Words Worth

Conversations I Did Not Have This Weekend

Me: Hello Herr Scheiber, we’d like a firewood delivery before the winter sets in.

HS: Of course. Is Monday morning OK?

Me: Perfect. By the way, we won’t be paying this time. Have a nice day.

 

Me: Could I book a hair appointment on Friday?

Hairdresser: Cut and blow dry?

Me: Yeah and quid pro quo.

HD: Quid what?

Me: Look, you cut my hair for nada and I tell all my friends how fab you are.

 

Me: Two tickets for Blade Runner 2049, please.

Cinema Employee: Where would you like to sit?

Me: Up the back and for free.

CE: Sorry?

Me: Well, I’m not sure if I’ll like it. But if I do, I’ll give it a great review. Oh and while I’m here, I’ll have the medium nachos with cheese sauce.

Conversations I Did Have This Weekend

Potential reader: Is your series available on iBooks?

Me: Sure, they’re available everywhere. Here’s the link.

PR: But these books aren’t free.

 

Website query: We’d like to read your book for our bookclub.

Me: Fantastic! Would you like me to send some bookclub questions?

WQ: That would be great! Could you also gift us 10 copies (e-books, not paperbacks, obviously!)

 

Casual acquaintance: My wife wants to read your books.

Me: OK, here’s a postcard which tells you where to buy them.

CA: You can’t just give her a copy?

You’ve all heard the Picasso quote – but if not, it’s at the end of this post.

I get slack-jawed in disbelief when people expect creatives to work for free – or more often – for the “exposure”.

I’ve done my time. University degree, years of teaching and learning, self-study and quite a few failures along the way.

Then a group of people (more on that next week) showed me how to improve and find a voice, a character and a style. I spent four years honing my first book, distilling all those years of craft and education it took to get to that stage.

So the next step is to give it away?

No.

Before I published my first book, I promised myself two things: Never free, never exclusive. If I don’t value my work, why would anyone else?

Each of my e-books costs less than a cup of coffee. My paperbacks cost less than two birthday cards. Both will last a lot longer. I appreciate I’m also asking for your time and trust.

All of us readers approach a new book with anticipation and trepidation. You’re about to give me hours of your life – use them well

But if you value the hours of effort and skill that goes into keeping readers entertained, why would you expect all that for free?

Herewith the oft-quoted and possibly apocryphal Picasso anecdote:

Picasso is sketching at a park. A woman walks by, recognizes him, and begs for her portrait. A few minutes later, he hands her the sketch. She is elated, excited about how wonderfully it captures the very essence of her character, what beautiful work it is, and asks how much she owes him. “5000 francs, madam,” says Picasso. The woman is outraged as it only took him five minutes. Picasso says: “No, madam, it took me my whole life.”

 

Save

Save

Save

Advertisement

 

How To Write A Killer Blurb

Guest piece for Words with JAM magazine by yours truly, on magic book descriptions that work.
http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/2017/01/how-to-write-killer-blurb.html

Ten steps.

Five of which happen before you even begin to write.

Start with bare branches…

 

10 Things I Learned about Names

This week, I’ve been obsessing over characters’ names and why it’s so important to get them right. Just like plot, setting, research and characters, each requires a depth of understanding from the author which never makes it to the page.

What makes a name work? Here are ten things I’ve learned.

Actors often quote a snippet of advice. Memorable names follow a syllable pattern. Three in the first name, one in the second. Jeremy Irons. Emily Blunt. Harrison Ford. Virginia Woolf. Cormoran Strike. Rosamund Pike. Atticus Finch. Orlando Bloom. Vivien Leigh. Beatrice Stubbs.

Names carry all kinds of coded messages and subconscious associations which can make a name become an essential part of the character. They must feel right, for the writer and the reader. Colours, animals, professions all trigger feelings of trust, affection or suspicion we may not even realise. Sirius Black. Scarlett O’Hara. Cat Baloo. Mike Butcher. Dickens was a master of character encapsulation within a name.

Class, age and type can be encapsulated in the right nomenclature. Florence Flannel, aged retainer in a Cornish murder mystery, conjures the gnarly-knuckled old maid with no need to resort to comic West Country accents. Whereas Elizabeth Abernethy, lady of the house, carries a whiff of crinoline, corsetry and conspiracy.

Similarly, choose names to fit era and genre. Fantasy identities require as much creativity as historical fiction requires research. Slatibartfast meets Hrothgar. Chick lit heroes tend to be one-syllabled: Dan, Tom, Sam, Rhett, Mark and Will whereas heroines generally need two: Bridget, Sophie, Katy, Lucy, Vianne or Sally will do nicely.

Two characters or more who begin with the same initial make the reader’s life harder. Marianne asked Madeleine why Mary Jane was at Michelle’s funeral because Michael had promised Martin he’d keep her away. *flicks back to dramatis personae*

Technicalities matter. When you have a character whose name ends in S, what happens with the possessive? James’s gun, Nicholas’ trousers, the urinal of Degas. If a first name ends in a vowel and the surname with a consonant, how does it sound? Mara Bellena, Mar Abelena, Marabelle Ena?

Sounds matter. Read the names aloud. If the name is tricky, but you need it to be so, offer the reader an insight as to how it sounds. When my detective encounters an Angolan DNA expert called Conceição, she notes the pronunciation with a mental bridge – ‘cats say miaow’.

Characters rarely need to remind themselves of their own relationships. Hence using terms such as ‘sis’, ‘boss’, ‘cuz’ are an irritating authorial effort to remind the reader what s/he already knows.

Cultural resonance must be accommodated. I got on marvellously with my local doctor until we crossed the first name bridge. ‘You can call me Adolf’.

Collect names. Curious name crop up everywhere: signposts, streets, shops, election posters, newspaper stories and even in junk mail. Watch and write down those that trigger your own imagination. You may not use them for years, but when you do, they’ll have the same effect on the reader.

 

The Blue Carpet

So…

I went to the European Premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Oh yes I did.

We had an absolute ball.

Meeting old friends, spending quality time together, getting excited, sharing jewellery, handbags, fashion advice and make-up tips. Not to mention the cocktails.

The film itself lived up to every expectation. In Odeon Leicester Square, the sound quality is so intense, your seats actually vibrate. The creatures, the acting, the story, the setting and most powerfully, the themes, held us all (regardless of age) rapt in our seats. You can read a more detailed review here.

A few things I learned about premieres:

• The carpet’s not always red.
• You cannot walk on cobbles in heels.
• Dress so you feel fabulous AND comfortable.
• When Non-Famous You gets out of the car, you can hear the fans groan.
• Only professionals manage to keep red lipstick off their teeth.
• Security geezers are truly amazing.
• Warner Bros throw fine parties – Kowalski’s Bakery won.
• Meeting the actors when prepared is incredible. When unprepared, you dribble.
• It takes at least 24 hours and several conversations before you appreciate the film.
• It takes at least 24 hours and several conversations before you remember the party.

An extraordinary Tuesday night.

A brilliant film I’ll watch again and again.

The first of five? Bring ’em on.

 

 

 

10 Things I Learned at WriteCon Züri

The Woolf Quarterly held WriteCon Zürich Autumn 16 last weekend.

A wonderful, stimulating day of ideas and discussion where 30 writers came together to learn and share.

Origami bookshelves by Sarah Buchmann

Lindsey Grant guided her group through the complexities of writing Memoir and Non-Fiction. This is a subject which requires an experienced tutor with an awareness of how traumatic some personal experiences can be.

Thankfully, as an ex Program Director of NaNoWriMo and memoirist herself, she steered a professional course between sharing individual stories and keeping the group focused.

Memoir & Non-Fiction workshop

In the Fiction Masterclass, Jason Donald packed structure, story, plot and prose into one intensive day.

Tragedy begins with harmony and ends with chaos. Comedy is the reverse.

His insights into Plot v. Story, the difference between the Hero/Heroine’s Journey and the significance of subplots intrigued me.

Main plot carries story, sub plot carries theme

In the afternoon session, we turned our attention to our own writing. Jason asked us to edit 3-5 pages of our work in progress.

Fiction Masterclass

First we weeded out all the bad habits (every author has a crutch in terms of words, phrases or sentence structure). Next we whipped out all those unnecessary filters.

Felt, wondered, decided, seemed are all filter words which distance the reader.

Finally, participants worked in pairs to create fresh, surprising prose.

This exercise was such a success, I’m sharing it here.

Write down ten words which express emotional states in your story. Eg, frustration, loneliness, jealousy, passion, triumph…

Write down ten words which appear in the environment of your storyworld. Eg, ice, sea-salt, wind, fur, shells…

Take one from each list and combine them into a sentence, using an image featuring the latter to evoke the former. Don’t mention the emotion, just hint at it. Write five sentences, sometimes a question or a negative. Amongst them, you’ll find one you can use or develop.

Hermit crabs scuttled their shells sideways at his approach, as if even they shunned him.

Her smile, sea-salt in his wounds, expressed nothing more than pity.

Swap lists with a partner. Give them your lists and see what five combinations they create.

 

Finally, writing workshops always result in such fabulous goodies!

Origami books, a syringe pen and a dead body pen holder. My kind of weekend.

 

The Senses

“Take me there. Paint me a picture by any means you know how. Magic carpet, perfumes, spices and strange sounds or maybe just a few words in the right order.” – Rose Mason

Authors can drug, hypnotise, lull and electrify with no potions or spells simply by manipulating 26 letters. Worlds, atmospheres, periods, characters, environments, threats, opportunities and experiences are drawn only in words, yet appeal to every one of our senses.

Here are a few striking examples which attracted me and what I learned from each. None claims to appeal to a single sense – we rarely experience an event through an isolated channel – but all play on a sensory impression.

Visual: The Shark by Edwin John Platt

His body was tubular

And tapered

And smoke-blue,

And as he passed the wharf

He turned,

And snapped at a flat-fish

That was dead and floating.

And I saw the flash of a white throat,

And a double row of white teeth,

And eyes of metallic grey,

Hard and narrow and slit.

Then out of the harbour,

With that three-cornered fin

Shearing without a bubble the water

Lithely,

Leisurely,

He swam—That strange fish,

Tubular, tapered, smoke-blue,

Part vulture, part wolf,

Part neither—for his blood was cold.

The choice of precise words – smoke-blue, shearing, flash, teeth, throat and the underlining of threat in the final line brings this impressive yet sinister creature into sharp focus. Not only can I see it, I feel the writer’s awe.

Auditory: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas

There’s the clip clop of horses on the sunhoneyed cobbles

of the humming streets, hammering of horse- shoes, gobble

quack and cackle, tomtit twitter from the bird-ounced

boughs, braying on Donkey Down. Bread is baking, pigs are

grunting, chop goes the butcher, milk-churns bell, tills

ring, sheep cough, dogs shout, saws sing. Oh, the Spring

whinny and morning moo from the clog dancing farms, the

gulls’ gab and rabble on the boat-bobbing river and sea

and the cockles bubbling in the sand, scamper of

sanderlings, curlew cry, crow caw, pigeon coo, clock

strike, bull bellow, and the ragged gabble of the

beargarden school as the women scratch and babble in Mrs

Organ Morgan’s general shop where everything is sold:

custard, buckets, henna, rat-traps, shrimp-nets, sugar,

stamps, confetti, paraffin, hatchets, whistles.

Read it aloud to understand the delight Thomas takes in sound. Onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme and rhythm seem a higgledy-piggledy cacophony but his skill blends them all into a symphony. Every writer and reader should listen to the whole of Under Milk Wood one day.

Tactile: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

I want you to trace he fingertips of your left hand gently across your right palm, noting the way your skin registers the lightest touch. If someone else were doing it, you might even be turned on. Now slam that sensitive, responsive hand directly onto that glowing element.

And hold it there. Hold it there as the element scorches Dante’s nine rings right into your palm, allowing you to grasp Hell in your hand forever. Let the heat engrave the skin, the muscles, the tendons; let it smolder down to the bone. Wait for the burn to embed itself so far into you that you don’t know if you’ll ever be able to let go of that coil. It won’t be long until the stench of your own burning flesh wafts up, grabbing your nose hairs and refusing to let go, and you smell your body burn.

A book all about feeling, Davidson’s Gargoyle hacks away at the outside to get at what’s within. Here, the alignment of skin sensitivity and the character’s horrific injuries make us understand with shocking clarity the sensation of being burned.

Gustatory: Syed Ali “Porkistan”

I ate bacon for the first time when I was eleven years old. My best friend Jorge lived a block from my house, and I practically lived at his house during the summer. Bacon was a fixture at breakfast, sizzling in a pan and drying on paper towels. Before I even knew what it was, I wanted it. Bacon is intoxicating. The sound of bacon cooking in its own grease is seductive. Fat popping in a hot pan. It even looks beautiful. Ribbons of red and yellow, tips charred and crispy. The word “bacon” is plump and satisfying.

Jorge’s mom, doling out servings of bacon, asked me every morning if I wanted some. On one particular morning, I gave in and held out my plate. I wanted to lick the greasy paper towel. That afternoon I went home and ran past my parents, straight to the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth over and over, but the smell was still on my fingers.

I thought I would be found out. It was in my hair, my nails, and sweating through my pores.

This extract is so charged with guilt and cultural influence, it could serve as a multi-sensory example, but the real beauty here is that nowhere does he describe the taste. Yet we, the readers, know exactly what he means.

Olfactory: Perfume by Patrick Suskind

In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulphur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease.

I couldn’t leave Suskind out, even if it is an obvious choice. Two things strike me here – he ranges across all aspects of city life evoking smells in every corner and uses two powerful verbs, surrounded by select and accurately described nouns.

 

If you have any examples of fabulous sensory writing, let me know. And look out for the Writing Sensory Detail session in the upcoming Triskele’s Creative Spark – an online creative writing course – no sign up, no cost, no catch. Starts 1st July.

Thanks to JD Lewis for all these beautiful images. Check out more of her work here.

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Things I Learned from Shaun McCarthy

This is my summary of the Writing for Performance workshop (at Geneva Writers’ Conference) with Shaun McCarthy

Shaun addressed a small workshop group of fourteen people for two hours. He spent the first section talking about three things an audience expects, whether it is theatre, television or film. We may not do this consciously, but our conditioned knowledge of storytelling makes us expert at assessing what works.

“It might be the first play/film/TV episode you’ve ever written, but it’s certainly not the first story your audience has ever been told.”

 

Shaun began with three key questions.

Plausibility: do we believe this could happen? Whether in reality or this fictional world? Is the action driven by character motivation as opposed to puppets serving plot? Does the piece raise questions, make us think about themes, incite us to argue over its message?

Coherence: where it starts and ends, the gaps filled in, the backstory and momentum from one scene to the next, is this logical? Is chronologically the best way to reveal the experience? Can the audience predict what comes next and could that be subverted?

Convention: The poster, title, image, strapline and marketing sets up a certain kind of expectation – viewers have an expectation of how they will feel at the end. Yet there is also an expectation of originality within the form. The space between satisfying preconceived ideas and challenging thought is an exciting area.

To illustrate the above, we watched the opening of Peaky Blinders and discussed what genres it referenced and what promises it set up.

 

 

Next, we explored the five act structure.

(Pick a play/film/TV series you know well and identify these for yourself. It’s a useful exercise.)

Establish the world of the play and then turn things around. Something must happen to challenge the normality of this environment and trigger a desire in our protagonist. This is the INCITING INCIDENT.

 

 

Followed by Advances and Setbacks. One step forward, one back, with increasing threat and/or greater glory, the hero/ine progresses to a point where everything rests on one choice.

CRISIS. The action, the decision, the risk-it-all leap, which must be propelled by character or the changes s/he has undergone.

CLIMAX. Will he or won’t she? Do we or don’t they? This is where the protagonist wins or loses and creates a new play/film/ world order. Whether it’s a home run, a kiss or the jury’s verdict, nothing will ever be the same again.

 

 

RESOLUTION: The success or failure of the choice in crisis now spool outwards, resolving all those lead-up moments for better/worse. This is where the tension is released.

Shaun split us into groups to write our own outline of a Five-Act Structure, entitled The Legacy. The formula proved a helpful framework, within which Shaun helped us see where we needed extra characters, thematic underpinning and shortcuts to tension.

Finally, one member of the group asked about turning a family member’s experience into a screenplay. Shaun’s reply:

Real life is often a great story. But usually a rotten script.

 

 

Further reference material

Shaun McCarthy: Hooligan Theatre

Robert McKee: Story

Lajos Egri: The Art of Dramatic Writing

 

 

Ten Things I Learned From My Peers #3

Third and last in my recognition series.

Click here for Part One – Structure, Style and Sentence

or Part Two – Individuality, Voice and Interference

Or access both by a mere flick of the wrist, as they both reside below.

Now to round up the nods, I want to talk Language, Passion and Discipline.

 

Amanda and I, Paris Dec 2013

Language: Amanda Hodgkinson

On an early foray into online critique sites, I struck gold. Amanda’s analyses were helpful in many ways, especially in use of language. Anyone who read her international bestseller 22 Britannia Road will not be surprised by Amanda’s love for poetry. She became a trusted ally, pointing out how sentence rhythm, word patterns and imagery could all combine to create music on the page and in the mind. In conversations on writing and books, I feel Amanda strips away all pretension and makes me think about feeling.

Her second novel, Spilt Milk, is already garnering high praise. Deservedly so.

 

Passion: DB Miller

Pile of Books, Zürich

I met DB at the first writers’ workshop I attended in this city and I knew immediately. Here lay talent, style, an alternative look at the world but most of all, passion. Whether writing articles about indie bookshops and the effects of live music or devising a cruelly funny black comedy, DB gives it everything.

Maybe it’s the American background combined with European experience, but DB won’t accept bland. Unless the passion shines through, the ache, the drive, the reason for writing, it’s not worth doing. That goes for everything, from novels to emails. DB’s initials act as a mnemonic for me. Don’t Bullshit.

 

Professionalism: Lorraine Mace

Lorraine at the Triskele launch, London 2012

In both senses of the word, Lorraine represents professionalism and discipline to me. She writes across various genres, she achieves an incredible output, she’s generous with her time and experienced advice, and she’s rigorous in her thought processes. I will always bear her gratitude for creating one of the most beneficial critique sites I’ve ever used and inventing the Daily Word Counter.

She doesn’t accept half-measures and administers an almighty whiplash if she finds you shirking. Quite simply, I’d never have finished three novels had it not been for Lo. Despite associating her with absolute discipline, the other quality I associate with Ms Mace is a great sense of humour.

Read her crime novels under the pseudonym Frances di Plino, and watch out for her children’s novel out soon: Vlad the Inhaler.

 

Ten Things, said I not? Here’s number ten.

Writers need writers. I could have included so many more brilliantly creative and constructive minds: Anne, Kristen, Jo, Julie, Perry, Joh, Bill, Sarah, Chris, Emma, Carl, Kit, the other Chris, the other Jo and all the Triskele team. Whether real or virtual, I need to interact with other scribblers.

I’ve learned a lot from these generous, skilled and talented folk. But I’m far from the finished article. So I still seek writers, still seek to improve and learn. I hope I always will.

 

Ten Things I Learned From My Peers #2

Part Two:

Sheila, Max and Darren taught me a lot about structure, style and sentences. Other writerly friends have added their own generous intelligence to erode my rough edges. Here’s three more.

Individuality: Libby O

Real-life mate and word-nuancer, Libby was one of the first to encourage my individuality. She spotted what makes me different and exhorted me to chase it. Many critiquers thought humour should play no role in crime writing. Libby disagreed. She’s a brutal stickler when it comes to punctuation and has threatened me with a colonoscopy if I don’t learn how to use a semi-colon, but she sees what makes a voice distinctive. She also makes me laugh and think.

Look.

Voice: Lee Williams

I sniffed this guy out on a peer critique forum very quickly. It wasn’t hard. He was always in the Top Ten, always gave constructive, practical feedback and understood the concept of voice better than anyone I’d come across. Lee demonstrates how attention to every single word choice adds precision to your style. He changes character, period, attitude and POV with such assurance, I suspect he’s actually a seasoned pro, moonlighting. Read a few of these next time you’ve got ten minutes to kill. Masterful.

Interference: John Hudspith

Johnny and I have bounced from critique site to writers’ forum; engaging, arguing, supporting and writing. He’s one of the best ever at wielding the paring knife. He sees when the ego begins to interfere, where the voice is not individual but borrowed, at which points external input smothers individual style and how to put it right. Every last one of my short stories deserves a credit to John. He makes you better. Even now, when I re-read what I’ve written, I can feel a phantom John on my shoulder, sighing and tsking and reaching for the red pen.

Check out Kimi’s Secret for An Officially Approved By Kids Adventure.

 

Ten Things I Learned From My Peers #1

Wherever I live in the world, I seek writers.

Regardless of genre or experience, I always learn from encounters with other word-wielders.

That can be critiques of my work, critiques on theirs, appreciation of distinctive skill or recognition of differences.

I’ve passed through half a dozen peer review sites and despite battling egos, trolls, princesses and carbon copies, I’ve taken something valuable from each.  I have three real life groups, two writer friends and an opinionated (but usually right) relative. All this input makes my work better.

Talented writers and readers add something crucial, usually to one of three areas of my work:

• Structure
• Style
• Sentence

Nowadays, I tend to lean on my superbly talented Triskele counterparts for the grunt-work of knocking my work into readability. But I hereby tip my hat to nine individuals who’ve changed the way I write.

(I’ll divide this into three parts, as it’s Sunday and you have awards ceremonies/period drama to watch.)

Here are the first three precious stones.

Structure: Sheila Bugler

An online critique partner for years, Sheila has an expert eye for crime plotting. Her early analyses of my work were 70% enthusiasm and 30% criticism, which mattered a lot in my under-confident days. Then she took the gloves off.

Every plant must be resolved, each choice driven by character, and nothing can ever turn out as the reader expected. Pace is driven to meet audience expectations of the three act tempo. Stand back and assess your handiwork and if you see saggy bits, get stitching

Sheila’s brilliant debut, Hunting Shadows, is a masterclass in crime writing

Style: Max Orkis

Part of a real-life, meet-in-person writing group here in Zürich, Max appreciated style better than most. He spoke his mind and insisted I did too. He pushed me to tell the truth in my writing and demonstrated how to get braver. No euphemisms, but tangible, meaningful nouns, verbs and culturally loaded imagery. Max wrote as he talked. Fearlessly. And regardless of personal original standpoint, he showed (and told) how to use any voice with conviction.

I miss him.

I don’t know why I’m using the past tense. He’s not dead, just gone back to San Francisco.

His short story, In Passing, published in The Milo Review is available online. Enjoy.

Sentence: Darren J Guest

I’ve never met Darren in person, but via online debates, discussions and right-down-to-the-bone knife fights over writing, we know each other pretty well.

Darren administers the harsh slap to Gerund Addiction: “Slipping off her shoes, Sophie sighed and relaxed. Sipping the gin and tonic restored her good mood. Pressing the answerphone, she stretched, sighed and smiled silkily.”*

And then gives you a good thrashing for alliteration and adverbials to boot.

(*I never wrote that – it was an example, honest.)

Darren’s Dark Heart is scary, smart, weird and brilliant. Just what good literature should be.

Three more great writers and their top tips next week.