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the next year. We’re in similar mood at WM Towers this month, as we get
Published by everything lined up for what we hope will be a phenomenal year ahead,
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Publisher: Collette Smith your writing going in 2018? Plan well now and you’ll stand more chance of
Email:
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or shoot for the moon and miss wildly, we’re with you all the way and
Editor: Jonathan Telfer
itching to hear how you get on. So I’ll stop distracting you... Jonathan Telfer
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Good luck and get writing! Editor
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p003 Editor's letter.indd 3 19/12/2017 11:43

 IN THIS ISSUE
16

56

WRITERS’ NEWS
72 Your essential monthly roundup
of competitions, paying markets,
opportunities to get into print and
INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES publishing industry news

16 Star interview: Barbara Taylor Bradford

The grand dame of dynasty fiction believes there’s always a place for ASK THE EXPERTS
strong women who make their way to the top
10 Grumpy Old Bookman: The ripple effect
22 How I got published: Readinge Get your work out there – it could have an unexpected effect
Karla Forbes the futur expert
up
The author wanted to write thrillers WM rounds 11 On writing: Graham Greene
for women as well as men o n th e way the
opinions l
ndscape wil
publishing la 0 1 8
11 Agent opinion: From the other side of the desk
26 Beat the bestsellers pan out in 2
12
The style and technique of Kathy Reichs See page 21 Ask a literary consultant
Advice for a reader struggling to finish her novella
34 Shelf life: Anna Jacobs
The romantic novelist shares her five favourite reads 40 Talk it over: On course?
Advice for a writer wanting to know the best way to develop her skills
42 Subscriber spotlight
WM subscribers share their publishing success stories 41 Helpline: Your writing problems solved

46 Writers’ circles: Circles’ roundup 58 Writing for children: How to win an agent’s heart
Writing groups share their interests and activities Amy Sparkes quizzes top literary agents to give you the best advice on
getting representation for your children’s book
60 Crime file: Jeff Abbott
The US author talks about researching amnesia for his new 61 Behind the tape: Your crime queries answered
psychological thriller
64 The business of writing: Taxing transformations
70 New author profile: Lloyd Otis Remember the plans for quarterly tax returns? Simon Whaley finds out
The debut crime writer’s novel was inspired by his own experience of what writers need to do now, in preparation
identity theft
67 Research tips: The Victorian era
92 My writing day: Hannah Fielding Explore the fertile 19th century
The novelist keeps to a disciplined schedule to write her sweeping
romances 68 Computer clinic

4 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p004 contents.indd 4 19/12/2017 09:07

 CONTENTS

CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITIONS AND EXERCISES

20 Beginners: See through the fog 29 & 49 WIN!

When you get struck in a writing fog, do something else until the Cash prizes and publication in our latest open and subscriber-only
mists clear short story competitions

24 Inspiration: The write way 30 & 54 Short story winners

Writing guru Julia Cameron shares exclusive advice and inspiration
with Writing Magazine readers
36 Under the microscope
James McCreet considers the beginning of a book for children
Read the winning entries in our latest creative writing competitions
47 Writers’ circles: What is the question?
Get your group members to find out about each other to prompt
new writing ideas

38 Fiction focus: A look back in time 66 Train your brain: Red editing pen
Novelising the past has challenges for the modern historical fiction
writer, but human nature doesn’t change REGULARS

56 Masterclass: In another place 6 Miscellany

Setting accentuates story in Doris Lessing’s Through the Tunnel,
explored by Helen M Walters 8 Letters

62 Fantastic realms: The chosen one? 69 Editorial calendar

Alex Davis puts the case for and against contemporary interpretations of
a well-worn fantasy trope 71 Away from your desk: What’s on for writers in the
wider world
POETRY
77 Going to market
32 Children’s poetry winner
Gross and gooey poems take home our poetry for children prize 83 Novel ideas

50 Poetry workshop: Work it out 87 Travel writing know-how

Alison Chisholm looks at the ways a poet can develop fresh ideas in a
workshop setting
51 Poetry in practice
Clarify your initial ideas for a poem by trying out words on paper
94 Notes from the margin: Learning to fly
Our columnist faces a steep learning curve when she embarks
on a self-publishing project

50
52 Poetry from A to Z
An alphabetic guide through the language of poetry

53 Poetry launch: Monster mash up

To celebrate the bicentenary of Frankenstein, WM launches our
competition for monster poems

62 32

38
www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 5

p004 contents.indd 5 19/12/2017 09:07

 MISCELLANY

THE WORLD OF
WRITING
This month the challenges in Writing Land include drizzle, dysentery
and absqualated hornswogglers, discovered by Derek Hudson

On your marks, get set, write… Last laugh for

Struggling writers were urged to take heart from disappointed writer
novels which were written quickly, in an article
posted on the Interesting Literature website. ‘They Once an editor
are proof that it can be done.’ rejected a story of Isaac
(On the other hand, might it not put beginners Asimov and called
off if they cannot perform at the same speed as it ‘meretricious’, the
literary legends?) GoodReads site recalled.
Interesting Literature was set up in 2012 by Dr ‘The word is from
Oliver Tearle, lecturer in English at Loughborough the Latin meretrix,
University, who is also a freelance writer. meaning “prostitute,”
One example is the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A so that the implication
Study in Scarlet, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was that Asimov was
in just three weeks. prostituting his talent
We learn that Jack Kerouac wrote up (if not wrote from scratch) his and was writing a
classic Beat Generation novel On the Road in just three weeks, typing it on a bad story that would get by on his name alone
continuous roll of paper some 120 feet long. ‘Dostoevsky’s The Gambler was because he was too lazy to write a good one.
completed in just 26 days (though admittedly he was supposed to be (Later the story was sold elsewhere and received
writing Crime and Punishment at the time). Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss considerable acclaim.)
Jean Brodie was also the product of under a month’s work.’ ‘Swallowing his annoyance, Asimov said
The article recalled writers who had worked even faster. ‘John Boyne claimed he mildly, “What was that word you used?”
wrote his recent bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in just two-and-a-half days, ‘Obviously proud at knowing a word he felt
although there had been two months of intensive planning beforehand. Robert Louis Asimov didn’t know, the editor enunciated
Stevenson dashed off the first draft of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in just carefully, “Meretricious!”
three days, although he later burnt the manuscript and started again from scratch ‘Whereupon Asimov replied, “And a Happy
because, so the story goes, his wife didn’t like it.’ New Year to you.”’

6 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p006 Miscellany.indd 6 18/12/2017 09:15

 MISCELLANY

A treasure trove of stories

The Mammoth Book of Literary Anecdotes (Robinson), edited
by Phillip Gordon, is full of good stuff. These tales from
within explain what I’m getting at.
• ‘Graham Green famously remarked that there was
splinter of ice in the heart of every writer, and the
comment is borne out by Arnold Bennett. A realist
writer, Bennett took trouble to get the details right.
He claimed that the description of the death of an old
character in one of his novels could not be improved
upon. “I took infinite pains over it,” he said. “All the time
my father was dying I was at the bedside making copious notes.”’
• ‘The critic and essayist Charles Lamb also tried his hand at writing for the stage. In
1806 his farce Mr H was badly received at Drury Lane Theatre. In the theatre pit Lamb
joined in the general hissing which greeted his own effort. Afterwards he explained that
he had done this because he was so “damnably afraid of being taken for the author.”’
• ‘In one of her diary entries for 1950 the poet Sylvia Plath described how a rainy
August day made her think of writing a poem. But the recollection of the words on a
rejection slip she one received caused her to think again: “After a heavy rainfall, poems
titled Rain pour in from across the nation.”’

Making up was not hard to do

Nolan Moore described on Listverse how in 1895 a down-on-his-luck
American journalist called Lou Stone needed money.
He knew the newspapers in New York would pay over $150 if he
found something to grab their interest, but things were moving slowly
in his locality, Winsted.
So Stone reported there was a hairy wild man running around the
woods of Winsted. Journalists piled into the Connecticut town.
Winsted citizens suddenly remembered seeing a huge tusked man
with Neanderthal arms lurking in the forest. ‘Soon, posses were
marching into the wilderness, armed to the teeth, hunting for the
monster. They only found a donkey.’
Nolan described how Lou Stone confessed
to his hoax, but instead of ending his career, the
wild man made him a star. The ‘Winsted Liar’
began cranking out a new article each week, each
one crazier than the last. He wrote about a chicken that laid red, white,
and blue eggs on the Fourth of July, told of a frog that downed a jug of
applejack and broke into an amphibious rendition of Sweet Adeline. There
was a cow that was accidentally locked in an ice house and, only gave ice
cream for two weeks. Or so he said.

Nursery rhymes –
an introduction to poetry
Dylan Thomas once wrote in praise
of nursery rhymes, revealed Bernard
Richards, Brasenose College, Oxford, in
a letter to the Daily Telegraph.
‘Jane Shilling has rightly pointed
out the value of nursery rhymes. It is
worth recalling that one of the greatest
19th century poets, Gerard Manley From the Write Corner blog: While conversing
Hopkins, thought nursery rhymes with George Bernard Shaw and his wife
provided people with the basis for the (Charlotte Payne-Townshend) one day, the writer
grammar of poetry. A more lyrical Patrick Mahony asked Mrs Shaw how she had
recommendation comes from Dylan Thomas: dealt with her husband’s innumerable, and often
‘Out of them came the gusts and grunts, and hiccups and heehaws persistent, female admirers.
of the common fun of the Earth, and though what the words meant ‘After we were married,’ she began, ‘there was an
was, in its own way, often deliciously funny enough, so much actress who pursued my husband. She threatened
funnier seemed to me, at that almost forgotten time, the shape and suicide if she were not allowed to see him.’ Shaw,
shade and size and noise of the words as they hummed, strummed, of course, had denied her the privilege. ‘And did
jugged and galloped along. she die of a broken heart? Mahony asked. ‘Yes,
‘That was the time of innocence; words burst upon me, she did,’ Shaw’s wife replied. ‘Fifty years later.’
unencumbered by trivial or portentous association; words were their Website: www.thewritecorner.wordpress.com
spring-like selves, fresh with Eden’s dew, as they flew out of the air.’
www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 7

p006 Miscellany.indd 7 18/12/2017 09:15

 TITLE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers
– and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue...
Write to: Letters to the editor, Writing Magazine, Warners
Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds
LS1 5JD; email: letters@writersnews.co.uk. (Include your
name and address when emailing letters. Ensure all
STAR LETTER
FATHER’S PRIDE
On 1 November my father passed away unexpectedly at the age of only 74.
I wanted the world to stop, as in the wonderful poem Funeral Blues by WH
Auden. I soon realised, as I drove up and down the A38 arranging things for
his final goodbye, that nothing stops.
I decided that I wanted to write the eulogy for my father to tell the world,
or at least those who came to his funeral, what a great man he was. Tears
flowed at every attempt, so I decided to open the most recent WM that had
arrived but still lay on my desk unopened. As I flicked through the pages I
understood that my love of reading and writing had come from my father. I
recalled the first hardback book he gave me, The Jungle Book. That book with
its glossy cover, filled with wonderful characters captured my imagination. My
love of books is a beautiful gift that my father fuelled. An avid reader himself,
we swapped and shared books throughout his life.
I have written half-heartedly for ten years or more. I have one book nearly
completed and several half done. I also have ideas. Lots of ideas!
So, with a renewed desire I shall write, and I shall finish and I shall send
my work to competitions and agents. I will do this with passion and safe in
the knowledge that my father would be proud.
CHERALYN WILLCOX-IVES
Uley, Gloucestershire
The star letter each month earns a copy
of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2018,
courtesy of Bloomsbury,
www.writersandartists.co.uk
GET FEEDBACK
WHERE YOU CAN
I am writing in to thank Gaynor Jones for her letter (WM,
Jan). I submitted a piece for the Story for Daniel competition.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t win, but Gaynor’s letter has provided
me with a little bit of feedback. My piece wasn’t weak and was either
beautiful, surreal, funny or touching. The hardest part of rejection
is not knowing whether your story was good or bad. But with
Gaynor’s letter, I can take comfort that it wasn’t the latter, which
in turn, gives me the confidence to re-submit. And, thanks to the
competition, DKMS has another donor.
CLAIRE WILSON
Falkirk, Scotland
8 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p008 Letters.indd 8
letters, a maximum of 250 words, are exclusive to Writing
Magazine. Letters may be edited.)
When referring to previous articles/letters, please state
month of publication and page number.
FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY
Shall I tell you what happens to my copy of Writing Magazine
once I have finished reading it?
First, I fling it up on the side for a while, whilst I pursue
other projects. Then, I get fed up of seeing it on the side and
so I pull it down again and flick back through, tearing out all
the pages whose corners I’ve folded down or whose pristine
look, I’ve violated with my red pen. These are the ‘important
bits’ which I will keep – probably indefinitely. Then, I stuff the
remainder into the magazine rack. At this point, my elder son
usually comes along with his scissors and starts snipping up the
‘leftovers’ to make money or hay bales or food for his dinosaurs.
Sometimes there is a fight. My younger son will decide he
wants the magazine and if he manages to get it, he will read
it or shout ‘Story’ at it until someone reads it to him. If, after
this, there is any magazine left, my husband will ‘clear it up,’
turning it into paper aeroplanes or stuffing it onto the Rayburn
– usually both.
So, now you know, and I hope you are pleased. None of the
words are wasted and the magazine manages to inspire the
whole family, albeit in different ways.
Finally, I hope I’ve reminded you to put your own copies of
Writing Magazine to really good use…
JENNIE GARDNER
Upper Swainswick, Somerset
BUILD UP STEAM
I’ve almost completed my debut humour novel (100,000 words) but ran out
of steam at the start of the final chapter. I continued to re-edit the previous
chapters (as good advice dictates) but needed some fresh inspiration. This was
provided by Strengthen Your Fiction (WM, Jan). I’ve always understood the
concept of ‘show, don’t tell’ but the helpful guidance from this article spurred
me on in leaps and bounds. I removed all the adverbs from my story and
replaced them with strong verbs with the result of more effective dialogue and
a significant reduction in the word count. Thank you Kerrie Flanagan for the
motivating insights. All I need now are a few more tips on writing comedy and
an interested agent!
RENU SIMMONDS
Ruislip, Middlesex
18/12/2017 09:17
 L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I TO R

WRITING WRONGS WAS RIGHT... OR WRONG

Jeff Lyons made a highly (blockage) needs a writing solution.
or writing. As Picasso said: ‘Learn
C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G
Wouldn’t it be easier not to create the mess in the first place?’ But I’d
valid point (Writing Wrongs, never dare voice those controversial thoughts to NaNo fans.
Getting therapy, or taking a yoga class, talking to me?’ Well, it’s not talking
the rules like a pro so you can break
or going to watch TV, or walking in because you’re not giving it anything to
them like an artist.’ There are rules
the forest are not going to work. say! You’re its voice, not the other way
to storytelling and there are rules
I repeat: writing problems require around. It might feel that way when
to great writing, and learning them
writing solutions. This is why I say you’re in that zone, but be very clear –
is part of the craft of storytelling
writer’s block is 99.9% smoke and ‘in the zone’ means you are in sync with
and creative writing. The danger of
0.1% percent substance. The 0.1% your creativity and in balance with your
buying into the ‘no rules’ approach

WM, Dec) explaining that
percent is the only part you can
do anything about. The danger of
this myth is that, like one of last
month’s myths, it gives your power
away to some mysterious ‘other’
that is controlling your process and
productivity. Take back your power
and know that being ‘blocked’ from
So, my guilty secret is that I write slowly and edit as I go.
talent and craft, and when these are in
“Do not listen to these ten Sirens on
the
rocks, because they will only lure you
to your
doom with their promise of quick fixes
and

Jeff Lyons’ article about writing myths has vindicated me. For there it
feel-good stopgaps”

writer’s block is nothing

time to time is just a part of the
normal story development process, not
is that writers think they can just fly
some writing road hazard that you will balance your process will flow elegantly
free, unhindered by best practices,
drive over, stalling your car. Falling and fluidly and feel as if it is running by
and everything will work out. This
back on your story structure craft skills itself with you trailing behind. Know
is another form of giving away one’s
is the royal road to busting writer’s this is not what is really happening.
power to the process, rather than
block and freeing your productivity.

was: the last and greatest myth. ‘The granddaddy of all creative writing
You are the creative force here, not the

really to do with the writing

Writing
taking responsibility for it. Learn your
In fact it is the only way to clear the story and not the characters. You, the
craft, learn the rules, then break them
pipeline and get writing again. writer, give the story its form and its
like a conscious writer.
characters their voices. Never forget
#4: There are no rules when it this; don’t ever give away your power,
#3: Good stories and good
comes to creative writing. not even to your stories.
characters writes themselves.
The lie: Nobody knows anything (as
The lie: Good stories will talk to you

WR
screenwriter William Goldman once #2: Outlines and story

ON GSGS process per se, but about the myths is: Just do it; just write.’
and take over and you will be lead by
said). There are no rules to creative structure kill creativity.

WRON
the story, rather than forcing it yourself.
writing, so don’t get distracted by all the The lie: Outlining, planning,
When this happens it will feel effortless
how-to experts out there. Just write. structuring is all too controlling of the
and flow easily and you will be in the
The truth: Of course there are story. When you do these things you limit
zone. So get out of the way and let the
rules. The universe runs on rules. yourself and kill the creative process,
story find its own voice and expression.
Physics has rules, chemistry has rules, which has to flow unfettered to be most
The truth: Stories don’t write
mathematics has rules. How does effective. Be a pantser (go with the flow,

external world of the writer
myths that stop writers realising their
Continuing to bust the self-perpetuating
the five most destructive creative
consultant Jeff Lyons takes down
I read his logical explanation about the lie we’re being fed, with
themselves and characters don’t write
creative writing get a pass on that? Of by the seat of your pants), not a planner.
themselves. You are the writer; you write
course there are rules, and those rules The truth: Just the opposite is
potential, story are the rules of classical it all – it’s all you and your subconscious
story structure mind. When you are true. Story development and creative
writing myths in sync with your
and the established rules of language writing are reductive processes, not
subconscious mind, and with your
usage (grammar, syntax, and rhetoric). additive. What this means is that as
creative process, it will feel effortless,
Everything based on a system is run by you develop your story you have to

L
can’t prioritise and make informed easy, and flowing. You will be in the
just generic blockage. What I mean is rules
That – the physical universe dictates make choices: make Joe the hero, set

growing pleasure.
creative choices what to do next. this,

disrupting the process. I

ast month we looked at
this: the feeling of being blocked has
the bottom five of the top
nothing to do with writing process. A
ten creative writing myths
writer might feel blocked because their
responsible for much of the
lover left them, or they have financial
pain associated with failed
trouble, or life has them depressed
writing and derailed storytelling. Now, this might affect their
– and while
in reverse order of destructiveness, let’s
ability to write, the blockage itself
not story or writing gurus. So,
is blockage related to actual writing
who says what the story structure or
process, and thus the only legitimate
language rules should be? This gets
form of writer’s block.
a bit problematic, I understand, but
I have written extensively on this
this isn’t really hard to figure out.
issue (Anatomy of a Premise Line:Every
so-called story expert or creative (ie,
How to Master Premise and Storywriting teacher
Focal teaches the same basic
Development for Writing Success, stuff.
zone. But, it is not the story driving the
the story in New York, make the genre
process, it is you. I state again: you are
sci-fi, give Joe a love interest, etc.
the writer. You are in control, but that
doesn’t mean you are being controlling. Likewise you make writing decisions:
tell the story in first person, use
Being in control doesn’t mean
flashbacks, keep chapters under three
dominating and containing and forcing
pages, etc. Every choice you make
controlling). Being in control means
harnessing, directing, and co-creating reduces your options and limits your

happen to agree with him
look at the top five myths, the worst has nothing to do with writing or
of the worst, and break down the lie creative process. The solution to the
at the core of each. Finally, we’ll reveal blockage is also unrelated to writing
the truth that you can use to bust each process (ie, find a new lover, get a
myth once and for all.
job, get therapy). In other words:
writer’s block is only valid if it sources
#5: Writer’s block is real.
from your writing process, and there
The lie: Duh – writer’s block is real.
Yes, they all have their own
is that
Press 2015), but the bottom lineproprietary
theories and ideas, but
any blockage that is not related at to this
the core of every guru’s ‘teachings’
single issue (pipeline too clogged) is not
are the same basic concepts. It doesn’t
writer’s block, it is merely life blockage.
take
(and a rocket scientist to figure those
The solution to this legitimate out,
directlybut it does take getting familiar
only!) form of writer’s block is with
what is being taught ‘out there’,
related to writing process: ie, apply
Seems like I’m doing just fine after all.
set of resources that you can draw
with your creative process. Buying into
on for scene-level material. If you
this myth is another form of giving
choose ‘A’ then you eliminate ‘B to
away your power to the process itself,
Z’. Development and writing reduce
rather than taking total responsibility for
it. Ironically this is one of the reasons your options, they do not increase
them, but this actually opens up your
writers fear the blank page, because they
creativity because you have direction
sit waiting for the story to take control

that circumstances the Mr Lyons, I can’t thank you enough. You have blown apart the
is only one circumstance where this structure
and then
skills to using those conscious-writer and tell them where to go. When that and form and structure that all work
The truth: No, it is not (well, kind might occur: when you have so much
your craft and story
abilities I talked about last month to together to generate new ideas and
problem
break the blockage. A writing discern doesn’t happen, they get anxious and
of ). What most people perceive as in your creative pipeline that you the universal truths of story possible scene material. And those
often despairing, ‘Why isn’t the story
writer’s block isn’t writer’s block, it’s new ideas are all in harmony with the
www.writers-online.co.uk
12 DECEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk
DECEMBER 2017 13

writer sometimes finds him whole premise of ‘keep writing regardless of quality and don’t stop to
24/10/2017 11:32
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p012 Myths part 2.indd 12
24/10/2017 11:32

or herself in can create a lack of focus – even if he understands it won’t edit’. You have perfectly expressed what I’ve secretly thought all along
make deadline or pay bills. It is sometimes difficult to get into the zone. was utter tosh.
That said we wouldn’t take a week off work to worry about mortgage Next year when my writer friends ask me if I’m going to join in
payments or relationship problems. We force ourselves out of bed, NaNoWriMo I shan’t make lame excuses. I shall simply say: ‘No.’
traipse through the rain, board a train and ensure we get our cheque SUSAN A EAMES
each month. And, when the going gets tough, we overcome hurdles at Caher, Co Cork, Republic of Ireland
work or whatever challenge lands on our desk. So, I felt I should write
and attempt to contribute what I consider another contender for the Many things in December issue of Writing Magazine resonated with
‘Writer’s block’ phenomenon – something we are faced with every day me, but in particular Jennifer Egan’s advice (Miscellany), where she says
and in various situations, and that is self-doubt. the best advice she was ever given was ‘Be patient’. I think most writers
Recently, during planning, I questioned too much, I told myself my who have been around for a little while must already have taken that
ideas were drying up and what I’d written wasn’t good enough, but I one on board but immediately below she gives her own suggestion,
realised I’d heard many writers share this experience – this self-doubt. It ‘Don’t be afraid to write badly. Once you have something on the page
can be disguised as block, but let me say, that as a writer, be aware, you you can fix it’.
are not on your own: self-doubt is real! This is particularly relevant to me as I write, because I am
KAREN ALDOUS participating in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, the
Meopham, Kent annual challenge to write 50,000 words during November.
I’m on track to finish within the allotted time but I haven’t, as I
The spectre that is NaNoWriMo loomed, with fellow writers excitedly normally would, edited as I go along. I hope I haven’t written too
asking who was participating. I made my usual excuses and backed off. badly and that what Jennifer says proves to be right – that once I have
You see, I can’t write without editing. I’ve tried to follow the advice of something on the page I’ll be able to fix it. Now all I have to do is wait
all those creative teaching writers who exhort me to: ‘Just write. Don’t until the end of the month to see what I’ve written. Then the hard work
stop to edit. Don’t worry if it’s rubbish, you can fix it later.’ will begin.
And my internal voice says: ‘really? But how will I find the motivation NATALIE KLEINMAN
and stamina to sort out thousands of words of rubbish afterwards? Blackheath, London SE3

WHO KNOWS?
Michael Allen reports that Carolyn Reidy said ‘Self-publishers have now I really am at a loss regarding what is required by publishers.
stolen almost all the business from the traditional firms who were once We are constantly advised of the need to make writing readable,
in charge,’ which somewhat surprised me. Stolen the business? Really? and yet the article regarding the Interesting Literature website
I’ve sent my manuscript off to a number of traditional publishers and (Miscellany, WM, Jan) mentions James Joyce’s non-use of inverted
agents, most didn’t reply, a few said ‘not for us’ and two said ‘not for us, commas, other punctuation quirks and made up words, in his
but do keep sending your manuscript out’. Ulysses. This makes Ulysses unreadable for me, and yet apparently
Because of this I’m am now going to spend just six more months many people regard this as the greatest novel of the century – I’ve
trying to go down the traditional publishing route, but if that doesn’t never met one of these people.
work out, then self-publish it is. This won’t be a self-publisher stealing Will Self ’s Shark – consisting of one 466-page paragraph –
the business from the traditional publishers, but traditional publishers was also published and had good reviews, even though it was
driving authors away and leaving them with no option other than self- unreadable.
publishing. Alison Chisholm’s comments on poems that had been entered
Publishers need to start taking a risk on new authors otherwise when for the humour themed competition explains that some poems
their current authors die off they won’t have anyone left to publish in missed the short list because of haphazard punctuation or sloppy
the future. grammar. This never stopped James Joyce.
If Carolyn Reidy would like to make me an offer before I self-publish, I was thinking of submitting a short story for one of WM’s
I would be delighted, as I am sure many other authors would be. I’m competitions consisting of one 1,500-1,700-word paragraph. But
not holding my breath though. I won’t – as that would be Selfish.
DAVID GIRLING TERRY BALDOCK
Hempstead, Kent Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire,

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 9

p008 Letters.indd 9 18/12/2017 09:17

 GRUMPY OLD BOOKMAN
I
recently came across my original
copy (bought in 2007) of
Andrew Losowsky’s remarkable
book The Doorbells of Florence.
Doorbells, as I shall abbreviate
it, was first published under the
Prandial Publishing/Lulu imprint,
which means that it was self-published
– because that’s what Lulu.com did
then (and still does, very well).
Doorbells is essentially a collection
of photographs of unusual doorbells
in the city of Florence. Having
taken the photographs, Losowsky
then wrote a series of short stories
about the imagined person(s) who
lived behind those doors. But these
are not just stand-alone stories:
Losowsky introduces a narrative
thread which links both the first and
the last of them, and which reappears
periodically throughout the book.
At the end of the year, Doorbells
won the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize for
the best work of fiction published
through Lulu in that year. It went
on attract some favourable press
comment. After that… well, as far as I
was concerned, it all went a bit quiet.
However, once I found my ten-year-
old copy of this early book, I looked
the author up; and it turns out that he
has been far from idle.
To begin with, he succeeded in
getting Doorbells republished in
2009 by a well established trade
publisher, namely Chronicle Books
in San Francisco. This was quite an
achievement, because the Lulu version
included 36 full-colour photographs
(expensive to print on good paper). To
reduce costs the Chronicle version was
therefore more modest in appearance
than Lulu’s. But it was marketed by
a firm which is well respected in the
book trade, and that is always helpful.
You’re more likely to earn money that
way for one thing. And you may find
that it encourages people to approach
you with new projects.
A couple of extraordinary offers
10 DECEMBER 2017
p010 Grumpy.indd 10
The ripple effect
Get your work out there, says Michael Allen
– it could have an unexpected effect
soon came Losowsky’s way. First, an
American contacted him and asked if
he would allow the book to be used
as the basis for a ballet. This was an
odd idea to say the least, but it’s always
nice to be asked. And although the
ballet has yet to happen, a stage
adaptation of the book really
“”
was mounted in London.
The short stories became
a stage play about the
art of storytelling. An American contacted
It used the original him and asked if he would
images as ‘flickering
inspirations for leaps
allow the book to be used
of imagination’; the as the basis for a ballet.
two actors treated the This was an odd idea to
images much as other
storytellers might use a say the least.
bonfire to tell ghost stories.
Losowsky was quite happy,
it seems, to give his permission for
this stage production. After all, he said,
it didn’t much matter whether he liked
the show or not. ‘I’m only the writer.’
This remark nicely illustrates one of
Losowsky’s beliefs about the current
writing scene. Like Cory Doctorow,
he believes that the impact of a
writer’s story will vary according to the
medium in which it is presented, and
the audience which consumes it.
In common with most other writers
these days, Andrew Losowsky has a
website, and on it he tells us that he
was born in the UK, has worked for
many big names in journalism (eg the
Guardian, Wall Street Journal), and
currently teaches journalism and design
in New York. Most revealing of all,
however, are his lists of publications
since Doorbells, and some short videos
expounding some of his ideas.
A quick look at the list of books
reveals that he has moved away from
fiction and has written widely on the
world of print design and editorial
trends. A common theme of his work
seems to be the wide possibilities
which the digital age offers to us
writers. This is a theme which I have
www.writers-online.co.uk
banged on about myself for some
time, so I may well investigate some
of Losowsky’s books in more detail.
Turning Pages, for example, subtitled
Editorial design for print media, is
published by Gestalten and deals
with what is clearly one of Losowsky’s
main conclusions: namely that the
availability of digital technology
does not herald the end
of print media, as some
suggest; rather it means
that the true golden age of
print is right now.
While doing some
background research into
Losowsky’s career, I found
myself strongly reminded of
the great disintermediator (as I
think of him), Jack Saunders. To
disintermediate is to forget about
traditional publishers, and to get your
work direct to the reader, cutting
out the traditional routes through
publishers and booksellers. Here’s
what Jack had to say to writers, about
ten years ago:
‘Disintermediate now. Don’t wait
for permission. Start from where you
are. Get better by doing it. By and
by, a cult will form around you. You’ll
be respected by your peers. You’ll be
known in the narrow world of what
you do as a mensch. A stand-up guy.
A soldier.’
Hear hear.
Nowadays the means of
disintermediation include self-
publishing in print form (thousands
of pounds cheaper than it was twenty
years ago), ebooks, and possibly the
use of social media such as Twitter.
And the amazing thing is, it all costs
us next to nothing.
Our disintermediated work may
(perhaps) interest others and lead to
offers of collaboration or adaptation.
Or, conversely, not a soul may read
it. But one thing is certain: if it ain’t
out there somewhere, no one will
ever notice.
18/12/2017 09:44

On Writing
Tony Rossiter explores great words
from great writers
“”
W
‘The great advantage of being
a writer is that you can spy on
people. You’re there listening to
every word, but part of you is
observing. Everything is useful
to a writer… ’
GRAHAM GREENE
I
t’s true. As a writer, you can spy on everything and
© archivio Giovannetti/effigie
everyone. Unseen or disregarded, you can be the fly
on the wall.
People-watching is a pastime as old as the hills. We tend
to indulge in it most when we’re on holiday or relaxing with
friends in a café or a bar, but it’s a habit you can cultivate.
Whatever your workaday routine, if you set your mind to it
you can incorporate people-watching seamlessly into your
daily life so that it becomes second-nature, as natural as
getting out of bed in the morning.
The possibilities are endless. Overheard snippets of
conversation can be jotted down and used in your writing.
When he was a teenager Alan Bennett used to scribble down
stuff he overheard on his trolleybus journey to school. Maeve
Binchy loved to eavesdrop on conversations in restaurants
and buses. If you overhear a striking phrase, think about
attaching it to one of your fictional characters.
Listening to every word someone says can be hard work.
It’s easy to switch off, especially if the subject-matter is less
than riveting and the person who’s doing the talking loves the
sound of their own voice. It requires a lot of concentration,
but it can be worth the effort. Amongst all the dross, you
might just strike gold.
Get into the habit of looking – really looking – at the
people you come across in your daily life. Physical features
that strike you as interesting can be stored away, perhaps to
use as the basis for a fictional character. Pay attention to facial
expressions and body language. A person’s clothes may give
clues to their occupation, social class or even character. It can
be fascinating to speculate about someone you see. Where do
they come from? What do they do for a living? What family
or other relationships do they have? Where do they live?
What are their interests? And what are they really like?
Make a point of always carrying a notebook. You never
know when you might see or hear something you can use.
If you don’t record it immediately, chances are it will be
lost for ever. You can use a smart phone or an iPad to make
notes, but for me nothing beats my small black notebook. I
wouldn’t be without it..
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p011 On writing / piers.indd 11
AGENT OPTIN
I T LIO
E
N
From the
OTHE R SIDE
OF THE DESK
In publishing, biggest is not always
best, reflects Piers Blofeld
ay back in the sixties and into the seventies publishers were divided
into hardback and paperback houses. These were not just different
divisions, but wholly different companies. So grand old names like
Hodder & Stoughton or Macmillan would originate books in hardback
but would not sully their hands with grubby little paperbacks – the format
which of course generated the biggest sales and the biggest profits – but
would sell those rights on to their more commercially minded colleagues.
Inevitably these paperback houses began to wonder why they were
buying paperback rights individually and whether it might make more
sense to buy the whole company. Which is exactly what happened –
although these acquisitions were often presented as mergers to spare the
blushes of the hidebound dinosaurs: so Hodder merged with Headline,
Pan with Macmillan.
The eighties saw that process of conglomeration continue so that by the
nineties we had the big five of British publishing dominating – Random
House, Penguin, Harper Collins, Macmillan and Simon and Schuster
accounting for a vast proportion of the books sold in the UK trade.
There were good business reasons for this. Publishing was incredibly
sales led. Achieving dominance in retail was all important and the more big
authors you had in your stable – the kinds of brand names that booksellers
had to stock on their shelves – the greater power you had to launch the
careers of debut authors.
And that really leads us to where publishing is today. Despite the fact that
as first supermarkets and then Amazon moved into book selling the need
for big sales forces vanished, the logic of the last 25 years still held sway,
culminating with Penguin merging with Random House in 2013.
The reason for this was supposedly to enable them to counter the
dominance of Amazon by giving them enough of those big brand authors
to be able to have a strong bargaining position. In reality though there seems
to be little evidence that PRH gets better terms or operates more successfully
within Amazon than any of its rivals.
We are now really in the era of the big three – Macmillan and Simon and
Schuster are so much smaller than the others and it seems to me possible to
argue that the big publishers, like muscle bound boxers, are hampered by their
size: by top down management structures, by sales forces that are too remote
from their editorial colleagues, by one size fits all edicts about pricing etc.
Certainly one can look at the success of companies like Macmillan –
or Bookouture and Head of Zeus – and feel that their cohesiveness and
sharpness of focus gives them great advantages in an era when every book
needs bespoke attention. Of course the big companies are still full of hugely
talented people doing fantastic work, but I suspect that their big management
challenge of the future will be to structure themselves so that they can act with
some of the freedom and fleet footedness of their smaller rivals.
The big question mark that hangs over that is that big organisations develop
their own bureaucratic gravity and however well meaning management is it
can be very hard to generate enough thrust to escape it. Indeed, it is one of
the curiosities of corporate life that to a very real extent the people at the very
top can feel almost as powerless as they did at the beginning of their careers: it
is certainly a lament I have heard more than once from people who have been
promoted to a position where they are no longer actively involved with the
nitty gritty of publishing and they very often miss it. They may be paid very
well indeed, but it is one of the curious ironies of publishing that being CEO
may actually be a waste of their talents.
FEBRUARY 201811
18/12/2017 09:45
 Reading
What does 2018 hold for you? WM canvassed the experts’ assessments of the state of the publishing
industry and their predictions – personal and professional – for the year ahead
Adam Croft
Indie author and publisher
It’s always a sign of success when others try to bring you
down, and that’s where self-publishing now finds itself.
2017 has been full of news stories of ‘declining ebook
sales’ (ebook sales are actually considerably up; it’s ereader sales which are
slightly down, mainly because everyone already has one).
That said, we can’t rest on our laurels. This half (now nearer three
quarters) of the industry is incredibly fast-moving. Everyone wants to know
what the next big thing will be, following on from the success of previous
breakthrough technologies and marketing strategies.
Will it be the much-lauded Facebook Messenger chatbots? I’m putting
my neck on the line by saying no. They’ll quickly be judged to be shallow,
invasive and very very annoying. Nor do I think this year will finally be the
year of the audiobook. They’ll continue to grow, of course, but I don’t think
we’ll ever see the explosion that’s optimistically touted in parrot fashion by
industry experts every December.  reviews become ever rarer (especially following the closure
Digital publishing is levelling out, and that’s a good thing. The market is
stabilising with independent publishers now in the majority and the market
maturing to a level that suits both the author-publisher and the reader.
It also means newcomers to digital publishing are likely to find the field
much easier to enter. With traditional publishing continuing to decline, why
not become part of the digital publishing movement?
Piers Blofeld
Literary agent
2017 was a rare publishing year in which there was no
stand out bestseller – no Girl on a Train or Fifty Shades
and that has meant that overall the numbers are slightly
down for the year: nothing could better illustrate how important those big
bestsellers are for the business – and for grabbing the imagination of the
public and bringing in new readers.
In part that is because there has been no new trend: psychological thrillers
aren’t going away, but that wave has diminished and nothing has come along
to replace it. In film and TV people are talking about ‘grounded sci-fi’ as
the next trend – and I think that’ll be an interesting space – I also think that
2018 will be the year in which psychological thrillers move from being just
domestic noir and really start taking on the international stage: there is a
whole host of octogenarian, male thriller writers waiting to be replaced!
12 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p012 State of Publishing.indd 12
the future
Alexia Casale
YA author and director of the YA
Shot festival
Despite booming sales, publishers are
buying fewer Young Adult novels from
both published authors and debuts. While there’s been an
upsurge in Middle Grade acquisitions, it’s already starting
to stall.
This is partly due the challenges of ‘discoverability’ in
a world with so many channels to publicise books, from
traditional ads and reviews to newer forms like social media.
Bookshops are closing and so are libraries: those that aren’t
are severely under-staffed and under-funded. As professional
of the Guardian Children’s Books site), book-blogs and
-vlogs have proliferated, but they too are competing
across channels for attention. A few ‘big fish’ seem to be
swallowing up most of the attention, starving many others
and creating a bookish ‘squeezed middle’.
Whenever times seem dark, escapist stories boom so it’s no
surprise many recent hits are fantasy – but fantasy with a social
conscience (Alwyn Hamilton, Jonathon Stroud, Nick Ostler and
Mark Huckerby, and James Nicol and Lorraine Gregory for MG).
People want to be transported to different worlds with different
problems, but these worlds must help explain why the real world
is so dark – and provide hope. Humour is also seeing an uptick
(Maggie Harcourt, Holly Smale, and Tom Easton for MG), but
publishers are struggling to find enough excellent funny books.
Meanwhile, readers of Contemporary are largely sticking with
authors they know and love (Holly Bourne, Sara Barnard, Sarah
Crossan). Thrillers have been tilting towards dystopias (Polly
Ho-Yen), but Emily Barr and CJ Daugherty (now also writing for
adults) show there’s strong demand for ‘real-world’ stories, though
American-set books dominate the genre.
2018 will be a year of debuts with political/human rights themes,
contemporary books tackling difficult topics with plenty of laughs,
new books by established ‘big fish’ authors (hopefully including
Katherine Rundell and Frances Hardinge) and a few ‘second books’
by the strongest debuts of 2017 (Karen Gregory stands out for me).
But there will be fewer new YA books across the board – probably
until at least 2020. The YA landscape is changing and publishers are
striking fewer and fewer deals as they wait to see what lies ahead…
18/12/2017 09:47

Phoebe Morgan
Commissioning editor, Avon, and author
Following the huge success of the ‘grip-lit’ genre, what I’m looking for now
as a commissioning editor is women’s fiction – and I’m certainly not alone
in that. Recent meetings with other editors and agents have confirmed that
we are, in fact, all hunting for the same thing, which gives coffee meet-ups
quite a competitive air! Women’s fiction has been in a bit of a decline for the
last few years (other than large brands), but a disastrous eighteen months of
politics combined with an over-saturation of psychological thrillers has given it
a welcome boost. Earlier this year, I read The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, which
eventually went to Quercus – a wonderful, funny, relatable book about two
millennials who share a bed (he’s a doctor who works nights, she’s an editor
who works days) because they can’t afford rent. It will be out in 2019, and I
can’t recommend it enough. I think we will see an uplift in books like this, that
throw light onto 21st century problems and feature warm, funny characters
rather than unreliable alcoholics (though I do love those!).
Nicholas Royle
Novelist, MMU senior lecturer and editor,
Salt Publishing
With my Salt hat on, I’m looking forward to publishing new novels by
Alison Moore and Kerry Hadley-Pryce – Missing and Gamble respectively
– and a debut novel by Samuel Fisher. I’m also excited about Vesna Main’s
short story collection, Temptation, A User’s Guide, and Alison Moore’s first
book for children, Sunny and the Ghosts. That’s just my Salt list for 2018. It
happens to include four books by women, not because I’m getting on board
with 2018 being, apparently, the Year of Publishing Women, but because
Alison and Kerry both happened to deliver new books in time for 2018 and
because Vesna approached me with her stories. She didn’t approach me at
Salt, however, but at Nightjar Press, the small press I run dedicated to dark
and uncanny short fiction published in chapbook format. Her work wasn’t a
good fit for Nightjar, but I became as excited by it for Salt as I did about Sam
Fisher’s novel, The Chameleon, a novel narrated by a book. We’re just sorting
out the proofs of Sam’s novel as I write. Jen Hamilton-Emery’s Salt list for
2018 features two novels by former Manchester Metropolitan University MA
students; Bee Lewis and James Clarke are both publishing their debut novels.
I’m excited by the confidence – and the publications (existing and
forthcoming) – of a handful of small independent publishers such as Dodo
Ink, Influx Press, Dead Ink Books, Confingo Publishing, Unthank Books,
Galley Beggar Press and Test Centre. I like publishers who commission
interesting and original writers, who go to the trouble and expense of
designing good-looking books and don’t get them cheaply printed by – well,
you don’t need me to name the biggest culprit in cheap printing. You can spot
their books anywhere. They don’t lie flat on a desk and their covers have the
texture of migraine.
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p012 State of Publishing.indd 13
READING THE FUTURE
I’m also excited for Avon to publish A Grand Old Time, a debut about a
75-year-old woman who escapes from a care home and takes a trip around
Europe in a camper van. More and more, we’re seeing older protagonists take
centre stage, and this is something I think will continue into 2018-19. Trapeze
will publish Bonnie & Stan, a love story about a retired couple, and Penguin
published The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 1/4. Years Old this summer.
There’s a huge market there, and these books are refreshing and real.
In terms of crime, I’m looking forward to bringing out Hold My Hand in
2018, a thriller sparked by the spate of clown sightings in the US last year.
Publishers are growing adept at reading the public consciousness, and this is
something I’ve worked on with the author, with (hopefully) an exciting result
that taps into a common fear. We’re seeing a lot of this in the industry, and I
think this will continue too. There will always be an appetite for crime – but
now, crime books are sharing the shelves with women’s fiction rather than
dominating alone.
Alex Gazzola
Freelance journalist
Print journalism is dying — that’s the prevailing
view. But print books rallied against ebooks,
and even vinyl has enjoyed an unlikely musical
renaissance. There will always be printed journals
and newspapers, I think, but only a fool can deny
online media won’t continue to grow.
Rates, though, are plunging; it’s depressing to see major players paying
derisory sums for quick-read, online articles, or nothing at all for blog
posts. These openings will continue to attract eager, aspiring contributors,
but the poorly written and under-researched results ultimately help
nobody. Similarly, the Insta and blogger generation will persist in churning
out flattering content for anyone offering a cheque: but taking money from
your subject isn’t photography or journalism — it’s advertising, something
of which readers are often oblivious.
Some argue that refusing to work for poor rates is the answer to the
crisis, but that’s only part of it: our aim in 2018 has to be to raise the
profile and value of our work, and ‘out’ the self-serving content for what
it is. We have to sell ourselves to readers as objective service-providers of
valuable facts, and remind them what they’re in danger of losing.
I reckon we also have to be more ambitious: we ought now to have
recovered from the shock of finding ourselves in a post-truth era, and
propose gripping stories which demand to be told, which editors find hard
to refuse. If you need to adapt and diversify into translation or tutoring or
even shelf-stacking to pay the bills, then fine – because that’s what many
will need to do – but succumbing to the pull of writing click-bait for
peanuts is excavating under our foundations. What I want to see in 2018
is us engendering a culture where editors and readers demand top-notch
articles – which we then need to provide!
FEBRUARY 2018 13
18/12/2017 09:47
 Amy
Sparkes
Children’s author
The world of children’s fiction is an exciting
place. Sales are thriving, new writers are
emerging, self-publishing options are
numerous… it’s a good time to be a children’s author.
It was wonderful to launch the Writing Magazine Picture Book
Prize last year – a great opportunity to encourage aspiring authors and
help them get a foot in the publishing door. The number of entries
was phenomenal, showing a real need for a book prize like this. I’m
really looking forward to running it again this September and hope
aspiring picture book authors will participate. Keep your eyes on
www.amysparkes.co.uk/picture-book-prize for more information
during the year.
And what books are trending in the publishing world? For
picture books (ages 0-6), humorous, anarchic stories continue to
sell well. Softer, magical books are still essential for the market,
but can be harder to sell. For a debut author, a ‘louder’ book is
probably a safer bet.
In young fiction books (ages 5-9), series ideas are ever popular, so
a strong concept is a good starting point. Traditionally, this can be a
difficult area to break into for authors, publishers and booksellers and
this probably remains the most challenging age group to write for.
Middle-grade books (age 9-12) are doing well across the genres:
fantasy, adventure, real-life and humour, to name a few. With the
20th anniversary of Harry Potter last year, middle-grade books have
received a high profile and publishers are constantly on the lookout
for talented authors.
There is an increase of celebrity authors in children’s fiction but
do not be discouraged! There will always be a need for a brilliant
story which is well-told.
Julia Bell
14 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p012 State of Publishing.indd 14
AA Dhand
Crime author
2017 was a phenomenal year for crimewriting
and 2018 looks to have no slow-down in
readers’ appetites for domestic noir or pulsating
detective thrillers, especially ones which push
readers’ minds to the darker side of human
psyche. One big 2017 release was Ragdoll, where a serial killer stiches
together different parts of several victims. Building on that success,
one novel I am very much looking forward to is The Puppet Show by
Mike Craven, published by Little, Brown and set in Cumbria where
a character known as the Immolation Man is burning old men alive
in the middle of the Lake District’s prehistoric stone circles. Craven
introduces us to his main character, Washington Poe, and I can tell you
all personally that Craven is destined for huge success.
Imran Mahmood’s legal thriller, You Don’t Know Me was a
remarkable debut in 2017 and my book of the year, where an unnamed
defendant, accused of murder, sacks his lawyers just before the closing
speeches and gives his own defence speech. As Mahmood is a criminal
barrister, he brings an authenticity which mirrors a certain John
Grisham. Off the back of that, the thriller I am most looking forward
to in 2018 is Steve Cavanagh’s TH1RT3EN. You only need the first line
to pull you in – ‘The serial killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.’ Wow.
This one looks very special indeed.
Finally, with domestic noir continuing to dominate publishing
charts, it seems we cannot get enough of homely situations which turn
sinister especially when we as the reader cannot fathom who is friend
from enemy? A standout hit for 2017 was The Couple Next Door by
Shari Lapena. For 2018 readers should look out for The House Swap by
Rebecca Fleet and Need to Know by Karen Cleveland, which both play on
themes of danger inside your own home, albeit in very different ways.
Course Convenor, MA Creative
Writing, Birkbeck, University
of London
2018 is going to be an exciting
year for us at Birkbeck we’ve got
some more scholarships which we
will be announcing soon which
means that even more talented
students on low incomes can do
our courses. Thanks so much to
Kit de Waal for helping to kick start this generous giving.
This is having a big effect on our student body – we’ve
now got one of the most diverse MA cohorts in the whole
country and over the next few years we’re going to see some
of those fantastic writers being published. Watch out for
novels by alumni Mary Lynn Bracht, Luke Tredget and
Amer Anwar all hitting the shelves in 2018.
18/12/2017 09:47

Alex Davis
Horror writer and publisher
Predictions are always hard to make, and on
many occasions you end up with egg on your
face when it comes to second-guessing the
world of publishing. However, that has never
stopped the brave among us before, so here’s what
I’m looking to see from horror in 2018.
1) More great books to emerge from the independent press. Joe
Hill and Andrew Michael Hurley both got their first chances on the
independent scene before finding a home – and a great deal of success
– with mainstream publishers. With the larger side of publishing
unfortunately looking less than ever for horror in their submissions,
the known quantities and emerging talent out there with small presses
could well find themselves opportunities with the major presses,
especially if they land awards or high profile for the work.
2) The death of monsters – for now. Fair to say this has been a
prediction for a while, but much more horror seems to be leaning
in a supernatural or human direction now than it has for a long
time. As with all things in publishing, you can expect this to be
cyclical, but in the immediate term I think you’ll see fewer zombies,
werewolves and vampires in horror fiction.
3) The continued resurgence of the gothic and the ghost story.
Unlikely to be branded horror, but we have seen some wonderful
gothic tales and ghost stories written in recent times, and I expect
this to be a likely trend going forward. Look out for authors such
as Catriona Ward, Laura Purcell and Neil Spring to do well in the
form in 2018.
4) Horror vanishing from bookshops. A process we’re already
starting to see, and sad to say, but there really isn’t enough new
horror coming up from the major presses to justify a separate shelf
in many bookshops. Horror will slip in among SF and fantasy
soon enough, with select titles maybe wending their way over to
the crime section. By no means will it be dead, just keeping closer
company with other speculative or dark genres.
Julie Phillips
Non-fiction freelance and short story writer
2017 has been an interesting year for my writing. I haven’t achieved
everything I wanted but I achieved some of it and that’s good enough
for me. My euphoria at finally getting a short story published in Take
a Break Fiction Feast was short lived after they changed their policy
to – like My Weekly and, temporarily, Woman’s Weekly – only accept
submissions from regular contributors. It was a big blow and felt very
unfair at the time. Their loss. What does it mean for short story writers
aiming at the women’s magazines? There are far too many talented
writers aiming at too few spaces, with a lot of disappointed writers.
I’m lucky to have another job outside writing that gives me a
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p012 State of Publishing.indd 15
READING THE FUTURE
Helen Corner-Bryant
Director, Cornerstones
Well, this started quite a debate when I put it to my
team of Cornerstones editors… This is what we decided: let’s all hide under
our duvets and read to escape the news.
According to Publishers Weekly, physical book sales are up by 9% on last
year, with a reported 15% for non fiction, led by Pete Souza’s book, Obama:
An Intimate Portrait. People are diving into fantasy and books about a good
President to escape reality. So... Trump’s been good for book sales? Grumbles
one of my team members.
I spoke to an agent the other day who said that, given the current world
events and turmoil, the general mood of the public is escapism: something
that makes one chuckle and dream. She thinks there’s a slowing down with
the dark and gory and a quest for light, cosy crime. This has been out of
vogue for a while so it would be uplifting to see this come back in.
We also predict that children’s books will continue to skyrocket. Exports
from the UK of children’s books rose 34% in 2016, boosted by demand from
India and China. We don’t see that slowing, especially with Phillip Pullman’s
recent release, The Book of Dust, book one of a trilogy.
As one of my YA editors pointed out, she just wished publishing advances
would match those of adult fiction writers and the ‘celebrity dead-certs’. If the
majority of children’s writers can’t afford to write anymore, where would that
leave things? A world without magic, perhaps? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
I heard from one of my US agent contacts who is desperate for anything
British: British author, English heroine or setting, and so forth. Bring it on!
BAME writers are the dominant focus and heat in UK publishing.
Magazines, advertising, music, and TV have all been hit hard by digital, but
it’s becoming more clear with declining ebook sales and increasing physical
book sales that books won’t be affected in the same way. 
As for publishing trends for 2018? For me it’s quite simple: write
the type of book that you yourself wouldn’t want to put down. Now,
where’s that duvet?
much-needed regular income and I think that is common among
writers. I also don’t just write short stories. I have written four non-
fiction books for Pen & Sword and will continue my fifth early
in 2018, as well as writing short stories, but I want to work on a
novel and get more articles published again too. Diversification and
adaptability are crucial for writers and we need to find new avenues
for our work. Developing a new writing festival for my area will no
doubt also keep me busy, aiming to encourage others and myself to
write. The trouble is there’s always so many writing projects and ides
but never enough time to do them all in. Patience, prioritisation and
perseverance are my buzzwords for 2018!
FEBRUARY 2018 15
18/12/2017 09:47
 Queen of
Hearts
Megaseller Barbara Taylor Bradford shares the secrets
of a successful saga, with Tina Jackson

M
uch like her
greatest character,
Emma Harte, A
Woman of Substance
author Barbara
Taylor Bradford is a force to be
reckoned with – in fact, that could
be the title of one of her books.
Since A Woman of Substance was
published in 1979 and became
a runaway bestseller, selling
32 million copies – the very
definition of a blockbuster, with
its rags to riches story of a humble
Yorkshire servant who through
her own efforts becomes the head
of a multi-million pound retail
empire – Leeds-born Barbara has
become of the best-selling authors
in the world, with more than 88
million copies of her books sold.
She lives in Manhattan with her
film producer husband, and her
personal wealth was estimated,
in 2010, at £174 million. At 84,
she’s still publishing bestselling
sagas. Her latest book, Secrets of
Cavendon, has all the ingredients
her readers expect: strong women
making their way in the world
against the odds, where trouble and
intrigue are played out against a
backdrop of glamour and luxury.
You don’t get much more
glamorous or luxurious than the
Dorchester, where WM meets
Barbara – especially in the run-
up to Christmas when the lavish
decorations add the already
gracious appointments a sparkling
golden glimmer. For Barbara,
though, this is everyday life: it’s
where she always stays when she
and her husband Robert Bradford
are in the UK. But when she
arrives, despite the immaculate
US-style casual chic and the two

16 www.writers-online.co.uk

p016 Interview.indd 16 18/12/2017 13:00


enormous blue rocks she wears as
cocktail rings, she’s immediately
more Yorkshire than New York: a
tiny powerhouse, twinkling with
determination, kindness, warmth
and forthright charm. ‘I don’t always
wear this much make-up,’ she admits,
by way of introduction. ‘I’ve had a
photo-shoot this morning. You don’t
mind if I put this leg up on a stool, do
you?’ Of course not. Barbara is wearing
leopard-print suede pumps, and you
wouldn’t expect anything less of her.
Barbara is the author of dynasty
sagas, and Secrets of Cavendon is the
fourth and last book in the Cavendon
series. ‘When I had the idea for the
first book in the Cavendon series I
envisioned two books but I realised
there was much more to tell. Before
I finalised the deal, I said to Lynne
Drew, my editor, I realised it was four
books, not two. And she was fine. I
explained where I’d take it in time.
Cavendon Hall was 1913 and then The
Cavendon Women was the 1920s and
then there was The Cavendon Luck,
which was the 1930s to the end of
the war. And this one starts in 1949
and ends in 1950. I just somehow
automatically knew when I started
Cavendon Hall that I wanted to tell
maybe fifty years of this family.’
The whole idea of this series came
when ‘a little girl came into my head
from nowhere, and I thought – who
is this little girl?’ remembers Barbara.
‘And I thought, she has a friend.
People say, where do you get your
ideas, and that’s what happens. What I
thought that day was, she has a friend,
and they’re going to be friends for life.
And the other girl has a brother – and
the first little girl always loves him. And
there was a typewriter with a piece of
paper in it.’ So Barbara started writing
about Cavendon’s matriarch, Cecily.
She didn’t know, when she started it,
what all the ‘secrets’ of the title would
be. ‘I knew some but I had to think of
others. Some of the characters knew
some of the secrets – all of the readers
knew some of the secrets.’
Despite having lived with the
Cavendon cast of characters over four
years of writing the series, having
wrapped up her story she didn’t feel
any regret that she would be leaving
them behind. ‘I felt a sense of relief
when I finished it – that I’d done the
fourth book in a series that had new
p016 Interview.indd 17
S TA R I N T E RV I E W
characters. Some had died. Some
had moved on. But I wrote about a
new generation of people.’
Two of the new generation “Fighters can come from
are photographer Victoria
and paralysed war hero anywhere and everywhere.
Christopher, and Barbara
writes with characteristic
I’m really not interested
frankness about their
relationship. ‘I realised I had
in women who are wimps.
to do an enormous amount
of research into the sexual
I like fighters, who achieve
capabilities of a man who has
been paralysed, as Christopher
something, and do it
was. It’s amazing how much
information there was available to
against all odds.”
me, and if you’re not fully injured,
you can have a child you can have
a sexual relationship.’ Readers are
sure to fall in love with the couple
as they fall in love with each other.
‘When I thought of them, I fell
in love with them too,’ admits
Barbara. ‘This little evacuee who
has found some sort of love and
security after being abused in the
past, and I felt she wasn’t a rebel,
but I wanted her to be unique and
different. And I think she is.’
The good guys in the Cavendon
series are thoroughly decent and the
villains are dastardly (readers will
find themselves hissing at Adam in
the new book) – but really, it’s all
about the women. ‘My heroines?’
says Barbara. ‘What they mostly
have is honesty, compassion,
ethics, and they have to have a
great strength as well. They have
to go out there and do it. They
have to be sort of women warriors.
Margaret Thatcher said, “If you
want something said, ask a man;
if you want something done, ask a
woman.” And I actually think that
women are good at getting things
done, and don’t nearly get enough
praise for that.’
The rags to riches lifestyle some
of Barbara’s characters achieve may
seem unrealistic but in her case,
art reflects life, even if in her case
‘rags’ is an exaggeration. Barbara’s
own career started at fifteen in the
typing pool at the Yorkshire Evening
Post newspaper; by dint of sheer
determination she was a reporter by
sixteen and its first women’s page
editor at eighteen. At twenty, she
moved to London and was a Fleet
Street journalist and fashion editor.
www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 17
18/12/2017 13:00

‘It is realistic,’ she says. ‘I came
from a very ordinary family in Leeds
but I started writing in my school
exercise books when I was seven and
my mother sent a story of mine to a
magazine when I was ten and they not
only accepted it, they paid me! When I
wrote some stories and dropped them
on the YEP newsdesk, they thought
18 FEBRUARY 2018
p016 Interview.indd 18
they had to pay some stringer called
Barbara Taylor, and they didn’t find
me until someone discovered I was
in the typing pool.’
The newspaper’s editor was Barry
Horniblow – old-school journalist
Barbara spells out his name to
ensure accuracy. ‘He was told this
story about this typist of sixteen
www.writers-online.co.uk
who had written these feature
stories, dropped them on the subs
desk, they printed them and so
he asked to meet me,’ Barbara
continues. ‘He said did I write
these myself? So he said, do you
want to be a journalist? I said, I
don’t want to be, sir, I’m going to
be. I was respectful enough to say
sir, but yes, fighters can come from
anywhere and everywhere. I’m really
not interested in women who are
wimps. I like fighters, who achieve
something, and do it against all
odds. What women loved about
Emma Harte was that she did it
against all odds – it’s actually the
way life is.’
Former fashion editor Barbara
uses clothes as a way of bringing
her characters to life. ‘I used to say
to people, I was a fashion editor – it
was mainly about taking four towels
and making two bathing suits!’ she
laughs. ‘I’ve always liked clothes
and I feel that as a writer, you’re
competing with television and
with movies for people’s attention.
When you watch TV, you see what
somebody’s wearing. You see the
room, the house, the scenery. In a
book, you’ve just got a blank page,
and when you’re writing you’re
going to fill it up with words. You
have to make them work visually,
so that you can actually see Cecily
in whatever she’s wearing. And I
think it’s important, it gives you a
sense of a person, if they’re sloppy
or elegant. Clothes and jewellery
and makeup are ways of actually
illustrating what a person is.’ In
Barbara’s case, immaculate. At this
point WM becomes slightly worried
about possible traces of prawn
mayonnaise from a lunchtime
sandwich on her skirt.
Barbara’s settings are lavish and
glamorous, but she humanises them,
letting her readers see the emotional
aspects of her characters’ lives
beneath the materialistic exteriors.
‘I write about what I know,’ she
says. ‘So perhaps people think New
York, or a stately home, or Paris,
where I lived for a few years when
my husband was making films there.
Maybe these things are glamorous
– to other people. Perhaps there is
a glamour in the way I write about
18/12/2017 13:00

Paris. I don’t purposely think I
should make it glamorous. I don’t
know how I humanise it – it’s
perhaps because I am a human
being. I think to be able to write
fiction, you have to have a lot of
psychological insight, and I think
I do. One of my PRs was very
upset when one of the Cavendon
characters was killed. She said why
did you have to do that? But not
every family goes free. Tragedy,
heartbreak, sorrow and pain attack
the aristocracy as much as all of us.’
She thinks the hallmarks of
her writing are her strong, moral
women characters and her belief
in romance. ‘I’m a bit hooked on
love at first sight. The coup de
foudre. The thunderbolt. That
often comes in. Someone once said,
there is a great deal of morality and
goodness in Barbara’s books. And I
thought, what a nice compliment
that was. I think I do strive for
that. You’ve always got to have the
baddies that cause the trouble that
create the drama. But I do try to
have my protagonist, like Cecily in
the Cavendon series, she’s a very
good woman, she’s had to help her
husband. I want my main female
character to be good. Maybe with
human frailties, but not a bad
person. And Cecily is.’
Despite the OTT lifestyles,
settings and locations, the real
appeal of Barbara’s writing is that
it’s grounded in the important
stuff of life. And there’s always
romance. ‘The books are very down
to earth, I hope,’ says Barbara. ‘To
me, our life on Earth is all about
couples. How two people come
together. What is planet earth
about? It’s about couples. A man
and a woman, two women, two
men, coming together, looking at
each other because the attraction
is always visual, and then you feel
the chemistry of that person as
you’re pulled together, and you
fall in love. You come together
physically and you make a child.
That’s what this world is all about.
You have to fall in love. The story
would be incomplete without love
between two people. In order to
make a family, or not. I think I’m
quite romantic myself, and I fell in
p016 Interview.indd 19
“To me, a novel
is a monumental
lie that has to have
the absolute ring of
truth if it’s going
to work.”
love with my husband immediately,
and he with me.’ She smiles at the
thought. ‘We’ll have been married
for 54 years this Christmas,’ she
says proudly.
When she’s writing a book, she
gets up at 6am. ‘I put the coffee
pot on and make some toast and
get into my work clothes – training
pants, light wool or something,
and a T-shirt – and with the first
Cavendon novel, I went to my
desk, with a yellow pad, and created
Cecily. Straight off the top of my
head. That’s what they all do.
Someone will come into my head
and I will think, who are they?
Why are they there? They have to
have a problem, and a purpose, or I
wouldn’t have a story.’
Her advice for writers is: ‘Make
sure you’ve got an imagination. Sit
down with a yellow pad, or some
paper, or at your computer, and try
to come up with a storyline. I’m
blessed that someone, God if you
like, pops someone into my head.’
Imagination is the key to
storytelling for Barbara. ‘You might
be marvellous at writing prose
but do you have an imagination?
If you don’t have that, you can’t
write a novel. Maybe someone
without an imagination could
write a biography. I once said to
a journalist that to me, a novel is
a monumental lie that has to have
the absolute ring of truth if it’s
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S TA R I N T E RV I E W
going to work.’
She researches round her ideas
to give her storylines a sense of
accuracy, but the most important
thing is emotional authenticity. ‘I
use historical background, British
history, wars, wars that happened
in other countries, I use the history
of who’s in Parliament. I use British
history to give a book a stamp of
authenticity. Those people aren’t ever
alive except in my head. But they
come alive in my head. I suppose
that’s what my talent is. My readers
actually believe everybody in these
books has a real life.’
She believes that if you want to
write a novel, you will find your
way. ‘People say, I want to write
a novel, where can I go – and
I say, you can always learn to
write properly, do a course, learn
punctuation, but no-one can teach
you to write a novel. But you can
teach yourself. You have to teach
yourself because no-one else can
teach you.’
At 84, she has no intention of
slowing down, let alone stopping.
‘I love writing. I’ve written since I
was fifteen years old. What the hell
would I do all day?’ she snorts. ‘I
don’t go shopping or to lunch, I
don’t do that. I’ve always worked.
Since people still want to read the
books, why wouldn’t I want to do
what I love doing?’
She’s just signed up for another
workload. ‘I’ve sold a new series,
The House of Falconer, a four-book
series, here and in the US. This time
it’s about a man, actually, and I’ve
something to look forward to. My
happiest time, other than being with
Bob, is going into the office, which
is a library full of books, and go in
there and sitting down and thinking
about the new characters. That’s an
adventure. I enjoy it. For me, I keep
writing because I want to. I love it. I
love this part, doing publicity, people
saying I love your book. Or, I hate it.
I once said, if anyone says they hate
this book I’m going to bash you in
the face with it. I wouldn’t really. The
book’s too valuable.’
And so is she: enthroned in the
Dorchester, sparking with jewels
and beaming around her, the ruling
queen of dynasty sagas.
FEBRUARY 2018 19
18/12/2017 13:00
 BEGINNERS
See th
rough
THE FO
G When yo
I
n an interesting piece in
SoA journal The Author recently,
Lucy Hughes-Hallett, fiction
and non-fiction author, likened
writing to ‘building a bridge in
fog so thick you can’t see the opposite
shore’. That phrase was instantly
recognisable to me, and no doubt many
other writers.
It’s a great analogy (so thank you, Ms
Hughes-Hallett), and put me in mind
of a former job many years ago, when I
used to cover a huge mileage every week,
mostly to out-of-the-way places along
unfamiliar roads – and often, it seemed,
in lousy weather. Fog, as I recall, was
one of the many hazards. Now this
might seem to have as much to do with
writing as bobbing for apples, but from
the experience I learned a thing or two
about not wasting time by forging ahead
when all the signs said take a step back
and be patient.
In most cases I’m a great advocate of
writing what you can, when you can.
As I’ve written before, if you’re stuck on
a knotty piece of prose or can’t seem to
decide what line to take next in a story,
simply write something else instead. This
can be another project (assuming you’re
fortunate enough to have more than one
idea on the boil), or writing out another
scene you’ve got in mind. Sooner or later
you’ll be able to go back to your first
project with a fresh approach and get
back on track (and hopefully, have also
moved ahead slightly with whatever you
were working on instead).
The main thing is, you shouldn’t
sit there navel-gazing and hoping that
you’ll suddenly see a way ahead. Yes, it
might work every now and then, if only
because you’re not really stuck but merely
temporarily log-jammed. Otherwise,
staring at a problem and getting nowhere
is at best unlikely to help, at worst
unproductive and mind-blowingly
20 FEBRUARY 2018
p020 Beginners.indd 20
frustrating
for a working writer.
In the situation where you feel you’re
stuck in this writing pea soup, you have
to do what I was forced to do many
times on my travels: to stop trying to
push ahead when I couldn’t see where
I was going, and look closer to hand.
In the case of my driving journey this
usually meant pulling up somewhere
safe and reading a book (I always had
one with me, no matter what), or going
over my plans for the day, ready to make
alternative arrangements as soon as I got
the chance. I should add that this was
in the days before mobile phones – yes,
round about the same time as dinosaurs
were finding it tough going – so trying
to contact anyone was often impossible.
(Believe it or not, with all the contact-
me-now technology, I look back on that
time with nostalgia).
In writing terms, if I’m really that
stuck and can’t see where I’m going, I
tend to look at what I’ve got so far. This
invariably presents a good excuse to do
some editing, which is always welcome
to me, and usually productive. It never
hurts to throw an eye over what you’ve
written up to that point, because doing
so will remind you of the build-up and
the characters involved, and often helps
reaffirm the direction in which you
should be going. It also give you the
opportunity to put right any oddities
in your story and correct anything that
might ring false on a read-through –
especially if you’ve left it for some time
since you last read it.
The main problem with trying to push
ahead against all odds is that you can
waste a lot of time and effort and end
up frustrated by your lack of progress.
Worse, you can find you’ve tied yourself
in knots simply by trying too hard. And
if there’s anything that will kill creativity,
www.writers-online.co.uk
do some
advises A
u get stu
thing els
e
ck in a w
until the
riting fog
,
drian M mists cle
a gson ar,
it’s the feeling that
you’re wasting your time.
If you’re happy with what you have in
the bag, it’s a huge plus and should be
cherished. But it’s very easy to find yourself
getting drained of inspiration simply
because of one bad-weather patch. And the
one thing you don’t want to do is join a lot
of other writers who gave up because they
didn’t take a step back and think rationally
about what good things they already had.
Another ‘foggy’ analogy is that all too
often you can occasionally get a brief
glimpse of a view ahead, like peeling back
the fog, and like a desperate driver, go
charging off trying to catch it, only to end
up disappointed. We’ve all been there, but
there’s nothing more disheartening than
having slaved over a few hundred words,
only to realise that you might end up
delating them because they simply don’t
work. It’s a hard enough job nailing down
those words in the first place; it’s even
tougher having to junk them.
Frustrating as it is, you should learn to
use the foggy moments, not as an excuse to
give up, but as a tool, to review and rethink
not just the scene you’re struggling with,
but how you got there in the first place.
To use another analogy, writing can also be
likened to a maze. Sometimes you end up
down a blind alley, and the only way is to
retrace your steps until you find another
way ahead.
TOP TIPS
• Take a step back and review where you are so far. Are you on
the right road?
• Don’t keep pushing only to get frustrated with false progress.
• If you’re happy with what you’ve done so far, don’t waste it by
rushing on, but use it to plan ahead.
• Use the writing ‘fog’ as a tool to think about your storyline.
18/12/2017 09:48
 ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?
?
? ?? ?
?
? ?
? ? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Ask a ?Literary Consultant ? ? ?
? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?
A reader who can’t finish her novella needs to ask what her story
is trying to tell her, says Helen Corner-Bryant
Q I’ve been writing a novella,
30,000 words, SF set far in
the future, and after some
extensive, fun world and character
building I’m now stuck on the final
scene. In frustration, I ended up
abandoning it and writing other
things instead. Then I was inspired
by Story Genius by Lisa Cron so I
revisited my characters’ backstories
and their desires and rewrote
some additional scenes.
Now I don’t know how to
integrate this backstory
into the narrative and I’m
completely lost again! Every
so often I’ve returned to this
novella, determined to finish it,
but I can’t seem to get anywhere.
I’m not sure what the problem
is because the ending is logical,
and in keeping with what the
characters would do. I think it has
resonance and I love the idea and
the world, and the characters. It’s
so frustrating! Why is this novella
giving me such heartache?
Maria
A Your novella is not allowing
itself to be wrapped up!
It’s refusing to let you go,
therefore your story is telling you
something. Perhaps you’re trying to
force your characters to do things
that aren’t right for them, or you’ve
“
Cornerstones has been invaluable in providing a clear, no holds barred
critique which encouraged me to stretch myself as a writer.
Their feedback helped me gain an agent and a book deal.
Amanda Addison, Laura’s Handmade Life, Little Brown
Call Helen Corner-Bryant 01308 897374 • www.cornerstones.co.uk
Cornerstones 1/4 landscape.indd 1
p021 Helen Cornerstones.indd 21
veered off in the wrong direction
plot-wise and it’s digging its heels
in. Have another look at the story
and ensure that, in terms of cause
and effect, it all makes sense
and that the characters are being
affected in the right way.
If, structure-wise, it has a
solid shape, then look at your
If you protagonist: are they the right
h av e a q u er y character to lead the story; have
re to help , you truly unearthed his or her
We’re he
n about voice; have you really identified
on any questio blishing
d pu
the writing an ail: their motivating goal or desire
se em
process. Plea s.co .uk and deepest fear? In terms of
er sn ew
jtelfer@writ e
tw eet @ w ritingmagazin weaving in backstory, it’s useful
or onsult
with #askalitc to help you understand where
#wmcorner
your character(s) came from. You
can sparingly seed in relevant bits
in a dialogue exchange (without it
being expositional) or allow it to
contribute authentically to how a
character is reacting to something.
This will add a natural weight
to your character(s), their inner
observations, motivations, and
reactions. Whatever you do, don’t
info-dump backstory. If you feel
that perhaps the real story is in
the backstory, consider if you’ve
started it in the right place? If
you’re satisfied that you have and
that the past and present stories sit
well together, consider using the
backstory as a story in its own right
– in a ‘show’ way. Write each story
The UK’s leading literary consultancy
Want to know if your manuscript is good enough to attract an agent?
Has your plot come to a standstill and you need a professional editor’s opinion?
Looking to publish and want to make your manuscript print-ready?
”
www.writers-online.co.uk DECEMBER 2017
in its entirety and then interweave
both to converge climactically into
the overarching arc.
When I put your letter to the
Cornerstones team, their reactions
were as follows:
There’s one word missing, which
is yearning. The author doesn’t
mention what her MC wants and
longs for, so perhaps there’s not
enough of an emotional connection?
She knows what happens and
it seems to me that plot and
structure are nailed but not what it
means. My advice would be to put
everything she’s written so far to one
side and sink into the character’s
longing via a notebook.
She mentions ‘two main
characters’ desires’, which is a hard
ask for a novella. Who is this story
about and what do they want? If
she struggles to answer that fairly
succinctly then she may need to go
back to the drawing board.
In summary, most authors write a
first draft and can’t imagine leaving
it, but it is all that backstory work
that informs the final piece.
Perhaps this novella is destined
for bigger things. If you remain
stuck, don’t continue to force it and
definitely carry on experimenting
with other stories. You’ll probably
find that the right answer will emerge
when you are and it is ready.
Structural editing, copyediting
and proofreading
Scouts for literary agents
Listed by the
Society of Authors
21
14/12/2017 14:54
18/12/2017 09:49
 How I got
I N S P I R I N G WO R D S

published
Karla Forbes tells Dolores Gordon Smith how
she wanted to write thrillers that would appeal
to women as well as male readers
‘I began my writing career with a love of reading. I love reading thrillers but found
that so many of them are written by men with the male reader in mind. I wanted
to write thrillers that would appeal to both sexes so with this in mind, I wrote my
first novel and sent it off to Hodder with a warm glow of excitement. Wow, I was
going to be an author!
By the time the inevitable rejection dropped through my letter box, reality had set
in. But the letter gave me a spark of hope. Betty Schwartz, the submissions editor,
commended me on my writing ability. She had enjoyed the story but it just wasn’t
quite right for Hodder. I remember dancing around the kitchen with joy. Okay, I’d
been rejected, but a professional in the industry had told me I was good and that
was the inspiration I needed to try again.
‘After that, I wrote Fallout, a book based on a rumour that during the Cold War,
the Russians had developed a nuclear bomb that could be carried in a suitcase. I
Editor’s response
researched it and found that although not proven it was almost undoubtedly true.
‘Fallout mixes terrorism, blackmail, plutonium and murder with a sprinkling
Mike Linane:
of humour. I sent it off to Betty with fingers crossed but by now, Hodder had
restructured and was no longer accepting submissions from the general public. Thus Williams &
began my long journey of submitting manuscripts and receiving rejection slips.
‘My hopes were raised when an agent signed me to her books and submitted Whiting
Fallout to the Big Five publishers. They were all very complimentary but “no” is “no”
however nicely the rejection is worded. One editor said that she loved my book and ‘At the point when Karla Forbes submitted Fallout, the first
didn’t really know why she was rejecting it. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry of her Nick Sullivan thrillers, to Williams & Whiting we had
that day. I think I did a bit of both. primarily published back catalogue traditional British mysteries.
‘I sent Fallout to a company for an editorial report. They warn their clients that We were looking to broaden our range of titles to include
if an author had no future they will be brutally honest. I awaited my report with a modern day thrillers, so the timing could not have been better.
mixture of dread and anticipation but when it arrived, the editor recommended that ‘Karla’s submission told me that she was a keen Ian Fleming
I make a few minor changes and send it off to Piatkus mentioning his name. reader when younger. A female author writing thrillers in a classic
‘This was it. I made the changes and sent it off full of hope and then I waited style that would appeal to women readers as much as men. Perfect!
and waited… After three months, I could wait no longer so I emailed Piatkus ‘The opening chapter of Fallout set up the premise of the book
only to be rejected the following day. After that, I lost direction and almost gave perfectly – two men go to the aid of three sailors in trouble. One
up writing. I had tried for too long and the constant cycle of hope followed by of them gets shot at point-blank range, the other has to flee for his
rejection was too painful. I actually stopped writing until a friend persuaded me to life and then has to attempt to track down the killers to prove his
self-publish on Amazon. innocence. Where do you look for three total strangers when you
‘To begin with, my endeavours were modestly successful. I was selling don’t even know who they are?
between fifty and eighty books a day and every moment away from my laptop ‘The story built beautifully at a great pace with lots of twists
seemed like wasted time, but when Amazon allowed authors to give their books and turns along the way and some hair raising moments for both
away for free, sales inevitably started to slip. It became increasingly hard to find Nick Sullivan and also other characters that we come to care
the motivation to write. What was the point if no one was going to read my about very much.
books? It doesn’t matter how good your product is, it won’t sell if no one knows ‘Nick Sullivan is your perfect reluctant hero – someone that
it’s available, but my social media skills were pretty much non-existent. I wanted female readers can swoon over and one than male readers will want
to keep going but I had no idea what I could do. to be – and totally based in reality – no James Bond superhero
‘It was then that I came across Williams and Whiting, a new publishing company impossible-to-pull-off heroics here!
that isn’t weighed down with preconceived ideas about what sells and what doesn’t. ‘Karla Forbes was the perfect fit for Williams & Whiting and one
More to the point, Mike Linane from Williams and Whiting loved the book and we had to sign and hopefully keep on our books for a long time to
was prepared to back me. Fallout was published, followed by other books in the come. We look forward to making Karla a household name!’
series at monthly intervals. My dream is back on track.

KARLA FORBES’ TOP TIPS:

• Take time to learn your craft. The more your practice the better
you’ll be.

• Don’t let rejections get you down. Learn to love the occasional
rejection note that comes with a helpful comment. They are like
gold
22 dust and will
FEBRUARY 2018 help you to improve.

p022 HIGP.indd 22 18/12/2017 09:50

 IN
W A LITERARY
WEEKEND AWAY
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p023_feb18.indd 23
Winchester Competition.indd 1 15/12/2017
11/12/2017 14:04
13:08
 I N S P I R AT I O N

The write way

Writing guru Julia Cameron shares exclusive advice
and inspiration with Writing Magazine readers

J
ulia Cameron, author of The
Artist’s Way, has spent three decades
providing inspiration and advice
on cultivating creativity. The
cornerstones of her advice on
awakening creativity are writing
daily Morning Pages, and going on
Artist Dates, where you visit somewhere
out of the ordinary, alone, with the
specific intention of seeking pleasure and
imaginative inspiration. In The Right to
Write, now published in a new edition,
Julia looks specifically at issues affecting
writers and how to make your writing a
natural, joyful part of your life. Here, she
shares some principles for writers looking Writing is easy.
to be as productive, creative, and as happy I think we have a methodology that
in their writing as can be. says writing is difficult. It’s easy, just
fling the door open and listen to what
wants to come through.

Writing is a vocation.
We sometimes think,
‘I can only write one thing.’
Pages flings the door open so
people can write may things.
Abandon the rules.
Write from the heart. Your writing will typically
become better. Juicier. I was given good advice
by a man who edited Playboy – he said, put in
everything. If I put in the details I’d normally
censor, it becomes livelier – more engaging.

If you spend three

Work with Morning Pages
– three pages of longhand
morning writing.
When you do this, you miniaturise
your inner critic and can start working
on your projects. Just begin. Those
are three pages of whatever crosses
your mind. I think of it as a form of
mediation. I was stranded in Taos, a
tiny mountain town in New Mexico,
at a point in my screenwriting career
where I wasn’t sure what to do next.
It occurred to me, just try writing
something. It wasn’t something I’d
read about anywhere – it was just
an instinct. The effect on my own
writing was that I went from being a
screenwriter to being a novelist – it
woke up my creativity and took away
some of the bars to it. When I started
doing Morning Pages I worked my
way free.
pages clearing away the
Fear stops writers from writing. rubble of your life, your
It’s a sense of construction. We have a negative novel writing will come
methodology that tells us ‘I don’t really know what I’m more easily.
talking about.’ If you write anyway, it’s easier to be bold. Doing your Morning Pages,
Writers are halfway between brave and timorous – I you’re whisking out the corners
think it’s a fear of exposure. We’re afraid to be thought of your life, saying this is what
foolish. We’re told, if your writing sells, that’s wonderful, I like, what I don’t like. You
and if not, you’re a fool. In the US, if something is paid become candid on the page –
for it’s considered to be worth more. If we come back to you clear the way. You might be
Morning Pages, that’s really the thing that creates a sense of writing ‘mourning’ pages because
self-value, because writing every day is an esteemable act. you’re clearing out the negativity
in your life. It’s then that you
can become bold and can write
more freely on your project.
Be brave.
When you do Morning
Pages it trains you to be brave
because as you do them you begin to
take the risk of being more But to be a writer, you have to write.
authentic and intimate and that A lot of the time, when people think about being a
enables you to take writer, they think about they perceive as the prestige
further risks. of a writing life. But to be a writer, you have to write.

24 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p024 Inspiration.indd 24 18/12/2017 09:52

 I N S P I R AT I O N

Love life.
There’s a wonderful line from Henry Miller: Simply love life.
The great advice for writers is to simply love life, and as you What would you love to write?
become more passionately interested and involved with life, There’s an idea that writing should be dutiful. I believe
your writing wakes up. writing should be joyous. There’s this idea that writers
are tormented, broke and lonely. But I turn that on its
head. Writers who are writing are writers who are happy.
Writers who are writing have the chance to sell their
work. Writers talking about writing create a community.
Mood shadows your I think of writing I think that when you say to people that writing should
writing of the day. as a chase. be joyous, they say “It can’t be!’ We have despair around
Some days you feel you’re writing You have a notion of it that writing – and I’d say ‘No, have joy around writing.’ Let
brilliantly and when you look back, shimmers on the horizon yourself put in the details you’re thinking of, and not
you think it wasn’t brilliant at all. and you head to it at full tilt. worry about being brilliant. It’s about getting something
Other days, you think it’s terrible And when you get there, it’s down. It’s like taking dictation. It’s like listening to what
and you go back and think ‘That’s gone. Every once in a while wants to be written, and writing that.
rather good.’ It has to do with your you do get to capture it and
mood shadowing the work of the that’s what gets you going
day. To overcome that, you need to – it’s a prize.
write anyway. There’s no way to do
Morning Pages wrongly. As you learn We are surprised by
to set your critic to one side, you learn our own writing.
to write anyway. Grab time. We are setting out to be of service in
We have a notion that we want our way – to communicate something.
to have vast stretches of unlimited We worry about originality, but you are
time to write – and we never get the source, the origin, of your writing.
them. We need to learn to write in You’re the origin of what you’re writing
The problem with ideas isn’t the time we’ve actually got. But if you about. If our writing is authentic and
that we don’t have enough. say you’re going to write for twenty candid, we automatically have a voice.
It’s that we have too many. We get clogged. minutes a day, what you’ll find is that
To get ideas, I scan my Morning Pages. you’ll write for forty minutes.
Maybe an idea is in a single line – ‘wouldn’t You become enticed by
it be fun to write a musical about Merlin?’ the chase.
There is an exercise called ‘If I didn’t have
to do it perfectly I’d write…’ .
me from?
Where do stories co
say ‘Go d’ – W illiam Blake said
I’m not kidding when I ’t talk
m God. Nowadays we don
his ideas came straight fro te we are com ing
Be willing to write badly. but when we wri
about divine inspiration se, a hig her pow er
ing – the mu
The Wall is what happens when you’ve been going along, writing into contact with someth nce . I cal l it dro pp ing
al experie
finely, and you’re enthusiastic – and then suddenly you slide to a halt – and it’s actually a spiritu
and your ego says ‘This isn’t a good idea.’ And then you start to tell we ll. We wri te by coming in contact with the
down the piration.
yourself “I am a good writer. I am.’ But it doesn’t do any good to do inner source – a flow of ins
those affirmations. You need to go under the wall, not over it, and
say “I’m willing to write badly. Even if it’s terrible.’ It means you’re
free to write.

Morning Pages are the first of three tools.

The artist date is a way of filling the well. When we write we’re scooping
images out of our inner well. It can dry up – when the writing is going
brilliantly, you can over-fish your trout pond without stopping to supplement
the images. When you go on an artist date you’re consciously filling your
inner well. The third tool is walking. The Lake poets were great walkers.
When I wrote The Artist’s Way, I got all the way to the end and said: PS
– exercise. But now I know, do it right away. I think what we’re talking about
is making a conscious effort to keep your eco-system flowing smoothly.
Interview by
Writing Magazine

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 25

p024 Inspiration.indd 25 18/12/2017 09:52

 The st y l e & t e c h n i q u e o f
KATHY
REICHS

© Kate Chandler/Writer Pictures

Tony Rossiter looks at a writer who uses her
professional expertise to produce crime novels
with the stamp of authenticity.
She was working with ancient bones
when the local police, without access
to any formal forensic anthropology
department, began to consult her
about cases that stumped them. She
later said, ‘I love archaeology, but you
are never going to impact on anyone’s
life. Working forensic cases helps
real people.’ By examining the bones
Reichs can usually tell how old the
person was, whether they were right
or left-handed and many other things
that can help to identify the deceased
and to determine the cause of death.
In the late 1980s she wrote a
novel which was not published,
but in 1994 she began reworking
Déjà Dead
Scribner, the first publisher to
receive the completed manuscript
of Déjà Dead, gave Reichs a two-
book deal worth $1.2 million. In
this first Temperance Brennan novel
(winner of the 1997 Arthur Ellis
Award for best first novel) Reichs
uses her expert knowledge and her
personal experience as a forensic
anthropologist to give us an insider’s
insight – detailed and gruesomely
authentic – into the scientific
routines and procedures involved in
exhumations, post-mortems and the
meticulous examination of skeletal
remains. She describes the day-to-

I
t was a global bestseller – and
the fastest-selling debut novel
ever in the UK. Déjà Dead
(1997) introduced feisty forensic
anthropologist Temperance Brennan,
based loosely on the author herself.
Kathy Reichs has gone on to write
a further seventeen bestsellers about
Brennan, selling over 30 million
copies worldwide (and six YA books
written with her son featuring
Brennan’s great-niece Tory). A
professor of anthropology, she’s known
to many simply as ‘the bones lady’.
How she began
Born in Chicago, from an early age
she was interested in insects, animals,
science and archaeology. While
at school she wrote two stories (a
mystery and a romance) which she
later described as ‘hideous’. After
graduation she completed a PhD in
physical anthropology and then began
work as an academic bioarchaeologist
at the University of North Carolina.
it and salvaged just one character – day work of a forensic laboratory
forensic anthropologist Temperance with gritty realism that makes for
Brennan. In Brennan, Reichs created an uncomfortable, chilling read. It’s
a memorable protagonist whose clear that we are in the hands of a
professional life paralleled her own. The writer who knows everything there
immediate incentive for writing was is to know about the inside of a
the need to fund her three children’s dead body.
college education. She began to ask Alongside all the realistic detail a
herself what she could do in her free
time to generate more income. She had
a university colleague who was writing
mass-market romantic novels; she read
one of these and decided that she could
do better. She was also stimulated
by a forensic serial-murder case she
had just worked on which had some
exceptionally unusual elements. It was
a time when there was an increasing
public appetite (perhaps fuelled by
cases such as the OJ Simpson murder
trial) for reading about grisly crimes
and investigation techniques including
DNA. ‘Many fiction writers who put
the science in don’t get it right,’ she
said in a Guardian interview. ‘Because
I write about what I do, rather than
researching the field, it gives my books
greater authenticity.’

26 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p026 Beat the best.indd 26 18/12/2017 09:54


suspenseful plot keeps us hooked as
Brennan examines body after body,
convinced that a serial killer is at
work. The police are sceptical, and
there are professional disagreements
and personality clashes as Brennan
takes things into her own hands,
© Kate Chandler/Writer Pictures
putting herself in danger as she
tries to find evidence the police will
believe. The tension increases as
Brennan’s friend Gabby and then
Brennan herself become potential
targets of the killer. All this unfolds
against the backdrop of bilingual
Montreal, a city which Reichs brings
vividly to life. In the denouement
we discover the innocence of a prime
suspect before we reach the bloody
but satisfying conclusion.
The appeal of crime fiction
Reichs loves traditional English
writers such as Agatha Christie and
PD James; other crime writers she
admires include Karin Slaughter,
Val McDermid, Tana French,
Dennis Lehane and Ian Rankin. In
an interview for the Irish Times in
2017 she said: ‘I think the appeal of
it [crime fiction] is that in real life
it doesn’t always get solved, and it
doesn’t always make sense, and you
don’t always get to put all the puzzle
pieces together, whereas in reading
crime fiction you do usually. Order
is restored, and chaos is overcome.’
Her stories are driven by science but,
she said in the same interview, ‘you
have to keep it jargon free: that’s
challenging. It has to be entertaining
as well as informative. Kind of like
talking to a jury.’
How she writes
As we have seen, inspiration for the
Temperance Brennan books has come
from Reichs’s real-life work, and
many of the plots have their origins
in her own personal experience.
Examples she has drawn on include:
her deployment on Ground Zero
following the 9/11 terrorist attack
on New York; testifying in the UN
tribunal on genocide in Rwanda, in
a case involving 27 graves found near
a garage in the capital, Kigali; and
helping to exhume a mass grave in
Guatemala. Many of her novels have a
significant autobiographical element.
Perhaps the secret of Reichs’s
p026 Beat the best.indd 27
success lies in her ability to
blend the technical detail of an
anthropologist’s work with gripping
plots and convincing portrayals of
the psychological make-up of those
responsible for the dead bodies
she examines. The strong narrative
drive of Déjà Dead, stemming from
the personal danger Brennan is in
and our concern for her safety, has
not been maintained in all the
subsequent Temperance Brennan
books, but there are usually fast-
moving, action-filled plots to keep
us turning the pages. Her heroine
is torn between her professional
discipline and her human instinct
to empathise with those whose
bones she examines – and to bend
the rules when that’s necessary to
take the action that will help bring
the perpetrator to justice. Her
books are full of gruesome post-
mortems and stomach-churning
detail, but in a 2017 interview
for Mail Online she said ‘I never
put anything in there to be
gratuitously shocking.’
‘My job isn’t glamorous, that’s the
one misconception,’ she insisted in an
earlier interview for the Guardian.
She has a punchy, straightforward
writing style, enlivened with plain but
effective description and competent
similes, as in this example from Déjà
Dead: My face had crusted over like
crème brûlée, and my right eye looked
like a purple plum gone bad. Her style
has developed over the years, with
more (and often better) dialogue,
shorter sentences (sometimes without
verbs), and paragraphs containing
just one short sentence – as we can
see from these examples in Mortal
Remains (2010), a novel set largely in
Hawaii: Nussbaum. Wong. Bjornsen.
(one paragraph). Cultural diversity.
Honolulu rocks. (one paragraph).
We shook hands, exchanged names.
Utagawa gestured to a chair beside the
ME. I sat. He sat.
‘I love Kathy Reichs – always scary,
always suspenseful, and I always
learn something,’ says Lee Child.
Her books usually have some kind
of educational element. In 2005
they were used as the basis for the
television series, Bones, which ran for
twelve years. Reichs was a consultant
on the script as well as a producer.
www.writers-online.co.uk
B E AT T H E B E S T S E L L E R S
She believes that television series
such as Bones and CSI can help to get
children interested in science and to
see why biology and chemistry are
subjects worth studying.
Two Nights
Her first non-forensic stand-alone
crime novel was published in 2017 to
mixed reviews. The central protagonist
of Two Nights is described as a ‘tough-
talking, scarred heroine.’ She’s very
different from Temperance Brennan.
This is what the publisher’s blurb says:
‘Sunnie has spent years running from
her past, burying secrets and building
a life in which she needs no-one and
feels nothing. But a girl has gone
missing, lost in the chaos of a bomb
explosion, and the family needs
Sunnie’s help. Is the girl dead? Did
someone take her? If she is out there,
why doesn’t she want to be found?’
Reichs explained the difference
between Temperance Brennan and
her new heroine: ‘Tempe’s work
is science-driven – the boundaries
of forensic anthropology, and her
cerebral personality, imparted a
framework to those eighteen novels.
My new heroine, Sunday Night,
is a wild card. She is unchecked,
unpredictable, and occasionally,
uncontrollable – her nightmarish
past fanning a slow-burning rage.
I’m more like Tempe, so it was
exhilarating to let it all go with
Sunnie.’ She went on to add: ‘I like
dark. I like to see humanity sans
make-up, to know what happens in
those battered houses I see from the
car window. This
novel takes you to
some gritty and
raw places you
would (hopefully)
never personally
go. And Sunday
Night is neither
pure nor controlled,
dragging readers
through her own
darkness. But there’s
a shiny penny, too,
and that’s family.
Not necessarily the
traditional definition
of “family”, but the
emotion intended by
the word.’
FEBRUARY 2018 27
18/12/2017 09:54
 Short Memoir Prize
11 -17 August 2018
AA Dhand
Guest Speaker
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back azon
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• Judge: Marti Leimbach
• Word Limit: 4,000
• Closes: 31 Jan ’18
• Entry fee: € 17. (€11 subsequent) in d le
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 W I N ! £ 5 0 0 U B L I CAT I O N
H P R I Z E S & P
IN CAS

Hu m ou r
T S T O RY
SHOR I O N
CO M P E T I T
£25B0
E
TO
WON
A short story is the perfect
vehicle for humour writing, but
most of our competition entries
take a serious tack,
so we’re after some light
relief with this competition.
Just make us laugh!
The winner will receive
SEE P91 £200 and publication in
FOR ENTRY Writing Magazine, with £50
LL
DETAILS, FU and publication online for
RULES AND the runner-up. Your story
MS
ENTRY FOR should be 1,500-1,700 words.
The closing date is 15 March.

STILL TIME TO ENTER

£250 With its closing date of 15 February,

there’s still time to enter last month’s competition
TO BE
WON for stories told in dialogue only.
Prizes and length are as above. See p91 for entry details.

p29 comp.indd 39 18/12/2017 09:55

 Competition
winner
LOVE STORY
Anna, Love Séamus
I
‘
by Mark Chester
thought men aren’t supposed to
do love.’ Those were Anna’s first
words to me.
I am Séamus – a thinker, a
watcher, a listener. I am serious,
I guess. Some may misinterpret me as a
melancholic pessimist, but I am easy to
misinterpret. Quietness often does that.
There are many things I don’t expect
to happen in my life. I don’t expect
to win anything. I don’t expect to live
long. I don’t expect children to like
me. I don’t expect people to tell me
they have enjoyed my poetry; I don’t
expect anyone to read it. I don’t expect
eye contact. I don’t expect God to
answer my prayers. And I don’t expect
unknown women to speak to me in
the back corners of cafés.
I didn’t expect Anna.
She arrived, tearing the shafting
light from the shop’s miniature
cottage windows into two. I could see
the shape of a woman and hear the
sound of a woman, but the detail was
lost in the blinding sunshine. And I
could find no words for this faceless
being, hovering above me. My tongue
fastened in a knot of incomprehension
and surprise, like a little boy being
admonished for something he was
doing that he had no idea was wrong.
‘The book,’ she said, pointing to my
hands. ‘Four Letters of Love.’
I glanced down and understood.
‘May I?’ she said, putting her hand
on the chair opposite me.
‘Please...,’ was all that I could force
through my lips.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘but it’s
30 FEBRUARY 2018
p030 Comp winner.indd 30
Mark Chester, from Chester (!), is a writer, speaker
and one of the founders of the Who LetThe Dads Out?
Movement. He works for a charity called the Bible
Reading Fellowship. He is the author of several books,
including Who LetThe Dads Out? and The Soul of
Football. Mark writes and speaks about fatherhood,
faith and sport, but dabbles in writing fiction purely
for the pleasure of indulging his imagination. He has
been successful in children’s fiction contests, but this
is his first placing in an adult fiction competition. 
unusual to see a man reading a book looked at me. I think I must have
about love.’ interested her, but it made me shrivel
‘It’s written by a man,’ I said. in a flame of uncertainty.
‘Does that make a difference?’ ‘I’m Anna,’ she said, and held out
As she sat, her face appeared and her hand.
I could feel the first stamps of her I took it in mine, shook it and felt
imprint on my soul. Summer hair, her softness. She smelt of the sea.
a seaside smile and eyes brimming ‘I’m Séamus.’ I was glad for the
with inquisition. interruption in the flow of love words.
‘I think it does,’ I said, finding ‘Which village are you from?’
some composure, now that I could ‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘I’m just visiting.
properly see the possessor of the It’s a working trip. An article.’
bewitching voice. ‘About love?’
‘Why?’ She tilted her head and ‘No. About birds. But love would
hooked her hair behind her ear with a be much more interesting.’ She leaned
smooth stroke of a polished fingernail. back in her chair and breathed deeply,
‘Men write about love differently,’ her breasts swelling and falling. I
I said. glanced and then quickly looked again
She stopped stirring her coffee and at her face. She was without a hint of
was staring at the teaspoon, thinking. self-consciousness and yet there was
‘Sweet love.’ something compellingly vulnerable
‘Sorry?’ about her. ‘How would you write
‘Women write about sweet love. about love, Séamus?’
What do men write about?’ She sighed the words out as if it were
‘I think men write about love as they’ve a forlorn question she asked. I was
experienced it, but women write about surprised that she’d spoken my name
the kind of love they’d like to experience.’ and I knew even then, as I saw her lips
She looked at me then. Really mould and let go of it, that she had
www.writers-online.co.uk
18/12/2017 10:00

begun to gather pieces of my heart and
slip them into her pocket, as a child
would shells on a shore.
‘I’d not be good at it,’ I said.
‘It doesn’t matter. What would you
write anyway?’
She was persistent, and I felt
awkward. The conversation was too
fast and I wished we were talking
about the weather, but there was
something about this woman, Anna,
which frightened me and excited me
at the same time. She was a softly
spoken siren, luring me with her
questions, and I was helpless to resist.
I loosened.
‘I think it would be about
searching, about loving what can’t be
had, about words that are kept and
not given away, fear and hope and
feelings that reach the heavens in an
instant and then fall back to earth
just as quickly. It would be pretty
sad. I’m not sure anyone would want
to read it.’
‘I would. It sounds beautiful.’
Another fragment of my heart broke
away. ‘Tell me what you would write
about,’ I said.
‘I’d write about albatrosses.’
This woman was unpredictable and
intriguing. I felt as if I were on the
edge of a precipice, but couldn’t pull
back. ‘But I thought you wanted to
stop writing about birds.’
She laughed, each giggle warming
me like a droplet of sunshine. It was a
break in the intensity. I was relieved. ‘I
can’t help myself, can I? Do you know
anything about albatrosses?’
‘Not a thing,’ I said.
‘Albatrosses take their time,’ she
said. ‘I like that. And they dance.
They live in colonies and it takes years
for them to learn from the others how
to dance. Then eventually they start
dancing with partners – lots of them.
The dancing lasts for even more years,
and as time goes by they dance with
fewer and fewer birds until there are
just two left, dancing with each other.’
I could sense Anna’s excitement. It
Runner-up in the Love Story Competition was Ben Howels, Pennsylvania, Devon, whose story is published on
www.writers-online.co.uk. Also shortlisted were: Michael Callaghan, Glasgow; Bren Martin, Reading, Berkshire;
Rob McInroy, Beverley, East Yorkshire; Damien McKeating, Penkridge, Staffordshire; Giadi Nizzoli, Southsea, Hampshire;
Hilary Taylor, Sudbury, Suffolk; Ashley Van Anderson, Hackney, London E8; Simon Young, Kirkcaldy, Fife.
p030 Comp winner.indd 31
S H O R T S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R
was reddening her gossamer skin and
making her eyes flit like they were
charged. I glanced down the glow that
was creeping slowly upwards towards
her slim neck. She seemed completely
unaware of my fascination, lost in her
own words.
‘Then they stay together for life,
both of them looking after their
children. The sad thing is that they
stop dancing then. Everything seems
so right, except for that bit.’
She bit her bottom lip and looked
like she was about to cry, and it
was then her eyes drew me in. The
water welled in them and the colours
became as vivid as a shore of pebbles
washed by the sea. Honeydew green.
Barely green. Like glass.
‘The dancing is such a beautiful
thing, but there’s also the waiting.
They’ve reached maturity and they’re
ready to mate, but they wait and dance
instead. Isn’t that beautiful, Séamus?
That waiting. There’s never enough
waiting. But that’s love. That’s what I’d
write about. Dancing and waiting.’
I couldn’t think of anything to say.
My brain was grasping at words but
each time I thought I had some they
escaped like sand between my fingers.
If I started to say a word, any word,
perhaps others would naturally follow
but my tongue was lifeless. The silence
was peppering my nerves with shards,
but Anna seemed soothed by it. I
watched her lift her coffee cup. Time
slowed. The rest of the world dissolved
and I shall never forget what I saw.
Alabaster fingers. Lips like segments of
soft fruit. A dash of the tiniest dusky
freckles. Feathery lines at the corners
of her eyes. And that summer hair
and seaside smile. She was beautiful.
Simply that. I swear I heard music then
– quiet and soft. I don’t know if it was
imagined or real.
She came back to me, awaking from
her thoughts. ‘Tell me, Séamus, do you
think you are born to love someone?’
I must have looked ill at ease
because she said, ‘I’m sorry. I ask
www.writers-online.co.uk
EXPERT
analysis
too many questions.’ Read the judge’s
There were so many things she analysis at:
didn’t say that she could have said: http://writ.rs/
‘I hardly know you.’ ‘I’m terrible for wmfeb18
missing out all the usual small talk.’ ‘I
talk about love too much.’ ‘I’m like this
with everyone.’ Surely, all these things
were true.
‘Yes,’ I blurted out.
‘Oh, I’m really sorry,’ she said. ‘I’ve
made you uncomfortable. I do that
too. And you were just enjoying a quiet
moment with your book.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean that. I
meant yes I think I am born to love
someone. Someone specific.’
‘Do you really?’
Doubt slithered into my mind. ‘I
think so. Don’t you?’
‘I do. I really do, but I’m scared that
when I find that person the dancing
will stop.’
‘Don’t let it,’ I said.
‘I hope it’s that simple.’ She paused,
finished her coffee and then said,
‘Séamus, I should leave and let you get
back to reading your book.’
I felt a dagger of pain. Something
was shifting. Heaven was closing;
the angels were being recalled. God’s
attention was drifting elsewhere.
‘I’ve enjoyed our chat,’ she said and
pushed her chair backwards.
‘I have too,’ I said. ‘Just give me one
minute more please, Anna.’ My voice
faltered slightly saying her name. I
don’t know if she noticed. She looked
puzzled as I took a pen from my
pocket, opened my book and quickly
and shakily wrote some words at the
top of one of the opening pages:
Anna, Love Séamus
‘It’s for you,’ I said. I closed over the
cover and handed it to her.
‘But you haven’t finished reading it.’
‘I will, one day,’ I said.
She carefully peeled back the cover
to read my inscription.
She hesitated. Did she catch her
breath – ever so slightly? And then
she smiled.
‘Love?’ she said.
FEBRUARY 2018 31
18/12/2017 10:01
 Poetry winners

Child’s play?
NO
NO WAY!
WAY!
NO WAY!
FIRST PRIZE
Adam ate an ant
Dennis O’Keefe

Adam ate an ant

In the playground for a joke.
He scooped it up with his tongue,
Then gulped it down with diet coke.

The other children gathered round.

They found it quite amazing.

Adam kissed a wasp

In the playground for a dare.
He held it tightly in his lips,
Then swallowed it without a care.

The other children looked aghast.

They found it quite disturbing.

Adam found a fly

In his lunchbox during break.
He trapped it in the corner
Then enjoyed it with his cake.

The other children laughed out loud.

They found it quite amusing.

Adam sucked a slug

In the playground after dinner.
He rolled it round in his mouth,
Leaving the slug decidedly thinner.

The other children couldn’t watch.

They found it quite upsetting.

Adam licked a worm

In the playground for a laugh.
He stretched it to its full extent,
Then chewed the worm in half.

The other children had seen enough.

They ran to tell the teacher.
Meg Marsden has had a tough time judging the
winners of WM’s competition for children’s poetry

Adam bit Miss Hill
In the playground moments after.
She’d told him off for being silly,
His response was even dafter.
The other children stood and stared.
They couldn’t quite believe it.
W
riting for children Nevertheless, this competition
is far from child’s produced a bumper crop of excellent
play, as many will entries, making it a very challenging
have discovered job to select winners.
when entering A noticeably high proportion
the Writing Magazine Poetry for of poems were rhyming in their
Children competition. form; perhaps we can all recall the

32 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p032 poetry winner.indd 32 18/12/2017 10:03


? musicality of nursery rhymes and
!
childhood poems either from our
own experience or when reading to
!
our offspring or grandchildren and
the importance of that quality.
A certain repetitiveness and often
a strong rhythm are vital ingredients
if a poem is to appeal and have
staying power with the young.
Only a very small percentage of
entries made the mistake of writing
about children and not for children.
When they did it was a shame as
they, also, were well done. But this
is where it is so important to sit
and consider the subject carefully
before committing pen to paper so
to speak.
I attempted in my mind to
become that youngster as I read out
loud each entry and became aware of
some of the necessary components
which would grab a hold, make
me laugh or maybe, disgust me
slightly! A little muckiness, a
touch of naughtiness, a pinch of
rebelliousness and sometimes,
perhaps, but not too emphatically, a
smidgeon of morality.
On the basis of some of the above-
mentioned our winner is Denis
O’Keeffe of Alcester, Warwickshire.
His poem Adam ate an Ant is a
delight; our eponymous naughty
boy has the well-chosen name of
Adam and this is clever straight
off as it seems to be a generic for
all the original bad boys from that
first biblical eating of the apple.
Its construction is made up of
six rhyming quatrains with clever
interludes of a two-line leitmotif
expressing the other children’s
reactions to Adam’s behaviour. Here
our author uses a different adjective
for each two-liner – amazing,
disturbing, amusing, upsetting and
with a final line of They couldn’t
quite believe it. And neither can the
reader – we are left wondering what
on earth has our Adam done now. It’s
naughty, it’s grisly and it’s very well
crafted.
Among the pleasures of poetry
is the absolute physical, sensual,
textural, tactile pleasure of feeling
the words on your lips, tongue, teeth
and vocal cords. And here we do just
p032 poetry winner.indd 33
that. From the first verse we have He
scooped it up with his tongue, Then
gulped it down with diet coke. And
then later on Adam sucked a slug/In
the playground after dinner./He rolled
it round in his mouth,/Leaving the slug
decidedly thinner. Delicious.
Our runner-up is Marie
Carmichael of Clackmannan,
Clackmannshire with her poem Mr
Platt’s Keep-Fit Class. Here we have
a work of rhyming couplets where
again we experience some terrific
fun as the despondent schoolmaster
delivers instructions to the various
somewhat less-than-healthy pupils,
regarding the remedies to their
personal maladies. It is highly
unlikely that in reality any teacher
would a) say such a thing or b) get
away with saying them. Nevertheless,
it’s the sort of work that children
would find highly amusing. Martha
Brown put iPhone DOWN/Lunge to
each side, don’t whine or frown, and
this was a particular favourite couplet
with the reference to modern-day
technology and the sense through
the author’s use of words, of a young
teenager exercising the right to be
youthfully insolent.
Its Dr Seuss style works very
well and it lends itself ideally to
illustration which is one of the
criteria when judging poetry for
children. It is exquisitely gross and
rude and very 21st century.
I would recommend when reading
these two poems that you read them
out loud – you will get so much
more pleasure out of them when
doing so. And of course, try them
out on the younger members of your
family; I’m sure they’ll be enjoyed.
The wonderful aspect of reading
these entries is that each one
handled the work, however silly or
mucky, with intelligence. One of
the reasons Jacqueline Wilson and
JK Rowling have been so successful
is their ability to never patronise
their readers and even way back in
the late 1800’s Laura Ingalls Wilder
was thrilling youngsters with, guess
what, Little House on the Prairie!
Here the American frontier mixed
with the darker and murkier side of
life and we all know how successful
www.writers-online.co.uk
Poetry winners
these children’s stories and
eventually, the television show, were.
And here we had a competition for
poetry writing but some of the rules
are exactly the same when it comes
to content. No patronising but lots
of fantasising is good.
Congratulations to both Denis
O’Keeffe and Marie Carmichael
and also very well done to all of
those shortlisted.
SECOND PRIZE
Mr. Platt`s
Keep Fit Class
Marie Carmichael
Mr Platt’s not happy that
School dinners are so full of fat
No more burgers, greasy pies
He yells ‘you wimps must exercise!’
Laura Crows don’t pick your nose
Just punch the air with deathly blows
Samuel Pips you stink of chips
Six jumping jacks, four forward flips
Martha Brown put iPhone DOWN
Lunge to each side, don’t whine or frown
Sandra Meek not smelling sweet
From five cartwheels and reeking feet
Daniel Watts with oozing spots
No fizzy pop just twenty squats
Gordon Bart did you just fart
That eggy whiff just won’t depart
Donald West with stringy vest
Pull knobbly knees into your chest
Mathew Quinn with double chin
Dive through the air like a javelin.
Out of breath and feeling rough
If you don’t like it – That’s just tough!
Runners up: Andrew Hutchcraft, Peterborough,
Cambs; Bill Lythgoe, Shevington, Wigan; Pauline
Barnett, Stockport; Shirley Cook, Uxbridge; Jean
Mary Wright, Glossop, Derbyshire; Laura Bridge,
Bath; Kate Gordon, Brookfield, Renfrewshire;
Angela G. Pickering, Ely, Cambs; Lesley Hayter,
Boston Lincs; Jennifer Moore, Ivybridge. Devon.
FEBRUARY 2018 33
18/12/2017 10:03
 I N T E RV I E W
Shelf life:
ANNA
JACOBS
The romantic novelist shares her five favourite reads with Judith Spelman
T
o say that Anna Jacobs is a prolific writer is an
understatement. In September 2017 her eightieth novel,
Saffron Lane, was published. Yes, that is not a misprint.
Anna has written over eighty novels in modern fiction,
historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy. They are categorised
in series – Ellindale, Rivenshaw, Honeyfield, Grey Ladies,
Chronicles of Tenebrak, The Hope Stories – in all about seventeen
different series. They all have a strong romantic theme running
through them and it is not hard to believe that she is the fourth
most borrowed author from British libraries. She still had time to
talk about her five favourite books. ‘I re-read each of these books
every few years – and love them all over again.’
FRIDAY’S CHILD
Georgette Heyer
‘Georgette Heyer had more influence
on me as a writer than anyone else
and Friday’s Child is my favourite
book of hers, a Regency romance.
The first thing I love it for is the sheer
enjoyment I get from reading it. She
was a witty wordsmith, who could
make you laugh or bring tears to your
eyes. Reading her historical novels
made me want to find out more about
the people in history. I’d been put off history
at school in the 1950s by the politics/battles/kings emphasis and
the tedious rote learning of lists. She produced one historical
romance a year which I saved up to buy in hardback. Soon I too
wanted to write historical novels. I went on to read factual history,
only to find out that women, and especially working class women
like my grandma and her nine sisters, all born before 1900, were
poorly represented in textbooks. (It’s much improved nowadays.)
So I wrote about people like them. Georgette Heyer also taught
me how to write vivid secondary characters, a major gift to a
writer. Ferdy Fakenham in Friday’s Child is such a brilliantly funny
character. Read the book, you’ll enjoy meeting him.’
34 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p034 Shelf Life.indd 34
BORN IN FIRE
Nora Roberts
‘Nora Roberts has written over 200 novels
and I’ve read and enjoyed most of them.
Born in Fire was one of the first of her
romances I ever read, and I still think
it’s one of her best. I re-read it every few
years and it cheers me up at difficult
times. I love the heroine, who is feisty, and yet so engrossed in
her glass art that she can forget the real world. I get like that
when finishing off writing a book. I enjoyed learning about glass
making. The story is easy reading in the sense that it flows and
doesn’t try to dazzle you with fancy words that interrupt the
story and stutter across the action. And yet sometimes she offers
beautiful images, just in passing, mostly using everyday words.
There are two other books in the series, and studying them all as
a group made me realise how good it is to tie the books together
by titles – Born in Fire, Born in Ice and Born in Shame. Simple
but clever.’
RESTOREE
Anne McCaffrey
‘This was one of the earliest women’s fantasy
romances and Anne McCaffrey was one of the
writers who led women into that sub-genre.
It’s also a rollicking good adventure yarn. We’re
used to that sort of story these days, but when
it was written about 1967 it was ground-
breaking stuff and it blew me away. It was the
freshness of her imagination that made the
difference. She dreamed up worlds that were
totally coherent, yet challenging to the established style of fantasy and
SF tales. I tried this book out on my husband and he loved it too, so
it isn’t just a “women’s book”.’
18/12/2017 12:43

KELLY PARK
Jean Stubbs
‘The book starts with the best description
at the beginning of a story that I’ve ever
read – and I have been reading about
150 novels a year for decades. London
was suspended in the aimless hours of early
morning and in that season of the year
which demands hibernation. Winter lay on
her pavements, whistled through barebone
trees, blew across the river. Only 33 words,
yet I can see it, feel it, taste it. And the story itself is engrossing; a
treasure hunt in one sense, full of rich characters. It’s a page turner
that has you guessing till very close to the end. There’s a charm to
the story, too. I like the heroine. Well, I can never enjoy a book
if I don’t like the central characters. As a rule, I don’t like books
written in the first person, and will put them back on the shelves in
a bookshop, but it wasn’t till the sixth time I read Kelly Park that I
even realised it was written in first person. I laughed at myself but
also was lost in admiration for Stubbs’ skill.’
‘T
he setup situation comes first
in my books with maybe a
paragraph worth of a situation
which the main characters
could be caught in and which country
and also which time period if it’s a
historical novel. I can’t plot a story ahead
of writing it, however, so I dive in with
my characters. It’s as if the people and
events are stored in my fingertips and
come out as I type.
‘I write organically, so once I’ve done any
background research I work out where and
when to start the story for best impact, then
plunge straight in. I rewrite the first chapter or two several times, then set
off galloping through the story.
‘I don’t mind hard work. I’d be bored without something to do. I
definitely don’t have the housework gene! However, once I’m into a
story, as I swim up from sleeping to waking there is sometimes a magic
few moments where I can “see” the next few scenes. Sometimes my
characters wake me up in the night to show me what happens next. I
get up around 5.30am – not because I’m virtuous but because my body
has always woken early. After showering, I eat then start work by going
through the emails which, because the time difference between Australia
and England, have come in overnight. I then play solitaire on the
computer to relax my brain into creative mode.
‘After that I move to my non-internet computer on which I do all
my writing. By about 11.15am it’s time to prepare lunch, then I go
back into my office, either to continue my tale or to do business or PR
work. Emails come in through the late afternoon to early evening from
overseas, but I switch off my computer about 7pm.
‘I write three novels a year through steady work, mostly in this pattern,
day after day. I have a huge office (8x5metres) and love being shut in
there with my characters and my bright scarlet curtains which are so
cheerful to look at.
www.writers-online.co.uk
p034 Shelf Life.indd 35
WRITER’S BOOKSHELF
VIRGIN RIVER
Robyn Carr
‘What a great story this is! It’s
the start of a great eighteen-book
series. I love to read and write
complex family/relationships
novels and Robyn Carr produces
them brilliantly. All the books
in this series are good stories,
and I was truly sad when it
ended. Fortunately the next
series Thunder Point is just as
good. I’m re-reading that at the moment because I’m at
a crucial point in the novel I’m writing and don’t want
to be distracted. I’m comforted as well as entertained by
it. Robyn Carr creates wonderful characters, so real you
could invite them round for a glass of wine. As I keep
saying, I think characters are the most crucial element of
all in a book. Without them being vivid and memorable,
who would care about the story?’
‘I am fascinated trying to understand the daily life of ordinary people,
especially women. For instance, books and films about WW1 for so long
featured the men’s war and the trenches. I’ve researched the women’s side
of things. One of my characters was a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment)
driving ambulances. Before I started writing seriously, I did a university
unit in history to cover the basics of my period (1730-1950) but I enjoy
the added layers of research into whatever topic features in a story. I just
found out, for instance that petrol was known as “motor spirit” until well
past WW1. I love titbits of information like that.
‘I write both historical and modern stories, but they’re all about
people and relationships. My husband, who is my business manager
and wise reader of every new story, says he can tell a piece I’ve written
anywhere. To tell you the truth, I’m more interested in finding the
best ways to tell my stories than in fancy words, or fussing over style
or themes or whatever else is considered to be necessary to books. One
of my favourite writers, Anne McCaffrey, sadly now dead, said it best
of all and this one remark of hers taught me more than anything else
about writing fiction. “A basic commandment every writer should
remember is to Tell A Story. Some aspiring writers labour under the
delusion that it is the taut phrase, the witticism, the exhibition of a
vocabulary, or the involved sentence
showing a perfected knowledge of syntax
that maketh the writer. My friends, no...
where is the story beneath all that glitter?”
‘I’d say to a new writer, do not rush into
submitting or self-publishing your first novel
completed. It’s usually your learning piece.
Polish it as much as you can then set it aside
and write another. Do the same with that
second one and come back to the first story.
You’ll SEE how to improve it. Distance lends
you better eyesight when it comes to your
“book baby”. My first book has never been
published. It was a trite tale. But if I hadn’t
written it, I’d not have learned how to write.’
FEBRUARY
APRIL 2017
2018 35
18/12/2017 12:43
 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Under the
microscope
James McCreet considers the beginning of a book for children
When Reggie Fell
Out of the Nest
THE BEGINNING
I wake to a bright sun.1 My body is wet.2 Feels
sore.3 I lift my head. Ouch, it hurts.4 Where’s that
sweet smell coming from?5 Perhaps those pink
roses. My tongue is dry.6 Need a drink but where
am I?7 Soft moss covers the ground.8 I stretch my
neck and see a giant oak tree.9 At the top, tiny
flecks are buzzing around.10 They are coming near.
I strain to focus. Yes it’s my parents.11 “Mum.” I
cry.12 Why can’t she hear me?13
I try to think. Yes, I remember.14 As usual,
Mum and Dad were arguing.15 There was lots
of pushing and I got in the way. Bang, fell
out.16 Tried to fly but am too little.17 Must have
dropped to the floor and got knocked out.18
Oh, what’s that noise.19 Go away, you noisy
magpies.20 Stop trying to peck me.21 Must get to
those bushes and rest.22
The sun had gone down when I woke again.23 I
hear a strange language.24 I poke my beak through
the leaves and spy two huge shapes. Funny, they
don’t have any feathers.25 I see a pond.26 Must get
a drink. Quietly, I creep towards the water and
sip. That’s better. I look up and see Dad skirting
the air.27 He lands on a branch. I want to shout
Dad but no words come out.28
Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the
shapes walking towards the pond.29 I sliver back
to the bush.30 My trembling makes the leaves
crackle.31 The large shape kneels down and calls to
the smaller one. The ground booms.32 Must keep
still. Through half-closed eyes I see them peering
at me. The large shape picks me up with its sort of
claw.33 I wriggle and screech but can’t get loose. It
puts me in this box and closes the lid.34
36 FEBRUARY 2018
p036 Microscope.indd 36
Lyn Douglass
studied at
Hornsey College
of Art and Ruskin
College, London.
After completing
a psychology
degree, she graduated as an
art therapist and worked for
over thirty years with children
and families in NHS, Social
Services, NCH, community and
1 It’s necessary to preface all of
my comments this time with the
proviso that I’m not a writer for
children. Nevertheless, many of the
following points are relevant to good
writing in general. Here, we begin with
present-simple tense – a tense that
tends to signify a literary tendency in
adult fiction because it fixes our focus
in the immediate present. I wonder
how a seven-year-old processes the
difference between “I wake” and “I
woke up”.
2 A minor point. Our protagonist is a
bird so my question is whether we
are to distinguish between a wet body and
wet feathers? Does one imply the other?
3 Again, this counts as free-indirect
style in adult writing – a self-
consciously literary technique to express
character perspective. How does this
sit alongside the very simple declarative
sentences that predominate?
4 A comma is wrong here. Try a full
stop or, better, a dash.
5 The question of paragraphing
arises. Being in the same paragraph,
this sentence implies that waking up
and smelling the roses are somehow
connected, but I’m not sure that’s the
case. A new paragraph is better.
www.writers-online.co.uk
privately. A high percentage
of her work is with children
in care, abuse, physical/
mental disabilities and ethnic
minorities. A book for 7-12 year
olds, When Reggie Fell Out
of the Nest is the journey of a
baby crow. It could be a tool for
practitioners and parents or just
read as a story by children. Lyn
has illustrated the book with
one picture per chapter.
6 An oblique way of indicating thirst.
Good.
7 Free-indirect style again, but the
sentence could be confusing in the
way it elides thirst with a question of
location. Are the two connected?
8
A useful visual detail amid some
quite abstract writing, although we
don’t know for sure whether our character
is on the ground or only seeing it.
9 It’s not immediately clear whether
the character stretches his neck
in order to see the tree, or whether
seeing the tree is incidental. This is
partly because we don’t know where the
character is. We need to balance the
narrator’s disorientation with the need
for clarity.
10 Is ‘fleck’ a word commonly used
by 7-12 year-olds? There’s also a
question of number. I’m imagining a swarm.
11 I suggest a dash or ellipsis after
‘Yes’. Also, ‘flecks’ and ‘buzzing’
strongly suggested a cloud of flies or bees
when in fact we have only two birds. Do
birds buzz?
12
New paragraph here for emphasis,
and the full stop is wrong. Use a
comma or an exclamation point.
18/12/2017 10:05

13 I’d give this its own paragraph,
too, because the focus has changed
from speech to thought.
14 A dash or ellipsis is better than a
comma here.
15 Does the sentence have a different
emphasis if the opening clause
comes after?
16 Not a comma. A dash or ellipsis
better expresses the connection.
And wouldn’t the bang come after
falling out?
17 This and the next sentence are
again in free-indirect style –
sophisticated in adult writing, but the
same in children’s writing?
18 A ‘floor’ tends to be indoors and
manmade, but I suspect this is
the ‘ground’.
19 New focus, new paragraph. And I’d
use a dash or ellipsis rather than a
comma for emphasis. And a question mark.
20 There’s no emphasis here. Are
the magpies a threat or an
irritation? If so, use an exclamation mark.
21 And again, I think we need to feel
the anxiety of the narrator.
22 A bit of a non sequitur here.
Under apparent attack from the
magpies, our narrator sees the bushes as a
place for rest rather than refuge.
23 The tense changes here. We’ve
been mostly in present-simple
and now we switch to past-simple
narration for this sentence. Previously,
past simple has been for backstory.
It brings the choice of predominant
narrative perspective into focus and
again raises the question of why present-
simple, and whether this is the best
tense for this story. It can cause hiccups
whenever past-tense contextualising is
necessary (see 34).
24 Interesting anthropomorphising
of the perspective.
25 And again – interesting that
non-feathered beings are seen
as the ‘other’.
p036 Microscope.indd 37
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
26 But this switch in focus (and
in the same paragraph) seems
disjointed. We started with the arrival of
two alien beings... who are instantly side-
lined by the pond.
27 A strange choice of words,
‘skirting the air’. Skirting normally
implies a periphery... but this is the air.
Does it have a periphery?
28 I’d use speech marks around
‘Dad’. Why won’t any words
come out? Is it because the little bird is
yet unable to speak, or some other factor?
Is it relevant?
29 The return of the shapes. We
assume that these shapes hold no
fear for our character because they were so
easily disregarded previously. Is this right?
Should we feel any sense of threat?
30 ‘Sliver’ is a thin strip of
something. Do we mean ‘slither’?
That in itself isn’t quite right because it
suggests constant contact with the ground
like a snake. ‘Scuttle’? ‘Shuffle’?
31 Trembling implies fear, but
there’s been little sense of fear
previously. On a more pedantic point,
‘crackle’ suggests that the leaves are
dead. Is this correct?
32 One drawback of choosing a
non-human narrator is that it
leads to questions like: does a bird have
a concept of kneeling, and therefore
a word for it? Perhaps children don’t
ask such questions. I like the booming
ground, however.
33 The ‘sort of claw’ is presumably
a hand – another interesting
rendering of otherness in what we think
of as familiar.
34 The immediacy of the tense,
and the reinforcement of ‘this’,
causes a perspectival hiccup that needs to
be processed. Has the bird been narrating
the story so far from inside the box? That
seems impossible because it’s mostly been
in present-simple tense, and yet being
in the box is a result of everything that’s
happened previously – the backstory of
• If you would like to submit an
extract of your work in progress,
falling out of the tree. It’s difficult to
process chronology when everything is in
the present, including the past.
www.writers-online.co.uk
IN SUMMARY
This is a good piece of writing,
hence the increased level of
pedantry in my critique. I’m entirely
willing to accept that the target
readership won’t consider many
of these points, but as writers we
need to think about them and ask
the relevant questions – especially
if such books are teaching children
the language.
Regardless of readership,
paragraphs control emphasis
and indicate changes in focus.
Punctuation is the same whatever
our age. It needs to be correct and
manage the music of the sentences.
Vocabulary needs to be specific and
correct, even if it isn’t complex.
Perspective is trickier. It’s a
fascinating concept being inside
the mind of a bird – something
that children will accept more
readily and easily than an adult
will. Still, the choice of tense, tone
and vocabulary contribute to the
persuasiveness of perspective. I
wonder if a mix of present-simple,
free-indirect and occasional past-
tense contextualising doesn’t make
the task more difficult than it needs
to be. Why not simply use simple-
past for the whole thing? It can
retain its disjointed and childlike
simplicity, but without the tricky
readjustments in tone that are
necessary with present-simple.
What’s fascinating is the
opportunity for seeing our own
world as something odd and alien.
This, of course, is the main focus of
the work in creating an allegorical
space to explore human issues. We
need to concentrate entirely upon
this without getting hung up on
questions of writing.
TAP HERE
to read James
McCreet’s suggested
rewrite of this extract
send it by email, with synopsis
and a brief biog, to:
jtelfer@writersnews.co.uk
FEBRUARY 2018 37
19/12/2017 11:51
 FICTION FOCUS
b ac k i n t i me
A lo o k
Novelising the past has challenges for the modern historical fiction writer,
but human nature doesn’t change, says Margaret James
The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.
So begins The Go-Between, the
classic novel by LP Hartley, and that
opening line has become almost
as famous as the one we all know
about single men of good fortune
presumably being in need of wives.*
While it’s certainly the case that
politics, cultures, traditions and
values change from generation to
generation and from country to
country, often dividing us when it
might be in our better interests to
co-operate with each other, it’s also
arguable that basic human nature all
over the world and down the ages
stays the same.
Yes, in the past they did things
differently.
But did they feel things differently?
I don’t think so. I’m confident
that one of the many attractions
of reading and writing historical
fiction is that it connects us with
our collective past, assuring us that
although previous generations might
not have had daily showers or used
38 FEBRUARY 2018
p038 Fiction Focus.indd 38
iPads, they did fall in love, they in fiction if not in life. So perhaps
wanted the best for their children and it’s inevitable that many historical
they argued with their neighbours. novels, including some I’ve written
They made terrible mistakes that myself, will be set during wartime,
sometimes resulted in tragedy. But maybe because putting characters
the majority of them also did their under stress can challenge them
best to be good citizens, like most of much more dramatically than when
us do today. their lives are calm and quiet?
Kate Atkinson’s
award-winning
“While politics, cultures, traditions and values novels Life after
Life and A God in
change from generation to generation and from Ruins feature some
harrowing scenes
country to country, basic human nature all over set in wartime, and
these two novels
do a great job of
the world and down the ages stays the same.” connecting their
readers with our
As a species, we love and we hate. shared past. All my adult life I’ve
We fight and we make peace. We known in theory that the RAF pilots
construct and we destroy. When and crews who flew those thousands
we tell stories, we set up conflict of missions over enemy territory in
situations and then we resolve them. the 1940s must have been hugely
We pray for peace in our time, but courageous. But, by focusing on one
we seem to find peace rather boring, imaginary character in the person of
www.writers-online.co.uk
18/12/2017 10:09

the likeable, sometimes confused and
but always well-meaning Teddy Todd,
who served as a pilot in the RAF,
and by sharing Teddy’s experiences,
Kate Atkinson takes us there and
reminds us that in different lives we
ourselves could have been RAF pilots
or gunners or navigators: ordinary
people called upon by history to do
extraordinary things, feeling the same
fear and exhilaration and relief and
anxiety as we might have done.
It’s probably a bit (or maybe a
lot) harder to identify with most of
the non-imaginary and definitely
non-ordinary characters of history.
But some of these heroes, heroines
or monsters from the past, benign
or otherwise, are so fascinating that
we can’t help being drawn into their
fictional orbit and wanting to be in
their company time and time again.
The child of a supposedly adulterous
mother who was executed by her father
when she was coming up to just three
years old, the teenager who had to
contend with the increasing paranoia
of a half-sister who could have had
her executed for treason any time she
chose, the twenty-something girl who
successfully navigated the white water
rapids of the Tudor court to become
Elizabeth I – in a modern incarnation
she would be a psychologist’s dream
subject, allowed or even expected
to have a whole host of mental and
physical health issues. But she also
proved the point that some exceptional
people, royal or otherwise, can deal
with whatever life throws at them and
emerge from their childhood traumas
relatively humane, empathetic and
emotionally unscathed.
Elizabeth I was undoubtedly
a heroine in every sense of the
word and I’ll never tire of reading
novelised re-imaginings of her
turbulent life. But her monster of a
father also continues to fascinate a
faithful band of readers. Just when
NOW Try this
Hero, heroine, monster or ordinary mortal called upon to do
extraordinary things, real or imaginary – who would your ideal
subject for a historical novel be? Maybe make some notes and try
to work this out.
p038 Fiction Focus.indd 39
I’m starting to feel I never want
to hear about, let alone read, yet
another novel about Henry VIII and
his many wives, along comes a story
offering a slightly different slant on
the world’s most notorious serial
husband. We know about the wives.
But what about the mistresses?
When Philippa Gregory wrote The
Other Boleyn Girl, readers were
offered the chance to learn all about
Anne Boleyn’s big sister who also
took Henry’s fancy for a little while,
and the novel became a bestseller.
There must be a few novels in
which the ghastly Henry has been
presented as more sinned against
than sinning? This scenario would
never work for me. But, as a reader,
it might work for you? As a novelist,
perhaps you could try to persuade
your readers to identify with a not-
very-likeable character from history
by writing this person’s story from
his or her point of view. After all,
the double Booker Prize winner
Hilary Mantel made a big success
of re-imagining the life of the
unscrupulous Thomas Cromwell.
The monsters of history are
admittedly interesting, and – as is
not the case with modern day serial
killers, both real and imaginary –
we can read about them safe in the
knowledge that their henchmen aren’t
going to turn up on our doorsteps
with warrants to escort us to the
Tower. But, as a reader and writer
of historical fiction, I usually prefer
to meet imaginary people like Teddy
Todd, Scarlett O’Hara and Sydney
Carton from Dickens’ A Tale of
Two Cities – flawed and fallible and
sometimes frivolous, but fascinatingly
human all the same.
*As I’m sure all regular readers
of this magazine will know, I’m
referring to the opening lines of
Pride and Prejudice.
www.writers-online.co.uk
FICTION FOCUS
I wish
I’d known…
with Victoria Cornwall
‘I
finished writing my
first book in 2012.
A year of rejections
followed, and I
eventually published two novels myself. But
in 2016 I signed my first contract with a commercial
publisher and, within a year, I’d signed a further three
contracts with the same publisher. The Thief ’s Daughter
and The Captain’s Daughter are the first two books in a
Cornish Tales series.
‘I had learned a lot during my three years of
self-publishing, so by the time I submitted The
Thief ’s Daughter I had a better understanding of
what commercial publishers want. In my previous
submissions I had made the mistake of focusing on
my own dream to have a book published. Maybe, if I
had presented myself as the sort of person they would
want to work with, I could have been more successful
back in 2012.
‘Apart from a good novel, I learned that publishers
and agents want someone whose writing career can be
built on. They don’t want a “one book wonder”, so
you need to prove to them that you are serious about
a writing career.
‘They also want someone they can get on with.
My advice is to join writers’ groups and associations
connected with your preferred genre and start
networking in order to break down barriers. You
never know if that casual conversation or that friend
connection will help your submission to stand out
from the slush pile.
‘Finally, I’ve learned that publishers want someone
who can promote their own work and build a brand.
So my advice to a new writer is to start building your
social platform now, so you can show publishers that
you are already networking online with writers and
readers of your preferred genre.
‘I wish I had learned earlier that writing is a business
rather than a dream. Although I did have the skills
required to become a published author, I failed to
prove this to publishers earlier in my career.’
DECEMBER
AUGUST 2017 39
18/12/2017 10:09
 TA L K I T OV E R

On course?
Jane Wenham Jones has advice for a writer wanting to know the best way to develop her skills

Over a period of years, I’ve had letters and articles published in a variety of publications and suggests looking into an adult education
feel the time has come to change my craft somewhat and begin to write novels and short college course (if you are lucky enough
stories. I feel I need to develop my skills to reflect this new direction, but am not sure how to to live somewhere such things still exist)
go about this. I can’t afford a creative writing course and don’t want to do a degree in my early or signing up for one of the Writing
fifties. Sadly, my experience of writing groups is that they often become dominated by inflated Magazine courses (http://writ.rs/
egos with the rest of group sidelined. cwcourses). ‘Every penny I’ve spent on
My husband has written a number of westerns, published under the Black Horse Western courses and workshops has been worth
label, without doing a course and says it’s not necessary, but I feel I need the structure of it,’ she says firmly.
something to give me the final push to get going. You can also learn a massive amount
Any suggestions? simply from reading. Get hold of
EMMA GREEN, SHEFFIELD top novels in the genre you intend
writing in and try to analyse what it is

Q
uite a few, Emma! And
most of them are free or
cost very little. For a start,
there are hundreds of
how-to books out there –
which you could buy or borrow from
the library. On Writing by Stephen
King remains an insightful example,
as does the excellent classic Bestseller
by Celia Brayfield.
But if I were you, I’d have a browse
through lots of the writing books on
Amazon and utilise the look-inside
facility – till you find an ‘expert’ whose
style and approach appeals to you.
There are also many websites offering
writing tips and exercises – do a Google
search – and free online courses to boot,
if you look around.
I did smile at your description of
writing groups. I have my issues with
them too but when once I wrote a
mild send-up of the typical members
one might encounter, I got several
letters of indignation from writers
adamant that their groups were a
massive source of talent, inspiration
and support and telling me in no
uncertain terms that I didn’t know
what I was missing. So maybe it is
a question of choosing your group
wisely. Or even starting your own?
For what will certainly help in this
next stage of your writing career, is a
good selection of writing friends. Pals
that write – especially those whose
opinions you trust – are invaluable.
They will commiserate and encourage
and make suggestions and understand
the frustrations and joys you will
experience as you embark on your first
novel or set of short stories.
And it has never been easier to
make those connections. In the
old days you had to bump into these
like-minded souls – probably at the
local writers’ group! – but now they
are only a click away. There are lots of
groups on Facebook (the one I started
some years ago – Wannabe a Writer? –
has over 1,000 members) and various
online forums. Twitter teems with
writers who like to chat. And if your
short stories are going to be aimed at
the women’s magazine market then
do check out womagwriter.blogspot.
com for lots of useful info and
comment from fellow scribes.
My own good buddy and Writing
Magazine colleague, Lynne Hackles,
has more writing friends than anyone I
know. She started collecting them long
before we all spent half our lives on wifi.
I was one of her first literary chums
– we met on a writing weekend over
twenty years ago. She made other
contacts from writing groups but also by
going to talks by writers at libraries, by
signing up for workshops and going on
writers’ holidays. And she has this to say
about the latter. ‘You have to fork out
money for any hobby so why is writing
any different?’
Lynne’s advice for you – she was quite
adamant – was to make that investment
in a writing course. ‘Work hard and it
will pay dividends,’ she says, adding that
she covered the cost of her first writing
classes before the final term ended. Now
a creative writing tutor herself, Lynne
that makes them successful. Visit the
websites of your favourite authors –
writers often offer snippets of writing
advice for those interested.
Treat yourself to a few collections
of short stories (personally I think
Fay Weldon’s short story collections
are a masterclass in the form) or hang
around in the doctor’s surgery and read
the magazines.
Woman’s Weekly Fiction comes out
monthly and offers twenty stories
each time from some of the best short
story writers around. You could also
enter some short story competitions –
particularly those where for a small fee,
you can receive feedback. Why not,
indeed turn to Writers’ News on page
72 of this very magazine right now, and
see what’s currently out there?
For finally but most importantly, I
would say the best way to learn your
craft is through practice. I respect and
understand your urge for something
structured and there is no doubt that
reputable courses, run by tutors who
have been published themselves and
know their stuff, can be immensely
useful. But your husband is right too.
The best way to learn how to write
novels and short stories is to begin
writing them. Pick up that pen or sit at
that keyboard and see what happens.
You might be surprised. And once
you have a first draft you can look
into gaining editing skills or finding
feedback. So don’t let the search for the
right support system hold you up from
getting started.
The time to write is now!
Good luck.

40 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p040 Talk It Over.indd 40 18/12/2017 11:19

 Helpline
Email your queries to Diana (please include hometown details) at: diana@dianacambridge.co.uk or send them to: Helpline,
Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD. She will answer as many letters as
she can on the page, but regrets that she cannot enter into individual correspondence. Publication of answers may take several months. Helpline
cannot personally answer queries such as where to offer work, or comment on manuscripts, which you are asked not to send.
Q I am in a terrible quandary with my writing commitments. I work
full time, but in the evenings and at weekends, I do try to write. I
am never short of ideas and this is my problem. There are so many projects
on the go in my head and on scraps of paper – anything from letters to
magazines to work on my novel. I am at bursting point! Then there are the
competitions with their deadlines as well as the writing course I started four
years ago. I am so overwhelmed. I have even structured a timetable with set
times for different jobs and have a schedule with deadlines and traffic-light
coded priorities, but it just doesn’t seem to be working for me. As a result,
I am rushing my work, not properly editing the content and sending it off
feeling very dissatisfied with what I have produced.
How do I overcome this?
IRENE WHEELDON
Capel Hendre, Ammanford
A An excess of ideas and projects is a common problem, and if you also
work full-time, colour-coded timetables are unlikely to be suitable for
you. I recommend that you relax, think, and see which three ideas float most
easily to your mind – these are the ones you should concentrate on. Shelve,
but don’t delete, your other ideas. Work on just three projects until you’ve
completed them – and then move to the next three. If the three you choose
contain one which is a competition entry, with an achievable deadline, that’s
all to the good. Keep other competitions and the writing course in reserve for
now. The trick is to find the projects which most appeal to you – it doesn’t
matter why – and work only on them. Also, you need some time to relax
at weekends as well as write. Don’t beat yourself up about things – if you’re
working full-time and writing, that’s something to be proud of!
Q Is it okay to use writing prompts from different internet resources as an
inspiration for a short story or even a novel?
SANIYA SYZDYKOVA
Burbage, Wiltshire
A Of course – that’s what the prompts are for!
Q I have been tracing my family trees for years and am finally writing it up into
books so that I can send them out to other family members, but I might possibly
self-publish one or two later as they might interest people with ancestors who followed
the same trades or lived in the same places.
I have many documents that I have bought over the years, such as: certificates for
marriage, birth etc, census copies, old picture postcards of places and photos. More
recently I have been using Ancestry.co.uk and have downloaded various documents
such as soldier attestation records. Also I have been subscribing to the British
Newspaper Archive and downloading articles about my families.
How do I stand re copyright rules re all the above?
SHIRLEY COOK
Denham, Bucks
A Documents within the public domain – records that anyone can freely
access – are free for you to use. If you wish to use private letters or
photographs, you will need to get the permission of the people concerned.
www.writers-online.co.uk
p041 Helpline.indd 41
Your writing problems
solved with advice from
Diana Cambridge
Q I am writing a light-hearted Regency romance, but
I’m not sure if there is still a market for this genre.
The traditional publishers of such romances seem either to
have closed or no longer publish them.
LINDA TYLER,
London
A I think all depends on the content and style. If
written in authentic Regency words, I’m not sure
there would be a strong market. And it’s true the market
for such novels has declined... But have a look at www.
killerbookmarketing.com – they have a respectable list of
non-vanity publishers of romance in all genres.
Q I worked freelance for a publisher of an international
magazine dealing with European property. At first he
paid me regularly, then fell behind but pleaded with me to
bear with him until his finances improved. In fact they didn’t
and the company went into liquidation – owing me several
thousand pounds. Can the Small Claims court help me?
FRANCIS WHITTON
Falmouth
A Not very much – if you have sufficient evidence
of being owed money, your claim would probably
be upheld. That’s fine – but will you get what you’re
owed? If the company is now closed, the publisher will say
he’s unable to pay your bill. This is happening to many
freelancers now. In most cases it will cost you money to
take a publisher to court – and even if your case is legally
upheld, you still won’t get your fee. Did you register your
claim with the liquidators? That would have been when it
would have been possible to get the fee you were owed.
Q Can I re use material from a previous book I had
published, this time to publish it myself?
MACEY PITTS
Nottingham
A All depends on the agreement you had with your
first publisher. If they retain the copyright, then no.
However, they may retain the copyright for a certain number
of years, after which it reverts to you. Check your agreement
with them very carefully. You may be free to re-use.
Q I’m still waiting for results from two magazine short
story competitions I entered. Would you expect to
hear back from a national women’s magazine short story
competition? Or only if you win or are a runner-up?
MEGAN LANE
Cirencester
A I think probably only if you win or a runner-up – but
some magazines do send an email thanking all entrants.
No hard and fast rules here.
FEBRUARY 2018 41
18/12/2017 10:25
 SAU B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

SH A RE
SUBSCRIBER
SPOTLIGHT
O Y Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and
Y

R
U R STO would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

It’s been an Sewing words

adventure together
‘My first book was titled Sewing with Sarah,’ writes
‘If I had known from the very start subscriber SL Harbour.
exactly how hard it would be to be a ‘It gave detailed descriptions and diagrams of how
self-published author, would I have to make clothes – doll’s clothes. You won’t find it
set out on my chosen path?’ writes gathering dust in a forgotten bookseller’s shop. The book was never
subscriber Heath Shedlake. published. Neither did it seek favour with an agent, but then I was
‘You bet! I’m not referring to the only eight years old.
art of writing per se, it’s more the ‘From this tender age I saw my two passions, sewing and
hard slog of promoting one’s work. writing, divide as life got in the way. A few decades later they
I think all indie authors can relate have been re-united.
to that on some level. For me, the ‘Hot on the heels of my bestselling Amazon ebook How to Open a
most important thing is not to get Bridal Shop, I’m so excited to share the news of my new publication
too hung up on sales, but just to Bridal Alteration Techniques.
continue writing. ‘With a career that spans over 25 years in the bridal industry and
‘My interest in writing all started other seamstresses whom I mentor, I felt it was time to commit my
when I attended a local creative knowledge and experience to hard copy. The book is a sewing manual
writing class. It advertised itself as and is the first book to demonstrate the intricacies of bridal sewing.
Creative Writing for Beginners. But This invaluable book will enable the novice seamstress to move
as soon as I attended the first class forward whilst offering the more experienced dressmaker another
I realised that the majority of the avenue from which to pursue a different and rewarding career.
class had been attending for the past ‘This book has been a long time in the development stage. Having
seven years. It made me wonder first approached various agents (and used their rejection letters to draw
what it would take to graduate to wedding dress diagrams) the overwhelming response was that there
the next level! Needless to say I was no market.
didn’t find the class too productive, ‘Then The Great British Sewing Bee hit our screens.
I’m afraid. ‘Now, with sewing machine sales hitting an all-time high not
‘But a peculiar thing happened a seen since Singer launched their credit scheme, the popularity of
few months later when I woke up the humble needle and thread has blown up faster than the hemline
one morning with a sentence in my of Marilyn’s famous white dress It is a niche market, but with over
head – On the banks of the Orinoco 300,000 weddings in the UK yearly there is a demand for dressmakers
stands a lonely figure... who can alter bridal gowns.
‘That sentence became the ‘Now it would “seam” (pun intended) there is a market
first line in my debut novel, The for my book, so rather than waste any further time I took
Shamanic Prophecy, which has now the decision to self-publish and distribute through my
become a trilogy. The trilogy begins in a remote village own publishing house Deity. Bridal Alteration Techniques is
in the Venezuelan rainforest, featuring a young tribesman available in paperback exclusively
tormented by his inner demons. One fateful morning he through my website.
seeks an audience with the shaman, where he is told a ‘My next sewing book covers
dark secret about his childhood. This revelation spurs him bridal construction and is well
into a dangerous quest to seek further answers to his past. into the production stage. As
‘And what of my writing plans now? To be honest, I find for Sewing with Sarah, that may
myself a bit sad at having to say goodbye to characters have to wait a little longer for
who have been my friends for the past six years. But as a publication.’
writer one has to be pragmatic and move on. Website: www.
Website: http://heathshedlake.com bridalalterationtechniques.co.uk

42 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p042 Subscriber news.indd 42 18/12/2017 10:40

 S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

Feeling her way

Living the dream
‘I’ve always lived with a dream or two
bubbling away in my head,’ writes
subscriber Elly Redding.  ‘I fell in love with books at a young age
‘Whether it was tap dancing to the
golden oldies, or dashing through a forest,
pursued by felons, my imagination has always sent me to a
world where almost anything could happen. Only it would have
been very lonely, if I’d been there all by myself. So, I created a
hero, someone to share my adventures with, to make my heart
miss more than a beat or two.
‘And so, my love of romance was born.
‘True Colours is my first romantic novel in a trilogy dealing
with second chances.
‘It is the story of a very determined young lady, called Kate.
She’s been through the mill, or any other contraption you might
care to name. After all, it’s not every day that you discover your
fiancé within groping distance of a pair of heaving breasts that
aren’t yours. And she’s done the sensible thing, she’s sent him
packing. Only now Saul’s back. And this time, it doesn’t look as
though he’s going to take “no” for an answer…
‘I was thrilled to bits when True Colours won The New Talent
Award at the Festival of Romance. It gave me the confidence I
needed to take my writing seriously. I was just as delighted when
SilverWood Books agreed to publish my story last November.
‘Since then, it’s been awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion, Chill
with a Book Readers’ Book of the Month for March, and more
recently it received third prize in The
Independent Author Book Award from
Words for the Wounded.
A huge thank you to everyone who’s
supported me on this journey. It’s been
a wonderful experience. Now all I need
to do is publish book number two in
the series, In Too Deep. After all, Isy
has decisions to make too. And one of
them is working out what the hell to do
about Jack…
Website: http://ellyredding.com/
‘It took me a while to recognise the feeling
inside me,’ writes subscriber Sue Bentley.
and read anything and everything. I can see
now that this was my apprenticeship – all
writers are readers first.
‘Working in libraries for many years, fed my book addiction,
while the restless feeling rumbled around. It wasn’t until my children
started school that I began writing. If I’d known how long it would
take to teach myself the craft, I probably would have given up. Some
features were published in local magazines, I wrote some bad novels
and collected rejections.
‘Starting my own writers’ group was a big step forward. We’d
read each other’s work-in-progress and comment constructively. A
breakthrough came when I met an agent. She agreed to read three
chapters and outline of a novel I was working on. On the strength of
that, she took me on. That first novel was never published, but I was
given the opportunity to try out for well-known, existing children’s
series, Animal Ark. At first it was a baptism by fire. Trying to please
an editor was challenging, but I learned to write concisely and to a
specified word count. After seven books for Animal Ark, I wrote six
for Rainbow Magic series. And gained two pen-names, Lucy Daniels
and Daisy Meadows. An editor I’d worked with moved to Puffin
Books and I was commissioned to develop my own series of Magic
Kitten books. In time Magic Puppy, Magic Ponies, and Magic Bunny
were added; seasonal special editions made around 48 books in total.
I’m now an established writer for the 5-9 age group, with books sales
around the world.
‘In April 2017 my first young adult novel
was published. We Other is a gritty dark
fantasy thriller. I drew on my fascination
with traditional fairy tales, English folklore,
and love of nature for inspiration.
It’s like beginning all over again. I’m the
writer I always wanted to be. But it’s taking
me a while to recognise the restless feeling
inside me. And to work out exactly where
I’m going next…’
Website: www.suebentley.co.uk

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www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 43

p042 Subscriber news.indd 43 18/12/2017 10:41

 S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T
Opening doors
‘Some years ago, I was
invited by friends to “test
drive” a cottage in a tiny
hamlet in Devon, bought
as their holiday home and
for summer lettings,’ writes
subscriber Christine Dawe.
‘Taking a stroll on the
first afternoon, I noticed
what had once been a small
shop, now bearing the sign,
“Southgate Publishers”.
‘“Crazy!” I thought. “Surely
all publishers are in London?”
‘The door was slightly ajar
so I ventured in. In short,
Drummond Johnston is a
wonderful publisher, specialising
in educational and social support
for young parents and teachers.
Exactly what I was writing at
that time. The rapport was
immediate. How lucky was I?
Magic Moments, my slimline
volume of amusing stories for
primary age children, helps
youngsters care for themselves
and for others. The books are
still in use in schools nationwide.
‘I’ve been writing and acting
from my early days. Short
stories in the Liverpool Echo at ten and playing
Oberon in an otherwise adult production of
Shakespeare’s Dream at eleven. Teaching A-Level
literature in a huge comprehensive was a natural
progression, interspersed, in school holidays, with
professional television, radio and stage appearances.
I’m now writing a novel about a young teacher
becoming caught up in the world of showbiz.
‘In 2008, when Liverpool became
European Capital Of Culture, I wrote my
first non-fiction book.
‘Liverpool’s Own features the many famous
personalities of the city, both past and present. It
proved so popular, the publishers, The History
Press, commissioned a sequel, Merseyside’s Own.
‘In contrast to this, my fantasy novel for 8-11
year olds was rejected several times. Now, with
rewrites, it was published in November. Stargazey
World introduces Sheena Robinson, born with a
tangled mop of bright green hair, bullied just for
being different. A visit to Cornwall brings strange
adventures but also courage.
‘In contrast, lecturing on cruise liners, recording
voiceovers for documentaries, animations or
commercials and hosting Murder Mystery
Weekends all provide inspirations for further
literary endeavours. Marvellous!’
Website: www.christinedawe.com
44 FEBRUARY 2018
p042 Subscriber news.indd 44
A new taste for teens
‘Although I’ve written three books for middle range
children, Cabbage Boy is my first novel for teenagers and
young adults, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing for
this age group,’ writes subscriber Joy Wodhams.
‘It’s a long, long time since I was a teenager myself,
but I am a mother of three children, a stepmother
of two more, and a grandparent of five, so I’ve had a
good testing panel!
‘The unlikely hero of Cabbage Boy is Nick, a worrier
with more than a touch of OCD. Almost sixteen, he
longs to be taller, braver, more athletic, more popular with the girls, more one of the
guys. He also suspects that he’s the only one in the class who’s still a virgin. At home he
cleans up his messy sister’s bedroom, colour codes his Mum’s spice jars and his Dad’s
garden equipment, measures various parts of his anatomy every Sunday morning and
has to have his full English breakfast arranged in the same order each week
‘Life brightens when he finds a girlfriend and falls in love with her. They’ve been
together for four weeks and he’s kissed her eighteen
times, according to his notebook.
But when Nick meets a strange and scary mutant
and is forced to protect and hide him, his life becomes
unbearable. Who can he turn to for help? Mum and Dad
are busy line dancing, big sister Becca has lost interest
and his girlfriend Chloe has moved on to a handsome
six-footer who’s captain of the school football team. As
for friends, Nick doesn’t ‘do’ friends. Or rather, they don’t
do him. A fantasy full of humour, warmth and tragedy,
Cabbage Boy can be enjoyed by teens and young adults of
both sexes - and their parents.
‘The paperback and Kindle versions are available
now on Amazon.’
The rainbow path
‘Sometimes coming of age takes a little longer
than expected,’ writes subscriber Francis Shaw.
‘There was no getting around it. Stripes don’t
make you a tiger… Decision made. He would
stay in the safety of the shadows, protected by
the anonymity of being introverted, average,
and best of all, unknown.
‘But on the eve of his thirteenth birthday and fighting to hold back his
restless demons, Perry needs a new hero. Certain it wasn’t him, but Emma,
the plucky girl he finds both confusing and compelling? The very odd Mr.
Roes, with his jar of pennies and peculiar stories?
‘A messenger had returned from the past—an
oath revived. Somewhere in the midst of strange
drawings and symbols, an ancient story awakened
with an urgent message for humanity.
‘Becoming a teenager changed everything. The
bravest and brightest needed to decipher the
mystery, but Perry? Surely, the big man upstairs
made a huge mistake...
‘Pocketful of Rainbows... when all else is lost...
hope remains.’
Website: francisjshaw.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
18/12/2017 10:41
 S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

What’s next?
Tools of the trade
‘I’ve been writing since age ten (during
World War Two), ie over 75 years,’ writes ‘A few years ago I was looking for a podcast that would
subscriber Sylvie Nickels. give me practical advice on the craft of writing,’ writes
‘Much of this was as a travel writer, subscriber Andrew J Chamberlain.
but my first love is fiction. I married ‘I found that there were some excellent podcasts
George late but still managed to fit in 38 out there (and some not so excellent ones!) but none
wonderful years of partnership with an adventurer, climber, survivor of them were quite what I was looking for. So I had a
of air crash and avalanche, who introduced me to long-distance crazy idea. If I couldn’t find the podcast that I needed,
canoeing including most of the full length of the Danube and the I would start one myself; and so in February 2014 the
Mississippi. George died in February 2013. The Creative Writer’s Toolbelt was born.
‘In fiction, I’ve concentrated on certain themes, such as the effect ‘My promise to listeners, and to myself, was that
of war on the children and grandchildren of participants, and on the podcast would give: “practical, accessible advice
the growing problems that will increase with an aging population that you can apply straight away to your own writing”.
and the effects of dementia on the extended family. Another theme I’ve tried to stick to that promise by only putting out
(in my only YA book) was addiction. material that helped me as a writer.
‘So, what next – a look, with hindsight, ‘Three years later, there are now more than 100
at the modern world is to some extent the episodes of the podcast available. Over that time I’ve
exercise of self indulgence since I was able had the benefit of interviewing professional writers,
to relive a great partnership, but it also commissioning editors and artists, all of whom have
reflects my considerable concern for a shared their best insights with me.
troubled world. My next project is a mystery ‘And now all of that advice has been gathered into
with a hero suffering from mild dementia one book, The Creative Writer’s Toolbelt Handbook.
– having lived with it, I know that the real Published in October 2017, the Handbook gives
person is still there underneath and deserves writers the tools they need to improve in the craft.
acknowledgment.’ It’s available in ebook or paperback versions via my
Website: sylvienickels.wordpress.com website: www.andrewjchamberlain.com

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18/12/2017 45
2018 10:28

p042 Subscriber news.indd 45 18/12/2017 10:41

 WRITERS’ CIRCLES
CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP
If your writing group would like to feature here, whether you need new members, have an event
to publicise or to suggest tips for other groups, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
ASA
SPOTLIGHT ON…
Saturday Ladies Bridge Club
Members of the Saturday Ladies Bridge Club, are set to launch an
anthology of short stories that all involve ghosts in a fictional English
country house called Livingstone Hall, writes Denise Ogilvie.
The Saturday Ladies Bridge Club is not what you think. It’s a
writing group of women who always meet on a Saturday, and as they
live on both sides of the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne, Australia.
This means someone always has to drive across it to attend meetings.
Seven of the group have written one story each for this anthology, The
Hauntings of Livingstone Hall.
Writers in the group contributing to the anthology are:
• Alison Stuart: multi-published author of historical novels with a
romantic twist
• Louise Reynolds: multi-published author of contemporary romance
novels, with Penguin Random House
• Ebony McKenna: multi published writer of young adult novels,
including the Ondine series
• Denise Ogilvie: children’s author, writer of short stories that have
been short listed, commended and longlisted in multiple writing awards.
Denise is making her debut in adult fiction
And making their publishing debuts: Carol Challis; Eliza Renton, and
Sarah J Wolfe.
The Hauntings of Livingstone Hall is an anthology of short and not-
too-scary ghost stories that include the Grey Lady, who only appears
to murder the male heir; Hector, who is head of ghosts at Livingstone
Hall and his sidekick the deeply annoying Little Timmy; the White
Lady, who plays the piano in the wee small hours to devastating effect; a
Vietnam vet who has unfinished business with his erstwhile fiancée; and
an Iron Age hero.
The idea for a ghost anthology came about during our end-of-year
meeting in Williamstown. As a couple of us (Alison and Ebony) were
writing romances that featured ghosts or ghost hunters, and Carol is a
ghost tour guide, we sensed something of a theme.
Friendly peer pressure saw us playing around with the idea of short
stories. One wine lead to another, and now here we are.
We used North Cadbury Court as inspiration for Livingstone Hall
– but any claims of ghosts haunting the real building are completely
coincidental. However, the staircases were terribly convenient.
The Hauntings of Livingstone Hall is available on Amazon Kindle
and Smashwords
46 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p046 Circles/Roundup.indd 46
Exeter Writers
Writing is a solitary activity, writes Jo Cole, and when
I moved to Devon after working as an expat teacher in
Angola, I was lucky to find Exeter Writers to share my love
of writing with.
‘Founded in June 1950, Exeter Writers must be one of
the longest running writing groups in the country. Some
of us earn a living by writing, while others write for
pleasure or future recognition, but we all share a desire to
enhance our craft, and a willingness to support each other.
‘We meet once a fortnight and operate a rolling
programme of write-ins, manuscript critiquing sessions
and workshops led by guest speakers, or experienced
members. Manuscripts are always welcome, and although
reading your work aloud is daunting, members provide
invaluable insight and feedback into whether something is
working or not.
‘Homework is set and its completion has borne fruit; this
year, N Sian Southern’s two stories shortlisted in Writing
Magazine competitions originated from homework tasks!
We enjoy nothing more than celebrating the success of
our members. Most recently, we have been honoured to
attend launch parties for Su Bristow’s debut novel, Sealskin
and Elizabeth Ducie’s latest novel, Deception!
Our members enjoy fostering good writing outside of
our group, and proudly sponsor the Exeter Novel Prize.
Since 2009, we have run an annual short story
competition for pieces of 3,000 words or fewer. Hundreds
of entries, from all over the world, land in our inbox. This
year the closing date is 28 February and the top prize is
£500. Our members have diverse tastes, but we all enjoy
well-crafted stories where a change has occurred. Stories
that make us laugh are also most appreciated as we receive
too few of these. Our latest anthology, The Coastal Zoo,
contains past winning entries as well as stories, poems and
scripts by Exeter Writers.
Website: www.exeterwriters.org.uk
18/12/2017 10:45

Get your writing group members to find out about each other to prompt new writing, says Julie Phillips
W
riters are by nature
a nosy lot and this
month your writing
group can practise
using their finely
tuned, natural curiosity to their advantage.
Have you ever stopped to think about how
many questions you ask, are asked or you
answer throughout the course of your day?
If you are in your workplace or at home,
out shopping or relaxing with friends there
will be questions galore.
Questions are how we often find out
information. If we need something from
someone we have to ask them. If we are lost
we need to ask for directions – this may
be verbally, face-to-face, or digitally via
the internet or a search engine or app. If
we want to find out what our family want
to eat, or where the remote control has
disappeared to, we need to ask the question
to get the required answer.
It’s the same with writing. The other
day, in a class I work in, we were helping
the children to write stories. To do this we
asked them to think about the following
questions: Who is in your story? Where is
your story set? When is the story set? Why
is it happening? What is the story about/
what is the problem that needs solving? And
how are you going to resolve it? It resonated
with me as an adult writer because that is
how I plan my stories.
The first activity for your writing group
p046 Circles/Roundup.indd 47
W hat
is t he
ques t io n ?
to try is to pair up with a member of the
group they don’t know particularly well.
Each person in the pair then takes turns
to ask three questions each of each other
and note down the responses. Don’t just
go for the obvious, like asking them where
they work or the area they live. Look for
the less obvious. For example: what is
their favourite beach to go to; what would
they really like to do should money, time
or circumstances not be an issue? You are
looking for interesting and unusual facts
about each other. It is often the unusual
that sparks the interest in an editor’s eye
when looking for a piece of work to publish
and that is what we are after here also.
The pairs then feed back to the group
what they have found out about each other.
Next, give the group five minutes to think
about what they have heard and to pick
out two or three details that they found
interesting and jot them down. They could
then feed back to the group which pieces
of information they have picked and why.
What was it about those facts that made
their writer’s brain prick its ears up?
Once they have some facts written down
they can then spend fifteen to twenty
minutes writing part of the first draft of
either an article, poem or short story inspired
by the interesting fact that have heard. Once
their time is up, they can feed back to the
rest of the group by first reminding the
group what the interesting fact was and then
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WRITERS’ CIRCLES
reading the piece they’ve written.
The group, once they have listened
to this, can then give some constructive
criticism on the piece, telling the writer
how well they have used the fact to make
their writing more interesting and what
they could do to improve it. Would anyone
have used the information differently? If so,
how? Did anyone else use the same piece of
information? It would be useful to listen to
other pieces by group members who have
used the same fact too to compare.
Give a group of writers a writing prompt
and they will all come up with something
different from each other. The reading
out of the written pieces could well spark
something in other group members’ brains
and inspire them to write something else
completely different, either during the
meeting or after the workshop, even days or
months later after the information has had
time to percolate.
The purpose of this activity is to encourage
the group to think more widely about the
subjects they are writing about and to push
them to extend their repertoire so it might
catch an editor’s eye, placing their pitches or
submissions above the competition.
The more questions we ask, the more likely
we are to find out something extraordinarily
different and interesting about a subject,
which may lead to more questions, taking us
down avenues we never thought possible. It’s
a never-ending source of inspiration.
FEBRUARY 2018 47
18/12/2017 10:46
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p49 comp.indd 49 18/12/2017 10:47

 ork
P O E T RY WO R K S H O P
W
it ou t
P
oets struggle constantly to
find something new to say
and a fresh way to say it.
Unless we are lucky enough
to be blessed with a Muse
who visits regularly, we need to find
stimuli that will excite poems out of
us. Reading the poetry of others may
inspire new work. Keen observation and
a touch of eavesdropping can inspire
more. But sometimes we need to be in
touch with other people who can fuel
our creative imagination.
Instead of looking at a single poem
in this issue, we are going to consider
the work begun in a series of workshops
– occasions whose function is to tempt
participants to write in different and
exciting ways. We visit them through
the eyes of Pennant Roberts, a poet of
many years’ experience whose preferred
writing is performance poetry. He writes
monologues and comic verse, often based
on observations of nature and human
behaviour, and on contrasts between
today and yesterday. He is always seeking
inspiration, and loves playing with words
to conjure new poems from them.
He describes his home town of Hale
in Cheshire as having ‘several local
theatres, art centres, an enthusiastic
voice and drama group, three speakers’
clubs, three thriving storytelling groups
and a few poetry read-around groups
with visiting readers attracting young
and old poets.’ This list shows a wealth
of resources in the town; and reminds
us that every town has its own list of
groups that can inspire us in our writing.
It’s useful to follow them up.
Pennant Roberts takes this route of
inspiration a stage further, and also goes
to workshops devoted to writing. At
last year’s Writers’ Summer School at
Swanwick in Derbyshire he attended
a number of poetry workshops led by
three different tutors. They shook him
50 FEBRUARY 2018
p050 Poetry workshop.indd 50
Alison Chisholm looks at the way a poet can
develop fresh ideas in a workshop setting
out of his comfort zone and prompted
him to work along new lines, either
following set exercises or adapting them
to suit his own voice.
In a workshop where everyone was
given a decorated polystyrene egg to
use as a trigger, his ideas took off at a
tangent and he produced this first draft.
It’s a different form of language
That ignores the usual rules,
Only consonants are allowed,
Vowels are excluded.
But it’s understood by everyone
From the North Pole to the Antarctic.
Its words are International,
onomatopoeic and phonetic.
There’s
Brr!
Psst!
M’m.
Sh!
Then there’s cry, fly and pry,
For the letter y is not a vowel.
Also G-string, of course,
If you omit the ‘i’.
The poet’s usual preferences have
been put aside and something different
has been produced; but there’s still an
echo of the performer in the list of
onomatopoeic words at the heart of
the poem. Individuality has its place in
any workshop setting. This piece does
not follow the instructions given by the
tutor… and that really doesn’t matter.
Another session featured a viewing
of US videos, strong on protest, which
produced this anti-dissent response.
I’d like to write a poem but I haven’t got
the angst.
You see I’m highly privileged -
I’m Middle Class with money in my
banks.
And, alas, I must admit,
I can’t always identify with Yanks.
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Again, the unexpected approach
and the shock final line suggest a poet
writing for performance; but without
the visual effects in the workshop, this
idea may never have been voiced.
A workshop to create poems rooted
in dreams began with the participants
sharing their own dreams. This led to a
list poem that makes use of slant rhyme,
with its alliteration (tunnels/trapped,
double-decker), assonance (student/pupil),
consonance (tunnels/walls), and the
occasional full rhyme embedded mid-
line (relate/slate).
I can relate to slate roofs,
being in dark woods and descending to
grey shores,
tunnels of competition and being
trapped in aqua walls,
but, being surrounded by six men with
knives has never pre-occupied me,
nor was I ever a student teacher without
a single pupil in my class,
or on a double-decker bus in Bradford...
I’ve got my own fantasies, thank you
very much.
The final line is the perfect touch
for ending the poem, taking it out
of its flights of fancy to return to the
real world.
When a workshop leader used one of
her own poems as an example, the poet
ignored her suggestion for writing and
instead picked up just two words from
the poem to prompt a new piece of
work. The words were urge charades, and
this poem resulted.
CHARADES
“It’s a film.
Four words.
First word rhymes with cone.
Well, very nearly...
Sorry, it’s also a book.
No! It’s not James Bond.
18/12/2017 10:48
 P O E T RY WO R K S H O P

Anyway, Bond and cone don’t rhyme.
Adrian Mole? You can’t be serious.
I said cone...spelt C-O-N-E, not coal.
You give up?
That’s what I was going to say next.”
Selecting a prompt object, Pennant
Roberts chose a broken whelk shell,
and says: ‘I found myself comparing it
to a derelict building, empty, but still
occupied by memories and tiny whispers.
I shall store the image.’ He did, however,
come up with a different idea, and points
out that ‘I was able to complete a poem
that genuinely surprised me’.
AUGUST 1968
Holidaying at Tenby, David and Elaine
had croup.
We had a sleepless night.
So, next day, under a beach towel, we
caught up with some rest,
Eyes closed in hope,
Blotting out the world,
Seagulls’ cries,
And the croak of carrion crows:
“Caw! Caw!”
Or was that the echo of a hacking cough
From the night before?
Somewhere, someone was broadcasting
songs
From the latest Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club album.
Yawn!
This brief nostalgia piece is evocative,
particularly with the reference to an
iconic album of the era. (Cutting the latest
before its title would tidy up that point.)
Another workshop revolved around
numbers, and invited poets to try
writing some free verse in five-line
stanzas, following the Fibonacci
sequence, and featuring the numbers 2,
3, 5, 8 and 13 as the word or syllable
count. This suggestion lent itself to
the production of a concrete poem, a
calligramme in the shape of a pine cone.
If you would like * expanded upon, pruned and tidied
your poem to be ***
considered for pine cones
Poetry Workshop, are shapeless,
send it by email have no geometry,
to: jtelfer@
come in myriads of colours.
writersnews.co.uk
only a blind academic could think otherwise
The poet went further, and
produced a handwritten copy of
this piece decorated with colour –
not a standard form of presentation,
but an attractive one-off to be used
as a gift.
In the hothouse atmosphere of a
residential course, it’s unusual for a
poem to be produced that needs no
further attention. But the poet can
store up an amazing collection of first
drafts for development in the less
pressured, more reflective atmosphere
of home. Sometimes revisions are
minimal – maybe August 1968 needs
nothing more than the adjustment
mentioned, and cutting the final
word. Other poems need titles, or a
hint more content. Sometimes there’s
more to be done; but when the words
are on paper, they can be played with,
until the poem is finished.
It’s always worth attending
workshops, and trying every exercise
to get the creative juices flowing. The
end result will be a wealth of new
work to surprise and delight.

Poetry in practice
Clarify your initial ideas for a poem by trying out words on paper, says Doris Corti

T
hat moment when you start
a poem can come quite
suddenly and you want to get
ideas and words down fast.
The idea or theme for your
poem may be something you remember, or
perhaps it is something you have just seen.
Whatever the theme you need to jot down a
few words to capture it. These may be your
opening lines or they may be the title for
your poem.
Let us imagine that you are writing
about a picture you may have seen in a
book or an art gallery. The first thing to
do is to describe the picture and your
thoughts on it in a few words. These first
words, sentences or phrases are important
although you might find as you progress
that they change a little.
Whatever happens it is important to
retain that original theme and not to
meander through lines and stanzas. This
often happens. For example, I might be
describing a long uphill walk where the
road is stony and wet underfoot. I have to be
sure that I want to write about the hill, or
whether to write about myself walking.
The opening lines could be stones roll
away along the path, clip my shoes. This
shows the reader the poem is about the
path, and the narrator’s voice is heard.
A different start is This hill is bigger
than the others I have walked, almost a
mountain it rears skyward. This shows the
reader more about the hill with just an
inkling of the narrator.
If I decide to write about the hills I
need to find words phrases and imagery to
describe them. I might mention the path
briefly, but the hills and views surrounding
these will be my main theme. To keep to
this I made a few notes about how I felt
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dwarfed by the hills. I also described their
shapes and colours, which would hopefully
convey a picture of these hills.
With a number of ideas buzzing round
my mind I jot these down in list form. For
example: l). Sunlight breaking over tops of
hills. 2).Hills shrouded in mist.
These things were muddled in my mind
until I put them down in word form. Set
down on paper I can order them and follow
my chosen theme without meanderings.
Exercises
1) Choose a place you know well to
write about.
2) In a few words describe this place.
Write a poem in any form that
describes this place in detail.
FEBRUARY 2018 51

p050 Poetry workshop.indd 51 18/12/2017 10:48

 P O E T RY P R I M E R
Poetry from A
Perfect your
poetry with
a WM Creative
Writing course.
See http://writ.rs/
cwcourses
Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry
RHYME ROYAL is a stanza pattern
that dates back to Chaucer. A poem
in the form may be of any length,
with each stanza having seven
lines, and usually written in iambic
pentameter. The rhyme scheme is:
a b a b b c c as demonstrated in
this stanza from Shakespeare’s A
Lover’s Complaint.
A thousand favours from a maund*
she drew,
Of amber crystal and of bedded jet,
Which one by one she in a river
threw,
Upon whose weeping margent she
was set,
Like usury applying wet to wet,
Or monarch’s hands that let not
bounty fall,
Where want cries some, but where
excess begs all.
* a basket
Sometimes this form is broken
down into shorter stanzas, but
the seven-line rhyming pattern is
retained. The options are a tercet
(three-line stanza) followed by two
rhyming couplets: a b a bb cc
or a quatrain followed by a tercet:
abab bcc
EXERCISE: Write a narrative
poem in rhyme royal that picks
up the story where any familiar
fairy tale ends, such as the further
experiences of Little Red Riding
Hood, or the next adventure of the
Three Little Pigs. Write either for
child or adult readers.
Where metre is the mathematical
count of the beats in the line,
RHYTHM occurs in the flow of
language, the rise and fall, the
movement of the words. Rhythms
occur in all forms of wording,
52 FEBRUARY 2018
p052 Poetry know-how/alphabet.indd 52
but have a heightened quality
in poetry, a richness that both
makes it memorable and creates its
pleasing sounds.
RIDDLES are an ancient form of
puzzle poem, and have appeared in
numerous cultures and dating far
back in history. They may depend
on word play or metaphor, and have
a hidden meaning to be resolved.
An example from Greek legend is
the riddle of the Sphinx.
What walks on four legs in the
morning,
Two legs at midday
And three in the evening?
Answer: Man – crawling, walking, then
aided by a stick.
The word play riddle is
demonstrated in this example, entitled
Christmas Riddle.
My first is in basting but isn’t in bake,
My second’s in icing but isn’t in cake,
My third is in reindeer and also in Santa,
My fourth is in glass, but it’s not in
decanter,
My fifth is in present but isn’t in gift,
And my sixth is in snowfall but isn’t
in drift.
My whole is bright coloured or gold
filigree,
And I sparkle with light on the boughs of
your tree.
Answer: Tinsel
EXERCISE: Using either the
metaphorical or the wordplay
format, devise a riddle and try it
out on an unsuspecting friend.
RIME COUÉE or tailed rhyme
is believed to have originated in
France in the Middle Ages. It
consists of a group of rhyming lines
– usually two or three – followed by
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Z
to
an unrhymed shorter line, the tail.
Iambic tetrameter is often used for
the longer lines, and trimeter for
the shorter. In a rime couée stanza,
two tail lines rhyme together in the
pattern: a a b c c b
The horses thundered down the track
toward the winning post, a crack
of whip, resounding roar –
and he who wagered all his cash
could scarcely look; he knew the crash
would bring him to the floor.
EXERCISE: Experiment with rime
couée to compare the effect of this
form with that of the ballad stanza,
in which there is just a single longer
line before each shorter one.
RISING METRE is the term
given to metrical feet that end on
a stressed syllable, such as iambs
(today, again) and anapaests (in a
rush, a delay).
The RISPETTO is a short Tuscan
form, devised in the 15th century.
The word is Italian for respect,
and the original rispetti were
designed to pay respects to a lady,
although this is no longer seen as a
requirement of the content.
There are two main variants of
the form, which both use the same
rhyme pattern: a b a b c c d d.
One variant is divided into two
quatrain stanzas, and frequently
uses iambic tetrameter, or in the
‘heroic’ version, iambic pentameter.
In the other variant, the poem is
usually left as a single stanza, and
the lines have eleven syllables each.
In the original Italian, the poem
is complete in its eight lines. When
rispetti occur in English, the pattern
is often used as a stanza form.
18/12/2017 10:53
Mo ns t er
mas h u p To celebrate the bicentenary of Frankenstein,
Alison Chisholm launches our competition
for monster poems
I
t all started when rain stopped play. Mary
Godwin and her lover (and later husband)
Percy Bysshe Shelley were visiting the poet
Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati by Lake
Geneva in Switzerland. The weather was
appalling, so the company decided to amuse
themselves by reading some German ghost
stories in translation. This led to a challenge
to see who could write the best ghost story…
and eventually Mary came up with the tale that
would be guaranteed to freeze the marrow of
generations of readers.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
was first published in 1818 in three volumes,
and shows how the eponymous doctor created
and animated the creature, who is not actually
named in the book. 200 years, several versions
and at least four plays later, interest in the story
shows no sign of flagging. More than fifty
films have been made, from those true to Mary
Shelley’s novel to such flights of fancy as Abbott
and Costello Meet Frankenstein. And even Alvin
and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein.
To celebrate the book’s bicentenary, Writing
Magazine is running a competition for monster
poems. Entries may be about Mary Shelley’s
monster, but they will be welcomed on the subject
of any monster, from the sensitive and pathetic to
the knockabout m-m-m-monsters of a hundred
Scooby Doo cartoons. They may be established
creatures or monsters of your own devising. They
may be rooted in history or leaping through
cyberspace. They may look like a twelve foot gorilla
or your next-door neighbour.
Monsters need to have a purpose, and
ENTER NOW
• Monster poetry competition
Entries can be in any style, on a monster
theme, maximum 40 lines. Prizes are £100
and £50. See p91 for details
p053 Poetry launch.indd 53
something to give them the chill factor. Let
your imagination run riot. Or, if you prefer, use
monster in the sense of a human being whose
behaviour appals. Think of those people who
have been dubbed monster by the media. You
don’t have to look far.
A simple description of character is unlikely
to be powerful enough to fuel a winning
entry, so make sure that narrative supports
your characterisation, or that there is some
other additional factor. Give the monster
a mission and you have a better chance of
writing a convincing poem.
The essential idea that starts your flow of
writing will be crucial to your chances of
success, then. Give yourself plenty of thinking
space to ensure that your poem will have a
message to communicate, and that it can be
communicated effectively.
Your poem can be written from any angle. It
could be in the voice of the monster or another
character, or told from a third-person viewpoint,
involved or detached.
Think around the vocabulary of monsters,
trying to avoid clichés and produce something
new. Make your use of language sing – or maybe
scream – and you will enrich your poem.
There are no restrictions with regard to the form
and style of the poem. Set forms will be welcome,
with their support frame of rhyme and metre, but
so will free verse with slant rhyme producing the
poetic effect. The poem could be in the pattern of
a letter, reflecting the style of the novel, in a list or
diary format, or perhaps in dialogue.
When you have developed and animated your
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P O E T RY L AU N C H
monster, leave it to rest for a while before you
start the revision process. Then you will come
back to it with a fresh eye, giving you a better
chance of being objective about the writing.
It’s worth taking time to check every detail,
from the overview of your story to the precise
placing of each comma and full stop. It’s
disheartening to have to deprive a good poem
of a prize because of inadequate revision and
checking of copy.
While you are revising, be sure to say your
poem aloud several times. This lets you hear the
effect you are making in the piece as well as seeing
it on the page – but it also highlights points you
might not have noticed, such as the unwanted
repetition of a word or phrase, or an awkwardness
in rhythm or metre. If you should stumble more
than once on the same word while you’re reading
aloud, pay particular attention to it. A small
re-write may be required.
If you have the opportunity, do try out your
monster poem on an audience. While this is a
useful part of the writing process for any poem,
it’s especially helpful in a subject area that’s
both familiar and geared towards eliciting an
emotional response. Your poem is likely to be
rooted far more in imagination than experience.
You need to know whether it works for someone
who was not party to its genesis.
Above all, retain your excitement for your
poem throughout the creative and revision
processes, and during the final preparations.
Then you will be able to submit with enthusiasm
as well as confidence. Good luck.
FEBRUARY 2018 53
18/12/2017 10:54
 Competition
winner
SINGLE
CHARACTER
Whisky
Night
by Rob McInroy
A
t seven in the morning
on the Monday after
the old man’s death Ash
Harker cycled to the
Colony. The old man
had snared the lower fields, probably
on the Friday morning. Half a dozen
rabbits were stiff with rigor mortis, eyes
gone, flesh ripped by crows. A couple
were already maggoted. The American
girl released them and threw them into
a ditch and picked up the snares. Four
rabbits were still fresh, one alive. She
despatched it and gutted them all and
piled them into her bag.
She proceeded methodically, trying
to free her mind of thought. It didn’t
work. She kept seeing how the old man
would have done it, the deft way he
could gut a rabbit with a couple of flicks
of the knife and a single delve with his
hand, the ease with which he could pull
a snare from the ground. She tried not
to think about his death. How much
did he know? Did he feel the flames on
his body? Did he suffer? The moment
– her vision of the moment – kept
replaying itself in her mind. Anyone
who reckons time is a once-only event
knows jack-shit, she thought. Some
moments never end, eternal recurrence
as long as there’s someone to remember,
to care. The smoke would have left
him unconscious, she argued. Stands to
reason. Be reassured. But the visions she
had were never like that and she would
not be reassured. Not knowing the truth
was like a pain in her heart. What did
he do? What did he think?
54 FEBRUARY 2018
p054 Comp winner.indd 54
Rob McInroy took a break from writing short
stories to do an MA in Creative Writing and a
PhD in American literature. Since then he has
turned to novel writing.This story is an edited
extract from his first novel, Cloudland, for
which he is currently seeking representation.
He is working on his second novel, based on
a real-life crime in 1930s Scotland.
Did he think about me? managed to stand on the frame and
She knew the question was reach up to the board and push. It
impertinent, a vanity, unworthy of her gave way with a groan and she pulled
or of him. To measure a life in relation herself up and rested on her stomach
to your own was cheap. The thought, on the ledge, half in and half out of the
though, could not be erased. building. She waited until her eyes grew
Damp seeped up her trouser legs. accustomed to the darkness inside and
Rain fell on her head and back, drew her legs up until she was sitting
gradually working through her clothing on the ledge, then eased herself down
onto her flesh. Wetness made her hands and dropped onto the top of the coal
cold – how ridiculous, the middle of bunker. She jumped to the floor and
July and I’m cold. The old man wouldn’ wiped her hands on her jeans.
of noticed but I do, goddamnit. She The smell nearly made her gag,
collected around forty snares and acrid and thick, oddly sweet. At least it
reckoned there were probably another don’ smell like a barbecue, she thought.
ten somewhere. She kept looking for an That had worried her, the idea she
hour and then gave up. might smell his burned flesh. She tried
She found herself at Dallerie without the light and was surprised that it still
any conscious decision to go there. worked. The front half of the shed was
The old man’s house was in darkness strangely intact, its bare walls and floor
and the stone shed where it happened offering little that was combustible,
was locked and sealed by police tape. but the far end was blackened and
She shook the door and it rattled in its charred beyond recognition. His old
frame but would not budge. She walked workbench was destroyed, three legs
round to the side and looked up at the rising impotently, the top disintegrated
boarded opening high on the wall into and lying in pieces on the floor. In the
which grain was once poured for winter corner there had been a cupboard where
storage. She rested her bicycle against he kept his petrol and his guns but you
the wall and after a couple of attempts wouldn’t know it. The floor was still
www.writers-online.co.uk
18/12/2017 11:08

wet from the firemen’s hoses, choked
with ash and cinders and ruin. His last
moments were here, his last sights these.
Why didn’ he get away? Cross the floor,
open the door, escape? Didn’ he struggle?
Didn’ he try? She refused to believe his
last moments were passive, not him, not
that man, that fighter. She refused to
believe he would succumb. She refused
to believe he was dead.
But he was.
Why did I come here? she thought.
Because I’m lonely, she answered. It
struck her like a revelation and she
resolved never to be lonely again. It
was a weakness, a vulnerability that
others could use against her, a flaw that
threatened her independence. It’s jes’ me,
me against the world, and the world don’
care dipshit ‘bout me so I don’ care dipshit
‘bout it.
That was the litany. Now, she had to
make herself believe it.
She looked around the shed one
last time, as though hopeful of finding
some memory still extant, but there
was nothing here except the end of
things. She turned the Yale lock and
ducked under the police tape and
slammed the door behind her and
walked away without looking back.
New world, new plan.
The afternoon had faired up, a slight
sun shining down and the air warm on
her skin. She walked along the Academy
playing fields and through the railway
embankment and made her way down
to the river and peace and solitude.
Lady Mary’s Walk stretched in front
of her, straight and wide, beech-lined
on either side, the tree tops coming
together to form a canopy. Beneath, it
was dark and cool, the ground soft from
generations of leaf-fall dissolving into
humus. Alongside, the river Earn ran
serene and quiet except for patches of
turmoil where giant rocks impeded its
flow. The water crashed over and round
these obstructions, that which was
peaceful suddenly roused into agitation.
Hidden violence. Latent power.
She found the broken-down fence
lining the ghost of the old railway line
and counted back to the third tree on
Runner-up in the Single Character Short Story Competition was Sam Burt, London E15, whose story is published on
www.writers-online.co.uk. Also shortlisted were: Laura Bridge, Bath, Somerset; Michael Callaghan, Glasgow; Ellen Evers,
Congleton, Cheshire; Jan Godfrey, Rustington, West Sussex; Laura Laakso, St Albans, Hertfordshire; Hayley Liversidge,
Billingham, Cleveland; Pauline Massey, Osney, Oxford; Jill McKenzie, Newton Stewart, Dumfries and Galloway; Kathy
Schilbach, Loudon, France; Lyn Shackleton, Derby.
p054 Comp winner.indd 55
S H O R T S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R
the left and walked around it, trailing
her hand across its rough bark. Carved
into it were initials and names of the
lovers and children of Crieff across
generations, as they were on every
tree in turn, old Crieff custom, parish
register of the poor and hopeful over
decades. She found the entries she
sought.
AD
19/8/46
And:
KD
21/6/47
She traced her finger around the
markings, seeking a connection with
the man who carved them nearly forty
years before. The old man, then a young
man, what hopes did he have for those
children, Alistair and Karen Disdain?
What life did he imagine for them? For
himself? If he had known how it would
end, what would he have done? Could
he have done anything differently?
‘Can I?’ she said aloud. No answer
was returned.
Above the children’s initials there
was a larger, older engraving of a heart,
beautifully carved, symmetrical. Inside
were the initials:
SD & MK
21/8/45
Sandy Disdain and Mary Kemp,
married to celebrate the end of war, the
return to normality. Whatever normality
might be.
Ash felt in her jeans pocket and
pulled out a penknife. She chose a spot
beside the old man’s heart and slowly,
carefully, began to carve her own,
identical in size and shape, cutting deep
and true. She laboured over it for half
an hour, making it perfect. When it was
done she stood back. There was room
inside for initials but she had no initials
to include. Not even her own. Who
was Ash Harker? Where did she belong?
What was her terminus? With the old
man she had felt, for the first time ever,
solidarity, purpose, companionship. Ash
had never cried in her life, not even
when her momma died, but at that
moment, solitary in lovers’ lane, a seeker
lost, she came close. She walked into
www.writers-online.co.uk
town and in William Low’s she bought
bread and stole whisky and slowly she
climbed through town to Ferntower.
She spoke to no-one.
The lonely hunter let herself into the
howff and placed the whisky bottle on
the table. She took a tumbler from the
cupboard and filled it and sat down. She
stared at the old man’s chair through the
gloom. It was like a void in time.
‘I’m gonna snare the high fields at
Culcrieff tomorrow,’ she said aloud.
‘I figure it’s a while since you last did
‘em. And, soon as I find where you
keep your nets, I’m gonna have a run
through up at the Colony. Saw a field
there today looked jes’ right.’
Silence encased her. A chill went
through her. She took her fiddle and
placed it low on her shoulder and she
began to play and she began to sing.
He passed by the rail bridge,
Rowed over the river,
The scent of sweet Cicely,
Beautiful lover:
He ran through the dark wood
In search of his woman
And two came together,
Desire understood.
She sipped her whisky and closed
her eyes. His aroma was all around, so
strong she figured if she kept her eyes
shut long enough when she opened
them he’d be there. She tried it. His
empty chair loomed before her. She
stood up and looked outside at the
evening darkness. How can he not be
here, when every molecule of air in
this room has cycled through his body
a thousand times? When does a space
and its occupants merge? When do
they divide? She grabbed the whisky
bottle and sat down again, stretching
almost horizontal. The darkness soothed
her. This evening she would be alone.
This evening she would remember. She
would mourn.
Whisky night.
And, in the morning, when the dawn
comes and the birds start to sing and the
world to turn, life would resume because
that is the only way it knows how.
FEBRUARY 2018 55
18/12/2017 11:08
 In another
place
Setting accentuates story in Doris Lessing’s Through the Tunnel, explored by Helen M Walters
T
his month’s story is a
tale of a boy pushing
himself up to and
beyond his limits. As
Doris Lessing observes
in the preface of To Room Nineteen, the
collection in which Through The Tunnel
appears, this story has been much
anthologised for, and proven popular
with, children and young people
despite the fact that she did not set out
to write it for that audience.
Let’s take a look at what works
well about the story and gives it such
resonance for old and young alike. As
always, spoilers follow and you will
benefit most from this article if you
read the story yourself, at http://writ.
rs/wmfeb18
Through The Tunnel is set in a
holiday destination somewhere away
from the main character’s own country
of residence. Despite not saying exactly
where it is, Doris Lessing builds up a
vivid sense for us of this exciting and
challenging place in which the young
boy finds himself. We know that the
boy, Jerry, is on vacation with his
mother, and we are told that the local
56 FEBRUARY 2018
p056 SS Masterclass.indd 56
boys he meets while playing on the
beach are a ‘smooth dark brown’ and
speak a language he doesn’t know, but
which may be French.
But what really evokes the place
are the precise and carefully chosen
descriptions: the water is a ‘scoop
of moving bluish green’ and shows
‘stains of purple’; rocks are described
as ‘discolored monsters’ and swimming
surrounded by tiny fish is like being in
‘flaked silver’. The descriptions really
do conjure up the place visually.
The story can be seen as a rite of
passage or coming of age story. Jerry
has to overcome his fear in order
to move from one state of being to
another. Note how, early on in the
story, he is offered a choice between
the ‘safe’ beach with his mother,
and the dangerous rocky bay. He
has to choose the dangerous place
in order to grow up and move away
from his mother’s protection. His
first step towards bravery is coming
out from under his mother’s wing
and choosing his own path. Later
on, when his mother thinks he is
overdoing things and insists on his
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accompanying her to the ‘safe’ beach
he sees it as a place for children.
How does Doris Lessing indicate
that the path Jerry is taking, away
from his mother, could be a dangerous
one? Note the reference to ‘rough
sharp rocks’ in the bay he is attracted
to, the indication that he feels lonely
when he realises his mother is only a
speck in the distance and the way he
feels ‘desperate nervous supplication’
when he meets up with the group of
much bigger boys, who are almost
men, swimming off the rocks.
Tension builds as Jerry realises the
older boys are diving into the water
and swimming through some sort
of tunnel to come out the other side
of a huge rock. They have achieved
something he is unable to, and in
order to be accepted he feels he must
achieve it as well.
From this point on the story is
all about Jerry pushing himself in a
way that is so visceral the reader can
almost feel it. As he counts to himself
underwater to gauge how long he can
hold his breath, the reader cannot but
hold their own breath in sympathy.
18/12/2017 11:09

We can almost feel the pain as he
scrapes his body against the rocks, the
panic as his lungs scream from being
underwater too long, and the gushing
of blood when his nose bleeds from
the effort of holding his breath.
Senses are heightened as the story
unfolds and Jerry has new and intense
experiences. His eyes in their new
goggles see like fish eyes, he imagines
the feeling of tons of rock pressing
down on the tunnel, the taste of
blood fills his mouth, and he can hear
the movement of blood in his own
chest. All this serves to bring the story
dramatically and tangibly to life.
There is an emotional journey
running alongside Jerry’s journey
under the water and through the
tunnel. Notice how when the older
boys look disapprovingly at Jerry
it reminds him of how his mother
sometimes reacts to him. Overcoming
this is as important as overcoming the
natural obstacle placed in his way by
the huge rock under the sea. And at
the end of the story, Jerry is at peace
with himself enough that he feels no
need to engage in a battle of wills
with his mother. He has matured
and become independent. He had
something to prove, and he has proved it.
I think one of the reasons this
story works so well is that we can all
imagine ourselves in Jerry’s position:
up against something that scares us,
but having to overcome it in order
to be able to hold our heads high.
Through The Tunnel is a vivid story
that carries the reader along in a very
intense engagement with the main
character and that is what gives it its
power and resonance.
Another Place
Like Doris Lessing has in Through
The Tunnel you can enrich your
stories by putting them in a setting
that accentuates the story. Where
you choose to put your characters
could have a big impact on how
your tale unfolds.
Setting your story in a country other
than your own can also help it to stand
out in the crowd. Women’s magazines
seem quite keen on stories set abroad
because it makes them a bit different
and can add a new angle to a familiar
theme. It means readers can vicariously
enjoy being in a different, and possibly
p056 SS Masterclass.indd 57
more exotic, place and it also opens up
the possibilities for how you deal with
your plot that can give it that extra
twist of unfamiliarity. A quick straw
poll among fellow writers revealed that
they had set stories in places as diverse
as Mexico, Japan and Iceland, and that
in many cases they felt the unusual
setting had helped the story sell.
Competition judges, particularly in
competitions that have international
entrants, may find settings from
around the world less of a novelty, but
it can still be a good way of pushing
yourself and helping to make your
writing fresh. Some writers, of course,
prefer to set their stories closer to
home and for some tales that is the
right decision.
If you put your characters in a
setting far from home, what effect will
this have on them? And how can you
use it to advantage in your story?
Are they somewhere where they can’t
understand the language? Does this
mean that other people’s conversations
mean nothing to them and just
become a blur in the background? Or
maybe it makes them even more keen
to know what is being said. Do they
look at written signs and see nothing
but incomprehensible characters? How
does that make them feel?
You could put your character
into a situation where they get into
trouble because of their lack of
understanding of the local language or
customs. Maybe they find themselves
accidentally trespassing, or failing
to obey signs warning them of a
particular danger because they cannot
understand them.
If they are in a hot country what
effect does this have on them? Do
they start out, like Jerry and his
mother, with very pale skin that
slowly turns red or brown during
their stay? If they are in a cold
country do they have to remember
to wear much more robust clothing
than they do at home. What are the
consequences if they get it wrong?
Think about the plot possibilities
of your characters standing out like a
sore thumb because of their appearance
or attire. Or, conversely, maybe they
blend in perfectly with the locals and
that takes your story in an unexpected
direction. A case of mistaken identity
when a tourist turns up looking just
www.writers-online.co.uk
MASTERCLASS
READ
Through the
Tunnel at
like a local celebrity, or a miscreant
http://writ.rs/ who left town decades ago, would
wmfeb18
certainly open up possibilities.
Maybe you have something
happen in your story that can only
happen because your characters are
in a particular place. Think about
unique locations like the Dead Sea,
the Great Wall of China, Ground
Zero or Ayers Rock. All are dripping
with possibilities. Or what about a
remote island that can only be reached
from the mainland once a day, or a
windswept hillside where only the
hardiest of folk would live or even visit.
You’ll need to do a bit more research
for a story set in a different country,
but don’t let that put you off. If you
can write about a country you’ve been
to yourself, then you can add in little
touches of remembered detail that
will add authenticity. But if you want
to set your story in an exotic place
that you haven’t been lucky enough
to visit, all is not lost. There are loads
of online resources these days that
can help you to get a feel for a place.
And don’t forget, in a short story little
touches of detail are often enough.
Your readers will not be expecting a
travelogue. Like Doris Lessing you can
choose not to be precise about where
your story is set. That way no one can
point to a particular detail and say
that it’s wrong. Just give them enough
to let them feel like they are wallowing
in the delights of an unfamiliar place
along with your characters.
Take your characters on a journey,
and like Doris Lessing did, think
about the emotional or intellectual
journey they are on as well as the
physical one. Making these two things
work together could be the key to a
really powerful story.
FEBRUARY 2018 57
18/12/2017 11:09
 WRITING FOR CHILDREN

Do you accept contact or pitches on How can an author win your attention?
Julia Churchill, social media? It’s all about the manuscript. My attention is won
AM Heath Literary No, social media isn’t really a workplace, not for there. I’m looking for an idea that feels fresh and fun,
Agency me anyway. I’m very easy to find online and our something that moves or makes me laugh out loud, a
submission guidelines are on the website. character to remember and hold in my heart.

Why would you advise an author to get
an agent?
An agent spots talent, helps develop it, sells it
and guides and manages an author’s career with a
long-term view. We are always looking for more
opportunity, more growth, more money, more
satisfaction for our clients.
What is your submission pet hate?
Pompousness and hyperbole when pitching. ‘Stop what
you’re doing and read my submission. You won’t regret
it. This is the most thrilling, heart-breaking book you’ll
read all year’. The work needs to speak for itself.
What’s the best advice for an author
seeking an agent?
Take your time getting your work ready, don’t rush
it out. If you think there is an editorial issue or
something isn’t working, you’re probably right, so
look at that. And when the time comes and you’re
ready to share, send out widely and keep at it.
Finding the right person who loves your work might
mean putting it across every single agent’s desk.
Website: www.amheath.com
Twitter: @AmHeathLtd and @JuliaChurchill

What are you looking for this year?
I’m always looking for new talent across all age ranges.
I’m looking for exceptional writing, with strong and
unique voices. Titles with a clear pitch, a big hook, and
unusual concept. I’m looking for stories that I can’t put
down, that make me cry, that make me think or laugh.
Characters that I can’t forget. I don’t have a specific
wish list because I never know what I’ll fall in love with.
What puts you off a submission?
I don’t read a submission if other agents and agencies are
copied in on the submission email. It’s better to target
specific agents and agencies that the author has researched
and thought about why they might be a good match. I’m
put off when I don’t feel that time or care has been taken
in putting the submission together, or researching the
industry, and if the authors don’t take their talent seriously.
If an author doesn’t believe in their talent, how will I be
convinced? Sometimes submissions say that they’re not
very good, that the work is rough or unfinished, that
they’re not sure what the age range or genre is. Or at the
other end of the spectrum their expectations are unrealistic
and they say their book will make me millions and who
should star in the film adaptation.
I like a positive and professional approach. A concise
covering letter that includes an exciting pitch, the age range,
genre, a little about the author and their relevant experience,
what inspired them and why they’ve chosen our agency.
A short synopsis. And three polished opening chapters –
starting at a point of intrigue and showcasing the author’s
talent, immersing the reader in their characters and story.
face to face. Also, if you submit to an agent and they
love your work they will want to meet you face to face.
If lots of agents are keen on offering representation,
then do go and meet them and see who might be a
good fit for you.
How important is it to ‘click’ with an
author?
Crucial! The author/agent relationship, like all long
term and successful relationships, involves some Clare
chemistry. You need to like each other, and share a Wallace,
similar vision for your work and writing career, you Darley
need to feel you can talk to each other and listen to Anderson
feedback. There’s a huge amount of trust involved.
Instinct is important too. If you instinctively feel that
something isn’t right, you should listen to that, and
likewise, if you come away from a meeting with an
agent buzzing and full of ideas and excitement for what
might come next, that’s a very good sign.
What’s the best advice for an author
seeking an agent?
One of the biggest mistakes I see is authors sending
their work too early. Really make sure you’ve worked on
the whole submission and indeed the whole manuscript.
Really get it to the point where you feel you’ve got it to
the best it can be on your own. Then do your research.
Lots of agents have bios, Twitter accounts, have been
interviewed online. Look at who they represent, and
what their submission guidelines are. Also, be positive.
And don’t give up.

What’s the best way to meet an agent face Website:

to face? www.darleyandersonchildrens.com
Attending writing festivals where you can sit with an Twitter: @DA_Childrens and
agent for a one-to-one session is a great way to meet @LitAgentClare

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 59

p058 Children.indd 59 18/12/2017 11:13

 CRIME FILE
JEFF ABBOTT The US author tells Chris High about researching
amnesia for his new psychological thriller
T
here are few more
popular crime fiction
authors than Texas-
based Jeff Abbott.
The creator of
fourteen novels including the Sam
Capra and Whit Mosley series,
this time Jeff has taken a step away
from these two protagonists and
delivered another in amnesiac Jane
Norton, in his latest publication,
the standalone Blame (Sphere).
Two years ago, Jane Norton
crashed her car on a lonely road,
killing her friend David and
leaving her with amnesia.
At first, everyone was
sympathetic. Then they found
Jane’s note: I wish we were
dead together.
From that day, the town
turned against her and
Blame sees Jane filled with
questions. Why were they on
that road? Why was she with
David? Did she really want to
die? Most of all, she must find
out who has written her an
anonymous message: I know
what really happened. I know
what you don’t remember.
‘To understand amnesia
better I delved into a number of
memoirs written by amnesiacs,
which are incredible to read,’ Jeff
explains. ‘I think it’s important to
remember that once an amnesiac
has healed from the physical trauma
which caused the memory loss,
they just get sent home. There’s no
“Jason Bourne” halfway house for
recovering amnesiacs. So typically
an amnesiac goes back to a home
she doesn’t remember, with a family
she doesn’t know or love, and a life
that she doesn’t recognise. They are
frighteningly dependent on the people
around them to tell them what they
were like before the memory loss. I
saw a pattern across these accounts in
which family members, for good or
bad, tried to shape the amnesiac into
the person that they wanted them to
60 FEBRUARY 2018
p060 Crimefile.indd 60
be. A difficult truth
can be concealed
from an amnesiac –
perhaps to spare them
pain, or perhaps to
make someone else
look better.’
Jane Norton is
a very complex
personality, not
least because of her
amnesia. Yet rather
than fully develop his
characters, Jeff allows
them to evolve. ‘I get
to know the characters
as I commit them to
paper. I write down a lot of
notes about each character,
but until they’re on the
stage, interacting with each
other, making choices,
responding in the face of
challenges, I don’t really
know them. They always
come alive during the
writing process.
‘Thrillers have long relied
on the idea of an unreliable
narrator – what I wanted
to do in Blame was invert
that idea, so that the main
character, Jane, is a blank
slate surrounded by a cast
of unreliable narrators, all of whom
may have good reason to try and shape
her perceptions and understanding of
her world – either to protect her or
to protect themselves. She has no idea
who to trust as she is trying to find out
the truth about who she is and what
happened the night of the car crash.’
As with all well-written thrillers
there are many moments in Blame
when trust is brought into question.
This leads to there being many threads
to follow, all of which have to tie up
neatly. It’s a skill Jeff has perfected
across his career.
‘I write a basic outline. I like
to know where I’m starting, what
the setup is, how the reader first
encounters these characters... and I
www.writers-online.co.uk
know the ending. The middle isn’t
often as clear but it gets clearer as
I proceed. Then when I’m about
a hundred pages out, I reread the
whole manuscript without editing
and re-outline the rest of the book to
ensure I’m tying together the threads,
that I’m giving the emotional payoff
the readers want. So it’s a combination
of careful planning and flying by the
seat of my pants.’
Jeff ’s love of writing started
young. ‘A teacher encouraged me
to write when I was disrupting the
class by telling my schoolmates
stories that all had cliffhangers at
the end. She encouraged my parents
to get me a notebook and pencils
and for me to write down all the
stories in my head. The first one I
really remember writing was about
two mountain families feuding
– they’d been fighting for twenty
years – and then in a twist they
discover they’re related. I still write
a lot about families.’
Does Jeff follow any particular rules
during his writing regime?
‘The only rules I apply to myself
are that it’s best for me to get a
draft written quickly – I can’t edit
or fix a blank page – and to always
remember that this is being written
for a reader who is giving me the
gift of her or his time and there’s
a hundred other things they could
do rather than read my book. So…
I better keep their attention and
interest. An artist friend – a very
talented painter who makes a living
at it, which might be harder than
writing – told me he was once
advised by a famous artist to be
prolific. It doesn’t necessarily mean
write a lot of books. But I think
it means: keep working. Keep up
your creative momentum. I have a
lot of ideas. I have multiple projects
underway. I think that helps, because
if one project is going badly one day,
I have other projects to write.’
Website: www.jeffabbott.com
18/12/2017 11:17

Alex Davis puts the case for and against contemporary interpretations of a well-worn fantasy trope
T
he Dark Tower, Harry
Potter, Star Wars, The
Matrix... what do all
these famous stories
have in common? Why,
they feature some stripe of the ‘chosen
one’ character, of course. That’s just a
handful of very popular recent examples
too – there are far too many to name
here. And while these tales span genres,
subgenres and age ranges, the concept
of the ‘chosen one’ is a surprisingly
common one in fantastical fiction.
To try to lay down a definition,
we meet an individual who we first
confront in everyday situations (be that
‘everyday’ in the world as we know it or
‘everyday’ in another setting entirely),
and then gradually come to realise
they are anything but ordinary, be it
some incredible item or ability they
are bequeathed in a family legacy or
some latent power that is about to be
unleashed. There is often some element
of fate, destiny or prophesy to go
alongside that as well.
Fantasy, science-fiction, horror and
young adult stories, in particular,
have all dabbled with this particular
62 FEBRUARY 2018
p062 Fantastic Realm.indd 62
YO
SHOULD
THE CHOSEN
O N E ?
archetype, and it remains something still
often seen in 2017.
While there must be some sort of
appeal for the idea to have stuck around
for so long, is there also a case that we
are getting to a point of burnout in
readers and fans for this facet of a story?
In this piece we’ll be looking at the case
for the defence and the case for the
prosecution – and sprinkling in some
writing advice, plotting tips and things
for writers to think about along the way,
of course!
The case for the defence
The concept of ‘the chosen one’ retains
plenty of validity in modern speculative
fiction. And why wouldn’t it? While
genre stories can say plenty about the
world around us, and comment on
societal issues, the elements of escapism
and exploring another reality remain
a key factor. As such, why wouldn’t a
reader be thrilled at encountering and
following a character like themselves
who goes on incredible adventures?
If you want to create this kind of
protagonist, it’s important to establish
something of what their life was like
www.writers-online.co.uk
U C HOOSE
before it takes its fantastical turn, to
establish them as humans and for
some of their failings and foibles to
become known. Surely that is far more
identifiable for your reader?
And that, of course, is one of the other
great facets of ‘chosen one’ characters
– we’re not coming into the story with
a ready-made, cookie-cutter, dashing,
brave and brilliant hero. The likes of
Conan or Tarzan are both characters
we encounter as incredibly tough and
capable individuals from the get-go.
Most chosen ones of fiction we see very
much as works in progress. The term
‘reluctant hero’ is very often applied,
and appropriately so – there are often
phases where these types of characters
refuse to step into the ‘chosen one’
role, at least initially, before realising
how exciting it could be or that they
have a heavy responsibility they cannot
ignore. The struggle of the ‘chosen one’
is three-fold – first up, accepting that
they have to give up whatever life they
had beforehand, secondly, in finding the
confidence and belief they can be this
great hero that other people think they
can be, and only then can they really
18/12/2017 11:38

think about actually defeating whatever
antagonist or threat lays in their path.
If that doesn’t make for compelling
storytelling, what does?
The trope is also particularly apt for
young adult fiction, where it has always
seen great success – particularly zooming
in on younger protagonists. Naturally
a thirteen-year-old might not want to
read about a thirty-year-old, but there’s
more to it than that. Most teenagers
and younger readers are at a phase of life
where possibilities are practically endless,
as well as being at a point in life where
they are trying to choose a path that is
their own in some way. Many young
adult books feature some aspect of Karl
Morgenstern’s bildungsroman, and the
chosen one archetype is a hand-in-glove
fit with that idea.
And finally, for anyone labouring
under the delusion that we are talking
about a tired trope that gives you a
character is almost always identical, it’s
important to remember that your chosen
one could come from anywhere in the
world and be from any background.
Tropes can be seen as a sort of guidance
rather than a strict rule – many chosen
ones are younger characters, but why
couldn’t you have a chosen grandfather
or grandmother? What’s to stop you
from plucking your chosen one from
an obscure location somewhere on the
planet or totally shunning the Western
tradition? Your chosen one could be rich
or poor, happy or unhappy, academically
gifted or academically average – it’s truly
an open field, and any of the above
scenarios could make for some very
interesting as well as pretty different
chosen one stories, proving there’s plenty
of life left in this concept yet.
The case for the prosecution
Oh look, it’s another regular Joe Bloggs
who’s secretly been a mighty warrior or
a powerful wizard all along! Who would
have thought it? The forces of fate and
destiny obviously have a strange sense of
humour in foisting all these incredible
powers upon these absolute amateurs
when the very same stories are often
full of hardened, skilled and trained
individuals who could put those talents
to far better use...
That dependence on ‘fate’ is a serious
factor, of course. Does it make for an
active character when they are simply
chosen by someone else, or the forces of
the universe? To even dream of making it
p062 Fantastic Realm.indd 63
work you have to make your character a
leader in some respect, even if they don’t
always lead wisely or capably. There’s
only so many tedious training scenes
and montages one can stand while our
chosen one gets up to speed...
On that very subject, the chosen one
also comes with an attendant exposition
problem. A character who inhabits the
world the story is taking place in comes
with much more familiarity with the
situation, and also enables the writer
to set things up much more naturally.
When your chosen one is introduced to
the new world – or the new aspect of the
world they will be dealing with – you so
often get stuck in a mire of exposition.
Any writer has to consider this balance
and how they can get it right, so as not
to hold the story up as the chosen one
learns what they need to know.
“Why wouldn’t a reader be thrilled at encountering
and following a character like themselves who
goes on incredible adventures?”
As with so many tropes, the chosen
one is such a tired concept and all too
often falls on familiar aspects. Fantastical
secrets buried in the family history, or
somebody coming across some kind of
magical item that sparks the journey
into some remarkable scenario are far
too common. Even worse than this is
some person simply rolling up – either
a good guy to take our chosen one to
their destiny completely out of the blue,
or a bad guy to try and kill them or
sometimes persuade them to join their
team. You’re right into deus ex machina
territory there, and writers could very
much do with thinking a bit harder
about how they want to get across the
significance of their lead character. All
too often it can feel a little like two
stories – one very everyday, one far more
out there. Anyone ever watched Jupiter
Ascending? Then you’ll know exactly
what I mean...
The jury’s verdict
We’ve heard evidence from both sides as
to whether modern speculative fiction
can truly look to employ a ‘chosen one’
in the lead role. Many classic stories have
certainly featured it, but stories move
on, as do the demands of audiences, the
www.writers-online.co.uk
FA N TA S T I C R E A L M S
preoccupations of writers and the wider
society that fiction is created within.
Undoubtedly there are occasions where
it can work, but lovers of books are
increasingly aware of it as an archetype
and as such authors wishing to use it
might have to think more carefully
about it than once was the case. There
is scope for characters to deviate from
expectations – they may take to the
chosen one role perfectly, they might
decide to use their powers or powerful
items for evil rather than good, they
might refuse the role entirely – what
happens in any of those cases? Because
the chosen one is also so well established
as a concept, there is also value for some
comedy and some parody of the idea
– assuming it is done with a degree of
understanding and some love for the
original idea, as all parody should be.
Neither does the chosen one featuring
in your tale need to be a ‘typical’ hero.
They could be something of an antihero
when we first encounter them, and their
journey is in no small part a journey to
redemption, from evil to good. They
could be a character that is difficult
to like initially, or someone you could
scarce believe could be any kind of hero
that finds inner strength or reserves of
bravery they never knew they had. They
could come from any part of the world,
any background, any walk of life and as
such have the opportunity to respond to
the remarkable fact of their ‘chosen one’
status in any number of ways.
Is it valid in modern fiction? Of course
it can be – tropes very rarely go away,
and do get employed time and again.
But what much modern fantasy and
SF has done is find ways to play with
these tropes, to deliver them with subtle
twists and differences that have not been
seen before, to create something that is
simultaneously comfortable and familiar
as well as featuring elements that are
daring and different. Think carefully
about who your chosen one is, why it
should be them and what their journey is
going to be and your story might just be
the one chosen by readers too!
FEBRUARY 2018 63
18/12/2017 11:38
 Taxing transformations
Remember the plans for quarterly tax returns? Simon Whaley
finds out what writers need to do now, in preparation
I
f there’s one piece of writing most of
us detest it’s completing our tax return.
So when George Osborne announced
in November 2015 the Making Tax
Digital scheme, whereby self-employed
people, such as writers, may need to
complete quarterly tax returns, many
feared the worst. How much of our
future writing time would be gobbled up
by the need to be creative with numbers?
However, plans for this were dropped
from the Finance Bill that went through
parliament just prior to last year’s general
election. But this tax story hasn’t been
buried like a murder writer’s latest victim.
It’s simply sleeping, ready to reawaken in
the near future. As writers, we need to
start taking steps now.
Barry Kernon is a consultant at
the top 25 accountants HW Fisher
& Company. He and his team have
been advising authors for many years,
helping them manage their finances in
the most efficient way possible. He says
the digitisation of tax collection, and the
completion of more frequent tax returns,
is still on the cards.
‘The plan,’ says Barry, ‘is that
quarterly digital reporting will apply to
all businesses, and those with property
lettings, with the exception of those
whose income falls below a certain level.
This level has yet to be decided upon.
64 FEBRUARY 2018
p064 Business of Writing.indd 64
The only published figure is the £85,000
turnover which, if exceeded, means
that those VAT registered traders with a
turnover above this level will start digital
submissions from April 2019.’
Many writers’ businesses do not have
a high enough turnover to take them
over this VAT threshold. Turnover is
the amount of business, or income, we
earn from our writing over a period
of time, such as the tax year. But that
doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels.
2020 vision
‘Other businesses will not be asked
to keep digital records, or to update
HMRC quarterly, for other taxes
until at least 2020,’ confirms Barry.
‘However, what started out as a system
of quarterly returns has been expanded,
and most people will have to complete
five or six returns each year.’
Therefore, those of us with a writing
business could still find ourselves in this
new digital system within the next two
to three years.
‘People who are filing quarterly
information on freelance income and
expenses,’ says Barry, ‘will also need
to file an annual summary of these
self-employed activities, including
any adjustments that may be required
at that stage. Those people with
www.writers-online.co.uk
income from other sources, including
salaries and pensions, bank interest
and other investment income, will
need to file a sixth submission to
incorporate these items. These
submissions will replace the need for
a self assessment tax return.’
What many writers currently view
as an annual chore, taking up several
days of their time as they collect
together all of their data, could
eventually become a continuous
process. It may be difficult to
appreciate this now, but Making
Tax Digital could make the whole
process easier, because much of it
will be automated.
Like any change, there is always
uncertainty. However, eventually
people come round to the new
way of working, and Barry believes
this is what will happen with the
Making Tax Digital process. ‘For
many years after the introduction
of VAT, people did all they could to
avoid it. However, over time, many
people found that doing quarterly
returns enabled them to keep on
top of their record-keeping rather
better than simply sitting down
once a year to brainstorm a whole
year’s worth of transactions. It may
be that MTD will have this effect.’
18/12/2017 11:27

Future finance
There’s a lot of change currently
taking place in the financial sector,
which will pave the way for the easier
sharing of financial data. Most banks
and building societies are updating
their terms and conditions to allow
for third party providers to access
your accounts, but only if you have
granted them permission. This will
allow software companies to develop
programmes and applications that can
digitally access all of our accounts at
one time and collect the data needed
for our next quarterly return.
‘The digital software currently being
produced generally links with people’s
bank accounts,’ explains Barry. ‘This
means that all the transactions going
in and out of the bank account are
automatically on the digital software.
Some people have a number of bank
accounts and credit card accounts and,
if information for the tax return is
contained in all of these to some extent,
it seems likely that, if all accounts
are linked with the software, there
will be a lot of personal information
included that has no relevance to
the tax position. It seems likely,
therefore, that it will be best to have a
business account into which as many
transactions as possible go. There will
always be sundry transactions that can
be added separately if they are paid into
and out of other accounts.’
So if you haven’t already done so,
now would be a good time to set
up a separate bank account for your
writing income and expenditure.
Having your business income going
into your personal account could
complicate matters.
Barry agrees. ‘I think for many
people it would be a good idea to
organise their affairs so that self-
employed income and expenses go
through one bank account. Anything
not going through that account can be
scheduled separately for inclusion later.
It will then be an easy matter to link
with the chosen software.’
Software solutions
Choosing the right software will no
doubt be an interesting dilemma for
many writers, especially if you don’t
already use accounting software. But don’t
rush into buying anything just yet. If you
manage to keep track of everything with
a simple spreadsheet, that will probably
p064 Business of Writing.indd 65
suffice until the Making Tax Digital
system is implemented.
‘There are a number of software
suppliers,’ Barry suggests, ‘for example
Xero, Free Agent, Quickbooks, Sage,
and Kashflow, and these are generally
available on a monthly subscription. I
believe HMRC intend to make a free
version of some sort available in time
for the change in the system. However,
until all the HMRC requirements are
known, it will be difficult to decide
which software to choose.’
The way we bank is changing,
and this is part of the reason why
the tax system needs to change too.
Rarely am I paid by cheque now.
Most of my payments go direct into
my bank account. I often receive
foreign payments by PayPal. We’re
doing more and more of our financial
transactions electronically, and
HMRC recognises this.
Barry says that HMRC has an eye on
the future. ‘The use of apps is likely to
grow exponentially. HMRC have this
vision of people keeping all their financial
information on their mobile phones.
There is software available now which
has a facility for photographing receipts
and linking these to your digital software.
I would recommend keeping an eye out
for developments in these areas.’
Indeed, it is a habit worth
developing now. There are many
apps on smartphones and tablets
that will digitise receipts simply by
photographing them. All you have
to do is hold your device above the
receipt, and the app uses your device’s
camera to identify the receipt, focus on
it, before snapping it and then saving
it in pdf format. It’s a brilliant way
of capturing those receipts for small
items, where you might still use cash.
But these apps also allow you to tag the
receipts so you can categorise them into
spending categories, such as stationery,
entrance fees, research costs, travel, etc.
Frequent payments
What many writers fear with more
frequent tax returns is the need
for more frequent tax payments.
Our income fluctuates, and can do
so considerably. I receive royalty
payments from my publishers in
March and September, making them
high-income months. Other one-off
annual payments, such as those from
the Authors Licensing and Collecting
www.writers-online.co.uk
T H E BU S I N E S S O F W R I T I N G
Society, the Design Artists Copyright
Service and Public Lending Right can
skew a quarterly accounting period
income disproportionately.
Could I find myself paying lots of
tax in one quarter and then nothing the
following quarter? At the moment, Barry
doesn’t think so, although he believes the
long-term aim of HMRC is to collect tax
on a more regular basis than at present.
‘Personally I think it is the aim of
HMRC to have tax paid quarterly, or
even more frequently. However, at the
moment they have not said anything
about this and the tax payable dates are
due to remain as they are at present.
This means that there will be payments
due on 31 January and 31 July every
year. HMRC has hinted that they are
entirely happy for people to pay tax
more regularly if they wish to do so. As
far as we know, it will still be possible
to apply to reduce payments on account
if income is known to be declining.’
So there are changes coming to the
way we report our financial affairs to
the tax man. As with any new system, it
will probably take time to bed in, but as
freelance writers we won’t be involved in
the first tranche of this transition, unless
we’re really successful and earning enough
to take us over the VAT threshold!
But change is coming, although it
may make things easier, eventually.
Modern technology will help with that.
And perhaps taking a few steps now, by
ensuring all of our writing income and
expenditure goes through one dedicated
bank account and getting into the habit
of capturing digital copies of paper
receipts, we’ll be better prepared for
when this new system comes in.
Business directory
• For more details about how HW Fisher can help
writers, visit their website www.hwfisher.co.uk/
sectors/authors-journalists/ or follow them on
twitter @HWFWriters
Receipt scanners:
• Scanbot (iOS, Android): https://scanbot.io/en/
index.html
• Smart Receipts (Android): https://www.
smartreceipts.co
• Scanner Pro (iOS): https://readdle.com/
products/scannerpro
Making Tax Digital information
HMRC: http://writ.rs/hmrcmtd
HMRC Legislation Overview: http://writ.rs/
legovermtd
HW Fisher & Co: http://writ.rs/hmrcdigifuture
FEBRUARY 2018 65
18/12/2017 11:27
 T R A I N YO U R B R A I N

Red Editing Pen

Each month, we give you a few sentences which would all benefit from
some careful use of your red editing pen. As writers and regular readers
of Writing Magazine, you should not find any of these too difficult. But if
you would welcome a little help, you can always check out Richard Bell’s
suggested solutions set out below:

Here are this month’s examples:

1 Few writers are immune to writers’ block and John was certainly adverse to
the problem, worried that it might be an early sign of Altzheimer’s disease.

2 The critics launched a viscous attack on the novel which was set amidst
traveller families and showed their lifestyle practises.

3 He was worried by an accusative letter (dated the previous Jan) suggesting

he was in breach of copyright

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

1 Should we write immune to or immune from? It depends

on the context. We should use immune to in the factual
sense of being immune to any particular disease, but should
use immune from in the more figurative contexts such as being
immune from criticism or, indeed immune from writers’ block.
Later in our example sentence one we have the
reference to being adverse to a problem. However, adverse
means unfavourable (as in: fog creates adverse driving
conditions) whereas averse can mean having a strong
dislike and would be the best choice in this context.
Finally in this example sentence we have the noun
Alzheimer’s, which is frequently spelled incorrectly
3 Looking at our final sentence, there can be confusion
because of the tendency for mis-spelling to reflect
pronunciation. Hence the incorrect inclusion of the letter
‘t’ before the ‘z’ in the example sentence.
Better to stay with the more popular amid. Finally in
this sentence let’s turn to its last word: practises. In UK
English, the ‘c’ spelling (practice) is nearly always used
as a noun as in doctor’s practice or indeed in a lifestyle
practice. The ‘s’ spelling (practise) is used as the verb form,
so that we may talk about to practise the piano.
In US English, the preferred spelling both for the verb and
the noun is the ‘c’ version (practice).
between the two words accusatory and accusative.
The word accusative is a grammatical term referring to
the case of the object of a verb. It is accusatory that
has to do with making an accusation, and would be the
correct word to use in our final sentence.
Another problem raised by this sentence is the use

2 Turning to our second sentence, we will first look at the

word viscous. This is a perfectly legitimate word, which
has to do with liquids and their fluidity. But in this context it
is simply a mis-spelling, which often occurs, of vicious.
Later in the sentence we should consider the use of
amidst traveller families. While amid and amidst are
synonymous words to mean among, amidst is now used
infrequently and then often in a poetic or literary context.
of punctuation in abbreviations. In this case, we have
dated the previous Jan – which is a shortening in which
the latter part of the word (January) has been dropped.
The abbreviation itself forms a word, but it is one that is
usually written and seldom spoken. In that case, we should
technically have a full stop at the end of Jan.
However, in the current trend towards minimal punctuation,
this is a convention that is now frequently overlooked.

66 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p066 Red ed pen.indd 66 18/12/2017 11:28


T
he Victorian era (1837-1901)
holds a strong appeal for a lot of
people – which is not surprising,
considering what a multi-faceted
time period it was. It saw Britain
achieve a preeminent status across the globe
while rapid social change was taking place on
home soil. It was a time of great contrasts: on
the one hand, industrialisation and advances in
science, technology, engineering and medicine
were taking the society forward; on the other
hand, extreme social inequality, deprivation
and hardship were part and parcel of everyday
life for many. The legacy of this period is still
present in different ways in our society today.
Researching the Victorian era can sometimes
feel like being a kid in a sweetshop. There’s
just so much material available that it can
be difficult to decide what the best research
strategy might be. Here are some ideas to help
you get started:
Material in libraries
Most libraries are bound to have some material
relating to the Victorian era. So, if you just
need some general information, you’re likely to
find what you want from the history section of
your local library.
If you are after more in-depth information
on a specific aspect of the period, a specialist
library will be more useful for you. Universities
that offer courses on Victorian Studies have
libraries that hold more specialised material,
such as monographs, journals and, to a
varying extent, archival records. There are
several such libraries across the country and
you can find your nearest one by checking
out the list of universities teaching Victorian
Studies at http://writ.rs/victorianstudies.
Click on the ‘Institution website’ button for
the university you’re interested in. Then follow
the links to its library pages and use the online
p067 Research.indd 67
The Victorian era
The 19th century is a fertile ground for writers.
Tarja Moles helps you plan your research
library catalogue to explore the library’s
holdings. Also read the information
relating to how you can access the
library’s resources.
When you’re doing your research, it’s
easy to concentrate on reading books
and forget that there are also other useful
sources. Journal articles are great for
more specialised research so you should
definitely check them out. They contain the
latest research findings and can be immensely
useful for finding out obscure pieces of
information on topic areas that are commonly
not covered in books (or at least not in great
depth). As the Victorian era is so popular,
there is a good selection of journals available.
An example of such a journal is Indiana
University Press’s Victorian Studies (http://writ.
rs/iupvictstudies). You can find a list of other
journals at http://writ.rs/victresearchjournals.
You may not be able to access these journals
online, but a specialist library is likely to have a
subscription so you should be able to read any
journal articles you’re interested in there.
Archives
Many of the specialist libraries also have
archival records. However, if the one nearest
you doesn’t have material on what you’re
interested in, expand your research to other
specialist libraries. You can find a list of
archives containing Victorian material at
http://writ.rs/vrwarchivalsources.
The National Archives is great for
researching government records and it has
a useful website even if you can’t go there
in person. Its website has an educational
video tutorial introducing the Victorian
era (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
victorians) and it also provides thematic
research guides on a number of topic areas.
Have a look at the webpage http://writ.
rs/natarchiveshelp and click on the theme
that you’re interested in. Then select the
relevant research guide(s) from the list
provided and start your archival research.
Online resources
There is a huge amount of material online.
Although you can certainly use a search
engine and find websites that way, there are a
www.writers-online.co.uk
RESEARCH TIPS
couple of excellent online resource sites that
focus on the Victorian era: The Victorian
Web (www.victorianweb.org) and Victoria
Research Web (http://victorianresearch.org).
Not only are these websites comprehensive in
terms of what they contain, their information
and links to further resources have been
vetted by subject experts.
Beyond written material
When you’ve read enough about the Victorian
period, you may find that you also want to get
a more tangible ‘feel’ about the era. Fortunately
there are a number of ways you can do this.
Many museums have Victorian collections,
and there are plenty of opportunities to see
Victorian architecture around the country.
The Palm House in Kew Gardens, the Royal
Albert Hall, the Manchester Town Hall and
several National Trust properties (http://writ.
rs/nattrustvicthist) are just some examples to
explore. Do an online search to find buildings
and other architectural structures near you.
You may well find that there are restaurants,
hotels, bridges, churches and other buildings
just around the corner.
Watching films and TV dramas about the
Victorian era can be illuminating. You can
find a list of period dramas at http://writ.rs/
perioddramas. However, as enjoyable as it is
to conduct your research this way, don’t take
what you see at face value!
If you’d like to immerse yourself even
deeper and get an idea of what it might feel
like to be living in that time period, join a
re-enactment or living history group. You can
find the Re-Enactors Directory at http://writ.
rs/livinghistorysocieties. Use the ‘Select time
period’ function to find relevant groups.
Enjoy your research!
Take your research further
• Join the British Association for Victorian
Studies (https://bavs.ac.uk) so you can
attend their conferences and get their
newsletter straight to your inbox.
• Take a course on Victorian Studies. For
example, the University of Oxford runs an
online course Investigating the Victorians
(http://writ.rs/victsonline).
FEBRUARY 2018 67
18/12/2017 12:28
 COMPUTER CLINIC
Get c r eat iv e
As Abode rolls out the latest CC upgrade,
Greta Powell explores some of its useful features
Q
ueries often come in asking whether it is worth updating
to the latest version of one software or another – but
Photoshop in particular. Anyone who is already a subscriber
to Photoshop CC should be able to update versions
automatically. If they do want to roll back to their previous
version it’s easily done from CC’s desktop app.
If you have an older version such as CS6 and are looking to update
to CC then you could take a look at the options available to you at
www.adobe.co.uk and download a trial version to try it. Be aware that
Adobe trials now expire after seven days.
A lot of writers see the benefits of using photo imaging software not
only to enhance their own photography, but to use to it to design web
banners, enhance blog posts and size images accurately for social media
output. Photoshop has recently updated to 2018 and comes with quite
a number of new/improved features. Although less publicised than
other ones, here are some, but by no means all, of the smaller but very
useful features it currently ships with.
Photoshop Share
One of the smaller but extremely useful functions now in Photoshop
is the ability to share immediately to external apps and email. If you
post images regularly to social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter
or Facebook it is now just a one-click operation to send an image to
multiple destinations. You need to be aware that when sending by
email the software sends out the file in its original format but it will
automatically convert to jpg when sharing to social.
It’s really easy to do. Go to the File menu and click the Share
command to bring up the share option box. This comes with a few
apps pre-installed but by clicking on ‘Get more apps’ you can easily
search for and install your favourite ones such as Instagram.
Learn panel
For those new, or not so new, to Photoshop there is the welcome
inclusion of the new Learn panel. This contains a tour of visual lessons
which are split into four sections including image combination,
graphic design, photography and retouching. There are only a few
tutorials thus far but no doubt Adobe will keeping adding to these
on a regular basis. You turn on the Learn panel on from the Window
menu where you can click on the different categories to work your way
though the tutorials.
360 degree panoramic
360-degree images are increasingly popular on social media. Prior to
Photoshop 2018 these have been quite clunky and awkward to build
and manipulate, but now the software has its own 360 work space. In
previous versions Photoshop rendered these images as an aspect ratio,
68 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk
p068 computer clinic.indd 68
which meant the scrolling and perspective turning features were omitted
from them, but this is no longer the case in 2018. You can find out to
create and edit panoramic images on this succinct, informative tutorial
pop on YouTube at: http://writ.rs/photoshop360. This particular
tutorial shows you how to create an image, edit it and then upload it to
Facebook – and no, you don’t need a drone.
*Just as an aside, this is an excellent feature for making stunning
animated gifs that really stand out as social media promotions,
headers and posts.
**For anyone interested who is using an earlier version and would
like to work with this pop over to Youtube and take a look at this 360
tutorial in CS6: http://writ.rs/facebookpano360
Q I use older versions of both Lightroom and Photoshop and have
heard good things about the latest 2018 release. Apparently
the two work much better in tandem now than before and I was
wondering if it is worth upgrading.
A Every time there’s a new release of this software it seems to be
bigger and better than ever. But whether you really need the
latest version does depend on exactly what you intend to use it for.
As you suspect, this time round Adobe lets you directly synchronise
your Lightroom photo collections from the cloud into Photoshop
at a click of the mouse. In the initial dashboard screen on the left
side there is a new link called LR Photos, which when clicked brings
those photos straight into Photoshop. All you need to do now is to
select the image or images you want downloading to the computer
and they open up for editing.
Although you have always been able to work with Lightroom images
in Photoshop this feature makes the whole process far quicker and
easier. It is particularly good news for anyone who has large collections
of images and stores them on the Creative Cloud.
* Take a look at Adobe at http://writ.rs/lightroomadobe to sync to
Photoshop from Lightroom Mobile and your other devices
** You can also use the Photoshop ‘Search Feature’ (top right of the
screen) to search for specific Lightroom photos.
And lastly: anyone who is thinking of working with this wonderful
software won’t go wrong by taking a look at this Terry White ‘Getting
Started with Photoshop’ video on Youtube: http://writ.rs/adobephotos
GET CONNECTED!
If you have a technical query for Greta,
email info@gretapowell.com or use the
contact page at www.gretapowell.com
18/12/2017 12:41
 Editorial calendar
Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions.
Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.

7 May and
28 May
2 May Two bank holidays!
The first ‘sighting’ of the Loch Ness How will you use them?
10 May
Monster in modern times was reported Construction work began in Stratford
85 years ago. This 1934 picture is 10 years ago on the Olympic Stadium for the
known to be a hoax. London 2012 Summer Olympics

16 May
12 May 75 years ago, the
The Future Starts Here ‘Dambusters’ raid on
exhibition of design the Ruhr during WW2,
innovations opens at aka Operation Chastise,
the V&A took place, using a new
‘bouncing bomb’ invented
by Barnes Wallis

19 May
450 years ago,
Queen Elizabeth I
ordered the arrest
of Mary Queen 22-26 May
of Scots The RHS Chelsea Flower Show showcases
the best in garden design

29 May
Celebrating superstars! 65 years ago, Edmund Hillary
and Sherpa Tenzing became
May birthdays include: 3rd, funk legend James Brown
to first people to ascend the
would have been 85; 4th, comedian Eric Sykes would
summit of Mount Everest
have been 95; 5th, comedian Michael Palin will be 75;
6th, former PM Tony Blair will be 65; 12th, composer
Burt Bacharach would have been 90; 15th, ambient music
pioneer Brian Eno was born 70 years ago; 19th, hula-
hooping disco diva Grace Jones will be 70, and Dynasty
vamp Joan Collins will be 85 on the 23rd.
Looking ahead
The 2020 Summer Olympics
will take place in Toyko from
24 July to 9 August. Sports
commentators, get busy!

All pics CC BY-SA: James Brown, Heinrich Klaffs; Michael Palin, Chipps, Wikipedia; Tony Blair, World Economic Forum; London Olympics, Etienne Soumoy; Brian Eno, cosciansky, Wikipedia;
Grace Jones, Bruce Baker, Wikipedia; Joan Collins, Frantogian, Wikipedia; Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing, Jamling Tenzing Norgay.

p69 ed calendar.indd 23 18/12/2017 12:46

 N E W AU T H O R P R O F I L E
LLOYD OTIS
The debut crime writer tells Adrian Magson how his first
novel was inspired by his own experience of identity theft
I
f one piece of author’s advice
should be heeded by would-be
writers, it’s that it pays to have
a vivid imagination and some
life experience to use as a basis
for becoming a writer. The author is
Lloyd Otis, whose debut crime thriller,
Dead Lands, was published in October
by Urbane Publications.
‘I definitely have a colourful
and vivid imagination,’ admits
Lloyd, from south-east London.
‘But the inspiration for Dead Lands
was born out of an identity theft
issue I experienced, with someone
pretending to be me. For a while I
had to battle with that issue, but in
the end it became a police matter
and that particular theme runs
through the book.’
A 1970s-set crime thriller
stretching across London, Cardiff,
Yorkshire and New Jersey, Dead
Lands follows Alexander Troy,
suspected of the murder of
a prominent female director.
Unfortunately, Troy has an alibi
but can’t use it, and is forced to go
“My desire to write came from the ability to jump into
a make-believe world and create characters that I can
share on a large platform with readers.”
on the run, pursued by DI Arlo
Breck and DS Patricia Kearns of
a specialist police unit. Set amid a
climate of social discontent, Breck
wants the truth but for reasons
unknown, Kearns seeks to conceal
what really happened.
Currently working as an editor,
Lloyd immersed himself in gaining
some broad writing experience after
graduating with a BA (Hons) in
Media and Communications, where
he also wrote film reviews for his
70 FEBRUARY 2018
p070 Author Profile.indd 70
university magazine. He enjoyed
a stint in a television production
company where he helped with
props and scripts, and went on to
write reviews for music sites. He
then went on to gain experience
in the digital and finance sectors
before taking a journalism
course, where he was
able to interview a
host of bestselling
authors including Mark
Billingham, Hugh
Howey, Kerry Hudson
and Lawrence Block.
‘I’ve had two short
stories in the Out of
my Window anthology
under a pen name,
blogged for The
Bookseller and The
Huffington Post, and I
used to edit the monthly
book review column for
WUWO magazine… and
I’m also a former student
of the Curtis Brown
Creative Writing course.’
Good experience indeed. ‘Dead
Lands took me two and a half years
on and off to write, while working
full-time,’ says Lloyd. ‘I believe my
desire to write came from the ability
to jump into a make-believe world
and create characters that I can share
on a large platform with readers.
Writing the book was a challenge
and I made a few sacrifices, so it
took a great deal of determination to
see it through.
‘For my own personal journey I
www.writers-online.co.uk
went through a few rewrites
and changed things I didn’t
think worked as I tried to
get the right feel to the story.
You have to totally believe
that what you are doing is
the right thing and stick
with it regardless.’
Which is what he did,
sending out early versions
to one or two agents and
receiving either lukewarm
replies or no replies at
all. ‘In the end I clawed
it back, reworked it and
freshened it up, then sent
it to Urbane. The rest has
been a dream and I’m now
a published author!’
And he’s not stopping
there. ‘I haven’t got a final title as
yet, but I’m already working on
something exciting which I’ll be
able to talk about soon!’
Website: https://lloydotis.com
LLOYD’S TOP TIPS
• Stick to a writing schedule – set a certain amount
of words a day.
• Read your story back to yourself to spot
inconsistencies.
• Be true to yourself. If it doesn’t work don’t be afraid to
go back to the drawing board.
• Polish off your final draft and get it out there.
• Stay lucky.
18/12/2017 13:43
 Away from your desk
Get out of your garret for some upcoming activities and places to visit

Back soon!
Suffrage 100
To start its Suffrage 100 Season running throughout 2018
to commemorate the 1918 Representation of the People Muriel Spark:
Act which gave some women the vote for the first time,
the National Archives will screen the 2015 film Suffragette, Crème de la Crème
and offer attendees the chance to see original suffragette
documents, on 9 February. To celebrate the
Website: http://writ.rs/natarcsuffragette centenary of the birth of
one of Scotland’s greatest
writers, Edinburgh
International Book
Festival presents a special
evening of readings
Winnie the Pooh: and performances at
Edinburgh’s Usher Hall ©Jerry Bauer/Writer Pictures

Exploring a Classic on 31 January.

Website: https://murielspark100.com/

Immerse yourself in the enc

hanting
world of one of the most
fictional characters of all
beloved
time until
Feynan
8 April at the V&A.
Website: http://writ.rs/exp
loringwinnie The poet’s Writers Retreat
paintbox The majesty of the Jordanian desert is the
setting for the inaugural Feynan Writers’ Retreat.
With an eco-lodge stay and the opportunity
This two day masterclass to experience Bedouin culture, it takes place
with poet Judy Brown between 16 and 22 February.
on 17 and 18 February Website: http://writ.rs/feynanwritersretreat
at Gladstone’s Library is
about brightening your
writing and painting
pictures with words.
Website: http://writ.rs/
poetspaintbox

Writing Bishop’s Stortford

Festival of
Oral History Literature 2018
-2.0,
llan, CC BY
© Ian McMi
k, Wikipedia
Steve Bowbric
This one-day crash course on finding and eliciting and using oral Authors including Gyles Brandreth and Ian
history in poetry, fiction and non-fiction is led by oral history McMillan will be appearing at the 9th annual
co-operative On the Record and takes place on 24 February at Spread Bishop’s Stortford Festival of Literature between
the Word in London. 1 and 8 February. Website:
Website: www.spreadtheword.org.uk/events/writing-oral-history/ www.bishopsstortfordcollege.org

p071 What's on.indd 71 18/12/2017 12:50

 WRITERS’ NEWS

Your essential monthly round-up of competitions, paying markets,

opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

BBC NSSA OK? includes work that has been self-published,

The 2018 BBC National Short Story Award is open for entries, and has a
£15,000 first prize
This year the BBC National Short Story Award, which is for short
stories up to 8,000 words, is being run in association with Cambridge
University. In addition to the £15,000 first prize, four further shortlisted
writers will each get £600.
The judges for the 2018 BBC National Short Story Award with
Cambridge University are Mel Giedroyc, Sarah Howe, Benjamin
Markovits, KJ Orr and Di Spiers.
To be eligible to enter, writers must be British nationals and UK
residents with a record of prior publication in the UK. In the case of
this award, that means the author must previously have had a work (or
works) of prose fiction, drama or poetry published by an established UK
publisher, been published online or in print by an established newspaper,
magazine, periodical or journal in the UK, or been broadcast by a UK
national broadcaster. In this instance, a record of prior publication
published by a commercial arrangement
that involves paying the publisher, or
published on the author’s own website or
blog or on a writing community site.
Each writer may enter one story, which
must be original and either previously unpublished, or be first published,
or scheduled for publication, after 1 January 2017. Entries may be
submitted by authors, or by agents and publishers on the author’s behalf.
Type entries in any 12pt font in double spacing on numbered
pages. Include a front page with he author’s name and story title.
Enter online or by post. Postal entrants should send eight copies,
and request an entry form (mark envelopes Entry Form Request) to
accompany their submission.
Entry is free. All entries must be submitted by 12 March.
Details: The BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge
University, The London Readings Unit, Room 8015 Radio Drama,
BBC Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA; email: bbcnssa@
bbc.co.uk; website: http://writ.rs/bbcnssa2018

Bath prizes Big writing adventure

get bigger
The Wilbur Smith Adventure
Now in its fifth year, the international Prize is inviting entries for the
Bath Short Story Award is open for 2018 competition.
entries. The competition is in two
This year the prize money has increased, categories. The winner of the

Win £10
with £1,200 for the winning writer. There best published novel category
is a second prize of £300 and a third prize will win £15,000. The winner

per word
The annual Reader’s Digest annual
100-Word Story Competition
has a prize of £1,000 in the adult
category for a story of exactly 100
words, and is inviting entries for
the 2018 competition.
Two runners-up will each win
£250. The winner and shortlisted
entries will be published in a
special anthology. In the two
schools categories, which are
under 12s and 12-18s, there are
prizes of Fire HD tablets and
Staedtler products for the winners
and their schools and Kindle
e-readers for the runners-up.
All submissions must be
original, unpublished and exactly
100 words long (excluding title).
Enter through the online
submission system. Entry is free.
The closing date is 19 February.
Website: http://writ.rs/
readersdigest100
of £100, and a £100 Acorn Award for the
best story by an unpublished writer. There
is also a local prize of £50 in book vouchers
donated by Mr B’s Emporium of Books
in Bath. This year’s judge is senior literary
agent Euan Thorneycroft of AM Heath.
Enter original, unpublished short stories
in any style and on any theme, up to
2,200 words. All entries must be for adult
or young adult readers. Type entries in a
lear 12pt font in double or 1.5 spacing
on numbered pages. The writer’s name
must not appear on the manuscript.
Online entries should be sent as email
attachments with the name of the story
as the filename. Postal entries should be
on single sides of A4, clipped together,
with contact details included on a separate
sheet of paper.
There is an entry fee of £8 per story,
payable by PayPal or credit/debit card, or
by cheques made out to Bath Short Story
Award. The closing date is 23 April.
Details: Bath Short Story Award,
20 Penn Lea Road, Bath BA1 3RA;
email: entry@bathshortstoryaward.org;
website: www.bathshortstoryaward.org
of the category for best
unpublished manuscript gets
a £7,500 grant for the travel
to undertake research for the
writer’s next story, and will be offered mentoring by
Wilbur’s agents, Tibor Jones & Associates.
To enter the best published novel category, submit
two copies (or proof copies, if the book has not yet
been published) of a novel published between 1
January 2017 and 30 April 2018 by a recognised
trade publisher. Include a cover letter explaining how
the book qualifies as adventure writing. Send entries
by post.
To enter the unpublished author category,
download and complete an entry form and send
it with an unpublished novel manuscript of at
least 50,000 words. To enter this category, writers
should not previously have published a novel with
a recognised trade publisher, or be represented by a
literary agent. Self-published books are eligible. All
submissions must be made by email.
Entry is free. The closing date is 1 March.
Details: The Wilbur and Niso Smith
Foundation, 2-6 Atlantic Road, 2nd Floor,
London SW9 8HY; email: submissions@wilbur-
niso-smithfoundation.org; website: www.wilbur-
niso-smithfoundation.org

72 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p072 News.indd 72 19/12/2017 09:08

 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Writing like cats and dogs
BY TINA JACKSON
R SIX-PAGE GUIDE TO YOU
Sarah Wright edits two of the UK’s leading pet titles, A CAT-FRIENDLY CHR
ISTMAS
Your Cat and Your Dog.
Moz the Monster ‘Both Your Cat and Your Dog are aimed at the
pet market: cat and dog owners. The dog market
vs Mr Underbed
REAL LIFE
“My cat saved
d my
daughter’s life
is slightly more practical because there’s so much
BRITAIN’S BEST-SELLING
CAT MAGAZINE ”

you need to do with a dog in terms of training 13Qs &CARAs E

and behaviour. It’s informative and accessible but SPECIAL FEATURE
CAT
FEST
FREEBIIVE
ES
MO
John Lewis found itself at the centre of a plagiarism not lecturing.’ Saving the
Scottish £2 ,500RE THAN
wildcat OF GR-W ORTH
row over its Christmas TV commercial when author, The emphasis in Your Cat is slightly different. GIVEAWEAT
AYS UK ONLY

illustrator and until earlier in 2017, children’s laureate, ‘On the cat side it’s more emotional-type content, CATS ON CAMPUS
Chris Riddell, tweeted ‘John Lewis helps themselves to about the relationship the owners have with their
Life lsons
Meet the
university
my picture book.’ cat. There’s a strong practical side too, but the kitties
WAT

rm yucat
The reference was to similarities between Riddell’s Your Cat content includes fiction, real-life tales, LEA CH &
RN! R50

1986 book, Mr Underbed, and the character Moz the a lot of readers’ experiences with their cats. In

£3.60
0
December 2017
Monster in the retailer’s advert. Chris wrote a blog for Dogs there’s an element of that too but it’s more TV STAR RICK EDWARD
S ● KITTIES AND KID
S – FRIENDS FOR LIFE
the Guardian, saying, ‘Just like Mr Underbed, Moz is practical. Dogs are such amazing animals and
1 Cover Dec17
CS.indd 1

big, hairy and blue and lives under a little boy’s bed, do so much in so many walks of life, dogs in
27/10/2017
11:20

AT GIVEAWAYS!

only
UK o
which he shakes and shudders when he emerges, snores different roles. And cats too, when it’s practicable FESTIVE FREEBIES 103 GRE CLOCKS ✬ TOYS
✬ TREATS ✬ BOWLS
✬ BEDS ✬ AND
BRITAIN’S
MORE…

BEST-SELLING

loudly enough to require the boy to wear earmuffs and – therapy cats, and cats in hospices.’ DOG MAGAZINE
December 2017 £3.99

deprives him of sleep. The similarities are striking...’ It’s vital for Sarah that both magazines provide FREE!

A spokesperson for John Lewis said, ‘The main positive coverage. ‘In both magazines we try to PACK OF
DOG FOOD UK only

thrust of our story is utterly different to Chris be very positive and focus on that. Pets are such a BACK TO
BASICS
Teach your
Riddell’s.’ Meanwhile copies of Mr Underbed source of happiness to people and the mainstream DOG ANS
WERS
dog to wait

quickly sold out, with more copies being printed. A

spokesperson for Andersen Press, the publisher of
media often dwells on the negative aspects, like
dangerous dogs and health problems. One of the
23
OF YOUR DOG
PROBLEMS

Chris’s book, said, ‘The response on Twitter has been great successes of the two titles is that they do
WIN!
SOLVED
DO FRIENDLY
A DOG-

UK only
REAK IN NORFOLK
BR
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incredible, with lots of retailers looking to get stock, present this very positive attitude about pets and the SIX-PAG
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or promoting the stock they had over the weekend. wonderful contribution they make to our lives. We’re TO THE
DOG-FRIE
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CHRISTM
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We already have orders waiting on our system for the not afraid to tackle the issues, but the magazines are

R49
reprint.’ Meanwhile John Lewis were selling their own, basically a celebration of pets. We have very strong Be the centre of
exclusive, Moz the Monster book by Lucy Feather and
Katy Halford.
reader bases because the titles share that love people
have for their own pets.’ your dYOU og’s woOUrlGHdPLA!Y
TO BUI LD R BOND THR
HOW
Readers are predominantly female. ‘But we suspect, 1 Dec COVER CS3.indd
1
19/10/2017 12:46

particularly with Dog, that more men read it than you realise! A lot of readers are

A new adventure
Adventures in Fiction is inviting entries for its 2018
New Voices Competition.
The competition is aimed at writers who have
recently embarked on writing a novel and would like
some support in the early stages. The prize in the New
Voices Competition is an Adventures in Fiction Start-
Up package worth £550, which includes manuscript
appraisal, guidelines, a development strategy, a
consultation and an agreed deadline.
To enter, send a one-page synopsis and the first page
of the novel manuscript. Novels may be in any style
or genre, and writers may be based anywhere in the
world. All entries must be original and unpublished.
Both documents should be formatted in 12pt font.
Use double spacing for the first page and 1.5 spacing
for the synopsis.
There is a fee of £10 per entry, payable by PayPal
or credit/debit card or by cheque made payable to
Adventures in Fiction.
The closing date is 14 September.
Details: Adventures in Fiction, 14 Grosvenor
Avenue, London N5 2NR; email: marion@
adventuresinfiction.co.uk; website: http://
adventuresinfiction.co.uk/
between forty and fifty, active on the dog side. Maybe slightly older on the cat side,
so the pet is very much a focus of their lives. They’re very keen to learn as much as
possible on how to make the most out of their lives with their pet.’
Features cover training, behaviour, health and general care. ‘Everything about how
to feed a cat or dog, groom them, and with dogs, train them,’ said Sarah. ‘Behaviour
is an increasingly popular area – people want to understand their pets. Real life stories
often tend to illustrate the strong relationship between animals and owners.’
Both titles use very good quality photography and images. ‘People like a
mixture of words and pictures. But it is a mix. We do subjects in quite some
depth. We have two pages up to a maximum of four pages – so, 1,000 words
for a DPS.’
A good feature needs to be informative, entertaining and accessible. ‘Those are
the big areas,’ said Sarah. ‘Have an original idea. A lot of freelances will send an
idea and not really have thought it through. The likelihood is that, as a specialist
magazine, we might have covered it. I always say, look at the magazine before
you submit and get a feel for it, and think how you might present a subject
differently, or get my attention by suggesting something original. The best thing
is to send me an email with an article idea. I prefer to work with a synopsis.’
Your Cat also features fiction, and Sarah accepts submissions. ‘The stories in
Cat tend to be romantic fiction with a cat inserted into the story! We do quite
a lot with Choc Lit. Some are about cat-human relationships. They run across
two pages, so a maximum 1,000 words. In each issue we also have two stories of
readers’ lives with their cat – one 500 words, and the other longer, and we pay a
nominal amount for these.’
Payment varies.
Email: editorial@yourcat.co.uk or editorial@yourdog.co.uk; websites: www.
yourcat.co.uk or www.yourdog.co.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 73

p072 News.indd 73 19/12/2017 09:08

 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK CHILDREN’S MARKET
FLASHES
Quirkiness wanted
With Matt Bolton
now the editor, BY JENNY ROCHE
T3 technology
magazine unveiled
its new look, with Junior Fiction titles are intended for ages 7-10
the emphasis on years and have a word count of 6,000-18,000
smarter living, in its
Maverick Arts Publishing Ltd, words. You can submit a detailed synopsis and
November issue.
It now includes T3
an independent publisher sample chapter if you have not yet finished
Horizon,covering all of children’s books based in writing your book. Anything with series potential
the latest trending West Sussex, was launched in is considered a bonus.
technology. 2009 by Steve Bicknell and is In addition to the ‘compulsory’ guidelines, there
Website: expanding rapidly with almost is also a helpful ‘Top Ten Tips on Submitting
www.t3.com 100 books in print and plans a Manuscript’ video on the website. Check the
for expansion into the early website too for any submission closures.
Since 1992, readers educational market. True to their name they All submissions should be emailed as a pdf or
Booktrust, the UK’s are especially looking for something that is ‘a little doc/rtf document using double line spacing and a
largest children’s
reading charity, has
bit quirky’ and all important for this publisher are legible font. Include with your submissions a cover
gifted over 34 million ‘proactive authors who want to go out and about doing letter with information about yourself and whether
books to children events etc… and write lots and really, really, really want you have publication credits. If submitting multiple
across the UK to be an author’. manuscripts include them in the same email with your
through Bookstart, For picture books it is name and the title of your
a programme which story that is all important text/s in the subject line.
aims to develop and this can be written in Submit picture books
a love of books, rhyme or prose but not to: submissions@
stories and rhymes poetry. Unless you are maverickbooks.co.uk
in children.
an author/illustrator you and junior fiction
A crime writing
do not need to submit to: manuscripts@
event at Glamis illustrations. Manuscripts maverickbooks.co.uk
Castle, near Dundee, should be a maximum Website: www.
on 24 February, 650 words. maverickbooks.co.uk
will include writing
sessions and author
speakers, including
Val McDermid, No business Happy
Christopher
Brookmyre, Alex like poetry business hedgehogs
Gray, Caro Ramsey,
Douglas Skelton, The Poetry Business is inviting entries for the 2017/18
Craig Robertson, International Book and Pamphlet Competition. New small poetry publisher The Hedgehog
Lin Anderson, Frank Entrants are invited to submit a collection of between 20 Press is inviting entries for A Slim Volume of
Muir, Denise Mina. and 24 pages of poetry. Four winners will be selected to be One’s Own, a competition to find the poet
Cost is £55. published by The Poetry Business imprint smith/doorstep whose work will comprise Hedgehog Press’s
Website: http:// books. The four winners will share £2,000 and be published first single-poet collection.
writ.rs/glamis in North magazine, and will get a reading at The Wordsworth Enter collections of up to forty poems.
Trust and gift vouchers from Inpress Books. The first-stage The winning poet will be published by The
Oxford Dictionaries
winners will also have the opportunity to submit a full-length Hedgehog Press, and will receive 100 copies of
named youthquake
– a shift in cultural
poetry collection manuscript. their collection.
norms influenced by Poems in the submission may have been previously Individual poems may have been previously
young people – as its published, but should not have been published as a collection. published in magazines, but the poems should
word of the year. Send manuscripts typed in 12pt Times New Roman. All not previously have appeared in any other
poems should be for adults and typed on single sides of A4. The collections. All poems must be original. Send
Barnsley (South poet’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Include a pen poems through the online submission system
Yorkshire) Museums name and title on each page. Send entries by post or by email. as a pdf file.
and Heritage Trust Postal entrants should download and complete an entry form. The entry fee is £25 for one collection,
has found funding There is an entry fee of £28 per collection (£25 for £45 for two collections and £60 for three
for a programme of
poetry workshops
subscribers to North magazine, Friends of The Poetry Business collections. Pay this through the online
for patients at and members of The Poetry Society), payable through the submission system.
Barnsley Hospice. online system or by cheques made out to The Poetry Business. The closing date is 15 March.
An anthology will be The closing date is 1 March. • The Hedgehog Press is also accepting
produced. • The New Poets Prize is for a short collection by poets aged submissions of single poems for its anthology
between 17 and 24. Submit short collections of up to twelve The Road to Clevedon Pier until 15 January.
‘In Greek tragedy pages of poetry. Four poets will be selected for mentoring by The The best two poems will each receive £150
they fall from great Poetry Business’s Anne and Peter Sansom. The collections will and there are two runners-up prizes of £25.
heights. In noir, they be published by the New Poets List imprint in 2019. There is an All the shortlisted poets will feature in the
fall from the curb
entry fee of £8 per collection. The closing date is 1 March. anthology, and receive a copy. The entry fee is
[kerb in UK English].’
American author
Details: The Competition Administrator, The Poetry £5 for one poem, £8 for three poems and £10
Dennis Lehane. Business, Campo House, 54 Campo Lane, Sheffield S1 2EG; for five poems.
website: www.poetrybusiness.co.uk Website: www.hedgehogpress.co.uk

74 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL WEBSITE MARKET

Paste title here
BY GARY DALKIN

It’s a Funny
Old World
BY DEREK HUDSON

Philip Pullman whose famous trilogy,

His Dark Materials, sold more
than 17 million books, cancelled
Paste.com is a hugely popular US haircuts when writing his latest
pop culture website with the tagline children’s book, the first of a new
‘Signs of life in music, film and trilogy. ‘He grew a horrible pony
culture’. It prides itself on delivering tail. He wore it for three years as
great writing about music, movies, a kind of talisman against writer’s
TV, comedy, games, books, comics, theatre, design, style, visual arts, tech, block,’ The Week reported.
food, drink, travel, politics, media, business, science, health, wrestling and Philip told Bryan Appleyard, of The
soccer. Founded in 2002, Paste now has more than 8m unique monthly Sunday Times: ‘It was a silly thing to do. I said
visitors. Paste Quarterly, a print spin-off was launched recently. The to myself, if I don’t cut my hair The Book of Dust will be
platform has won two ‘magazine of the year’ awards, while in a feature on all right. I am very superstitious, so I had this appalling
America’s fifty best magazines the Chicago Tribune wrote, ‘Paste continually thing stuck on the back of my head.’
surprises with elegantly designed, thoughtfully written pieces that ponder
the direction of the culture.’ • Gobbledegook came under withering fire from
Paste welcomes unsolicited articles from anyone who believes the piece John Sutherland, Uxbridge, Middlesex, when he
is appropriate for Paste and its readers. The best way to figure this out is to recommended Ofqual (The Office of Qualifications and
read the website. The editors also welcome enquiries, which should include Examinations Regulation) for the “Golden Bull” award
details of your proposed subject, length, applicability and have some samples for murdering the English language.
of your work as a writer. They are interested in pitches for feature profiles, Writing to The Daily Telegraph, he said: ‘Its response
particularly of musicians. These should be more than just biographical to teachers’ claims that the Sats reading test was “too
pieces, but explore the art of an individual. All feature profiles must involve middle class” (and therefore drove students “to tears”)
contact with the artist, and the Paste editors can help set this up. Also went like this: “On the balance of evidence presented, it
wanted are essays, which can be opinionated, personal, humorous, or all seems plausible that the combined impact from multiple
three. Stories about particular trends, usually, but not always, about music ostensibly negligible challenges – stemming from both
or film, are welcome. Finally, the editors are open to well-written reviews in question and text factors – may have rendered the 2016
all their categories except design. reading test unduly hard to access for at least some
Examples of recent features include an exploration of the best rock bassists pupils.”’
of all time, an essay arguing that every superhero movie is a comedy, an John suggested that Ofqual’s reply ‘should be included
interview with epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, an opinion piece on in future exams, with instructions to explain what it
TV violence and gender, and an enquiry into the motivations of WikiLeaks’ means – or would that be too difficult?’
controversial founder, Julian Assange.
Payment is by negotiation, but at US professional rates – between 5¢ and 17¢ • Millionaire author Dan Brown
per word depending on type of content and the experience of the contributor. tasted failure before earning his
Enquiries should be sent to individual editors, listed in the contacts $170 million in the days when
at: www.pastemagazine.com/contributor-information his career choice was writing
For the full guidelines, which includes a style guide, visit http://writ. pop songs.
rs/pastesubs Lina Das, who told the story
in the The Mail on Sunday,
described how Dan recorded a
soft rock album featuring a song,
Stories please for Plymouth 976 Love, about phone sex (sample
lyrics ‘I take you to bed and push the phone to my head/
Plymouth Writers’ Group is inviting entries for its 2018 short story competition. You make me feel like a man’).
There is a first prize of £250 and a second prize of £50. The best five Lina added that the author looked back on it now
entries will be included in the PWG 2018 Anthology. This year the with ‘curled toes’, and said: ‘There was a lot of sexual
competition is being run in conjunction with the English & Creative content in songs around then – I was just trying to get
Writing Department at Plymouth University. published. I wanted to write songs about princes and
The competition is for original, unpublished short stories up to 1,500 queens and reading ancient manuscripts, but no-one was
words, on any theme. Enter stories by email as Word documents typed in interested. The album sold about nine copies. I’m pretty
double spacing in Times New Roman. sure my mum bought all of them.’
There is an entry fee of £5 per story, payable by PayPal.
The closing date is 31 January. • And finally: How many mystery writers does it take to
Details: email: competition@plymouthwritersgroup.co.uk; website: change a light bulb? Two. One to screw the bulb almost all
https://plymouthwritersgroup.uk/ the way in, and one to give a surprising twist at the end.

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 75

p074 News/FOW.indd 75 19/12/2017 09:10

 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK SPECFIC MARKET Supernatural storytelling

Lauren Morton Shoot for the stars The Fiction Desk Ghost Story Competition 2018 is
is now acting open for entries.
editor of the bi- BY GARY DALKIN The annual competition invites supernatural stories
monthly LandLove between 1,000 and 7,000 words. All entries must
magazine about
be original and unpublished. There is a first prize
traditional ways of
life and the British
of £500, a second prize of £250 and a third prize of
countryside. £100. The Fiction Desk publishes a regular anthology
Details: email: of Ghost Story competition winners and runners-
lauren.morton@ up. All published authors receive two copies of the
burdamagazines. anthology in which their work appears.
co.uk; website: Enter stories through the online submission system.
www.landlove.com All entries must be doc or docx files, in 12pt font
Times New Roman, double-spaced.
Harry Potter: A There is an entry fee of £8 per story, payable by
History of Magic,
PayPal. The closing date is 31 January.
an exhibition at the
British Library, open Website: www.thefictiondesk.com
until 28 February,
UK publisher Gollancz have been publishing speculative
includes rare books,
manuscripts and fiction for decades and have recently updated their Third outing for first novel prize
magical objects guidelines, remaining – unlike many publishers – The First Novel Prize 2018 will open for entries
from the collection, committed to an open process which will consider on 1 February.
‘the traditions of unagented authors. Note, Gollancz only publishes science Organised by Daniel Goldsmith Associates and now in
folklore and magic fiction, fantasy, horror ‘and other such weird and wonderful its third year, the First Novel Prize is for an unpublished
which are at the
things’. Anything else, no matter how good, will be novel manuscript and has a first prize of £1,000, and
heart of the Harry
Potter stories’.
disposed of, unread. second prize of £250 and a third prize of £100.
If you don’t have an agent, but do have a completed SF, The competition is for original, unpublished
The Surrey & Hants fantasy or horror novel of at least 75,000 words written novels for adult readers, in any genre, of at least
Star Courier has in English, then send a covering letter, one page synopsis 50,000 words. Children’s and YA novels and
ceased publication. and a printed copy of the first fifty pages by post only novellas, short stories and non-fiction are not
to Gollancz Submissions, 3rd Floor, Carmelite House, accepted. To enter, send the novel and a synopsis in
Sophie Collin, 50 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0DZ. All the same document. Double space the manuscript on
Hannah Sullivan, submissions received this way, including works which have numbered single sides of A4. Include your contact
Richard Scott and previously been self-published, will be considered by one of details on the title page of the manuscript.
Zaffar Kunial, all
the editorial team. There is a £25 entry fee, payable via the online
set for 2018 writing
debuts, have No short story collections, anthologies or non-fiction submission system. Postal entrants may pay by
joined Faber, the works about speculative fiction. If your book has been self- cheques made out to Daniel Goldsmith Associates,
publishers. published, mention this in your cover letter. Make sure to and should include a covering letter.
include your name, address and email address. Manuscripts The closing date is 31 May.
LBC presenter Nick should be formatted single sided, double-spaced, in a Details: First Novel Prize, c/o Daniel
Ferrari was the first standard font. Goldsmith Associates Ltd, Gridiron Building,
radio broadcaster Response time is usually around three months, but One Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG;
to be named wait for an answer as enquiries will not be replied to. website: www.firstnovel.co.uk
Journalist of the
Full guidelines at: www.gollancz.co.uk/submissions/
Year at the British
Journalism Awards.
Play with Papa
Novelist and
screenwriter Jojo
Keep it short for BWC The Papatango New Writing Prize is inviting entries of
Moyes was named Bridgend Writers’ Circle is inviting entries for its Short original, unperformed, unproduced playscripts.
ambassador for Story Open Competition 2018. The winner of the prize will develop their play
London Book & There is a first prize of £200, a second prize of £50 and with Papatango, building towards a production at the
Screen Week when a third prize of £30. Southwark Playhouse in autumn 2018. The script
the festival returns The competition is for original, unpublished short stories will be published by Nick Hern Books and the author
9-15 April. www.
londonbookand
between 1,500 and 1,800 words, in any style and on any theme. will earn 10% of box office income. The winner will
screenweek.co.uk Writers may enter up to two stories. Type entries in 12pt also receive a £6,000 commission for a new play, with
Times New Roman in double spacing on single sides of A4. developmental support from Papatango.
‘I have always felt Include the page number and story title at the bottom of each The competition is for full-length playscripts, ie a
I was not really at page. Include the word count in the top right hand corner minimum running time of sixty minutes, by writers
home in the social of the first page. The writer’s name must not appear on the resident in the UK and Ireland.
world, so writing manuscript. Include a separate entry form, which may be Send scripts by email as doc or pdf documents with
was something downloaded from the website. Only postal entries are accepted. numbered pages. The writer’s name must not appear on
I could come The entry fee is £5 for one story and £7.50 for two, the manuscript. Include at least one telephone number
back to, a kind of
payable by cheques made out to Bridgend Writers’ Circle. on the first page. The subject line of the submission
contemplative,
creative exercise.’
The closing date is 1 March. email should read ‘PLAY’S TITLE Prize Entry’.
Poet Laura Potts, 21, Details: BWC Open Competition, 7 Coed Derw, Entry is free. The closing date is 28 February.
twice a Foyle Young Broadlands, Bridged CF31 5HA; website: http:// Details: email: scripts@papatango.co.uk; website:
Poet of the Year bridgendwriters.webplus.net/ http://papatango.co.uk/

76 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

p076 News.indd 76 19/12/2017 09:11


UK MENTAL HEALTH MARKET
Pull the trigger on mental health issues
BY TINA JACKSON
Trigger Press is a new publisher set up in
2016 by the Shaw Mind Foundation that is
wholly dedicated to raising greater awareness
of mental health issues.
‘We tell extraordinary stories about people
whose lives have been affected by mental
illness, so that others can learn from them,’
said Trigger Press’s Hannah Abrahaley. ‘Our
innovative and compassionate recovery books
provide support, hope and evidence-based
practical advice. We’re here to help anyone
experiencing mental health issues find their
way to a place called recovery, and beyond.’
Trigger Press started off in Newark On
Trent in Nottinghamshire. ‘Adam Shaw, our
co-founder, suffered from severe OCD and
anxiety, so severe that he was ready to take his
life in his mid-thirties,’ said Hannah. ‘When
he sought out the help of industry-leading
psychologist Lauren Callaghan, his world
changed. Lauren’s compassionate and innovative
approach bought Adam back from the brink of
suicide, and so he wanted to share her methods
with the world. So Adam and Lauren teamed
up and founded The Shaw Mind Foundation, a
global mental health charity, and Trigger Press,
the publishing arm of the Shaw Mind. All of
our books, non-fiction and fiction, are overseen
by Lauren to make sure that anything we
publish is safe and creditable.’
Trigger Press has published ten books after
its first full year and has double that amount
in the pipeline for next year. ‘We’re rapidly
growing and producing more books – by the
end of 2019 we expect to have around 100
titles in our catalogue. We want Trigger Press to
be recognised around the world as the leading
go-to publisher, for mental health-related
manuscripts from individuals and professionals;
p076 News.indd 77
whether this is fiction, non-fiction, self-help
books or inspirational stories. ’
Trigger Press has two imprints. ‘Our
inspirational series tells extraordinary true-life
stories of people whose lives have been affected
by mental illness, so that other can learn from
them. Our Pulling The Trigger range are
practical self-help guides written by industry-
leading professionals, and in most cases an
ex-sufferer too. We have however got a fiction
imprint in development called Paradigm, so
we’re open to both non-fiction and fiction
submissions!’
Hannah is happy to accept submissions.
‘We’re a publisher devoted to telling stories
about mental health issues, so we’re looking
for extraordinary and moving books that
inspire people. Ultimately, we’re looking
for captivating, emotionally engaging, and
ultimately inspiring stories that reach out to
people and positively change the lives of our
readers.’
Her advice to prospective authors is to be
brave, and certain that you want to tell your
story. ‘To anyone thinking of submitting a
proposal to us, I would say: make sure you’re
ready to tell this story. Are you in a place
where you feel truly ready to talk about what
has happened to you and/or your family? If
you are, I think our advice is simple: send us
a great pitch. We love to get a full chapter
outline describing the key events in the book,
together with a couple of sample chapters.
Your pitch doesn’t have to be perfect, but it
does have to be compelling. Make sure we can
feel the emotional touchpoints in the story you
want to tell.’
Trigger Press publishes in paperback and
ebook and pays royalties.
Details: email:
submissions@trigger-press.com; website:
www.trigger-press.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
G OW
I NRG
ITE
TOR SM
’NAERW
KSET
The appliance
of science
Patrick Forsyth dips
into a research study about
improving concentration
W
riting is not only a solitary
occupation, but in the main,
it demands concentration –
often long periods of concentration that
many find difficult to sustain. With that
in mind, it seems that science has some
new lessons for writers. Yes you can!,
an article by Christopher Jarratt (New
Scientist, 9 September 2017) about the
science of willpower, quotes recent studies
that show that there is what I will call a
placebo effect.
It is a matter of mindset: apparently
literally believing that your willpower is
boundless can keep you concentrating
better and for longer. What is more,
there being a financial incentive you can
keep in mind as you work enhances this
effect, so this seems to imply that it is
easier to write once you have a contract
or commission. The risk of losing money
is shown to be even more important than
the promise of a rewards in the first place;
so perhaps a conventional book contract
paying an advance is in fact a good way
of encouraging the writer to concentrate
and get the job done. After all, it’s money
up front but such a payment may be
repayable if you do not deliver.
All this may seem a bit daunting,
especially when the article notes that
a high-fat diet impairs the mesolimbic
dopamine system (yes, me neither), which
is what controls your motivation. So
regrettably no pausing for chocolate seems
indicated. If you do take a break then my
favourite finding here is that a laughter
break stokes your ability to concentrate far
better than a relaxing break. So if you are
found reading a book and try to say ‘it’s
work’, make sure it’s a humorous one. All
in all the conclusion seems to be that it is
better to write for publication than just to
write. Fancy that.
JANUARY 2018 77
19/12/2017 09:12
 WRITERS’ NEWS
FLASHES
Peter Hassall is the
editor of Swimming
Times, the official
magazine of Swim
England. As it
approaches its 95th
anniversary, the
magazine will be
published every two
months and its look
and content will
be refreshed.
Details: email:
swimmingtimes@
swimming.org;
website: www.
swimming.org
Southern Daily
Echo’s Sports
Pink has ceased
publication after 119
years in print.
The Crime Writers’
Association’s
latest short story
anthology, Mystery
Tour, has a theme of
foreign travel.
Bristol Post editor
Mike Norton has
admitted that his
newspaper has ‘too
few’ ethnic minority
journalists and this
contributed to a
‘cultural divide’ on
his patch.
Sir Philip Campbell,
who has been the
editor-in-chief of
scientific journal
Nature for 22 years,
will become editor-
in-chief of Springer
Nature this summer.
John Woolf has won
the Biographers’
Club £2,000 Tony
Lothian Prize 2017 for
an uncommissioned
first biography for his
proposed book Queen
Victoria’s Freaks:
The Performers at
Buckingham Palace.
‘I had an idea for the
beginning of a story
that I thought was a
really good start, and
it came from there.’
Actress Denise Welch,
who has previously
written two
autobiographies, on
her new book, If They
Could See Me Now
78 FEBRUARY 2018
p078 News/ And another thing.indd 78
GLOBAL SPECFIC MARKET
Future imperfect
BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
Parvus is a US speculative
fiction small press. It is currently
closed to novel submissions to
make room for a special project,
an anthology, If This Goes
On. This anthology, the team
claim, ‘sits at the intersection of
politics, speculative fiction, and
American identity’.
Editor Cat Rambo wants to work on hope, and the
anthology is ‘an attempt to rally, to inspire, and to awaken’
and ‘to preserve the America I know, love, and believe in.’
Writers worldwide are invited to submit stories ‘that
offer insights into the shared future of our planet’. Write
about climate damage, protecting the planet, racial
divides, protectionism, digital security and protection
from Big Brother government policies, anything that
needs noting.
Stories, up to 5,000 words, or flash fiction, must be ‘set
at least one generation in the future’, epic fantasy must
be set in the far future. Every story must include ‘the
Rewarding new TV talent
New TV writing is invited for the Edinburgh
International TV Festival Debbies Awards.
The Debbies celebrate new and emerging talent in
TV writing.
• The Test Card Pilot Award: Scripted/Unscripted are
for pilot shows by entrants with no previous ‘above the
line’ TV credits. Winners will receive a free pass to the
Edinburgh International TV Festival and post-production
support from The Farm. There is a £10 entry fee.
• The News Voices Award is for original scripts for a
single TV episode (min 30 minutes, max 60 minutes) by
entrants who are not professional TV writers, particularly
A poetic intrepretation
The Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition 2018 is open for
entries.
There is a first prize of £500, a second prize of £150 and a
third prize of £100. This year’s judge is Zaffar Kunial.
The competition is for original, unpublished poems up
to fifty lines in any style and on any subject. Poems must
be clearly typed in 12pt Arial or Times New Roman on
single sides of A4. The poet’s name must not appear on the
manuscript. An entry form, covering letter or email should be
sent with each entry, including name and contact details as
well as poem titles.
Enter by post or by email. Email entrants should send their
entries in a single file, with each poem starting on a new page.
The entry fee is £4 for one poem or £10 for three, payable
by PayPal or cheques made payable to The Interpreter’s House.
Email entrants, include the PayPal reference number in the
submission email.
The closing date is 31 January.
Details: The Competition Administrator, The
Interpreter’s House Poetry Competition 2018, 26 The
Wern, Lechlade GL7 3FF; email: tihopenhouse2015@
gmail.com; website: www.theinterpretershouse.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
impact of current political
policy (social, scientific, legal,
criminal, etc) as a meaningful
aspect of the story.’ Avoid
personalities, focus on ‘the
policy impacts and long-term
changes to our world.’
Submit by email. Please
attach your manuscript as doc or docx, pdf, or rtf file only.
Please include name and relevant contact information in the
attached file as well as the body of the email. Attach only
the submission document. In the body of the email, please
‘identify the particular policy, trend, or shift which your
story involves’. Writers are encouraged, ‘but not required,’
to tell the editorial team if there is any personal connection
between themselves and the anthology topic.
Deadline is 1 March. Response time is ‘reasonable’.
Payment is 8¢ per word and a royalty share for ‘worldwide
first electronic and first print English-language rights’.
Details: If This Goes On submissions to: submissions@
parvuspress.com; guidelines: http://parvuspress.com/itgo/
from those telling stories under-represented on TV.
The winner will receive a free pass to the Festival, jury
feedback and a meeting with a screenwriting agent. There
is a £10 entry fee.
• The Debut Writer award is for an emerging TV writer
who has made their broadcast debut in 2017. The award
is for the first episode by the writer that was broadcast or
released. There is a £10 entry fee.
All entries must be made online, and the entry fees
paid as part of the online entry process.
The closing date for the Debbies Awards is 1 February.
Website: www.thetvfestival.com/talent-schemes/
Desperate writing
Desperate Literature is a new international book shop in
Madrid that sells used English books and a wide selection of
books in European languages.
Interested in being a site for cultural exchange, Desperate
Literature has launched a new literary award, the Desperate
Literature Short Fiction Prize. The competition, which is
for fiction under 2,000 words, has a first prize of €2,000,
a week’s residency at the Civitella Foundation and a
consultation with a US literary agent from Foundry Literary
+ Media. Two runners up will each get €250, and the
winners will be published in 3:AM, Structo and A Women’s
Thing. The winners and shortlisted writers will be published
in a limited edition Risograph booklet.
All submissions must be original and unpublished.
Upload them as pdf documents through the online
submission system. The writer’s name must not appear on
the manuscript. Include a brief author biography (up to 250
words) in the appropriate submission field.
The entry fee is €20 for the first piece of fiction and €10
for any subsequent entries.
The closing date is 31 January.
Website: https://desperateliterature.com/
19/12/2017 09:14
 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK CHILDREN’S MARKET
Words for children
And
BY TINA JACKSON another
thing...
129 × 198 SPINE: 19

Title: Notes on my family

ad is easy. ‘A warm, witty and moving look at one complicated family and Author: Emily Critchley
being truly evil
the girl at the heart of it. Full of sincerity, intelligence and hope’ Date: 10/05/17
f practice.’
ANNA JAMES, A Case for Books
soned for stealing
live with his evil TPS: 129 x 198 mm
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ated child in England? Format: B format PB
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Prints as: CMYK
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‘Key figures in the formation of thought
CHRIS HALLATT WELLS

david@twoassociates.co.uk

and belief deliberately refrained from

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proof 3
writing. The Buddha, Confucius, Socrates
Everything with Words is a small and Jesus, although they lived in literate
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CHRIS HALLATT WELLS

children aged eight to young adult. their students around them and talked.
‘Brilliantly bonkers’ The company was set up by
Gareth P Jones, The Thornthwaite Inheritance & The Considine Curse
‘Accounts of their teachings were put
novelist and translator Mikka together and written down only after their deaths. Their
Bott. ‘I set up Everything with Words to bring authors into schools – great fun. reasons must have varied, but Socrates opposed writing
I’ve really got to know the UK visiting schools all over the country doing creative on mental health grounds – he believed it would shrink
writing. I discovered that children love books and writing. Of course, not all the memory and diminish one’s ability to think.’
children are readers but that has always been so.’ John Carey, reviewing The Written Word, How
Mikka’s own novels were published by Dedalus, a relatively small independent Literature Shaped History, Martin Puchner (Granta)
publisher. ‘I got to know some of the people working there very well. They made
publishing seem interesting although challenging, probably more difficult than ‘We believe the earth revolves around the
many writers realise. I’ve always had an interest in fairy tales and myths. I studied pun. We are pundamentalists… All right-
Classics at university and my favourite subject was Greek tragedy, both because of thinking people should be repelled by
the poetry in the plays and the stories themselves. My father wrote children’s books this desperate sinew-straining word
and I’ve known a lot of children’s writers including Scott O’Dell (a great storyteller) play. It’s a filthy habit - filling the
and Mary Norton (perhaps an even better storyteller). So it felt like a natural step to world with our terrible puns, for our
take Everything with Words in the direction of publishing children’s books.’ own amusement, like smokers, lighting
She doesn’t rule out publishing adult titles further down the line. up in a lift.
Mikka intends Everything With Words to publish five-ten titles a year. ‘For the time ‘We stink the place up just to get high. We’ll risk
being!’ She’s looking for imaginative submissions of full-length children’s fiction. causing a major diplomatic incident during a conference
‘Please don’t send us anything that is less than 40,000 words! I like fantasy, magic about war, just for a gag. And yet we cannot stop.’
realism as well as books that try to explore the contemporary world. I’m not a Caitlin Moran, Sunday Times columnist
science fiction reader and I prefer authors who aim to tell a good story to authors
who are trying to instruct their readers, even if I agree with their point of view.
‘We want well written books with engaging characters – obviously! We are open ‘Writing, says Sam Leith, is a confidence
to very different types of fiction, from serious to funny. What matters is how well trick. By this he does not mean that
you write. Never be afraid of being yourself in what you write.’ you’re trying to pull the wool over
Everything With Words only accepts fiction submissions. ‘We don’t publish everyone’s eyes. Rather, he thinks that
picture books or books of poems for children. I get sent a lot of poems, and some of the key to an effective literary style is
them are lovely, but I’m afraid they’re not our thing.’ confidence and that confidence is a trick
To submit, send the first three chapters and a brief summary by email, with that can be learnt. By picking apart the
‘submission’ and the name of your work in the subject line. building blocks of language you can acquire
Everything With Words publishes paperbacks, and will be doing some young the knowledge to resemble them with clarity.
adult books as e-books as well. Writers are paid an advance and royalties. ‘Fear is responsible for most bad writing, Leith says. It
Details: email: info@everythingwithwords.com; website: www. twists our prose and tortures our thought processes…’
everythingwithwords.com Rose Wild, reviewing Write to the Point (How to Be
Clear Correct and Persuasive on the Page), Sam Leith,
for The Times
Poems waiting to emerge
The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is open for entries. ‘Five years ago the then education secretary,
The prize, which is for poetry for children, has a single Michael Gove, announced an overhaul
prize of €1,000, and the winning poem will be published of the national curriculum. Among his
in the summer 2018 issue of The Caterpillar. ideas for a return to traditional rigour
All entries must be poetry for children that is original was a proposal that primary school
and unpublished. There is no line limit. Writers may children should learn to recite poetry by
enter as many poems as they like. Each poem must be heart. Verse recitation was dropped from
printed on a fresh sheet. The writer’s name must not the UK curriculum in 1944, and the idea
appear on the manuscript. of reintroducing it met with a certain resistance from
Enter by post or online. There is an entry fee of €12 per poem, which is teachers, some of whom argued that it was likely to put
payable via PayPal or by cheques made out to The Moth Magazine Ltd. children off poetry for life.
The closing date is 31 March. ‘Happily, a subsequent Cambridge University study
Details: The Caterpillar Poetry Prize, c/o The Moth, Ardan of the effects of memorising poetry found that for most
Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co Cavan, Ireland; email: enquiries@ people, the drudgery of rote learning is wonderfully
thecaterpillarmagazine.com; website: www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com compensated by the glorious richness of making a verse
their own.’
Jane Shilling, The Daily Telegraph
www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 79

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET
Claire Munnings
edits Health Get into Litmag
& Wellbeing
magazine, BY GARY DALKIN
which covers
nutrition, stress A new US print annual, LitMag, debuts poems. Wait until you have heard
management, this year, publishing established, emerging back before submitting anything else.
relaxation, and unknown writers. There is also All submissions must be previously
mindfulness and a digital version, and free, exclusive unpublished, which includes self-publishing,
wellbeing. additional content on the website. The even on your own website or blog.
Details: email:
team led by editor Marc Berley and Payment is on acceptance, $1,000 for
claire.munnings@
aceville.co.uk;
associate editor Vered Sussman will soon fiction and non-fiction for the print
website: www. be reading for the 2019 edition – and say edition. $250 per poem, or group of
yourfitnesstoday. they are drawn to work ‘that moves and short poems. $250 flat rate for content
com amazes us’ and to writers with ‘big minds purchased for the Litmag website. In
and large hearts.’ all cases LitMag requires First English-
Michael Joseph They want short literary stories and language print and electronic rights,
editor Eve Hall is novellas up to 15,000 words for the print with copyright reverting to the author
moving to Hodder edition, up to 4,000 for the website. on publication.
as commissioning They are also interested in seeing creative Reading periods are: fiction and poetry,
editor, crime and
non-fiction, including essays on literature, art, 1 February-31 July; non-fiction, 1 January-31 May;
thriller.
culture, and music as well as biographical pieces and online, 1 February-30 June. Response time is usually
Condé Nast is memoirs up to 4,000 words. Poetry in any style or around two months, but may be longer. Follow the full
moving American form is also welcome. guidelines and submit through the links at: https://
Teen Vogue from Send one story or essay at a time, or up to five litmag.com/submit/
print (five times
yearly) to online-
only publication. Classics hit the small screen
Penguin Random
Two mid-20th century classic American novels are about The book was the
House will be
publishing the
to become TV mini-series. basis of the classic
The Day She Joseph Heller’s 1961 war satire, Catch-22, is being made 1963 film, The
Saved the Doctor, into a six part TV series starring and directed by George Haunting, as well as
the first all- Clooney. The actor will play Colonel Athwart, previously a disastrous 1999
female-authored played by Martin Balsom in the 1970 cinema adaptation. adaptation under
anthology of The series will be shot early in 2018 as a co-production that title. Michel Huisman will play Steven Crane and
Doctor Who stories made by Paramount TV and Anonymous Content. the production will be written and directed by Mike
on 8 March, Meanwhile Netflix is turning Shirley Jackson’s The Flanagan, who was responsible for the acclaimed TV
International Haunting of Hill House (1959) into a ten-part series. movie based on Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game.
Women’s Day.

The Richard &

Too many characters

Judy Book Club
Spring 2018 Picks
are The Child,
Fiona Barton; Many top writers weren’t happy when Twitter doubled Magazine. Meanwhile Neil Gaiman added, ‘What he
How to Stop Time, the number of characters a tweet could contain, from said she said.’
Matt Haig; The 140 to 280, suggesting that the change destroyed the Matt Haig speculated, ‘At least we know why Twitter
Thirst, Jo Nesbo unique appeal of the social media platform, brevity. So went for 280 characters. It was so people could tweet
& Neil Smith;
they voiced they displeasure, where else, but on Twitter. the full list of that day’s A-list stars who have turned
Then She Was
Gone, Lisa Jewell;
JK Rowling wrote, ‘Twitter’s destroyed its USP. out to be sleazebags.’ Award-winning science fiction
The Marriage The whole point, for me, was how inventive people author John Scalzi dissented, approving the change,
Pact, Michelle could be within that concise framework.’ Stephen ‘Apparently I’ve not been paying attention, but we
Richmond; The King replied, ‘What she said.’ And in another tweet all have 280 characters now? I’m sure this will make
Witchfinder’s said something not suitable for reprinting in Writing Twitter more tolerable.’
Sister, Beth
Underdown; The
Heart’s Invisible Lost Chandler story published
Furies, John
Boyne and Close
to Home, Cara
In November The Strand Magazine published It’s All savage attack on America’s private medical system. In
Hunter. Right – He Only Died, a recently discovered story a note also published in The Strand accompanying
which was among the last things Raymond Chandler, the story, Chandler observed that a doctor who does
‘There is no friend the great crime writer, wrote before his death in 1959. not treat a sick person because of financial issues
as loyal as a The story, written between July 1956 and spring ‘disgrace(s) himself as a person, as a healer, as a
book.’ 1958, was found in the author’s archives at Oxford’s saviour of life, as a man required by his profession
Ernest Bodleian Library. never to turn aside from anyone his long-acquired
Hemingway The short, about a homeless man, is in part a skill might help or save.’

80 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

INTRODUCTIONS
Writing Magazine presents a selection of health publications currently accepting
contributions. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with their guidelines
before submitting and check websites, where given, for submission details.

Slimming World, the runners to seasoned mountain marathoners meditation and mindfulness through to
magazine of the UK’s and adventure racers will find advice, environmentalism and charity work. Martin
leading weight loss inspiration, and destination guides to the is happy to hear from writers interested in
magazine, is edited by Sara best running sites in hill and mountain contributing feature articles. There is no
Ward. Readers are anyone territory in the UK and abroad. Features payment for writers.
who wants to improve their include gear tests, inspirational real-life Details: martin@ommagazine.com;
health and lose weight, stories and interviews as well as practical website: www.ommagazine.com
and content includes information, and Paul is happy to receive
inspirational real-life stories, idea pitches from knowledgeable freelances. Men’s Running, edited
practical and inspirational Details: email: trailrunning@ by Isaac Williams, is the
features on fitness, fashion, lifestyle and bauermedia; website: www. only magazine dedicated
psychology, and recipes and food ideas. All the trailrunningmag.co.uk to men who run,
content is friendly, accessible, useful and positive. with running-specific
Freelance pitches are welcomed from skilled true- Top Santé, edited by training advice, kit
life journalists, psychology writers and health and Katy Sunnassee, is a reviews, race reports and
fitness writers. Word counts and payments vary. lifestyle magazine for long-read features. The
Details: email: Rachel.callen@ women of any age magazine also includes
slimmingworld.co.uk; www.slimmingworld. who are interested fitness, sports, lifestyle, health, nutrition
co.uk in maximising and, importantly, a sense of humour not
their physical and easily found in other health and fitness
Outdoor Fitness, edited by emotional wellbeing. publications. MR offers straightforward
Amy Curtis, has a dedicated Feature content covers advice, inspiration and guidance to all levels
running section, a tri section diet, exercise and of runner, giving you the motivation to lace
and a more general section psychology as well up your trainers and get out there. Isaac is
and aims to appeal to as lifestyle and beauty, with the emphasis always on the lookout for new contributors.
beginners and hobby athletes on taking steps towards change, and the MR pays £125 for 800-word race reports,
as well as more experienced tone is always supportive and positive as and £225 for 1,200-word features.
participants. It tries to well as informative, so that the reader can Details: email mensrunning@
cover a range of aspects make informed choices. Feature pitches are wildbunchmedia.co.uk; website: http://
from training, to kit to nutrition and mental welcomed from knowledgeable freelances mensrunninguk.co.uk/
wellbeing and offer new ideas to readers every who can write with an understanding of the
month, which could be a way of training or a TS reader, and payment varies. Health magazine,
new sport/activity to try. OF tests as much of the Details: email: talkback@topsante. edited by Caroline
kit included in each issue as possible so that its co.uk; website: www.topsante.co.uk Seekings, is published
readers get a genuine idea of quality/value etc and four times a year
theme each issue depending on the time of year. OM Yoga & Lifestyle in print and a free
Pitches are welcomed from freelance journalists Magazine, edited by digital edition.
and payment varies. Contact Amy by email Martin D Clark, has It carries upbeat,
Details: of.ed@kelsey.co.uk; website: http:// a general ethos of seasonal, features
outdoorfitnessmag.com encouraging more and news covering
people to do yoga. health, lifestyle,
Trail Running, edited by Paul The content is a fitness, nutrition and beauty, with the focus
Larkins, is the number one mix of practical and on enabling readers to make informed
magazine for people who expert yoga tuition, decisions about their wellbeing and lifestyle
like to get their fitness fix plus more general choices. Contact Caroline through the
running off the beaten track. features covering website for submission details for the print
Off-road runners of all levels aspects of the yoga lifestyle, which could magazine and website.
from newbies through club be anything from healthy nutrition, Website: www.health-magazine.co.uk

GLOBAL POETRY MARKET

Beans and booze
BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
Vegetarian Alcoholic Press is an idiosyncratic US niche press for poets. ‘No gimmicks or prizes’ just
Spend time at the website enjoying the poetry, the layout and the the opportunity for poetry to
attitude. The press has quirky taste and will consider publishing essays, be published and read. Submit
fiction, flash fiction, memoirs, short stories, and other forms of creative doc, pages or rtf files by email:
writing if it fits their style. vegalpress@gmail.com
The team accept submissions of finished full manuscripts all Website: www.
year round. Payment is a third of total book sales. The team offer vegetarianalcoholicpress.com
www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 81

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

FLASHES
Call for December
PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
Nick Compton is
acting editor of December magazine has a long and honourable sixty-year
Wallpaper, the history as a literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, and
design, interiors and
lifestyle magazine.
creative non-fiction (essays, memoirs, biography, literary
It has been in print journalism, social or cultural commentary or analysis) and
since 1996. visual art. It needs ‘excellent writing that reflects and appeals to
Details: contact@ a variety of sensibilities’.
wallpaper.com; The editors want characters who are interesting, a coherent
website: www. storyline, and a depth of meaning. They want realistic dialogue
wallpaper.com and original settings and ideas. When it comes to poetry the
poetry editors ‘ seek unusual imaginations, strong poetic voices,
and verbal energy, among other qualities.’
Newsquest
Submit up to five poems, with the title of the work on every
introduced a new
part-paid-for,
page, and a page number. Submit one prose piece at a time
part-free weekly please, except for flash/very short fiction, under 1,000 words,
in Hampshire, the which may be grouped in threes. Submit online using their
Eastleigh Times, system. Don’t forget a cover letter with full contact details,
to be edited by genre and title of work.
Gordon Sutter, Response time is ‘within six weeks’. Payment is $10 per
Southern Daily page with a minimum of $40 and a maximum of $200
Echo editor. and two copies. Website: https://decembermag.org

National
Geographic
Food is a new
magazine edited Showcasing SF
by Maria Pieri
that will take the If you have had a science fiction story
ethos of National published anywhere this year, or scheduled
Geographic into to appear before the year is out, then
the food arena. The editor Donna Bond wants to read it for
first issue came out
consideration for the anthology Best of
on 30 November.
Details: email:
British Science Fiction 2017. The book, the
info@natgeofood. second in a new reprint anthology series
co.uk; website: from NewCon Press, will be published on
https:// 1 August. Payment is 1p per word up to
natgeofood.co.uk/
Indies booming £60. Submissions must be strictly science
fiction, no fantasy, horror or other related
Inpress, a distributor which works genres. Reprints only. Email your story to
Cannon Poets, with sixty small independent donnanewconpress@gmail.com by the
founded in 1983, publishers has reported that sales deadline of 15 January. Guidelines are at
meets monthly on
the first Sunday at
are booming, up 79% over the last http://writ.rs/uksf2017
7pm at the Moseley year. Managing director Sophie
Exchange, Post O’Neill attributed this to ‘...a mix
Office Building,
149-153 Alcester
of really good books... and great
attention to detail.’ The books that bunnies bought
Road, Moseley, Hannah Bannister, speaking The library of Watership Down
Birmingham B13 for Peepal Tree Press, was more author Richard Adams, who died
8JP. It publishes a blunt, noting that independent in 2016, was sold at auction in
quarterly journal, The publishers, ‘...are offering December. Among the books for
Cannon’s Mouth.
something that readers want rather sale was a complete set of first
Website: www.
cannonpoets.org.uk
than just another novel with a editions of Jane Austen, with an
dead girl on a train.’ estimated value of up to £80,000,
Author Monique Roffey’s a Bible once owned by Charles
‘Remember - experience suggests readers are II, and a 1632 Shakespeare
nobody published turning to independent publishers Second Folio. There were also
a novel or won a because the mainstream is playing first editions by Charles Dickens,
prize in a month. too safe, noting that ‘Simon & George Eliot, and Anthony
So have patience, Schuster bought The Tryst in Trollope, and from a rare copy
work calmly 2013, but got cold feet.’ The result of Lycidas, Milton’s epic poem.
and turn your
blank pages into
was she took the sexually explicit Auctioneer Dominic Winter
animated stories.’ novel to small press Dodo Ink and commented that Adam’s collection was ‘a proper library. There
From Reading ‘within two or three months (it wasn’t a special place for the more valuable books – they
Addict website had) sold more copies than my last weren’t under lock and key, they were there to be enjoyed. I
book did with Simon & Schuster.’ was amazed when I first walked in.’

82 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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UK HEALTH MARKET
A healthy approach
BY TINA JACKSON
The Femedic is an educational website that deals specifically with areas of
women’s health considered taboo.
‘It’s aimed at women of any age who would need information about
the areas of health we cover: menstruation, sexual health, menopause,
incontinence, thrush, contraception,’ said founder and editor Monica
Karpinski. ‘We have a rota of doctors who write our medical content but as
health is more than a medical conversation -– it’s a lifestyle, emotional, and
social one, too – we also publish editorial content that might discuss anything
from issues around women’s health to lifestyle-based topics and advice.’
The audience is almost entirely women, with age groups evenly spread
from 25-44. 65% of readers are 25-44 years old.
‘For me, the most important thing about The Femedic is being able to
tell important stories and bring topics to light that people typically shy
away from due to stigma and taboo,’ said Monica. ‘By bringing these
stories and experiences into the spotlight we want to tell women that they
aren’t alone and that whatever might or might not be happening to them,
it’s nothing to be ashamed of. We want to encourage discussion and raise
awareness of women’s health issues and the reality of their experiences.’
The Femedic runs features that covers issues and topics that its
audience are affected by that tend to get left out of the mainstream
media spotlight. ‘We want to draw attention to the reality of women’s
experiences and will favour features that work hard to do that reliably and
authentically. We want our features to be issue-led, but then to put those
issues in a wider context: what are the social, demographic, economic,
or cultural factors that impact women’s experiences of this issue? And,
crucially, how does this impact their health?’
At the moment The Femedic is looking for content that deals specifically
with health issues that affect groups particularly at risk. ‘Such as, BAME
women, trans women, sex workers, disabled women, women most affected
by austerity, LGBTQIA women,’ said Monica. ‘For example, we recently
ran a piece focusing on reducing HIV-related stigma in sex workers and
before that we ran one that looked at what it’s like to get your period as a
woman at Yarl’s Wood.’
Features are mainly topic-led, but The Femedic also accepts accounts of
personal experience. Features should usually involve interview unless they
are accounts of personal experience. The tone should be encouraging and
supportive but also comprehensive and content also needs to have a sense
of neutrality. ‘We can’t and shouldn’t tell women what to do, instead we
want to lay out all the possible options and report on the nature of the
issue.’ Word count is usually around
700-1,000.
‘We look for any experience that’s
particularly relevant to the topics
you cover, along with how strong
your angle on it is. Do you have
professional or personal experience
with this issue? How is your piece
different to all the others reporting
on this topic? And then, the key is
always how well you communicate
that to us.’
Email a pitch with a topic and
angle, and an introduction to
yourself. Payment is competitive.
Details: email: thefemedic@
curated-digital.com; website:
https://thefemedic.com/
www.writers-online.co.uk
p082 News.indd 83
WRITERS’ NEWS
Novel
Ideas
Recognisable
characters
You run a risk if you use
familiar faces in your fiction,
says Lynne Hackles
H
ave you ever used someone you
know in a short story? Have you
ever worried that they would read
it and recognise themselves? Let me
tell you a story. Two actually.
My father-in-law was the world’s worst driver. He
once drove through a town centre, bouncing down
steps and weaving through those huge concrete
planters and wanted to know what moron had put
them there. I simply had to write about him so
wove a story around an accident in which his wife
was hurt just enough so that she had to stay in
hospital overnight. She loved it because it gave her
a rest. Unfortunately I’d printed this out and left it
lying around. Father-in-law arrived, picked up the
story and began reading it, at which point I thought
there was going to be a huge family row. Wrong! He
was chuckling as he read about himself and, when
he’d finished, he said, ‘What an idiot. He should
never be allowed on the road.’
Proof that people don’t see themselves as we
see them.
My aunt had a stairlift fitted. My mother was not
impressed, saying it was ridiculously slow and she
could get up the stairs on her hands and knees faster
than my aunt could on ‘that contraption’. They had
a race. My mother won.
Later, the grandchildren arrived. ‘Can we have a
go on your stairlift, Gran?’ they asked and she told
them, ‘It’s not for playing on.’ That became the
title of my story but knowing the editor quite liked
nasty old ladies I changed my aunt’s personality.
And guess what? She always read that magazine and
recognised herself even though I had portrayed her
as someone completely different. Perhaps it was the
stairlift race that did it.
So will friends and family recognise themselves
in stories?
Yes. 50% of the time. Probably.
FEBRUARY 2018 83 2018
FEBRUARY 83
19/12/2017 09:20
 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL WEB MARKET

FLASHES
Get under the skin
Mixmag dance
music magazine is
eager to hear from BY GARY DALKIN
clued-in young
writers with stories US website Sub-Q – the name is medical shorthand for
for the magazine or subcutaneous – offers readers stories that get under your
website. skin. This ‘interactive magazine for interactive fiction’
Details: email: seb@
launched in the summer and now publishes a work of
mixmagmedia.
com (web)/sean@
interactive fiction every Tuesday.
mixmagmedia.com Editor-in-chief Tory Hoke is looking for original and
(print); website: reprint works of science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird
http://mixmag.net/ tales, mystery, magic realism, and mash-ups, as well as
poetry and ‘webtoons’. Submissions should be smart,
Three outdoor unexpected, and written in a way which means they could
activity titles, only be presented in an interactive form, online or on
Running, TriPlus and some form of device, or both. Mobile compatibility is
Outdoor Fitness, preferred. Tory’s editorial team like beautiful prose, but
have merged into
one magazine,
also pulpy fun. If you’d like to submit something, but
Outdoor Fitness, not sure if it might be suitable enquire via the form at:
edited by Amy https://sub-q.com/about/contact/. You can also send Preferred word count is 1,000-3,500 words, which
Curtis. general enquiries by email: query@sub-q.com equals about five minutes of interactive experience time. A
Website: www. If your work is not already interactive your submission maximum of 5,000 will be considered, particularly if this
outdoorsradar.com must include a detailed proposal for adding an interactive includes alternative sections of text.
element, whether that means using choices to navigate the Payment is 9¢ per word for content which is already
New Forest Post story, or includes elements of audio, video or animation. interactive, 6¢ per word for plain prose with a plan to add
weekly free paper Sub-Q prefers Twine, a popular open-source tool for interactivity to it, 3¢ for reprints, all for first world rights.
in Hampshire
telling interactive, nonlinear stories, but will accept Artwork based stories should be no more than 50 panels,
welcomes reader
feedback and
material in most interactive preferably under 25, paying $8 per panel or $10 with
news stories. Write formats or as regular prose in interactivity included, $4 for reprints.
to: Community doc, odt or rtf files. There is extensive technical information about
News, New Forest Submissions are welcome interactivity at https://sub-q.com/about/faq/, including
Post, Newspaper from all writers, anywhere in the additional pages linked from this page. There is also
House, Test Lane, world. The submission process is a lot of guidance, including introductions to various
Southampton, anonymous, so you must remove interactivity technologies, at: https://sub-q.com/about/
Hants SO1 95X; any identifying information ideas-and-resources/ and guidelines at https://sub-q.com/
website: www. from any work you submit. about/submissions/
newforestpost.co.uk

BookTime is a bi-
monthly magazine
that is only available Write your life Keep it short
in libraries and
independent Aiming to celebrate and develop life writing in the UK the Running monthly themed
bookshops. Spread the Word Life Writing Prize is offering writers over the competitions with a first
Contents include age of eighteen years living in the UK the opportunity to gain prize of at least £50 the Txtlit
book club monetary and development prizes. The Prize is being run in Competition invites entries
recommendations,
association with Goldsmiths Writers’ Centre and a generous from anybody of any age who
author interviews,
book-related donation from Joanna Mungo. The winner will receive £1,500, has a UK mobile phone.
features and an Arvon course and two years’ membership of the Royal Submissions should be original stories which have
book giveaways. Society of Literature. Two highly commended writers will not been previously published, broadcast or be entered
Unsolicited books each gain £500 and a writing mentor. All winners will receive simultaneously for any other competition.
and manuscripts development meetings with Robert Caskie of Caskie Literary Stories should be a maximum 160 characters to
are not invited as all Agency and an editor at Unbound Publishers. Judges are include spaces, punctuation, carriage returns and the
material is selected literary editor Erica Wagner, poetry editor Hannah Lowe and competition keyword, in effect leaving you with a
in house. The editor Unbound Publishing commissioning editor Kwaku Osei-Afrifa. maximum 154 characters. Each entry must begin with
is Ruth Hunter.
The competition is open to writers who have not previously the word STORY followed by a space. As the theme
Details: email: info@
booktimemag.co.uk;
published a full-length fiction or non-fiction work of over changes each month it is advised you check the relevant
website: www. 30,000 words, had a theatre script, screen or radio play theme for the month of your entry. Stories will be
bertrams.com professionally produced nor twenty or more poems published judged on their entertainment value, construction and
individually or in a collection. grammatical correctness. It is advised you do not use
‘People laugh at Submit up to 5,000 words of an extract or self-contained text-speak unless it is essential to the story. Previous
me because I use piece of unpublished life writing, defined as ‘intending to be winning stories can be read on the website.
big words. But if true’ and should be based on your own personal experience, not Entries open on the first day of each month and close
you have big ideas, that of someone else. at midnight on the last day of the month. There is no
you have to use big The deadline is 9 February. Entries can be made online or by limit on the number of entries you can make and each
words to express
post after downloading an entry form from the website: www. will cost £1 plus the cost of a standard network text
them, haven’t you?’
LM Montgomery spreadtheword.org.uk/projects/life-writing-prize/ message. Send entries to 82085.
Website: http://txtlit.uk/

84 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

INTERNATIONAL
ZINE SCENE BY PDR
LINDSAY-SALMON

Submissions fake news blurbs, reviews of inanimate the website: https://purpleprose.ink

just launched
for the first
issue of The
Bare Life
Review, a new literary biannual, ‘devoted entirely
to work by immigrant and refugee authors’.
It needs submissions of fiction, non-fiction,
and poetry written by immigrant and refugee
authors. Foreign-born writers living in the
US, and refugee writers living anywhere are
eligible to submit. Work is judged ‘solely on
artistic grounds… work may, but need not,
deal explicitly with issues of immigration,
exile, or refuge’.
Submit: fiction, under 8,000 words; non-
fiction, under 6,000 words; 3-5 poems, up to
10 pages. Submit online with a covering letter
stating genre and word count, and a short bio.
Payment is $1,000 for prose and $400
for poems.
Website: www.barelifereview.org
Helen: A
Literary
Magazine
started life in
Las Vegas, Nevada, as a print journal but soon
became ‘a literary and arts magazine published
biannually in innovative print options and
digital media’. The innovative print methods
include putting micro-fiction and poetry on
poker chips. Helen also publishes a weekly
blog series called Friday Night Specials.
Submit literary fiction in all genres, as well as
‘creative nonfiction, artwork, short film, and
video and audio files featuring spoken word’.
See published work and submit through the
website: www.helenlitmag.com
Submissions are open until 1 June for
the web issues of: fiction, 50-1,500 words;
creative non-fiction, 1,500-4,000 words;
poetry, under twelve pages; spoken word,
performance art and short film files under
fifteen minutes.
Response time is ‘within 1-6 months’.
Payment is $2 per poem; $5 for fiction,
creative nonfiction, and art. Poetry published
on the poker chips is paid $25.
Weekly
Humorist
is a weekly
US webzine,
‘currently casting a wide net to find
some worthy comedy writers for article
submissions’. They seek anything funny,
‘topical, conceptual, open letters, photoshops,
objects, etc,’ but keep it under 1,500 words.
Response time is ‘slow’. Payment is $20.
Weekly Humorist, email: submissions@
weeklyhumorist.com; website: www.
weeklyhumorist.com
Vestal Review has been
around since 2000 and
claims to be ‘the oldest
magazine dedicated
exclusively to flash fiction’.
It needs exciting and
exceptional flash in all
genres except children’s and
hard SF.
Submit between 1 Feb
and 31 May, or 1 August and 30 November.
This zine defines flash as no longer than
500 words and it must have a plot. Currently
there is special call for flash of 250 words
for ‘Magic Mondays’. The brief is wide and
humorous magic realism would be welcomed,
but ‘no hard science fiction or high fantasy’.
Response time is ‘within four months’.
Payment is US$25. Follow the guidelines
and submit through the website: www.
vestalreview.org
Devilfish Review calls itself ‘a literary magazine’
yet publishes ‘science fiction, fantasy, horror, and
anything that might be referred to as speculative’,
along with a seasoning of magic realism, fairy
tales, ‘and things that are a bit odd’.
Submit: only one fiction or non-fiction
submission, of no more than 5,000 words, at a
time; flash fiction, up to 500 words; no more
than five poems; non-fiction, ‘literary analysis,
your philosophy, your personal essays…’
Response time is 2-3 months. Payment is $10.
Follow the guidelines and submit through
the website: https://devilfishreview.com
PurpleProse is a
new bimonthly
needing quality
stories with a
different theme
each issue.
Themes and
guidelines are on
Submit stories, 1,000-10,000 words, on
the given topic. The theme is vague, meant
as a loose guide, not a strict rule. Submit
rtf, txt and docx files attached to an email:
submissions@purpleprose.ink with a brief
synopsis in the body. Response time is
‘reasonable’. Payment is 1¢ a word for ‘first
electronic print, serial print, and audio
rights –podcasts.’
New Delta Review
is a literary journal
from Louisiana
State University,
publishing ‘original
fiction, poetry,
creative non-fiction,
reviews, interviews,
and artwork’. The students who form
the editorial team like underrepresented
voices and to foster diversity. Read what is
published, check the guidelines and submit
on the website: http://ndrmag.org
Submit: up to five poems, which
‘challenge traditional notions of lyricism’;
experimental non-fiction, up to 5,000
words; fiction, around 3,000 words, which
is emotionally engaging and structurally
sound, but which takes risks with language,
content, and form; flash fiction and brief
flash series are also welcomed.
Response time is slow. There is no
payment but all published work is entered in
the annual Matt Clark Editors’ Prize in Prose
and Poetry, in which two winners each year
receive $250
Qu, the well-paying zine from Queens
University of Charlotte, is still seeking
quality work, until 15 January, to fill the
next issue. Check out the guidelines and
submit through the website: www.qulitmag.
com. Submit
fiction, poetry,
essays and script
excerpts. Submit
prose under
8,000 words, or
no more than
three poems. The
editorial team
requests one-time,
non-exclusive
rights for the
payment of $100
per prose piece,
$50 per poem.

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 85

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

Sharon Reid, the Correspondents wanted
editor of fortnightly
magazine Yours, BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
asks readers ‘Do
you have a pet
with plenty of New Letters is ‘an international journal Making up the numbers
personality?’ Send of essays, fiction, poetry, interviews,
a picture and write art and much more’, published by the Twenty-two Twenty-eight is a fascinating place.
about your pet’s University of Missouri-Kansas City. It Visit the website and read the philosophical
quirky traits. There’s needs many kinds of writing for the mission statement.
a £10 voucher for magazine, its radio companion, ‘New Submit your blog, website, book, visual or
people whose Letters on the Air’, and associated musical work, a Youtube channel, or nonfiction,
submissions are press BkMk, with one unified aim, fiction, and poetry, all are welcome. No graphic
published.
‘to discover, publish and promote the violence, graphic sex, or political pieces.
Details: Yours
Magazine,
best and most exciting literary writing, For poetry, submit 5-7 poems. For prose, limit
Media House, wherever it might be found.’ Read work to 500 to 1,000 words. For visual art please
Peterborough work and follow the guidelines on the submit 4-6 images. For video/music submit a
Business Park, website: www.newletters.org Youtube link. Music in all genres is welcome.
Peterborough PE2 Postal submissions are preferred and Keep length for video/music to twenty minutes
6EA; website: www. international writers are responded to or under.
yours.co.uk by email. For fiction and non-fiction With all submissions, do add any links
limit pieces to 3,000 to 5,000 words. regarding a blog, business, book, Youtube
2018 is the 50th For poetry, submit up to six poems. channel, Etsy, or eBay page. Don’t forget a
anniversary of
the Man Booker
As well as currently being open to photo (optional) and a brief bio and full contact
Prize, which has general submissions, the magazine details. Email subs and put full contact details,
announced a year offers $4,500 in its annual awards for a brief description of the submission, plus ‘any
of celebrations writers, all with a deadline of 18 May: other information you would like to include’.
and a campaign $1,500 ‘for the best group of three to six poems’; $1,500 for Don’t forget the links to social media etc. Attach
to introduce new the best essay; and $1,500 for the best short story. written work as a docx or pages file. Submit
readers to Booker- Response time is ‘as quickly as possible’. Payment is two images as jpg, jpeg, or png file and url links for
listed authors. copies, $25-$100 for prose and $12 upwards for poetry, for video/music submissions.
first North-American serial rights. Response time ‘depends’. Payment is $30 for all
Virago is celebrating
Details: New Letters, University House, UMKC, 5101 accepted submissions.
the 80th anniversary
of the publication of
Rockhill Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA. Website: www.twentytwotwentyeight.com
Daphne de Maurier’s
Rebecca with a
special edition with
a hand-stitched,
embroidered jacket.
Awards for promising
It will be on sale in
March at £14.99. student writers
Aiming to recognise and reward emerging critical and creative talent,
BookTime is a bi-
The Lancaster Writing Award has a new category this year for Script and
monthly magazine
that is only available Screen Writing to add to its ongoing categories of Criticism, Fiction and Get your
Poetry. All categories are open to Year 12 and 13 students in the UK and
writing seen
in libraries and
independent international students in the final two years of their secondary education.
bookshops. The first prize winner will receive £100 in book vouchers and
Contents include publication in Cake, the University of Lancaster’s student journal. Second Recently launched, NinetyFour
book club and third prize winners will respectively gain £50 and £25 in book magazine, based in Glasgow, is a new
recommendations, vouchers and their work will receive website publication. creative lifestyle magazine and platform
author interviews, Entries can be made in more than one category and there are no looking for submissions from not
book-related
limitations on the style of writing or on submitting a piece of work that only writers but also artists, designers,
features and
book giveaways.
has been part of your school or college coursework. photographers and all other disciplines
Unsolicited books Entries in the Criticism and Fiction categories should be a maximum within the creative industries. Fashion,
and manuscripts 1,500 words, poetry entries no more than 25 lines and scripts should be travel, music, make up, beauty, lifestyle
are not invited as all no more than eight pages long. and fitness are amongst the topics that
material is selected To get an idea of the kind of writing the judges will be looking for will be considered.
in house. The editor it is suggested you read the work of current undergraduates at the ‘We want to give a voice and platform
is Ruth Hunter. University in the online Flash Journal and shortlisted entries from to local and international talent in
Details: email: info@ previous Writing Awards. order to help them grow as creative
booktimemag.co.uk; The closing date for entries is 28 February. A longlist will be available professionals and be seen by a wide
website: www.
bertrams.com
in April and a final shortlist in May audience,’ say the magazine creators.
Submit your work as a doc file along with a completed application Use the contact form on the website
‘All writing is a form, available on the website, and email as an attachment to: to submit content ideas or email to:
campaign against lancasterwritingaward@lancaster.ac.uk info94mag@gmail.com
cliché.’ Website: www.lancaster.ac.uk/english-and-creative-writing/ Website: https://
Martin Amis undergraduate/lancaster-writing-award/ ninetyfourmagazinecouk.wordpress.
com

86 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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UK NATURE MARKET
Country file
BY TINA JACKSON
Little Toller Press is a boutique independent publisher
of books about nature and rural life.
It began as an imprint of local history and rural life
publisher Dovecote Press. ‘Little Toller is ten years old
this year,’ said Adrian. ‘We started it really to explain
and reconnect a younger generation with books about
the landscape and nature. We started without any
prior knowledge of how to publish books. My other
half, Gracie, was a clothes maker and I was a film
maker and writer. I taught myself InDesign and she
did the bookshop selling. I did the proofreading and
publishing. That’s how it started.’
Little Toller Books originally existed to revive lost
classics of rural writing, but Adrian and Gracie wanted
to extend their range to encompass new as well as old
nature writing. ‘Once we’d established ourselves with
paperback classics we wanted to showcase new writing,
and new work, through the Monograph series.’
Little Toller Books publishes: ‘New books, new
writers and classic books, back to back. Prose non-
fiction is where we’re at, books about landscape and
nature, often semi-autobiographical.’
Each year Little Toller publishes between ten and
twelve books – two classics, and the rest new projects.
‘A good book for Little Toller is something different.
Something unusual,’ said Adrian. ‘Something with a
very distinct voice or way of seeing the world. We’re
not interested in following what people regard as
nature writing – we like something more interesting
and challenging. It shouldn’t be more about the person
than the landscape and the place – it’s important that
the wildlife is at the forefront, not the person.’
Although Little Toller’s full-length titles are non-
fiction, Adrian and Gracie also publish an online journal, The Clearing.
‘It offers a bit more space to explore fiction and poetry. Hopefully The
Clearing will develop a little more in the future.’
Prospective authors should: ‘Send books. Send the idea to start with –
but hopefully, someone doing that has written something, finished a draft.
Just write, really. And then send us what you’ve written. It helps to really
think through and understand what you’re doing, not to follow in the
footsteps of someone else.’
Payment varies.
Details: email: adrian@littletoller.co.uk; website: www.littletoller.co.uk
Body text
Corpus Press is a niche American
small press, specialising in horror
and weird fiction. Check out
the website and read their list.
They have some seriously weird
fiction on offer. Currently the
editorial team are preparing an anthology for Halloween 2018, which needs
‘frightening, thought-provoking, atmospheric, humorous or satirical’ horror.
Submit online using their system, stories, 4,500-8,500 words, with a central
theme associated with Halloween.
The deadline is 30 March. Response time is ‘slow’. Payment is 3¢ per word
plus two free contributor copies of the paperback version. Rights acquired
are ‘exclusive paperback, hardcover and ebook publishing rights from date
of publication until November 2019, at which time full republication rights
revert back to the author. Authors retain all audiobook rights.’
Website: www.corpuspress.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
p086 News/Travel writing.indd 87
WRITERS’ NEWS
E L W RI
V T
IN
TR
G
N
W
K
O W-H O
People, people,
people
Patrick Forsyth looks at how the
number of people you encounter must
affect how you write.
was recently in Canada (I know I should have
I been at my desk writing, but I was visiting
relatives). Probably the most picturesque place I
visited was Emerald Lake in British Columbia.
Surrounded by mountains, the lake is fed
by glaciers and sparkled in the sunlight, its waters a bright
turquoise as a result of containing rock flour – ultra-fine rock
particles ground up by the ice. Magical it may be, but it was
also the most popular spot I visited. Traffic was noticeable in
the last few miles (often on the trip no other cars were visible
at all) and there was quite a crowd; getting parked demanded
prayers to any parking god that might be around.
This made me think.
One factor which can direct the line you take in writing
about a place is defined by the volume of people there.
Sometimes a buzz of people is desirable. Some places, for
instance where the main attraction is the night life, need
people and their busyness is part of the attraction and
something to be described. Others, including the majestic
beauty of Emerald Lake, are perhaps best appreciated in
calm and quietness. Most visitors there, including those from
coaches, whose time was, I suspect, rationed, walked no
further than about one hundred metres from the car park.
Beyond that there was no problem in having a peaceful walk
and taking in the silent splendour.
Clearly people affect travel writing. I have written here
before about the need to engage others you encounter in
conversation to fuel your writing. You can write about
an individual or people in quantity, and a crowd may be
applauded, adding positively to the scene, or resented – giving
rise to comment about a place being overrun inappropriately.
This is something about which you should be honest.
If you are recommending somewhere as desirable to visit,
you do not want people disappointed on doing so by the
fact that they expected it to be quiet and it wasn’t, or vice
versa. Similarly they may relate to their own experience as
they read, comparing, say, the hectic visit they experienced
with the apparent quiet you found. Something else to bear
in mind is the timing: were you there in the morning or
evening, in the peak or off season? My only visit to the Taj
Mahal was an experience I will always remember. In India on
business and taken by a local colleague, the two of us and,
in the background, his driver, were the only people there.
The atmosphere was palpable. Electric. An unforgettable
experience. It seems this would be most unusual nowadays; it
should therefore be pointed out that my visit was a while ago.
JANUARY 2018 87
19/12/2017 10:33
 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL FICTION MARKET Book Talk BY JOHN JENSEN

FLASHES There’s a feature in the Guardian in which
Get into Darkhouse authors are asked about the books they
Enter fiction
BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON like or detest, the book that changed the
intended to be
read/played on author’s life, or the book they wish they’d
digital devices
Darkhouse Books is a US small
press publishing fiction in ebook written. All that sort of thing. I’m reading a
by 15 February
for the Opening and print. They also publish 1930s thriller reprint which I’m glad I hadn’t
Up Digital Fiction anthologies and currently seek written, I wish I hadn’t bought and which I
Competition to win fiction for two anthologies,
cash and the option Sanctuary and Shhhh… Murder! will not be giving to a loved one.
of publication Sanctuary needs poetry, flash, A book that changed my life? As a child
with Wonderbox short fiction, and creative nonfiction
Publishing. I remember borrowing my grandfather’s
‘reflecting the theme of sanctuary,
Website: ancient Penguin of George Bernard Shaw’s
refuge, shelter, or asylum, from
http://writ.rs/
callfordigitalfiction
the perspective of those offering, Man and Superman. Naively, I thought it
seeking, denying, or destroying it’. might be a novel about the famous comic
Three outdoor From Bangladesh to the city animal
activity titles, shelter, all sanctuaries are welcome, as are all genres. The superhero. Instead it was a prolonged
Running, TriPlus team want work to ‘lean towards the literary’ but are open cut-and-thrust of intellectual argument. I
and Outdoor to all genres. thought, having started so I’ll finish. Old
Fitness, have Shhhh… Murder! is for cosy to cosy-noir stories featuring
merged into one libraries and librarians. They want writers to know that ‘Extra GBS taught me the power of thought, the
magazine, Outdoor points will be shamelessly awarded to writers with personal
Fitness, edited by
joy of discussion instead of just bellowing
Amy Curtis.
ties to libraries’. Stories should stand out for excellence, as my parents still do. Man and Superman
Website: www. creative twist, take on the theme and good writing.
Sim subs are accepted but multiple submissions are was a definite bonus even if I felt slightly
outdoorsradar.com
not. Reprints might be accepted. Query to see. Submit cheated: I loved Superman!
New Forest Post stories, 2,500-5,000 words, as a doc or docx file by email: A book that made me cry? Tears of
weekly free paper submissions@darkhousebooks.com
in Hampshire The deadline for both anthologies is 28 February. Response laughter actually. Poetic Gems by William
welcomes reader time is ‘reasonable’. Payment is an equal share of fifty percent McGonagall. Tragedy and sadness which
feedback and of the royalties.
news stories. Write make your sides ache with mirth! If you can’t
See full guidelines on the website: http://darkhousebooks.com
to: Community scale the heights then dive to the depths.
News, New Forest
Post, Newspaper Think of the satisfaction of being so awful
House, Test Lane,
Southampton, Write your life you end up in print as a bestselling classic.
Hants SO1 95X; Finally, what book would I give to my
website: www. The White Review Short Story Prize friends? I haven’t decided but nothing heavy
newforestpost.co.uk 2018 is open for entries. – I mean, the cost of postage these days...’
The competition is for short stories
John Mulvey will
between 2,000 and 7,000 words
be the new editor
of Mojo music
by emerging writers, ie those who
magazine from have yet to secure a publishing deal.
February. John Stories may be entered in any literary style or genre,
was previously and the prize is intended to reward innovative writing
editor of rival that expands the possibilities of the short story form.
music title Uncut. The winner will receive £2,500 and their story will be
Website: www. published in the print edition of The White Review.
mojo4music.com Shortlisted stories will be published online and their
writers will be given feedback by editors from The
The Great Outdoors
White Review.
is a monthly
mag for hill and Enter original, unpublished stories. Writers must be
mountain walkers in based in the UK or Ireland, and must not have, or have
the UK. The editor is had, a contract with a publisher or have published a
Emily Rodway. full-length work of fiction. Writers may have previously
Details: email: published non-fiction and/or stories in magazines and
emily.rodway@ journals. Agents may submit on behalf of authors.
kelseymedia.co.uk; Submit one story only. Send stories on numbered
website: www. pages as a doc, docx, pdf, rtf or txt file. The first
tgomagazine.co.uk
page should consist of the story title and word count.
‘There’s many a
Include a covering letter with name, contact details and
bestseller that story title.
could have been All entries must be made through the online entry
prevented by a form. There is an entry fee of £15, payable as part of
good teacher.’ the online submission process. The closing date is 1
Flannery O’Connor March. Website: www.thewhitereview.org

88 FEBRUARY 2018 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Grow green fingers
BY TINA JACKSON
Amateur Gardening is the UK’s must-read weekly magazine for garden to write for gardening magazines, then buy
enthusiasts, providing readers with up-to-date news and gardening some, study what they do, check their tone,
information, timely and friendly coverage and inspirational ideas. It is where it’s pitched at and think about what
edited by Garry Coward-Williams. you could contribute. You will then know
The magazine’s focus is on practical gardening, with sections covering if you are wasting your time or you have
weekly gardening tasks, gardening ideas, gardening wisdom and news and something to offer. You will also be less
product tests. The advice is specific, down-to-earth and easy to follow, and likely to waste the editor’s time.’
the information presented in a clear, accessible manner. The writing style He is happy to hear from prospective
is friendly and the writers’ voices come clearly off the page. No gardening writers with extensive gardening knowledge and a professional approach.
topic is too big – or too small – to be addressed with care and attention to ‘Do the research, know what you’re talking about,’ he said. ‘I’m looking
detail. The focus is equally on words and pictures. for deep horticultural knowledge, and writers who are able to write strictly
Amateur Gardening is written by expert gardeners for a knowledgeable to brief and word count, to deliver as brief and deliver on time.’
readership, and Garry expects writers for the magazine to be ahead of Send him ideas and the rationale behind them by email. Payment is
the curve. ‘Anyone who wants to be a successful writer must work hard approximately £60 per page.
to understand and assimilate the market they want to work in,’ he said. Details: email: amateurgardening@timeinc.com; website:
‘You can’t have it on a plate – you’ll learn nothing that way. If you want www.amateurgardening.com

Create interactive fiction

Manawaker Studio is a niche American market
which makes podcasts and publishes interactive
fiction. Currently seeking interactive fiction
for Make Your Way: An Anthology of Choices,
the team define interactive fiction as a story
which requires ‘some level of interaction from
the audience’. Examples may be ‘Folding
poems? Puzzles? Multiple-choice comicbook?
Card games?... Does it require the audience
to have a pencil or a dice or a scissors? Does
interacting with the work destroy the pages?’
Adult content and topics are acceptable, but
no graphic sex or gore. Writers of choosable
path fiction please note, a choosable fiction
interactive story should not always be about
trying to figure out how to allow the character
to survive.
This is a print anthology so no colour in
the stories please, and avoid a lot of digital
interaction. This time the editors ‘might accept
one or two stories that require the audience
to use a phone or web browser for part of
the experience’ but they are seeking different,
less usual interactions. Simultaneous and
multiple submissions are accepted, but not
reprints. Email subs with ‘Make Your Way
Submission’, surname, and the title of the work
in the subject line. Include a brief cover letter
and a bio (65 words max) in the body of the
email. Writers may also add a url for an online
portfolio or blog.
There is currently no deadline, with plans
to keep the sub call open until the book is
full. Response time ‘will vary wildly, ranging
from a couple of weeks to six or more months.
Generally, rejections will be faster than
acceptances.’ Payment is 1¢ a word for text
fiction, $10 per page of sequential art fiction,
and $100 for the cover illustration.
Details: Make Your Way: An Anthology of
Choices, email subs: submissions@manawaker.
com; website: www.manawaker.com

Big winners this month

The 2017 Goldsmiths Prize, worth £10,000, has been won by Nicola
Barker for her novel H(a)ppy. The book is Barker’s eleventh novel. The
purpose of the prize, established by Goldsmiths, University of London
in 2013, is to celebrate the qualities of creative daring associated with the
University with ‘a book that is deemed genuinely novel and which embodies
the spirit of invention that characterises the genre at its best.’
Naomi Wood, Lecturer in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, commented,
‘Nicola Barker’s H(a)ppy is a structural marvel to hold in the mind and in
the hands. Line by line, colour by colour, this dystopic utopia is an ingenious
closed loop of mass surveillance, technology, and personality-modifying
psychopharmaceuticals. H(a)ppy is a fabulous demonstration of what the
Goldsmiths Prize champions: innovation of form that only ever enriches the
story. In Barker’s 3D-sculpture of a novel, H(a)ppy makes the case for the
novel as a physical form and an object of art.’
• The World Fantasy Awards, for works published in 2016, were
announced as part of the World Fantasy Convention, in San Antonio,
Texas, in November. Winner of the award for Best Novel was The
Sudden Appearance of Hope by Londoner Claire North. The book is the
31-year-old author’s eighteenth novel – Claire was first published under
her own name, Catherine Webb, aged sixteen, and has also penned
books as Kate Griffin. The other winners were: Long Fiction, The
Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, Kij Johnson; Short Fiction, Das Steingeschöpf,
GV Anderson (Strange Horizons); Anthology, Dreaming in the Dark, ed
Jack Dann; Collection, A Natural History of Hell, Jeffrey Ford; Special
Award, Michael Levy & Farah Mendlesohn, Children’s Fantasy Literature:
An Introduction.
• Dating back to 1950, the National Book Awards are among America’s
most prestigious literary awards. Having previously won in 2011 with her
novel Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward becomes the first woman ever to win
the award twice, this time for Sing, Unburied, Sing. The other winners were;
Non-fiction, Masha Gessen, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism
Reclaimed Russia; Poetry, Frank Bidart, Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-
2016; Young People’s Literature, Robin Benway, Far from the Tree.
• The Nommo Awards are new awards presented by the African
Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS) to recognise outstanding works by
Africans and those of African parentage. The first Nommos, honouring
works published in 2015 and 2016, were given at the Aké Festival in
Nigeria in November. The winners were, The Ilube Award for Best
Speculative Fiction Novel by an African, Rosewater, Tade Thompson;
Best Speculative Fiction Novella by an African, Binti, Nnedi Okorafor;
Graphic Novel, Chronic #3: ‘The Corpse Exhibition’, ed Ntone Edjabe.
The Short Story award was a tie between Who Will Greet You at Home,
Lesley Nneka Arimah (The New Yorker) and The Marriage Plot, Tendai
Huchu (Omenana).
The prize money for the first four years has been provided by Tom
Ilube, who said, ‘Science fiction is important because it looks ahead to
African futures. Fantasy and fiction based on traditional tales are important
because they link us back to our forebears. Both are important for African
development. I wanted to make sure that the explosion of African science
fiction gets the recognition it deserves.’ The novel and graphic novel prizes
are $1,000, the novella and story prizes, $500.
• David McKay has won the €5000 Vondel Translation Prize for
translating Stefan Hertman’s Oorlog en terpentijn into English under
the title War and Turpentine. The jury commented, ‘As a result of
McKay’s beautiful translation, this Flemish author has reached the larger
readership he deserves.’
The Prize, given every second year, celebrates the translation of a major
Dutch-language work of literature or cultural history into English.

www.writers-online.co.uk FEBRUARY 2018 89

p088 News.indd 89 19/12/2017 09:34

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90 FEBRUARY 2018
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 Competition rules and forms
Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or by post, with the ref code in the address, to: Writing Magazine Competitions
(Ref Code xxxxx), Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH. Remember to add a front sheet
with full contact details and the name of the competition you are entering (see Rule 3)
To enter:
• Humour short story Competition (see p29)
For humorous stories on any theme, 1,500-1,700 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 March; Ref Code: Feb18/Humour

• Dialogue-only Competition (see p29)

For stories told in dialogue only, 1,500-1,700 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 Feb; Ref Code: Jan18/Dialogue

• Monster Poetry Competition (see p53)

Poems with a ‘monster’ theme; forty-line limit; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 March; Ref Code: Feb18/Monster

• Change Short Story Competition (see p49)

Short stories on the theme of ‘change’, 1,500-1,700 words; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 15 March; Ref Code: Feb18/Change

• Epistolary Competition (see p49)

Fiction, 1,500-1,700 words, in epistolary format; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 15 Feb; Ref: Jan18/Epistolary

• New Subscribers Competitions (see p49)

For fiction, 1,500-1,700 words, or poems, up to 40 lines, or one of each, any genre or theme, by a new subscriber to Writing Magazine; free entry;
subscribers only; closing date, 31 January; Ref Code: Jan17/SSNewSub or Jan17/PoetryNewSub

How to enter Poetry Competition

Competition Rules
1 Eligibility
All entries must be the original and unpublished work of the
entrant, and not currently submitted for publication nor for any other
competition or award. Each entry must be accompanied by an entry
form, printed here (photocopies are acceptable), unless stated.
Open Competitions are open to any writer, who can submit as many
entries as they choose. Entry fees are £5, £3 for subscribers.
Subscriber-only Competitions are open only to subscribers of
Writing Magazine. Entry is free but you can only submit one entry
per competition.
New Subscribers’ Competitions are open only to those whose
subscriptions start during 2017. No entry form or fee is required.
I am enclosing my entry for the .......................................
......................................................... .............................
Ref code .....................................and agree to be bound
by the competition rules
TITLE..................................................................................
FORENAME .......................................................................
SURNAME .........................................................................
ADDRESS...........................................................................
...........................................................................................
Short Story Competition
I am enclosing my entry for the .......................................
.................................................. .....................................
Ref code ................................................ and agree to be
bound by the competition rules
TITLE..................................................................................
FORENAME .......................................................................
SURNAME .........................................................................
ADDRESS...........................................................................
...........................................................................................

2 Entry Fees ........................................................................................... ...........................................................................................

Cheques or postal orders should be payable to Warners Group
Publications or you can pay by credit card (see form). No entry fee is POSTCODE ........................................................................ POSTCODE ........................................................................
required for New Subscribers’ competitions.
EMAIL................................................................................ EMAIL................................................................................
3 Manuscripts o I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc o I’m happy to receive special offers via email from Warners Group Publications plc
Short stories: Entries must be typed in double spacing on single
sides of A4 paper with a front page stating your name, address, phone
TELEPHONE (INC. AREA CODE) ............................................... TELEPHONE (INC. AREA CODE) ...............................................
number and email address, your story title and word count and the
name of the competition. Entries will be returned if accompanied by Tick here if you wish to receive our Tick here if you wish to receive our
sae. Electronic entries should be a single doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf file FREE monthly e-newsletter FREE monthly e-newsletter
with the contact details, etc, on p1, and your story commencing on the
second page. ENTRY FEE (please tick one) ENTRY FEE (please tick one)
Poetry manuscripts: Entries must be typed in single spacing with
double spacing between stanzas on single sides of A4. Entrant’s name, ■ £5 ■ £5
address, telephone number and email address must be typed on a ■ £3 for subscribers ■ £3 for subscribers
separate A4 sheet. Entries to poetry competitions cannot be returned. ■ Free entry (subscriber only competition) ■ Free entry (subscriber only competition)
Electronic entries should be a single doc, docx, txt, rtf or pdf file with
I enclose my entry fee (cheques/postal order payable to Warners Group I enclose my entry fee (cheques/postal order payable to Warners Group
the contact details, etc, on p1, and your poem on the second page.
Publications) OR I wish to pay my entry fee by: Publications) OR I wish to pay my entry fee by:
All manuscripts: Receipt of entries will be acknowledged if
o Maestro o Delta o Visa o Access o Mastercard o Maestro o Delta o Visa o Access o Mastercard
accompanied by a suitably worded stamped and addressed postcard.
Entrants retain copyright in their manuscripts. You are advised not to
send the only copy of your manuscript. Enclose an sae if you want your CARD NUMBER ................................................................ CARD NUMBER ................................................................
manuscript to be returned.
VALID FROM........................EXPIRY DATE ..................... VALID FROM........................EXPIRY DATE .....................
4 Competition Judging
Competition judges will be appointed by Writing Magazine and the
ISSUE NUMBER ................................................................. ISSUE NUMBER .................................................................
judges’ decision will be final with no correspondence being entered into.
SECURITY NUMBER .......................................................... SECURITY NUMBER ..........................................................
5. Notification
CARDHOLDER NAME ...................................................... CARDHOLDER NAME ......................................................
Winners will be notified within two months of closing date after which
date unplaced entries may be submitted elsewhere. Winning entries
SIGNATURE ....................................................................... SIGNATURE .......................................................................
may not be submitted elsewhere for twelve months after that date
without permission of Writing Magazine who retain the right to publish
DATE ................................................................................. DATE .................................................................................
winning entries in any form during those twelve months www.writers-online.co.uk JULY 2015 91

p091 comp rules.indd 91 18/12/2017 12:53

 M Y W R I T I N G DAY
Writing HANNAH
My
day
FIELDING
The novelist tells Lynne Hackles about the disciplined
writing schedule for her sweeping romances
H
annah Fielding is one
of the UK’s leading
romance authors
and admits to being
a disciplined writer,
working from Monday to Friday. ‘And
at week-ends, when I can get away
with it,’ she says. Hannah has been
doing this for six years now, ever since
she signed a publishing contract for
her debut novel.
‘For years before that, I yearned
to write full time, but my family’s
needs came first, along with my
property business but, once my
children had flown the nest and my
company was more or less running
itself, I was able to give writing my
full attention. I treat it as a job,
which it is not… it’s my life.’
Hannah follows a set structure for
her day.
‘I dedicate one hour, from 9-10am,
each morning to administration and
marketing work. I set a timer to
ensure I don’t go over time then I get
to work: replying to emails, carrying
out whatever tasks my publisher has
requested I do, writing and scheduling
blog and social media content (I
blog twice a week, and post on my
media channels at least once daily),
and catching up with followers on
Facebook and Twitter. I may just have
time to check for any new reviews of
my novels before – beep. Time is up.
Then I’m free to get lost in my novel
and I’ll write through until six or
seven o’clock in the evening, with an
hour for lunch and sometimes a walk
in the afternoon. On average, I do
this for the nine months it takes me
to write a novel (writing a book is a
lot like having a baby, I always say). If
the words are not flowing on a novel,
it is usually because I am unwell, so
I give myself the days off that I need
92 FEBRUARY 2018
p092 My Writing Day.indd 92
to recover, and then return to my
structured writing day.
‘When I am between novels, editing
the last one or preparing to write the
next one, I may take more breaks or
be away from my desk some days,
researching and dreaming up ideas.
‘Weekends are usually given over
to family and to entertaining friends,
and when an opportunity arises to
spend time with my children and
grandchildren during the week – in
the summer holidays, for example
– I adapt my writing schedule
accordingly. Usually, that means
getting up with the larks to write,
and I enjoy the quiet of this time and
the beauty of the sunrise.
‘Stories and writing have
always been part of my life. My
grandmother was a poet, my father
a published author. Growing up, I
lived in a house full of books, and
my parents read to me regularly. My
governess, too, was a storyteller. She
used to invent the most fabulous
fairy stories. I could listen to them
for hours. When I was seven she and
I came to an agreement: for every
story she’d tell me I would invent
one in return. That is how my
passion for storytelling began.
‘My latest novel, Aphrodite’s Tears,
is a romance inspired by Greek
mythology. It’s the sixth novel I have
published. My first, Burning Embers,
was set in Kenya in the 1970s; my
second, The Echoes of Love, was set
in Venice at the turn of millennium;
and the next three, Indiscretion,
Masquerade and Legacy, form the
Andalucían Nights trilogy, follows
three generations of families in the
Cadiz and Seville areas of Spain from
the 1950s to the present day.
So many things inspire me: a
wild, beautiful landscape, a piece of
www.writers-online.co.uk
haunting music, a stranger’s face in the
crowd. In the case of Aphrodite’s Tears,
my visits to the Greek Islands over the
years, my long-standing fascination
with archaeology and my love of
ancient mythology combined to create
the basis for the story idea.
‘I research my books thoroughly by
travelling to the place in which the
plot is set and speaking to local people
to get a complete feel of the mentality
and culture. No aspect of a country
is neglected: history, geography,
architecture, music, cuisine, language,
myths, customs and traditions,
everything is thoroughly investigated.
After having been through that first
stage, I then complement it with
information found in books and on
the internet. The research only ends
once I feel there is enough material
there for me to begin planning – and I
plan down to the smallest detail. I find
this makes the writing so much easier
and therefore so much more enjoyable.
The plan is my map as I write.’
Website: http://hannahfielding.net
MY WRITING PLACE
‘In winter, I write in my office in a wood-panelled room
that we call the library. My desk faces the window,
so that I can look out over the garden: ancient trees
fringing a rolling lawn where, in the early morning,
wild rabbits hop about. In the warmer months, I write
outdoors whenever possible. I love the drone of the
bees, the scent of the flowers and the vivid colours of
the vista. In England, I write in a gazebo, and when at
my home in the South of France, I write on the veranda
with a beautiful view over the Mediterranean.’
18/12/2017 12:55
 DON’T MISS THE MARCH ISSUE OF ON
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1 FEB!

FREE EXPERT ADVICE

WALLPLANNER Getting published... or not
A candid author experience
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Plan your writing year with our definitive guide Understanding publisher
to events throughout 2018
royalty statements
See the world and broaden your writing horizons
with festivals, courses, workshops, holidays and The Picture Book Prize
retreats, close to home and further afield
The difficult task of
judging our inaugural
We pay tribute to the picture book prize
PLUS UK’s longest running
residential writing
course with a look WRITERS’ NEWS

WRITERS’ NEW
S

back at seventy years

competitions, paying markets,
Your essential monthly round-up of GLOBAL CRIME
industry news.
opportunities to get into print and publishing MARKET
Digital crime on rise
BYJENNY ROCHE

A new twist on fairy tales

of Swanwick Writers’
Reflect on that
Penguin-Random House’s
of digital-only imprint mystery and thriller
fiction, Alibi, publishes control of all electronic
The National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury ebooksforces
have joined which publishing rights. and print
for fairy tales are available from all major
landscape for The Short Story Prize 2017, a new
for children by unpublished writers.
competition retailers and compatible with
The imprint aims to
children offer
all reading devices. To submit, complete
with details of your the form on the website
aimed atand up-and-coming authors’ ‘forward thinking book, including title,
BY TINA JACKSON Writers are invited to send short stories genre, length, a short
aged 8-12 that give a well-known fairy
tale a modern on twist.
which to introduce a solid platform description, whether
have a completed manuscript you
offers its winner and two by Bloomsbury in an their work to new
The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize The winning entries will be published audiences. All authors will be book would be right and why your
Fellowship Annual be donated to the National assigned to an for this publisher, along
runners-up the chance to attend the Alpine will also be presented ebook anthology whose royalties will editor
will
and
each a dedicated marketer and publicist, with a 1,500-word
winner chosen stories extract. The form will
Symposium in Venice in August. The Literacy Trust, and the writers of the will be able to work with
a cover designer request a short bio also
about yourself, information
with £3,000 by poet John Burnside (pictured).writing in response to

Summer School
win £200. and offered social media tools and training on any publishing/writing
of and 4,000 words.
The prize will be given for the best piece Short stories should be between 2,000 connect directly with readers. to have and if applicable, history you may
this is ‘Chora: reflections on synopsis themed around your
the theme of the symposium. In 2017 Writers should also include a 350-word Full length works of 40,000 words Authors have an option agent’s details.
Plato refers to the Chora as
landscape’. The AF17 website notes that re-imagining fairy tales. wanted. Previously are profit share or more to choose a 50-50
the event in which things take will bewhich
template, published manuscripts traditional model
‘“that which gives space” – the site of Submit entries by email, using the official considered as long advance plus 25% of
their submission fee. Type as you have net.
their shape.’
and writers may apply from will be sent to entrants on receipt of name Website: www.random
All genres of writing may be entered, The writer’s housebooks.com/alibi
be original, and must never manuscripts in 12pt Arial, double-spaced.
anywhere in the world. All entries must must not appear on the manuscript.
Send entries by email by 1 May
have been published in any medium. There is a submission fee of £30.
with the name of the prize in the email
subject line. Entry is free.
in joining the symposium
The closing date is 25 June. New comp
.uk; website: Win a Virago contrac
• AF17 also invites people interested from all walks of
(scholars, artists, poets, and also non-specialists theme. To apply,
Details: email: fundraise@literarytrust.org
www.literacytrust.org.uk/support/short-story-prize-2 for newbies
017 t and £7,500 advanc
life) to send their ideas in response to
this year’s
The Virago/The Pool
e
setting out how and why you The Michael Terence
send a CV and a three-minute video Publishing Short Writer Award is inviting New Crime
Fellowship will cover the food and Story Competition or thriller novel consisting
would contribute to AF17. The and might also be able is for short stories debut women crime entries from
5,000-word sample of a
by
accommodation costs of successful applicantsThe deadline to apply new authors who writers. and a 500-word
Long-sighted new work
has never Virago, which has synopsis of the plot
to help with travel costs to and from
Venice. published or self-published previously been been at the of the novel.
Long-sighted new . forefront of women’s publishing Virago would hope
is 31 June. The competition is since that the prize-
work
its foundation in winning novel would

STAR INTERVIEWS
Series, for writing up to
Details: email: apply@alpinefellowship.co
m;
Eyewear Publishing has launched the
2017 Lorgnettewords,Pamphlet
which mayofbe fiction, science 3,000 with The Pool, a
1973, has joined
up within a year of winning. be completed
/ The new series builds on the success fiction digital platform for
website: http://alpinefellowship.com and is inviting submissions. non-fiction or women, to find an
was shortlisted for the(ie biography or memoir).
Michael exceptional new As Virago is an imprint
2015’s 20/20 Pamphlet Series, which are prizes of £300, There female crime writer authors, the Virago/The for women
Aviator Pamphlet series. £150 and £50, and for
Marks Publisher’s Award, and 2016’s
be
winning
selected and stories
published
will
the The winner will be Virago. Crime Writer Award Pool New
Twenty limited-edition pamphlets will be published in a print awarded a Virago is only open to
publishing contract
areanthology
welcome to andsubmit.
online. with women. Entry is
from this call. All poets working in English unpublished. advance. The winning a £7,500 free.
submit only one entry.Writers may
must beall
All entries Upload
Exit earth, enter storgy
Pamphlets should be original and previously work by £20 fee
is awho
original and unpublished get two hours of mentoring writer will also
the proposal and Double spaced
system. There writers submit it by email.
submissions through Eyewear’s Submittable or self have never Jill Dawson. with author
published. Enter online, been published The closing date
is 21 May.
short story competition to submit. entries as doc or pdf formatting The competition Details: email:
Exit Earth is the STORGY Magazine is for debut writers.
The closing date to submit is15 September. annual Beverley files. Your name must not Writers who have viragoandthepool@littleb
to its previously self
for 2017. to the theme and • Eyewear also has a call for submissions appearofon the manuscript.
non- published may enter, website: www.virago. rown.co.uk;
The competition invites writers to respond work fiction, but
a second prize of £500 Series, which is for an original, unpublished There is a reading
on style or subject fee of £3 per story, the book being entered co.uk
break free. There is a first prize of £1,000, fiction, poetry or criticism, with no restrictions payable by PayPal. must not previously
for the Beverley Series have
and a third prize of £250. be original fiction matter. One or more works will be selected The closing early indate is 31 May.
2018. been published in
Entries may be up to 5,000 words, should in any genre. Each each year, with the inaugural work to
be announced
Website: www.mtp.age
a submission form. To enter, submit
any
and may be system. There is ncy
inspired by the ‘Exit Earth’ theme, Submit online through the Submittable proposal for a suspenseful, a
September.
writer may enter one story.
double-spaced in 12pt fee of £20, and the closing date is 15 original, intelligent
Format entries as a Word doc or docx, its annual award for a crime
• Eyewear’s Melita Hume Poetry Prize,
the story title, author and under who has not yet
Garamond. Include a front page with
should be the story title and full-length collection by a poet aged 35 Get creative for
entries until 31 August. The
Cymru

Author of one of 2017’s biggest

name and word count. The filename published a full collection, is open for
sent as email attachments plus £1,000.
author name. Submissions should be in the subject line. winner receives publication of their collection,
The Individual
pages. Poetry
100 Welsh
and2017
with ‘EXIT EARTH – TITLE OF STORY’ 48
Submit original manuscripts between launched but the Competition, which independently
by PayPal. Include the notDavid’s
There is an entry fee of £10, payable poems in the collection may have been
published, on St
ThereDay,
is a 1 March, funded, is international
email. invitesSubmittable.
PayPal reference number in the submission collection as a whole. Submit online
through entries. in scope, and invites
entries from poets There is a £5 entry
fee per poem entered
The closing date is 31 May. £20 submission fee. There is a first prize
of £500, a second
anywhere in the world. by post, payable by
cheques made out
hing.com/
Details: email: submit@storgy.com; Website: https://store.eyewearpublis prize of £250 and a third prize of Entries may be on
any subject and in The Welsh Poetry
Competition. For online
to
website: https://storgy.com/ There will also be seventeen £100. any style. The maximum entries the fee is £6
specially commended runners-up, and length is fifty per poem, payable
lines. Each poem must PayPal. The closing by
entries. The judge be clearly typed in date is 18 June.
be Kathy Miles. will single sides of A4. Details: The Welsh
The poet’s name must Poetry
The competition, which not appear on the 9 The Avenue, Pontypridd,Competition,

breakthroughs with The Bear and The

is proudly manuscript. CF27 4DF;
88 MAY 2017
www.writers-online.co.uk
entry form must accompany A completed email: info@welshpo
etry.co.uk; website:
each entry. www.welshpoetry.co.uk
22/03/2017 12:06

p88 News.indd 88
www.writers-online
.co.uk

p88 News.indd MAY 2017 89

89

23/03/2017 10:41

Nightingale, Katherine Arden explains

how she is expanding her magical setting THE ONLY MAGAZINE THAT
with the follow-up, The Girl in the Tower. GIVES YOU ALL THE WRITING
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
• Astonishing Splashes of Colour author
Clare Morrall shares her five favourite reads Opportunities to get published
• We profile Carol Wyer, creator of feisty heroines in Submission calls for
crime and chick lit writing in every genre
• Retail figurehead and former MP Mark Price explains Advice from editors
his second life as an author of children’s books and and publishers
business non-fiction News and tips from the
DON’T MISS THE MARCH ISSUE, ON NEWSSTANDS 1 FEBRUARY publishing industry
OR SUBSCRIBE NOW AND GET IT EARLY! Reader success stories
Call 01778 392482 or visit …and much more

www.writers-online.co.uk
April 2016 - Writing Magazine 93

p093 Next month.indd 93 19/12/2017 09:21

 N OT E S F R O M T H E M A R G I N
Learning
to fly
If you can write books, selling them on Amazon
is surely the easy part, right?
Lorraine Mace discovers otherwise
O
ver the years I’ve
come to believe I
am fairly au fait
with the world of
publishing. Not only
have I had articles, short stories, non-
fiction books and novels published,
I also give advice to aspiring and
established authors on all aspects
of the industry. From assisting with
article construction to helping perfect
an agency pitch, I feel I’m pretty clued
up. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before
in this column, but remember that
old adage about pride coming before a
fall? Well, there I was thinking I knew
it all when I fell – and I fell hard!
The first and second books in
my trilogy for children, featuring
an asthmatic, vegetarian hupyre
(half human and half vampire) were
put out worldwide by an American
publishing house. Unfortunately, their
marketing was almost non-existent,
so it was not really surprising they
went into administration before I had
even finished writing the third and
final book. This was a disaster as it
was highly unlikely another publisher
would be interested when past sales
were so dire.
My children’s books are the ones
closest to my heart, so it hurt to
think they would never again be seen
in print.
Not to worry, I thought, I’ll self-
publish. How hard could it be?
The first two had already
been professionally edited
and I knew I could pay
someone to make sure
94 FEBRUARY 2018
p094 Margin.indd 94
the third was to the same standard. All
I needed to do was put them up on
Amazon – loads of writers do it, so it
must be fairly easy. This is where the
pride bit came in – thinking I could
just whizz through the procedure and,
hey presto, instant books. I went on
to Amazon, looked at the first page of
questions and panicked. Clearly, I was
a deluded nutcase who thought she
knew it all.
The first hurdle was the cover.
Obviously, I couldn’t use the previous
one because the artwork and graphics
belonged to the publisher. Fortunately,
I am friends with a super-talented
cover designer, so I sent off a frantic
‘please help’ email, thinking she would
be able to magic into existence exactly
the cover I needed. I’m delighted to say
that is exactly what she did, but not
before I’d had to provide the necessary
information for her to get to work.
This was already more exhausting than
writing the book and I’d only got as far
as the cover!
I did mention how naïve I was about
this whole process, didn’t I? She asked
if I was able to format the manuscript
myself, or did I need help with that?
I’ve been teaching people to use the
correct format for submissions for over
a decade. Of course I didn’t need help
with it. At least, that’s what I thought
before I read the instructions for
uploading manuscripts to Kindle for
ebooks and CreateSpace for paperbacks
(two entirely different formats,
although both for Amazon). Tail
between my legs, I went back
to my amazing friend and
www.writers-online.co.uk
begged for assistance.
As soon as I received the two
perfectly presented manuscripts
to upload, I returned to Amazon,
thinking I now had the system
cracked. If only!
The next issue was pricing. I
assumed I could pick a price and
that would be it. Not so. The ebook
price affects the royalty percentage.
Too high and it won’t sell. Too low
and I won’t make any money. The
paperback calculation was even more
bewildering. By the time I’d worked it
all out I needed to lie down in a dark
room to recover.
Then came the marketing – no
publisher behind me this time. I soon
learned that even a bad marketing
team, as I’d had with the US
publisher, was better than none at all.
Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, to say
nothing of all the social media outlets
I hadn’t even heard of, all needed to
have strategies in place. The more I
learned, the less I felt I knew.
I now have so much respect for
the superstars of self-publishing, the
ones who have made small fortunes
from their books. I searched them
out and devoured every word they
wrote on marketing. I’ve slavishly
followed the advice, but I’m not
sure I’m getting it right. At time of
writing I have sold three books –
and I bought one of those!
Vlad the Inhaler – Hero in the
Making might never be a best seller,
but at least he’s out there learning to
fly, as is his author. Who knows, one
day I might discover how!
18/12/2017 12:56
 The 6th Self-Publishing
Conference
Saturday April 28th, 2017, 9am-6pm • University of Leicester
This conference offers a unique opportunity to meet and interact with influential individuals and companies
working within the self-publishing sector. It is the perfect day for authors thinking about, or already involved in,
self-publishing their work. Whether you are going it alone or using a self-publishing company, this conference
offers multiple sessions on a wide variety of topics.

This year’s event is sponsored by Writing Magazine, Nielsen Book, Writers&Artists, Matador, The Book Guild,
TJ International Printers and others. The keynote speaker is publishing consultant James Spackman, with
sessions on topics as wide-ranging as illustration, marketing to retailers and media, typesetting design, Ingram
Spark, poetry preparation... and much more. A full programme and registration details are available on the
conference website.

Registration is £65 per person; this includes a delegate’s pack, morning coffee, buffet lunch, afternoon tea,
a drinks reception and a choice from more than fourteen sessions on different aspects of self-publishing.

www.selfpublishingconference.org.uk
“ I cannot think of very much wrong with the event and can recommend it to aspiring writers and indie/self publishers. Richard Denning
I just wanted to thank you for the excellent Conference I attended on Sunday. It was well organised, well presented, full of helpful, friendly
people and a joy to attend. Sandra Smith
That was an absolutely first rate conference - from the speakers to the catering and the venue. A great overal atmosphere and so many
nuggets of info and ideas they wouldn't all fit onto the notepads you kindly provided! Tony Boullemier ”

In October 2017, the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) applied to the UK

Government to operate an Extended Collective Licensing (ECL) scheme

What is ECL?
• ECL enables licensing bodies that represent a significant number of rightsholders in a class, to
extend their licences to cover unrepresented rightsholders in the same class.
• This means CLA licences will cover a broader range of works.
• Rightsholders will have the right to opt out some or all of their works.
• If you are a rightsholder and would like to opt out your work(s), please contact optout@cla.co.uk.

Find out more

If you are a rightsholder and would like to know more about how you are affected, please contact:
Publishers’ Licensing Services (PLS) pls.org.uk
Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) alcs.co.uk
Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) dacs.org.uk
Picture Industry Collecting Society for Effective Learning (PICSEL) picsel.org.uk

To find out more about ECL and CLA please visit cla.co.uk/ecl

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