Guest post: ‘Writing Essentials’ by Morgen Bailey

Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of some nuts and bolts of writing is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey – not really a guest, I know, but I had a gap and thought it was about time I contributed. It was due to be about writing groups and I’d written a chunk of the post but currently having a sieve-like brain (too many late nights) I left my memory stick at work so I apologise in advance but tonight’s is a post I wrote for Jodine Turner‘s blog back in September 2011 (with a tweak as I’ve done another NaNoWriMo since then). I hope you will still find it useful / interesting* (*delete as appropriate).

Writing Essentials

American science-fiction novelist Jerry Pournell is reported to have said “I think it takes about a million words to make a writer. I mean that you’re going to throw away.” I started writing for fun nearly seven years ago and more seriously three years ago and with three NaNoWriMo novels, one and a half in between, part of a script, some poetry and loads of short stories (including four and a bit collections of short stories for NaNo November 2011 – I know, it’s cheating but I still wrote more than 50,000 words in the 30 days) under my belt I’m pretty sure I’ve reached that target. How much of them I’ve thrown away I couldn’t tell you but it’s only a fraction, and if like me, you’ve dabbled before really knuckling down, you’ll feel better for it. It’s all about practice. If someone sat you in front of a piano, would they expect you to play a concerto… would you expect that of yourself?

In my experience too many novice writers worry about finding their ‘voice’ and understanding their ‘craft’ early on. It can be a long journey, perhaps not as long as a million words, but as long as you write regularly (daily is the ideal but when does life afford that luxury?) you’ll get there… and here are a few basics to put in your suitcase:

• Probably the most used phrase when teaching writing is ‘show don’t tell’. If you have a character who is angry for some reason, saying ‘Andy was angry’ is a classic example of ‘tell’. Simply put, you’re not showing us how. If you wrote ‘Andy slammed his fist onto the table’ you are.
• Dialogue tags – it’s recommended that you can only go up to six pieces of dialogue (between no more than two people) without attributing it to someone. And there’s nothing wrong with ‘said’. Don’t be tempted to look at your thesaurus and say ‘Andy postulated’. You could also avoid tags by another character saying “Oh Andy, that’s…” or in the description; ‘Andy laughed. “That’s…”
• Character names are important as we often get a sense of their personality by what they’re called. A Mavis is likely to be older than a Britney and would, usually, act differently. Avoid having names starting with the same letter; if you have a Todd talking to a Ted, the reader can easily get confused. Bill and Ted would be fine and as we know, they had a wonderful time back in the late 1980s.
• I’m a big fan of repetition… of not doing it. Unless it’s ‘the’, ‘and’ etc, a word should only be repeated if the second instance is to emphasise or clarify the first. For example, ‘Andy sat in the car. He beeped the horn of the car.’ You don’t need ‘of the car’ because we already know he’s in the car. If you said ‘Andy sat in the car. He beeped the horn and the car shook’ that would be fine because you’re clarifying that it’s the car and not the horn (because it’s the last object you mentioned) that’s shaking.
• Stephen King’s writing guide / autobiography ‘On writing’ has been the most suggested book in the interviews I’ve conducted. Amongst other things he’s notoriously against adverbs (‘ly’) and fair enough in, ‘completely dead’ you wouldn’t need the completely because dead says it all, and a character doesn’t need to be ‘sighing wearily’ because the sighing tells us enough, but adverbs are necessary in the right context. Again it’s all about clarification and fine-tuning.
• Every word has to count; does it move the story along or tell us about your characters? If not, the chances are it can be chopped.
• If you’re having trouble with a passage move on or leave it and return later with ‘fresh eyes’.
• Read. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your genre or not (one of my Monday nighters writes amazing sci-fi but has never read a word of it) but reading will help you see how a story is structured and balanced between dialogue and description; short sentences speed the pace, long passages slow it down.
• Join a writing group, get your work critiqued. Read your work out loud. It’s amazing what you’ll pick up when you hear it outside your head.
• Subscribe to writing magazines, go to workshops, literary festivals. If you really want to write immerse yourself in all things literary.
• Finally there’s the five sense; we have what the characters hear (dialogue), see (description / action) but what do they smell? taste? touch? You’ll likely not get them all in but you could try.

There are many more examples I could give you but all you need to remember is that it’s not about clever words (because that ends up becoming ‘purple prose’) but just getting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and have fun. When your characters take over (and they will) you’ll have the time of your life!

If you’re still raring for tips, you can read my article about writer’s block (which came out today) on Fiona Veich Smith’s ‘Crafty Writer’ website.

Thank you… er, me.

When not at her day job (a sore point – she’s been trying to escape since October!), Morgen Bailey runs a ticking-over nicely (about 150-200 visitors a day) blog which, like her, is consumed by the topic of writing. She shares her house in Northampton, England with an 11-year-old Jack Russell / Cairn cross who is used to her waving her arms about (as she tests how her characters do something) or clapping when she’s written a particularly wonderful line.

Best with deadlines, she loves projects like NaNoWriMo and StoryADay (producing three novels & four and a bit collections of short stories between them) because she’s like a dog with a clichéd bone… give her a challenge and she’ll do her damnedest to get it done… sometimes with just minutes to spare. She’s sold to Woman’s Weekly, given to NAWG for their ‘Link’ magazine and other online establishments. She currently has two $1.49 eBooks (a 31-story anthology and a writer’s block workbook) and free eShorts available via Smashwords.com but once the day job is dust she plans to edit her novels, let her editor rip them apart, then head for Amazon KDP and a bread and water lifestyle that is (often) that of a writer… and she can think of nothing more thrilling. There’s more about her via her ‘Me‘ page… should you have nothing better to do. And you can also find her on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with Dale T Phillips – who coincidentally was mentored by Stephen King! – the two hundred and fifty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

 

Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode no.5

Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode number five was released today, Sunday 15th January. Part of a fortnightly series tucked in between monthly hints & tips and red pen critique sessions, I’ve been starting off the first few weeks with the flash fiction that have appeared on this blog as ‘Flash Fiction Fridays’, reading out three per fortnight. Eventually I’ll run out so should you like to submit your own feel free to email me (morgen@morgenbailey.com).

This episode’s stories were ‘The Grey Stones and Leaden Cross‘ (520 words) by Issy Flamel (who also brought us ‘The Ruby Stradivarius‘ back in episode 002),  ‘Loss‘ (314 words) by yours truly, Morgen Bailey :) and a 548-worder entitled ‘That old feeling‘ from regular contributor JD Mader who offered his story ‘Green‘ for the first red pen critique session (I’m looking for more of those by the way).

I wasn’t critiquing the stories in this episode but just simply reading them out and I hope you enjoy this format.

The 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). Total running time this week was 12 minutes and 30 seconds.

This episode’s contributors were:

When not writing, and being mentioned on The Society of Authors website, Issy Flamel can be found hanging out on Twitter and in the depths of Radio Litopia and WriterLot where you can read equally atmospheric and haunting pieces from the minute-long ‘Cherry Blossom’ to a make-yourself-comfortable 12-minute ‘Gloriana’.

Morgen Bailey, me, is (am) a podcaster, blogger and writer of fiction and articles about writing (a new one’s coming out on Fiona Veitch Smith’s website in the next day or two). My blog is, here, http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com and my eBooks are available on Smashwords.

J D Mader is a teacher and writer / musician based in San Francisco.  He has been fortunate enough to encounter many giving and inspiring people in his life.  He hopes to repay the debt.  And to make enough money with his writing to buy a house. You can help him buy a brick (although I think the eBook is actually cheaper!) by checking out his debut novel ‘Joe Café’ and there will be more soon. He’s done a lot for my blog so probably the easiest way is to read them all is via the ‘Contributors‘ page… just scroll down to the Js (although not too quickly in case there are some other authors you like the sound of ).

Thank you for downloading and / or listening to this short story episode. I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to bringing you another a fortnight. In the meantime, next Monday’s episode will likely be a hints and tips episode as I’ve run out of stories or novel extracts to red pen! So if you’d like to submit yours for consideration (or stories for these episodes) you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com. All the links mentioned in these shows are listed on the podcast page of this blog.

 

Flash Fiction Friday 009: ‘Loss’ by Morgen Bailey

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the ninth piece in this weekly series. Tonight’s story is a 314-worder entitled ‘Loss’ by yours truly, Morgen Bailey.

Loss

Norman stood back and shook his head.

The girl smiled at him, eyebrows raised from behind the easel.

“Lovely my dear,” he lied, “just lovely”.

The girl giggled then resumed her serious stance.

Norman resumed his position, and dipped the sable brush into the cool water, sending swirls of black paint like tadpoles in a pool, before patting it into the skin-pink oil. He dabbed at the girl’s neck then touched the canvas lovingly with a finger as if touching her skin.

He shuddered and closed his eyes.

“You alright, Mister?” the girl asked in her broad East London accent.

Norman opened his eyes and fixed a smile which she replicated and straightened her neck, wrapping the red velvet cloak tighter around her naked frame.

She was a similar age to Evie but slightly taller, thinner and he couldn’t get the proportions right. He should have waited, found the right girl, found Evie. But he knew that would never happen, there was no coming back from death. So he had to make do.

He watched her look around the room.

“You like blondes then,” she said, monotone, neither statement nor question. Norman watched her chest rise and fall as she let out a sigh.

…

As he made the finishing crimson touches, she started to fidget, rotating each shoulder discreetly in turn.

“Mister, are we…?” she started then stopped as Norman nodded.

He watched impassively as she let the cloak drop to the ground, stepped out of it then dressed into her servant’s uniform. His eyes followed her as she walked towards him and the painting.

“Oh,” she said, staring at it, mouth open as if waiting for medicine. She then shrugged her shoulders, took the money he offered and left the room.

Norman added his signature, placed the brush reverently on the palette and followed her, vowing to never paint again.

I normally ask my contributors what prompted this piece but asking myself would be like interviewing myself… crazy, right. Er, yes, probably – I did that too (you can read it here).

Anyway, I attend a few writing groups and a monthly one is the Northampton Literature Group’s Writing Circle and Tuesday 4th November’s single-word prompt was ‘paint’ and given just four minutes (I know, Alan’s mean!) to write it, I came up with a shorter version of this story. For that night’s homework were then asked to write a story up to 500 words on ‘paint’ so I fleshed this out a little taking it up to 314 words, so I still have 186 to play with should I wish and I might one day.

Morgen Bailey is a writing-related blogger who hosts the weekly Bailey’s Writing Tips audio podcast, two in-person writing groups (based in Northamptonshire, England), is the author of numerous short stories, novels, articles, has dabbled with poetry but admits that she doesn’t “get it”, and is a regular Radio Litopia contributor.

She also belongs to two other local writing groups (one of which runs the annual HE Bates Short Story Competition) and when she’s not researching for her writing group, writes a bit more, is a British Red Cross volunteer and walks her dog (often while reading, writing or editing) and reads (though not as often as she’d like), oh and sometimes she writes. Everything she’s involved is detailed on her blog http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com. You can view / download her eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.

Thank you… er, me.  If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with crime novelist Sheila Quigley – the one hundred and ninety-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.

 

Blog interview no.100 with (me, myself and I) multi-genre writer Morgen Bailey

Welcome to the one hundredth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. Back in interview no. 43, Winn Smith asked who was going to interview me (Teresa Morrow and Who Hub already have and Winn will be later this month) but I thought seeing as the centennial interview falls on my birthday (no presents please ) I’d interview myself. As you do. I normally say that if you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further but if you feel you know enough already from my blog or website then don’t feel obliged… unless you’d really like to. A list of my fellow interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Morgen. Firstly happy birthday.

Morgen: Thank you. I’m having a lovely day so far. Just back from 24 hours at Norfolk and had a wonderful time watching the dog eating waves. Before we begin, I’d just like to say what a pleasure it is being here.

Morgen: Ah, that’s nice, you can come again. OK, so… you know how these interviews start…

Morgen: I do. I need to tell you something about myself and how I came to be a writer.

Morgen: That’s it.

Morgen: I’ll warn you now that I do tend to waffle.

Morgen: That’s OK. I’ve got a long blog home page.

Morgen: So just tell me if I’m…

Morgen: You are… your first answer please?

Morgen: Oh yes (what a hard taskmistress, is she like this with everyone?). I’m a… 44-year old (today, hoorah!) single white female (that was a brilliant film, one whose follow-up was decidedly dodgy as they often are).

Morgen: (coughs)

Morgen: Sorry yes… I did warn you. I live in Northampton, England in a 1930s house with my Jack Russell / Cairn (and a bit of everything else) dog.

Morgen: He’s very cute.

Morgen: Thank you. He has big brown eyes and he’s not afraid to use them.

Morgen: And you came to be a writer how?

Morgen: Sorry. I’ll try to behave from now on.

Morgen: Please do.

Morgen: This talking to myself is feeling weirdly easy.

Morgen: You were saying?

Morgen: Sorry. Yes. Short and sweet: moved counties c. 15 years ago. Didn’t know anyone. I worked as a temp in the day, went to evening college, brushed up on the languages, then computer skills then September 2005 I looked for something else in the University prospectus and there was creative writing – a Monday night critique workshop with Sally Spedding…

Morgen: Who I interviewed recently on my podcast.

Morgen: You did. Special episode 32. That was fun.

Morgen: And what genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Morgen: Now there’s a question.

Morgen: Uh oh.

Morgen: A bit of everything.

Morgen: That wasn’t so painful. Dare I ask if you’d like to elaborate… just a little?

Morgen: Sure. Four and a bit novels (lad lit, general, chick lit, sort of lad lit and part of a dark one) and lots of short stories, monologues being my favourite.

Morgen: So humour and crime?

Morgen: The last one is sort of crime. I’ll have to come back to you on that one.

Morgen: OK.

Morgen: And I have written poetry but…

Morgen: but?

Morgen: The poets reading this are going to shout at me…

Morgen: I’m sure they won’t.

Morgen: I don’t ‘get’ poetry.

Morgen: Ah.

Morgen: I’ve written some. There’s an autobiographical poem on my blog’s ‘About me’ page. The first piece I read out at Sally’s workshop was a humorous piece of a family’s evening told through the eyes of a six-month-old boy. I’m still fond of it and should do something with it.

Morgen: Ahhh…

Morgen: But it got shot down in flames.

Morgen: Oh dear.

Morgen: I nearly didn’t go back to the group.

Morgen: Oh no.

Morgen: But I thought “I’ll write something better”.

Morgen: And you did?

Morgen: I did. Can’t remember what now but it must have gone down well as I kept going back and it’s what led me here.

Morgen: What have you had published to-date?

Morgen: Apart from a writing workbook which is ready to roll, I’m working on rejigging the novels (into novellas and possibly an anthology for the chick lit, picking out the best half a dozen or so characters) as eBooks…

Morgen: there were more characters than that then?

Morgen: Yes. Izzy met one a day (for a month) with another dozen at mid-month speed dating event.

Morgen: Ouch, that’s a lot for one novel.

Morgen: It is but I’m fond of them all (some are very peculiar) and will use them all at some stage, but just split them out into other things… but to answer your question…

Morgen: If you wouldn’t mind…

Morgen: I’ve been published in Woman’s Weekly and NAWG Link magazine but I’m rubbish at submitting which is a fairly major part of getting things published, isn’t it?

Morgen: It does help.

Morgen: But recently fellow interviewees Nathan Weaver (LINK) published a self-contained (soon to be the beginning of a) dark story I wrote for http://storyaday.org back in May 2011 called ‘The Threadbare Girl’ (which I’m going to include in one or two of the eBook anthologies – one for the Story A Day and probably the full thing in another) and Tia Bach (http://depressioncookies.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-post-morgen-bailey-talks.html) published an article I wrote for her on my NaNoWriMo experience. Neal James has another short story (a dark second person) appearing on his blog in January 2012 which will be exciting (for me anyway).  I’ve got a short story going into October’s Link and I’ve been asked to write another couple of articles so it’s all going swimmingly.

Morgen: You mentioned NaNoWriMo, the 50,000+ words every November. How many times have you done that?

Morgen: Three: 2008, 2009 and 2010. And I plan to keep doing it even though I’m concentrating on short stories.

Morgen: Did you ‘win’ each time?

Morgen: I did. I scraped through in 2008 (53,000) and 2010 (51,000) but flew past the finish in 2009 (117,540).

Morgen: Wow, that’s some typing.

Morgen: Thank you. I’m fortunate. I’ve been a secretary since I left school so I can type quickly. Like anything it’s just practice. Give me a blank template of a keyboard though and it would take me ages to write in each letter.

Morgen: That’s funny.

Morgen: I know. I only learned recently that the letters were jumbled up because the typists were too quick for the original machines so it’s was the best way of slowing them down… not sure how long for or who decided on the order of the letters but hey ho.

Morgen: How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Morgen: All of it but I’m enjoying it. I’m on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and of course this blog helps get my name known. I was chuffed when I’d been quiet on LinkedIn for a while, but still had the thread emails coming in, then commented on something and someone, I think it was KS Brooks (hi Kat), said that people had been wondering what had happened to me, which was lovely and it really is like a family, like Litopia is. Linton (who’s done an interview for me which will go up early October) did a disappearing act too and the same thing happened with him. Even if it doesn’t get any books sold (when they finally come out… note to self: get editing!), it’s so rewarding to be a part of that… Facebook’s the same; there’s Sue Welfare’s (hi Sue) weekly beginnings competition (which I contribute towards when I can – and has actually started off some pieces that I definitely want to continue; the latest being to continue ‘Just as dawn’ and I love sentence beginnings)…

Morgen: You’re waffling.

Morgen: Sorry. I think I’m done on that one.

Morgen: Great. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Morgen: I have. I had a spate of sending stuff out to competitions (Writing magazines and Writers’ News mostly). I’ve won a couple of local ones, was shortlisted once in Writing Magazine and a couple of times at Verulam Get Writing competition (Geoffrey Guiver won this year’s… hello Geoffrey!) so they’re on the CV.

Morgen: Do you write under a pseudonym? If so why and do you think it makes a difference?

Morgen: I do, and I love it. It’s like someone being called a middle name because they prefer it to their first name. I had this conversation with my mum a while back and she said I could have picked one of my middle names; I have two. Elizabeth is the one I’d have gone with if I’d found out, or thought about it, earlier… or a variation probably Libby but it was too late by then but now I prefer Morgen (despite it often being spelt with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘e’). I don’t think anyone knows about the Libby thing, not even my brother (hi Martin) and not sure how my friends would react now… guess I’ll find out when they read this. But no, never been keen on my first name. Which, is Alison by the way. Ali as in Ali McBeal has been a suggestion but I’ve never warmed to it (despite liking the TV series) and ‘Al’ always seemed too butch so it’s been plain ‘Alison’ until Morgen came along, and it’s what I am online so it’s easier.

Although I’m biased I can understand why the likes of Ruth Rendell (Barbara Vine) and Joanna Trollope (Caroline Harvey) as it distinguishes their different genres. I picked a name that could be male or female, really because I write a variety of genres and went with Morgen as that was the name of a dog I used to have, plus it means ‘morning’ in German (I am a morning person) and my family has been friends with a German family since I was an early teen. The middle daughter (hello Heike – thank you for the lovely necklaces et al) and I are planning on going to Edinburgh book festival next year (for the first time) and I asked on Facebook if anyone else is going and I think we’re going to end up hiring JK Rowling’s castle. My cute dog mentioned earlier by the way is the Bailey of the ensemble.

Morgen: Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Morgen: I’ve tried the agent route, admittedly only to about a dozen; seven or eight via email (all but one replied with a ‘no’) and I’ve had four agent pitches; a 3-minute with HarperCollins’ Scott Pack (not an agent, he was great, very supportive) at Verulam Feb 2011 and three (very interesting) at July 2011 Winchester. I don’t think I’d do it again until I had something really meaty to offer them; on reflection the writing I was presenting to them wasn’t really me, or my best work if I’m honest but definitely an experience, and one I would recommend any writer doing if they’re at all interested in getting an agent, which I think deep down, most would be as it’s the best way to reach the big boys (publishers)… and girls of course.

Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Morgen: Can you ask me again in 6 months? This is a one-off? Oh, OK. Yes, they will be; eBooks only most likely. At the moment they’re either with, or back from, my editor Rachel or myself so the process has been fine, if not a little slow (me getting them to her although it’s ticking along nicely at the moment – I’ve had something back from her, the workbook, which needs only minor tweaking and she has the Story A Day anthology so I’m hoping to get something else to her before that comes back; I’d rather it were that way round).

I have an eReader but use it rarely as I never go anywhere. I have a Mac Air so that tends to go where I go but I tend not to get past emails, the internet etc. One day I’ll make the most of the eReader because I can see how brilliant they are, it’s just that I don’t travel much (at all) – I didn’t take it to Norfolk as I knew I wouldn’t get time; I took Matt Hilton’s ‘Cut and run’ but that remained unread (this weekend for sure Matt!) – I did go through four writing magazines picking nuggets for my writing group’s handouts, which ultimately end up on here.

I can read a book or magazine (usually a writing-related one as I just mentioned, I subscribe to the UK ones – Writing Magazine, Writers’ News, Mslexia, New Writer, Writer’s Forum… and Take a Break’s Fiction Feast, and I buy Woman’s Weekly fiction specials… which I keep meaning to subscribe to – so it keeps me busy, in fact I’m about 7 months behind with those so they’ve taken over the book reading; sorry Matt & Trisha Ashley (they’re my two ‘on the go’s at the moment)). Yes, I can read or edit as I walk (writing’s not so easy but I can do it) so I do that when I’m walking the dog or to / from work. Other than that it’s just out at the cinema or meeting friends (I joined http://meetup.com a little while ago; it’s great!).

So, no, to cut a short story long (as Martin and I used to say my dad did) after all that I have an eReader but don’t really use it. Audiobooks are also a big love of mine and can be listened to in conjunction with pretty much anything else so that’s a time-saving bonus.

Morgen: What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Morgen: The Woman’s Weekly story and yes, absolutely, it’s great. Paid or unpaid it’s still exciting to see my writing (fiction or articles) out there and especially so when I get feedback. Elaine Saunders left me a message on my Facebook page earlier this week to say she was jogging at the gym to my podcast – I don’t think I’ve ever helped anyone lose weight before, other than letting my Mexican neighbour use my cross-trainer which she does more than me.

Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Morgen: I have. I’ve had 27 or 29, I can’t remember. I catalogue them (have I said already that I’m a nerd?) but I’m pretty sure it’s not quite up-to-date.

Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Morgen: Mostly the blog interviews, it takes a fair amount of work but I’ve got this week off so have been able to catch up a little. While Rachel has the anthology I want to crack on with the next book as I need to keep my momentum going.

Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Morgen: If you count a line or two then yes. Mostly it’s during the two writing groups so I guess the beginnings of a dozen pieces a month. I’m happy with most of them so I guess it’s quality over quantity. I’m very good with deadlines though so get writing for NaNo and StoryADay but then they were both before the blog interviews but I need to not let them standing in the way so find a way of doing both – I will, I just do. The most in a day was during NaNoWriMo, just under 10,000 words.

Morgen: What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Morgen: Sort of. I get stuck sometimes but then I either come back to it later, sleep on it, or if it’s near my writing group night I’ll run it past them.

Morgen: A question some authors dread (I guess because it’s sometimes impossible to answer?), where do you get your inspiration from?

Morgen: Everywhere and anywhere; patterns on the pavement after a patch of rain, newspaper clippings (I have literally hundreds of those – one of my Verulam shortlists, a monologue called ‘Feeding the Father’, was inspired by one of those), snatched conversations (I’m a devil for pretending to turn my iPod volume up / down when I’m actually pausing it as an argument walks by), an odd (or not so odd) word anywhere – I can look around my room and start with something, I’m lucky in that respect.

Morgen: Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Morgen: A bit of both. Like most of my interviewees have said, I’ve had a nugget and gone with it, seeing what comes out.

Morgen: Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names?

Morgen: It depends what I’m writing. If it’s from a picture (which we use in our Monday night writing group) then I’ll just look at it and see what I think the person’s name is, otherwise I’ll either pick a name from the air or it’ll just come to me as I write the piece, sometimes I change them if it doesn’t suit. I do have baby name books which really I should perhaps refer to more often as I want to call all my characters Elliot (the men anyway, unless it’s a surname). Not sure where that desire comes from other than being the surname of a school friend Natasha and we did get in contact again on Friends Reunited a while back.

Morgen: What do you think makes them believable?

Morgen: They have to be realistic and a reader as to empathise with them. Unless you’re making someone plastic for a reason (perhaps as an antagonist) readers get bored with perfection. And some flaws can be fun – there are plenty of those in my chick-lit novel.

Morgen: If you write non-fiction, how do you decide what to write about?

Morgen: The only non-fiction writing I do is writing-related so I’m either given an idea (Steve Bowkett of the NAWG Link magazine has either asked me to do something or leaves it to me… I say that as if I’m in there all the time – only two issues so far (April 2011 and August 2011) with the short story (twist on a fairy tale which they’d asked for in the August edition) coming out in October.

Morgen: If you write poetry, do you write to form or free verse? What would you say is the difference between a piece of prose and a prose poem? Why do you think poetry is so popular and yet so poorly paid?

Morgen: Ha ha ha ha… sorry. I have written poetry but it’s not my strength. At all. Really it isn’t. Oh no. It’s not me.

Morgen: OK.

Morgen: Although there was…

Morgen: You mentioned short stories earlier, apart from the word count, what do you see as the differences between them and novels and why do you think they’re so difficult to get published?

Morgen: You do have to be much, much tighter in a short story; every word literally does have to count, and it’s easy to forget that but you literally have to look that closely when editing it. If you can lose a word, do it (for instance do you need ‘completely’ before ‘dead’?). In novels everything still has to be relevant – narrative drive; move the story forward or tell us something about that character. If we don’t need to know what Sam had toast for breakfast (yes, guilty of that in novel one) then take it out.

Morgen: Are you involved in anything else writing-related other than actual writing or marketing of your writing?

Morgen: I run two writing groups; every Monday, one critique, the other writing workshop and I love them both. I’m lucky and have a great bunch of people, some of whom (three) come to both sessions. I belong to two others locally and release a podcast every Monday morning (although I think it’ll be later in the day this week as my brother’s visiting from Switzerland… hoorah!). Then there’s Litopia every Friday and Sunday nights. And I go to lit fests, talks etc. Live and breathe, and it’s always a pleasure never a chore, as Hugh Laurie said to Joely Richardson in Maybe Baby (if you’ve never seen it, do, it’s hilarious… especially Rowen Atkinson and Dawn French.

Morgen: Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Morgen: Generally my writing group. The critique sessions though are only fortnightly (the workshop’s the other Mondays) so there’s only so much I can read out in the time. I have the wonderful aforementioned editor Rachel (hi Rachel) who I knew already but she’s just setting up her manuscript services company (the website for which I shall be no doubt be touting fairly heavily when it’s live although I’m not her only client so there’s a headstart there already). She really is the key to me being happy about the content my eBooks before I launch them, although we both know I have the final say (the great thing about self-pub) but she’s the vital second opinion which everyone needs regardless of how good their writing is.

Morgen: Before it goes to Rachel, do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Morgen: I use to, but yes. The more I write the more know where I’m waffling as I go along…

Morgen: now there’s a surprise

Morgen: …so I curb it.

Morgen: How much research do you have to do for your writing? Have you ever received feedback from your readers?

Morgen: Research is my least favourite aspect of writing although the internet does make it much easier. I don’t really have much out there at the moment. I had some great comments from The Threadbare Girl and can’t wait to get my eBooks out there as I just love knowing that people read what I create – assuming that someone will. And of course hoping that they’ll like it. The other great thing about eBooks is that if someone spots a mistake it can easily be tweaked and resubmitted, no waiting for a second edition / reprint.

Morgen: What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Morgen: I usually grab a cup of tea. I’m a dreadful snacker so have to either get something like a sandwich before start writing or I’ll be scrabbling around for sweets or crisps because I’m too busy to get something proper (if a sandwich counts as proper). I’m usually eating something pretty bad when I’m on Litopia as I’m usually rushing around just before it (especially if it’s a Sunday night and I’m getting the headset configured and Skype set up – Litopia’s on tonight by the way – it’s great… Dorothy Koomson was one of the guests last Friday; My Best Friend’s Girl is one of my favourite books and I’ve just bought ‘The Woman He Loved Before’) and as food always gets mentioned I’m found out pretty quickly (I’m too honest I guess) and the other chatroomers tell me off.

Morgen: Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Morgen: A computer if I have it handy but otherwise it’s paper which is fine because I then edit as I type it up (when I get round to typing it up, she says conscious of the stack of notes in a tray to her right). I prefer to edit on paper and yes, I use a red pen.

Morgen: Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc. Do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?

Morgen: I like classical music. I’m typing this while I listen to my iPod’s Top Rated (not sure why as I have iTunes on the computer but it’s still running from when I took the dog, who’s currently on my lap, exhausted from his beach escapades) and I can type something like this with words going on, probably easier as I know the songs but prefer classical because of the lack of words if I’m trying to create fictional ones. Silence for me is too… silent, but I struggle to concentrate in a coffee shop, fine for checking emails though.

Morgen: What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Morgen: This is the question I was looking forward to as I LOVE LOVE LOVE second person. Normally I use a mixture, I suppose mostly third person, but my heart always beats a little faster when I write second. For anyone not reading this I’d say please do give it a go (let me know if you need help) or take a look at my sentence starts page on this blog (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/sentence-starts).

Morgen: The page that you love touting. Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Morgen: I wasn’t keen until I used one at the beginning of novel two. It was originally Chapter 1. It’s not gone to Rachel yet so the jury is still out.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Morgen: LOADS. Well, that’s not true. I have loads of stories to go through which may make the grade, now I’m older (no sniggers please) and wiser (ditto). Novel 5 was very self-indulgent and about a real life person so if that did go ahead I’d have to change nearly all of it. I really like the story actually so I may.

Morgen: What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Morgen: Easy. Never knowing what’s going to come out. You know it’s come from your sub-conscious but it surprises you all the time. Least favourite is not having enough time. My life is 90% writing-related (with 10% thinking about writing) so I can’t complain but an extra couple of hours here and there would be good.

Morgen: If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Morgen: How much it can take over. I hadn’t a clue what to do when I left school and still hadn’t until I started writing… and writing… and writing… and now I can think of little else (sorry dog, house etc). And how the characters can take over – I love that.

Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Morgen: As the great marketing men at Nike say ‘Just do it’. It’s all about practice. The more you write (play the piano) the better you’ll get (play a concerto). And go to courses (I still do – hi Helen!), talks and literature events (the latter is how I met Rachel). Meet other writers. Join a writing group – they’ll point out what works and doesn’t, often something that never occurs to me. And read. Read a lot. I don’t read enough, although I’m getting better. And listen to writing-related podcasts. If you want to write, live and breathe it. Not to the extent of your family not remembering what you look like (hey JVS!) but I only have my dog who I feed and walk twice / three times a day so he’ll never forget.

Morgen: What do you like to read?

Morgen: Short stories mainly – I like the fact that I can read them in one go – and two extremes; the darker the better or humour… pretty much what I like to write. I love Roald Dahl and Kate Atkinson… and of course all the works by every interviewee I’ve ever or writer I’ve ever had associations with and will have in the future.

Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Morgen: Is there anything other than writing? Oh, actually writing. Everything else. I’m forever thinking, jotting things down but at the moment the only times I write are during my fortnightly Monday night workshops (and I’m thrilled with some of the things I’ve come up with then) and monthly Northampton Literature Group workshops (which I’ve been leading recently ) but I’ve been editing stuff for Rachel so that sort of counts, doesn’t it?

Morgen: Mmm…

Morgen: I do have a couple of party tricks.

Morgen: Oh yes?

Morgen: I can bark like a seal (do they bark?) and can flip about a dozen coins from the back of my right elbow (is that called something? I know the back of the knee doesn’t have a name), although I’m rusty at both of them.

Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Morgen: Websites: http://duotrope.com and http://jbwb.co.uk for market information and then specifically http://womagwriter.blogspot.com (I’m hoping to have Kathy for an interview in the not too distant future, I think she’d be really interesting) for short story info. Sorry if I’ve missed anyone out that I shouldn’t have done. Books: this is where I should say Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ and I have it but not read it yet (it got as far as my bedside table when it was first mentioned in these interviews). I have shelves full of ‘how to’ books that I’ve not read, shamefully. I would recommend Sue Moorcroft’s ‘Love Writing’ and Adrian Magson’s new ‘Write On!’ but I am slightly biased because I know them both and Adrian listed my website in the back of his (but they are great books). And if you write short stories then Della Galton’s ‘How to write short stories’ because she’s a major short story goddess (that’s a major goddess not a goddess of major short stories).

Morgen: Yes, I think we got that. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Morgen: The UK. England. Northamptonshire. The rose of the shires… or is that Yorkshire. We have roses on our county signposts. As you can tell I’m not from round there ’ere parts. Been here 15 years, Bucks before that. As you can see I’ve not travelled much (this is the… flat above my dad’s shop… then there was… then… then the house I rented when I moved up here, then my first house… and here… oh no, there was Richard’s… so seventh house in 44 years; that’s not all that much is it?

Morgen: Compared to many, probably not. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Morgen: I’d love to say here that I’m on Litopia’s all the time but I’ve not been on it (slapped wrists) other than the Friday and Sunday nights (which are great and everyone should swing by, although Sundays are currently on a hiatus).

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?

Morgen: Here (my ‘About me’ and ‘My writing’ pages), Nathan’s website (mentioned in the footer of this interview)… erm… my website (http://morgenbailey.com) but that’s similar to this (although not as pretty / professional looking). There are links to everything I’m involved in on that and in the ‘Where to find me’ menu of this blog.

Morgen: A fair amount.

Morgen: Thanks… yes, I’d like to do more but, you know…

Morgen: I do. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Morgen: I am SO excited by where we’re at right now and I’m so glad that I didn’t try to get loads of work out when I first started. (a) because it was probably dire, although looking back there are some redeemable nuggets and (b) because I can now do what I like, under Rachel’s guidance: my own cover design, price (99p mostly) and content. It’s great… well, I’m hoping it will be when we get there.

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Morgen: Um… I think I’ve talked for long enough, don’t you? Is anyone still awake?

Morgen: Hopefully one or two… and maybe one of those will be kind enough to leave a comment.

Morgen: That would be great. I love getting the ‘please approve’ emails from WordPress.

Morgen: Well… OK then to finish. Is there a question you’d like to ask me?

Morgen: Why your nose goes so red in the sun?

Morgen: Good question. I’m not sure why I have a Roman nose but yes, my caricature (which was done by Adrian Teal by the way) is fairly spot on although I think I could be mistaken for an alcoholic and my brother especially knows I never remember that I’ve got booze in the house but he helps me out whenever he visits (which is too rarely, although I’m seeing him this weekend, yay!). I walk the dog two or three times a day, walk to / from work, round car boot sales so I guess it just gets lots of exposure (although I do slap lotion on it but clearly not enough). It doesn’t really bother me, adds to the personality I guess, like the glasses.

Morgen: Which aren’t in your caricature.

Morgen: They’re not – they weren’t in the picture that Adrian had, I’m not sure why. Finally we have some questions from the ‘audience’.

Morgen: Really?

Morgen: We do.

Morgen: Yay, great.

Morgen: JD Mader from the San Francisco Bay Area would like to know whether you have a sentence, character, paragraph, etc that you love that you have never been able to fit into a piece?

Morgen: Oh hey JD (did you wife forgive you for spending your anniversary social networking? ). Sentences don’t spring to mind other than the ones I created for my ‘sentence starts’ (which I touted earlier). Neither does a paragraph but I have lots of short stories that I’ve not done anything with. One of my favourite words is ‘cuddle’ and I don’t get to use that often enough. There is a character I’ve used as the antagonist in novel no. 5 and the whole story revolves around him but I’d have to change it as he’s real and I’ve mentioned real events but I wrote it therapeutically so will probably never see light of day but we shall see…

Morgen: Then we have Sarah Tanburn…

Morgen: Oh hey Sarah! She’s RoaringGirl on Litopia, you know.

Morgen: I do. She’d like to know where you get the confidence to get out there and persuade some big name authors to come on your blog and get interviewed? She thinks you have a lovely way of writing the interviews so they are very personalised and tell us about you without intruding on the main event, so to speak.  How did you evolve that approach?

Morgen: Ah that’s nice. As for the authors I’ve been very lucky; I either know them already (from my former studies, the podcast or they’re friends of friends) or they’ve approached me because of Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or said friends (Adrian Magson in particular has done a lot of recommending for which I’m very grateful) or they’ve read other interviews on the blog and would like to take part (and I’ve been so grateful as it keeps the one a day going). As for the format, well I just slot my reaction in as I read through as if we were sitting together. Having interviewed numerous authors for my audio podcast (either in person or via Skype) I just imagine it’s that. My dad used to say that if a job is worth doing it’s worth doing well (I only later found out that he wasn’t the first person to say so, I was pretty young at the time) and I’ve inherited that (and my poor memory) from him and it’s a format that’s proving popular so absolutely worth spending the time on.

Morgen: Marta from…

Morgen: Oh, one of our readers of Sunny’s interview? I’m hoping she’ll do an interview with me too.

Morgen: Indeed. She has five questions for you…

Morgen: Wow!

Morgen: 1. who was your first and/or favorite english/writing teacher and why?

Morgen: Gosh. I remember Mrs Haines from primary school – she was lovely, although I think she was the one who told me off in my first term (so I would have been 5?) for talking too much.

Morgen: What a surprise.

Morgen: I think my favourite overall there was Mr (Mike) O’Toole because he was passionate and I got to see more of him than anyone as he used to come in my dad’s photographic shop. I discovered an Our Lady’s group on Facebook recently so I’ve been chatting on there although there’s no-one from my year there, or teachers… yet. I liked my secondary English teacher because I liked the subject but I can’t remember her name (sorry about that).

Morgen: 2. if you were a literary character, who would you most likely be?

Morgen: I  love Jeff Lindsay’s Debra Morgan (Dexter’s sister) but only from the TV version not the book (I’ve not read the latter, I have a couple of them) because apparently she’s quite different (presumably not as feisty). And of course I like their surname.

Morgen: 3. what is your favorite genre?

Morgen: oh no, I have to choose one? I’d say dark comedy. That’s cheating isn’t it? OK then dark. I know it’s not a genre but it’s what my writing invariably is.

Morgen: 4. if you were an animal, which animal would you be?  if you were a tree, which tree would you be?

Morgen: Having watched Planet of the Apes today I’d say ‘Caesar’ the chimp because he’s smart and ends up being in charge and if you watch it, for the second part of the questions, I’d pick the tall tree he ends up (although he has a better head for heights). I quite like the oak because it’s old and wise. That’s a great Alan Parsons Project song by the way… Old and wise. A sad one, I’ll warn you.

Morgen: Thanks. 5. what one thing changed your writing and when/how did you have that “ah ha” moment?

Morgen: Wow, these are good questions. This is going to sound really dull but it’s really only practice that’s changed it. I have learned a lot by going to workshops but it’s then implementing what I’ve learned as I go along. I’ve not explained that well. I do plan to do a ‘key ingredients’ to writing blog post which will explain what I’ve learned. “ah ha” moment is just as tricky. I do remember it; a few months ago but it was realising how much I enjoyed writing and that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life, and take it more seriously, I can’t remember what prompted it. Sorry.

Morgen: And then we have Litopia’s Thomas Tyler.

Morgen: Oh hey TT!

Morgen: He’d like to know what keeps you writing?

Morgen: Easiest question of the evening: passion.

Morgen: And then…

Morgen: There’s more?

Morgen: Another from ‘TT’ yes.

Morgen: Oh great.

Morgen: He asks: What desire do you wish you didn’t possess?

Morgen: My desire for tall men? Apart from some foods (Banoffee pie) that’s what springs to mind. I’m 5’10 (well, 5’9¾) and tall men are rarer than million-pound novel deals. OK, maybe not that rare but my heart sinks (to use a cliché) every time I see a tall guy with a little women… it’s a waste. And invariably when I do meet them they say how lovely it is when they meet someone they don’t get neck ache talking to. My life would be complete (pretty much anyway) if I met a 6’4 guy who lived locally (and didn’t mind that I’m so buy) who loved writing, even a speck to the extent I do. But I am so busy that I don’t mind being single… whenever I see a couple arguing it reminds me there are advantages to singledom. There’s no writing-related desire that I wish I didn’t possess because everything’s worth it to me. Even words I don’t use (although I couldn’t think of any for Dan could I, I guess I mean ones that are edited out, aren’t a waste because it’s all practice and they may be turned into something else one day, the joy of copy / cut and paste.

Morgen: Well, thanks Morgen. It’s been… interesting.

Morgen: Thank you. I’ve had fun… a little weird, but fun nonetheless.

Morgen: Have we stopped recording now?

Morgen: It’s not being recorded.

Morgen: Really?

Morgen: No. You know how this works; it’s all typed.

Morgen: Oh.

Morgen: OK?

Morgen: Sure. So I’m free to go?

Morgen: You are.

Morgen: OK, great, because I’ve got a busy evening.

Morgen: You have?

Morgen: Litopia starts in an hour then I’m going out to play pool.

Morgen: Oh.

Morgen: Oh?

Morgen: I’m rubbish at pool… my bowling’s a bit iffy too.

Morgen: Mine too.

Morgen: Well, have a good time.

Morgen: Thanks. Oh there was just one thing… hello?… hello?… are you there? I think she’s hung up…

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 2000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – flash fiction

The last item of each hints & tips podcast is a piece of fiction – either flash or poetry and episode 8’s was a 60-worder called ‘Dog collar’:

• Barney was extremely patient. He’d sit and wait, listen when someone talked to him and then get suitably excited when it appeared that there was something to get excited about. People seemed to relax when around him and to get so much out of their meetings. He then got his own back on Sunday… with his long, but fascinating, sermons!

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – NaNoWriMo

I’ve mentioned NaNoWriMo a few times before in these podcasts and it stands for National Novel Writing Month where the idea is that you write a minimum of 50,000 words in 30 days. It may sound impossible but at just under 1,700 words a day it’s certainly doable… and I’ve done it twice.

It’s now in its 12th year (2010) and was an idea spawned by a San Fransisco writing group with 21 people taking part in July 1999. It changed to November the following year (they say to “take advantage of the miserable weather) and went global pretty quickly now attracting over 100,000 writers with an average of 15-20% of people ‘winning’ which means writing over the 50,000 words. In 2008 I scraped in with 53,000 words but in 2009 I wrote a chick lit which I found easier and had more characters and a more extensive plot so managed a whopping 117,540 words (although NaNoWriMo’s widgets – their word counting machine – worked it out to be 100 or so words more) so it’s possible if you have a strong enough idea – one with ‘legs’. The NaNoWriMo website says “Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.”

All you do is create a profile (a free account) on their website which includes your geographical area, and then update your profile with your progress. They also run the Young Writers Program I mentioned a minute again (the website is http://ywp.nanowrimo.org), aimed at up to 17 year olds, which has a wonderful ‘Dare Machine’ on it – the dare on the home page when I looked was ‘We dare you to start a chapter with the words: “It didn’t hurt that much”. There’s also NaNoEdMo which, although not by the same organisation, is based on a similar idea but a month (March yearly) of editing which gives you three clear months to let your novel sit in a drawer while you get on with something else so that it feels fresh when you return to it and therefore, hopefully, easier to spot mistakes or areas that need work.

When you’ve written your first draft, left it to stew, edited, re-edit and edit some more, you need to make sure that it fits the format that an agent, editor or publisher will accept. The more professional a manuscript (and cover letter/synopsis) is, the more seriously it will be taken and, hopefully, reach further up the slush pile tree.

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – novel recommendations

Needless to say there are hundreds of guides to writing a novel. Ones I have include:

• One of the Writer’s Digest Books is ‘First draft in 30 days’ by Karen S Wiesner. It includes itemised and flexible schedules to keep you focused each day, detailed worksheets to guide you through the outlining process, completed sample worksheets inspired by best-selling novels, tips for outlining projects already in development, brainstorming techniques to keep you motivated and goal sheets for getting (and keeping) your career on track! It’s a very well laid out book which promises a “sure-fire system to reduce timely re-writes”.
• ‘The weekend novelist’ is a “dynamic 52-week programme to help you produce a finished novel…one weekend at a time.” It offers advice on characters, scenes, plotting and drafts with an appendix on finding a publisher. Being an American book, the latter is based on the American process so you need to bear this in mind when submitting elsewhere; it does make an interesting read.
• ‘Creating characters – how to build story people’ by Dwight V Swain is an American book but that doesn’t really matter as it shows you how to ‘invent likeable or loathsome characters – champions, cutthroats, charmers and cads – fictional people who will make your readers feel something’. It also explains how to ‘give story people goals and motives, allow them to reveal their emotions, fill in the background that got your people where they are, imbue (fill) them with varying degrees of eccentricity, make them fit their roles as protagonist, antagonist and supporting players, write good dialogue, stir in a bit of humour…and more’!
• ‘Writing dialogue’ by Tom Chiarella tells you “how to create memorable voices and fictional conversations that crackle with wit, tension and nuance”. Contents include ‘listening, jotting, crowding’, ‘the direction of dialogue (examples and possibilities)’, ‘dialogue and character’, ‘compression’, ‘on silence’, ‘radio, TV and movies (seeing, listening, reading)’, ‘using dialogue to create stories’ and ‘nuts and bolts’. The afterword concludes with “good dialogue, like stories in general, captures part of the larger world and shows it to us”. It also has exercises so you can try out what you’ve learnt. If you are placing yourself in the mouth of anyone from a duke to a dalek you must make yourself available to reproduce their words.
• ‘It was a dark and stormy night’ is a Penguin book containing “the funniest opening sentences from the worst novels ever written”. It also mentions the USA-based ‘Bulwer-Lytton’ contest which is a competition to find the worst first sentences. More details from www.bulwer-lytton.com.
• ‘The way to write novels’ by Paddy Kitchen, who I mentioned earlier, is a great little book. Paddy explains that Iris Murdoch finds planning the most important part, saying “I invent the whole thing in enormous detail before I start writing at all. That can take longer than writing.” Others sail rather blindly into the first fifty pages or so and then stop and take stock. Is it going to work, is it worth pressing on? If the answer seems to be yes, then this is perhaps the stage to work out details of the rest of the plot. If the answer is no, well – put the pages away in a drawer for a while and do something completely different or read other books. When revisited you might suddenly see how the idea could be developed after all. Paddy continues “if you are going to have a complex plot, and particularly if your narrative is going to depend heavily on the development and pace of specific events, then it is essential to plan out the story. There is nothing more maddening than writing 150 pages only to discover that the confrontation you had intended around the end of Chapter 4 can’t happen because one of the protagonists was unexpectedly jailed in Chapter 3.”
• ‘Writing fiction step by step’ by Josip Novakovich is great. It has over 200 exercises that will “sharpen your writing skills”. Josip concludes the book saying “Fiction allows us to conduct experiments, to jump into something that passionately concerns us and to live it through the playfulness of imagination…”
• Teach Yourself’s ‘Writing a novel’ offers to help “improve your techniques, develop your range and ability, and get your work published” and has a tagline by PD James! Contents include beginnings, plot, sub-plot, character, dialogue, view-point, setting the scene, style, theme, editing and shaping, the personality of the writer, support and marketing. The marketing section is split into ‘going it alone’, ‘agents’, ‘self-publishing and vanity publishing’, ‘presenting your manuscript to a publisher’ (detailed above), ‘from presentation to publication’ and finally, ‘money’! Their final chapter titled ‘taking it further’ recommends 25 other books to read and 5 writing courses to attend: The Arvon Foundation, Fen Farm (Diss, Norfolk), International Forum (Sevenoaks, Kent), Skyros Holistic Holidays (Greece – courses run from April to October) and Taliesin Trust (Gwynedd, Wales – courses run May to November). Other books in the range include ‘writing for children’, ‘creative writing’ by Dianne Doubtfire and ‘how to write a blockbuster’ by Helen Corner & Lee Weatherly (which is published in association with writing magazine Writers’ Forum). The Teach Yourself company was established in 1938, their website is www.teachyourself.co.uk.
• I mentioned the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and Writer’s Handbooks in episode 1. Both are packed with information and resources for novel writing. More info. from www.acblack.com which also promotes ‘Is there a book in you’ by Alison Baverstock. Each chapter of Alison’s book offers a mini-quiz. A grading at the end of the book helps you discover whether you should begin writing now, or stick to your day job! There is advice from authors including PD James, Jacqueline Wilson, and Katie Fforde and examples from other writers.
• The two yearbooks have sections on agents, publishers etc. but information can change. People obviously move from company to company so you would need to check contact details so probably best to concentrate on writing advice rather than specifics. The internet and other reference books can help when submitting.
• Although it won’t write the book for you, ‘New Novelist’ software will help you “plan and create your complete story, characters and events; collate all your ideas and develop your novel methodically; keep all your notes in one easily accessible place and access the best writers’ resources on the internet”. More information from www.newnovelist.com. The newnovelist website sells it for £30 but when I got mine for my previous laptop (a PC) from PC World at £9.99 (as well as two others – ‘Write your own novel’ by GSP Software and ‘Write ambition – plan and prepare to make better movies’ by Mindscape (approved by Writers’ Forum magazine).
• http://literapedia.wikispaces.com/Gone+with+the+Wind has an interesting and chapter summaries and character listing for Gone with the Wind and over 70 other classics. I’d not come across ‘Literapedia’ before and it is fascinating. Literapedia says it is a “web experiment being conducted by an English literature teacher and his students. Since March of 2007 this site has provided interpretation-free book notes on great works of literature. Since these book notes do not seek to analyze the texts, they will be useful only to students who actually have read or are reading the texts – not to students seeking a shortcut”.
• Other recommendations: I was sent some leaflets by the nice people at Magma Poetry. Issued 3 times a year, Magma Poetry magazine is available via subscription or from your local bookshop at £5.95. The perhaps-unique aspect of the magazine is that each issue has a different editor so if you write, or are a fan of, poetry do take a look at their website (www.magmapoetry.com) for more information. Callio Press have also been in touch. Their website (www.calliopress.com) has plenty of information about the Press and welcomes submissions of manuscripts, synopses with a 60-word biography.

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – ideas

This section of the hints & tips podcast is all about getting story ideas then I give you seven sentence starts picked from my http://twitter/sentencestarts page; each one, if you’d like to use them, for a daily writing project – feel free.

• Take a look at www.scriptfrenzy.org’s Plot Machine. It gives you a setting, a character and a plot. The example on the home page when I looked last was ‘After a disastrous safari, a left-handed guitar player hot-wires an abandoned hot-air balloon.’ And like the NaNoWriMo Young Writers’ Programme’s website (which I’ll explain about in a minute) you can click on the ‘Go’ (or in the YWP’s case ‘Dare me’) button for alternatives.
• In the last episode I mentioned newspapers as a great source of ideas but looking at the lonely hearts and agony columns can give you inspiration for characters and dilemmas.
• Paddy Kitchen says that “Writers have long used other art forms as inspiration for novels: operas, myths, symphonies – even paintings. The more one is open to other fields, the more elements one gains for one’s own”. Fantasy author Owen Brookes (www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/owen-brookes) quite often finds parallels in music for themes in his writing, and a scene from his novel ‘The Gatherer’ was inspired by Verdi’s Requiem. Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture) is a classic example of emotional music with cannons firing! A segment of Orff’s ‘Carmen Burana’ (theme tune to the Omen films) is one of my favourites with its mix of quiet/booming sections although I’ve not written anything from it yet!

And episode 8’s sentence starts were…

• I bent/lowered my head and waited…
• Lorraine twisted her engagement ring round her finger nervously…
• To lose it/him/her once was careless…
• As the piano slipped from Trevor’s grasp…
• “Let them wait, I’m not ready…”
• Shaun opened the front door: and the heat hit him / and could smell burning…
• Water surrounded the car as it sank deeper into the…

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – novels hints & tips

Writing adviser Linda Seger says there are only three things that a writer needs – something to write with, to write on and to write about. Obviously the first two are easy (and cheap) but the third is the most difficult. One thing to remember about writing a novel is its construction; characters, points of view, dialogue and the all-important beginnings, middles and ends. Fantasy author Robert J Sawyer (www.sfwriter.com/ow01.htm) says there are four major beginnings:

• First, there’s evocative description. In some ways, this is the hardest, because nothing is happening. And yet, if you do it well, the reader will not be able to resist continuing: “The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel” (William Gibson’s Neuromancer); “Halifax Harbour at night is a beautiful sight, and June often finds the MacDonald Bridge lined with lovers and other appreciators. But in Halifax even June can turn on one with icy claws” (Spider Robinson’s ‘Mindkiller’). Note what these two examples have in common: beautiful use of the language. If you are going to start off with static description, then you must dazzle with your imagery or poetry.
• A second approach is to start by introducing an intriguing character: “Mrs. Sloan had only three fingers on her left hand, but when she drummed them against the countertop, the tiny polished bones at the end of the fourth and fifth stumps clattered like fingernails” (‘The Sloan Men’ by David Nickle). The reader immediately wants to know more about Mrs. Sloan so forges ahead.
• The third, and trickiest, approach is to start off with something else that isn’t actually the main narrative of the story. It can be done effectively: the horror novels ‘Carrie’ by Stephen King and ‘The Night Stalker’ by Jeff Rice begin this way. ‘Carrie’ immediately goes into its famous gym-class shower scene, and ‘The Night Stalker’ launches right into the first of the vampire murders. Really, this kind of beginning just postpones the inevitable — you’ll have to follow up your start with one of the other three classic narrative-hook techniques.
• The fourth, and most versatile way, is to start off in the middle of the action. Sometimes a single sentence is all it takes: “Because he thought that he would have problems taking the child over the border into Canada, he drove south, skirting the cities whenever they came and taking the anonymous freeways which were like a separate country” (Peter Straub’s Ghost Story). All the explanation can come later — for a hook, all you need to know is that someone is on the run. Immediately, you began asking questions: Who is running? What’s he running from? Is it his child, or has he kidnapped one? And suddenly you’re reading along, wanting to know the answers. Read and re-read your first chapter. If that action happens part-way through, ask yourself if you can bring it to the beginning and filter the original beginning text in later?
• Middles (usually the majority of the book), whilst not as important as the beginning or ending, must still captivate your reader. Most people give a book 50-100 pages before giving up (if they do) and books that keep a reader reading to the end must literally be ‘page turners’. Each chapter should end on a cliff-hanger, willing the reader to continue. Some fans of crime/thriller Martina Cole are known to book a day’s holiday from work when her books come out so they can read it in one sitting!
• Endings must satisfy the reader. The BBC children’s channel CBBC says of good endings: (i) solve the problem, dilemma or conflict faced by the story’s main character; (ii) once the problem is solved, the story should end. Adding anything else can weaken the ending; (iii) show that your main character has changed or grown in some way, but don’t preach about it; (iv) be clear – readers shouldn’t have to choose between several hinted endings and (v) tie up all the loose ends by answering any questions the reader may have. Simple but true. More information from http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4760000/newsid_4767200/4767216.stm.
• Re. dialogue – Characters need to speak to each other, whether it’s an argument, a love scene, a powwow amongst students or scientists in a lab. The trick is making it sound authentic and original. In his ‘Nuts and bolts of writing’ Michael Legat says that: In dialogue, punctuation should appear within inverted commas: “Now that it’s stopped raining,” she said, “I’ll take the dog out.” Paragraphs usually consist of a number of sentences which are linked by a common theme. In dialogue, start a new paragraph for each speaker. Especially when writing fiction or non-fiction of book length, other than the first one, indent each paragraph a few spaces, and do not put a blank line between paragraphs. Blank lines should be used only to indicate a change of time, place, character or subject.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologue is an optional piece of writing, usually composed to introduce a drama; usually in the beginning of a book. This website page goes into great detail into the history of drama. Chick Lit website is interesting – on the www.chicklit.co.uk/articles/how_to_write_a_strong_start_for_your_novel.asp page American novelist Kathleen Ernst recommends that you “provide a prologue. Some writers hate prologues, but I say if it works for your story, use it. A prologue can help readers feel how desperately a protagonist does not want something to happen. It can help readers understand what a character is about to lose or it can set a tone.” I have to say that I’m not a fan of them myself but some readers love them. Kathleen has had a very interesting life – see www.kathleenernst.com or http://wordswimmer.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-writers-process-kathleen-ernst.html for an interview.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilogue explains that “An epilogue is a final chapter at the end of a story that reveals the fates of the characters…and can be used to hint at a sequel or wrap up all the loose ends…and can occur at a significant period time after the main plot has ended.” Irish writer Sarah Webb on her page www.sarahwebb.info/Tips_for_Writers_Part_1.html says that she likes “to end some of my books with an Epilogue – a summing up of how my characters are faring one year on. This works particularly well for romantic fiction as readers might like to know if your characters really did get married or not, get that new job etc.” In http://literaryculture.suite101.com/article.cfm/j_k_rowling_and_harry_potter JK Rowling epilogues Harry Potter!
• Only include something in a novel that adds something. If you can delete it, and then on rereading the passage through later not regret its omission, it was superfluous. Perhaps it just needed a little re-shaping.
• Read works by authors of your genre, especially recently published books to see what’s currently being accepted. Most authors have websites which will usually give background information and some have tips! Reading recently published books that are similar to your novel will also give you the publisher’s details to approach, although going via an agent is usually recommended.
• Unless you’re writing your autobiography, not all your writing can be from personal experience. Paddy Kitchen says “you don’t need to be run over to write about an accident, but can you describe it convincingly?” You do however need to be accurate. Paddy says that Saul Bellow hadn’t visited Africa when he wrote the 1959 novel ‘Henderson the Rain King’ but he presumably researched the area well. Again reading books of a similar genre (especially if you’re writing complex thrillers) will help for the study of accuracy. If your setting is a specific town that actually exists then you need to be completely accurate as anyone from that area reading the book will know their way around. Even well-known authors have made this mistake. Again the internet will help with most details but going to the place yourself will also give you a feel for the place too as you can imagine your characters there!
• Paddy continues “specialist knowledge of a particular background can be of immense use in category fiction (war adventure, police thrillers, spy stories or hospital romance). Readers enjoy inside descriptions of the workings of special communities – there are thousands of diverse worlds in which murders could be committed, lifts jam for no reason or space creatures appear. That world needs to be integral to the action but research can be daunting – just do as much as your novel needs. If you don’t feel confident in the accuracy of your novel, you can exclude the parts that jar as long as they are not crucial or make the novel seem lacking without them. Your choice! The internet is an ideal place to research but library reference sections are a good alternative. If the subject is extensive, it may well be worth buying a book on the topic (from bookshops or Amazon/eBay for example).
• I’ve heard many authors (including Alexander McCall Smith) say that readers have contacted them saying that something wasn’t right so you can’t necessarily be 100% accurate but if you don’t try it’ll be obvious. Having said that some authors (Simon Scarrow included) have said that they were actually right and took great pleasure in proving it!

 

Extract from BWT podcast episode 8 (Oct 2010) – novels overview

The eighth episode of my Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released on 11th October 2010 and the content has never before been available other than website links on my website (www.morgenbailey.com) so I hope you find this information useful.

In the first seven episodes (see earlier blog posts), I covered ‘show not tell’, the five senses, repetition, points of view, tenses, dialogue, characters, crime, poetry and short stories. This podcast had a focus on short stories.

As NaNoWriMo (the National Novel Writing Month project I mentioned in episode 1) was coming up in November, this podcast had a focus on novels…

Last week I mentioned that short stories are usually up to around 7,000 words and as novels are usually over 25,000 words, this leaves room for the novella and novelette. Novellas are usually between 7,000 and 17,000 words (28-68 pages) then there is the lesser known Novelette which usually contains between 17,000 and 25,000 words (68-100 pages). Novels are therefore technically over 25,000 words (although http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Novella_versus_novel disputes this saying 40,000 words+) but more usually 70,000 – 80,000 words long (c. 300-400 pages). Epics such as Margaret Mitchell ‘Gone with the wind’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_wind) and Tolstoy’s ‘War & Peace’ are both over 1,000 pages long and MM Kaye’s Far Pavilions is c. 500,000 words!

Wikipedia’s ‘Novel’ page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novel) says the novel dates back to the 11^th Century and lists the genres as ‘campus’ (academic – examples given include Kingsley Amis’ ‘Lucky Jim’ and JM Coetzee’s ‘Disgrace’), crime, fantasy, gothic, horror, romance, spy, thriller, science fiction, speculative (a term attributed to Robert A Heinlein – “a style of fiction which explores the nature of unproven entities or occurrences”) and westerns.