usually used to ensure clarity of meaning. It is possible to use very few commas in short sentences, if the meaning is still clear. In these situations it is grammatically correct to use the comma but not necessary; you have a choice. Punctuation and phrasing choices are part of what give a writer his unique style. The purpose of punctuation, in all cases, is to signpost meaning. It is up to the writer to decide how to construct his work.
If you find the grammar a little confusing then I suggest a look at Perfect Punctuation (Stephen Curtis,Random House). He gives clear examples of each punctuation mark and the places where you may use them if you choose.
Happy Punctuating.

Why is Writing so Difficult?

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Once you have mastered the alphabet, grasped the grammar and practised punctuation; listened, learned, read and re-read, writing should be easy, shouldn’t it?  As a writer you have the tools, you have the texts and you have the time, and yet writing is difficult. It is elusive, sometimes you catch it and sometimes you don’t, that elusive Muse. 

Let me reassure you that you are far from crazy, and everyone who has ever attempted to write anything longer than a limerick has shared your experience. Sometimes we have all the skills and we don’t know what to say. The Muse is elusive. That is why it is incredibly important to be ready for it. Have paper or a keyboard, have a pen or pencil, have a working knowledge of your language or several, know what constitutes the correct form for articles, essays, novels, blog posts; be prepared.

Be prepared for the Wrestle, because make no mistake there will be a battle between the Muse and the You. Sometimes the Muse will want to inspire us and the You will refuse to comply because, well people may not like what we do. On the other hand they might like what we do, and want another one, and we may not be able to produce another one because the muse is elusive. We really get in our own way when things are worthwhile.

Let me tell you a truth that holds for every writer this planet has ever produced.

There is never a wasted word.

Nothing you produce is ever wasted, even if it is poor in quality. How do you think writers get to the good stuff? We keep creating the words until we make some with merit and even those we polish.

Be prepared. Show up. Keep creating.

And when You pronounce yourself, not good enough, not correct, not worth listening to, channel your inner sulky teenager with a hearty

“Yeah, Whatever.”

and

Be prepared. Show up. Keep creating.

Writing is Difficult. The Muse is elusive, but we all know the answer to that don’t we?

Be….

 

 

There are words

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 There are words. They curl and tumble through time and space, through nebulae and dark stars, teardrops and sea mist, in search of a poet. They search diligently and completely and patiently until they find the one person who can open the universe and let them pour onto the page. They don’t care if the poet has studied or if he is important. They don’t care if he is a he. Their only desire is to flow into being. Time is without consequence. These remnants of the creation seek a creator to speak them into life and when they find their creator they are without mercy, they jostle and push for attention and compel him into action. They are ambivalent about whether the poet writes poetry or paints a story, creation seeks a creator, and the page is more patient than a person. Eventually they will fulfil their purpose and reach the heart they are seeking. And when they are shared, then they grow another poet, who will listen for the words and open the universe to allow them to flow onto the page. It is a mystery of being that the words which come to a poet are often not for the poet, in fact he doubts their necessity or credibility or viability until he accepts their need to be and his need to allow them to be. Then, there is peace and there are words which tumble through time and space…

 

Lost your Voice?

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When you first start editing your own work you might check your spelling, grammar and punctuation, but some of the first questions that your Editor will ask involve Voice and tone. What exactly do they mean by Voice and tone?

It really is very simple. Just think about your own voice, your speaking voice, barring infirmity or accident we all have one and it is uniquely ours. I imagine that family members can tell you from a relative by voice alone. We recognise each other by voice and our voice can tell the world a great deal about us. Where were we born? Have we travelled? What about education, class, ambition? We all make assumptions about those based on voice. That is our speaking voice.

Now imagine your Writing voice. It is just as uniquely yours and it tells the world about you but instead of pitch and lilt we talk about language choice and phrasing. Your writing voice is the expression of your personality on the page and we make the same assumptions about personality and upbringing from grammatical and language choices.

Now consider Tone. We are all used to the idea of tone of voice and none of us would consider using the same tone with a toddler and with our bank manager. The tone of our voice needs to be appropriate to the situation whether we are speaking or writing. This is why a seasoned editor might raise a question mark over the tone of your writing.

Things become more complex when you introduce characters into your writing. Each of these characters will have a Voice and during the course of your writing several tones. It is the job of the Editor to make sure that the Voices of your characters remain consistent throughout your work. To make sure that they do not slip. Any voice slippage should be marked on your manuscript for correction.

Voice slippage is a very common error in even the most seasoned writer’s work. It usually simply means that instead of responding or writing as our character we have become involved in our work and are writing as ourselves. Easily done.

So as you see, there is no mystery to Voice and a good editor is there to make sure that you never lose yours.

 

 

 

 

Procrastination

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Time is a limited resource.

I can hear you cry that you know, and anyway look how busy you are.

Well of course you are. You are very important; one of the cogs that turn the wheel that makes the wossname work. I am not suggesting lack of drive or effort, I am just pondering on those times when we get in our own way. 

I file. I like to file. I have binders and dividers and sticky notes and coloured highlighters. Filing is fun. I know how to do it. I’ve mastered the alphabet so ordering is a piece of cake. It’s all practical, useful, neat and I can find stuff, but

It isn’t Writing.

You see my Procrastination style is – Organiser

 

There are several Procrastination styles available and in a wide variety of colours, such as the

Socialiser – Unable to spend long periods of time alone, the socialiser will spend a couple of extra minutes on every phone call, answer every query and every doorbell and then complain that no-one leaves them alone to get anything done, while they book a dinner meeting because who wants to eat alone, right?

 Awareness will help you to overcome your procrastination style and be more time efficient. The insidious thing about procrastination is that we mostly choose things which look useful and in fact are even necessary in small doses,

Now excuse me while I file this Blog post…where are the P’s?

Confidence

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Writing can be a very lonely profession. I am not for one moment suggesting that writers are friendless or that we live a hermit-like existence on coffee and cheese sandwiches, but much of our working day is of necessity spent inside our own heads. The trouble with spending a great deal of time with ourselves is that we think. We are our nation’s thinkers after all.

What happens if you give a world class thinker nothing but themselves to think about? Self-reflection, insecurity, and boozy Monday mornings, that’s what!

So, how do we avoid the negativity trap? Well, it has a great deal to do with the difference between Egotism and Confidence. Egotism can be defined as the drive to maintain and enhance favourable views of oneself, and generally features an inflated sense of self importance. Confidence on the other hand is the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.

Egotism is emotional toddlerhood – Confidence is emotional adulthood

Egotism always seeks the I and the me. Confidence is always certain of the I and the me and is looking out for the you. We all walk this emotional tightrope. Some days the toddler wins but it helps if you are aware that it is there throwing the mother of all tantrums and you learn not to listen to the ‘I can’t’, ‘They didn’t’, ‘I don’t want to’.

Confidence comes with knowing what you can do for other people. Perhaps you excel at magazine articles, technical papers or short stories. Perhaps you write copy for a website or advertising. Every small success working for the pleasure of other  people will bring you increased confidence.

No amount of success working solely for your own benefit will silence the toddler. You need to learn to grow up and walk away.

And so do I.