Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘red pen session’ no.1

I’m delighted to announce that this week’s podcast released today, Monday 8th August, was the first of my episodes dedicated to reading a short story or self-contained novel extract (with synopsis) and then talking about it afterwards.

I run a fortnightly critique group as well as critiquing other authors writing which I really enjoy so I thought I’d create podcast episodes doing this. I’d be thrilled if you listened to the podcast (links below). Please remember that it’s only one person’s (my) opinion and you, and the author concerned, are welcome to disagree with my interpretation – I will never be mean for the sake of it, but hope that I’m firm but fair. I also type my comments for the recording as I read through the story as a reader would think as they read the story, although they of course would be reading, not analysing.

Regardless of what genre you write I hope that this helps you think about the way fiction is constructed and that you have enjoyed hearing another author’s work, the copyright of which remains with them.

The story featured in this episode was kindly emailed to me by JD Mader who lives in San Francisco, USA and the story was entitled ‘Green’ which can be found at http://www.jdmader.com/2011/03/green.html.

The format of the episode is me reading the short story then giving an in-depth critique then, where time allows, reading the story again as sometimes it’s better to understand a story when you’re not concentrating on the plot. I’d be interested to know, upon hearing it twice, whether you feel any differently about it after the second read-through.

JD’s website is http://www.jdmader.com where you can read his stories and much more, and if you’d like to you can email him there too. He told me in his email to me that this story came from one of his writing workshops with his students where they decided to write about ‘Green’ – and he was trying to show them what could be accomplished in such a short story. I’d say it worked. He also added that rhythm is very important to him which I can understand as this piece has a really poetic feel.

If you have any feedback on today’s episode or any other podcasts or aspects of my website or blog, I’m always delighted to hear from you – my email address is morgen@morgenbailey.com.

And if you’re feeling brave enough to email me an ideally up to 1,000 word (2,000 word maximum) short story or novel extract (with a brief synopsis please) for these red pen sessions then feel free.

Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe). Episodes include hints & tips (currently episode no.36), interviews and literature festival reviews – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast for more information.

About these ads