Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of switching genre, is brought to you by horror, crime, thriller writer, Flash Fiction Fridayer, interviewee and spotlightee Andy Kirby.
The Non-fiction Rollercoaster: On moving from Fiction to non-Fiction
Hi y’all
Andrew Kirby here. For those regular visitors to the site, I was Morgen’s Author Spotlight no. 54, and you might also remember I Guest Blogged here in early 2012. It’s great to be back.
Last time I was here, I guest-blogged on my fiction writing. I’m the author of six published novels of the crime/ noir / horror flavour, and I talked about the “inner workings” of my fiction writing, and how I came to be published. Today, I’m here to talk about something entirely different. Back in 2012, I couldn’t have imagined that my next book wouldn’t be haunted by ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night, and I could hardly have contemplated the fact that the book would be factual and not concerned with the terrors of my imagination.
So let me tell you about how I made the shift from fiction to non-fiction (not forever, I stress) and what some of the sometimes unintended consequences and considerations of this seismic change have been for me as a writer.
It all started innocently enough. I submitted a crime / noir novel to a publisher I’d heard good things about on the writing grapevine. That publisher was Endeavour Press, a company that “aims to create the world’s most stimulating electronic books by publishing novellas & essays by new & established authors.”
I was kind of hopeful my novel, When Elephants Walk Through The Gorbals would be to their taste. But when I heard back from them, their email was full of the usual platitudes you’ll see in any common or garden rejection letter. It talked about the story being “too long”. It claimed the book needed a major rewrite. And so, disappointed, I filed the mail away for later.
Like an idiot, I didn’t read what the mail then went on to say.
So it was a week or so later. I was clearing out my inbox, and I happened upon the same email. Opened it. Read it in full. And it was only then I realised it hadn’t been a common or garden rejection letter at all. In fact, within this mail, the seeds were sown for the project I have just released as a non-fiction ebook (with a paperback to follow). You see, Endeavour Press read my biography and covering letter – with particular reference to my reviewing and sports-writing – and they suggested an alternative project which would be a better fit with them. They wanted me to write a book on football.
As I am a Manchester United season-ticket holder – and have been for over a quarter of a century – they proposed a commission which required me to write about the greatest United players during this period – which just so happened to coincide with the reign of the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
I’d never even considered writing about my favourite football team before, despite all the knowledge, the memories, the contacts, I’d accrued. I don’t know why. I suppose there is a lesson here for all writers: be open to possibility, no matter how left-field they initially seem.
I loved the process of writing the book. It was a far more ‘community-based’ way of writing. It was far removed from my usual lonely tapping away at a keyboard. During March, April, and May, I conducted interviews, polls of fellow fans across the world, and compiled my team of Manchester United greats. Then, on a crest of a wave, and with some brilliant quotes to hand, I wrote the book. And, when Manchester United secured their record twentieth league championship, I thought the book would be released at an ideal time. The book was to be called ‘Fergie’s Finest: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Greatest Manchester United x11’.
But then came another object lesson in the pitfalls of non-fiction, especially when you choose to write about a ‘newsy’ subject. Because unlike archeologically ‘uncovering’ the imaginative stories from inside your head, in the case of non-fiction, and in this case sport, the narrative continues. It pays no heed to what you’ve already written, and the nice conclusions you’ve drawn.
Overnight, everything changed. From out of the blue, Sir Alex Ferguson, the man in question, retired. And suddenly, my manuscript had to be revised. It needed to be changed quickly, too, in order to strike while the iron was hot; while Sir Alex Ferguson was still the name on the nation’s lips.
Hastily, I revised the text, and submitted to Endeavour. And Endeavour played their part wonderfully. With the speed and finesse of a great footballer, they edited, formatted, and made suggestions for changes to my text. They produced a cover design. Between us, we plotted a marketing campaign which would get word of the book ‘out there’. And we managed to get the book out there, with the title ‘Fergie’s Finest’ remaining, while the news was still hot. I’m a writer who likes to take my own sweet time but now I was to learn the true meaning of the word ‘deadline’.
It was hard work. A stiff lesson for me. But we managed it, and I can’t thank Endeavour Press enough. It was the most fun I ever had in writing a book, and though it was a white-knuckle ride, we got there in the end.
I’ll definitely be riding the non-fiction rollercoaster again, sometime. Once I’ve got my breath back.
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Synopsis: ‘Fergie’s Finest: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Greatest Manchester United x11’
Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager of Manchester United on Wednesday 8th May 2013.
We will never see his like again.
He is the most successful manager in the history of English football. During over 26 years at the club, United won – including Charity / Community Shields – an eye-watering 38 trophies, including 13 league championships. And over this period, fans have been lucky enough to have witnessed some of the greatest moments, the greatest players, and the greatest teams in Manchester United’s long, proud history.
In between Fergie’s taking over from Ron Atkinson in 1986 and his retirement in 2013, he handed over 185 players their United debuts. Fans have witnessed global superstars, and players who’ve risen up through the United ranks. They’ve seen big-hearted players who’ll give everything for the team, and skilled wizards who are individually streets ahead of the rest.
But which players deserve to be ranked as the greatest ever in the Ferguson era?
Who makes the final cut, and who misses out?
How do Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Michael Carrick, Jaap Stam, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville, and Andy Cole fare when it comes to the selection of the ultimate ‘Team Fergie’?
Containing interviews with the ex-United hero Norman Whiteside, Ken Loach (director of Looking for Eric), poet John Hegley, United fanzine editor Scott the Red, and The Sun’s Manchester United correspondent Neil Custis, this book considers the leading contenders for each position in Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest ever x11.
Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fergies-Finest-Fergusons-First-ebook/dp/B00CPPNTJ2
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Thank you, AJ. It’s great to have you back.
Andrew J Kirby’s sports writing has featured in BBC Sport magazine, on the Radio Five Live website, and in Home Defence UK magazine, where he writes about ‘non-league football hooligans’. He spent a season writing for the Professional Footballers’ Association on their website Give Me Football. He has held a Manchester United season ticket for the entirety of the Sir Alex Ferguson reign at Old Trafford, and regularly follows the Reds across Europe and beyond.
He also writes award-winning crime / noir fiction as AJ Kirby, and has five published novels under his belt (Sharkways, 2012; Paint this Town Red, which was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize 2012; Perfect World, 2011; Bully, which charted as an Amazon genre number 1 in 2009; The Magpie Trap, 2008), as well as two collections of short stories (The Art of Ventriloquism, a collection of crime shorts, which was released August 2012, and Mix Tape 2010), three novellas (The Haunting of Annie Nicol, 2012; The Black Book, 2011; Call of the Sea, 2010), and over fifty published short stories, which can be found widely in print anthologies, magazines and journals and across the web in zines, writing sites and more. His short fiction has won numerous awards at UK literary festivals.
He also reviews fiction for The New York Journal of Books.
To find out more, check out Andrew’s author website here: www.andykirbythewriter.20m.com, or his blog, here: http://paintthistownred.wordpress.com.
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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the twenty-first in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from the following prompt:
- Imagine a person with a very idiosyncratic way of seeing the world (for example, a low-end drug dealer who’s perpetually paranoid because he’s sure everyone wants to steal his stuff; or an accountant for whom everything is numerical and anally precise)—anyone who, because of mental challenges, profession, or self-medicated state, negotiates the world in a distinctly peculiar, complicated, or unhinged way. For this prompt, have your character witness a traumatic event that does not directly involve him or her (a traffic accident, a robbery, an explosion, etc.). Narrate the event from this character’s first-person POV, incorporating the idiosyncrasies of this invented personality.
The first person that sprung to mind (from the ‘mental challenges’) was the protagonist from my (free) short story Feeding the Father so I’ve used him again but gone back in time.
Below is my 984-worder.
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Leaving a gap
Hello diary. Hello Diary. Mum bought you for me for Christmas and I am so excited. I doh doent do not know whether to wait until January the first or start now. Next year is a whole week away and we’ve had such a great Christmas Day so I think I am going to start now. I am. OK, new line.
Dad was being a bit quiet today. I think he ate too much. So did I.
Mum was busy cooking so hers was colder than ours because she wanted to do the washing up before she had hers and she had less than us, I do not think she was hungry. She told us not to wait so we did not. I felt a bit bad but Dad said we should do as we were told so we did. I did not eat as quickly as him because I wanted to still be eating when Mum came to the table. Oh yes, you will not know that the kitchen table is now in the dining room. Yes, we have a dining room! So the kitchen table is now the dining room table. I do not think it minds. In fact I think it is really happy. I am happy too because I like it here. It’s bigger than our old flat. This one has an upstairs, where we sleep, which means I have to come downstairs if I need a drink of water when I cannot sleep. Mum suggested – suggested means that she was giving me a good idea – but I did not think it was a good idea so I did not do it. She suggested that I take a glass of water to bed, when I go to bed, but it will get warm. I said that to her and she said it was OK. This place is warmer than the flat. It has fancy white windows with two pieces of glass in each one! So I did not bring any water to bed. I do not mind getting up and going to the kitchen because I get cold and my bed is still warm when I get back.
I am going to say goodnight now because I am tired and it is late. Nearly ten oclock. If I get up to get some water, I might say hello but nothing will have happened for me to report other than me going downstairs and getting the water so I probably will not.
Good morning diary. It is December the 26th.
December 26 – Boxing Day
Good morning Diary. I forgot that diaries have the dates at the top so I have gone back to yesterdays and put December 25 – Christmas Day at the top, just in little writing because I did not leave much space.
This is not a normal diary because it does not have the dates at the top. Mum said she did not want to buy me one of those because it would mean that I could only write on one page and she said I should write whatever I wanted. She called it a journal – she helped me spell it – but it sounds silly to say Hello Journal so I have called it you a Diary. Not a diary with a little d because you are a person like me because when I read you you talk to me.
There are lines so I can write in straight lines. I like it. I try to make my handwriting nice, like I was teached tort at school. That was a long time ago. I am too old to go to school now.
Nothing really happens at home so I do not know if I would fill a whole page anyway but it does mean that I can put two days on one page if I want to. I left a gap on yesterdays because we had a busy day so I can tell you what happened. I will do it later. I will not forget. I have a good memory.
Mum is calling me to go downstairs for breakfast so I am going now but I will write more later.
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I have put a line there because it means that I am not here for a while.
December 28 – The Day After The Day After Boxing Day
Sorry I have not written anything for two days. I have left lots of lines so I can write what happened yesterday. I have put in the title. December 27 – The Day After Boxing Day but I don’t want to write it yet.
I think you will want to know what happened so I will put a little now here.
Mum has left us. I think that is why Dad was quiet but he has not said much. He said she packed a few things in a bag and left in the middle of the night. I wanted to go into their bedroom to see which things she took. She showed me her clothes so I know which ones are missing but Dad will not let me. I asked him when she left, what time, but he shaked shook his head.
I said before, to you, that I usually wake up and get a glass of water but I did not. I would have seen her leave, tried to stop her. I would have woken up if she left would not I?
I think it is going to be OK. Just with Dad and I. Mum did the cooking and shopping and cleaning but I can do that. I can do the cooking. I watched Mum. I can clean too. I know what to do.
Dad will do the shopping. Sometimes he goes to the pub for a drink. He is not a alko He does not drink much. He asked me if I wanted to go with him I do not like to go out.
I have to go. Dad wants me. He needs me. So I am leaving a gap.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 097: Tuesday 21st May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: discover, you, great, view, adapt
- Random: looking out over a field
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: Tourer
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
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Story Writing Exercises 101: Tuesday 21st May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: crack, scrape, cut, hit, whip
- Random: running for a train
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Tuesday Title: The quality
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-ninth, is of Young Adult novelist Maria Bradley.
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
On 22 March 2013 she released her second Teen novel ‘Only Human’ in the spirit of the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries. She is currently volunteering and writing the sequels to both novels full-time.
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And now from the author herself:
I have always wanted to be a writer but have never really had the confidence to do it before now. Not that I’m in any way confident now, it’s just that I’ve realised that time is running out and my children are of an age where they can look after themselves to a certain degree.
I have worked as a Finance Clerk, Merchandiser, Sales Assistant, and Carer; more recently I’ve worked with special needs children and young adults. I love them all and continue to volunteer, but my real passion is for writing.
Writing a story opens up a world which is entirely controlled by the writer; it can be happy or sad, down-to-earth or mystical, heart-warming or terrifying. It is the most exciting and captivating use of time and is full of possibilities. A good story consumes the reader absolutely and leaves them bereft when they get to the end. I have read many stories like this and I hope that one day my stories will have the same effect. That is when I will feel that I have succeeded as an Author.
Now that I have finally ‘bitten the bullet’ and dived into the writing world, I can’t see myself doing anything else. I would say to any aspiring Author, and in fact, to everybody who is too shy or lacks the confidence to try and achieve their dreams, ‘Go for it! Don’t waste any time worrying if you are good enough or worry about what anyone else thinks, just do it now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!’
Only Human
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
Four’s A Crowd
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
These three unlikely friends meet by chance and are hurled into a murder mystery complicated by Chairman’s true identity, Jack’s unique and fascinating gift and Sky’s search for her lost mother. They must battle the narcissistic ‘Dr Rhinehart’ as he attempts to control their minds and confuse them with illusion. Throughout their rollercoaster adventure they slowly discover that the truth of all their pasts will become the thread that ties all of their futures together.
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You can find more about Maria and her writing via…
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If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Maria Bradley, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to Post-weekend Poetry and the seventy-seventh poem in this series. This week’s piece is by septuagenarian Charles Francis.
Looned
The wildest sound I’ve ever heard
was cried
not before, not behind, but beside
me, yammered
The wildest song
it dipped
it rose, my soul it gripped
not forever, but however long
Demoniac laughter
primal, animal
old before language
was born
Nature’s mocking
creation of the demiurge,
the loon,
pied piper of the diabolical
I had to see him
that call make
I had to see him
clear and near
I followed then-
that howling, laughing calling,
faith tempting,
fiction of believing-
as best I could
along the shore
I followed
sweating
tripping
falling,
through fetid
biting bug
infested
swampy growth
I followed…
Only to see him dive
disappearing
hidden
mocking
hiding
closing
To see him dive
into depths unseen
to reappear and
call again
I followed
to trip on a fallen
absent log,
agent of decay
I followed a delusive,
pranking phantom
beyond my stumbling,
beyond my groping
I followed a creature
only fit
for parables
I followed a creature
who laughed at me,
that derided me
so I turned…
conversion
failed
*
I asked Charles what prompted this piece and he said…
For those who may not be familiar with the loon, it is a large, fresh water, aquatic bird, most noted for its wavering eerie cry. Loons are found in northern climes. The Common loon has a white circle around the neck. There are other less frequently seen varieties such as the Red-throated loon. My attempts to identify what I thought might be one of the latter resulted in the following poem. I glimpsed what I though was a Red-throated loon and set off to get a closer look. The title of the poem is, of course, a play on the word and practice “pranked”.
I loved it. Thank you, Charles.
American-Canadian Charles Francis is a retired Maine high school teacher living in Nova Scotia who writes about Maine local history and nostalgia. Now, at seventy, he’s begun writing poetry within setting of his North Mountain (Nova Scotia) cottage. The horned lark is a Nova Scotia rarity.
His blog is http://viewsfromyoungsmountain.blogspot.ca and he’s also on Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/Charles%20%20Francis).
***
If you’d like to submit your poem for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the twentieth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from a young version of a current work-in-progress antagonist. The second novel I wrote (between NaNoWriMos 2008 and 2009), After Jessica, is about a woman called Jessica who dies in chapter 2 (not a spoiler, by the way) and her brother then has to tie up her estate and finds that her life wasn’t as simple as he thought. She isn’t the typical antagonist because she’s dead (and no, it’s not a ghost story) but I thought an interesting person to do. Below is my 253-worder.
*
Before Jessica
Jessica drew her tongue across her upper teeth. The drink was supposed to console her but the shop assistant had put in too much ice.
She took another sip and grimaced. Chocolate. She needed chocolate, the epitome of comfort food.
Epitome. Not a word most sixteen-year-olds knew the meaning of but the dictionary was one of her favourite books.
Simon, her older-by-two-years brother, would laugh at her, her head always buried in something; fiction, non-fiction, Jessica didn’t mind which. She especially loved the law so read crime novels, not the gory type where there’s blood oozing on every other page but clever crime, cosy; Agatha Christie and the likes.
Simon was more of a science-fiction, Doctor Who fan, although he’d not be seen dead with a book in his hands, the TV far more realistic in his opinion, video box sets his only request at Christmas and birthdays.
Jessica didn’t see the point of half-watching a programme, face peering from behind a cushion. She’d rather sit glued to every second, every frame, appreciating the work the cameramen had put in. It was an art. Everyone involved were artists.
She’d loved to do something in films, not act, she had a terrible memory, but something behind the scenes. In case it didn’t work out, she’d enrolled on a typing course, second week in.
She looked at her at chewed nails. Long nails were impractical on a typewriter, even electronic ones. A good excuse, she thought as she slurped the remnants of her orange juice.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, graphic novels, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Every weekday I post a set of poetry prompts on poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com and a set of story prompts on the script, novel and short story blogs (and poems, script / novel extracts, stories at the weekends). As you’ll see by the headings, you’ve missed a few but they’re listed on the relevant group’s Exercises page so you can always find them there…
Poetry Writing Exercises 096: Monday 20th May
Here are your four poetry exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: radio, fourteen, arch, priest, trio
- Random: write a pantoum about writing a pantoum
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monologue Monday: Write a first-person poem about a jelly bean
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what it says on the tin. You can use it at the beginning of the poem or include it later, and being poetry it doesn’t have to be exact – just be inspired by it.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the poem but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- Single-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = an object, a location, a colour.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Title = The title for your piece.
- Haiku poem= 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
*
Story Writing Exercises 100: Monday 20th May
Here are your four story exercises for today. Time yourself for 15 minutes for each one, then either have a break or move on to the next one.
You can do them in any order.
- Keywords: taste, define, region, true, opponent
- Random: too much garlic
- Picture: what does this inspire?
- Monday Monologue: It’s your character’s birthday but someone’s forgotten
Have fun, and do paste your writing in the comment boxes below so we can see how you got on!
See below for explanations of the prompts, they do vary…
- Sentence starts = what they say on the tin. You can start the beginning of the story with them or a later sentence but they’re a great way of kicking off.
- Keywords = the words have to appear in the story but can be in any order and can be lengthened (e.g. clap to clapping).
- One-word prompt = sometimes all it takes is one word to spawn an idea. Sometimes it easy, sometimes hard but invariably fun.
- Mixed bag = two characters, an object, a location, a dilemma, a trait. Mix them all together and you have a plot… hopefully.
- First person piece or monologue (a one-sided conversation).
- Dialogue only = this is where you literally just write a conversation between two people. No ‘he said’, ‘she said’ or description, just speech and the reader has to be able to keep up. :)
- Second-person = some of you will know that I champion. The prompt can be in any style but has to be written in second-person viewpoint… oh, what a hardship. :)
- Title: This is the title of your story.
- Picture prompts = nothing other than a picture. What does it conjure up?
- Random = whatever takes my fancy!
Tips
- Don’t forget your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell
- Show don’t tell: if your character is angry, don’t tell us he is, have him thumping his fist on the table.
- Colours: Include at least one colour in your story. It does add depth.
- Use strong verbs and avoid adverbs: Have a character striding instead of walking confidently.
- Only use repetition to emphasise.
- When you’ve finished the first draft, read the story out loud. It’s surprising how many ‘mistakes’ leap out at you when you read out loud… assuming you have any of course!
*
Pictures above courtesy of morguefile.com
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: adverbs, author, blog, books, competitions, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, exercises, feedback, fiction, film, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, literature, monologue, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, mystery, non-fiction, nonfiction, novels, pantoum, plays, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, prose, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, science fiction, scripts, scriptwriting, short stories, short story, sonnet, tanka, terza rima, thriller, triolet, tv, villanelle, writer, writing, writing exercises, writing group, writing poetry, writing workshop
As I am a Manchester United season-ticket holder – and have been for over a quarter of a century – they proposed a commission which required me to write about the greatest United players during this period – which just so happened to coincide with the reign of the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
Andrew J Kirby’s sports writing has featured in BBC Sport magazine, on the Radio Five Live website, and in Home Defence UK magazine, where he writes about ‘non-league football hooligans’. He spent a season writing for the Professional Footballers’ Association on their website Give Me Football. He has held a Manchester United season ticket for the entirety of the Sir Alex Ferguson reign at Old Trafford, and regularly follows the Reds across Europe and beyond.
