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 E D I TO R ’ S L E T T E R

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creative writing... and How to boost
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11

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p003 Editor's letter.indd 3 27/09/2017 14:29

 IN THIS ISSUE
16

29

WRITERS’ NEWS
72 Your essential monthly roundup
INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES of competitions, paying markets,
opportunities to get into print and
16: Star interview: Mother of Dragons publishing industry news
Creator of the How to Train Your Dragon series, Cressida Cowell talks
about how she came up with her new series

26 Beat the bestsellers 21 Ask a literary consultant

The style and technique of John Wyndham Editorial consultant Helen Corner-Bryant helps a reader balance characters

28 How I got published: Hélene Fermont 40 Talk it over: Yearning for earnings
The Scandinavian noir author met her publisher at a party Consolation for a writer despairing she’ll never earn a living wage

34 Shelf life: David Mark 41 Helpline

The crime journalist turned novelist shares his five favourite reads Your writing problems solved

42 Subscriber spotlight 67 Research tips: Zotero

WM subscribers share their writing success stories Keep track of all your references with this one-step tool

60 Crime file 68 Computer clinic

Michael Robotham introduces his latest standalone

70 Author profile: Kerry Wilkinson WRITING LIFE

The bestselling author says being a trier is the best way to get a book
off the ground 10 Grumpy Old Bookman: Evolving reads
Over fifty years of publishing experience distilled by Michael Allen
92 My writing day: Alice Allen
The novelist and breastfeeding specialist starts her day with dreams 20 Beginners: What the blurb is that?
and coffee There’s a distinct difference between a blurb and an outline but your
story comes first

ASK THE EXPERTS 64 The business of writing: Rights reversion

Not all business divorces need be acrimonious. How to get your rights
11 On writing: Samuel Johnson back and what to do with them

11 Agent opinion: From the other side of the desk 94 Notes from the margin
Meeting a prospective publisher is intimidating but welcome, says Doing the right thing leaves Lorraine Mace short of ideas
Piers Blofeld

4 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p004 contents.indd 4 22/09/2017 10:38

 CONTENTS

FICTION 50 Poetry workshop: Nature watch WILN !

A reader’s poem convinces Alison ulu
A
12 Creative writing: Writing wrongs Chisholm an idea is taking flight publishing
Much creative writing advice is clichéd, ill-explained or self ur
package for yo ve
contradictory. Story consultant Jeff Lyons highlights the kernels of 51 Poetry in practice exclusi
book in our
truth at their heart and which bits you can ignore How to keep rhythm and musicality in competition
your free verse See page 15
36 Under the microscope
James McCreet explores the opening of a reader’s mystery manuscript 52 Poetry from A to Z
An alphabetic guide through the
38 Fiction focus: Ready, steady, GO! language of poetry
Get fired up for November’s NaNoWriMo writing marathon as
Margaret James looks at the very real benefits of taking part COMPETITIONS AND EXERCISES

56 Masterclass: A world of difference 29 & 53 WIN! Cash prizes and publication in our latest
Helen M Walters looks at the way contrasts work in Her First Ball by creative writing competitions
Katherine Mansfield
30 & 54 Read the winning entries in our latest short
58 Writing for children: Words & pictures story competitions
How are picture books put together? Amy Sparkes explains the process
from both sides of the desk 66 Train your brain: Red editing pen

62 Fantastic realms: Spatial awareness REGULARS

There are no limits but you still need to take some things into
consideration when writing about space 6 Miscellany

MARKETING 8 Letters

22 Marketing: Self promotion: Level expert 46 Circles’ roundup

Get marketing savvy with a crash course on giving your book the Writing group interests, activities and exercises
marketing push it deserves
69 Editorial calendar
24 Marketing: Advertising with Amazon
Want to increase your sales in the USA? Discover how using Amazon 77 Going to market
Marketing Sales can find you readers
83 Novel ideas
POETRY
87 Travel writing know-how
32 Poetry winners: The poetry in science
Alison Chisholm examines the winners in our competition for poems 89 Away from your desk – What’s on in the wider world?

38
with a science theme

56 26

68

70 32
www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 5

p004 contents.indd 5 22/09/2017 10:38

 MISCELLANY

THE WORLD OF
WRITING The queen, the king, the bard and his skin.
All will be forgotten, as Derek Hudson uncovers

Writing ideas are everywhere, Fame and

says the horror King misfortune
Master author Stephen King oversees a well-stocked website, and Neil Gaiman is not entirely comfortable being in the
in one section he answers the sort of questions he is often asked. skin of a famous living novelist.
These include: Why did you become a writer? ‘The answer to The author of American Gods and Coraline is
that is fairly simple – there was nothing else I was made to do. seldom out of the bestseller lists.
I was made to write stories and I love to write stories. That’s But he’s not exactly thrilled about it.
why I do it. I really can’t imagine doing anything else and I ‘I used to be exactly famous enough,’ he told
can’t imagine not doing what I do.’ Hayley Campbell of the Observer. ‘From 1992 I
Where do you get ideas? ‘I get my ideas from everywhere. was never famous enough to get a fancy seat in a
But what all of my ideas boil down to is seeing maybe one restaurant, but if I needed to talk to somebody, they
thing, but in a lot of cases it’s seeing two things and having would take my calls.
them come together in some new and interesting way, and ‘Now I am somebody who is recognised in the
then adding the question “What if?” “What if ” is always the street. I (no longer) feel like I’m an amiable invisible
key question.’ person observing life, but not part of it, which is how I
Do you accept story ideas? ‘No, I don’t. I really have enough story ideas of my own. like being as a writer.’
Every now and then somebody will advance a concept the way that my foreign rights He isn’t even
agent, Ralph Vicinanza, suggested wouldn’t it be fun to do a modern-day serial story. cheered up by his
The result of that was The Green Mile which was published in instalments – these little sales figures. ‘There’s
paperback books. But he never suggested what sort of story I might have written in nothing like studying
instalments and I wouldn’t have accepted it if he had done that. I believe in thinking the bestseller lists
up my own ideas. I really have enough. I really think if I have two or three ideas ahead of bygone years
I’m in totally great shape.’ for teaching an
Would you read my manuscript and tell me what you think? ‘No. If I did that for one author humility.
person, I would feel like I’d have to do it for a great many people and in a lot of cases you Today’s bestsellers
can read a page or two or three and just say to yourself, “This is terrible.” But nobody are tomorrow’s
wants to write that kind of letter…’ forgotten things.’

6 SEPTEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p6 Miscellany.indd 6 22/09/2017 09:14

 MISCELLANY

Figures of speech Hilary Mantel turned a jaundiced

eye on fairy tales which she said
were not about gauzy frocks and
ego gratification.
‘They are about child murder,
cannibalism, starvation, deformity,
desperate human creatures cast in to
the form of beasts, or chained by spells,
or immured alive in thorns.’
But, they do often have a happy
ending, don’t they?
How the Bard
added to the
language
As the The Books on the wall
website commented: ‘William
Shakespeare’s legacy survives
not only in his many plays, but
also in his contributions to the
English language. Did you know
these phrases originally came
from Shakespeare?’

In search of
Shakespeare’s DNA…
Stuart Kells circled the world to write a book
about libraries, and believes its publication
could not have been more timely.
After ‘a short-lived ebooks scare,
physical books are back in fashion, and
libraries are the place to be,’ he said in an
article in the Guardian.
Stuart, the author of The Library: A
Catalogue of Wonders (Text Publishing),
emphasised one of the trends which is
changing how we think of old books
and old libraries, ‘a stronger focus on
provenance research. Through whose hands
have the books passed? How did those handlers use and
mark and protect their books? This branch of bibliography
is helping to humanise it.’
There is a little-known sub-field which concentrates on the
human biology of libraries.
‘When Sylvia Plath vengefully incinerated Ted Hughes’s
personal papers, she sprinkled in his dandruff and fingernail
cuttings. The Australian bookbinder and bibliophile Richard
Griffin, after crashing his car into a tram, famously bled on
many of his most precious books (Griffin’s girlfriend tried to
drown some of the others in the bath).
‘Seventeenth-century books are now being searched for
the DNA of Shakespeare – or perhaps of Francis Bacon,
Henry Neville or Edward de Vere – to resolve the so-called
Authorship Question. DNA testing has also been used in
libraries to identify materials used in book-making. (French
books covered with the skin of guillotined prisoners were said
to be bound in “aristocratic leather”.)’
dead as a doornail
fair play
all of a sudden
in a pickle
night owl
wear your heart on your sleeve
star-crossed lovers
off with his head
green-eyed monster
Spelling out Agatha Christie’s success
How did Agatha Christie manage to such cast a spell
over us?
Andy Martin, asked the question in an article in The
Independent, and followed it with another:
‘What is the most striking thing about the “mystery”
as opposed to “hard-boiled” American pulp fiction
or even the works of Raymond Chandler? Answer: in
Christie no one ever gets paid. Unless you’re one of the
plodding policemen types. Neither Poirot nor Marple
ever asks for a penny. The pleasure of finally pointing the
finger is enough. This is the sole point of the book, to
correctly name the malefactor. The Christie sleuth is an
amateur, s/he’s not in it for the money.
‘… they’re not into sex either. They never fall in love and
are fully satisfied and kept on the straight and narrow perhaps
by the pure pursuit of the perpetrator… No sex please, we’re
busy hunting for clues.’
Andy, the author of Reacher Said Nothing: Lee Child
and the Making of Make Me, who teaches at the University of Cambridge,
continued:
‘As per TV’s Midsomer Murders, Christie’s alluring paradox is the perfect
compatibility of quaint, genteel villages in middle England, and homicidal
maniacs on the rampage.’
Finally: ‘Another question: how come The Mousetrap hasn’t been made into a
film?… the fact is that built into the original contract is a clause that says that
no one is allowed to make a film out of this play until it has finished its run.
That was back in 1952 and still there is no end in sight.’

www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 7

p6 Miscellany.indd 7 22/09/2017 14:37

 TITLE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We want to hear your news and views on the writing world, your advice for fellow writers
– and don’t forget to tell us what you would like to see featured in a future issue...
Write to: Letters to the editor, Writing Magazine, Warners
Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds
LS1 5JD; email: letters@writersnews.co.uk. (Include your
name and address when emailing letters. Ensure all
STAR LETTER
Write on
I sub copy for a leading aircraft magazine, but I’m scared
of flying. I’ve won prizes for travel writing, but I don’t have
a passport. I’ve written for Truck & Driver magazine, even
though I don’t have an HGV licence.
But then again, how many fantasy writers have actually met
a dragon? How many crime writers have killed someone for
real? (One would hope none, but you never know.)
‘Write what you know’ is sound advice, but it will only take
you so far. Take a punt on something you read in Flashes in
WM; check out the possibilities of the ‘UK Magazine Market’
features; enter a competition on a topic outside your usual
area. What’s the worst that could happen? You say you’re a
writer, so write.
JULIA THORLEY
Kettering, Northamptonshire
The star letter each month earns a copy
of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2018,
courtesy of Bloomsbury,
www.writersandartists.co.uk
One more for the road
About fifteen years ago I started writing a series of books featuring pub walks in
Suffolk. The books were well received and achieved modest sales. Although the
books are still quite saleable, as to be expected, over time the contents have become
somewhat dated. For example, some of the listed pubs have changed hands with
landlords coming and going and alas, some have closed and never reopened.
However, friends tell me that well-thumbed copies can be found in local
charity shops. Nice to know that my books are ending their days aiding
charitable causes, albeit at 20p to 30p per copy.
CYRIL FRANCIS
Stowmarket, Suffolk
8 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk
p08 Letters.indd 8
letters, a maximum of 250 words, are exclusive to Writing
Magazine. Letters may be edited.)
When referring to previous articles/letters, please state
month of publication and page number.
WRITE CONTACTS
After reading, and thoroughly enjoying, Need You
Dead, by Peter James, I made the mistake of reading
the acknowledgements and was quietly horrified by the
amount of people he named. Not because he named
them; it’s wonderful that he took the time to do this and
make it so personal, but by the sheer volume of bodies
that were involved in getting this book published. I very
roughly counted 133 – and he apologised to those he
might have missed.
Am I being naive in wishing for the days of Beatrix Potter,
when she took Peter Rabbit to the publisher and, before too
long, there it was in print? Was it that simple? Did she edit it
many times, all by hand with no aid from Word or copy and
paste, or was her first draft all she needed?
Not having much confidence in my work at the best of
times, I now feel daunted by the fact that I will need all
of these people to help me. Do I even know 133+ people?
Perhaps I won’t bother.
MURIEL N WALDT
Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire
I read Fed Up And Fuming’s problem (Talk It Over, WM,
Oct) with mild amusement, with a sprinkle of annoyance.
I think many of us can relate to how she is feeling.
I think the worst question any writer gets asked is ‘are
you published?’, especially when starting out. As if being
published is the only way to call yourself a writer. I will
have a piece of flash fiction published in the Third Word
Anthology, and the first question I got asked by my in-laws
was about what sort of payment I would receive. Another
thing that you need to call yourself a writer.
Unfortunately for Fed Up, her ‘friend’ is in print and
earning money.
But it grates my nerves, that there are people out there
who do not appreciate the effort to make a book good.
When will writers get the recognition they deserve? When
will Joe Public realise it is more than just stringing several
sentences together?
Congratulations Fed Up and Fuming on your book deal.
You can be proud of that. Hold your head high.
INGRID SENGER-PERKINS
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
22/09/2017 10:40

WRITERS WRITE
I must have imagined 1,000 times when I was younger how it would feel
to see my first book in print. An hallelujah chorus, family members in tears,
a special shelf on the bookcase or space on the coffee table and a new burst
of inspiration to get going on the follow up. Not a sudden influx of fame
and fortune, but the tangible proof that this is who I am and this is what
I do. This summer the dream has finally come true and all of those
predictions have also come true to some extent but not in the way I
imagined. I kept forgetting! People would congratulate me and it would
take me a moment to place what for! The truth is, as grateful and as
happy as I am and as excited as I am to keep going, it doesn’t feel as
revolutionary as I imagined it would. It feels natural. It feels inevitable.
It feels like I’m finally doing my job.
CATE FRANCES
Brixham, Devon
In order to be a writer you have to write. It’s the advice we all hear
time and time again. We must write, write, write. Unfortunately,
when starting out, we sometimes have to work, work, work instead
– to make mortgage payments, buy food; fuel to live and work
– with writing fitted in as and when possible. It’s a catch-22 but
what can be done?
Well, after 10+ years of office work, I’ve decided that enough’s
enough! Thanks to a pep talk from my incredibly encouraging
fiancé and the support of my ever-accepting family, I’ve decided to
give up the day job, accept my P45 with pride and become a full-
time writer instead. No longer will writing be something I do only
in my spare time. I can finally give it the time it deserves.
It’s scary, really scary. No daily work routine. No monthly
income. Just me, some paper and a pen. But it’s also unbelievably
exciting. I will be accountable only to myself and my dream. I can
make my own routine. Editing drafts in my pyjamas – fine. A walk
in the park to mull over a plot line – no problem.
So, here goes, I’m taking the leap. Fly, float or fall, at least I will
finally be writing. I’ve never really been brave before; this feels like
my chance and whilst I don’t know what will happen, I’m excited
to start the story and find out. Call myself a writer? Well yes,
actually, I do!
SJ STEEL
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Enjoy your writing! Sometimes I think the sheer pleasure of
putting pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – is lost in the
myriad of advice offered us.
Should we have a daily word count to aim at? Should we set
aside a fixed number of hours for writing per day? Should we
always write at the same time of day? Should we have a fixed
writing place?
If you are writing for a living or if your writing produces a
significant part of your income – yes, to all or some of the above.
It’s no different from any other job with deadlines and routines.
But many of us are fortunate enough to write as a hobby – a
time-consuming, all-consuming activity it may be, but a hobby
nonetheless. And a hobby is something done for enjoyment. It is
not a chore.
So write when you want to. Don’t write if you don’t feel in the
mood. Above all, don’t let writing become anything other than a
pure pleasure!
LINDA FAWKE
Winnersh, Berkshire
www.writers-online.co.uk
p08 Letters.indd 9
L E T T E R S TO T H E E D I TO R
Get in tou ch!
Send
your lett
by emaers
il:
letters@
write
news.c rs
o.uk
Course corrections
As any writer will say, the craft of writing is something that
is mastered by good instruction and discipline to write as
often as possible. It does not matter if you write as a hobby or
professional, the rules are the same; you have to do the time
needed to master the craft.
There are many writing courses to choose from in writing
magazines and local education programmes. I studied all the writing
courses advertised in magazines until I found the one I thought was
right for me. I checked the blog on the internet, and decided this
was for me.
This way is right for me, but others may find other ways to find
a course. Also advertised are writing course retreats, for those who
like a personal teaching.
While choosing a course, the cost is the main concern against your
own financial situation. Some courses allow payment in instalments
instead of full payment. On deciding on the course, finding a
workplace to start with is advisable but this may change once the
course has started.
While I have been doing the course assignments, I have found that
once the assignment is put aside for a while, on reading it later I have
been surprised how many mistakes there are. Always check your work
before you believe it to be finished
ERIC BAYLISS
Frizinghall, West Yorkshire
The importance of an author properly revising his manuscript (On
Writing, WM, Aug) is shown by looking at the works of those authors
who haven’t revised their books. Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and Charles
Dickens’ novels were issued at first in serial form and weren’t revised
in the modern sense and these novels are just about all cumbersome in
length (Hard Times is the exception that proves the rule).
As the American master story teller Judith Kelman has two of her
characters discussing in One Last Kiss: ‘“No,Wait. I have to revise
that”... Serious writers revise all the time, he said. That way, the work
keeps getting better and better.’
COLIN POTTS
Caversham, Berkshire
NOVEMBER 2017 9
22/09/2017 10:40
 GRUMPY OLD BOOKMAN
I
t is now ten years since I first
began to write this regular
monthly column. In 2007 the
editor kindly gave me a free
hand as to choice of subjects, but for
a variety of reasons I have usually
chosen to look at the world of book
publishing. I do so mainly with the
aim of providing information which
will be useful to anyone who wants to
succeed as a novelist.
Continuing in that vein, the
purpose of this particular column
is to give you a very rapid oversight
into what has happened to book
publishing in my lifetime, and
what is likely to happen in the near
future. Maybe.
My first novel was published
in 1963, and in about 1960 any
wannabe writer had to type a
neat top copy of her book (or pay
someone else to type it) and send
the thing by post to an agent or
publisher. If your manuscript arrived
safely, the recipient might possibly
lose it in the so-called slushpile (oh
yes). He would generally keep it
for three months or so, until you
asked for a response. Then he would
say no. One publisher told me that
on average his firm accepted one
manuscript in every 200 offered.
You would repeat this submission
process until some publisher’s menial
really did lose your manuscript. Or
you got fed up and began to breed
budgerigars instead.
That was the way things were
done, largely unchanged, for about
the next forty years. But then, if
you were paying attention, signs of
impending change began to appear.
For a start, there was this thing
called the internet. And printing
technology changed: it became
possible to print books one at a
time, rather than a minimum order
of 1,000 copies.
The other big development which
was clearly on the horizon in about
10 JULY 2015
p010 Grumpy.indd 10
Evolving reads
Over fifty years of publishing experience, distilled,
by Grumpy Old Bookman Michael Allen
2000 was books in electronic form –
or ebooks as they came to be known.
In 2003 even a relatively unknown
writer (such as me) could sign a
contract with a new American
“”
firm for them to publish a
novel which could only
be read on a computer. Once Amazon made it
And I wasn’t the first
in the field. All that
possible for writers to publish longer
was needed if ebooks their own work in ebook
were to become form, at zero cost, it was
really big business
was for someone to surely clear that no writer
market a convenient need ever again waste time
ebook reader; one
that could be carried with agents or publishers. WhatAnd
around in your pocket
or handbag, and one which
would have enough memory in
it to hold, say, a hundred books at
a time.
And so we come to the year 2007,
in which I began to write this column.
A couple of months later, the Kindle
ebook reader first went on sale (purely
by coincidence).
Once Amazon made it possible for
writers to publish their own work in
ebook form, at zero cost, it was surely
clear that no writer need ever again
waste time with agents or publishers.
Not unless she was a masochist. It was
also obvious, to anyone thinking clearly,
that the traditional firms would soon
lose a huge chunk of the fiction market.
Heavy book readers could now shop
online and buy ebooks at really low
prices. But most publishers still had
their eyes firmly shut.
Today, the industry observer who
calls himself the Data Guy estimates
that self-publishing authors have
captured between 30 and 40 per
cent of the global ebook market, and
small to medium-sized publishers
have taken another 20 per cent. The
Big Five, as the long-established
traditional publishers are known,
have been squeezed out and have
only 38 per cent of the market.
www.writers-online.co.uk
Furthermore, the traditional firms
have now abandoned the old idea of
midlist books, in which generations
of writers learnt their trade, and seem
only interested in writers who are
already famous names. Result:
getting a start in the writing
business in the old way is no
a serious option.
All of these changes
suggest (to me) that the last
ten years have seen the most
dramatic developments in
book publishing since the
invention of printing.
so, what of the future?
can a poor struggling
writer expect in the next ten years
– whether in the form of difficulties
or opportunities?
Digital disruption is what happens
when people outside an industry
take advantage of new technologies
to wipe out old-fashioned ways of
doing business. Uber, for instance, is
the world’s largest taxi company, but
it owns no cabs. In book publishing,
however, you can still find plenty of
people who think that the demand for
ebooks was a temporary fad: people
are going back to buying paper, they
say. So everything’s perfectly okay,
right? Business as usual.
I don’t think so, myself.
Publishers undoubtedly have
problems, but for writers, new
or old, there are vast, almost
unimaginable, opportunities: you
can now make your work available
all over the world, in ebook and
paperback form, for the price of
theatre ticket or less. There is
no guarantee of fame and riches,
but for someone my age this is a
breathtaking development.
The likelihood is that I won’t
be here in another ten years’ time.
But in the meantime I shall stand
well back and watch what happens.
From a certain point of view, it will
be fun.
22/09/2017 09:18

On Writing
Tony Rossiter explores great words from
great writers
“”
‘Read over your
compositions and whenever
you meet with a passage you
think is particularly fine,
strike it out.’
SAMUEL JOHNSON
I
t’s a variant of that old ‘kill your darlings’ theme.
Sometimes we can get carried away with the sheer
beauty and versatility of the English language. Fine
writing, perhaps with lots of dramatic action, flowery
description and poetic imagery, has its place, but it’s best
not to overdo it. Reading over what you have written –
preferably after putting it aside for a day or two and then
reading it out to yourself aloud – will often enable you to
identify sentences or words that would be better omitted.
Go back to basics and ask yourself, ‘Why am I writing
this?’ and ‘What am I seeking to achieve?’ Then switch
round and put yourself in the shoes of the reader. What
impact will it have on the reader? Will it reinforce – or
detract from – the image, the emotion or the message that
you are seeking to get across? Whatever that is, it’s easy
for a writer to get carried away, especially if it’s something
he or she knows a great deal about or feels really strongly
about. You may think that it’s the finest, most beautiful,
most original sentence you have ever produced. But that
does not mean that, come hell or high water, you must
preserve it in aspic and find some way of fitting it into
your piece. If it’s irrelevant or if it’s over the top, it will
detract from the overall impact and reduce the effect you
are seeking to produce. If that’s the case, it’s time to reach
for the delete key.
Often, less is more. Rather than spelling everything out in
great detail with fine, elaborate writing, why not make your
readers do some work? Force them to exercise their little grey
cells by using the limited information you give them to create
their own images. That can be the most effective way of
stimulating their imagination – and the result may be more
powerful than anything the writer can produce.
‘Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the
questing vole’, wrote the nature correspondent William
Boot, hero of Evelyn Waugh’s comic novel Scoop. Of
course, that’s an absurd, deliberately exaggerated example
of OTT description. No reader of Writing Magazine
would ever write anything anywhere near as ghastly as that
now, would they?
www.writers-online.co.uk
p011 On writing / piers.indd 11
AGENT OPTIN
ITLE
ION
From the
OTHE R SIDE
OF THE DESK
Meeting a prospective publisher
is intimidating but welcome,
says agent Piers Blofeld
P
ublishing is a business beset by meetings. A senior editor
friend of mine can have as many as thirty meetings in a single
week. And these meetings can be interminable – a cynical
colleague of mine was fond of saying, ‘It’s a publishing meeting; it
doesn’t end until everybody is unhappy.’ But then I am sure that is
a feeling shared by people in many different industries.
As writers, my clients are mostly immune to this scourge,
however there is one type of meeting it is worthwhile any would-
be author being aware of: every once in a while publishers
will respond to a submission by asking to meet the author.
Understandably, this is a meeting fraught with anxiety for
the author whose nose is, so to speak, pressed up against the
sweetshop window – so near and yet, perhaps, still so far.
It should be said that publishers mostly ask for a meeting
like this for non-fiction authors because authenticity and
promotability matter more with non-fiction than they generally
do with fiction. With non-fiction it is very important that the
reader trusts the author’s account. In fiction the words on the
page are, to a greater degree, allowed to speak for themselves.
Having said that these meetings are by no means unheard of
for would-be novelists, but whoever they are for they can be
tricky waters to navigate because the terms of the meetings are
generally rather nebulous. What exactly are the publishers after?
The first thing that needs to be said is that these are not
meetings where any negotiations will take place. Publishing
regards authors a bit like 19th-century wives: money shouldn’t be
discussed in front of them. There are in fact good reasons for this
and in any case at this stage it would be inappropriate.
So this is not a business meeting in that sense of the word – it
is above all a meeting for publishers to settle any doubts they
might have. They will have questions they want answered, for
instance – is this an author I can work with? Very often fiction
meetings are held when editors love a novel but think it will need
a lot of work and they want to be 100% sure that the author is
someone they can get on with and who will respond to editorial
notes well.
The second question is, is the author promotable? It’s a question
I know strikes fear into many author’s hearts but the reality is often
less dreadful than it can appear. Publishers know that you aren’t a
celebrity; they also know that people who write books aren’t likely to
be natural extroverts. Particularly in fiction the bar is set pretty low
– they will mostly be looking for reassurance that you aren’t a one
person narcolepsy factory.
But the upshot of both these things is that they are also meetings
where your agent is unlikely to be able to say much – and they will
be present – for us it’s a question of watching our authors sink or
swim. Mostly though they swim, not only because most authors are
delightful people (they are) but because at heart the odds are in your
favour. People do tend to ask for a meeting only because they are
already pretty convinced they want to acquire the book.
NOVEMBER 2017 11
22/09/2017 09:20
 WRITING
WRONGS
Much creative writing advice is clichéd, ill-explained or self-contradictory. In the first of two articles,
story consultant Jeff Lyons highlights the kernels of truth at their heart and which bits you can ignore.

W
e live in the age
of clickbait,
soundbites, and
viral memes,
reflecting our
moods and emotional states,
reinforcing happy thoughts,
or confirming our darkest
vulnerabilities. We read them,
consume them, have a laugh or a
wistful shrug of self-reflection, and
move on to the next, invariably
making a mental note to ‘remember
that one’, then forgetting all about it.
But, sometimes these little fortune
cookies solidify and take on a
substance they were never meant to
have, finding a level of acceptance
and ‘truth’ that endures and endures.
This phenomenon is everywhere,
in all creative endeavours, but
particularly in creative writing where,
for many, clichés seem to underpin
the entire creative process.
‘So what?’ comes the obvious
reaction. Buying into the big myths
and clichés of creative writing hasn’t
done any real harm; people keep
writing, books and screenplays are
still being published and produced,
more creative writing is happening
now than at any time in human
history – so what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that lots of harm
follows these myths and clichés:
wasted time, pointless writing, lost
money, unnecessary struggle, missed
opportunities, just-plain-bad writing,
the list goes on. Abandoning the
myths of creative writing is essential
to maturing your creative and
practical writing processes. When
you buy into the myths you go on
creative autopilot and shut down the
greatest gifts you have as a creative

12 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p012 Myths Lyons.indd 12 22/09/2017 12:09


person: your ability to discern, your
ability to assess, and your ability to
make informed creative decisions.
Reviving and relying on those
abilities are at the heart of being a
conscious writer: ie, a writer who
knows what she is writing, why she
is writing, and how she is writing.
Being a conscious writer honours
our true creative process and is the
only path to achieve deep, authentic,
and meaningful connection with
readers. And busting the biggest
myths of creative writing has to be
one of the most important first steps
on the road to becoming a conscious
writer. So, let’s take that first step
this month and start busting the
myths of creative writing.
#10: Show don’t tell.
The lie: If you are not writing visual
scenes, or giving the reader a visual
experience, then you are failing.
The truth: It’s not either-or, it’s
both. You have to tell and show.
Telling is called exposition. Showing
is giving a visual expression to
character behaviour. The implied
sub-lie here is that exposition is not
your friend, so you should avoid
it as much as possible. Not true.
Exposition is a tool and you have
to learn how to wield it effectively.
Showing is not always the best
solution. Take a simple example:
the teenage geek who is put under
the tutelage of the grizzled martial
arts master, whose job it is to turn
the geek into a ninja killer – and
he has fifteen years to do the task.
The fifteen years that pass cannot
be shown to the reader in detail – it
would take an entire book to show
how the boy or girl goes from geek to
killer. You have to tell it in exposition
and cut it down to a manageable
amount of prose. Showing in this case
would be pacing-death to any story.
No, you use telling exposition to
economically reduce the fifteen years
down to a few paragraphs, or maybe
a few pages, and then you move on
to the mainline story with minimal
digression. But telling doesn’t mean
you are only giving information,
delivering facts, or filling in story
gaps between visual moments. Telling
can also be setting mood, establishing
emotional context, and building
the inner life of a character through
p012 Myths Lyons.indd 13
“When you buy into the myths you go on creative
autopilot and shut down the greatest gifts you have
as a creative person: your ability to discern, your
ability to assess, and your ability to make informed
creative decisions.”
emotions, thoughts, and ideas. This
is all exposition/telling, and often this
is the preferred form of prose tool for
the job at hand. In the movie world
this is usually done with a montage.
Screenwriters splice together a series
of shots showing the passing of time
(usually just a few) to demonstrate
the passing of time and the evolution
of the change taking place, then
jump back into the mainline story
after the montage. Prose writers can
do the same thing with well-written
exposition, ie, telling. Writers tell all
the time, in fact we have to tell a lot,
sometimes more than we show. The
key is knowing when to do one vs
the other. This is where the abilities
mentioned above come in. You have
to discern the context, assess the
purpose of the scene, and make an
informed decision which best serves
your purposes as a writer. If you are
on autopilot you will blindly follow
the myth and miss the opportunity of
writing the best scene possible.
#9: The blank page is the
enemy.
The lie: When you sit in front of the
blank page (or screen) you are in for
pain and anxiety and angst. The blank
page will resist any attempts to fill it,
and it is your biggest obstacle.
The truth: It’s just a piece of paper.
It’s just a blank word processing
document. Get a grip. The ‘obstacle’
is not the blank whatever, the obstacle
is your head – or more correctly what’s
inside your head. This myth actually
ties into one of next month’s myths,
about writer’s block, because they both
have to do with having so much going
on in your head that you can’t prioritise
and order your creative process enough
to be productive. You are so jumbled
and crowded with ideas that you can’t
break the logjam. The danger of this
myth is that it conditions you to give
your power away to some inanimate
object (piece of paper or blank screen)
www.writers-online.co.uk
C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G
and hold that ‘other’ responsible for
your inability to be productive. It
doesn’t have the power, you do. Clear
the mind, clear the logjam, order your
creative thought process and the ideas
will flow, because they are there – you
just have to get out of their way. We’ll
come back to this next month.
#8: Write what you know.
The lie: If you can only write what
you know then you will be limited and
constricted in what you can write. Writing
what you know is restricted by your own
life experience, and if you only know your
life then how boring will your writing be?
The truth: This is actually a very
good piece of writing advice, but
people get the purpose of it all wrong.
Writing what you know isn’t about
writing about things that happened
(necessarily), it is about the emotional
content of what happened in your
life. If you felt abused, write what
you know about that. If you felt
loved, write about that. If you felt
afraid, write about that. The actual
events might be part of that, but it’s
what’s under the emotional hood
that will grab readers – and only
you can write about that from your
own emotional experience. This is
what makes your writing relatable to
readers, because those that felt abused,
or loved, or afraid growing up will
relate accordingly. The other truth
here is that you can’t write about stuff
you don’t know. In other words, you
are forced by circumstance (ie, life
itself ) to only write what you know,
because you don’t know what you don’t
know. Even if you make everything
up in a story, it can only be sourced
from what you know – as a writer you
have no experience other than your
own. So, writing what you know is
unavoidable, but it is also important
to be reminded of the truth of the
sentiment. The danger of the myth
is that misinterpreting the meaning
of the advice can artificially restrict
NOVEMBER 2017 13
22/09/2017 12:09

“The writer that thinks and ponders more than
physically writing is probably going to produce more
useful work product than the one that blindly writes
every day hoping for real productivity.”
or constrict your ability to write,
whereas the real function of the
advice is to do just the opposite.
#7: Real writers write every day.
The lie: The best way to be productive
and accomplish success is to always
exercise the ‘writing muscle’, so that
means never losing momentum – write
every day.
The truth: No, writers don’t write
every day. This myth ties into one
of next month’s points. Just keep
writing, because that’s what writers
do. It also feeds into the next myth
about storytelling vs writing (you
can see how all these myths actually
reinforce one another and can thus
derail you as they gang up on your
creative process). The truth here is
you don’t have to write every day. I’m
not sure who made this rule up, but
it is total bunk. Other than eating,
sleeping, and going to the bathroom
there are few things we have to do
every day. Writing is certainly not in
that list. The fact is, most writers are
not writing every day, and because
they buy into this dumb myth they
beat themselves up and feel guilty
because they’re not writing. But they are
doing something else (probably every
14 NOVEMBER 2017
p012 Myths Lyons.indd 14
day): they are thinking about writing
and thinking about story. So much
happens when we writers stop writing
and just mull over ideas in our heads.
We’re thinking about story all the time
(I certainly do). This is actually more
important than writing because it is
what gives fuel to the writing process.
It’s called story development and this
is something writers do almost daily
and certainly more often than physical
writing. The danger of this myth is that
it might make a writer discount their
internal story development process
as less valuable than physical writing.
Just the opposite is true. If you write
every day, fine, have at it. But, know
that doing so doesn’t make you more
of a writer, or even make you more
productive as a writer. The writer that
thinks and ponders more than physically
writing is probably going to produce
more useful work product than the one
that blindly writes every day hoping for
real productivity.
#6: Storytelling and writing
are the same.
The lie: Writing is storytelling and
storytelling writing. There is no
difference and any perceived difference is
just semantics.
www.writers-online.co.uk
The truth: Storytelling and writing
are two different things, and they
have nothing to do with one another.
Storytelling is about story. Storytelling
is about us. Story is what we tell
ourselves about what it means to be
human. We’ve been telling ourselves
stories for 40,000+ years. We’ve only
been writing for 5 or 6,000. Writing
is about language/rhetoric, it is
about the rhythm and musicality of
using language to convey meaning,
thoughts, and ideas. There is nothing
that intrinsically connects writing to
storytelling. Storytelling preceded
writing and a story doesn’t need to
be anywhere near the written word
in order to be told. Think about
it; stories can be: danced, mimed,
painted, sculpted, sung, spoken – or
written. Stories need storytellers, not
writers. This is a hard one for people
to wrap their heads around, especially
if they think writing is storytelling.
No, writing is just one way to render
a story. In addition, writing and
storytelling, because they are different,
also represent separate kinds of talent
and separate kinds of skill sets. Because
you are good at one does not mean
you will be good at the other. In fact,
most writers are good at the writing
function, but bad or poor at the story
function. Storytelling is usually not the
strongest skill set with most writers.
This is why learning story structure
and story development craft is so
critically important for creative writers.
The danger of buying into this myth
is that writers will assume because they
can string two sentences together, and
turn a nice phrase, they can tell a story
properly. The myth gives them a false
sense of security in their own skill sets
and talents. Writers have to learn how
to do both well, that means learning
the craft of story development and the
craft of creative writing.
This month we’ve considered the least
destructive of our ten myths, but they are
each still capable of derailing your creative
process and hampering your productivity.
Always keep in mind the idea of yourself
as a conscious writer, and the abilities you
have to bust these myths and re-empower
your personal writing process: the ability
to discern, the ability to assess, and the
ability to make informed creative choices.
Come back next month as we explore the
last five, most damaging, myths.
22/09/2017 12:09
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p19 BIG comp.indd 19 22/08/2017 15:06

Creator of one of the most popular series of children’s books, Cressida Cowell tells
Tina Jackson how she tamed the dragons, and came up with her new series
C
ressida Cowell’s multi-
million-selling How to
Train Your Dragon is
one of the most-loved
series of children’s books
– and the last one, How to Fight a
Dragon’s Fury, was published in 2015.
After twelve Dragon books and a
blockbuster 2010 DreamWorks film,
Cressida is launching another magical
world with The Wizards of Once, the
first in a high-adventure series set in
an enchanted Bronze Age landscape
and featuring wizard prince Xar and
warrior princess Wish.
‘Starting a new series was quite
emotional for me,’ confesses
Cressida. ‘I’m a story writer but I’m
also interested in getting children
reading and writing. I knew I
wanted to carry on writing, getting
children of today reading with the
same enthusiasm I had when I
was a child. So I wanted to write
something I cared about as much as
I cared about the Hiccup books.’
In Cressida’s books, there’s no such
thing as ordinary, and Xar and Wish
are not ordinary wizard and witch
16 NOVEMBER 2017
p016 Interview.indd 16
MOTHER OF
DRAGONS
children. Xar, who is bratty and full
of himself, has failed to come into
his magical powers at the usual age of
twelve. Wish, from the warrior tribe,
is plain, peculiar, and has a spoon as
a pet. Their tribes hate each other.
The Wizards of Once tackles how
they come together in a high-stakes
adventure and whether they can
resolve their antagonistic relationship.
‘I wanted it to be about two
children from warring tribes,’ says
Cressida, who believes utterly in the
transformative power of storytelling.
‘I want to talk about empathy. I’m
interested in the role books have
to play in enabling kids to walk
around in someone else’s skin.
In a book, it’s happening inside
your head – it’s the unique
power of books. I wanted this
particular book to focus on that
there are people from opposing
tribes seeing each other from an
opposing point of view.’
Xar and Wish do not fit into
any gender-based stereotypes
and each has an equal and vital
role to play in the developing
www.writers-online.co.uk
story. ‘I like the idea of a book that is
read by both boys and girls equally,’
says Cressida. ‘I really like having
equal boy/girl readers – not, this is a
girl’s book, this is a boy’s book.’
Creating her unconventional hero
and heroine and their individual
and shared journeys is a test of her
ingenuity. ‘It is a challenge!’ she
laughs. ‘You’re trying to write a serious
journey for both key protagonists.
I wanted them to have different
journeys to go on, so I had to make
them have different things they
can learn from each other. Xar is a
different kind of boy from Hiccup in
How to Train Your Dragon, he’s a boy
who acts first and thinks later. Those
kids mean well but they have quite a
lot to learn. With Wish, I put a lot of
myself into her. I like strong female
heroes – I think girls need them. She’s
strong, she will go against the crowd if
need be. She has her values right. She’s
strong but a little bit unsure of herself
– a funny little mixture.’
Cressida’s storytelling is a mixture
of magical happenings, enticing
characters – and, proving that the
22/09/2017 14:46
 S TA R I N T E RV I E W

I want to talk about

best writing for children is full of
profound truths as well as transporting
entertainment, dollops of positive role
models and moral philosophy.
empathy. I’m interested
‘I think I’m interested in characters
who are prepared to stand up to the
in the role books have to
crowd,’ she says. ‘Storytelling allows play in enabling kids to
me to pursue something that is a huge
concern among children, and I see it walk around in someone
in the letters I get sent: bullying. It
particularly allows me to pursue that else’s skin. In a book, it’s
theme. It worries children, and there’s
more social pressure now than when
happening inside your
I was growing up. It puts much more head – it’s the unique
pressure on children to conform – and
I like heroes who aren’t prepared to power of books.

F
conform, and who stand up to the
crowd. We need people like that.’
She wants her characters to show
readers that they can be agents of
positive change in their world. ‘We need but fantasy, so I was starting Wish inhabit.

S
originality and creativity of thought. researching 5/6 years ago and ‘There are lots of different
I’ve given my heroes those qualities. trying to develop ideas.’ influences,’ she says. ‘It was partly
With Hiccup I was creating a hero who Hiccup and the How to inspired by my grandmother living
changes the course of history so I did a Train Your Dragon books in Sussex, where there are incredible
lot of research into heroes like that, who were set in the world of hill forts. There was one right behind
were creative thinkers, like Einstein. We Vikings. For this one, she’s drawn the house where we used to stay, and
need thinkers. We need the children, on the idea of Albion and the proto- I used to lie on the ramparts, looking
who are the future, to think creatively. historical Bronze and Iron Ages to out, imagining how those people
I want to be presenting children who create the magical world that Xar and used to live. No wonder there were so
are heroes who are original thinkers.
Hiccup, who is a big Hollywood hero,
is an inventor. He’s not an action hero,
he’s a thinker, an inventor. A hero who’s
a bit different. I want to be presenting
children with heroes who are thinkers.’
Cressida first started writing about
Hiccup when she was a new parent.
‘The Hiccup stories were inspired by
my own children, and my own father,
who is like [Hiccup’s father] Stoick. I’d LISTEN
just had a child, nineteen years ago,
so the inspiration was, what kind of
TAP HERE
parent do you want to be? That was the
To hear an
inspiration – how to train your baby.
extract from
It was so involved with my parenting
How to train
experience – and the last book
your Dragon
coincided with that baby leaving home!
And they’d been very successful, and I’d
loved the films, so finishing the series
was very emotional.’
Knowing that Hiccup’s adventures
were drawing to a close, Cressida started
casting around for a new series idea
around six years ago. ‘I want to give you
that feeling of going back in time and
looking through the eyes of a child…
children have so much to teach us. I got
a special ideas book, and this world… I
had to do a lot of research into Iron Age
history, although I’m not writing history

www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 17

p016 Interview.indd 17 27/09/2017 14:31

 many legends of them being built by
giants. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote
that Britain was “By giants once
possessed.” What must our ancestors
have thought? Children don’t know
the rules yet, so those stories about
magic that I was so excited by as a
child, seem to not be impossible to a
child. That childish way of thinking
is very open to the idea that there
might be magic.’
When Cressida was a child herself,
exploring the Sussex countryside gave
her access to an imaginative world
in the same way that living on a
remote Scottish island gave her the
groundwork for creating the world of
How to Train Your Dragon.
‘Children in the 1970s had so
much more freedom than children
do now, and we used to explore
that area unaccompanied,’ she
remembers. ‘There was a place
called Levin Down, which means
“leave it alone” – a hill set aside,
nibbled by sheep but not ploughed, her, as a writer, to explore what’s important themes, without it being
and there’s an extraordinarily important to her now. ‘I wanted to too charged. I love books that explain
enchanted atmosphere there. You write something I knew I would have things in a wide way.’
can see it from the hill fort and it loved as a child. That’s what you If the human characters are the
feels like somewhere that could be have to do. You can’t tell if anyone’s stars of The Wizard of Once, the
inhabited. Magical and a little bit going to like it, so if you write a book animal characters provide many
eerie. It was also used in WWII that you love, you know somebody’s of the book’s enchanting qualities,
for munitions training, and it was going to like it! Magic, and fantasy in just as the dragons do, particularly
covered in molehills. In my child’s general, offers me an opportunity to Hiccup’s own Toothless, in How to
eye, it felt as if fairies could live explore big themes – children are Train Your Dragon. ‘I love animal
there. There are giant burrows interested in what’s really important characters,’ says Cressida. ‘The
all over Britain – but these were in life, the big things: being good, snowcats, wolves, even the sprites
tiny mounds for fairies. I think all what is good, spirituality, the in The Wizards of Once have animal
children are very imaginative.’ natural world, your responsibilities characteristics. Toothless has cat-
As the title suggests, magic plays to your tribe. Fantasy enables you like and dog-like characteristics.
a central role in The Wizards of to be able to explain these themes, Squeezjoos the sprite is insecty, but
Once. ‘Magic excited me very much
to read about when I was a child,’
enthuses Cressida. ‘The books I
read, like A Wizard of Earthsea and
books by Diana Wynne Jones, really
resonated to me as a child.’ I put quite challenging
Again, as always in her books,
magic allows her to touch on a things in the books and
bigger theme. ‘Remember, as a
child, you feel quite powerless.
there’s nothing in them
So much is decided for you by that kids can’t keep up
people who are bigger than you.
We forget sometimes, but a lot of with – they’re just as
the time children have to do what
they’re told. For a child, the idea
smart. But what has
that you might have some secret slightly changed is
magic power is very resonant.’
Writing about magic allows their attention span.
Cressida both to please her
remembered child-self and enable

18 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p016 Interview.indd 18 22/09/2017 14:47


also more like a dog or a cat.’ In
true Cressida style though, there’s
an added dimension.
‘Looking after animals has a
great deal to teach children about
responsibility and love and caring
for something,’ she says. ‘On
another level, there is a broader
thing about the environment and
nature. My dad was chairman
of the RSPB and then of Kew
Gardens, so I grew up in a family
that cared passionately about the
wilderness and nature and caring for
the environment. I’ve been reading
Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks
and there’s a chapter in it called
Childish, and it talks about the
words that are being deleted from
the dictionary – words like bluebell,
acorn, pasture. We cannot lose
the words for natural things. We
must not lose touch with nature.
Humans think they’re so clever and
important but they pale in contrast
with nature. We have to bring up
children to be aware of nature.’
Writing fantasy means she can
create her worlds in any shape she
pleases. ‘I don’t think that there are
any rules! Maybe this is one of the
things I find exciting about writing
fantasy – that there isn’t a right
or a wrong way. Writing fantasy,
there really aren’t any rules. But I
think you create your own rules.
p016 Interview.indd 19
In my universe, you have your
own rules that you set up and try
not to bust, so it feels real. I do
a lot of research into history, and
if I’m creating dragons, into real
creatures, to give me ideas for
what those creatures might be. So
they’re based on research and it
gives them a fake authenticity. It’s
based on real behaviours, but it’s a
funny little game you’re playing.’
The fantastical beasts in
Cressida’s books play on ideas of
possibility that seem very real to
children. ‘There’s that wonderful
idea that they really might exist
– it’s relatively recent that we’ve
stopped believing in dragons,
giants, sprites, hobgoblins…
For children, it feels like a real
possibility that these creatures
might exist. Children want to
believe that there might be
dragons. I think children are
instinctively drawn to things
that are very creative, and they love
making things up themselves.’
Read more
about She appreciates that children
Cressida and respond to varieties of imaginary
an extract creature. ‘Different fantastic beasts
from the attract different children. Dragons
Wizards flying, that really resonates, a bit like
of Once at dinosaurs, huge and fearsome, it’s so
http://writ.rs/ exciting. But someone else might be
nov17wm more drawn to fairies, or sprites.’
Cressida believes in taking her
www.writers-online.co.uk
S TA R I N T E RV I E W
creative cues from the experience
of childhood. ‘Children have a lot
to teach us,’ she believes. ‘Most of
my themes – you’re the same person
so you write about what interests
you – are about imaginative ways of
thinking, that are so instinctive for
children. And we teach them out of
it. The themes I write are the same
as the ones that interested me.’
She believes that children’s
imaginative lives are as strong now
as when she was a child, but that
writing for today’s children means
adult writers need to understand
what it’s like to be a child in today’s
world. ‘Children haven’t changed
in what they’re interested in and
they’re just as clever as ever they
were. I put quite challenging things
in the books and there’s nothing in
them that kids can’t keep up with –
they’re just as smart. But what has
slightly changed is their attention
span. We’d put up with a lot of
description and a slower storyline
than children of today. We had less
options, didn’t we? The telly wasn’t
as good. So I write in a way that the
story moves along at a faster pace.
Also, the pictures. I loved pictures
when I was a kid, and today,
children are even more visually
based – there’s so much screen.’
Cressida illustrates her books
as well as writes them, and for
her, the two processes go hand in
hand. ‘The relationship between
writing and illustrating is very
natural and instinctive for me. It’s
very much doing the two things
concurrently. I’ll draw characters
to get a sense of what they’re like,
and locations to get a sense of
them,’ she says. She writes in a
shed at the bottom of her garden.
‘It just happened naturally,
because in the house I’d get
interrupted, and I’m an illustrator
as well so I’d make an awful mess.’
There won’t be as many books
in the Xar and Wish series as
she wrote for How to Train Your
Dragon. ‘I’m having to be quite
firm with myself. There are so
many stories to be told so I’m
trying to discipline myself. I feel
I’ve got a lot of other stories to
tell, so I won’t do twelve – that’s
definite. I’m contracted for three,
but it may be more…’
NOVEMBER 2017 19
22/09/2017 14:47
 What the blurb i
BEGINNERS
There’s a distinct difference between a blurb and an outline, but, says Adrian Magson, your story comes first
A
writer emailed recently
and told me he’d written
the blurb for a thriller,
but wasn’t sure how
to proceed. Further
questioning revealed that what he’d
actually written was a rough outline of
the story. The blurb is the description
on the back cover of a published book.
‘Well, what’s in a word?’ he asked.
‘Blurb, outline; same difference, surely?’
Actually, no. It’s like saying you’ve
created a garden pond… when all
you’ve done is marked the outline on
the grass.
A blurb tells a reader the theme of
the story, but without giving away the
salient points, such as the middle and
ending. (Truth be told, a good blurb
doesn’t give a whole heck of a lot about
the beginning, either, just sufficient to
whet the reader’s appetite.)
So why should the
distinction concern anyone?
Quite simply, because the blurb can
wait. The simple reason is, how can
you write even a small part of the blurb
until you know what the storyline
is? In practice many book blurbs are
written by the publisher, since they
are best placed to have read the book,
and be aware in practical terms of the
available space on the back cover. And
many authors find it tough to write
blurbs, anyway, in the same way that
they struggle over a synopsis.
Which leads me on to the bit you,
the author, can deal with.
The outline
An outline is just that; a rough idea of
the story as you see it before putting
anything on paper. Rather like an
artist roughing out a line drawing
to get an idea of scale and content,
usually in pencil, it will lack detail
or colour or even characters, because
that comes later. As an example, if you
20 NOVEMBER 2017
p020 Beginners.indd 20
were describing a story about a ship
hitting an iceberg and sinking (yes,
you know the story but bear with me),
your outline might suggest a passenger
liner finding itself surrounded by ice
floes drifting off their usual course,
with bad weather closing in, a crew
that might be distracted or simply
careless about their duties, maybe
even on a vessel that was actually not
seaworthy due to a severe malfunction
or bad design.
Of course this basic idea might
excite a publisher who sees it, but in
all likelihood it won’t, because the full
story hasn’t been written and lacks
detail. Consider all the glaring gaps
essential for the reader: where was the
ship going and why? How big was it?
Who were the crew and passengers on
board? Are there villains and heroes
involved? Why the heck should we
give a ship’s rudder anyway?
The fact is, even an outline doesn’t
begin to describe a book, because
along the way, once you start writing,
you will find you have to make
changes to your initial idea. This will
involve research for factual details of
weather, ships and shipping, ice-floe
characteristics, sea and wind patterns,
as well as considering what sort of
event could make a liner unseaworthy
enough to be in danger of sinking
faster than may have ever been
anticipated – and be realistic enough
for it to be believable.
Then there’s the human factor,
which is the core of any story.
Building onlookers and bystanders is
relatively simple; they come and go,
and you don’t have to give them great
depth. But your story has leading
and secondary characters on which
the believability of the book depends.
Some will be there all the way, some
will be walk-ons. But they will all
contribute to the structure and to
the reader’s enjoyment in one way or
www.writers-online.co.uk
s that?
another. Without them, your story will
have little impact or holding power,
because while the possibility of a ship
hitting an iceberg and sinking is one
aspect of a story, it needs the human
characteristics or elements to bring it
alive and give it that page-turnability
(and yes, that’s a real word – I know
because someone once used it about one
of my books).
This human element might encompass
the ship’s builders and/or owners, the
captain and crew, right down to key
individuals who have a hand in the fate
of everyone on board, including the
innocents. They’re basically the goodies
and baddies of any story, and you have
to make them real – but also make them
fit and be a part of the collective, no
matter how briefly.
As sure as sucking eggs is a messy
pastime, there will be parts of your
outline which will hit the wastebasket as
you proceed. They either don’t work to
your satisfaction or you just don’t like
them. Don’t worry; that’s par for the
course. It’s your outline to do with as
you see fit, and you’re allowed to make
changes. In fact there’s something to be
said about it, because if you didn’t see a
change coming, how can the reader?
As I said to my email interlocutor, you
should put the outline away, forget the
blurb and try writing the story first. You’ve
got an idea, so go with the most vivid parts
as you see them, and build on it from there.
The rest will follow and grow organically,
and that’s the fun part of writing.
TOP TIPS
• An outline is a rough sketch of your idea. A
blurb comes from the finished product.
• An outline will change and deepen as the
writing progresses (as it should).
• Don’t be surprised if your outline goes out the
window. That’s writing!
• Write the story first. Everything else is secondary.
22/09/2017 09:21
 ? ?? ? ? ? ? ?
?
? ?? ?
?
? ?
? ? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Ask a ?Literary Consultant ? ? ?
? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?
Editorial consultant Helen Corner-Bryant helps a reader balance characters
Q My friend has told me
I have a scene-stealing
character and would like
to see more of him. However,
I’m very attached to my main
character and her story. How
do I make it so this secondary
character takes less attention
away from my MC?
A
In a diagnostic way,
you could look at
both character arcs
for the main character (MC)
and your minor character.
Identify their emotional
goal or dilemma: what drives
them through the story and how
does the story test and affect their
change? Check the plot arcs, overall
arc. Ensure that all the tension
points are in place using the three-
act graph we covered in an earlier
column and that the character arcs
interweave in a satisfactory way
with an underlying tension.
Then look at their characteristics:
what sets them apart from each
other, what backstory has formed
their personality, created their
deepest fears and desires of which
they may not even be aware, how
do the characters affect the story
and impact each other? If you are
finding that your minor character
is more exciting and aspirational
and the more active of the two,
“ I’ll be forever glad I stumbled upon Cornerstones–they seize upon
the things that work and tell you straight when something doesn’t.
And though writing is a personal thing, I know their insight made me
Jane Hardstaff, The Executioner’s Daughter, Egmont
Call Helen Corner-Bryant 01308 897374 • www.cornerstones.co.uk
Cornerstones 1/4 landscape.indd 1
p021 Helen Cornerstones.indd 21
it may be time to dig deeper with
your MC. Perhaps you have been
keeping your MC too close, or
forcing her to fit your story and
she’s lying flat on the page. Perhaps
you know her too well and can no
longer hear her voice. Ask yourself
what it is about your female
character that you’re so attached to.
Are you living vicariously through
If you
have a query her which she’s resenting while
We’re here to
help, your male character has greater
n about freedom to emerge and fly?
on any questio
d publishing
the writing an For one of my stories I
se email:
process. Plea
lfer@ w riter snews.co.uk found that my writing was
jte e
ritingmagazin
or tweet @w onsult
too self-conscious: there was
w ith #a sk alitc
#wmcorner a distance and a forced feel to
it and my MC was passive. I was
chatting to my teaching colleague,
Lee Weatherly (also a fifty-times
published award-winning writer),
and she suggested that I go into
an immersive state and speak to
my character. So, I sat down with
a pad of paper and asked my MC
a question: ‘Who are you?’ which
I wrote with my writing hand. I
then had to write her answer with
my non-writing hand. Her voice
boomed on to the page: she was
a dark character and I realised I’d
been forcing her into a role she
wanted no part of. I abandoned
the story although I may revisit
her at a later date, if she’ll have
me and I have the nerve! We often
do this exercise with authors who
The UK’s leading literary consultancy
Want to know if your manuscript is good enough to attract an agent?
Has your plot come to a standstill and you need a professional editor’s opinion?
Looking to publish and want to make your manuscript print-ready?
write a better book.
” Listed by the
www.writers-online.co.uk
struggle with their MC; it can be
an effective way of removing the
authorial intrusion and allowing the
character’s voice to be heard. Once
you’ve really got to know your MC,
try the same technique with your
minor character and compare.
The next thing to consider
is voice. Are you using first or
intimate third person in the past
or present tense (there are other
options but I’ll keep it to the main
ones for this article)? Pick a scene
or two and play around with these.
Ensure that your MC is as
active as possible, takes control
of her story, and that your minor
character is not overshadowing her
during key moments. Consider
introducing a layer of complexity,
such as an unreliable narrator, if
the story can take it. If your minor
character is still bursting on to the
page, perhaps there is room for two
voices within your narrative with
alternating chapters. Or try cutting
him out altogether; perhaps he
deserves his own story.
If you’re still finding that your
minor character is taking centre
stage, and you’re happy with that,
write a chapter from his POV. If
the writing flows and if that brings
a freshness and energy to the page
you may find that your beta reader
is right and he’s been the lead
character all along!’
Structural editing, copyediting
and proofreading
Scouts for literary agents
Society of Authors
NOVEMBER 2017 21
15/09/2017 14:33
22/09/2017 09:25
 Get marketing savvy with Sofia Ashdown’s crash course on giving your book the marketing push it deserves
ll authors, traditionally
published and indie alike,
know they should promote
their work. Yet, when asked
about their marketing strategy,
faces whiten, and out stammers that well-
used phrase, ‘social media’. When
hashtag-ing becomes rehashing – ie
spamming – what then?
A low or mid-list author might invest
in print advertising or pay through
the nose for a book review in a trade
magazine, but these avenues can produce
short-lived results. While every budding
authorpreneur has different strengths
and connections, bestselling authors such
a Mark Dawson and Nick Stephenson
– both indies – implement high-level
marketing strategies to reach an audience
few authors have dared to dream about,
using even lesser known methods.
The basics
Clean, well-edited writing, a
professionally formatted interior, and
a standout book cover are the initial
elements that will attract readers. Even
so, there’s a lot of competition in the
marketplace – especially online – from
comparable or superior titles. For a
novel or non-fiction title to stand out,
authors can’t go far wrong emulating
the tactics used by the bestsellers.
22 NOVEMBER 2017
p022 Marketing.indd 22
Expert tactics
Authors have limited time and
resources to invest in marketing. That
means focusing on what places books
in front of readers, and drives sales –
without bombarding Twitter. Yes, these
techniques work best online, but they’re
easy to implement.
‘The most valuable asset an author
has is his or her mailing list,’ says
Mark Dawson, who has just sold
his bestselling Beatrix Rose series to
Hollywood, while his John Milton
thrillers live comfortably at the top of
Amazon’s charts. ‘It means that they
can keep in direct contact with their
fans, building a loyal readership that
will insulate them from the vicissitudes
of the market.’
Think of a mailing list as a value
exchange; readers who show interest in
an author’s work trade their email address
for something of value, be it a short story
collection hosted on a website, or an
entry into a giveaway. These addresses are
stored on an email autoresponder such as
Mailchimp (free up to 2,000 subscribers),
so the author can market directly to his
or her entire audience in one go, sending
their readers updates, bonus material, and
calls to action.
Over time, these lists can grow
into the thousands, giving authors a
www.writers-online.co.uk
ready-made audience hungry for their
work, who they can contact at a click
of a button. Upon the release of a new
book, the author can launch straight
to their pre-made audience, and these
engaged fans are far more likely to leave
reviews and take advantage of offers.
Consider what would happen if a
publisher drops a client or uses up
their marketing budget on a big-name,
leaving the smaller title to dwindle.
With a mailing list that author has
more power to jump ship knowing the
readers will follow, or launch a new title
independently straight to their fans.
It takes time and a reasonable budget
to build a decent mailing list. However,
most marketing avenues require effort
and some investment, and with a list,
an author can always get his or her
work to their readers, no matter which
way the whims and winds of publishers
– or online distributors – blow.
Building a mailing list
How can you as an author convince
potential readers to hand over their
contact details? Follow this 7-point plan
to implement these tactics for yourself:
1 Get a website. Keep it clean, with
a big graphic of your book or free
gift – a ‘reader magnet’ – with a call to
action linking to your autoresponder’s
22/09/2017 11:27
 MARKETING

sign-up form. other’s books to their own mailing recommended resources).

2 Find fellow authors in your
genre and run a giveaway together,
with a first prize and a free gift for
every entrant. Host it on a site such
as KingSumo Giveaways or UpViral,
using the inbuilt viral sharing functions
to attract entries, and list the giveaway
on online directories. Offer entrants
a free copy of your ebook, or some
other gift, delivered straight to their
inbox in return for their email address,
before the giveaway ends. Anyone who
downloads your stuff, keep. Discard
the rest after the competition (this will
keep you spam-compliant).
3 Sites such as Instafreebie allow
readers to find novels and previews
in their chosen genre. Authors can
set up campaigns by adding titles to
Instafreebie’s network. Make sure you
choose the option to integrate with
Mailchimp. Some authors get hundreds
of new subscribers after running
giveaways like this.
4 Know other authors with decent
mailing lists? Team up for a cross-
promotion, where each participant
shares information about each
lists. Don’t know anyone with a
mailing list? Many Facebook and
online writing communities are
filled with opportunities.
5 Consider placing a title on Amazon
that is ‘permafree’, ie always free to
download. You can create an anthology
with other authors, or a box set –
everyone should pitch in for cover design
and advertising. Make sure you have a
strong call to action at the front and back
end of the book – the same applies for
all titles you host online – to hook happy
consumers onto your mailing list.
6 If you can afford it, consider
advertising on Facebook, taking
advantage of the company’s enormous
reach and in-depth understanding of
users. Use custom audiences to target
a specific market, utilising data from
age range, to fans of similar authors
who have responded to ads before.
Tweak ads to generate leads for your
mailing list or to drive sales. If budget
is a concern, cap expenditure at £5 a
day and suspend campaigns at the click
of a button. Mark Dawson offers a free
video series on using FaceBook ads (see
7 Once your sales are healthy
and the reviews are clocking up on
Amazon, using BookBub or Freebooksy
promotions can potentially explode
your online visibility.
Focus on building your list and use
platforms like Twitter for one-to-one
interaction rather than pushing your
book. These methods, combined with
pitching to book review sites and a
regular, value-rich emails to your list,
will help build a strong relationship
with a growing readership that may just
last a lifetime.
Recommended resources
• Learn how to use Facebook ads with Mark
Dawson: https://selfpublishingformula.
com/courses/
• Create a free account with Mailchimp:
www.mailchimp.com
• Nick Stephenson’s free Kindle book, Reader
Magnets, is a must read. Just search on
Amazon.
• Find a host of free courses on book
marketing with Reedsy Learning: https://
blog.reedsy.com/learning

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Cup of tea and a chat!

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Discuss your next book with Editorial Assistant Claire Maguire: tel. 01904 431213
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www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 23

p022 Marketing.indd 23 22/09/2017 11:27

 MARKETING
ADVERTISING
WITH
AMAZON
Want to increase your sales in the USA? Author and publisher Rosemary J Kind explains how using
Amazon Marketing Sales can find you readers
W
riters are
rarely natural
marketeers. There
are exceptions,
but the normal
character of a writer working in isolation
is very different to that of a person who
flourishes on human contact and talking
to people. If you want anyone other than
friends and family to read your writing
then you have little choice but to spend
time marketing.
The joy of Amazon Marketing
Services (AMS) is that you don’t have
to talk to anyone. Because you can
only use AMS to promote your work
in the United States, many UK writers
overlook the opportunity. However,
when you bear in mind the number of
readers in North America then there
is room for many different books,
including those by UK authors.
Why advertise?
Different types of advertising can serve
different purposes. AMS is purely about
selling books. Indirectly it is likely to raise
an author’s profile, but it is most directly
about selling one particular title to the
reading public. In my experience over the
last few months, it achieves that purpose
very effectively.
What is AMS and who is
AMS for?
AMS enables an author to buy
advertising slots on Amazon.com.
24 NOVEMBER 2017
p024 Amazon.indd 24
When someone types a word or phrase
as a search on Amazon (keyword)
your book may be displayed as one of
the ‘you might also be interested in’
sponsored posts. With some categories
of advertising it may also mean your
book is displayed at the end of a
downloaded Kindle book as another
the reader might enjoy. Any author
who has a book published on Amazon
through the Kindle Direct Programme
can use the system, regardless of
whether the book is exclusive to the
Amazon platform.
How?
Setting up the adverts and maintaining
them takes time and care needs to be
taken if you are going to be successful.
It made sense to me to test it on a book
that was selling only the occasional
copy in America and which had already
been on sale for four years. Any change
in sales would be obvious and
I would know it was genuinely
down to the advertising. This was
helped by Amazon offering a $100
start-up budget for an account. If
you’re gambling with someone else’s
money then you can only ever win.
There is not enough space here
to give a detailed explanation of
every step and there are very good
(free) videos, and books on the
subject but I will endeavour to
cover the key points.
Amazon ads are nothing like
www.writers-online.co.uk
Facebook ads. For one thing, it is your
book cover that is the visual element.
Secondly, whereas Facebook sets out to
spend whatever budget you give it, it is
very hard to spend anything like the daily
budget you set on AMS unless you are
bidding much too high for their slots and
I will explain that below.
What do you need to make your
advert work?
1 Which type of advert to run
a Product Display adverts will come up
when someone is looking at anything on
Amazon from screwdrivers to camping
stoves, dinner plates to dog food. They
are display adverts linked to other
products or even categories of book.
They scare me witless because you have
to set a minimum budget of $100 for a
campaign. However, as they are the ones
which show up on Kindles, they have
a much higher response rate than the
other types and so far my highest spend
over a couple of weeks is $6.07. You can
stop them at any time, so you are not
committing to spend the whole budget.
There are three types of product display
adverts – manual interest, automatic
interest or product. What that means is
22/09/2017 10:58

if you are selling a cookbook you might
target people looking to buy products such
as oven gloves and if you are selling fiction
you are more likely to want to list the genre
of your book or authors in a similar style.
With automatic then you let Amazon work
it out for you.
b Sponsored Product adverts are less
stressful to run as you can set a daily budget
from as low as $2. How much you spend
for any type I will come back to. There are
two types of sponsored product adverts.
Automatically targeted adverts will be
driven by categories and keywords selected
by Amazon systems. With manually
targeted adverts you choose the keywords,
which is a whole subject in its own right.
It is best to run a variety of types of
advert to achieve maximum impact.
sing 2 Choosing keywords
For a Sponsored Product advert you need
the right keywords (the search words
the reader might put into Amazon). For
non-fiction that is likely to be the subject
matter – ‘cookery’, ‘Asian cuisine’, ‘desserts’
etc. For fiction, it may be ‘romance’,
‘drama set in Manchester’ or ‘murder with
lots of blood’. It may also be an author
name. Think of every keyword that might
possibly have a link, however tenuous,
to your book. The suggestion is that you
have at least several hundred. It is not as
impossible as it sounds. If you look at your
book’s category you can go to the list of
all authors in that genre on Amazon and
use multiple author names as keywords (a
simple copy and paste into Word will get
them one per line and allow you to remove
any irrelevant ones before adding them to
your ad). You can also use other book titles.
My experience is that apart from a limited
number of very relevant subject keywords,
authors of books in a similar vein yield
the best results. Who knew that readers of
Jeffrey Archer and Liane Moriarty would
turn out to be some of my biggest buyers?
3 Writing your advert
An advert is a different style of writing
from the book itself. It needs to be
written in short sentences which hook
p024 Amazon.indd 25
the reader to move on to reading the
book blurb. You only have a few words
to capture them, so you cannot waste
a single one. However, I do mean
sentences. Amazon do not allow partial
sentences, grammatical errors, spelling
errors or unnecessary capitals. There are
also unacceptable words. The good news
is that there seems to be a human review
process and if you have a valid reason
for your choice you can sometimes get
them to change their mind. Ads do get
rejected though and if that happens you
need to work out why and then resubmit
a corrected version.
4 Bids
Before pressing the submit button you
need to make another important decision
and this is the most complicated part, so
bear with me. How much do you want
to offer to pay for your advert? You pay
nothing for your advert to appear on
the screen, you only pay when someone
clicks on the advert to look at the book.
Having said that you bid for the chance
for the advert to appear. Bids are in cents
or parts of dollars to be more precise.
Amazon will give you a suggested figure
to bid, but in reality it is better to put
in a much lower figure, especially in the
early days when working out if your
adverts are effective. It will also depend
on the price of your book as to how
much you can afford to bid. Unless
you are simply trying to expand your
readership, you need to ensure what you
spend is less than the royalty you will
earn and bear in mind not every click
will lead to a sale.
I am playing with bids of between
$0.10 and $0.18. It means on my
keyword ‘Jeffrey Archer’ my ads don’t
often appear as they are more popular
slots, but on search terms like ‘orphan’
my advert appears quite regularly. (The
amount I am paying on average for my
adverts’ clicks is $0.08.) Your bid price
and your keywords will determine how
often your advert gets in front of readers.
5 Monitoring
It is important to monitor what is
working in order to maximise results.
The times the advert is displayed
(impressions) depend on your advert
bid and how it sits with other bids
on those keywords or categories. The
number of times people click on your
advert to see the book will depend on
the quality of your cover and the advert
www.writers-online.co.uk
MARKETING
wording you have written. If you are
getting impressions but no clicks then
you need to either reword your advert
or change your book cover – or both! It
may also depend on the relevance of your
keywords and categories. A book about
love amongst vampires might be of little
interest to most people searching for a car
axel stand for example.
6 Sales
If your bid gets impressions, and your
cover and ad copy get clicks, it is your
blurb which gets the sales. As a result of
this process I have rewritten part or all
of the blurb as it appears on Amazon
for the books I am now advertising. You
have a limited time to persuade someone
to buy, particularly if they don’t know
you and weren’t looking for your book in
the first place. Your Amazon blurb must
have impact. It helps if you already have
reviews in the US. If you are a little known
writer then being exclusive to Amazon and
available through Kindle Unlimited makes
a very big difference, as the book can be
tried with no risk.
7 Maintenance
Adverts do stop working after a while and
you need to make slight changes to keep
them fresh. For some ads it can be weeks,
others can work for months. That does
mean managing your adverts takes a little
time, but in my experience when you start
to see the results, it’s more a problem of
it becoming addictive and having to limit
how often you check the number of sales.
Conclusion
Advertising in the US might not work for
every author, but on the book I used as my
test sales went from one every few months
to over fifty copies in the first month of
advertising and rising, all for the cost of
around $15 for the month.
Resources
• AMS: http://ams.amazon.com or through
your KDP dashboard
• Videos: https://courses.kindlepreneur.
com/courses/AMS
• Detailed book: Mastering Amazon Ads,
Brian Meeks
NOVEMBER 2017 25
22/09/2017 10:58
 The st y l e & t e c h n i q u e o f

JOHN
WY N D H A M sit e r ta k e s a look at o
ne of the
rs
Tony Ros f s c ie n c e -f iction write
al o
most origin

‘‘P
erhaps Barter, which appeared in the magazine their sight. The hero and first-person
the best Wonder Stories in May 1931 under narrator, Bill Masen, wanders through
writer of the name John Beynon Harris. With an anarchic London, devastated by the
science science fiction becoming increasingly effects of the extra-terrestrial attack,
fiction England has popular in the 1930s, he became part where civilised society has broken
ever produced’ is of the pulp market, writing short stories down and shops are looted by people
how Stephen King and serial fiction which one critic desperate for food.
has described John described as ‘Space operas leavened The blinding of most of the
Wyndham (1903- with the occasional witty aside’. population is the precursor to a
1969). His full When his writing career was more insidious threat. Triffids were
name was John interrupted by the Second World invented by Wyndham after he
Wyndham Parkes War, he worked in the Ministry of walked down a dark country lane
Lucas Beynon Information and then as a cipher with the hedgerows and trees blowing
Harris and he operator in the Royal Corps of Signals. across the track on either side. He
wrote lots of After the war Wyndham’s writing took imagined them joining at the top
short stories and a new turn, as he moved away from and stinging anyone within reach.
adventures set in conventional science fiction set in space In The Day of the Triffids Bill Masen
space using other – what he described as ‘the adventures is a biologist whose career has been
combinations of of galactic gangsters’ – to write stories devoted to the study, cultivation and
his names, such as John Beynon and set mainly against the innocuous exploitation of triffids – intelligent,
Lucas Parkes. But he’s best known backdrop of 1950s’ England. The carnivorous plant life capable of
for the novels published under the first and best-known is The Day movement and of communication.
name of John Wyndham in the of the Triffids, which Wyndham They have been cultivated because
1950s – especially The Day of the acknowledged was heavily influenced they produce extracts superior to fish
Triffids (1951) and The Midwich by HG Wells’s War of the Worlds. or vegetable oils. But the downside
Cuckoos (1957), both of which were
made into films. He was one of the The Day of the Triffids
very few science fiction writers who When a day that you happen to know
LISTEN produced stories with a mass appeal
that transcended the SF genre.
is Wednesday starts off by sounding like
Sunday, there is something seriously wrong
TAP HERE somewhere. The first sentence of the
To hear an How he began novel that established John Wyndham’s
extract from He left school at eighteen and reputation grabs our attention.
The Day of tried several careers (farming, law, Immediately we know that things are
the Triffids commercial art, advertising) before he not as they should be. Something odd
turned to writing. The turning point has happened, and we need to read
came in 1929 when he saw a copy of on in order to find out what it is. We
the American magazine Amazing Stories discover a world in which most of
and was captivated by the believability the inhabitants have lost their sight,
of the stories. In the 1930s American blinded by exposure to light from an
science-fiction magazines attracted tens extra-terrestrial source (probably a
of thousands of readers, with magazines meteor shower). The story begins in
such as Weird Tales and Amazing Stories London, where a handful of people
publishing a wide range of material. who by chance avoided exposing their
His first published story was Worlds to eyes to this blinding light have retained

26 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p026 Beat the best.indd 26 27/09/2017 14:33


is their venomous, often fatal, sting.
They have escaped from the enclosures
in which they have been cultivated,
and are wreaking havoc, increasing in
number and killing everything and
everyone in their path.
Masen and other sighted survivors
are torn between the natural desire
to help the mass of people who are
now blind and the impracticality of
helping everyone if they themselves are
to survive. He meets Josella, a wealthy
novelist, and they run into a small band
of sighted survivors who have decided
to leave London to establish a colony
in the countryside. Bill and Josella have
little option but to join them. They
become separated and settle for a time
in different self-sufficient colonies.
The story revolves around Bill Masen’s
attempt to survive in an increasingly
hostile, triffid-dominated environment
and his determination to find Josella.
Eventually they are reunited and for a
time live a self-sufficient existence in a
country house in Sussex. Threatened by
a despotic new government, they flee
to the Isle of Wight, resolving to return
one day to vanquish the triffids and
reclaim the country.
The Midwich Cuckoos
The arrival of an unidentified silvery
object in a south of England village has
the effect of making everyone within
the surrounding area unconscious.
After one day the effect vanishes along
with the silvery object, but months
later every woman of child-bearing age
is found to be pregnant including those
who are single or not in relationships
with men. When the Children
(Wyndham always uses a capital ‘C’)
are born, they appear to be normal
except for their golden eyes and pale,
silvery skin. Like cuckoos, they have no
genetic connection with the mothers
who have reared them. As they grow
older it becomes clear that they have
accelerated physical development (at
the age of nine they look like sixteen-
year-olds), telepathic abilities and a
capacity for mind control that enables
them to manipulate other people’s
actions. The Children are ruthless
in dealing with any perceived threat
to their own existence. After a series
of horrific incidents it becomes clear
that co-existence is impossible. The
denouement comes when an academic
p026 Beat the best.indd 27
who has gained the Children’s trust
(and who is himself terminally ill)
detonates a bomb, killing both
himself and the Children. To my
mind that is a more satisfying
conclusion than The Day of the
Triffids’ rather anticlimactic ending.
The Chrysalids
In addition to the two already
mentioned, Wyndham wrote five
further novels. Triffids was his most
popular book, but some critics
consider The Chrysalids (1955) to be
his best. It is certainly the least typical.
Set at an unspecified, post-apocalyptic
time in the future, it depicts a world
which has been punished for its sins
by ‘Tribulation’. Labrador, where the
action takes place, is a bleak place
loosely reminiscent of the American
frontier during the 18th century,
with a similar level of technology
(not unlike that in use by the Amish
community in the present-day United
States). The inhabitants attempt
to avoid the sins of their forebears
(‘The Old People’) by practising a
form of fundamental Christianity
with multiple prohibitions, whereby
individuals not conforming to a
strictly defined physical norm are
either killed or sterilised and banished
to the Fringes, a wild, untamed area.
David Strom and his cousin Rosalind
have a secret aberration – telepathic
communication – which would label
them as mutants, and The Chrysalids
is the story of their struggle, together
with a small group of friends similarly
affected, to survive – and their
eventual escape to a place where their
telepathic gifts are the norm. The
futuristic setting and the religious
dimension makes it very different
from Wydham’s other novels (although
The Outward Urge (1959) is set in the
future – it’s about the exploration of
the solar system from 1994 to 2194
– this is a conventional ‘hard’ science-
fiction story).
Why so popular?
The immediate success of Wyndham’s
novels probably owed something to the
unease felt by many people in the 1950s,
with a stand-off between the world’s two
superpowers, the US and the USSR, and
the ever-present possibility of nuclear
war. Wyndham’s traumatic disasters take
www.writers-online.co.uk
B E AT T H E B E S T S E L L E R S
place in the very ordinary setting of
England in the 1950s. Some critics and
writers disliked Wyndham’s apocalyptic
fiction, in which society is destroyed
except for a handful of survivors who
are able to enjoy a relatively comfortable
existence, and accused him of ‘cosiness’,
dubbing him ‘the master of the middle-
class catastrophe’.
However, the ordinary, everyday
settings which most readers will
recognise and relate to, either from
personal experience or from television
portrayals of the time (such as the
televised adaptations of Agatha
Christie’s Miss Marple stories), help
to explain the power of Wyndham’s
novels. The contrast between the
humdrum everyday settings and the
terrifying worlds he creates, showing
that apocalypse could strike in the
most ordinary circumstances at any
time, reinforces our sense of shock and
horror – and perhaps makes us ask,
‘Could this happen to us?’
There are some echoes of the
cold war that may seem dated, but
these are outweighed by Wyndham’s
believable characters, effective
descriptive detail and, above all, the
originality of the way he tackles the
central theme of humanity’s fight for
survival. The American SF writers
and critics Anthony Boucher and J
Francis McComas praised Triffids,
saying that ‘rarely have the details
of [the] collapse been treated with
such detailed plausibility and human
immediacy, and never has the collapse
been attributed to such an unusual
and terrifying source.’
Many other SF
writers have created
worlds where
human existence is
threatened by extra-
terrestrial invaders.
Wyndham’s stroke
of genius was to
invent a threat
much closer to
home – a rather
ordinary-looking
plant with the
intelligence and
the malevolence
to devastate
everything
and everyone
around it.
NOVEMBER 2017 27
22/09/2017 10:48
 I N S P I R I N G WO R D S
How I got
published
Hélene Fermont, Scandinavian noir
The author of We Never Said Goodbye met her
publisher at a party
‘For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to write. I started to write
short stories when I was very young, in my native city Malmö, in
southern Sweden.
‘Literature and music were my main interests but I eventually decided the
music industry wasn’t for me. My parents and friends encouraged me to turn
my dream of becoming an author into reality.
‘After I became a teacher I wanted to work with children with learning
difficulties. I qualified as a therapist and relocated to London where I’ve lived
since the mid 1990s. My daily work puts me in touch with many wonderful
and amazing people.
‘I write every day and don’t mind missing out on short breaks and holidays
to write. I write about people who are flawed and how it reflects on their, and
other people’s, lives. In particular, when they find themselves in a situation that’s
beyond their wildest imagination.
‘I was introduced to both Swedish and international books when I was very
young. Home was filled with literature and music and my mother started a
book club with friends.
‘My biggest inspiration are my parents, who encouraged me to be open-
minded and respectful of everyone. They inspired me to never give up. I love
my day job but writing makes me happy and fulfilled. It also helps that I’m
stubborn and self-disciplined.
‘My debut novel Because of You truly was a labour of love. I finished writing it
in autumn 2014 and vividly recall how proud I was I’d completed the 140,000
words, with a story spanning over three decades.
‘When I finished writing and editing Because of You, I submitted it to a
handful of agents and publishers in Sweden and the UK. I received some
positive responses, but was told it might be several years before the book would
be published.
‘I was at a Swedish social event where I met a representative of Fridhem
Publishing. They requested to read my novel and my publishing journey finally
got underway.
‘Because of You was published in August 2016. My second novel, We
Never Said Goodbye, will be published in ebook and paperback editions on
6 April 2017. Like the first novel, it’s contemporary women’s fiction with a
psychological twist and a narrative that fluctuates between Sweden and the UK.
‘I feel blessed my dream of being published came true. Writing is hard work
but when I can hold the final copy of my novel I know it is worth the effort!’
(Because of You, Fridhem Publishing, £9.99)
HÉLENE’S TOP TIPS:
• Try to set aside time to write every day. Before you realise it,
you’ve written the entire novel.
• Don’t expect every reader will approve of your novels. Don’t
worry about negative reviews unless they all mention the same
thing in which case you must take it on board.
• Have fun! I love escaping into an imaginary world with my characters.
28 NOVEMBER 2017
p028 HIGP.indd 28
What the editor liked
Christian Bjärrnram,
director, Fridhem
Publishing Limited
‘From the first, I knew that Hélene had an exceptional gift.
Each character is fully realised with their own motivations
and psychological drives. This realism and fearlessness when
it comes to tackling dark, morally complex, issues, I find very
appealing and it brings something refreshingly new to readers.
Hélene is Anglo-Swedish and offers a compelling mix of
women’s lit and Scandi noir.
‘Her voice is genuine, emotive, realistic and compassionate.
The protagonists have traits that many readers will recognise.
Hélene doesn’t base her writing on whatever may be trendy.
She wants readers to figure out what each character’s
circumstances symbolises – and what they think must happen
to change their lives.
‘Hélene’s characters are flawed for a reason. In We Never
Said Goodbye, quite a few characters symbolise a variety of
personality traits and dilemmas readers will emphasise with.
At the same time, the novel is exciting and a page-turner. The
pace is fast, with lots of developments in Malmö and London.
Hélene gives an insight into past and current events that are
crucial to the novel’s main characters’ lives, plot and subplots.
‘Hélene wrote an epic story in Because of You, spanning
over three decades following the lives of a few characters as
each transform and intertwine with those crossing their path.
It was a deeply moving, exciting novel focusing on two polar
opposite characters and their personal journeys.
‘In We Never Said Goodbye, the protagonists’ challenges stem
from complex past experiences and their ability to face up
to change. Just like the debut novel, We Never Said Goodbye
moves between Sweden and the UK. I know Hélene’s third
novel, His Guilty Secret, incorporates a French narrative and
psychologically exciting, dark, morally complex themes.
Readers who love novels that feature strong characterisations
and a Scandi tone, psychological twists and exciting plots will
really enjoy these books. Contrary to the typical Scandi Noir,
Hélene’s novels are not about ‘whodunnit’ but instead what
makes people behave and how to deal with situations that are
out of their control.’
22/09/2017 09:23
 W I N ! £ 5 0 0 U B L I CAT I O N
H P R I Z E S & P
IN CAS
OTHER
WORLDS
competition
Whisk us away to other worlds
for this month’s competition
for fantasy and SF stories,
whether that be techy tales of
sleek futures, adventures from
semi-mythical societies, or
something in-between.
£250
TO BE
The winner will receive £200 WON
and publication in Writing
Magazine, with £50 and
publication online for the
runner-up. The closing date is
15 December.

£250
TO BE
STILL TIME TO ENTER WON

SEE P91 With its closing date of 15 November,

FOR ENTRY there’s still time to enter last month’s
LL
DETAILS, FU
RULES AND competition, for 500-word flash fiction.
MS Prizes are as above.
ENTRY FOR
See p91 for entry details.

p29 comp.indd 39 22/09/2017 09:27

 Competition winner
CRIME STORY EXPERT
analysis
To read the judge’s
analysis at:
http://writ.rs/
nov17wm

Number
Seven Kim Kimber is a copy-editor from Essex
and an Advanced Professional Member of
the Society for Editors and Proofreaders
by Kim Kimber (SfEP). In her spare time, Kim enjoys writing
fiction. She is a founder member of WoSWI
Writing Group, whose book Ten Minute Tales
won the Writing Magazine Writers’ Circle
Anthology Award 2016. Kim’s stories have
been shortlisted previously in WM but she is
delighted by this, her first individual win.

S
exy 145: Hi! How r u today? and delusions. It’s about giving them what they need, telling
Bad Boy Ben: Good thx. You? them what they want to hear. I am a friend when everyone else
Sexy 145: Ok! is against them. They always believe the pictures are of me too;
Bad Boy Ben: Only ok? a photo doesn’t lie. It’s so simple to download an image, the
Sexy 145: Had another argument with Mum. internet is awash with them and they are too stupid to check. I
Bad Boy Ben: Sucks…What about? I’ve been thinking about you. can be anyone I choose, the perfect on-screen partner. To them I
Sexy 145: Same…’Bout make-up. Says it’s too much. She treats am real, the truth buried deep in a fantasy world of my creation.
me like a little girl… I pour myself a drink, something I do a lot these days. The
Bad Boy Ben: Parents suck… whisky slides down my throat, thick and hot, burning a trail
Sexy 145: Yeah! I’m 13. through my insides. I sit back, smiling to myself, wondering if
Bad Boy Ben: Almost grown-up then… my new ‘friend’ will be back online any time soon. My stomach
Sexy 145: Yeah! grumbles. I should get something to eat but I am reluctant to
Bad Boy Ben: Send me a pic, let me see. leave the computer screen, in case Number Seven returns. I
Sexy 145: See? started numbering them early on, after Number One was so
Bad Boy Ben: The make-up. satisfying and I started grooming Number Two. I have each
Sexy 145: I shouldn’t. Mum said… of their photographs pinned above my bed with their number
Bad Boy Ben: I’ll send you one then… scribbled on in black marker pen. My own personal shrine. I like
Ping! to look at them and remember – they deserve to be remembered.
Bad Boy Ben: Do u like it? After all, I’m not without feelings.
Sexy 145: Yeah! I have been grooming my latest conquest for a while now and
Bad Boy Ben: Send me one, go on, I wanna see what u look like. we are almost ready for the final act. I can sense it. It won’t be
Ping! long before Number Seven agrees to meet up with me and then…
Bad Boy Ben: You’re beautiful… I have to be careful not to be traced. It is easier to track someone’s
Sexy 145: Gotta go, my mum’s coming. Love ya x digital footprint these days than to follow them on the street. But
Bad Boy Ben: L8tr. Love ya 2 I know about computers and the internet and how it works. It has
been essential that I learn.
I hang up in satisfaction, picturing the scene on the other end Ping! The screen lights up. Number Seven is back.
of the phone, the secret smiles, fantasies fuelled. It takes a while
to build up trust and reel them in, but I have time, lots of it and Sexy 145: You there?
patience too. In any case, the slow build heightens the pleasure of Bad Boy Ben: Course. For you, always. You ok?
the final act. Sexy 145: Yeah! Can’t stay long. Mum says I spend too much
I am always surprised by how gullible they are, how easy it time online.
is to dupe them. How simple to feed their late night dreams Bad Boy Ben: Yeah! Mine too. But she can’t tell me what to do.

30 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p030 Comp winner.indd 30 22/09/2017 09:31


Sexy 145: You’re 16. Wish I was.
Bad Boy Ben: I’m not that much older than you.
Sexy 145: Mum says it’s different for boys.
Bad Boy Ben: Your Mum’s right, but I’m not like other boys…
you know that right?
Sexy 145: Yeah, course! What u up 2?
Bad Boy Ben: Not much! You?
Sexy 145: Same. I’m supposed to be doing homework.
Bad Boy Ben: Boring!
Sexy 145: Yeah! Maths…
Bad Boy Ben: The worst.
Sexy 145: Ikr! Can’t wait to leave school.
Bad Boy Ben: Me too… then we can be together!
Sexy 145: You mean that?
Bad Boy Ben: Yeah, obvs, I like you. Wanna meet up soon!
Sexy 145: Same! I can hear Mum. Gotta go do my stupid maths.
Bad Boy Ben: Ok L8tr. …I’ll message you. Love ya babes.
The room is dark, lit only by the unnatural glow of the
f
computer screen. I glance at the clock. It is late. I should go to
ing
bed but I know that I won’t sleep. It is always the same when I get
WI this close, the anticipation keeps me awake at night and I lie in
ales bed, imaging the moment when we meet. The realisation on their
face when they know that they have walked right into my trap.
e That no one is coming to save them. I hold all the power and I
e is can do whatever I like, the adrenalin pumping through my body
as I taunt and torment.
I shiver as I remember the first time. Nothing will ever compare
to the thrill of Number One, the excitement and expectation. It will
always be the best. I promised myself that I would stop then, that it
would end there, expecting to be arrested and spend the rest of my
life away from people, behind bars. But no one came. In spite of the
fuss about that, and subsequent, murders in the media, they have
never found me. Sometimes, I wonder if the police are even looking.
It’s so easy. I really should try and sleep. It is time, tomorrow I will
make my move…
Sexy 145: I’m not sure…
Bad Boy Ben: Please… I really want to see you.
Sexy 145: Mum says…
Bad Boy Ben: Don’t you love me?
Sexy 145: ‘Course but…
Bad Boy Ben: You don’t…
Sexy 145: Mum won’t like it…
Bad Boy Ben: Don’t tell her. You’re your own person.
Sexy 145: She’ll go mad if she finds out…
Bad Boy Ben: She won’t, you know the place I told you about…
Sexy 145: I’m not sure…
Bad Boy Ben: Come on, it’ll be fun, our secret…
Sexy 145: Ok…
Bad Boy Ben: So you’ll come?
Sexy 145: Yeah!
Bad Boy Ben: After school… you know where I’ll be?
Sexy 145: Yeah!
Runner-up in the crime and thriller short story competition, whose story is published on www.writers-online.co.uk, is
Andrew French, Redcar, Teesside. Also shortlisted were: Dominic Bell, Hull; SM Beneicke, Alcester, Warwickshire; Michael
Callaghan, Glasgow; Peter Caunt, Harrogate, North Yorkshire; Charlotte Fowey, Porlock, Somerset; Alyson Hilbourne,
Penrith, Cumbria; Andrew Hutchcraft, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire; Elinor Lobban, Wendover, Buckinghamshire; David
Woodfine, Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire.
www.writers-online.co.uk
p030 Comp winner.indd 31
S H O R T S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R
Bad Boy Ben: Remember, you mustn’t tell anyone... excited
Sexy 145: Same!
Bad Boy Ben: Love ya babes.
Sexy 145: Love ya back.
The abandoned building is dark inside, the late winter gloom
failing to penetrate through the murky windows, a depressing
place to spend your final hours. The location is different every
time and the element of surprise is essential. I have arrived early
so that I can prepare. I flash my torch around the foreboding
space and familiarise myself with the layout and exit routes, just
in case my prey decides to run. I am eager now to finish what I
have begun. It isn’t long before everything is in place. All I have
to do is wait.
I hear footsteps, someone is moving cautiously through the
empty rooms, calling my name; my fake online name. I stay
hidden, out of range of the torchlight that now flashes around the
corners. I remain out of sight, until I hear Number Seven moving
deeper inside and then I follow stealthily behind.
It is crucial to move quickly, to catch them off guard. I have
my own, well-rehearsed modus operandi. I run up silently behind
them, sinking the blade deep into the back of their thigh. This
causes their head to drop as they flail around, trying to locate the
source of their pain. I move quickly, throwing the sack over their
head and then, with practised dexterity, I snap on the handcuffs.
With one final shove, they keel over and I tie their feet together.
Only when they are fully secured do I remove the sack.
I like my victims to see me, to understand what I am going to
do them and why. I enjoy hearing them whimper, beg and plead
for their life, knowing that it will make no difference. I hold all
the power. They are going to die, slowly, in pain, and I am going
to enjoy every exquisite moment of their torture.
Number Seven is of slight build and yields easily, falling silent
in shock after the first agonised cry, and is now trussed up in
an undignified heap at my feet. I pause, breathing heavily, heart
pumping, savouring the moment. I switch on my camping lamp
and position it so that I can inspect my latest victim. A damp
patch spreads out from between Number Seven’s thighs – they
often wet themselves in fear. Pathetic!
‘I’m going to remove the sack,’ I say. ‘Make a sound and you
die.’ I press the blade up against Number Seven’s neck. ‘Don’t
imagine for a second that I won’t do it. I will. You’re not my
first.’ At the feel of the knife, Number Seven begins to convulse
violently. I decide to be merciful and despatch this one quickly.
I’m not heartless, after all.
With my free hand, I pull the cover roughly from Number
Seven’s head and look deeply into the heavy-lidded eyes, enjoying
the surprise etched on the sweaty, pock-marked face. ‘Not what
you were expecting?’ I laugh. ‘A little too old for your tastes?’
Number Seven squirms against the sharp knife, shaking
uncontrollably. ‘This is for my daughter, Ellie,’ I say, ‘and for
every other girl, preyed on by scum by you.’ I slice the blade
expertly across the pervert’s throat and watch as the life twitches
out of him.
NOVEMBER 2017 31
22/09/2017 09:31
 Poetry winners
FRANKENSTEIN’S LAMENT
by Nicky Winder
I was happy in my underground laboratory,
lanterns swinging low
over my acid-stained bench.
Potions, physic, wax-spattered tomes.
Until she came.
But she trailed the blaze
of a cream-coloured gown.
Frippery. Curls.
The flicker of candlelight.
She seized my shadows, turned them into ink,
sent them flooding onto her pale pages.
Ladylike trickle? No –
this was a monstrous roar.
Each curlicue conjured a strong new limb,
brute face emerging vast beneath her hand.
Now she sits, unmoved, in her dark corner,
demon pen still dancing on her page,
demurely rousing joints of flesh that taunt me.
She presses lightly with her nib
and there sprout veins, synapses.
The creature stirs.
I look on in despair
as those small white fingers
send me lurching to my doom:
eyes of a monster blazing, mouth a cavern.
I want to shed these fleshly robes,
to peel the world from me;
I am braced to meet my Maker.
Instead, there’s her.
However much I beg, she won’t relent.
I’m left here, monster-bound, to moulder.
Our acids steam in chemical jamboree;
our skin melts into pools that foam and coalesce.
Yet she scorns to use her pages to soak us up.
Abandoning monster that she is!
Abandoned monster that I am!
And so it goes.
32 NOVEMBER 2017
p032 Science poetry winner.indd 32
The poetry in
science
Alison Chisholm examines the winners in our
competition for poems with a science theme
T
aking science as the theme
for a poetry competition
may seem too much of
a leap in the dark, but
the poets who entered
the competition to honour Marie
Curie 150 years after her birth leapt
with confidence and courage. They
accepted the challenge to explore the
vast array of possibilities offered by
such a wide-ranging theme.
There were poems on physics,
chemistry and biology, but there were
also entries rooted in information
technology, mechanics, geology,
mathematics, climatology, physiology,
domestic science and more. Some
entries had a textbook-style approach,
sacrificing the excitement of poetry
for the (laudable) restraints of perfect
accuracy. Most looked further than
the facts, and presented a new angle,
introducing additional thoughts to
flesh out factual information.
Not surprisingly, several entries
focused on Marie Curie, but other
personalities featured, and there
were delightful excursions into
humour, personification, celebration,
characterisation and science fiction.
As so often happens in
poetry competitions, the only
disappointment was the number
of entries that required more work
at the revision stage. There were
poems that hurled themselves
from one point to another without
www.writers-online.co.uk
any cohesion, poems that worked
beautifully up to the last few lines
and then trailed off leaving the reader
thinking ‘so what?’ and poems with
flaws in their sentence structuring,
syllable count, metre or rhyme
scheme. Many of the pieces, however,
were fuelled by ideas vivid enough
to make them serious contenders
for acceptance in poetry magazines.
It would be worth an extra check
to ensure that they are not rejected
for any of these points of weakness
which can be corrected so easily.
The best poems were submitted
by writers who took on board the
advice offered when the competition
was set, to steep the initial idea in
the intuitive, capricious side of your
mind to endow it with vision and
wordplay. The results included some
spectacular and highly entertaining
imaginative reaches.
The winning poem is one of
the science fiction-based entries,
Frankenstein’s Lament by Nicky
Winder of Weeley, Essex. The
eponymous hero/antihero moves
from pottering in his underground
laboratory to being held in thrall by
Mary Shelley while she writes up her
account of the horrendous events that
have engendered so many nightmares
over the years.
The poet has the gift of showing
events as they happen, rather than
telling readers what’s occurred, and
22/09/2017 09:33
 uses particularly fine vocabulary
choices to colour in the picture.
There is a sense of period, a hint of
alchemy, and an almost-cosiness in
the first stanza’s description of the
laboratory. When the author enters
the scene, she is summed up in two
words: Frippery. Curls. It’s always a
risk to place a single word between
two full stops, giving it the status of
a complete sentence. Sometimes it
works, sometimes not; but in this
case, it allows the reader to absorb the
apparently lightweight nature of the
character and move rapidly on.
The scene darkens at once, and
the character soon becomes sinister.
From the brilliant metaphor She
seized my shadows, turned them
into ink, it’s only a moment before
we learn Ladylike trickle? No - /
this was a monstrous roar as those
shadows flood onto the pages.
The same pace carries the reader
through stages of anxiety, despair,
desperation and abandonment
alongside the narrator, while the
author turns at an equal rate from
woman to demon. This heightened
pace is assisted by the change from
past to present tense. Everything is
more immediate, more urgent.
Pacing is, indeed, one of this
poem’s powerful tools. As the
pressure builds in the second half,
the poet toys with readers by using,
on three occasions, a single-line
stanza that reins in the narrative
and yet somehow makes it all the
more chilling. The final example is
the apparently over-simple And so
it goes. But these four monosyllabic
words are imbued with a sense of
destiny, a sense of doom, a sense of
inevitability. The assonance of that
strong diphthong in so and goes has
a falling cadence, and the sounding
of the last word appropriately echoes
in the mind with ghost, a word with
strong associations in the novel’s
themes of death, decay and rebirth.
Immediately prior to this is the
climax of the poem’s message, in the
two lines destined to resonate within
the reader’s mind long after the text
has been put aside. The repetition
makes them feel like a mantra, and
the whole situation is summed up
in Abandoning monster that she is! /
Abandoned monster that I am!
The second prizewinner also holds
p032 Science poetry winner.indd 33
resonances that affect the reader. A
Message From the Middle Triassic, by
Margaret Stewart of Edinburgh, is an
exploration of geology brought to life
through bold imagery.
The opening of the poem provides
us with sight and touch images,
and signposts a third sense with
its metaphorical reference to taste.
Picture after picture is painted; a
history, demonstrated in geography
as well as geology, that never loses
sight of the present, for the dynamic
wording stands readers beside the
narrator, experiencing the sifting of
sand, the quartz bubbled with holes half
a thread wide.
Here, too, present tense has been
used to animate the poem, and its
richness lies not just in imagery
appealing to a reader’s senses, but
also in the vocabulary that revels in
multiple applications of slant rhyme.
The free verse piece begins with three
examples of assonance out of the first
line’s six words, in scrape / clay / taste,
followed by hundred / mud in the next
line, and the alliteration of Primitive /
pollen / paste in the next. The network
of sound similarities holds the stanza
together beautifully.
In the same stanza, it’s interesting
that the poet has moved away from
the traditional practice of ending lines
on a strong word, a formula that’s
usually recommended. The placing of
of at the line’s end works, though. On
a practical level, it avoids a strident
rhyme in a slant-rhymed poem. More
importantly, the suspensory pause in
the voice – and the eye, for the silent
reader – at the end of the third line
helps to slow the pace for the fourth,
where the sustained consonants
f, n and s and long -er and -aw
monophthongs show an apt tempo for
the reading.
The message of the title is multi-
faceted. The age did not merely offer
one hint, but showed by implication
a panorama of its time, brought to
life in all the appeal of that deluge
of images. It shows today’s readers
something of the build-up to their
arrival on this planet, of the forging of
the globe and the millions of years it
has existed.
This is a poem of depth and richness,
with a massive message encapsulated on
the tiny canvas of a few lines. Such is the
power of poetry.
www.writers-online.co.uk
A MESSAGE FROM THE
MIDDLE TRIASSIC
by Margaret Stewart
A scrape of clay, I taste
two hundred million years of mud.
Primitive pollen, a paste of
fern spores buried wet.
The flash of a burrow,
worms casting grit on the shore;
a desert beach, a holding barrier
for a great mesh of rivers
like the nets around fruit, cut
and splayed flat for the humid building
of bends, banks and ox-bows, grain after grain.
I grasp time from the crushed sharpness
in a cluster of scallops drowned in fresh water,
angled by the flood like tiles on a roof.
I sift the sand between the shells
coarse, fine, coarse -
tells me beach, lagoon, beach.
Then, trees sinking into coal,
empty plains with bony fish
and deep sand billowing in water, bringing
specks of crab with fine claws,
a puff of magnesium, a smooth-edged leaf,
a root ringed in oil, the smell of gears.
Sand dissolved in thin acid
leaves quartz, sharp and salty,
bubbled with holes half a thread wide.
Inside, a marble of gas too small to see
tells me the air is fat with methane
stink from an almost lake,
tells me no sign of an ocean now, leaves
the plate un-cracked and still,
floating like cold glass on magma;
the Atlantic un-opened.
Also shortlisted in the science poetry competition
were: Gordon Adams, Olney, Bucks; Joanna Fahey,
Auckland, New Zealand; Dan Hicks, Diss, Norfoll;
Amanda Hyatt, Brighton, East Sussex; Corinne
Lawrence, Bramhall, Cheshire; Bill Lythgoe, Wigan,
Lancs; Christopher Melhuish, North Walsham, Norfolk;
Joyce Reed, Marple, Cheshire; Giacomina Laura
Sheridan, Burnley, Lancs; Anna Whyatt, Rye, East
Sussex; Paul Wooldridge, Kingswinford, West Midlands
NOVEMBER 2017 33
22/09/2017 09:33
 I N T E RV I E W

Shelf life:
DAVID
MARK
Crime journalist turned novelist David Mark shares his
five favourite reads

I
f you enjoy dark, disturbing, crime writing then David Mark, now
writing historical fiction as DM Mark, is the author for you. David A LITTLE HISTORY OF
was a crime journalist before becoming a novelist when he created his THE WORLD
popular protagonist, DS Aector McAvoy. He has written six novels EH Gombrich
in the McAvoy series: Dark Winter, Original Skin, Sorrow Bound, Taking
Pity, Dead Pretty and Cruel Mercy, as well as two McAvoy novellas, A Bad ‘I chose this book because
Death and Fire of Lies, which are available as ebooks. His debut novel, Dark I have never heard the
Winter, was selected for the Harrogate New Blood panel and was chosen history of our species so
for the Richard & Judy Book Club, becoming a Sunday Times bestseller. In perfectly explained. It’s
2018 a stage adaptation of the book will see its world première in Hull. told in this wonderfully
avuncular style and you
can imagine sitting down
with a packet of Werther’s
THE ETYMOLOGICON: A Originals and being
CIRCULAR STROLL THROUGH told the story of who
we are. It was written
THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS before the Second World
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE War. We are capable of
Mark Forsyth great kindness, great
compassion and also
‘It was published in 2011 and gives the origin incredible arrogance and violence. It
of everyday words used in English with each is the history of our species boiled down to 350
linked to the next so that it flows and is unlike pages. I can’t recommend it highly enough. One of
other reference books on etymology. The reason my pet peeves is the notion that we live in an age of
I have chosen this is that although many people enlightenment and that we’ve peaked and all previous
have written very, very good books about the language and times were secondary to now. I think it’s entirely
about the evolution, this is my favourite. It’s written in a way that you possible when reading about human achievement that
want to know the next description. It’s really engaging and I adore we have reached the tip of the parabola and now we
words. Everybody who talks to me will tell you that I can bore the are sliding back down again. It might be that I’m a
ass off them by telling them where words come from. When people crime writer but I sense the abyss. Reading that book
don’t know what a word means, I can’t just tell them but I give them suggests that the path of human history looks like a
a lecture on the origins! I am fascinated by words and this book is a Toblerone – it’s up and then it’s down and then it’s up
really good primer for studying language.’ and then it’s down… Read it, it’s ace!’

34 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p034 Shelf Life.indd 34 22/09/2017 09:35

 WRITER’S BOOKSHELF

THE NIGHT WATCH

T
Terry Pratchett he Zealot’s
Bones is David’s
‘I love all of Terry Pratchett’s books but first historical
if I have to choose one it would be The crime novel.
Night Watch. This is the 29th novel in He chose to delve into
his Discworld series and again focuses on the past after deciding
Samuel Vines. It’s a crime novel set in that some stories
the Discworld with a cast of trolls and served up by his
werewolves and that really opens up the twisted imagination
field. I think his books are holding up a slightly are just too disturbing
opaque mirror to our own society. A good satirist can to feature in the
demonstrate the absurdities of reality, holding up a funfair present.
mirror to the way we live. They don’t preach, they change ‘I’d like to think that
minds insidiously. I would love to be good enough to do that by now I know how to
some day. You can look at your own reality and see it through write quite dark fiction.
a slightly different light.’ I came up with this
idea for a story that certainly wouldn’t work now. It was
a challenge, I’ve got to be honest, but The Zealot’s Bones
JAMAICA INN is probably the work I’m proudest of. It’s the darkest
Daphne du Maurier book I’ve ever written. It’s set in Hull in 1849 when
there is an outbreak of cholera. This terrible plague
‘It’s one of those books that when you swept through the area. I had to go and have a look
read it you feel cold when the character is around so when I started researching that particular
cold or hot when they’re hot. The inn sits area it struck me as such an important time. This was at
high on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall and a time when the railways had recently come along, the
is a former haven for smugglers. Daphne world was getting smaller, all traditional careers were
du Maurier was inspired to write this going by the wayside and the whole notion of what it
book when she stayed at the inn. She was was to be a man or to be a woman was changing. A
captivated by the eerie atmosphere and character I had, Mesach Stone, wouldn’t work now. But
stories behind the smuggling, when ships in those days when women adored you for what you
were run on to the rocks, the sailors murdered and the cargo were, that was quite good fun to play with.
looted. You feel as if the words are liquid and you can splash ‘I was a crime journalist for many years which is
about in them. The tone of it is something I strive to get in my why I started writing crime fiction. I dabbled about
own work. It is a story of real endurance and how people are with other styles but every time I tried something
neither one thing or another. I really do think that’s the height of I read it back and thought, it would be good but it
how it’s done. Every time I read the book I think that every single would be better if there was a body! It would give
character who appears in it could easily have a back story.’ the narrative its own sense of urgency and there is a
resolution that’s required. I think there’s a reason that
Bleak House is Dicken’s greatest work. I think it is
because from the very start the reader and the writer
THE FALL OF THE are in a relationship of sorts. You know that every
ROMAN REPUBLIC question you have will be answered before the end.
Plutarch There is nothing that annoys me more than a literary
novel when you get to the end and everything is left
‘I think that the Roman Republic is a billowing in the wind. I think that’s almost laziness on
microcosm of all humanity. Plutarch the part of the writer who couldn’t think of an ending.
was one of the last of the classical ‘What I would like would be to have a little
Greek historians and in this book compartment of my brain that I could lock when I’m
he takes six important people of the not writing. My advice is the hardest thing to follow
time – Caesar, Cicero, Marius, Sulla, but I would say to anyone wanting to be a writer is,
Pompey and Crassus – and shows the do it for the pleasure of it. That is something that
parts they played in the fall of the gets lost by the wayside during the self-publishing
Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. There are or ebook. Everybody sits down with a pen and a pad
good people with bad intentions and bad people who or a keyboard and is writing with a view of selling
accidentally do good. It shows that even the greatest one million copies. Everybody who starts has the
people are capable of greed and ego and I find that quite potential of reaching that and I absolutely wish them
reassuring. I take great comfort in that but by the same well. The standard is incredibly high. But the best
token it’s a worry that after 2,000 years we still haven’t thing you get out of writing a book is knowing you
learnt how to spot the megalomaniacs.’ have created something that wasn’t there before.’

www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2017 35

p034 Shelf Life.indd 35 22/09/2017 09:35

 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Under the
microscope
James McCreet explores the opening passage
of a reader’s cosy mystery manuscript

1 A good first line because it

causes us to ask why. What’s
going to happen at Christmas?
Judith Cranswick

Murder in Morocco Something ominous?

I was not looking forward to Christmas.1 Not
that I ever did, even as a small child,2 but this
year, things might turn out to be more difficult
than ever.3 If it were not for my mother, I would
seriously consider never going back home again.
It was gone seven when I eventually managed
to trundle into the village.6 I turned into Mile End
Lane and pulled up outside the last but one house.
Making sure that I closed the ironwork garden gate
properly8 – best not to provoke Aunt Maud’s wrath
2 But we immediately hit a problem
here. The tense is wrong. If
we’re beginning in past simple, then
the time before that is past perfect
4
(especially when referring to a prior
5
childhood). It should be; ‘Not that I
ever had...’ Also, I’d end the sentence
7
here just to avoid too woolly a start to
the book.
is a retired teacher
from Swindon.
She now has time
to indulge her passions for
writing, travel and ancient
history. Her self-published
Fiona Mason mysteries
feature a tour manager for a
coach company. Murder in
Morocco is the first in a new
series of cosy Aunt Jemima
Mysteries based on Jemima’s
ancient history tours.

before I was allowed inside9 – I barely had time to
ring the bell before the door was thrown open10 and
my mother stood, eyes shining.11
‘I thought I heard a car.’12
She stood on tiptoe to kiss me13 and held
me in a surprisingly tight hug given her small,
seemingly frail stature.14
‘Sorry I’m so late, Mum.15 I’ve had to crawl all
the way from Cambridge because of this fog.’16
‘Well you’re here now. Let me take your coat.17
You look frozen, poor darling.18 I expect you’d
love a cup of tea. I’ll go and put the kettle on.
Leave your bag there19 and go in and say hello to
everyone before you take it up.’
A stiff drink would be more to my liking.20
‘Thanks, Mum. That would be great.’
I fixed a smile and pushed open the living
room door.21
Aunt Maud, the eldest of the four Hamilton
sisters, sat in the armchair by the fireside.22
‘You’re here then.’23
I went over24 and bent to give her a peck on
3
More tense issues. ‘Might’ is
present, but the story is in the
past. It’s now difficult to know which
tense to opt for. ‘That year, things paragraph of description, but the odd
might have turned out...’? adjective would help us to visualise
the scene. If this is the end of the
4 And more tense issues. The
conditional is present tense, but if
we’re taking the first sentence as our
street, what’s beyond? ‘Last-but-one’
is an adjectival phrase, so connect it
with hyphens.
guide, then this should be: ‘If it hadn’t
been for my mother, I would never
have...’ Some agents or publishers
would stop reading here.
8 This is a very unwieldy and
clause-rich sentence that slows
the pace and causes the reader to
concentrate unnecessarily to work
5 Evidently the narrator has
been delayed or very busy
prior to leaving, but we’re given no
out the flow. One way of simplifying
it might be to start, ‘I closed the
ironwork garden gate properly...’
information about this and so we can’t
empathise. Just a few more words
might make it clearer. 9 The character of Aunt Maud
sounds promising – the kind
of person we already want to meet

the cheek25 and, in the process, managed to
knock over her walking stick which clattered on
the tiled hearth.26
After a sharp intake of breath,27 she said, ‘Your
28
mother’s been expecting you since mid-afternoon.’
6
‘Trundle’ is a curious word. It because she sounds like a nightmare.
suggests travel by horse-and-cart ‘Provoking wrath’ does veer quite close
or a wheelbarrow, but the reason for to cliché, however.
this slow and uncomfortable progress
(check the dictionary definition of
‘trundle’) is not made clear. I suspect
that the verb has been chosen out of
10 The door was literally thrown
open? Or is this like ‘trundle’:
a knee-jerk expression that doesn’t
habit rather than clarity, and the lack serve the text well.
of clarity is clear.

7 The description tells us very little

about the village or the street. It’s
hard to picture. We don’t need a whole
11 Mum stood in the doorway,
presumably? Any why mum?
We’d been led to believe that this was
Aunt Maud’s house, and the initial

36 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p036 Microscope.indd 36 22/09/2017 09:42


paragraph spoke about going ‘home’
for Christmas. Is this home? Is this
Christmas? Some context earlier on
might give us more idea what’s going
on here. Are mum’s eyes shining
because she’s happy, drunk or has been
recently crying?
12 It’s pedantic, I know, but I’m
thinking that the car had
probably pulled up some minutes
before. It’s probably better if the
squeaking gate was the prompt for
mum to leap up and rush for the door.
13 This is a deft bit of showing:
our narrator is tall (or mum
is tiny). However, we don’t yet have
a name or gender for the storyteller.
Daughter? Son?
14 Watch out for repetitions of
adverb/adjective pairs in the
same sentence. And I do wonder
how someone can be ‘seemingly
frail’. Visible frailty is usually a good
indication of actual frailty, no?
15 I like how the dialogue just
begins here without any
reporting tags. It’s neat and saves time.
It’s efficient and natural.
16 It’s foggy? That’s not been
mentioned at all during the
‘trundle’ over to the village and the
description of it. We should have
known about it before now.
17 Is all of this taking place on the
doorstep? It’s a strange place to
take someone’s coat.
18 Why frozen? She’s been in
the car for the whole trip
and is wearing a coat (having just
put it on or worn it the whole way).
She’s been outside for mere seconds.
The dialogue appears generic rather
p036 Microscope.indd 37
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
IN SUMMARY
Faulty tenses is a serious flaw,
especially in the all-important first
paragraph. It confuses readers and
gives publishers an instant reason to
reject. Narrative perspective has to be
than specific. What would these streamlined and airtight from the very
people say to each other that other beginning – it’s what earns a reader’s
people might not say? trust and loyalty.
When a piece starts poorly, you risk
19 Leave the bag where? Are they
still on the doorstep? I’m not
usually a fan of indicating every little
losing the good will of your reader and
they start looking for other things to
dislike. Cliché is one such thing. Easy
aspect of location, but it seems to be vocab is another. A word like ‘trundle’
lacking here. might be common in spoken English,
but in writing it has a specific meaning
20 Tense again. Surely this
should be, ‘A stiff drink
would have been...’
and a specific use. One doesn’t trundle
in a car. Trundling is unwieldy and slow
and impaired. Perhaps the fog made it
so, but the fog hadn’t been mentioned
21 I like the fixed smile. It’s
small but subtle detail that
tells us plenty about the relationships
at that point!
Perhaps most worrying is that the first
300 words don’t tell us much. A person
involved here. of indeterminate age and sex arrives
at their aunt’s house (the same ‘home’
22 The details of the room are
quite sufficient, but am I
mentioned initially?), presumably at
Christmas for a difficult family holiday.
alone in wanting a little description of
Aunt Maud? I sense she’s formidable in
her way. Just a few words of description
So far, so typical. There’s no glimpse
of a story and little to anticipate. Aunt
Maud looks like an interesting character,
would bring her to life. but we don’t have much to go on.
There are some flashes of effective
23 This is great. It tells us plenty
about the old curmudgeon.
writing in the dialogue and in the detail
(that garden gate), but we need to
Use a comma before ‘then’. eradicate all that’s not working and pare
it back to a more streamlined narrative.
24 The fact of the kiss implies
that our narrator went over –
no need to spell it out.
It doesn’t need to explain every little
thing, but the reader needs more in
order to engage with the story.
25 But the peck is a cliché. Tell
us about the scent and the
texture of that cheek!
Read James McCreet’s suggested
26 You need a comma before
‘which’, but there are too
many clauses here. The sentence
rewrite of this extract at
http://writ.rs/nov17wm
needs tidying.
27 The ‘sharp intake' is cliché
territory. Was it a gasp? A tut?
Be specific.
• If you would like to submit an
extract of your work in progress,
send it by email, with synopsis and a
brief biog, to:
28
This is also classic Maud. jtelfer@writersnews.co.uk
Good stuff.
www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 37
22/09/2017 09:42
 FICTION FOCUS
ready, steady, GO!
Get fired up for November’s marathon as Margaret James
looks at the very real benefits of taking part
I
t’s that time of year again,
when participants in the annual
National Novel Writing Month
event get ready to spend thirty
days glued to their computer
screens as they do their best to write
the first draft of a novel in just one
month.
Why would any writers wish to put
themselves through this physical and
psychological torment?
Well, as a species we seem to
enjoy being challenged, and being
challenged by NaNoWriMo can
sometimes result in tangible rewards.
It did for the bestselling novelist
Julia Crouch whom I interviewed
for Writing Magazine several years
ago. Julia had a big hit with her first
novel Cuckoo, the first rough draft of
38 NOVEMBER 2017
p038 Fiction Focus.indd 38
which was written during National
Novel Writing Month, and she hasn’t
looked back since.
Some writers see signing up for
NaNoWriMo as a rite of passage – an
affirmation to themselves and their
friends and relations that they are
serious professionals, rather than
dabbling amateurs. Professional writers
almost always work to deadlines,
and NaNoWriMo certainly offers all
writers this particular discipline.
‘I have taken part in NaNoWriMo
every year since 2010,’ says Morton
S Gray, who enjoys the challenge of
writing 50,000 words in a month
and is now a commercially-published
novelist. ‘My family knows I don’t go
to bed in November until I’ve finished
my words,’ she says.
www.writers-online.co.uk
‘I have particularly enjoyed using
NaNoWriMo to experiment with
genres and styles. In 2010 I wrote
a time-slip, Pendle Cottage, in 2011
a ghost story, Wickenham Court, in
2012 romantic suspense, Written in
the Coffee, in 2013 a World War One
story set in the Black Country, Millie’s
War, and in 2014 more romantic
suspense, Who is Harry Dixon, which
became The Girl on the Beach. This
novel was my commercial debut,
being published by Choc Lit in
January 2017 after winning its annual
Search for a Star competition. In
2015, I wrote an English Civil War
novel, Divided Hearts, and in 2016 the
start of the sequel to The Girl on the
Beach, whose working title is Mandy’s
Story. I love NaNoWriMo!’
22/09/2017 09:48

Angela Wooldridge has had lots
of success with short stories and her
fiction regularly appears in magazines,
but she has yet to publish a novel.
‘Last year, I got together with a couple
of local writers, one who was an old
hand at NaNoWriMo, and one who
– like me – had never done it before,’
she says. ‘We held write-ins for the
first and last days of NaNoWriMo,
which was a great way to get started
and to celebrate the finish.
‘My own end result? I wrote just
over 50,000 words of a novel that I’m
now revising. Yes, it needs more work.
But, thanks to that concentrated stint
last November, I have plenty of new
material to work with – and I’ve also
invested in a wrist support.
‘I hadn’t expected anyone apart
from my writing friends to pay much
attention. But other people showed a
lot of interest and support, which was
really nice. Of course, they expected
the novel to be published immediately
after NaNoWriMo ended!’
Elizabeth Ducie is an independent
author whose debut novel Gorgito’s
Ice Rink was a runner-up for a
Writing Magazine award She has
attempted NaNoWriMo six times
and been successful for the last four
years running, having written more
than a quarter of a million words in
the process.
‘I first tried NaNoWriMo in 2007,’
she told me. ‘I managed to write about
6,000 words before I gave up, but
over the years those words grew into
Gorgito’s Ice Rink, which I might never
have started without NaNoWriMo. I
tried again in 2012, but had to give
up when my house was flooded and
life got in the way.
‘I used the NaNoWriMo process to
draft both my novels Counterfeit! and
Deception! This year, I will be drafting
Corruption!, the third book in the
series. During NaNoWriMo I write
not only draft chapters, but random
scenes and character back stories:
NOW Try this
You might not feel ready (yet) for the marathon challenge of NaNoWriMo,
but professional writers almost always need to work to deadlines. So
when you start your next piece of writing perhaps you could set yourself a
deadline and do your best to meet it?
p038 Fiction Focus.indd 39
anything to progress the project.
‘I don’t believe one has to follow
rules too rigidly. In 2013, I decided
to write twenty-five stories of 2,000
words each, rather than a full novel.
The outcome was a stock of stories
I am still polishing, still entering
for competitions, and for which I’m
gradually finding homes.
‘When I have an idea to work from
I can write quite quickly. Actually,
1,667 words – the daily target – is
not a huge number of words to write.
I can usually do this in about ninety
minutes. The key to success is to
remember that NaNoWriMo is about
creativity and quantity, not quality.
So don’t judge your work and don’t
try to edit or polish – just write.
‘There is a great website supporting
participants at www.nanowrimo.org
Anyone like me – I’m keen on
figures and charts – will love the
graph on the dashboard which
documents progress over the month.’
Writing Magazine subscriber N
Siân Southern says: ‘Right now, I’m
preparing to fail NaNoWriMo for
the fifth year. That’s okay. After all,
failure is the first step to success. The
adrenaline rush of trying to churn
out so many words kick-starts my
creativity like nothing else, and I
inevitably get distracted by a shiny
new idea or concept that doesn’t
belong in my official project.
‘I’ve written countless short stories
during NaNoWriMo. My official
project is always there to return to at
the end of November, or December,
or whenever I feel I have the space
to give it the love and attention it
needs. Every year I fail I get that bit
further through a first draft before
I get side-tracked. One year I know
I’ll make it.’
Optimism, determination
and persistence – these are the
three qualities all NaNoWriMo
contestants and writers in general
clearly need in spades!
www.writers-online.co.uk
FICTION FOCUS
I wish
I’d known…
Novelists tell us what they wish they’d known
right at the start of their careers.
With AnneMarie Brear
‘I
t took me two years to write my first book,
To Gain What’s Lost, and I was very naive
about publishing or what I needed to
do. I came close to signing with a vanity
publisher because I didn’t know this wasn’t
the normal way of things. But then I did some more
research and found out there were publishers out there
who didn’t ask authors for money!
‘So then I did the next thing new writers do. I
posted the first three chapters of my novel to every
big publisher in the world. I wasted another two years
waiting for replies I never received. What I didn’t know
was that publishers have slushpiles. I eventually realised
that my parcels must have all ended up on these piles,
never to be seen again.
‘Then I heard about literary agents. Apparently, they
got you out of the slushpiles and on to editors’ desks.
But I was unlucky enough to sign with an American
agent who knew nothing about sagas set in England,
and he sent my book to publishers who would never
have wanted my type of story. I received rejection after
rejection, and soon enough I rejected that particular
agent, too!
‘I realised I needed a literary agent based in the UK, and
in late 2006 I signed with a London agent who got me
contracts with Robert Hale in London, which published
three of my books. But then my agent suddenly died.
‘After that, I signed with a few small publishers and
then took three years off writing. Now I’m contracted
to a UK publisher for Where Dragonflies Hover, Where
Rainbows End and another historical novel which is yet
to be published.
‘I have just finished writing my sixteenth novel. I
wish I’d known right at the beginning of my career that
writers need to research their intended markets, to hold
out for the literary agents and/or publishers who will
benefit them, and not to sign with the first offer that
comes their way – no matter how tempting that offer
might be!’
NOVEMBER
AUGUST 2017 39
22/09/2017 09:48
 TA L K I T OV E R

Y earning
FOR EARNINGS
Jane Wenham Jones consoles a writer despairing she’ll never earn a living wage.

I
published work by an unknown breaks
have been writing for twelve years and have had some moderate success. My short stories all records. Think of Fifty Shades of Grey
and articles have been published, I’ve been placed in a few competitions and I have written (unless you are of a squeamish nature and
a couple of non-fiction books which are still in print and continue to sell. In fact, if my real would prefer to think of Harry Potter
name were published there might even be people out there who have heard of me. I am instead). Look at all the big names on the
using a pen name for this letter, however, because others often imagine I am doing better latest list of bestsellers. There was a time
than I am and to disillusion them could be bad for sales. The truth is that I earn very little. My when those authors were starting out
royalty cheques are nice but I couldn’t live on them. Freelance pieces pay for treats but would not and hadn’t started earning much either.
cover the regular bills. I am now writing a novel – around my non-writing work. But part of me
Joanna Trollope once drily commented
wonders why I am bothering. If it gets published at all, it is not likely to make me much. I work
that it had taken her 20 years to be an
very hard at my writing and while I don’t expect to be JK Rowling, I do long to earn a decent
overnight success; mega-selling crime
wage from it. Not only so that I could do it full-time but so that it feels like a proper job – even
a career – and not just a hobby. writer Peter James wrote a few warm-up
books before he hit on his consistently
AMANDA COTTRILL
chart-topping Roy Grace series.
BATH
I was recently in touch with Suzanne
Lambert – who had a wonderful tale to

A
report last year showed
that the average income
for a writer in the
UK was £12,500 per
annum. Without getting
bogged down in the intricacies of that
debatable figure, it’s still somewhat
below both what you’d earn on the
minimum wage for a forty-hour week
and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s
recommended minimum income
standard of £17,100.
I expect therefore, Amanda, there are
plenty of readers sending sympathy vibes
your way. As we know, averages can be
misleading – nobody actually has 2.4
children – but there is no doubt that the
vast majority of authors struggle to make
a living. However, it is also true that a
lucky few make a fortune.
Sadly, various other studies have shown
that the gap between the earnings of the
‘rich’ authors – those gracing the bestseller
lists – and the more ordinary mortals
(those who aren’t!) has increased many
fold. The rich have got richer while the
poor have seen their incomes go down.
Various factors are involved to do with
the changing nature of the bookselling
market and the astonishing number of
books and downloads that are sold – JK
Rowling is a good example – when an
author does have a runaway success. It
is an issue that the Society of Authors is
very aware of. Lucinda Hawksley from
the management committee has spoken
out on the need for initiatives to make
life fairer for authors, saying: ‘In a world
where publishing is huge business,
readers should be made aware of the
financially struggling elephant in the
room,’ and urging publishers to ‘change
their attitudes to authors’.
Lucinda, who also happens to be
the great great great-granddaughter of
Charles Dickens, admitted last year:
‘I know from personal experience
how difficult it is to be creative when
panicking about the state of one’s
finances and worrying about the rent.’
Adding honestly: ‘My books have been
well-received and plentiful, which
might be assumed to bring in a healthy
income, but it is impossible to support
myself by writing alone.’
Many of us who, in theory, write
‘full-time’ earn money in a variety of
ways in reality. I teach and speak and
interview and sometimes edit, as well as
producing columns and features on top
of the books. Lots of successful authors
have a day job as well or are fortunate
enough to have income from other
sources.
But let us look on the bright
side. The wonderful thing about
is now available
the writing game is that one’s life
ebook, A Prob
can change in a heartbeat. Books
that had a slow start suddenly
take off, a novel is sold abroad
and becomes a bestseller in another
country, film rights are sought, a self-
tell. In 2013, with the encouragement
of her daughter, Suzanne sent a story
called The Rag Dolls to a magazine
competition which offered publication
as its prize – without, as she says, ‘any
hope’ of that happening. Two days later
she was contacted by a commissioning
editor at Penguin Random House. As
a result, her first book Christmas at
the Ragdoll Orphanage (Penguin) was
published. A sequel followed and her
third, The Puppy and the Orphan, is to
be published in November. ‘Sometimes,’
says Suzanne, ‘I still have to pinch
myself to believe it.’
Even if you never make a million, you
will still have the joy and satisfaction
of completing a novel. It is also worth
remembering that what you term
your ‘moderate success’ would be the
fulfilment of another writer’s wildest
fantasy. It is all too easy to constantly
compare ourselves with those we
perceive to be doing better, rather than
appreciating how far we’ve come. You
have done well.
You must also have enjoyed the
process or you wouldn’t hanker after
A selection being able to do it full-time. That’s
s
of Jane’s previou why you are bothering and why
ns
Talk It Over colum you should not be despondent,
as an
lem Sh ared but try to type on with the
lum e On e, fre e proverbial hope in your heart.
Vo
to download on Dreams can and do come true
on
Kindle via Amaz and this book could be your big
break. Good luck!

40 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p041 Talk It Over / Helpline.indd 40 22/09/2017 10:55

 Helpline
Email your queries to Diana (please include hometown details) at: diana@dianacambridge.co.uk or send them to: Helpline,
Writing Magazine, Warners Group Publications plc, 5th Floor, 31-32 Park Row, Leeds LS1 5JD. She will answer as many letters as
she can on the page, but regrets that she cannot enter into individual correspondence. Publication of answers may take several months. Helpline
cannot personally answer queries such as where to offer work, or comment on manuscripts, which you are asked not to send.
Q I have answered ads for will writers, bid writers and copywriters who
can translate dull material into sparkling copy. I’ve done at least thirty
applications this year but not had a single reply. All the jobs were advertised on
job recruitment websites. My writing credentials are excellent – I’ve had technical
how-to books published in the past – and writing an instruction leaflet for a
washing machine would certainly not be beyond me.
SIMON HALCROW
Kettering
A Journalistic job-hunting has become problematic – there’s no doubt
about that. While generic writing jobs are shrinking, posts that require
specialised knowledge are increasing. The recruiters probably look for recent
graduates with a strong degree in the specialism – say engineering, IT, law
– plus evidenced writing talent. And though the ads may be under ‘writing
jobs’ they’re more about the business than the writing. It might be useful to
advertise yourself on a job site, with an image of you and your book cover –
brief biog, and succinct, brief description of what you can offer. What you do
have is experience and confidence. It’s worth a try. If you live in a city, you can
advertise yourself on a local notice board. It might be that some local business is
looking for just what you have to offer, on a freelance basis.
Q I recently submitted a short story to a woman’s magazine, and received a ‘thank
you but no’, on the basis that they felt the story ‘relied a shade too heavily on plot’.
I’m not sure what this means. Are you able to give any suggestions, so I don’t make
the same mistake with my next short story?
ALISON CRONIN
Bracknell, Berkshire
A I’m guessing that by ‘reliance on plot’ they mean that the story depended too
much on coincidence, or was simply a plot outline. They’d be looking for strong
characters and pithy dialogue, and sentiments readers could identify with. Try the story
again in a simpler way. It might be you also included too many plot twists – again
simplify the story and look at the characters more. It’s tempting to just narrate the plot
and get lost in the way it unfolds. Strengthen, simplify and flesh out the characters.
Q In looking back at some of my old scrapbooks, I think I could compile a story
of my life, an autobiography and it would be quite interesting. But I’ve read
that you can pay for this to be done professionally, when a writer comes round to
interview you and the thing is written up as a book. Which would be better received?
MARIANNE DUNFORD
Porlock Minehead
A It depends who you want to receive it – whether you are thinking of a book
that could be published and sold in bookshops, or a keepsake for friends and
family members.
The ‘ghosted’ books which are professionally prepared for you are very well done,
but also expensive. They would not be books that could be distributed in bookshops
– unless the life story is very unusual and is spotted by an agent. But perhaps you’d
enjoy doing the work yourself, and just paying to self-publish? The expense would
be much less – and if the book is for family and friends, I think they’d enjoy it just as
much as a professionally-produced memoir.
www.writers-online.co.uk
p041 Talk It Over / Helpline.indd 41
Your writing problems
solved with advice from
Diana Cambridge
Q I think I have become too dependent on doing
courses rather than concentrating on producing
new work. It’s more tempting to go on a course or a
workshop than to sit down and write! Also I like being
with other people. It can be lonely working from my
kitchen table.
JACKY FAWTHROP
Congresbury Bristol
A You have probably become jaded with being at home
all day trying to write. Pick out workshops and
courses which request written submissions. This gives you
something to aim for. But don’t stop going on workshops
and courses – you can never extend your knowledge or your
network too much. Always have a deadline to work to ready
for your next course or workshop, and you’ll improve your
output and your morale.
Q We entered a short film for an American film festival
(Las Vegas), and were under the impression – briefly
– that we were in the short list. However the film that was
shortlisted had the same title as ours, and there was some
similarity in the plot. It seems to me that there’s a problem
here – isn’t there a copyright law on play titles?
SAMI COLQUHOUN
Dover
A
No, none. Just as there’s no copyright on book titles.
It’s inevitable that certain titles will be repeated over
and over again…The Lover, The Divorce, The Journey and
thousands more. It is disappointing for your group, of course.
In terms of plot similarities, again this is not uncommon –
there are only so many plots to go round. What distinguishes
one piece of work from another is more than just the title
and the plot – it’s the interpretation and the approach.
Q Where a competition word count specifies, say, 750
words does this include the title?
Also, is there a little leeway – say 10 words either side?
JEZ PIRIE
Middlesbrough
A First, when a comp asks for entries and gives a
word count, they almost always mean that the piece
should be no more than the set number of words. So, for
an entry asking for 750 words you could offer 550, 700 or
any number of words which do not exceed the 750. But do
check the rules carefully on this. In terms of leeway, there is
none. The title is not included in the word count.
NOVEMBER 2017 41
22/09/2017 10:55
 SAU B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T
SH A RE
SUBSCRIBER
SPOTLIGHT
O Y Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and
Y
R
U R STO would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
Balloons take flight
‘99 Red Balloons is the fifth
manuscript I’ve written,’ writes
subscriber Elisabeth Carpenter.
‘Reading How I got published
every month in Writing Magazine
inspired me to keep going, as it’s
rare an author gets a book deal with
the first manuscript they write.
‘I started writing short stories
in the late 1990s when my eldest
son was little, but it wasn’t until my second son was born
(fourteen years later!) that I began my first novel. I spent
three years writing and rewriting it. I sent it to so many
agents, I ran out of places to email it. I thought about
self-publishing – I even had a cover commissioned – but
then began writing another. This was shortlisted in various
competitions and received several full manuscript requests,
but ultimately no offers of representation.
‘Whilst this was on submission, I had an idea for
another manuscript: 99 Red Balloons. I sent it to agents
who had requested to see “other work”. I received several
offers of representation for this book. It was a surreal time
– I couldn’t believe it. The next nail-biting time would be
finding the right publisher.
‘The book went on submission in the summer of 2016
while I was on holiday in Cornwall. At first, I tried not to
look at emails, but ended up checking every notification.
In the August, we had an offer from Phoebe Morgan at
Avon HarperCollins. It all happened so fast, I still can’t
believe it’s real.
‘99 Red Balloons follows Stephanie after her eight-year-old
niece disappears, and family secrets bubble to the surface.
Stephanie helps support Emma through the search for her
daughter – after all, they are sisters – or so everyone thinks.
‘Meanwhile, Maggie’s granddaughter
was abducted in the 1980s. She watches
a police appeal for a missing child –
one of the women on the news looks
strangely familiar. What starts as a
passing thought becomes an obsession
that soon spirals and takes over her life.
‘99 Red Balloons was published on
24 August.’
Website: www.elisabethcarpenter.co.uk
42 NOVEMBER 2017
p042 Subscriber news.indd 42
A well-planned
novel
‘What? A novel about a planning officer?
Who would want to read that?’ writes
subscriber Prue Phillipson.
‘Ann Widdecombe, who has read The
Pembleton Myth and given it a hearty
endorsement, believes it is a fascinating
read – authentic and full of very true-
to-life characters and stories. Over a lifetime of writing articles,
short stories and more recently historical novels, I longed to see
The Pembleton Myth published to show the reader the human
face of planning and the poignant incidents and moral dilemmas
that can be involved. At first it seemed outside the scope of my
present publisher, Knox Robinson Publishing, but they expanded
their range and I submitted it and it was instantly accepted.
Publication has been delayed for over a year for various reasons
but it is now available as a paperback or an ebook.
‘In my novel I have drawn on the experience of my husband
Alan, who was area planning officer with Northumberland
County Council and director of planning with Tynedale
Council over the years from 1957 to 1991. Begun in 1959,
the novel has expanded to take in family stories of the
fictional planning office staff as well as the backgrounds
of some of the applicants that Paul Pembleton has to deal
with in one dramatic day of his professional life; which
makes him re-evaluate who he is and what he is doing. I
emphasise that Paul is not a portrait of my husband and all the
characters are fictional. Places in Northumberland, however,
certainly inspired the descriptions of site visits – I sometimes
accompanied Alan on these – and the County Offices strongly
resemble the old County Hall close to the Tyne in Newcastle.
The Tyne becomes the Bryn and
Newmont, where Paul and his
family live, will also be recognisable
as Jesmond in the late fifties. A
launch in Newcastle Central Library
took place on 8 September when
I read from my novel and talked
about how it came to be written.
‘It’s the fulfilment of a very long-
standing dream – I am now 88 and
a great-grandmother.’
Website: www.
pruephillipsonbooks.co.uk
www.writers-online.co.uk
22/09/2017 11:38
 S U B S C R I B E R S P OT L I G H T

For the love of non-fiction

Pets go places
‘I was fortunate to have some publishers
give me feedback on my first children’s book
manuscript,’ writes subscriber Marianne Su Yin.
‘However the overwhelming response was: “It
doesn’t fit.” Thankfully the motivation for me to
write was not to get a publishing deal, it was to
fill a gap I felt was in the market. An illustrated story written in rhyming
verse with non-fiction fact boxes, for readers six years and up. Lots of
“doesn’t fit” there.
‘I created On the Trail of the Missing Pets as a book which can be
easily read and also used for learning. The story follows a young girl
and her dog who go back in time and have an adventure in the past.
Set in 1940s wartime London they must solve a mystery in history
with the subject fitting within the primary school curriculum. I now
visit schools on the Isle of Wight, where I live, to work with children
using my book when they study this topic.’
‘I raised the money to self-publish through a successful crowdfunding
campaign. A key pledge was also to give my book to primary schools
on the Island, and I have been able to fulfil this which is amazing. The
response I have received from children, teachers and adults has been
incredible. The format of my book seems to really have hit a chord. I
have been told that the learning focus within a story is great for getting
children interested in history, and the use of rhyming verse has helped
reluctant readers engage with books.
‘I sell through my local Waterstones, print on demand and my
website; the latter allows me to really connect with my customers.
My dog Spike features in the book
and he has almost 1,000 followers on
Instagram @spikethevizsla. As a result
of this I have sold books to Australia,
Canada, America and Thailand.
‘The next in the series, On the Trail
of the Queen’s Jewels,
Jewels is well underway
and is set at Osborne House, the
family home of Queen Victoria on the
Isle of Wight. Much easier for research
and sketching!’
Website: www.mariannesuyin.co.uk
‘As a writer of non-fiction I have always felt like an outcast
from the literary domain but have managed to eke out a
most enjoyable life for only doing the things that I have
loved doing,’ writes subscriber Loris Goring.
‘I see no point in doing anything that one hates doing if it
can be avoided.
‘That is why I so often see in Writing Magazine so much
space devoted to writers of fiction when there really is a
whole world out there for photojournalists like myself who
have made a very happy living out of what we love doing.
‘I am ancient and have been in photojournalism since
1956 starting out writing about motorsport in Singapore.
‘I then went into motorboating and wrote for Canal and
Power Boat, Yachts and Yachting, Motor Cruiser, Motorboats
Monthly, etc etc Other endeavours have been Home
Mechanics, Radio Control Models and Electronics and
Kitchen Garden. I also had several books published by the
boating press.
‘Let me know if you think we can encourage others down
this evil path. You can find more of me on Google.’
This is the cover of
subscriber Sara Adams’
book Run Rabbit Run,
featured in Subscriber
Spotlight in the September
issue and published by
Createspace and available
on Amazon.

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p042 Subscriber news.indd 43 22/09/2017 11:39

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

A life in What a difference a book makes

words
‘It has been a long writing ‘Published at last; oh, the giddy excitement!’ writes subscriber Jane Beemah.
life,’ writes subscriber ‘Like many readers of this magazine, I’ve always loved to write. It’s in my bones,
Dvora Waysman. like the red earth of Devon. However, as we all know, the road to publication isn’t
‘My first poem was easy, with lots of uphill struggles. I will spare you details of my failures, but a while
published when I was ago I decided to change tack and try my hand at medical romance. After all, they
seven, in the children’s do say write what you know and I was a practising nurse – a palliative care nurse,
section of an Australian to be exact, working in a hospice. So, this was the background I chose. I would
newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, where I describe my novel as a “feel-good” read, easy to pick up and put down. A serious
was born. My latest novel (my 14th) Searching theme written in a heart-warming way; because good palliative care really does
for Sarah was published this year in Jerusalem, make a difference and I wanted my story to show this.
where I now live – just after my 86th birthday. ‘I completed my book close to retirement and chose the pen name Kathryn
‘I tell my family “When I’m old, I may retire.” Haydon. One day, leafing through my latest Writing Magazine, I came across a
‘I have always been in love with words, and publisher I hadn’t heard of before: Mezzanotte. Taking a punt – after all, nothing
I’ve always been able to incorporate journalism ventured, nothing gained – I sent off a query email. Did they publish books in
and writing books into my working life, the medical romance genre (because I’d written one)?
whether writing advertising copy, radio scripts Back came a positive response, inviting me to send in
for the BBC when I lived in London, children’s a synopsis, plus the first three chapters. Wonderful!
books, syndicated columns and feature Next came a request for the remainder of the story.
articles, poetry or novels. My first work of (A little tip here: always best to have the remainder of
fiction, nearly twenty years ago, was titled The the story).
Pomegranate Pendant and set in Jerusalem 100 ‘One contract and six months of hard graft later,
years ago, based on the true history of the first Making the Difference by Kathryn Haydon was
Jewish immigration from Yemen to Palestine published in January 2017. Available in both ebook
in 1862. It was made into a movie titled The and print format via Amazon.com or direct from
Golden Pomegranate and amazingly, the book is Mezzanotte. I am forever grateful to my publisher,
still selling while some later ones have quietly Bettina, who was – and is – a delight to work with.
faded into oblivion. With her guidance, I learnt how to bring the essence
‘My latest novel Searching for Sarah is also of a story up to publication standard. The cherry on
set in Israel, and the theme is that everyone is the cake: helping to choose my book’s dust jacket!’
searching for someone or something to fulfil Website: www.mezzanotte-publishing.co.uk/blog
their dreams. My three principal characters
are Sarah, searching for the artist who painted
a portrait that obsesses her; Leah, the artist,
searching for something that can never be
replaced, and Gershom, who seems to be Reflecting real life
searching for God. I am hoping to write one
more book, which I’ll call Tales I Never Told ‘After I retired from HMCE department, I
You, primarily for my grandchildren (I have decided to research my idea for a novel, based
18) and great-grandchildren (I have 16) who on the life stories of Indian women in India
have only known me when I was old. I want and England between 1954 and 2005,’ writes
them to know that I was once young too (one subscriber Ramanlal Morarjee.
grand-daughter, many years ago, when she ‘My novel Spirit of Love reflects some of those
heard my age, asked me “But did you start experiences as seen through the eyes of my
from one?”). main character, Rakhi. Lot of information about customs, arranged marriages
‘Writing has enriched my life, and and hardships faced in foreign countries has been
subscribing to Writing Magazine still inspires included. The story includes about Holi and Diwali
me to keep going.’ festivals, marriage ceremonies and everyday life in an
Indian village.
‘I spent many years in SW London as a student
Wa y s m a n

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44 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p042 Subscriber news.indd 44 22/09/2017 11:39

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

Witch watch Puzzle me this

‘Hi, we thought we’d tell you about our latest
release, The Devil’s Servants,’ write our twin
subscribers who together are CL Raven.
‘It’s set in Edinburgh during the witch trials
of 1649 and is a sequel to our plague doctor
novel, The Malignant Dead. Scotland was cursed
by witches and in 1649, the witch panic was at its peak. No-one was safe
from the executioner’s flames. Below the behemoth of Edinburgh Castle,
nineteen year old Nessie Macleod is forced to watch her mother, Isabelle,
burn to death for witchcraft. Shunned by Edinburgh’s townsfolk, she’s also
hounded by the witch pricker, John Brodie. Brodie killed her mother and
now he’s coming for her.
‘We had a stressful moment with the cover when our usual artist had to
pull out at the last minute, but luckily David VG
Davies stepped in. He’s a horror film and prop
maker with From the Shadows but he’s also a
great artist. We did a lot of research for the book,
including reading court records from the witch
trials, so the crimes our “witches” were accused
of were taken from the records. It also meant
another trip to Edinburgh. It’s a hard job but
someone’s got to keep Edinburgh’s horror-themed
pubs in business. Our next historical novel will
be about the body snatchers in 1828, which will
mean another trip to Frankenstein’s pub. We
mean a research holiday to Edinburgh.’
Website: www.clravenwordpress.com
‘When I decided it might be fun
to create a crossword for Swanwick
Writers’ Summer School, I had no
idea it would lead to the publishing
of my first collection of word
puzzles twelve months later,’ writes
subscriber Suzanne High.
‘As a participant at Swanwick for the last nine years, I was
looking for a way to make a contribution, in return for the
pleasure the school has given me over the years. I provided
a cryptic crossword using the various locations, speakers and
course subjects as a theme, for the delegates to wrestle with
over the six days of Swanwick. Towards the end of the week,
publisher and Swanwick regular Tarja Moles approached me
to say how thrilled she was to feature in a crossword clue!
She went on to say she had been thinking of publishing a
word puzzle book and would I be interested in providing the
puzzles? Of course, I said “yes” and twelve months later, after
plenty of hard work, a very enjoyable
process is complete and the result is
100 Assorted Word Puzzles. The book,
which is designed to appeal to anyone
interested in exploring the wonderful
world of word puzzles, is the first in
my Brain Teaser Puzzle Books series.’
Website: www.lusciousbooks.
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 WRITERS’ CIRCLES
CIRCLES’ ROUNDUP
If your writing group would like to feature here, whether you need new members, have an event
to publicise or to suggest tips for other groups, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
ASA
SPOTLIGHT ON…
Rambling Rose Writers
‘We’re Rambling Rose Writers, a creative writing group based
in the North East of England, who formed over a year ago. The
initial cultivating of ideas began with thought-provoking topics,
which inspired us to write in our own individual styles.
‘We have published our first book on Amazon Kindle, Of Prose
and Pen, which is an anthology of short stories, flash fiction and
poems. Cleverly compiled, it showcases the world of spies and
intrigue, love lost and found, mischievous pets, mystic happenings
and much more.
‘Join us – Cornflower, Jasmine, Lavender and Red – to engage
with the fun, fantasy, poignancy and emotion of our literary
journey as we bring to life a wide variety of characters.
‘The ebook is available from Amazon (http://writ.rs/
ramblingrosewriters) at £2.99 with 50% of the profits to be
donated to Bright Red (a local blood cancer charity).’
Murder comes to Chester
Rebecca Tope, successful murder mystery
author visits Chester.
On Sunday 15 October, Rebecca will
reveal her secrets of writing a successful
murder mystery book. Although not expecting any such occurrences on
the day, the author of over thirteen murder mystery novels will be here
to tell us how she did it, writes Lesley Howard.
Now living in rural Herefordshire, she spent part of her childhood
in Cheshire. Maybe some of this county’s memories have added to the
flavour of her writing.
Tickets for members and guests are £10 including afternoon
refreshments together with home made cakes, and the opportunity
to ask Rebecca their own questions. Her latest book, available in the
autumn, is Peril in the Cotswolds.
Raven Creative Writing Group will be hosting the event at The
Pavilion, Upton, Chester at 2.30pm.
Pre-booking is essential as numbers will be limited.
For further details the event please contact Lesley at writing@
ravenmanor-uk.com, tel 01244 380080, text 07939 476198, or visit
www.ravenmanor-uk.com.
46 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk
p046 Circles/Roundup.indd 46
13 Seasons of Alpha Writers
Write 300 words of prose on the subject of ‘Rain’. That
was our writing challenge to start the thirteenth season,
writes Olaf Chedzoy. Well, everyone knows what rain is, so
there was no excuse for a member not responding to the
challenge. But every response has to have a message, be it
the limit of rainfall to declare a drought or the trickle of
cold water running down inside the policeman’s collar. It
calls for good use of the language and a wide vocabulary is
helpful and the structure of the response is important. So
300 words of prose is a good challenge for writers. It’s the
basic Alpha Challenge, but sometimes we vary it to other
forms of equivalent difficulty.
We have now been operating for thirteen seasons –
ten of them to our present format when we do our own
assessment of the responses. For the headline-seeking
numerates, that’s 100 challenges with a total of 1,269
responses – nearly thirteen per challenge. Together, they
equate to something of 350,000 words (how many volumes
of War and Peace would that be?!).
The standard of writing is consistently good because our
aim has always been writing for enjoyment and we look
for evidence of that amongst applicants. Our membership
(currently limited to 18) changes a little each year, and we
look to recruit in the summer from those who are prepared
to commit for a whole season (September until May) We
are international – that’s what being an email only group
encourages. If you are interested in knowing more about
Alpha Writers, write to me at olafczy@btinternet.com or to
Sarah at howtokeeponwriting@gmail.com
We started the season with a broad subject challenge, but
we finished with something to test our creativity. Zena (who
has been with us from the start of Alpha) quoted a verse
from the poem Flannan Isle by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson. You
don’t need to read the poem or know anything about it or
its subject. You need only use your imagination to write
something inspired by the situation in this extract:
Aye, though we hunted high and low,
And hunted everywhere,
Of the three men’s fate we found no trace
Of any kind in any place,
But a door ajar, and an untouch’d meal,
And an overtoppled chair.
Zena assured us that that there was no correct way to
interpret the brief. She said, ‘We want to be surprised…
pleasantly. It can be in any genre or style, a story, a poem,
whatever you like, but in a maximum of 300 words.’
She hoped that this gave scope for wide imaginings, and she
was certainly right. Could you have risen to this challenge?
22/09/2017 09:52

Future
fantastic
P
Look forward in anticipation with an exercise for your writers’ group from Julie Phillips
eople who lived a hundred
years ago would be
astounded by the way
we live today. The dress,
the transportation, the
technology, shifts in social norm and etiquette
– it’s amazing how it all changes. Think about
your own lifetime and the things you have
seen change there and wonder what it will be
like for your grandchildren and their children.
People who are born 100 years from now will
have a very different life to us. A previous
workshop asked us to look to our pasts for
writing inspiration. This workshop invites you
to look to the future… the far future.
There are many books, films and short
stories written where new worlds have
been discovered in the future, the world
as we knew it has long gone due to some
environmental, alien or man-made disaster
and the humans are left to pick up the
pieces, maybe interact and cooperate with
aliens. Your writing challenge for this
workshop is to invent a futuristic landscape
and story for yourself.
What happened?
The first question to be asked is how did the
humans find themselves in this predicament
of changed circumstances? What was the
catalyst to the disaster, or why was the world
destroyed? Ask the group to discuss and make
notes on ways the world, as they know it,
could come to an end.
Characters
If the world ended due to some disaster who
are your survivors and how and why did
they survive? Are they who they say they are?
Could one or more be aliens or humans out
p046 Circles/Roundup.indd 47
to cause problems? Describe one or more
characters, including physical appearance
– do they have a body or do they exist in a
more ethereal sense? Perhaps they have super
powers or are different in some other way?
Where in the world?
Now look at the landscape and environment.
Has nature reclaimed London, or have aliens
rebuilt the planet to their design brief? Perhaps
the sea level has risen. Are the changes more
subtle? What does this brave new world
look like? Use all your senses to describe the
environment they might find themselves in.
What can they see? What do they hear? If there
are no shops where do they get their food and
what do they eat? What can they smell? Has
the planet been burning or does the air carry
the acrid aroma of sulphur and smoke from
volcanoes that have erupted? What does their
sense of touch tell them? Think about what
they would do should they have lost one or
more of their senses.
Danger zone
We all know that the point of a good story
is the conflict or problem the characters
face and their journey to overcome them, so
what dangers do they find themselves facing?
What problems must they find solutions
to? Try to come up with several different
potential threats to throw at your characters.
They might overcome one threat or solve
one problem only to find themselves staring
into the face of another, bigger problem.
Purpose
What is it that your characters are trying to
do? Do they all want to achieve the same
thing or do they disagree on the best course
www.writers-online.co.uk
TITLE
of action? Stories that contain friction
between characters are often the most
engaging for readers. Does their fighting
jeopardise their mission, placing them in
further danger? Perhaps it causes a rift with
two or more sides forming, all following
their own, different paths. Ten people
remained after the great storm, but now,
at the end of the story, when three went
north, five went south and two went
east – the only two survivors were those
who ventured to the east. Why did your
characters separate and what happened to
those who didn’t make it?
Beginnings
Write a paragraph or two to introduce this
new world and your characters to the rest of
the group. You could do it in note form – a
short synopsis or write the start of a chapter
using the information you have created.
Allow some time for people in the group to
read out what they have written and discuss
it. Questions on how they plan to expand
what they have written would be helpful as
well as suggestions on how they might go
about it.
To round up the workshop, ask the
group to bullet point their main findings
when writing about futuristic worlds: what
did they find helpful, and how did they
overcome any sticking points? Keep a record
of helpful hints so those wishing to continue
the piece of writing they did can have a copy
to help them.
Writing about a future that we won’t ever
experience boosts creativity as there are no
historical facts to worry about and anything
goes. Encourage your group members to let
go and let their imaginations run wild.
NOVEMBER 2017 47
22/09/2017 09:52
 2 OCTOBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p065_wmnov17.indd 2 21/09/2017 11:25

NW 297 x 210 2017 quotes_Layout 1 11/09/2017 10:41 Page 1
How to Become a
Successful Writer!
By Marian Ashcroft
If you’ve ever fancied being a writer but don’t know
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The Creative Writing course offered by The Writers Bureau
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Students also receive individual, personal tuition from a
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‘The course gives a student confidence in their work and
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The college also provides a whole support system to
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The Writers Bureau is so confident in the training and
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To find out more about how The Writers Bureau can help
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2 OCTOBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk
p096_wmnov17.indd 2
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Freephone 0800 856 2008
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email: 17W1@writersbureau.com
Please include your name and address
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and ABCC
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21/09/2017 11:26
 NATURE
P O E T RY A D J U D I CAT I O N
WATCH
A reader’s poem convinces Alison Chisholm
an idea is taking flight
T
he natural world has inspired
poets for countless generations.
It continues to exert a powerful
effect. What can be more
fascinating than the world in
which we live and the way it operates?
The downside is that there is a vast
store of nature poetry that has been
written through the centuries, and so
the urge to find a new way into the
theme is frustrated by the knowledge
of all that has gone before.
Patrick Jacob’s approach in Silent
Flight concentrates primarily on the
face of the owl – not mentioned by
species, but clearly shown to the
reader – and remains focused on
the head when attention shifts to
consider the creature’s prey.

SILENT FLIGHT
Purpose, in built, movement slow,
it sits, or stands, in stately silence.
Large eyes loom with languid look.
Ears upright with independence turn.
Head revolves roulette like loops,
turning, listening, moonlight glistening.
Curved beak, could carve a vole.
Talons grasp a fence post tight.
Feathers soft and warm as down.
From his post he opens wide -
wings with tips of fingers flutter,
to aid his silent flight of death.
Returning to his post he holds,
between beak and talon frozen cold,
his prey’s - warm head, - hangs hauntingly,
with hopes of future skewered, by silent flight.
50 NOVEMBER 2017
p050 Poetry workshop.indd 50
The poet points out that he
used Silent Flight as an exercise in
using some of the tools of poetry
writing, such as: showing not telling;
alliteration; metaphors, and similes.
Let’s have a look at the text and
see the results of this exercise.
The showing not telling intention
is valuable for all writers, whether
they’re using poetry or prose,
fiction or non-fiction; and is largely
responsible for bringing a piece to
life. In the line Large eyes loom with
languid look we have a description
that uses the ‘show’ technique while
deepening the message. The loom
suggests, in this context, the word’s
definition of dominating something,
but it carries the resonance of its
other meanings. It also implies
coming slowly and indistinctly into
view, and appearing ominously near.
The weight of these definitions shows
the reader that this is an unsettling
description of an object of fear. But
we see that the eyes have a languid
look, and so we’ve been shown the
apparent listlessness, drooping and
indifference. This sets up a contrast
with the significance of loom,
building on the disturbing nature of
the picture. But we haven’t been told
to be disturbed – it’s been shown.
The same line demonstrates the
application of alliteration, with
its repeated use of the l sounds to
start the words. Alliteration is a
rich device to use in a free verse
poem, where sound similarities add
so much to the sense of poetry;

but it has more to offer than this.
The actual sound being repeated
affects the reader through its
pronunciation. Whether a poem is
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being read silently or aloud, we hear
its message.
The nature of the consonantal
sound dictates the effect it has. The l
sound is liquid and sustained, which
produces a sound effect that can be
low and menacing. Consider the
difference between this and the value
of other sounds. There’s the fluttery
repetition of f in fingers flutter, the
ghostly whisper of h in head, hangs
hauntingly and the awkward plosive
sounds in curved beak could calm.
Each of these examples can affect
the reader individually, but combining
them casts a network of sound that
both fascinates its readers and deepens
the poem’s message at a subtle level.
The metaphor in the penultimate
stanza, wings with tips of fingers
flutter, is intriguing and makes the
reader want to discover exactly how
it works in the poem. Analysing it
a word at a time helps to provide
the answer, but the pronunciation
of this line creates a delicious
intertwining of sound. As well as
the alliteration of both w and f,
there is assonance in wings / tips /
fingers and also consonance in the
final s of the same three words.
Each of these similarities works to
enhance the poem for the reader.
Putting them all together increases
the enhancement.
In general, similes are not as
intense as metaphors, but their
comparisons can be interesting.
The picture of Feathers soft and
warm as down has been used before,
but it’s apposite and beautifully
rhythmical, and the sustained m
and n sounds slow the voice or the
eye to modulate the reading. Near
22/09/2017 09:54

the end of the first stanza, Head
revolves roulette like loops offers an
exaggerated comparison that grabs
the reader’s attention.
Patrick Jacob has, then, made
good use of the exercise he set
himself, and his poem draws a
striking picture of the owl, but
he admits that the piece may not
be finished, saying: ‘I like this
poem, but I am aware that it needs
polishing and perhaps further
development of its characters.’
The final part of this assessment,
regarding character development,
suggests that the poet is over-
critical of his own work. This is not
an uncommon reaction, and brings
a special reassurance. Any writer
who is meticulous in self-criticism
is unlikely to fall into the trap of
nodding something through just
because he wrote it. The awareness
that the poem needs polishing,
however, could result in an enriched
working of the idea.
The poem starts with an
appropriate and telling title,
Poetry in practice
Doris Corti explains how to keep rhythm and musicality in your free verse
Is your work becoming stale? Do you feel
a change is needed in how your write or
perhaps the way you write? Maybe you
have become locked into using set forms
or regular rhyme patterns.
Why not trying using free verse, or
do you think you will miss the rhythm
or music in lines? For a subtle rhythmic
effect, try using assonance, which is
repetition of vowel sounds. Read lines
aloud as you compose. Note how vowels
can be a long sound as in the word
‘phone’ or a short one as in ‘sun’. A
combination of vowel sounds can certainly
make music.
Rhythms can also be created by what is
known as consonance, which is where the
same consonant sounds end words as in
‘first/last’.The effectiveness of consonance
can be seen in the following few lines
from a poem by Wilfrid Owen (note the
p050 Poetry workshop.indd 51
providing the first clue to the
identity of the principal character.
The opening lines, though, suggest
a degree of ‘writing in’, of the poet
working his way into idea. The first
two lines could be tightened – or
even cut completely – to create
more impact at the start. This is
a familiar problem with poetry.
Poets may be reluctant to leap into
their text with indecent haste, and
instead try to ease their way in
sideways. Impact is more likely to
impress readers.
There are some ambiguities in
the piece that could be ironed
out with a little more attention
to punctuation and sentence
structuring. For example, simply
losing the dashes and comma
around warm head would provide a
If you would like more vibrant reading.
your poem to be Another adjustment that would
considered for create an easier read would be
Poetry Workshop,
send it by email
altering the word order where the
to: jtelfer@ syntax has been compromised.
writersnews.co.uk Inversions – once a standard
practice in poetry – are seldom
hard t, d and k sounds)
I thought of some who worked dark pits
Of war, and died
Digging the rock where Death reputes
Peace lies indeed.
Repetition of words and sometimes phrases
is also used in free verse and can help the
flowing effect within lines of a poem.
Alliteration a technique often used by poets
writing in this medium is good to use to
sustain a certain rhythmic effect. This is where
the poet uses the same letter to start words as
in ‘clean cats can cry’. Internal rhymes or half
rhymes within phrases also create music for
instance ‘naughty/fortieth’ where a stressed
rhyme is followed by unrhymed syllables.
In free verse these sounds can be
scattered throughout lines rather than
appearing at fixed points.
www.writers-online.co.uk
P O E T RY WO R K S H O P
used nowadays, so Ears upright
with independence turn would
be delivered as Upright ears turn
with independence … or, more
tautly perhaps, Upright ears turn
independently.
All this may seem to suggest the
need for extra time and work to
develop the poem along the best
lines. The work would be worth
the effort. In the confines of the
notebook, we can fail to appreciate
the bigger picture. Every time
we write a poem, it is in with a
chance of being read and loved for
a few hundred years or more. If
you don’t believe this, have a word
with Shakespeare. So every scrap of
effort it takes to enhance a poem
is of inestimable value. The final
re-drafting, editing and revision
could prevent future generations
of literature students from writing
essays about how little tweaks could
have added to the piece.
Patrick Jacob has a rich, vivid owl
poem. With a touch more work, it
could be something very special.
A device known as full consonance also
brings a small rhythm into lines, words begin
and end with the same sounds as in mild/
mood. A semi rhyme can be introduced into
lines on a non-regular basis. These are words
with a final unstressed syllable rhyming,
although previous syllables that bear the stress
do not, eg arriving / walking.
Rhymes that chime are not necessary in free
verse but slight rhythms and half rhymes can
create a certain amount of music.
Exercises
Write a short description about some
object that is in a room of your choice.
Make this terse like a newspaper report.
Rewrite this piece concentrating on
making it more rhythmical, use semi
rhymes, consonance and any other
devices that will move your prose piece
into a free verse poem.
NOVEMBER 2017 51
22/09/2017 09:55
 P O E T RY P R I M E R
Poetry from A
Perfect your
poetry with
a WM Creative
Writing course.
See http://writ.rs/
cwcourses
Poet Alison Chisholm guides you through the language of poetry
PROSODY is the study of poetic
form, the ‘science’ of metre,
rhyme and rhythm, and the use of
figurative language.
PROSOPOPEIA, deriving
from the Greek and meaning to
‘make a person’, is a term for the
personification of inanimate objects
or abstract ideas.
EXERCISE: Write a poem in the
voice of a book, responding to its
situation as if it were a person.
A PROTHALAMIUM is a poem
written to celebrate a marriage prior
to the ceremony.
PSALMS are sacred songs or poems,
150 of which are collected as a
book in the Old Testament of the
Bible. Many of them make use of
repetition as a poetic device.
The PSEUDONYM is the name
selected by a poet to appear
alongside the work instead of the
given name.
A PUN is a play on words, produced
where words have similar sounds,
as in this example in traditional
joke format: Did you know Helen of
Troy was a comedian? Well they did
say ‘Was this the face that launched a
thousand quips?’ or, using a similarly
sounding made-up word: Where do
sick frogs go? To the hopspital. It can
also be formed where a word has
more than one meaning, whether
or not the spelling is the same, as
in the old joke: A horse walks into
a pub. The barman asks him ‘Why
the long face?’ Or using an example
with a different spelling: ‘It’s taken
you two hours to finish that drink’.
52 NOVEMBER 2017
p052 Poetry know-how/alphabet.indd 52
‘Yes, it’s sloe gin’.
Some puns are hilarious, others
a total waste of breath or ink. If
they are going to be used in a
piece of writing, the effect can
be serious, such as in the second
line of Shakespeare’s sonnet 104
with its when first your eye I eyed,
or famously in Richard III which
begins: Now is the winter of our
discontent / made glorious summer by
this sun of York. It’s easier, though,
to write a humorous poem using
puns. Look at Thomas Hood’s
deliciously macabre poem about
bodysnatchers, Mary’s Ghost. It uses
puns throughout, and ends with
the amazing one: They haven’t left
an atom there / of my anatomie, the
perfect punchline.
EXERCISE: Start by finding a clever
or preposterous pun on any subject,
which will end up as the punchline
of a joke poem. Work backwards in
note form to set up the joke. Now
try writing up the notes as a rhymed
poem in any style, culminating in
the pun.
The PURITAN POETS emerged
during the period of Puritanism,
(the movement to reform the
Church of England), in the
seventeenth century, and also
practised in America. These poets
preferred not to use figurative
language but worked in more literal
terms, although more creative
expression gradually filtered into
their writing. Milton, Dryden and
Anne Bradstreet were three of the
best known Puritan poets.
The PYLON POETS were a group
of left-wing writers who came to
prominence in the 1930s. Named
www.writers-online.co.uk
Z
to
from a poem by Stephen Spender,
they used the industrial landscape in
their writing. They included Louis
MacNiece, WH Auden and future
Poet Laureate C Day Lewis.
A PYRRHIC FOOT is one
consisting of two unstressed
syllables. Owing to the
pronunciation of the English
language, it’s impossible to write in
pyrrhic metre as the natural flow
of stressed and unstressed syllables
would prevent it. The pyrrhic exists
among other types of foot.
The QUATORZAIN is a fourteen
line poem. The term was once
considered interchangeable with
‘sonnet’, but now it is more likely to
refer to a poem of fourteen lines that
does not adhere to the sonnet rules.
A QUATRAIN is a whole poem or
stanza of four lines. The name does
not imply any particular form, and
quatrains may be in free verse or
blank verse, or with any combination
of rhyme and metre. They may be
monorhymed: a a a a; couplet
quatrains: a a b b; even rhymed: x a
x a; odd rhymed: a x a x; alternately
rhymed: a b a b; or envelope stanzas:
a b b a. If the envelope stanza uses
iambic pentameter, it’s known as an
Italian envelope.
EXERCISE: Write a few stanzas in
one of these patterns. Now re-work
them in a different form of quatrain.
Repeat as often as is convenient.
QUINTAINS are stanzas of five
lines. These, too, can also be free
verse (also known as a pentastich)
or blank verse, or can have any
combination of rhyming sound.
22/09/2017 09:56
 WIN! 0
SUBSCRIBER-ONLY COMPETITIONS

£ 2 5 P U B L I CAT I O N
IN CASH PRIZES &
MID-STORY £125
TO BE

SENTENCE WON

COMPETITION
‘Without that, it all falls apart.’

What’s missing, and what is under threat?

Questions to consider and answer in your
story, which should be 1,500-1,700
words and incorporate that phrase
somewhere midway through.
SEE P91
The closing date is 15 December. FOR ENTRY
DETAILS, FULL
The winner will receive £100 RULES AND
and publication in Writing Magazine, ENTRY FORMS
with £25 and publication on
www.writers-online.co.uk for the runner-up.

STILL TIME TO ENTER
With its closing date of
15 November, there’s still
time to enter last month’s
competition, for a
story set in ‘real time’.
Prize and word limits
are as above.
See p91 for entry details.
Don’t forget
£12B5
E
If you took out, or take, a new subscription
TO to Writing Magazine any time during 2017,
WON you’re eligible for our 2017 New Subscribers
Competitions. Unthemed, free to enter and
with our usual lengths – 40 lines for poetry,
1,500-1,700 words for short stories – these are
your chance to make a splash with your very
best writing of the year. There is no entry fee,
and the closing date for both categories is
31 January 2018.
See p91 for entry details

p53 comp.indd 53 22/09/2017 09:57

 Competition winner
UNHAPPY ENDING COMPETITION
Quarantine
W
illiam held his
handkerchief to his
face and waited. After
five minutes the door
opened and the doctor
re-emerged. William scanned his face
for any information. All he saw was
fear.
‘So, is it true?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never actually seen
any cases before.’
‘But you’re the doctor.’
‘It could be. It probably is. But I
can’t be sure.’
William took a couple of deep
breaths. ‘Whatever it is, we don’t tell
anyone. We burn the body and hope it
doesn’t spread.’
William paused. ‘Doctor? You agree
to this, don’t you.’
The doctor glanced back to the
closed door, then turned to William
and nodded.
Three weeks later there were five
more victims, spread throughout the
village. William called on the doctor.
He was slumped in a chair with a half-
drunk bottle of cheap liquor.
‘How many have died?’
The doctor opened his eyes, then fell
back in the chair.
William shook him awake. ‘How
many have died?’
‘All of them.’ The doctor took
another swig from the bottle.
‘Can you do anything about it?’
The doctor waved his hand. ‘I’ve read
everything that has been written. When
it takes hold, there is nothing that can
be done. It just has to run its course.’
‘What about masks?’
The doctor shrugged.
William turned to go then felt
something gripping his arm.
‘What are we going to do?’
William removed the hand from
his arm. ‘These are good, God-fearing
54 NOVEMBER 2017
p054 comp winner.indd 54
by Peter Caunt
Peter Caunt has been writing seriously for the last twelve years.
He has had thirty short stories published, including first prize in
the 2010 short story competition organised by the Theakstons Old
Peculier Crime Writing Festival. He is currently looking for anyone
interested in publishing his first fantasy novel while trying to write
the sequel. His website is: http://petercaunt.weebly.com
Christian people. They will do the Thomas stood up and paced the
right thing.’ room. ‘Have you finally lost your
It was late, but before he took action, mind William?’
William knew that he needed to make ‘If it spreads to the other villages,
one visit. He knocked and stood at the they will blame us. And they will think
door. After a long wait it opened. The that God has forsaken them. Then
figure at the door yawned and rubbed what would become of all the work you
his eyes. have done over the last forty years?’
‘William, what on earth do you want Thomas stopped and looked at
at this time of night?’ William. ‘But you’re asking people to
‘Thomas. I’m sorry it’s so late, but we stay here and die.’
need to talk.’ ‘They have faith. Without that,
Thomas looked into his eyes. ‘So they are nothing. They will have their
how many more are there?’ reward in Heaven.’
‘Five. All dead.’ ‘But what about the doctor?’
He stepped back to allow William ‘The doctor’s science has failed.
to enter. He’s given up. Thomas, this is a good
Thomas sat at the table and motioned opportunity to re-establish everyone’s
William to take a seat opposite. faith. To re-establish the old regime.’
William shuffled. ‘I know you have Thomas sat back in his chair. ‘But do
not agreed with a lot of things I’ve you think this is what God wants?’
done since taking over.’ William shrugged. ‘Does it matter? If
Thomas smiled and nodded. ‘I know. we can also strengthen the people’s faith
When I first took over as rector, I did in the Church then what is the problem?’
things my own way. No matter what I Thomas eased back in his chair.
think, the job is yours now.’ ‘You had better call a meeting in the
‘But these are extraordinary times. village hall.’
And I think I need to take action. Word of the deaths had spread
And...’ quickly and every family was
Thomas looked up. ‘And some of the represented at the meeting.
people are still loyal to me.’ First to speak was William. ‘I would
William looked across. ‘Look, I’m like to thank you all for coming. I shall
doing this for the spiritual good of not prevaricate, I’m sure you have all
the villagers. And for the good of the heard about the recent problems.’
neighbouring villages.’ A cry from the audience rang out.
‘Neighbouring villages? What on ‘So is it the plague? That’s what I’ve
Earth are you proposing?’ heard people saying.’
‘I think we need to close the village. William turned to Thomas and
To stop the spread.’ the doctor who were with him on
www.writers-online.co.uk
22/09/2017 09:58

the platform.
He stared into the crowd. ‘Mr
Hancocke. I can’t pretend otherwise.
It does look as though the plague has
spread from London.’
The hubbub in the hall rose to a
crescendo and William had to wait for
the crowd to calm down.
‘But how did it get here?’ This
question from Edward Cooper.
William turned to the doctor.
‘Perhaps you would like to answer this?’
The doctor struggled to his feet.
‘We think the plague spreads from a
miasma, a bad air. I presume some
of this must had been transported up
from London, by a traveller.’
Members of the crowd looked from
one to the other.
William raised his hands. ‘Please stay
calm. If we all stick together, we can be
strong. God will make us strong.’
Thomas stood and tried to calm the
crowd. ‘Please. William and I are in
agreement about what must be done,
please listen.’
‘Thank you Thomas. We have
decided that no one should leave
the village.’
‘But how are we to live?’
‘Please, let me finish. Knowingly
allowing the disease to spread to other
villages would be a sin. Would any
of you good Christians want to be
responsible for killing your fellow man?’
The crowd fell silent.
‘The bible tells us that it would be a
sin, and none of you here want to be
sinners, do you?’
‘But where will we get food if we
can’t leave?’
Thomas stood up again. ‘I have
written a letter to the Earl. I have
appraised him of our plan and asked
for help.’
‘Thank you Thomas. Now go back
to your homes and have faith that God
will provide.’
As the crowd dispersed, Thomas
turned to William. ‘Do you think they
will comply?’
‘I’m sure that most will. But just in
case I suggest we station a few, trusted
Runner-up in the Unhappy Ending Competition, whose entry is published on www.writers-online.co.uk, was: Tracey Glasspool,
Tiverton, Devon. Also shortlisted were: Mark Dorey, Pontypridd; Linda Fawke, Winnersh, Berkshire; Sumana Khan, Reading,
Berkshire; Elinor Lobban, Wendover, Buckinghamshire; Chris Mawbey, Chellaston, Derby; Jennifer Moore, Ivybridge, Devon;
Linda Nicklin, Heighington, Lincoln; Carey Powell, West Kirby, Wirral; Katherine Searle, Sandhurst, Berkshire; Laura Standen,
Budapest, Hungary; Tim Worth, North Whilborough, Devon.
p054 comp winner.indd 55
S H O R T S TO RY C O M P E T I T I O N W I N N E R
individuals on the roads leading out of
the village.’
In the next few months, the body
count grew and William held regular
services in the open air to strengthen
the resolve of the faithful. The doctor’s
drinking increased in tandem with the
numbers dying.
William rubbed his eyes and went
back to updating the records for the
day. He looked up as the door to the
church swung open and the doctor was
silhouetted in the evening light.
‘Good evening doctor. Good to see
you back on your feet.’
‘I’ve found the answer.’
‘I beg your pardon.’
‘I know how to stop the spread.’
William got up and beckoned him
to enter.
As the doctor stepped through the
door he saw another figure behind.
‘Thomas? What brings you here?’
‘The doctor came to see me first. He
was most insistent.’
The doctor was talking rapidly, and
William tried to calm him.
‘Please sit down and tell us slowly.’
‘It’s not transmitted from person
to person. Everyone can leave.’
William and Thomas stared at
each other.
The doctor continued, ‘I’ve had
a few letters from friends in London
who have been thinking along the same
lines. The three of us have not been
infected but we have come into contact
with a lot of victims.’
‘We have God to protect us.’
The doctor bit his tongue. ‘It seems
to be something to do with the squalor
that people live in.’
‘We don’t live in squalor.’
‘None of us do. We visit the sick,
but we don’t come into contact with
the victims’ squalor. That must be the
source of the miasma. And maybe the
rats help to spread it.’
William shook his head. ‘I’m sorry
but that can’t be so. The people have
always lived as they do now.’
‘I don’t fully understand it, but I’m
sure the miasma has been imported
www.writers-online.co.uk
from London and now is entrenched in
the squalor.’
Thomas stood up. ‘So what if you
are right, what difference does it make.’
‘It means that the best thing to do is
to leave the village. None of the people
are contagious.’
William looked across at Thomas.
‘Thank you for that doctor. Now why
don’t you step into the vestry? Have
a rest, you’ve obviously been working
too hard. There’s a bed in there, have a
lie down. Thomas and I will work out
what to do next.’
William walked the doctor to the
vestry then closed the door behind him,
turning the key in the lock.
‘William, what’s that all about?’
‘If he is right then all these deaths
could have been prevented.’
Thomas looked up. ‘And if he’s wrong?’
‘Then we spread the plague to
everyone else.’
‘What do you think William?’
‘What I think is that we have
promised the people they have God
on their side. If he is shown to be
EXPERT right then they will turn away from
analysis God and start to believe in the
doctor’s science. Do you really
To read the want that Thomas?’
judge’s
comments ‘So we keep to the original plan?’
go
http://writ. to:
rs ‘I can see no other option.’
nov17wm / Thomas pointed to the vestry
door. ‘And what about the doctor
and his theory?’
‘He’ll be fine in the vestry. I haven’t
used it much since we started giving
services outside. The verger just uses
it to store our rubbish. It’s getting a
bit squalid in there. We’ll keep him
in there for a while until this has all
blown over.’
Thomas looked up. ‘Are you sure?’
‘We let God decide. But it wouldn’t
do any harm to employ someone else
to keep our homes extra clean, just
in case.’
Thomas nodded.
As they left, all that could be heard
from the vestry was the doctor’s
snoring and the gentle, but very
persistent, scratching of the rats.
NOVEMBER 2017 55
22/09/2017 09:58

T
his month’s
story is full
of contrasts.
And it is
the way the
author has
highlighted these contrasts that brings
the story to life, interweaving with
its plot and reinforcing its theme. As
always, you will benefit most from this
masterclass if you read the story for
yourself, at http://writ.rs/nov17wm
Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield
is quite a straightforward story at
first glance. A young girl attends her
first ball, accompanied by her slightly
older cousins. She dances with various
men and learns a bit about life and
how the world works. What makes
it compelling is the way Katherine
Mansfield has illustrated the contrasting
elements of the story so vividly.
56 NOVEMBER 2017
p056 Masterclass.indd 56
A world
of difference
The opportunity to explore the
many contrasts involved in the story
is triggered by placing the main
character, Leila, in an alien situation
for the first time. We experience with
her all the unfamiliar aspects of her
evening and this accentuates the sense
of difference. Let’s look at some of the
contrasts Katherine Mansfield presents
to us in the story.
Town and country
The first contrast is of setting. Leila
lives in the country, in a place where
the nearest neighbour is fifteen miles
away. Because of this, she hasn’t been
out in company very much. Meg
introduces her to people as a ‘country
cousin’ who needs looking after.
Compare the description of Leila’s
home environment, where she sits
on the veranda of their ‘foresaken
www.writers-online.co.uk
Helen M Walters looks at the way contrasts
work in Her First Ball by Katherine Mansfield
up-country home’ and listens to baby
owls calling through nights that are
dark and silent, with the hustle bustle
of the taxi ride with cars on all sides of
them and then the ball itself. Leila, as
a country girl, is a fish out of water in
the context of the sophisticated town-
based ball.
Illusion and reality
Leila has already built up the idea
of the ball in her head before she
gets there. Notice how she is already
imagining herself there with her hand
on a young man’s arm while they are
still travelling in a cab. When she
CLICK HERE looks at a couple on the pavement
their shoes seem like birds and the
TO READ jet of gas in the ladies’ room seems to
Her First Ball her to be dancing. The rather fanciful
language that the author puts into
Leila’s mouth enhances this effect.
This contrasts with the reality of
Leila’s pre-ball wobble when she sat
on the bed at home and felt so shy
that she didn’t want to go to the ball
at all. Compare this also with the
account of Leila’s dancing lessons
at school. Taking place in a dusty-
smelling mission hall with a terrified
pianist and other girls for partners,
they provide a stark contrast to Leila’s
idealised impressions of the ball she is
now attending.
Leila also comes up against reality
when she has to dance with a ‘fat man’
who had engaged her to dance earlier
27/09/2017 14:34

in the story. She’d forgotten quite how
old he was and is brought up short by
the shock. This incident shows reality
intruding on her dreamlike illusions.
He also destroys some of her illusions
about life in a later conversation.
Experience and inexperience
As is revealed in the title, this is
Leila’s very first ball. She has never
attended one before, much to the
surprise of her cousins and the young
men she dances with.
As such, she doesn’t really know
how to behave and has to follow
her cousins’ example. Leila doesn’t
even know whether she should
take a dance programme or not, so
inexperienced is she. But she can rely
on her cousins, who are experienced
and know exactly how the system
works to make sure that she has
enough people asking her to dance.
Notice how she doesn’t really
understand the etiquette of making
conversation whilst dancing, which
would have been quite strict at this
time. Why do people keep talking
about the floor? Contrast Leila’s
behaviour with that of her cousins
who are confident and assured and
have the advantage of a brother on the
scene to ease their way in society.
Age and youth
One of the most significant moments
of the ball for Leila comes when a
much older man asks her to dance.
Note the contrast to the young and
beautiful Leila of a man who is
described as being fat, having a bald
patch on his head and being somewhat
shabby. His age contrasts with her
youth and inexperience, the fact of
his being older making her seem even
more youthful by comparison.
Notice also how Katherine
Mansfield accentuates the joy of youth
by the association of bright colours
with all the young people in the story.
The older characters, meanwhile, are
described as being dressed in dark
colours. A very visual contrast to
underline a thematic one.
It is while she is dancing with him
that Leila comes to a realisation, that
she too will one day be old. Note also
how of all her partners, he is the only
one who seems to understand the
significance of it being her first ball.
p056 Masterclass.indd 57
This is the wisdom of thirty years of
attending balls. There is of course
also a gender dynamic between these
two characters. An older man is still
able to participate in dancing. An
older woman, as he points out to
Leila, would not be. She would be
sitting up on the stage with the other
chaperones instead. Another reality
check for Leila.
Notice also how the story has an
ambiguous ending. Perhaps fitting for
a story that is so full of contrasting
emotions and ideas. In the final clash
of youth and old age, youth wins
through in the end, or at least it does
in Leila’s head.
Think about how you can use the
power of contrast – whether it be
between characters, settings or themes
– to bring your own stories to life.
Make a change
One way of giving your short stories
life and momentum is to make sure
your main character undergoes some
sort of change in the course of the
story, possibly by putting them in a
new and alien situation as Katherine
Mansfield has done in this month’s
story. Often stories I read from
beginner writers don’t really work
because they have failed to do that.
If your story starts with your main
character being in a happy state of
equilibrium and ends with them
feeling the same way, then it is less
satisfying for your reader than if they
feel they have experienced some sort
of change along with them.
Obviously in a short story the
change won’t be as significant or
complex as the changes a character
would undergo if you were writing a
full-length novel. But even a subtle
change can help the reader feel more
fulfilled by your story.
So what are some of the ways you
can have your character change in the
course of your story?
In the course of your story, your
character can learn something. It
might be something about themselves,
or something about another person.
Maybe it’s a dark secret from the past,
perhaps they find out that someone
they love committed a terrible crime
a long time ago. Or maybe it’s
something that someone in the present
has been withholding from them, like
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MASTERCLASS
the fact that their spouse has a secret
wife and children in another town.
Having your character learn
something new may bring about
intellectual change in the way they
view their life and the world, or
emotional change as it may make them
feel differently about something.
Your character could also undergo
an emotional catharsis or healing.
This may involve a reconciliation
with a character who has caused
them pain in the past. But it may
also just be a deeper connection with
themselves, or with a completely
different person, or with nature and
the world around them.
Alternatively, your character may
change their mind about something
in the course of the story. They may
start the story on course to do one
thing, and end up by doing something
completely different. Of course, you
will need to carefully seed what it is
that makes them change their mind.
Perhaps your character is about to
commit a crime and they see someone
who reminds them of their mother on
the way and realising what shame their
actions will bring on their family, they
change their mind. Or perhaps your
character is about to leave their partner
and then that person does something
that reminds them how much they
love them and they decide to stay.
There are endless possibilities, but
the main thing is to think carefully
about the state of mind and heart your
character is in at the start of the story,
and then check that something about
that has changed before you reach the
end. It can be something quite subtle,
a small epiphany, a gentle change of
view, a connection spotted. But make
sure there is something.
During your story it may not just be
your main character who changes, of
course. Other characters may change
as well. The person who starts the
story as an irritating thorn in your
main character’s side may turn into an
unexpected ally. The person your main
character thinks they can rely on may
change into an irresponsible liability.
But it is the change in your main
character that is most important.
That is what will power your story
and what will enable the reader to feel
that they too have undergone change
as they read.
NOVEMBER 2017 57
22/09/2017 11:17
 &
Words pictures How are picture books put together?
Amy Sparkes explains the process from both sides of the desk
A
re you a budding author/illustrator? Or always fancied having a go at illustrating your own picture books?
This month we look at how to put the words and pictures together, with advice from author/illustrator
Matty Long and Kimara Nye, editor at Maverick Books. .
KIMARA NYE: FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
If authors would like to send
illustrations to accompany
their book, how should they
send them?
If the whole story is illustrated and laid
out properly, then it’s best to send the
whole book as a pdf (keeping the size
small). If you only have a few illustrations
then pick your favourites and send as
small jpgs. We prefer not seeing the
whole book as jpgs as it interrupts the
flow of reading the story. The main
requirement is to keep the file sizes small;
anything over 15mb is too big.
How can authors increase the
chances of their illustrations
being accepted?
We often receive author/illustrator
submissions which have been done in
Microsoft paint. I am not saying that this
is not acceptable, but if you are using this
method then you really need to know
what you are doing. Also, we do receive
fine art paintings, which just does not fit
in with the look of our title list. Look on
the publisher’s website and see what type
of illustrations they are using. If it is a
completely different style, then be aware
that this might not work in your favour.
Personally, I am looking for something
with a modern feel to it. Good use of
colour but not too heavy. If there is
text on the spread I want to see that
there is room around it. Often I receive
submissions when the illustrator has done
beautiful pieces of artwork and then put
the text on as an afterthought, squashing
it into a small space.
What leads you to turn down an
author’s illustrations?
We only have seven books which are
author/illustrator books (four of those
being in the same series and the other
three being junior fiction), so it is not
58 NOVEMBER 2017
p058 children.indd 58
something that we take on lightly. Most of
the time the illustrations just do not suit
our style of book. Often this is because
they are too traditional. Another thing is
that if you are illustrating your own book
you need to be able to draw your character
in lots of different situations and that
character has to look the same throughout
even if the perspective is different. You also
need to have some skill at design, layout
and awareness of space.
In your cover letter always mention if
you are happy for another illustrator to be
used or whether the text and illustrations
are a package deal. You never know,
although your illustrations may not be
accepted, your text might be or vice versa.
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of taking on an
author/illustrator book?
The advantage is that author/illustrators
are able to ‘show’ the story rather than
tell it in the text. They can add little
details and humour that a commissioned
illustrator might not think of. Generally,
they are more immersed in the story and
can change things around so that the
balance between the two works better.
Children’s picture books seem to get
shorter and shorter, so being able to tell the
story with pictures is very useful.
The disadvantages are that once the
illustrations have been done it is harder to
go back and reinvent them if it is needed.
If you do accept an author’s
illustrations, how does the
process work?
It depends whether the original
illustrations need many changes and
whether the author/illustrator is happy
to make those changes. If starting
from fresh, then I would first work
with the author/illustrator to come up
with a brief, looking at what should be
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changed or kept. Then onto sketches or
thumbnails – I love thumbnails as they
don’t take much time and an illustrator
can supply several variations of a spread,
which can be discussed.
Once any amendments have been made
to the sketches then the illustrator would
go into colour. During all these stages I put
the illustrations into the layout, making a
few changes myself with layout and then
sending on a new pdf to the illustrator so
that they can see where the text may sit.
www.maverickbooks. Also, while all this is going on, we
co.uk will both be thinking about a cover
Email: illustrations@ and endpapers. We tend to design the
maverickbooks.co.uk endpapers in house using elements of the
Twitter: @ illustrations. For this reason, I love it when
maverickbooks an illustrator’s work is done in layers – it
makes my job easier. Once all is finished,
I send the final book all laid out so that
the illustrator can check the work before it
goes off to print.
Any tips for authors who
would like to illustrate their
own books?
• Do lots of research – although new
styles can work, it’s good to look at what
currently sells well in the market.
• Have as many styles as possible in your
portfolio. You never know which style
will suit which publisher and sometimes a
publisher will spot a certain illustration in
your portfolio and ask whether there is a
story that goes with it.
• Keep the wordcount down. The joy of
having an author/illustrator is that they can
use the illustrations to tell the story.
• Don’t colour the whole of the book that
you are submitting. Do a mood board
or sketches to show how the story would
work, with a few colour example spreads.
• Post snippets of your work on social
media. Personally, I quite often trawl
through Twitter/Facebook in search of
new material.
22/09/2017 11:07
 CRIME FILE The crime writer tells Chris High about his new standalone
M
ichael Robotham
gives his
Parkinsons-affected
psychologist Joe
O’Loughlin a break
for his thirteenth novel, The Secrets
She Keeps. But rest assured, Michael’s
fourth standalone – and his first new
novel in two years – is a more than
acceptable stopgap.
The Secrets She Keeps is a work of
powerful psychological drama that will
have you aching for its protagonists,
in the lonely worlds each inhabits.
The tale is told, in alternate chapters,
from the viewpoints of Meghan and
Agatha, one a successful blogger-wife
of a flourishing television personality,
the other a single woman with a
dream. The two women from different
backgrounds have one thing in
common, a dangerous secret that could
destroy everything they hold dear. An
emotionally difficult read in places,
it turns out the novel was also pretty
difficult to write.
‘It was a really challenging book
because the thought that a balding
middle aged guy could even think about
getting inside the heads of two very
different female characters was incredibly
daunting,’ Michael says from his home
in Sydney. ‘Sometimes you’ll come across
a story where one character is really
interesting and the other is comparatively
dull, so the reader loses interest in one
of them quite quickly. I had to get
their two stories to marry up and meet
in the middle, but they also had to be
interesting. The main inciting incident
doesn’t really happen until halfway
through, which is unusual in a thriller
or crime novel. The murder or whatever
is usually up front and centre and you
go from there. So it was important to
make the story and the main characters
captivating for almost half the book
before the main event takes place.
‘I then had to create an environment
for the protagonists – and one of the
women in particular – so they invoke
sympathy and empathy in the reader.
It seems to have worked because there
have been some readers who have said
that they would have liked to have seen
60 NOVEMBER 2017
p060 Crimefile.indd 60
a different ending; one which wouldn’t
really have worked in my view. So yeah,
on many different levels it was a test to
write, which for me is a good thing.
‘Writing The Secrets She Keeps was
also quite frustrating. To get it right, I
needed more rewrites than any other
novel and on several occasions I had
to call my agent to tell them I couldn’t
do this because I didn’t think I could
get it right. I wanted to put the story
away and come back to it later. It was
my agent and my editor who convinced
me to stick at it, that I could solve the
problems I had: that I was nearly there.
I’m really satisfied with how it’s turned
out now and I’m pleased I listened to
them, but I really don’t want the last two
years it’s taken to write it back, because
it was really tough going at times.
‘I honestly think what sets writers
apart from those who want to write
is that ability to recite the book by
heart to an extent where you’re tired
of the characters and don’t think the
one-liners are funny anymore. You
have to push through the self-doubts
about the idea, your ability to complete
the project, and be able to polish and
polish and polish until it’s the best it
can possibly be.’
What particularly shines through
is the honesty in the way Michael has
presented both Agatha and Meghan and
the situations and circumstances each
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finds herself through their own actions.
‘I have a three-word writing mantra
I recite with the readers in mind: Make
Them Care. One of the things I’ve
tried to do with all of my protagonists,
no matter how terrible the thing they’ve
done, is to create a reason for what they
do. I haven’t yet created a villain where
there’s any doubt as to why they’ve
done what they’ve done. None of them
are “born evil”; they each have a back
story that explains their motivations.
‘I want the readers to have an
empathy with and understanding of
my characters because if you don’t
create that, then the readers don’t
care. As wicked as the villain of the
piece may ultimately be, the reader
has to care about them. I like both
Meghan and Agatha and I think
that’s important too, in making them
appealing to the readers.’
So, as always, what’s next? ‘The
next Joe book, which is very nearly
finished… I hope. I’ve actually been
spending the afternoon with him
today. It’s been very productive too.
I’m not sure what its title’s going to be
yet. It never ends up with the one I’ve
originally thought of anyway. With this
one, for Joe, I’m trying to wrap it up a
bit so I can leave the poor man alone
for a little while.’
Website: www.michaelrobotham.com
22/09/2017 10:03
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 SPATIAL
AWARENESS
L
et’s face the facts – the
vast majority of people
have never been to space,
and most of us never will.
So writing any story set in
space is automatically going to be
an act of imagination, and leaving
behind the familiar comforts of
earth can be a challenge for a writer.
Even if you are gazing into your
crystal ball and setting up a future
version of earth, there are many
scientific, societal and political
things that will still hold true,
which gives you some grounding
in reality. A trip into the vast
unknown of space is a different test
for a writer altogether, and one that
requires careful forethought before
‘launching’ into. So today we’ll be
exploring some of the key things
you might want to consider.
Amazing or everyday?
Classic science-fiction predicted
all manner of things for 2017,
62 NOVEMBER 2017
p062 Fantastic Realm.indd 62
There are no limits but you still need to take
some things into consideration when writing
about space, says Alex Davis
including easy space travel for
passengers and civilisations
established on planets other than
Earth. What does remain an
important consideration for an
author is whether people heading
into space is something incredible
– whether it is more in line with
the SF of the ‘Age of Wonder’ –
or if travelling through space has
become something simply everyday.
Naturally, that will play a big part
in the reactions of your characters
– in real life most astronauts
have spoken of the deep sense of
wonder they felt in travelling so
far from their home planet. One
of the stories I love in terms of its
depiction of space as an everyday
nuisance is Philip K Dick’s Sales
Pitch, in which the protagonist
travels to and from work through
the traffic of the space lanes and is
bombarded by advertising while he’s
there. If space is everyday in your
setting and to your characters, then
www.writers-online.co.uk
how does that play into the story?
Do they go to some new part of
space, or is the mundanity of the
stars somehow intrinsic to the plot?
How are characters going to
react psychologically?
This links to some extent to the
above, but if your characters are
leaving the only planet they’ve
ever known and heading out on a
spacefaring vessel, this is bound to
have some sort of effect on them.
You leave behind any number of
familiar home comforts – food,
entertainment, even the internet! –
and trade them for a very limited
version of the life you have known.
You leave behind all the people
you know to travel into space
with people who could be friends,
possibly acquaintances and maybe
complete strangers. And that’s
without mentioning leaving behind
the landscapes and scenery of
Earth, trading that for a stark space
22/09/2017 10:04

vessel and the endless blackness
L
of the universe. The psychological
effect of this has been explored
in many stories – it could be a
crippling depression and self-doubt,
a growing sense of claustrophobia,
rising paranoia or hatred of the
people you are travelling with...
This is wonderfully explored in
another of my favourite short
stories, Ray Bradbury’s No
Particular Night or Morning, as
well as in movies such as Moon and
Pandorum (among many others).
Are we alone in the universe?
Whatever your present-day view on this
question, it is bound to have an effect
on any story set in space. If the belief is
that humans are the only entities living
in the cosmos, then your characters are
likely to set out boldly and without fear,
confident in their dominance of space.
If there is a wide acknowledgement – or
even a possibility – of alien life, then
ke everything in the story might well be
ng different. Many stories that take us
into space have extraterrestrial life at
the heart of them, of course, and the
fact that your setting may not accept
the presence of aliens out there doesn’t
mean it couldn’t happen – in fact it
could be a great point of conflict. But
if beings other than humans are known
to be out there, how does it affect the
tale? Is there an established relationship
between humans and aliens? If so, is
it a peaceful, friendly one or is it one
rife with tension and unease – or even
descending into flat-out warfare? Are
there many different kinds of aliens, and
what are the connections between each
of them, as well as humanity? If people
are travelling through space, connecting
with alien life might be a mission, or is
there a risk of conflict if they go through
certain avenues of the galaxy?
The laws of space still have
to apply
One of the great joys of science-
fiction is that the vast majority of
things are extremely malleable, and
almost anything about the world can
be changed. However the things that
can’t really be altered are fundamental
physical and scientific truths, and no
matter how far into the future you set
the story, odds are space will always
be space. There won’t be any gravity
and there won’t be any oxygen. People
p062 Fantastic Realm.indd 63
travelling through it will always have
to be in a vessel of some sort (unless
humans themselves have evolved or
been altered in some way). And if you’re
getting into more depth about the
means and methods of space travel, you
might find yourself having to do some
research – what is lift-off like, what
is the landing like, how does the ship
propel itself, and what would happen
to a person if they somehow found
themselves stranded outside the ‘vehicle’
taking them to their destination?
In case of emergency
Many a story set in the depths of
the universe will feature some sort of
mechanical breakdown or computer
glitch, probably most famously Hal
from 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you
decide this is something you would
like to explore within your story,
what does this look like? What shape
does the problem take? And what
are the possible solutions available?
There’s unlikely to be a great deal of
help for your space travellers to call
upon, so their destiny is essentially
in their own hands in this context.
Is there a procedure for the fix? Who
takes responsibility? What is the
consequence if this issue cannot be
resolved? More importantly, what sort
of strains and stresses can this take
on the crew and the relationships
between them? The other thing you
may need to consider in this context
is your knowledge of technology and
computing – and as I often say, if
you feel you need to know it, but
you don’t know it, go and look it
up! There’ll be plenty out there on
the technology and the diagnostics
should the tech go wrong for you.
You’re not writing a textbook, so
all you need is to put together
something that sounds realistic
without necessarily going into every
tiny detail.
Consider the preparation,
not just the journey
If you’re going to launch your protagonist
into space – especially over a prolonged
period of time – creating a realistic
environment for that to happen in is
going to be crucial. Odds are this will
not be like going overseas on holiday,
where you’ll still have the chance to
pick up a few essentials. Your spacefarers
will need food, water, cleaning facilities,
www.writers-online.co.uk
FA N TA S T I C R E A L M S
toilet facilities, something to keep them
entertained and plenty more besides.
None of that is going to happen by
magic, and the only way to ensure it feels
truly believable is to consider what all
that looks like before you start writing. If
the trip is a particularly long one, we do
sometimes see in SF the idea of ‘stasis’ or
‘cryosleep’, in which people are effectively
frozen to stop them from ageing (or
even dying) en route to their destination.
Obviously that will lessen those practical
considerations, but again there could be
psychological or physical effects from
that to take into account. How are they
woken up, what does it feel like, is there
a recovery process to undertake, could
it affect things like sleep, dreams, bodily
rhythms, mindset? You’ll develop a far
better story thinking about this ahead of
time than coming up with it on the spot.
Conclusion
Space is a strangely paradoxical thing in
that it is at once deep and mystifying, but
also, once you are out there, empty and
blank. What is so alluring about it for
stories is that it represents the unknown,
which has always been a huge area of
fascination for humanity. And if you
imagine the kinds of drama available to
you to insert into a tale set in space, there
are naturally going to be limitations
to that. I’ve had my own deep-space
stories unravel because of a lack of
conflict, so this is something to consider
when you are planning and plotting.
Are you looking at the psychological
impact on people of being light years
from home in an unfamiliar void?
Are our characters going to encounter
something, living or dead, that is
previously unknown to humanity, and
is that something going to be hostile or
peaceful? Are there going to be technical
and mechanical complications that will
imperil everybody on board? Or are
you setting your story in the far-flung
future, where space has long since lost
its mystery and is just a simple setting to
the protagonists? If this is the case, you
have plenty of other things to consider
– how and why people travel in space,
where and how people live, what sort
of economy or society has developed
beyond Earth. Put simply – neither is
easy, but space has enabled writers to
develop some of the most iconic SF
stories of all time and – unlike many
elements of classic SF – still retains its
mystique to this day.
NOVEMBER 2017 63
22/09/2017 10:04
 RIGHTS REVERSION
Not all business divorces need be acrimonious. Simon Whaley explores the intricacies of getting your
rights back in your work.
‘B
e very careful what
you sign,’ says Sherry
Ficklin, author of
over a dozen teen
and young adult
books, as well as
several romantic novels written under
the name of SJ Noble. ‘Be sure the
contract, and specifically the release
clause, is to your benefit.’
When it comes to the business
of writing, checking the release
clauses, the section of the contract
explaining how you can escape from
the relationship with your publisher
and claim back your rights, is not
always the highest priority when
you’re caught up in the excitement of
signing a brand new publishing deal.
Unfortunately, it should be.
When we grant a publisher the
right to publish our book, it’s for a
fixed term. That could be for a few
years or the duration of copyright
(which is the rest of our lives, plus
a further seventy years). A lot can
happen in that time. Publishers
can go bust, lose interest in us as
an author, fail to reprint our book
when stocks run low, or completely
mess up a project. Being able to
reclaim our rights can help us
salvage a project and breathe new
life into it. So the first step to
getting our rights back begins with
64 NOVEMBER 2017
p064 Business of Writing.indd 64
the contract negotiations at the
start of our business relationship.
Contract clauses
Get it wrong at the start and life
becomes difficult if the relation
later turns sour. Sherry had two
bad experiences, which she puts
down to her naivety at the start
of her writing career. ‘Even my
worst contracts I had looked
over by a lawyer before signing.
What I didn’t know then, was
that a contract lawyer in general
has no idea how book contracts
should work.’
One publisher simply refused to
give her back her rights, because
that’s what the contract permitted,
and another only did so after
several years of wrangling. Sherry,
whose latest novel, Canary Club, is
published this month by Crimson
Tree Publishing, says, ‘A contract
is always a negotiation, and you
should never be afraid to ask for
better terms.’
Having a contractual clause that
merely gives the author the option
to request their rights back is of little
value. What’s the point of being able
to make a request if the publisher can
simply reply with a ‘No.’? A clause
might look acceptable, but if you’re
not an expert in publishing contracts
www.writers-online.co.uk
then use the services of someone who
is. Many writing organisations, like
the Society of Authors, offer
contract vetting services to
members.
The most common moments
when authors can request their
rights back are:
• When the publishers go into
liquidation or receivership
• When your book goes out of
print
• If the publisher is in breach
of the contract
Determining when a book goes
out of print isn’t easy these days
because, technically, a book may
never go out of print if it’s sold via
print on demand or as an ebook.
One of my contracts enables me to
ask for my rights back when sales of
print books are fewer than fifty copies
in a twelve-month period.
Get the clause right, and things
can go much better for the author,
as Sherry has also discovered. ‘I was
Website: signed to one publisher but, before
http://sherryficklin.com my release day came, the imprint I
was publishing with was dissolved.
The publisher was still in business,
but my specific imprint was gone.
They offered to take my book into a
different imprint, but I requested my
rights back instead, and they had no
problem giving them back to me.’
22/09/2017 10:06

Professional approach
If circumstances arise enabling you
to formally request your rights to be
reverted, always remember that this
is a business relationship. Read your
contract, identify the clause you can
invoke and formally put your request
N
in writing, usually to the legal or
contracts department.
‘Be professional and keep copies of
everything,’ says Sherry. ‘And expect it
to be a negotiation. The more civil you
can keep it, the better you will end up.
However, if you find yourself in a real
bind, don’t be afraid to seek help.’
Whatever you do, don’t go public with
your anger, particularly on social media.
‘Any contracts you sign are often
confidential,’ Sherry warns, ‘so you
could be in breach if you opt to go
public. And also know that going
public with a feud with a publisher,
even if you are 100% in the right,
can still hurt your chances with other
publishers down the road.’
Over the years, I’ve successfully
secured the rights back to two of
my books. One Hundred Muddy
Paws For Thought was the follow up
to my One Hundred Ways For A Dog
To Train Its Human, and it sold over
50,000 copies. But when I came
to order some more author copies
from the distributor a few years
later they advised me that the book
was out of stock.
However, because the book was
out of stock at the distributors it
meant that the publisher would have
to arrange for a reprint. At the time
there was no ebook version of the
text and I was keen to rectify this,
but the electronic rights were held
by the publisher.
My contract had a clause clarifying
that if the book was out of print and
the publisher did not arrange for a
fresh print run within three months of
me asking them, I was then entitled to
ask for my rights back.
So I emailed the legal department,
enquiring if the book was out of print
and, if so, whether they had any plans
to publish a new print run in the next
three months.
A few days later, the publisher
responded, confirming it was out
of print and, upon reflection, there
were no immediate plans to order a
new print run. I thanked them for
everything they had done with the
p064 Business of Writing.indd 65
book and then asked for my rights
back, as per the contractual agreement.
Two weeks later I had a letter formally
advising me that this had happened.
Life after reversion
When you’ve had your rights returned,
you’re free to offer them elsewhere.
Another publisher may be interested
in your work, even though your
writing no longer suited the target
readership of your previous publisher.
Indeed, with my second dog book,
an editor at another publisher expressed
an interest, and discussions took place
about how to relaunch the book. But
unfortunately this all came to nothing
because the publishing directors of that
company decided then to withdraw
from the gift book market.
But with the rights still in my hand,
I ploughed on and self-published,
both in print and electronically. I’ve
since sold several hundred copies of
the book, in both formats, bringing
in more money, which wouldn’t have
happened had the book remained
out of print. And I know that sales of
this book have led to additional sales
of my first dog book, which is still
published by Hodder & Stoughton.
Claiming my rights back has enabled
me to generate more income, and
increased sales of my backlist.
Revision considerations
While many writers think about the
opportunities that might arise when
they successfully secure the return
of their rights, there are some other
important points to consider.
Firstly, whether you secure a new
traditional publisher for your work,
or decide to self-publish, you need
new readers to buy this book. ‘Most
of the time,’ reminds Sherry, ‘the bulk
of the people who were going to buy
that book already have. Your fans
already purchased the book, so don’t
expect them to buy it again. If you are
re-publishing to reach a new audience,
know that you are, essentially, starting
at a disadvantage because re-issues
don’t get picked for advertising the
same way new releases do. Often, you
www.writers-online.co.uk
T H E BU S I N E S S O F W R I T I N G
are better to either repackage it with
new material, or to simply work on
another book. Don’t expect to get your
rights back, self-publish it, and see the
book take off.’
However, this could happen if
the design of the book’s original
front cover wasn’t appropriate,
perhaps failing to attract the
target readership in the first place.
Sometimes placing your book with
a new publisher can give it the fresh
look, appeal and marketing strategy
that you were looking for originally.
It’s also worth remembering that
if you regain your rights in a book,
and then release it as a new edition
(either traditionally-published or
self-published), your new edition
starts with a review-free slate. If the
first edition with the traditional
publisher garnered 500 five-star
reviews on Amazon, those reviews
stay with that edition. They are not
transferred to your new edition.
Likewise, when you regain your
rights in your work, you are only free
to use the work that you licensed to
the publisher in the first place: the
words. You do not have any right
to use the cover, or even the text
layout of the book. Those creations
fall under the publisher’s copyright,
which they still own.
There’s a lot to think about when
it comes to getting your rights in
your work reverted. But breaking up
with a publisher needn’t be a messy
divorce, if you’ve done your pre-
nuptial homework with the contract
first. Like all divorces, sometimes a
break-up can lead to a new exciting
relationship in the future.
Business directory
Potential costs of rights reversion
Getting your rights back might be straightforward,
but there may be associated costs, including:
• Buying any remaining stock of your book held at
the publisher’s warehouse (at a discount, but you
may still be liable for P&P).
• Paying for any remaining stock to be pulped.
• Repaying any advance (particularly if the book
has not been published), or returning overpaid
royalties (applicable if bookshops return stock
royalties have already been paid out against).
• Contributing to marketing and other costs
(if your book has not been published and the
publisher won’t have the opportunity to recover
their costs).
NOVEMBER 2017 65
22/09/2017 10:06
 T R A I N YO U R B R A I N

Red Editing Pen

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

Here are this month’s examples:

1 The invitation was addressed to Sarah and I, but because Sarah was a
better speaker than me we both felt that the invite should be past to her.

2 The book which the editor mentioned has a pre-planned launch date for next
July so we will need the finished copy by November.

3 Roger felt he should practice both his Spanish and Portuguese in order to
orient himself for his visit to South America.

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

1 We start this month with a couple of examples of

the same problem: the choice between the personal
pronouns I and me (the former being a subject pronoun
which can stand as the subject of its verb while the latter
is an object pronoun). In our first example we have an
invitation addressed to Sarah and I – but here the verb
is governed by the preposition to and that requires us
to use an object pronoun and we should therefore have
addressed to Sarah and me.
Later in Sentence One, we have better speaker than
me. Should that be better speaker than I? The best way
to decide is mentally to complete the clause in which the
pronoun is used – which would give us: a better speaker
than I was. Clearly we could not have than me was so we
can conclude that better speaker than I would be the best
option in our sentence.
Finally here, our use of past is incorrect because it should
3 The first verb we meet in our Sentence Three is
be used only to indicate something that has occurred
previously. The verb we should be using here is passed.
Let us go on to look at the use of pre-plannned. The verb
to plan means to make arrangements for something in
advance – so the prefix pre- is simply not required here.
Finally in this sentence we have: we will certainly need
the copy. Here we are faced with the often tricky decision
whether to use will need or shall need. The general
rule is that we should use the first-person pronouns (I
and we) with shall, while we use the second and third-
person pronouns with will. However this system is
reversed when we need to express a strong sense of
determination – which is not the case in our example
sentence. So to comply with the general rule, our
sentence should read: we shall need the copy.
practice – but unfortunately this is not a verb. The verb
we need is practise (spelled with an ‘s’), once we spell
this word with a ‘c’ (to be practice) it becomes a noun,
as in medical practice. We therefore need to change our
sentence to read Roger felt he should practise.

2 Our second sentence starts with: the book which the

editor mentioned. Or would it be better to have that
the editor mentioned? The choice between that and which
is often confusing, but a good working guide is to use that
to define and which to describe. In our sentence we are
not concerned with describing the book. We simply need to
define the book, to identify the book the editor was talking
about. We should therefore prefer to use that.
Later in the same sentence we talk about Roger
needing to orient himself for his visit. We could equally
well use the word orientate here, in fact orientate is the
most commonly used version this side of the Atlantic –
with orient being the most commonly used in the US.
Some writers here prefer orient simply because it is
shorter, but this column believes that it is best to go with
the popular UK flow and choose orientate.

66 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p066 Red ed pen.indd 66 22/09/2017 10:07


A
re you struggling to keep track
of all your references? Or do
your writing projects require
citations and bibliographies,
but you don’t really know
how to go about incorporating them into your
writing? If that’s the case, there’s a perfect tool
that can help you: Zotero.
It’s free reference management software that
you can download from www.zotero.org. You
can use it to do all sorts of handy things related
to bibliographies and citations while you’re
doing your research as well as during your
writing process. Consider it your electronic
research assistant.
At the heart of the tool, there are distinct
functions that all contribute to making your
research easier. Let’s have a look at them:
Collecting material
Once you have downloaded Zotero onto
your computer, you can start adding research
material into it. The tool allows you to
capture bibliographic details as well as web
content with a single click. For example, you
can save web pages, pdfs of journal articles,
video clips, and audio files. In those instances
where it’s not possible to capture the content
itself (eg books), Zotero will only record the
material’s bibliographic details. If you have any
documents or reference information that’s not
online, you can also add them manually.
While you’re collecting and saving material,
Zotero lets you write notes. There are two
different ways to do this. You can write notes
that relate to a specific item and the notes
remain attached to it. You can also write
stand-alone notes that are not linked to any
particular item. It’s useful to take advantage of
p067 Research.indd 67
ZOTERO
Keep track of all your references with this one-stop tool,
advises research expert Tarja Moles
this function and record any research related
thoughts and queries so you won’t forget
them later.
Organising and finding material
As you’re adding material into Zotero, bear in
mind that you will most likely want to retrieve
bibliographical details and research content
at a later stage. Although the tool indexes any
information added and makes finding these
details straightforward through its search
function, you can help any future searches
by organising your items under different
collections and assigning tags to them.
Collections are hierarchical groups that
you can create to fit your research. Think
of them as folders on your computer:
placing each research item under the most
appropriate heading will help you locate
similar material easily.
Collections are particularly useful if you’re
researching into two or more topic areas as you
can keep the different references separate. For
example, if you’re studying architectural history
for a non-fiction article while doing research
into spies during the Cold War for your novel,
you can place the different sources under the
headings of ‘Architectural history’ and ‘Spies
during the Cold War’ respectively.
Tags, on the other hand, are like keywords
that you assign to your items. You can have
more than one tag for each source, and indeed,
it’s a good idea to use at least a couple of
tags for each item. For instance, the topic of
spies during the Cold War could include the
following tags: ‘US spies’, ‘Russian spies’, ‘East
Germany’ and ‘Berlin’.
Citations and bibliographies
If you have ever compiled a long bibliography
manually, you will know how tedious a task it is.
With Zotero, the whole process becomes really
easy. Not only does it compile the list based
on your selection of sources, but it will also
automatically format the details on the basis of a
bibliographic style that you choose, making sure
that the last little comma is in the right place.
To make matters even easier, there’s
www.writers-online.co.uk
RESEARCH TIPS
something called Zotero Word Plugin which
is free to install from Zotero’s website. This
allows you to use Zotero for citation as well as
bibliography creation purposes while writing
on Microsoft Word. With a few clicks you
can add citations from Zotero into your text
without having to do this manually (and
therefore not needing to worry about any
typing errors). And once you’ve finished
writing, Zotero will automatically compile the
bibliography for you. If you later decide to
change any of your citations, your bibliography
will be automatically updated as well.
Sharing and collaboration
Zotero lends itself well for research
collaboration as it allows the creation of groups
that can share information. If you know other
people who have the same research interest as
you, create a private group and invite those
people to join.
There are also public groups that are open
to new members. To find potentially suitable
groups, go to www.zotero.org/groups and
use Zotero’s search engine. Even if you don’t
want to join a group, you may be able to see
the bibliographical details that the groups have
compiled and use them in your own research.
If you don’t want to create or be part of any
group, you can choose to share information
in other ways. For example, you can create
reports of your sources and email them to your
research partners.
There’s a lot more to Zotero than what’s
been covered in this column. To find out more
about how to make the most out of the tool,
visit www.zotero.org/support
Top tip
Zotero is a great tool for creating
reading lists. Go to either the Amazon
website or any library website and
search for books you’re interested in.
When you find potentially suitable
ones, capture their metadata on Zotero
by using its clever one-click function.
After you’ve finished your search,
create your list and head to the library.
NOVEMBER 2017 67
22/09/2017 10:08
 Web world
COMPUTER CLINIC
Greta Powell introduces some useful services and tools to build your online presence
I
seem to have received lots of questions recently regarding
creating websites, websites for free, web services for writers
and so forth, so now seems a good time to take a brief look at
a few useful services out there. In essence most of these work
in much the same way, you simply drag and drop or upload
content into a pre-designed template.
BoldGrid
BoldGrid is not as well known or publicised as other web template services
but it is both easy to use and quick to learn. Those who already use
Wordpress will be familiar with it from the start as it has the same look
and feel as WP; the services are linked. BoldGrid is actually a set of plug-
ins, created and developed by a company called InMotion Hosting, that
sit above Wordpress making the whole process of creating the site easier.
They use a category-based interface with a drag and drop controls which
is ideal for anyone looking to get the benefits of this type of site without a
steep learning curve.
This quick video tutorial at http://writ.rs/boldgrid shows you how you
can create engaging and creative websites relatively easily and quickly.
So why opt for BoldGrid as opposed to a site creation tool such as Wix?
It does give you the ability to create a website with a more professional
look and greater customisation tools. It also has a great built-in preview
showing how your responsive site looks on different devices including tablet,
phone and desktop. But one of its major pluses is that, unlike many other
alternative options, should you at some point in the future wish to move the
site elsewhere then you can without restriction and retain both full editorial
control and ownership, which has to be a big plus. One con though - the
service isn’t free. There’s an annual charge of approximately £60.
Find out more at www.boldgrid.com
Clippings
If you are looking for a smaller writing site that takes more of a journalistic
instant approach to writing you might like to take a look at Clippings at
http://clippings.me. Described as the world’s largest journalism site, it’s
been around for a number of years and provides a service where recent
pieces of work are uploaded quickly and easily to your own portfolio page.
It is a straightforward process to create your own portfolio then upload
your work. Once you have an account, or in this case portfolio, you can
add your own custom features such as a profile picture and colour theme
plus you can also include rich media, links, images etc into your posts.
If you are not going to be uploading more than ten articles a month
then the service is free but for unlimited uploads there are a range of
68 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk
p068 computer clinic.indd 68
different monthly options up to about £24 per month. Why not pop over
to clippings.me for a test sign up and to find out more?
site 123
Staying with the theme of straightforward and easy website-building
platforms is site123 which is ideal for anyone looking to gain an online
abode with the least amount of hassle. There are a number of other
platforms which could have been included at this point but this is lesser
known than many but just as good, if not better.
It has a slim content management system containing a few categories
which when clicked on lead you into a far larger world of choice with
regard to colour, imagery; even your site’s search engine optimisation
(SEO) can be controlled from here. Again like most of the other sites of
similar ilk most of this is designed around inbuilt themes but there is a
flexibility with colour and typeface choice.
One of the major pluses of this platform is the ability to create a number
of satellite sites within the account, but you need to be aware that if you
did this and wanted to assign a name for each site (for example for sales
of individual books under your own sales umbrella) then you will have
to pay per domain name. The initial site is free which means it will carry
advertising in your pages, but you can remove the adverts for a fee. Take a
look at the introductory video or sign up for a trial at www.site123.com
Word Count
Just to round off this month’s column, and staying within the theme of
useful websites for writers, this is a very useful online word count feature
for anyone using Wordpad or a similar text editor. It has a mass of useful
features which are at least the equivalent of Microsoft Word’s and if you
create an account with them, lets you save earlier word counts. It has
a wonderful panel on the right hand side of the screen which not only
gives you your word count but for anyone writing for the web gives a
keyword density count and reading level score. Why not take a look at
https://wordcounter.net/
GET CONNECTED!
If you have a technical query for Greta,
email info@gretapowell.com or use the
contact page at www.gretapowell.com
22/09/2017 10:09
 Editorial calendar
Strong forward planning will greatly improve your chances with freelance submissions.
Here are some themes to consider for the coming months.

5 Feb 28 February
Post-war sweet rationing 12 Feb 65 years ago,
ended 65 years ago. US YA author scientists James
In the following Judy Blume D Watson and
year, spending on will be 80 Francis HC Crick
confectionery jumped announced that
4 Feb by approximately they had discovered
Disney’s first full-length film Snow £1million. the double-helix
White and the Seven Dwarfs went on structure of the
general released 80 years ago. DNA molecule.

13 Feb
14 Feb The first issue
11 Feb
The first TV sci-fi programme
St Valentine’s Day.
Got a good lurve
of The Financial
Times was Looking ahead
was a 1938 BBC Television story to sell? published 130 Glastonbury Festival will have its 50th
adaptation of Karel Capek’s years ago. anniversary in 2020 – in 1970 Michael
1920 sci-fi play R.U.R, which Eavis put on the Pilton Pop Blues &
introduced the word ‘robot’. See 15 Feb Folk Festival, with T Rex headlining.
a rare clip of BBC TV in 1938 The largest demonstration in UK history – Anecdotes illustrating the festival’s
here: http://writ.rs/bbctv1938 more than 2 million people – took place in history will be worth retelling.
London, against the Iraq war, 15 years ago.

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p069 Ed calendar.indd 69 22/09/2017 14:35

 AU T H O R P R O F I L E
KERRY WILKINSON
The bestselling author tells Margaret James that being a trier
is the best way to get a book off the ground
A
s I write this author
profile, young
British novelist Kerry
Wilkinson’s latest
bestselling novel Two
Sisters is riding high in the Amazon
Kindle UK Top 100 and – in
common with all his other titles
– getting hugely positive feedback
from readers.
So, when I spoke to Kerry, I was
looking forward to finding out if
he was always destined to become
a novelist? Does he come from a
literary family? Or is he a one-off,
writing-wise?
‘I’m one of seven, with a brother, a
half-brother, sisters and half-sisters,’
he says. ‘Then there are nieces,
nephews, uncles, aunties and plenty
more. Out of everyone, Mum is the
only one who reads, and she used to
give me books to shut me up.
‘While I was growing up, I wanted
to be a sports journalist, and I ended
up working on the sports desks of a
few national papers. Then I moved
to the BBC.
‘When I turned thirty in 2010,
my wife and I were in Robin Hood’s
Bay, which is a gorgeous part of
the world. We were listening to
Ricky Gervais on the radio, and it
suddenly struck me that when he
was forty nobody had heard of him,
but by the time he was fifty he was
arguably the best-known comedian
on the planet. Also, I was (and am)
a big fan of Simon Pegg, another
guy who did his own thing and is
now writing and starring in Star Trek
movies. I realised they’d achieved
what they did because they’d tried.
I made a list of things I thought I
could do if I actually tried, and write
a book was first on the list. I had a
go and it’s worked out pretty well.
‘I know there are some people
who think that unless you have a
stack of rejection letters you’re not a
70 NOVEMBER 2017
p070 Author Profile.indd 70
real writer. But that’s
not my story. I didn’t
set out to be an author
as such and, if my
books hadn’t taken off,
I’d have tried something
else. Hey, I still might.’
Kerry is a very
versatile novelist, writing
in many genres. ‘But
that’s not something I
worry about,’ he says.
‘I just write whatever’s
in my head at the time,
which might be a crime
novel or it could be
something else. I think
the most important things
in any story, in any genre,
in any format, are the
characters. You could have
a fantastic concept but,
if your characters don’t
work, neither will the story. How
many films are there about which
people say: well, it was a good idea,
but...? Good ideas aren’t enough. A
good idea with bad characters doesn’t
work, but great characterisation can
make anything sing.
‘Beyond the broad brush strokes
of crime or romance or whatever, I
think much of the sub-categorisation
of genres is down to publishers
desperately trying to make
something stand out. I don’t believe
anyone ever walks into a bookstore
or browses Amazon thinking: I
wonder where the dystopian section
could be? Readers are intelligent.
They read blurbs. They get it.’
Kerry’s recent novels are Ten
Birthdays and Two Sisters.
‘Ten Birthdays is the story of Poppy,’
he explains. ‘Poppy’s mother died on
her fifteenth birthday and left a set of
letters, one for each of Poppy’s next
ten birthdays. Each chapter looks at
whatever Poppy happens to be doing
on that respective birthday, which is
www.writers-online.co.uk
then tied into the letters. It’s
a story about growing up,
watching friends and family
change, and worrying about
being left behind.
‘At the core of Two
Sisters are – er – two
sisters: Megan and Chloe.
Their parents have
recently died in a car
accident and, ten years
previously, their brother
Zac disappeared at a
holiday resort village.
After their parents’ deaths
the older sister Megan
receives a postcard from
the village with only the
letter Z on the back.
This is the story of the
two sisters returning
to the seaside to find out what
happened a decade before.
‘Out of my published books,
Poppy in Ten Birthdays is my
favourite character. There’s a lot
of me in Poppy, and some of the
events in the book are slightly
altered versions of things that have
happened to me in my own life.
‘I like Megan from Two Sisters
LISTEN because she’s not like me. I always
think write what you know is
TAP HERE boring, terrible advice. It assumes
To hear an what you know isn’t a load of old
extract from nonsense. It also inspires mediocrity.
Two Sisters I loved being in Megan’s head
because I had to research and think
about what it would be like to be in
KERRY’S TOP TIPS
• Stop talking about writing and actually write is
probably my best tip.
• So, if your goal is to write something, but you find
you’re spending all your time just sitting around
thinking about it, rather than actually doing it,
you’ll need to change something in your life.
27/09/2017 14:33
 N E W AU T H O R P R O F I L E

her situation. got something vaguely order. When the dark nights and cold
‘I also love a character coherent, I’ll start to stuff come around, I’ll get my head
called Martha in a book plan a novel chapter by down and actually write.
provisionally entitled chapter. Only when I ‘During the spring and summer,
To Have and to Hold, have a final outline do I I spend a lot of time outside.
which is coming out in actually start writing. Obviously, that sounds like skiving,
2018. She’s not the lead ‘I don’t necessarily work which it is – to a degree. But I try
character and she isn’t on one single thing at a to write about people and life and,
even in the story all that time. While I’m plotting believe it or not, those things are
much, but I couldn’t wait one story, I’ll often have outside. I walk to places, I run, I
to write about Martha. I an idea that would work cycle, I get on the train or bus. I
spent months thinking for something else, so I’ll listen to people. I read the news
about Martha and I make some notes for that and public notices. I explore and I
wrote Two Sisters as a bit as well. note down anything even vaguely
of a cleanser. ‘I once saw some bloke interesting that I see. I read fiction
‘It probably takes in the park playing catch and non-fiction and by the end
me about three or with his dog, but he was of the summer I’ll hope to have a
four weeks to write using a boomerang. The couple of plots ready to roll.
a first draft, but for poor dog was running ‘When it’s winter, I get up at
me a first draft comes around in circles and it was around six or seven in the morning,
towards the end of hilariously mean. That’ll and then I write until maybe six or
a process. I plot my probably end up in a book seven in the evening. I do that more
novels meticulously. My outlines somewhere, most likely or less every day until I’m done. Then
alone can come to 20,000 words as a throwaway line, or a bit of I’ll leave the book alone for a week
and they never see the light of day. description when some characters before going back into the draft and
I’ll spend weeks doing what looks are in a park. getting rid of all the nonsense.’
like very little. But, during that ‘Sunny weather is for This approach clearly works for
time, I’ll be brainstorming odd brainstorming, plotting and generally Kerry. So perhaps it could work for
lines and plots. Then, when I’ve getting all my ideas into some sort of the rest of us, too.

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p070 Author Profile.indd 71 22/09/2017 10:10

 WRITERS’ NEWS

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

opportunities to get into print and publishing industry news.

Rewarding exceptional Food for thought

literary talent
Run in memory of the literary
agent, the Deborah Rogers
Foundation Award offers
£10,000 to a debut prose writer
whose submission displays
outstanding literary talent. Work
may be fiction or non-fiction.
The Award is open to writers
from the British Commonwealth
or Eire who have not previously
published or self published a full-
length book of prose (they may
already have published a poetry collection). Submitting writers The Mogford Short Story Prize 2018 is inviting entries from 27 October.
may be agented or unagented, but should not be under contract The first prize is £10,000 and the entry will be read by an actor and
to a publisher for any work. Submissions may be writing for uploaded to the StoryPlayer website. Three runners up will each get £250.
adult, YA or child readers. Writers may submit one work only. The winning and shortlisted stories will be published online. The winner
Writers who have previously submitted to the Deborah Rogers and four shortlisted writers will be invited as Jeremy Mogford’s guests to
Foundation Award may submit for the 2018 Award with a the Mogford party in Oxford on 21 March, where they will be hosted for
different work from the one that one night in a Mogford hotel and have their travel expenses paid.
was previously submitted. The competition is for original, unpublished short stories up to 2,500
To submit, send between 20,000 words, which must have food and drink at the heart of the tale. Send entries
and 30,000 words of the work in as double-spaced Word documents with numbered pages. The writer’s name
progress, a brief synopsis and a must not appear on the manuscript. Enter via the online entry form.
short biographical note. There is an entry fee of £10 per story, payable as part of the online
The closing date is 13 December. submission process.
Website: www. The closing date is 3 January.
deborahrogersfoundation.org Website: www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/mogford-prize/

New Poet’s Prize Caledonia calling

The White Review is inviting entries for its inaugural The White Review
Poet’s Prize.
The Poet’s Prize, which is supported by the Jerwood Charitable
Foundation, is aimed at poets at the stage of completing a debut pamphlet
or collection.
The prize is for portfolios of five to ten pages of poetry by UK poets
who have yet to publish a debut pamphlet or collection. The winning
poet will receive £1,700, personalised advice from two poets and a leading
poetry editor, and publication in the online and print editions of The White
Review. Shortlisted entrants will receive feedback on their work, which will
be published in the print and online editions of The White Review.
Poems should be original and not previously published. Each page
should contain a maximum of 42 lines (including title). Each individual
poem will appear on a new page. The first page of each submission should
be a separate cover letter listing the titles of poems being submitted, the
number of poems and the poet’s name, address and email address. Send
entries as doc, docx or pdf files. All entries must be made by paying the
£10 entry fee via the online form and then emailing the poetry portfolio as
an attachment with the subject line ‘Poet’s Prize Submission’.
The closing date is 1 November.
Details: email: poetry@thewhitereview.org; website: www.
thewhitereview.org/prizes/white-review-poets-prize-2017/
There’s still time to apply for the Caledonia Novel Award, which has a
first prize of £1,000 for an adult or young adult novel. For the second
year there is also an additional prize of a free place on a week-long
residential course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre for the
best novel by a UK or Republic of Ireland writer.
The Award is open to unagented, unpublished and self-published
novelists over eighteen years of age of any nationality and resident
in any country. Initially you should email, as an attachment, a 200-
word synopsis and the first twenty double spaced pages of your novel
formatted in a 12pt font. Do not include your name on your novel
extract. The body of the email should include your name, novel title,
your contact details and the date you paid the entrance fee of £25. This
can be paid via the website Paypal link.
The closing date is 1 November
with longlisted authors being invited to
submit their completed novel, which
must be at least 50,000 word long, by 30
November. A shortlist will be announced
on 2 December and the eventual winner
announced on 25 January 2018.
Website: http://
thecaledonianovelaward.com/

72 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p072 News.indd 72 22/09/2017 11:45


Time for Cafe Poetry
The Cafe Writers Open Poetry Competition 2017 is
inviting entries.
There is a first prize of £1,000, a second prize of £300
and a third prize of £200. Six commended poems will each
win £50. There is a £100 prize for the funniest poem, and
a £100 Norfolk Prize for the best poems by a permanent
Norfolk resident.
The competition is for original, unpublished poems up to 40
lines, which may be in any style or form and on any subject.
Send entries on single sides of A4. The poet’s name
must not appear on the manuscript. Postal entrants should
download and compete an entry form. Email entrants should
send their poems as doc of pdf attachments with a single
poem per page. In the covering email, include details of
name, address and poem titles. The subject line should be
your name and the title of the first poem you are submitting.
The entry fees are £4 for one poem, £8 for two poems,
£10 for three, £12 for four, £14 for five and £16 for six. Pay
the fees by cheques made out to Cafe Writers or by PayPal.
The closing date is 30 November.
Details: Cafe Writers Poetry Competition, 168a
Silver Road, Norwich NR3 4TH; email: competition@
cafewriters.co.uk; website: http://cafewriters.co.uk
Find the edge
US-based Leading Edge Magazine publishes speculative fiction
from all around the world. Now in its 36th year, the title is
affiliated with and run through Brigham Young University and has
published work by such name writers as Dave Wolverton, Orson
Scott Card and Algis Budrys.
Editor-in-chief Hayley Brooks will consider speculative
fiction stories up to 15,000 words but prefers under
10,000. Payment is 1¢ per word up to $50 for first North
American serial rights. Poetry with science fiction or fantasy
themes also required, payment up to $20. Submit fiction to
fiction@leadingedgemagazine.com or poetry to poetry@
leadingedgemagazine.com
Non-fiction related to science fiction or fantasy up to 5,000
words is also considered. Payment by agreement. Send to
nonfiction@leadingedgemagazine.com
Submissions should avoid descriptions of sex, excessive violence
and drug use, as well as the belittlement of traditional family
values or religion.
Details: Leading Edge Magazine, Attn: [Genre] Director,
4087 JKB, Provo, UT 84602; email: editor@leading
edgemagazine.com; website: www.leadingedgemagazine.com
www.writers-online.co.uk
p072 News.indd 73
WRITERS’ NEWS
GLOBAL MAGAZINE MARKET
Well well well
BY JENNY ROCHE
‘Soulful, surprising, informed journalism in the holistic, spirituality
and sustainability arenas’, are wanted for the Australian WellBeing print
magazine and blog.
Feature articles for the magazine are 2,000-2,500 words long and
Real Life Experience articles 800-1,000 words. Articles should be
‘empowering, informative and entertaining’ and it is advised that where
possible you personalise the article by talking to ‘you’ as you would in a
conversation. Aim to help and inform your reader with an article they
can relate to and avoid a ‘prosy, lyrical or pseudo-poetic style of writing’.
If making a technical or health claim be sure to refer to reputable and
accurate first hand researches and give full references.
Payment rates are Aus$600-$700 for feature articles, for travel articles
including photographs, $1,700 for special reports and $150 for Real
Life Experience articles.
For the WellBeing blog, writers from all walks of life are welcome to
share ‘authentic, personal explorations of an area of well being they’re
truly passionate about’. The website has a lot of areas of wellbeing you
can blog about but editor Danielle Kirk will happily consider anything
about healthy living of any kind. There is a website list of what to do
and not do when writing.
If you would like to join the blog team send a five-sentence proposal
outlining the topic/theme for your blogs, the aspects of this you are
passionate about and who you would like to read the blog. Say how
often you would be able to blog and for
how many months.
Submit articles as a doc file and
for both article submissions and blog
proposals send a maximum 120-word bio
describing yourself and give links to any
website and relevant social media accounts
you have. Include a headshot of yourself.
Submit to: dkirk@
universalmagazines.co.au
Website: www.wellbeing.com.au/
contribute
Cherry picking
Cherry Tree is an annual literary journal published by staff
and students of Washington College in the USA. It needs
‘well-crafted short stories, poems, and creative nonfiction
essays that are not afraid to make us care’.
Submissions for each annual issue open in August and
close in October. Managing editor, Lindsay Lusby, and the
team want original, unpublished work. Read past published
work and the guidelines, then submit on the website: www.
washcoll.edu/centers/lithouse/cherry-tree
Use doc or rtf format
for files and limit work
to ‘seven poems, seven
flash prose pieces, or 25
total pages of prose’ all
in one file.
Response time is
up to three months.
Payment is $20 plus
two contributor’s
copies for First North
American serial rights.
NOVEMBER 2017 73
22/09/2017 10:12
 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

FLASHES
Get in Vogue
The Oriel Davies
Open Writing BY GARY DALKIN
Competition 2017
is open for entries.
The competition Teen Vogue, the teenage spin-off from classic fashion
is for poetry up to magazine Vogue publishes several articles a day on its
50 lines and prose website. Subjects range from fashion and beauty, to
up to 1,000 words. health, entertainment, lifestyle and news and politics.
The winner in each Material must be original and firmly targeted at the site’s
category will win US female teen readership. The best way to get a feel for
a £50 voucher to the sort of content required is to read some of the articles
spend in the Oriel on the site at: www.teenvogue.com
Davies Gallery,
Payment is 10-17¢ per word for columns, essays and
Powys. There is a
£3 fee per entry.
blog posts between 400 and 1,300 words. Submit a cold
The closing date is 4 pitch outlining your proposed post together with any
November. relevant details of your expertise in your chosen topic.
Website: www. Email to web@teenvogue.com
orieldavies.org

The winner of The

McIlvanney Prize
2017, worth £1,000, Slice your way into The performance is
the thing
which recognises
excellence in Carve magazine
Scottish crime
writing was Denise Although Carve magazine is If you’re not a £150 first prize winner in the
Mina for The Long based in Texas, USA the staff and Congleton Players One Act Play Competition you
Drop (Harvill Secker), volunteers are based worldwide and could still be a winner if your play is shortlisted
the first woman to submissions of fiction, poetry and as it will be given a Festival performance before a
take the prize. non fiction are equally welcome theatre audience who will decide the winner.
from writers around the world. Award winning Congleton Players was set up in
Antonelle Lazzeri The magazine has a similar wide 1936 and since then has been providing affordable
edits monthly county
range in its formats and has online, theatre to local and North West people with the
glossy Hampshire
Style, which is
print and digital issues. Fiction finds aim of developing interest in theatre and plays and
available in local its way into all formats while poetry giving a voice to previously unknown writers.
supermarkets and and non-fiction are only published The competition is open to original, previously
newsagents. in the print and digital issues. unperformed plays from playwrights living in
Details: email: info@ For fiction ‘emotional jeopardy, soul and honesty’ is the UK or Republic of Ireland. Plays must have
hampshirestyle. sought together with ‘craft and control in connection a running time of 20-30 minutes (approx 3,500-
co.uk; website: to the characters’. Payment is $100 for first online and 4,000 words). There are no restrictions on genre
www. print publication rights. and although you should have 2-6 characters in
hampshirestyle. Poetry submissions should aim to be ‘quiet and your play this is only a guideline. Keep scene
co.uk
expansive, elicit an authentic connection’. Payment is changes simple and to a minimum, or a preferred
Birmingham Press $25 for first print publication rights. continuous action.
Club, dating back Non-fiction should ‘reflect the honest place of Format your play with speaking character names
to 1865, will now literature in our lives’ and ‘experiential reflections and in bold on the left of the page in an undrawn
be based at the St literary overlays, inlays and even underlays’ are what margin and stage directions in brackets.
Paul’s Club, a private is wanted. Payment is $25 for first print publication When submitting you should use a nom de
dining club, housed rights. Feedback is offered to a percentage of declined plume for reading and judging purposes and
in the city’s St Paul’s submissions in all genres. include a character list and a brief description
Square. The world’s There is a fee of $3 payable for pieces submitted of stage layout, props, lighting and other
oldest press club
using the website Submittable link or work can be requirements The closing date for entries is 30
had been looking for
a fresh headquarters submitted for free by post. Include a cover letter and an November. Email entries are preferred but legible
for many years. appropriately stamped SAE. scripts will be considered.
See website for details of the annual Premium Email with your play title in capital letters and
Juliet Herd edits Edition Contest (soon to be renamed) for fiction, nom de plume in the subject line and include your
Hello! Fashion poetry and non fiction. The contest is open to name and address within the email. Include the
monthly. The deputy writers worldwide and there is a cash prize of $1,000 latter with postal entries.
editor is Jill Wanless. for the winner in each genre. The closing date is 1 Details: One Act Play Festival, 2 Beechwood
Website: November. Drive, Eaton, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 2NQ;
http://fashion. email: oneactplays@congletonplayers.com;
Details: Carve
hellomagazine.com
Magazine Submissions, website: www.congletonplayers.com
‘I’ve been very lucky PO Box 701510,
in the attention Dallas, TX 75370, USA;
that’s been paid to website: www.carvezine.
my novels.’ com/submit/
Philippa Gregory

74 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p074 News/FOW.indd 74 22/09/2017 10:18

 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Arm yourself for a commission
BY TINA JACKSON
The Armourer, edited by Duncan
Evans, is aimed at collectors
of militaria and enthusiasts for
It’s a Funny
military history. Previously two
magazines, The Armourer and
Classic Arms and Militaria, they
Old World
were merged at the beginning of BY DEREK HUDSON
this year to create one, larger (in
terms of pages) magazine that The Week magazine advised readers
covers all military history from that if a statistic is irresistibly
ancient times to now. interesting, it should be treated with
‘In practice, our main focus extreme caution.
is WWII, WWI and the Victorian era,’ said Duncan. ‘Typically we will feature a When The Observer printed ‘50
conflict from WWII on the cover seven times out of a twelve-month cycle, WWI other things you didn’t know about
twice, a post-1945 conflict once and a pre-1900 conflict twice.’ The Queen’, number 48 caught their
Topics covered in The Armourer are personal stories, medals, weapons, uniforms, eye: “Her Majesty’s favourite films
badges, equipment, documents, publications, photos, military vehicles, auctions, are Assault on Precinct 13 and Deliverance. She so loved the latter, she
shows, fairs, museums, readers collections, postcards, organisations. The typical bought a ukulele and learned to pick out Duelling Banjos.”’
Armourer reader is interested in military history and also collecting. ‘It’s the stories The Week seized on this for their gossip section. ‘It wasn’t until after
behind the artefacts that makes it interesting.’ we’d gone to press that some-one spotted the small print: ‘Only 49 of
What is important to Duncan about The Armourer is that each issue is an event. these facts are true.’
‘That you feel that you’re getting a great product, that’s value for money, that you’ll
read each month and store for reference later. That provides an entertaining and • There is a famous anecdote about Lewis
informative read.’ Carroll (or Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and
All the features are written by contributors. ‘We go through 15-16 of them a Queen Victoria, the Interesting Literature
month so it’s quite a huge turnover,’ said Duncan. ‘As a result I’m always happy to website said.
find new writers, whether they want to talk about something they have collected, ‘Victoria enjoyed Alice’s Adventures in
or as a military history researcher. I have a regular writer for the cover stories, which Wonderland so much that she requested a
are purely military history without a collecting angle, but if I find an expert on one first edition of Carroll’s next book. Carroll
particular area then I’m happy to switch.’ duly sent her a copy of the next book he
Typical articles are 4,5 and 6 pages long, with 500 words per page and 3-5 images published – a mathematical work with
per page. ‘The style is always factual but with clarity, and no hyperbole. Unless it’s a the exciting title An Elementary Treatise on
very specialised feature, the writer shouldn’t assume the reader is an expert. That’s not Determinants. Unfortunately, like most good anecdotes, this one isn’t
to say articles are basic, because they need to be informative, just that they need to true: Carroll himself refuted it.’
have clarity.’ What a pity that is. But apparently it is true that he once stayed up all
Duncan’s commissioning process is based on getting the features well balanced, night composing this anagram of British Prime Minister William Ewart
and he works months ahead. ‘Once a writer is on my list of go-to contributors I will Gladstone: ‘Wild agitator, means well’.
commission them for specific articles for particular issues. Other articles go into the
article reservoir from which I create the right mix each month. Something sent on • ‘Move over Berrow’s Worcester Journal’ (which has appeared each week
spec can sit in the reservoir for months until the time is right. Equally, someone can with for more than 300 years) , said Hold the Front Page website for
send something in and if it’s on my topic hot-list I will make space and get it in the regional journalists, ‘a new claimant has emerged for the title of World’s
first available issue. I normally work on three issues at a time and the cover feature Oldest Newspaper. And with a founding date of 1057, nine years before
ideas are set for each six-month period.’ William the Conqueror set sail for Hastings, the Helensburgh Advertiser
Contact Duncan with ideas by email. ‘I always reply to all of them. In the first would seem to have the title wrapped up.’ Unfortunately, HTFP added,
instance, send an outline of the idea for the feature you want to write and roughly the Advertiser was actually founded in 1957, with the erroneous date
how many words you think you’ll need. Plus, what access to photography for the appearing in a piece marking its 60th anniversary…‘The story has now
subject you have. If I like the idea I’ll request you write it. If it’s a great idea or been corrected online to reflect the true launch date.’
something I particularly want, it will be commissioned for a specific issue. For all
commissions and approved submissions there is The Armourer Style Guide. This • The Sunday Times recalled the Guardian’s obituary of ‘mischievous
sets out word and term usage and also how to format the article. It includes a list of Lady Cudlipp’, widower of the Daily Mirror’s Hugh Cudlipp, and
things not to do as well.’ thought it odd it failed to mention a vote of thanks she gave to Alan
The key to getting anything published in The Armourer is to have an original Rusbridger, the former Guardian editor. ‘When he delivered the Hugh
idea. ‘Come up with something that fits the magazine brief that we haven’t gone Cudlipp memorial in 2010, she particularly praised his paper’s Berliner
into detail on before. The easiest way in for the new writer is to find a story behind format as being just the right size for the bottom of her parrot’s cage.’
a piece of militaria. For example, you buy a set of two medals, a photo and some
documentation for a soldier in WWII. We won’t run anything on the fact that • Goodwill Librarian website: ‘I tried to beat my reading addiction.
the medals are the War Medal and the Africa Star, but if the writer finds out that Worst two minutes of my life.’
the soldier got the Africa Star because he fought at Tobruk or El Alamein and did
something noteworthy then it’s a story worth writing. Equally, finding a piece of • ‘I find television very educating. Every
military equipment that hasn’t been written about much is another route in.’ time somebody turns on the set, I go into
Payment is £35 per printed page. ‘Typically that’s £70 per thousand words, which the other room and read a book.’
isn’t great. However, there is lots of regular work available for good contributors.’ Groucho Marx
Details: email: duncane@warnersgroup.co.uk; website:
www.militaria-history.co.uk

www.writers-online.co.uk JUNE 2017 75

p074 News/FOW.indd 75 22/09/2017 10:19

 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK LITERARY MARKET

New home for hybrids
Laura Crombie is
Beggars are choosers
Rose Metal Press is a US non-
the new editor of profit micro-press for hybrid
BY TINA JACKSON
Real Homes monthly
magazine. She will
genres, publishing ‘short shorts,
consider ideas for Independent literary publisher Galley flash, and micro-fiction; prose
illustrated features. Beggar Press will have a window open for poetry; novels-in-verse, or book-
Website: www. submissions of full-length manuscripts length, linked narrative poems’.
realhomesmagazine. between 15 and 30 November. They will also consider ‘other
co.uk Galley Beggar Press was the first literary works that move beyond
publisher of Eimear McBride’s prize- the traditional genres of poetry,
In America, winning experimental literary debut A Girl fiction, and essay, to find new
Vanity Fair editor Is A Half-formed Thing. It publishes literary forms of expression’. Editors
Graydon Carter,
fiction and narrative non-fiction only. Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney also like to make
68, announced that
he will step down
Writers submitting to Galley Beggar are strongly advised to sure their books are beautifully produced.
from the job after familiarise themselves with its list. They welcome submissions in all styles and on
25 years. Submissions are welcomed from agented and non-agented all subjects, and encourage ‘a broad and expansive
writers, and are particularly encouraged interpretation of hybridity’. Submissions are during
Stella Taylor edits from women, BAME, disabled, the open reading periods and the Annual Short Short
Community, the working class and LGBT writers. Chapbook Contest runs from 1 November until 1
free local magazine Send the full manuscript with a December.Submit a 25 to 40 page, double-spaced
for Royal Wootton brief covering letter by email during manuscript of short short prose, either fiction, or
Bassett and the submission window. nonfiction. Keep each piece under 1,000 words. Submit
welcomes readers’
letters.
Details: email: submissions@ online at the chapbook page. The entry fee is $10.
Details: Community galleybeggar.co.uk; website: www. Keep names and personal details off the manuscript.
Editor, The galleybeggar.co.uk Some pieces in the
Meadows, Ballards submission may have been
Ash, Royal Wootton published in journals,
Bassett SN4 8DT; print or online, but the
tel: 01793 852361; Musical muses entire collection must be
email: stella. unpublished.
taylor@tesco.net Topaz Winters, founder, Response time is
creative director, and ‘reasonable’. Payment
American actress
Kelly Doran
editor-in-chief of Half and rights are discussed at
won Bath Spa Mystic press is seventeen contract time.
University’s years old. She and her Website: www.
Novel in 25 words editorial colleagues are rosemetalpress.com
competition, with all young idealists with a
her pineapple- vision for an independent
themed story, FYI,
which beat more
publishing house dedicated Five for Flambard
to the celebration of music.
than 1,400 entries to It publishes ‘limited Newcastle Centre
win £500.
Website: http://writ.
edition, keepsake collections for the Literary Arts is
rs/novel25 of art, lyrics, and writing celebrating a musical theme’. For inviting entries for the
writers who have music in their souls Half Mystic is open 2017 Flambard Poetry
The National Trust’s to manuscript submissions of poetry, essays, and short story Prize.
Writing Places 2017 collections, drama, memoirs, novellas, full-length novels, and The competition is for a group of five poems by
programme of experimental work. Don’t send the team genre fiction, ‘lyrics a writer who has not previously published a single-
writers in residence without music, or critical work.’ Manuscripts must be at least authored poetry pamphlet or full collection. There is a
sees Dorset poet thirty single-spaced pages, and complete. first prize of £1,000 and a second prize of £250.
Virginia Astley For poetry, essay, and short story collections, submit the full All poems must be original and unpublished, and each
resident in Thomas
manuscript. For anything else submit the first half. Submit in poem in the group of five must be no longer than forty
Hardy’s Cottage
and author and pdf format by email. lines. Poems may be on any subject, and written in any
environmentalist Half Mystic also publish a biannual journal. Submissions style or form.
Roselle Angwin at are now open for the fourth issue. The theme is ‘grazioso: the Send poems as single-spaced doc, docx, pdf, rtf or
Greenway in Devon. dream-bright waltz – the soft-stained song – the place where txt files, with a line count at the top of each page. The
Website: http://writ. sunlight settles and nothing really hurts.’ The editorial team writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript.
rs/writingplaces2017 publish writing of all kinds but it must ‘pertain in some way to Online entries should be in a single document. Postal
music’. Submit no more than three pieces, under 3,000 words, entrants should include a separate sheet with name and
‘The choice not to and keep songs under eight minutes. Always include lyrics with contact details.
“choose” subjects There is a fee of £5 per group of five poems, payable
songs. Watch copyrights and avoid quoted song lyrics, but song
to write about, but
to write things from
titles and names of performers are fine. as part of the online entry process or by cheques made
within, is why I Response time for books is within two months, for the out to Newcastle University.
takes me so long to journal it’s three weeks. Payment and Rights are discussed under The closing date is 31 October.
write plays.’ contract for books. Payment for the journal is ebook copies of the Details: Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts,
Jez Butterworth, issue for ‘the usual rights.’ Percy Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon
playwright and Website: www.halfmystic.com Tyne NE1 7RU; website: www.ncl.ac.uk/ncla/
screenwriter

76 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p076 News.indd 76 22/09/2017 10:14

 G OW
I NRG
ITE
TOR SM
’NAERW
KSET

UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Diva demands
BY JENNY ROCHE
A women’s interest, lifestyle and fashion magazine for
lesbian, gay, bi and queer woman Diva magazine has
a content of brief and in depth news features, articles
on UK and non UK subjects and themes, real life
interview based features, ‘Diatribe’ provocative opinion
pieces, Q&A profiles, fashion, cartoon strips and A combination
reviews and previews. The magazine does not generally
publish unsolicited poetry but does sometimes publish to ponder
short stories of literary merit.
If you have a story idea this can be pitched in a
maximum two paragraphs. Articles can be emailed with
your name and contact details on each page. Email An unusual book inspires
ideas/articles to: carrie@divamag.co.uk ideas for Patrick Forsyth
Due to the large number of emails received you will
only receive a response to your idea or article if it is
liked by the editorial team. Payment rates are £150 per 1,000 words.

L
Although there is no payment made for contributions to the magazine’s et me recommend a book
website content it is claimed you will be able to reach a wide, targeted audience to you (nothing to do with
of approximately 150,000 with your writing. Ideas for columns, reviews, blogs, writing, but bear with me). We
stories or image galleries, video, audio and illustrations can be emailed to: roxy@ have no idea is by Jorge Cham and
divamag.co.uk Daniel Whiteson. It’s about all the
Website: www.divamag.co.uk things we do not understand: from
what a quark really is and the fact that
much of the universe consists of so
Women’s words wanted called “dark matter” and we have no
idea what that is, to what happened
Words and Women is inviting entries for its 2017 prose competition. before the Big Bang. So, quantum
The competition is for short prose up to 2,200 words of prose: fiction, non-fiction, physics, cosmology and a whole lot in
memoir, essays or creative non-fiction. between. If you are interested in this
There are two categories: a national prize and a regional prize. The national prize is sort of thing (as I am) then I can only
open to any woman writer living in the UK and Ireland over the age of forty, and the say I found it to be one of the best
regional prize to any woman writer living in the East of England: Norfolk, Sussex, Essex, such books I have read.
Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. If you couldn’t care less whether
The prizes are £1,000 and up to a month’s writing residency provided by Hosking a quark is made of blue cheese or
Houses Trust for the national winner, and £600 and a mentoring session from Jill something else (we have no idea), then
Dawson of Gold Dust for the regional winner. Winning stories will feature in the Words you may wonder why am I telling you
and Women Compendium anthology. this. It is because I also found the
All entries should be original and unpublished, and complete in themselves (ie, book highlighted something about the
not an extract from a longer work). Format work as a doc or pdf in double spacing writing and publishing process. The
on numbered pages. The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript. Include book’s message is serious stuff, it is
a separate cover page with details of name, address, telephone, email, the work’s title, well written and gives a particularly
whether it’s fiction or non-fiction and whether you wish to be considered for the clear explanation of the difficult
national or regional prize. Send entries by email. concepts with which it deals.
There is a £10 entry fee, payable by PayPal. But it is also funny: Jorge Cham is
The closing date is 15 November. a cartoonist and the book is peppered
Details: email: wordsandwomencomp@gmail.com; website: https:// with quirky (but often illuminating)
wordsandwomennorwich.blogspot.co.uk/ illustrations. For a physics professor,
Daniel Whiteson, has a light touch
too. For me this unusual mixing of
styles made for an excellent book. But
Story production what a concept to sell a publisher:
serious science with an amusing twist.
The Fiction Factory is inviting entries for a new short story competition. And in this particular and specialist
The competition, which is for stories up to 3,000 words in any genre of fiction for technical area of extreme physics too.
adult readers, has a first prize of £150. There is a second prize of £50 and two merit Yet making this link made the
prizes of £25. book, and a publisher clearly shared
All entries must be original and unpublished. Enter by email, including details the authors’ enthusiasm for this way
of name, address, email address, story title and word count in the body of the of doing it. So, maybe we should
submission email. all experiment with combinations;
The entry fee is £6 per story, payable by PayPal. unusual ones. There could be
The closing date is 31 December. something very saleable down this
Details: email: words@fiction-factory.biz; website: http://fiction-factory.biz/ route. Now what about…?

www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 77

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK NON-FICTION MARKET

Enzo is a new
Skills get set
quarterly Ferrari
magazine launched BY TINA JACKSON
by Dennis
Legend Business, which is part of the independent Titles currently available in the Smart Skills Series
Publishing and
edited by John Legend Times Group, is looking for new authors to are: Smart Skills: Meetings, Smart Skills: Negotiation
Barker. contribute to its Legend Smart Skills series. and Smart Skills: Persuasion, all by WM’s own Patrick
Email: enzo@ The series has been very successful, and Legend MD Forsyth, Smart Skills: Mastering the Numbers by Anne
dennis.co.uk; Tom Chalmers now wants to extend its range. He is Hawkins, and Smart Skills: Working with Others and
website: enzo- particularly interested in authors who can reflect the Smart Skills: Presentation by Frances Kay.
magazine.co.uk importance of social media, technology and a new Legend is currently interested in hearing from
generation of content creation on their subject area. experts in a variety of fields. Interested authors
Time Inc ‘We have revisited the plan for our Smart Skills series may send a synopsis and two sample chapters to
magazines New Liza Paderes.
and want to work even closer with a range of influencers
Look, Marie
Claire, Now,
and experts in their fields to help educate, inform and Details: lizapaderes@legend-paperbooks.
Wallpaper and entertain readers on new developments as and when co.uk; website: www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/
Women’s Weekly they happen,’ said Tom. ‘The technological revolution legend-business
have moved to a is constantly changing and driving the way we live and
new address at work. As a forward-thinking publisher, we want to be at
161 Marsh Wall, the forefront of providing relevant and timely content
London E14 9AP. to educate people and help them maximise any available
opportunities to increase their skill-sets.’
News UK
relaunched their
Sunday Times
Style magazine
and The Sun on
Sunday’s Fabulous
as seven-day
publications with
more content
available online.

Pulman’s Weekly
News Axminster
welcomes readers’
letters. Send
to Francesca

Nature matters China storm in CUP

Evans, Unit 3, ST
Michael’s Business
Centre, Church
Lane, Lyme Regis, Littoral Press is launching a In late August Cambridge University Press
Dorset D17 3DB; new Nature Poetry Collection found itself at the centre of controversy
email: francesca@ Competition, a twice- when, under pressure from the Chinese
viewnews.co.uk
yearly competition for a full government, it withdrew over 300
More than 300 collection of nature, spiritual or academic articles from the website of
local newspapers environmental poetry. its academic journal, China Quarterly.
have been Sixty copies of the winning The articles covered subjects displeasing
closed in the collection will be printed by to the Beijing authorities, including the
past ten years, Littoral Press, which is a small, Tiananmen Square massacre, China’s
and 100 have not-for-profit press set up Cultural Revolution and analysis critical of
been launched, thirteen years ago by Mervyn President Xi Jinping.
according to Press Linford to publish nature/ James Millward, a history professor at
Gazette research.
spiritual/environmental poetry. Georgetown University, noted the Press’s
‘Although there
The winning book will be actions comprised, ‘...a clear violation of
were all these between fifty and 100 pages, printed in A5 format, perfect- academic independence outside as well as
terribly gloomy bound, with full-colour covers and an ISBN. inside China’ and unfavourably compared
stories about the To enter, send a full collection, with the majority of the Cambridge’s capitulation to the Chinese
book disappearing, poems being on nature, spiritual and environmental themes. authorities with The Economist and New York
that hasn’t Poems may have been individually published, but the submitted Times, which chose to be completely banned
happened. I think manuscript should not previously have been published in from China rather than censor their content.
it’s because, pamphlet or book form. Send collections by email as doc or rtf Faced with a threatened boycott of
particularly for attachments. The collection should have a title. Include your Cambridge University Press publications
little children,
name and contact details with the submission. and a petition started by Christopher
holding a book is
such a physical There is an entry fee of £20 per collection, payable to Balding, associate professor at Beijing
experience.’ Mervyn Linford. University, and signed by several hundred
Children’s Laureate The closing date is 31 December. academics, within days the Press reversed
Lauren Child Details: email: mervynlinford@btinternet.com; website: its decision to self-censor, reinstating all
www.southendpoetry.co.uk/littoral/index.html the deleted articles.

78 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

GLOBAL SF MARKET And

Encourage explorers another
thing...
BY GARY DALKIN

Editors Corie and Sean Weaver are reading for the

2019 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide. Now in
its fifth year, this popular anthology series aims to
encourage a love of reading science fiction with
well-written, fun to read stories for 8-12 year olds. ‘We have all been little pitchers with big
Published by US based Dreaming Robot Press, ears, shooed out of the kitchen when the
previous volumes have included tales by such leading unspoken is being spoken, and we have
writers as Eric Choi and Nancy Kress. probably all been tale-tellers, blurters
Your story should feature a diverse set of believable at the dinner table, unwitting violators
characters, and can be any form of science fiction, but of adult rules of censorship. Perhaps this
with an emphasis on adventure - rockets, space, robots, is what writers are: those who have never
alien encounters, steampunk, time travel, alternative kicked the habit. We remained tale-bearers. We learned
history, etc; no fantasy or horror. The editors particularly to keep our eyes open, but not to keep our mouths shut.’
want stories with protagonists from traditionally Margaret Atwood
underrepresented groups – girls, people of colour and differently abled people.
Word count should be 3,000-6,000. Deadline, 31 December. Original ‘Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful
stories preferred, but enquire about reprints if you things are corrupt without being charming.
have a suitable story which has only received limited This is a fault. Those who find beautiful
publication. All successful submissions will be notified meanings in beautiful things are the
by 31 March 2018. cultivated. For these there is hope. They
Payment is 6¢ per word for one-year exclusive are the elect to whom beautiful things mean
worldwide English rights and non-exclusive right to only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral
republish, print, or reprint the complete anthology or an immoral book. Books are well written, or
in any language or format after the first year. The badly written. That is all.’
publication will be crowdfunded, but the editors Oscar Wilde
say that even if the crowdfunding campaign fails
publication will go ahead though may be delayed. ‘Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves
Submit in doc, docx, rtf or txt format after reading – that’s the truth. We have two or
the guidelines on the website: three great and moving experiences
http://dreamingrobotpress.com in our lives – experiences so great and
moving that it doesn’t seem at the time
anyone else has been so caught up and
New writers, a comp for you so pounded and dazzled and astonished and
beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and
Michael Terence Publishing is inviting entries for its short story competition, rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before.
which has a first prize of £300. ‘Then we learn our trade, well or less well, and
There is a second prize of £200 and a third prize of £100. The winning stories we tell our two or three stories – each time in a new
will be published in an anthology and online. disguise – maybe ten times, maybe a hundred, as long
The competition is designed to encourage new authors, and is open only to as people will listen.’
writers who have never had a full-length work published. F Scott Fitzgerald
The competition is for original, unpublished stories up to 3,000 words. Entries
may be fiction, science fiction, biography, memoir or true story. ‘The most durable thing in writing is
All entries must be made online as doc files. The writer’s name must not appear style, and style is the most valuable
on the manuscript. investment a writer can make with
There is a fee of £5 per entry, payable by PayPal. his time. It plays off slowly, your
The closing date is 1 December. agent will sneer at it, your publisher
Details: email: admin@mtp.agency; website: www.mtp.agency/competition will misunderstand it, and it will
take people you have never heard of to
convince them by slow degrees that the
writer who puts his individual mark on the way he
Shorts for the youth writes will always pay off.’
Raymond Chandler
The Creative Competitor is running a Young Adult Fiction Writing
Competition. ‘I heard once that the author is in every
The competition is for stories up to 1,500 words in any genre of character and that every character
young adult fiction. There is a first prize of £200, and second and represents an aspect of the author. I don’t
third prizes of £100 and £75. identify with one character in particular
All submissions must be original and unpublished. Enter by email, but in most of my books the main
with the subject line YA Fiction Competition. There is a £3 entry fee, female protagonist is a strong willed,
payable via PayPal. independent and rebellious woman who
The closing date is 3 November. struggles to beat the odds against her. She is
Details: email: competitions@creative1publishing.com; website: also sentimental and passionate. I feel very connected to
http://writ.rs/yafictioncomp those protagonists.’
Isabel Allende
www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 79

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES
GLOBAL ROMANCE MARKET
Wilderness and
Tesco magazine
acting editor Sarah Love bursts wellbeing
Gooding welcomes
readers’ stories BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
and snaps of their
favourite recipes. Love & Bubbles will be a print anthology
The star letter wins with digital copies. The editor, Jaylee James,
a £50 giftcard. is looking for love stories centred around
Details: ‘underwater biodomes, submarines, scuba
email: Tesco diving, alien planets entirely covered by water, The Armchair Mountaineer Wild Writing
Magazine, Cedar sea monsters, selkies, mermaids, water witches, Competition 2017 is inviting entries on
Communications, Neptune/Poseidon, lost underwater civilisations, the theme of ‘wilderness and wellbeing’.
85 Strand, London
ghost ships, and more’. The anthology ‘will The competition is for articles up
WC2R 0DW;
email: tesco@ not feature one gender pairing over all the others and will showcase love to 500 words on how an experience in
tescomagazine. in all its forms’. The love stories should be about romance under the nature has changed the writer’s life.
co.uk; website: sea, not on it, and romance, not erotica. The characters don’t have to The writer of the winning article
www.tesco.com/ be human, sea monsters in love, or water sprites, or undersea fairies are will receive £150, a £100 donation
tesco-magazine/ all acceptable. ‘Happy-for-now’ endings required and no tragedies, no to the environmental charity of their
unhappy endings. The editor prefers ‘Fluff over angst every time’. choice and a year’s subscription to Trail
An exhibition, Submit stories under 5,000 words as doc or docx files through the magazine. Winners and runners-up also
Harry Potter: A website: http://jayleejames.com/love-bubbles by 20 December. get book prizes and their articles will be
History of Magic,
Payment is from $50 to $300 per piece ‘depending on the success of published online.
will run until
February 28 at the
the Kickstarter campaign’ for first world English rights. All entries must be original,
Paccar Gallery, The unpublished work related to outdoor
British Museum. activities and wellbeing. Send entries
as doc files on single sides of A4. enter
Ronnie Whelan and through the online submission system.
Thomas Whitaker Entry is free.
co-edit the weekly The closing date is 31 October.
Hello! magazine. Website: http://armchairmountaineer.
Website: com/writing-competition
www.
hellomagazine.com

Trinity Mirror
announced that
Gloucester daily Pulpy power Jhalak returns
The Citizen and
Cheltenham-based PULP Literature zine has expanded into book The £1,000 Jhalak Prize For Book of the
Gloucestershire publishing. The three editors, Jen, Mel and Sue, Year by a writer of colour will be open for
Echo have become like to call their magazine ‘a wine-tasting… submissions until 30 November for books
weeklies. A
or a pub crawl… where you’ll experience new published in the UK before the end of this year.
Gloucestershire
edition of the
flavours and rediscover old favourites’. The The books must be originally published
Western Daily magazine contains short stories, novellas, novel in English. The author of the work must
Press has been and graphic novel excerpts, illustrations and have been resident in the UK for at least the
launched to cater graphic shorts. The editors want genre work, calendar year in which the book is eligible.
for readers in the ‘science fiction, fantasy, mystery, history, thriller The judging panel will consist of author
county who want or chiller’, as long as it is well written. They also like literary fiction with and co-founder of the prize, Sunny Singh,
a print newspaper, ‘Beautiful prose, soul-searching themes, and powerful and complex young adult author Catherine Johnson, and
Hold the Front Page character development.’ writers Noo Saro-Wiwa, Tanya Byrne and
website reported. Check the guidelines and read samples of what’s published. Fiction Vera Chok.
subs for the magazine are on hold until current submissions are read. The inaugural prize, in 2016, was won by
‘Illustrated
publishing For poetry submit no more than three poems, totalling no more than Jacob Ross with his book The Bone Readers.
group Quarto is five pages, to poetry editor, Daniel Cowper. For graphic novels and Started by authors Sunny Singh, Nikesh
‘repositioning’ illustrations submit by email a query first, describing the work and Shukla and Media Diversified, with support
some of its UK- including urls to online work. from The Authors’ Club and funds donated
based imprints Submissions are open for novels in most genres ‘including but by an anonymous benefactor, the prize exists
which will see the not limited to mystery, science fiction and fantasy, thriller, horror, to celebrate the achievements of British writers
closure of its office contemporary, and literary fiction.’ Query first, with a short of colour. Sunny Singh said: ‘Our focus – as
in Bristol in 2018’, synopsis, no more than 500 words, and the first 7,500 words of always – will be to identify and celebrate great
The Bookseller
the manuscript. writers of colour in the UK.’
reported.
Response time is ‘a month or so’ for novels and ‘reasonable’ for the Entries can include (and not be limited
‘What I write is magazine. Payment is 3.5¢-7¢ per word for short stories, according to to) fiction, non-fiction, short story, graphic
smarter than I length and $25-$50 for poetry and interior illustrations, and $25-$75 novel, poetry, children’s books, YA, teen
am. Because I can per page for graphic novels and cartoons for ‘exclusive first world rights, and all genres. The prize is also open to self-
rewrite it.’ print and digital, for a period of 120 days’. Payment and rights for published writers.
Susan Sontag novels are discussed on contract Full submission guidelines are available by
Website: http://pulpliterature.com emailing Nikesh@mediadiversified.org

80 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

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

Suitcase, which operates
as a constantly updated
website and a quarterly
print magazine, is
bright, vivid and
intent on reimagining
travel magazines to fit
the way we live now.
The focus is on lively,
energetic, adventurous and seasonal travel
experiences that help readers explore an
eclectic range of destinations with the help
of insider knowledge. Themes are decided
quarterly. Suitcase writers are based all over
the world, and submissions are welcomed
for both magazine and website. Contact by
email, directing mails to Olivia Squire for
print and India Dowley for digital. Rates
vary according to article, destination and
whether photography is used.
Details: email: submissions@
SUITCASEmag.com; website: https://
suitcasemag.com/
Travel website
101 Holidays
offers publication
opportunities for
new travel writing
between 800 and 1,500 words. The
founder and group editor is Mark Hodson.
Articles on 101 Holidays are aimed at
holidaymakers rather than travellers, and
provide advice and inspiration about
seasonal destinations, family travel,
honeymoons, short breaks, popular
destinations and USA travel. Send original,
unpublished writing by email, noting
whether photographs are available (don’t
send these with submissions). Payment is
between £50 and £100 per accepted article.
Details: email: mark@101holidays.
co.uk; website: www.101holidays.co.uk
National Geographic
Traveller (UK), edited
by Pat Riddell, is the
UK edition of one of
the world’s most-read
travel magazines. The
focus is on destinations
rather than products,
with the intention
of immersing travel
lovers in stories about places, people and
culture. The main destination features are
2,500 words and highly illustrated. Other
coverage includes reportage, news and city
breaks. Competition to write for National
Geographic Traveller is fierce, and writers
for the magazine need to have strong
story ideas and authoritative background
knowledge of the destination. Send clear,
concise pitches by email. Payment varies.
Details: email: editorial@
natgeotraveller.co.uk; website: www.
natgeotraveller.co.uk
easyJet Traveller, edited
by Jonny Ensall, is
easyJet airline’s in-flight
magazine. The focus
is trend-based and
highlights great things
to do in the destinations
served by easyJet, and
the style is informed
but story-based, relatable and full of
personality that reflects the real experience
of European travel for a wide range of
travellers and holidaymakers. Some of the
articles are straightforward destination
features, but in others highlight trends,
a specific area of interest, ie nightlife
or food, and others are observational
about particular aspects of European life.
Jonny is happy to hear from freelances
with insider knowledge, great ideas and
fantastic clippings. Pitch him on Twitter
(@jonnyensall). Payment varies.
Website: http://traveller.easyjet.com/
emagazine
Multi-award-winning
independent title Wanderlust
is the leading magazine and
website for adventurous,
inspired travellers who want
to experience holidays off the
beaten track, published ten
times a year. Editor Phoebe
Smith rarely publishes
narrative travel features, but
will consider inspirational round-ups, guides and
advice pieces on independent, semi-independent
and special-interest travel that fit with the
Wanderlust style and attitude. Send ideas for
destination features, news-based dispatches,
special-interest features and consumer advice.
Competition to appear in Wanderlust is high.
Payment varies.
Details: email: submissions@wanderlust.
co.uk; website: www.wanderlust.co.uk
Snow Magazine, edited by
Jim Walker, is an annual
magazine and regularly
updated website that is a
sister brand to Adventure
Travel Magazine. Snow is
put together by a team
of active winter sports
enthusiasts who want to
inspire readers for their
next snow adventure. Articles cover resorts,
gear, reader experiences, and news and
updates on snow-related travel. Freelance
contributions are accepted, and payment
varies. Contact Jim through the website.
Website: www.snowmagazine.com

Pamphlet dreams
Indigo Dreams is inviting entries for the 2017 Pamphlet Prize.
Two winners will receive a royalty publishing contract from
poetry press Indigo Dreams, and twenty copies of their pamphlet.
Winning pamphlets will be published in summer 2018.
All submissions must be original. Poems may have been
individually published, but not as a collection. Submit up to
thirty pages of poetry (no more than 36 lines per page) as a
single document with the pamphlet title (only) as the heading.
The writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript.
Submit by post or by email. Email entrants should send a
www.writers-online.co.uk
separate email with their contact details and collection title in
advance of the poems. Postal entrants should include a separate
envelope containing contact details and pamphlet title.
There is a fee of £20 per entry. Payment may be made by
PayPal or cheques made out to IDP.
The closing date is 31 October.
Details: Indigo Dreams Pamphlet Prize 2017, 24 Forest
Houses, Halwill, Beaworthy, Devon EX21 5UU; email:
indigodreamspublishing@gmail.com; website: www.
indigodreams.co.uk
NOVEMBER 2017 81

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES
GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET Disorder’s orders
James Elliott,
Be positive about women in the arts
Disorder Press is a niche US indie, run
former group
editor of Classic &
BY JENNY ROCHE by a brother and sister who like difficult-
Sportscar is the new to-categorise work. They publish fiction,
editor of Octane car If you can write news articles on the creative non-fiction, poetry, essays,
magazine. inspirational work of women artists, and, ‘whatever we believe needs to be
Details; email: the latest research on gender parity out there in the world in the form of a
james.elliott@ in the arts and the actions women beautiful book.’
octane-magazine. are taking to end gender disparity in They are looking for ‘unapologetic
com; website: the arts then you might find a home for your work with the writing that pushes the boundaries of
octane-magazine. California based WomenArts Blog. There has been a budget conventional genres.’
com
for two guest blogs a month since September 2017 and this Submit work by email, in a standard
Countryside
will last until June 2018. The maximum payment is $200 for publishing format if possible, the sort of
magazine is 500-1,000 word previously unpublished articles and there are literary work which other small presses
edited by Martin negotiable rates for shorter or previously published articles. find difficult to publish. Response time
Stanhope, who Current article topics being considered are inspiring women, is hopefully ‘within a month’. Rights and
welcomes letters. gender parity research, actions for gender parity in any art form payment are discussed at contract time.
July’s letter of the and reports on female artist festivals. Also wanted are articles Details: Disorder Press, email: hello@
month merited a on publicity, fund raising, crowd funding, job hunting and disorderpress.com; website: http://
waterproof jacket other resources useful for women in the arts. Providing diverse disorderpress.com
worth £59.99. perspectives in terms of race, class, religion, age, sexual/gender
Details:
email: info@
preference and disability will be a plus with any submission.
nfucountryside. See website for full details and any updates on topics wanted:
co.uk; website: www.womenarts.org
www.
countrysideonline.
co.uk

‘Illustrated
Your vox
publishing Aiming to explain the news, Vox.
group Quarto is
com has a First Person section with
“repositioning”
some of its UK-
‘thoughtful, in-depth, provocative
based imprints personal narratives that explain
which will see the the most important topics of modern life’ and writers
closure of its office of all ages, gender, race, sexual orientation and political
in Bristol in 2018’,
The Bookseller
leaning are invited to pitch ideas. Completed manuscripts
can be submitted but may be subjected to editorial revising, Forbidden tales
reported. restructuring and/or condensing if accepted.
The website has examples of the kind of stories being Martinus Publishing
Kath Brown has published and although success has been found with articles is a US small press
succeeded Sue
James as editor of
on parenting, relationships, money, identity, mental health specialising in SF
Woman & Home, and job/workplace issues, its editors are always looking for and fantasy, and
Time Inc’s glossy new topics to cover. If your piece is accepted payment rates ‘uncanny stories
for mature women. will be discussed. in-between’. It needs
Details: email: Pitch ideas or draft manuscript to: firstperson@vox.com short stories for an
womanandhome@ Website: http://writ.rs/voxguide anthology, Forbidden! Tales of Repression,
timeinc.com; Restriction, and Rebellion, about ‘that which
website: www. is disallowed, whether it be the law or
womanandhome. South-east, low-income, free reads custom of a society, a particular group, or
com
even just a single individual.’
London-based
New Writing South has two submission windows for bursaries under the The anthology is to be divided into
Laurence King TLC Free Reads Scheme. three parts, each needing stories, 1,500-
Publishing (LKP) TLC works with New Writing South to offer a number of bursaries 10,000 words: Forbidden History, for
has created a new enabling writers in the south-east on low-incomes to access TLC’s history, fantasy and historical fiction; The
German subsidiary, manuscript assessment service. The Free Reads Scheme particularly Modern Morass, for modern, SF, fantasy,
Laurence welcomes applications from writers from under-represented in today’s and alternative history stories; The Far Past
King Verlag, publishing climate, including writers who are women, disabled, BAME Tomorrow, for the future, SF.
and acquired or LGBTQ. Submit doc, docx and rtf files by email.
Amsterdam-based
To apply, writers should be from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East The deadline is 31 December. Response
publisher BIS
Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West time is ‘six to twelve weeks’. Payment is ‘2%
‘What I write is Sussex. Send a completed application form, a writing sample up to ten of the net profits from the anthology for the
smarter than I pages and proof of low-income status. first year of publication, paid via Paypal’ for
am. Because I can The current window closes on 15 October. The next TLC Free Reads First Print & Electronic Publishing rights.
rewrite it.’ submission window is 6 November to 14 January. Details: Forbidden! Anthology, email
Susan Sontag Details: email: jade@newwritingsouth.com; website: www. subs to: info@martinus.us; website:
newwritingsouth.com/tlc-bursaries guidelines: www.martinus.us

82 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

UK NON-FICTION MARKET
Grub’s up
BY TINA JACKSON
Grub Street Publishing is a niche

Novel
independent publisher. ‘We publish
only cookery and military aviation
history,’ said Grub Street’s cookery

Ideas
publisher Anne Dolamore.
Grub Street was set up in 1982 as a
book packager but by 1988 had moved
to only publishing books under its own
imprint. ‘Back then we also published
cartoon books but as the market changed we abandoned the humour
books and concentrated solely on cookery and military aviation history
on the basis that as a small independent publisher we needed to be very
specialised and focused to survive,’ said Anne.
Find the write space
Grub Street publishes around 20-30 new titles every year. ‘But it very
much depends on what we feel is worth publishing. We don’t just list
Find the right spot to let your
fill. We have an active backlist of about 180 titles so in any year there are words flow, says Lynne Hackles
many reprints.’
Grub Street is not afraid of one-offs. ‘Often our authors will only ever

I
write one book and that is because they come to us with a proposal for a
project that is a lifelong passion and that passion shows in the writing and s your writing space working for you? I ask
the subject,’ said Anne. because I once discovered my waste-bin
Grub Street titles need a high level of both originality and saleability. was in the ‘wealth area’ of my room. It’s
‘Something that will stand out from the crowd. We do not follow fashion. all to do with feng shui but it didn’t stop
The number of cookery submissions we receive which are just a tired old me from working, although if I moved it
collection of recipes that appear in any number of other cookbooks are I might earn more. I’ll keep you informed about
never going to get published. People often mistake the adoration of their that one.
family in their culinary skills as an ability to create an original cookbook. In spite of bad wealth feng shui I feel at ease
We are also very much concerned that a book will backlist. We aim to and, more importantly, I feel energised and
take on books that we can imagine still selling in 5-10 years’ time. One inspired when I’m in my study at home. It’s far
of our bestselling titles was published in 1988 and is still in print and still more distracting working from the motorhome
reprints regularly.’ I currently live in but exploring the country is a
Future plans are to remain niche and specialist. ‘We have found a good way to collect fresh ideas. That’s my excuse.
publishing formula that works for us and though we have to adjust to Short story writer and author of Edit Is A Four
changes in the market (less demand now for example for books on WWI) Letter Word, Glynis Scrivens finds that a café at
we very much stick to the areas we know and understand,’ said Anne. ‘We Kangaroo Point (she’s in Australia) inspires her.
will continue to do so for the foreseeable future and as long as we can ‘Some places are more conducive to thought,’ says
remain profitable. It is tempting to publish in new subject areas but it is Glynis. ‘While others seem so sterile you know
very difficult from a sales point of view to break new ground. Cookery is you could never produce anything decent there.
becoming more and more difficult with an already over-published market ‘When my Muse needs refreshing, we have our
just deluged with new books every week so we have to work harder to find beach house. It’s also conducive to creativity.
areas within cookery that will float to the top.’ Not because it’s old – it was built in 1993. And
Anne suggests prospective writers should do their homework before there’s no view, except of the garden. What it has
submitting. ‘You’d be amazed by the number of people who send us is a feeling of seclusion from the world, partly
fiction, poetry, children’s books or non-fiction in areas we do not publish because of the trees and partly because it’s nestled
in. It is very easy these days with websites to see if a publisher publishes at the foot of a mountain. It’s a place where I can
the kind of book you want to write. let go of reality.
• For military aviation submissions, ‘At the bottom of our garden at home,
send a synopsis, a sample chapter and there’s another private nook, where the
a brief author biography to milhis@ world doesn’t intrude. It’s under our persimmon
grubstreet.co.uk. tree, completely hidden from neighbours by a
• For cookery submissions, send a group of banana trees and bushes. Also a good
contents page, up to ten recipes and place to write.
a brief author biography to food@ ‘The editor that likes to perch on my shoulder
grubstreet.co.uk doesn’t seem able to enter these places.’
Grub Street publishes in Finding the right place may help your
hardback, paperback, ebooks creativity. And maybe you should move the waste-
under the Grub Street logo, and bin too.
audio books via third party and
pays ‘small, sensible advances and
industry standard royalties on
hardback and paperbacks.’
Website: http://grubstreet.co.uk/

www.writers-online.co.uk 2017 83 2017

NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 83

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 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES UK SPECFIC MARKET The Man for Dr

Bella magazine
invites readers to Other voices Husband anyone?
share their real-life American computational scientist, software
stories and earn up developer and science writer Elle O’Brien
to £1,000. Send a BY GARY DALKIN
has always been fascinated by romance
brief version and
Voices is a new UK-based quarterly magazine launching in mid- novels, so while working with text-
contact details.
Letters are also December from the recently launched Ice Pick Books Ltd. The generating neural networks she decided to
appreciated for editors promise the very best in speculative fiction from around see how well artificial intelligence could
Have Your Say, the world. Its mission is to promote the work of writers from invent ersatz romance novel titles. Perhaps
with £20 for the traditionally marginalised backgrounds, including but not limited it would be the first step towards entirely
star letter writer. to, female writers, writers of colour, disabled writers, LGBTQ+ computer written fiction.
Email: Bella. writers, writers from minority religious groups, and foreign writers In the course of her research O’Brien fed
Hotline@ having their work translated into English. Fiction submissions will the titles of over 20,000 Harlequin Romance
bauer.co.uk; only be considered from writers who fall into one or more such novels into a neural network AI capable of
website: www.
categories. However, essays, articles, reviews and interviews will be learning the structure of text and generating
bellamagazine.
co.uk
considered from anyone. new ones independently. Here are just a
Each issue will contain over 80,000 words of new fiction, with the sample of the titles generated by the neural
New Milton launch issue featuring work by Brandon Cracraft, Die Booth, Hal network: The Prince’s Virgin’s Virgin, The
Mail monthly Bodner, Linda Angel and Anthony Cowin, plus other stories received Baby Pregnancy, Cattle Lover, Her Marriage
community during the submission period, which runs throughout October. Marriage, The Baby Barbarian, Falling for
magazine and Further submission periods will be the months of January, April and Her Doorstep, His Pregnant Prince, Virgin
business directory July, with subs received outside those periods deleted unread. Viking, The Man for Dr. Husband, The Baby
is edited by Gary Voices adopts a very wide definition of speculative fiction, Doctor Seduction, I Hate The Marine, The
Prince, who including high fantasy and low fantasy, hard science fiction and soft Virgin Date of Sexy, The Sheikh’s Marriage
welcomes feedback.
science fiction, gothic horror and splatterpunk. The editors want Sheriff, The Husband Man, Naked Hot
Details:
email: gary@ dystopias and utopias, comic fantasy and grimdark, time travel and Ranger, Christmas Pregnant Paradise, Midwife
princepublications. space opera, slipstream and alternate history, myths, legends and Cowpoke, Impossible Santa Wife, The Surgeon’s
co.uk; website: fairy tales retold. Plus ghost stories and zombie apocalypses, urban Baby Surgeon and Surgery By The Sea.
www.prince fantasy and magical realism, swords and sorcery and bizarro, weird Astonishingly, O’Brien found there really
publications.co.uk Westerns and alien planets. Steampunk, cyberpunk, clockpunk, is a 1979 novel titled Surgery By The Sea,
dungeonpunk, biopunk, seapunk, solarpunk, dieselpunk and any written by Sheila Douglas. The remainder of
The Emma Press other kind of -punk you can think the computer generated titles suggest human
has a call out of. Just deliver solid writing and great authors are in no immediate danger of being
for submissions
stories. Non-fiction should be relevant replaced by the machines we write on.
of poems about
dinosaurs for
to Voices’ general philosophy of diversity.
a children’s Payment will be at the pro US rate
anthology edited of 6¢ per word (about 4.5p). Send
by Richard O’Brien. your submissions to submissions@ Cultivated lead
Poems will be voicesmag.co.uk, but only during the
accepted up to submission period, and enquiries to: The Ocotillo Review is the product of a non-
29 October. For voices@voicesmag.co.uk profit literary organization which welcomes
full submission Full guidelines are at https:// experimental or unusual approaches to
details see the voicesmag.co.uk/submissions literature. Submissions are open until 31
website: http://
October for the winter issue and the editorial
theemmapress.
com/about/ team seek original, unpublished fiction, poetry,
flash fiction and narrative nonfiction. Read
Moving poems wanted
submissions/
published work at the website and check the
Tindle Press has guidelines carefully.
closed three north Holland Park Press is inviting entries for its Foreign Voices For poetry submit 3-5 poems, max 60 lines
London local Poetry Competition. each, in a single document. For short fiction
newspapers:, the The competition is for poems that deal with the subject submit one story, 1,000 to 4,200 words. Novel
Enfield Advertiser of migration. Poems may touch on any aspect of the theme. excerpts are permitted if they stand alone.
& Gazette,
The winning poet will receive £200 and their poem will be Narrative non-fiction, between 800 and 4,000
the Haringay
Advertiser and
published, with the shortlisted entries, in Holland Park Press’s words, may be personal
the Barnet Press, online magazine. essays, biographies or
a week after four Poems may be sent by writers of any nationality based anywhere ‘Op-Ed’. Flash fiction,
former Tindle- in the world, but all entries must be written in English. under 500 words, is
owned west All entries must be original and unpublished, and should be always welcomed.
London titles no longer than fifty lines. Send poems by email as a Word doc Submit doc files
were closed by or pdf with the file named ‘date_name_fv.doc or .pdf ’ and the through the website.
Capital Media subject line Foreign Voices. The poet’s name must not appear Response time is
Newspapers. on the manuscript. Include contact details on the body of the ‘reasonable’. Payment
‘Each new book is
submission email. is $25 for poetry,
as exciting as the Entry is free. Poets may submit only one entry. $50 for prose, for
first one for me.’ The closing date is 30 November. First Rights.
Lee Child Details: email: submissions@hollandparkpress.co.uk; website: Website: www.
http://writ.rs/foreignholland kallistogaiapress.org

84 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

p084 News/ Zine.indd 84 22/09/2017 11:51


Deep Magic is a
niche zine for ‘clean
fantasy and sci-fi’
stories. Named to
honour CS Lewis’s
work the bimonthly
pays professional
rates and publishes
fiction ‘that is safe
for all to read’
as well as author
interviews, art features, book reviews and
tips for writers.
The editors will consider stories within
any SF or fantasy sub-genre – epic,
paranormal, steampunk, space opera etc
– as long as they are written for a ‘broad,
family-friendly audience’.
Fiction, 1,000-40,000 words, should be
saved as docx, doc, or rtf files. Follow the
detailed guidelines and submit through the
website: http://deepmagic.co
Response time is 10-12 weeks. Payment
8¢ per word for the first 5,000, 6¢ for each
word between 5,001 and 16,000 words,
with payment capped at $1,060 for longer
stories, for first world-wide rights. Reprints
are paid at 2¢ per word via Paypal.
Argot Magazine is a
new online zine for
‘creative writing,
smart analysis, and
art across mediums’.
The editorial team
wish it to be ‘a safe space that centres the
feminine narrative’ and they welcome work
‘of those at the margins’ and to publish
work about ‘questions of alienation and
community building... activism... healing
moments... isolation and danger.’
Submit ‘short stories, poetry, satire,
comics, illustrations, and photo essays’.
Check the guidelines and published work
online before submitting through the
website: www.argotmagazine.com
Response time is ‘as soon as we can’.
Payment is on a sliding scale based on
length and type, from shorter poems and
single panel comics starting at $35 and
long form investigative pieces (around
4,000 words) at $250.
Litbreak is a monthly online literary
journal and a stimulating read. The
editorial team publish ‘a wide mix of
p084 News/ Zine.indd 85
INTERNATIONAL
ZINE SCENE
literary fiction, creative
nonfiction, poetry, film
and book reviews and
other essays. We aim
to present as diverse
a mix as possible of
geographic area, gender,
ethnicity and social
class. We also accept unpublished novel
excerpts.’ Check out the website carefully.
There’s a lot to read there and time spent
looking at what is published will give a
good sense of style and tone.
For fiction, stories or excerpts from
novels can be of any length. ‘For practical
purposes, we suggest a limit of 10,000
words but don’t require it’. Book reviews
should be ‘serious, substantive discussions
of 500 to 1,500 words’. For poetry, poems
can be of any length but limit subs to
five poems at a time. Submit through the
website: http://litbreak.com
Response time is ‘within three months’.
Payment: ‘We will pay all contributors.
The writer retains the copyright.’
Vanity Projection
is a new online
humour zine
publishing
essays, satirical
news pieces,
and ‘whatever
other unholy
genre-melting
abominations our
writers’ fevered minds can conjure up’.
Paste submissions into the body of an
email to: editor@vanityprojection.net
Response time is six weeks. Payment is $5
for first online rights and archival rights.
Website: http://vanityprojection.net
Gordon Square
Review, is a new
online biannual
literary magazine
publishing short
fiction, poetry,
and creative nonfiction, from writers in the
US and worldwide. With their mentoring
programme, GSR offer new writers the chance
to have their story chosen by an editor and
mentored to publication standard. All work
submitted is eligible for an editor’s mentoring.
Note that ‘our focus and aesthetic is literary.’
www.writers-online.co.uk
WRITERS’ NEWS
BY PDR
LINDSAY-SALMON
Check out the guidelines and submit through
the website: www.gordonsquarereview.org
Subs close on 15 October for the first issue,
out in November, but reopen in January for
the spring issue.
For prose – short stories, personal essays
and hybrid works – length limit is 5,000
words, or three pieces of flash fiction, no
more than 1,000 words each. For poetry
submit no more than three poems, attached
in the same document.
Response time is 4-12 weeks. Payment is ​
$25 for prose and $10 for poems for First
North American Serial Rights.
Buckshot Magazine is ‘a small, story-loving
team based in Canada
and hailing from every
corner of the globe’.
Buckshot is all about
‘Quick, crafted stories.
Twice a week. Free
forever.’
It needs ‘fresh,
engaging stories’, no
more than 2,000 words,
in any genre or style,
with a preference for flash fiction or very short
fiction and the occasional piece of poetry.
Submit attached doc, docx, rtf or
pdf files by email: submissions@
buckshotmagazine.com
Response time is ‘two weeks or less’.
Payment is Can$10 for non-exclusive digital
rights, first print rights and non-exclusive one-
time anthology rights.
Website: https://buckshotmagazine.com
Pioneertown is an online literary journal which
publishes ‘both traditional and genre-bending
work’, open to ‘fiction, poetry, creative
nonfiction, hybrid work, and beyond’.
Work should be somewhere in the 1-5,000
words range, but the preference is for under
1,500. Watch submission periods: two are free
the others need a small fee. The money raised
is to pay the published writers. Response time
is ‘reasonable’. Payment is $20 for online and
first rights. Submit through the website:
www.pioneertownlit.com
NOVEMBER 2017 85
22/09/2017 11:54
 WRITERS’ NEWS

FLASHES GLOBAL NON-FICTION MARKET

Serious trivia
Kirsty Tyler edits
OK! magazine,
BY JENNY ROCHE
which is always
interested in hearing Books about food, holiday or cultural trivia, strange/ manner using good English and meet deadlines are core
from readers with
weird science and strange phenomena are wanted by attributes for this job.
appropriate stories.
Blue Bike Books, who consider humour and trivia to be For a book proposal include a resume/CV as above, an
Details: email:
kirsty.tyler@ok.co.
a serious business. overview and outline of your idea and 2-3 double spaced
uk; website: www.
‘Who amongst us can resist reading little factoids or funny sample chapters of a maximum fifty pages.
ok.co.uk anecdotes,’ says publisher Nicholle Carriere. ‘Such simple Website: http://bluebikebooks.com
things can put a ray of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy day
The Solstice Shorts and make our load seem just a little lighter.’
Festival is inviting Most books published are intended for a general
submissions of audience and science books for younger readers of
poems and prose around 10-14 years, although science books for a general
on the theme of readership will be considered.
‘dusk’ to be read at The books are only currently distributed in the US and
various locations Canada and a lot of the titles are concerned with those
across the UK on countries’ trivia, but other, more universal, topics include cat,
21 December. The dog and Christmas trivia, weird food and For the Love of
closing date is 5 Chocolate. See the website for full catalogue.
November. For You can approach the company either to be considered as
full details see the an author for projects generated in-house or by submitting
website: http://writ. a book proposal. For the former submit a complete resume/
rs/solsticeshorts CV, to include your interests and any off beat hobbies,
together with three, preferably humorous, writing samples.
BBC Good Food
Being able to do research, write in a casual, easily accessible
Magazine has
moved offices to
BBC Worldwide,

Stilettos and salons

Television Centre
TVC, 101 Wood
Lane, London W12
7FA.
Website: www.
bbcgoodfood.com
Julia Blackburn has
won the biennial
New Angle Prize
for Literature,
which celebrates
writing inspired
by East Anglia,
with Threads, The
Delicate Life of John
Craske. The runner
up was Jill Dawson
for The Crime Writer.
Testosterone Rex
by Cordelia Fine,
which challenges
stereotypes
of gendered
behaviour, has
won the £25,000
Royal Society Prize
for science book of
the year.
You have absolute
power over every
punctuation mark,
every sentence,
every line in the
story. You are the
boss.’
Philip Pullman
86 NOVEMBER 2017
The Arcanist is a new literary magazine due
to launch this autumn which will be devoted
to fantasy, science fiction and horror flash
fiction and published via the Medium online
platform. The title will publish new stories
each week.
The editors are looking for proper stories
with a beginning, middle and end, with an
interesting protagonist all in 1,000 words or
fewer. No hate speech, racism, or any other
offensive materials. No extremely vulgar stories
filled to the brim with naughty words. No
excessive gore or violence unless it is integral to
the story. No fan fiction. No poetry. Reprints
may be considered but will be a tough sell.
Payment is $50. Submissions through
the Google Docs form at: http://writ.rs/
arcanist1 or email your submission to editor@
thearcanist.io
Website: https://thearcanist.io
www.writers-online.co.uk
Muddy Stilettos won the
award for Most Innovative
Blog in the UK in 2015 and
is the self-styled ‘urban guide
to the countryside’. Now
MS founder Hero Brown
and associate editor Kerry
Potter, former books editor
for Glamour, are launching a
series of ‘literary salons’. With eighteen salons planned, the
first will be on 12 October, running at Thame Town Hall
as part of the Thame Arts and Literature Festival, Oxford.
‘Literary salons are so well established in London but far
less so outside of the city. ,’ Kerry told The Bookseller. ‘I used
to love Damian Barr’s Shoreditch House salons back in the
day but when I moved out to the countryside on the Bucks/
Oxon border, I found there was nothing along those lines for
local book-lovers. Lots of women attend living room book
clubs and are voracious readers so we knew we’d have the
audience to do something bigger, bolder and glitzier. And
I knew with my contacts I could pull in some brilliant big-
name authors.’
Lucky for Leo
The Sainsbury’s Children’s Book of the Year award
has gone to Where’s Mr Lion by Ingela Arrhenius,
published by Nosy Crow. The book also won in the
category of Baby and Toddler. Judged best book for
children over five was Adrian Edmondson’s Tilly and
the Time Machine (Puffin). The Classic Children’s
Book award went to Matilda by Roald Dahl. The
winners each received a £1,000 prize.

p086 News/Travel writing.indd 86 22/09/2017 11:56

 WRITERS’ NEWS
E L W RI
V T

IN
TR
GLOBAL LITERARY MARKET

G
Branch out
BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON
N

W
K
West Branch is a US literary journal
published by Bucknell University. It is
O W-H O
a print and online magazine publishing
poetry, fiction, essays, creative nonfiction,
translation and reviews. Do read the work
at the website and check the submission
guidelines and online subs system, it’s
Making it add up
a complicated system when first used. Patrick Forsyth looks at how travel
The editors read unsolicited manuscripts
between 1 August and 1 April each year. costs affect the writer.
They want original work written with
flair and style. No reprints, multiple or

sim subs. Use a standard manuscript
format, page numbers and save files in
doc or rtf format.
Submit up to six poems (in a single
file), or thirty pages of prose, through the
website: http://westbranchsubmissions.
bucknell.edu
Response time is ‘ten weeks or less’. Payment is $50 for poetry, and 5¢ per
word for prose up to $100, plus two copies and a one-year subscription, for First
North American serial rights.
Website: www.bucknell.edu/WestBranchWired
Historians of the future
An offshoot of the prestigious Walter Scott Prize for Historical
Fiction, the Young Walter Scott Prize is the UK’s only creative
writing prize dedicated to historical fiction by young writers.
Stories can be inspired by any aspect of the past – an actual
historical event, place or person, and can be set at any time in
history – as long as it is a period before its author was born, in
a world recognisably different from the present.
To submit a story you must be between 11-19. Stories should be 800-2,000 words.
Deadline is 31 October. Entries are judged in two categories – 11- to 15-year-olds
and 16- to 19-year-olds. Submissions should have historical relevance and accuracy,
originality, a good grasp of language, characterisation and plot, and demonstrate an
enjoyment in writing.
The winners will receive a £500 travel and research grant to explore historical places
in the UK, and an invitation to the Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland, in
June 2018. Two runners-up in each category receive a £100 book token, and all four
winning stories will bee published in a special YWSP anthology.
Entry is by post only. Read the guidelines and last year’s winners, then download
the entry form at www.walterscottprize.co.uk
Hugo firsts
The 2017 Hugo Awards were announced in August
at the 75th World Science Fiction Convention in
Helsinki, Finland. The winners were: Best Novel,
The Obelisk Gate, NK Jemisin; Novella, Every Heart
a Doorway, Seanan McGuire; Novelette, The Tomato
Thief, Ursula Vernon (Apex Magazine); Short Story,
Seasons of Glass and Iron, Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit
Wood: New Fairy Tales, Saga Press); Related Work,
Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books,
2000-2016, Ursula K Le Guin; Dramatic Presentation,
Long Form, Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer based
on Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang; Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, The
Expanse: Leviathan Wakes, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.
At the same ceremony Ada Palmer was honoured as winner of the John W
Campbell Award For Best New Writer.
www.writers-online.co.uk
A
lthough there are things to be done without
making a journey, much travel writing
involves just that – you have to go there.
And this can be costly. If what you want
to write about is not down the road so
to speak it can make a problem, and this is especially
true currently: the low pound means any amount spent
overseas is currently going to cost more than 20% more
than it did prior to the move to Brexit.
The budget airlines can still deliver you to
European destinations for a modest sum, even if they
land at an airport which, whilst carrying the name of
where you want to go, is actually a long way from it.
Long haul is increasingly expensive and needs research
to make sure you get the best deal. Regrettably
too there is a link between cost and comfort and
convenience; thus a flight to say Hong Kong might
cost less if you are prepared to interrupt and extend
the journey by stopping for a while somewhere half
way. It seems to me there is much to be written about
this sort of thing, but here my aim is different.
If you make a journey you may want to have a
commission (or commissions) lined up to cover the
travel cost (either directly or by paying some of the
cost). Sometimes such may not be a major part of your
intention. For instance, you might get yourself on a
press visit to see something new, like a new hotel or
tourist initiative, while aiming to write primarily about
something else. There is an element of risk here. Do you
wait until you have all the costs covered by commissions
or do you fix things, book flights and so on, and continue
to seek further income opportunities both before you
depart and when you return? Once a trip is fixed you
can move from saying to editors that you plan to do
something, saying instead that you will and quoting firm
dates. This both sounds professional and makes it more
likely to get you agreement to write.
Often taking a bit of a risk may be worthwhile,
and may certainly allow you to do more. Such a
calculation may sensibly be made long term too as you
could be using, and earning from, the experiences and
information coming from a specific trip long after it
is completed. Remember too that an individual trip
does not have to make a profit, and that there are
effectively savings to be made if the cost can be listed
as a business expense (certainly if you have a regular
writing income).
The cost of travel and the necessity of this sort of
thinking is simply a given for many aiming to write
in this genre. Recognising it and organising round it
is the route to actually covering costs and making the
journeys you want.
NOVEMBER 2017 87

p086 News/Travel writing.indd 87 22/09/2017 10:29

 WRITERS’ NEWS

Book Talk BY JOHN JENSEN

FLASHES GLOBAL FICTION I’m fresh out of college. I want to be a writer. I feel

Good Taste is a MARKET the need to write. It’s true I’m young and haven’t
new food and lived much outside uni; on the other hand I had
drink magazine for Owen up a freaky three years there. I came out with a
Merseyside, edited
by Jade Wright. She BY PDR LINDSAY-SALMON disappointingThird – disappointing, that is, for my
welcomes readers’ parents: I was elated to get anything. I thought it
experiences. DAOwen Publications call themselves
Details: email: info@ might be cool to write some sci-fi stuff with a load
‘A small press with a broad reach’. The
goodtaste of horror and vampires thrown in. I did a bit of
Canadian indie value good relations with
magazines.co.uk;
website: www. its authors and their readers, across its research and found it was a crowded market with
goodtaste four imprints.
more genres and sub-genres and sub-sub genres
magazines.co.uk Currently all four imprints are open
to submissions. See separate guidelines than you can shake a stick at, as my Nan would
Hearth micro- for each on the website: Love Knot Books for romance, say. ‘You have several choices,’ said my friend
festival will take Science Fiction and Fantasy Publications for SF and fantasy,
place at Gladstone’s Ellen. ‘Either you write about yourself and your
Tumbleweed Books for non-fiction and Wicked Tales for
Library on 4 and horror. Only submit a polished, edited manuscript, if you are boring suburban life, or you write about your
5 November,
willing to work with the editors to get it ready, and help push wonderfully disgusting years in college to the
with a line-up of
for sales. Novels should be over 50,000 words.
Krishan Coupland, embarrassment and shame of your conventional
Will Harris, Sam There are also intermittent anthology calls.
Guglani and Joan Response time for books is ‘as long as three months.’ parents, or you write about other people and
Michelson. Day Payment, rights and royalties are discussed at contract. Response the big wide world outside yourself: Trump,
tickets are £35 time for the anthologies is ‘reasonable’ and payment is discussed
Brexit, pollution, starvation, terror, greed, local
and include lunch, at contract.
and weekend Details: DAOwen Publications, website: https:// politics, bloated egos, or the Great Mysteries of
tickets are £60 daowenpublications.ca Life. What do you want to say about any or all of
(including dinner
and lunch but not those? At which point, not having an answer to
accommodation). any such possibilities, let alone my precious sci-fi
Website: www.
gladstoneslibrary.org Five different words weekly vampires, I burst into tears and had a comforting
cuddle from Ellen who is going to be a great
Penguin Random The 5th Ó Bhéal Five Words International Poetry
House celebrated 50 Competition is inviting entries. lawyer: easy-peasy for her!
years of publishing Each week, five words are posted online and writers
much-loved are tasked with creating a poem including those words.
illustrator Quentin Each week, five new words are posted. At the end of
Blake, and the
the competition, one overall winner will be awarded
publication of Roald
Dahl’s Billy and the
€500 and will be invited to read at Ó Beahl’s 11th
Minpins, illustrated anniversary event in April (they will receive hotel
by Blake, at an accommodation and up to €100 in travel expenses).
afternoon tea where Winners and shortlisted entrants will be published in
Children’s Laureate an anthology.
Lauren Child paid To enter the weekly heats, download a submission
tribute to his work. form and use it send poems up to fifty lines by email
‘Everywhere there by the weekly deadline of 12pm on the Tuesday.
is this warmth and The entry fee is €5 per poem, payable by PayPal.
this communication
The competition will run weekly until 30 January.
with the reader,’ she
said. Details: email: fivewords@obheal.ie; website:
www.obheal.ie/blog/five-words-poetry-competition/
54 six-toed cats,
all descendants of
Ernest Hemingway’s
white polydactyl cat, Reach for the Sky Blue
survived Hurricane
Irma in the Ernest Take the theatre play challenge and see your play performed On the first page include a maximum fifty-word synopsis, a
Hemingway Home
The Annual British Theatre Challenge will be underway list of characters and a setting description. There is a suggested
and Museum
in Florida Keys,
from 31 November and for ten playwrights this will be the script format on the website and you should number pages
reported the opportunity to see their play performed by Sky Blue Theatre but do not include your name or any contact details on
Independent. Company in a London theatre with professional actors and your script. This information can be included on the website
directors. The plays will also be considered for publication by application form.
‘I have no tolerance two or more publishers and one of the plays will be made into The closing date for submissions is 30 March 2018 and
for a bad sentence. a short film. there is an entry fee of £16, payable by Paypal.
And I write plenty of The competition is open to playwrights around the world Website: http://skybluetheatre.com/playwriting-competition/
them.’ but plays must be written in English and be unpublished
Elizabeth Strout, for the duration of the competition. Submissions should
American writer and
Pulitzer Prize winner
be original plays written for the stage, have more than one
character and a running time of 10-30 minutes.

88 NOVEMBER 2017 www.writers-online.co.uk

PIC

p088 News.indd 88 22/09/2017 11:57

 WRITERS’ NEWS
SPACE TOURISM WHY IT’S FINALLY A REALITY

UK MAGAZINE MARKET
Get the focus right
S C I E N C E A N D T E C H N O L O G Y

NEVER BE
TIRED AGAIN
How the latest scientific breakthroughs
will help us beat fatigue BY TINA JACKSON
SPEAKING TO
THE DEAD
The neuroscientist who
talks to patients caught
between life and death
BBC Focus magazine, edited by Daniel to learn something, and learn how to make it better. One of the formulas for
Bennett, makes modern science a good Focus feature is, you learn something, you’re entertained and you get
accessible to forward-thinking readers. hooked – it’s like the BBC channels. When there’s a good story, they pull in
‘It’s a science mag for intelligent people with good visuals and a populist approach.’
#313 | £4.99 October 2017 sciencefocus.com

readers who are curious about the world,’
said Daniel. ‘They enjoy popular science
“THE DAY MY THE MAN WHO
BRAIN BROKE” PREDICTED CLIMATE
CHANGE 200 YEARS AGO
HOW OCD AFFECTS THE MIND
– though I try to avoid that description.
We look at the future and what it’s going
to look like – not just future science, our readers are interested in philosophy
and future technology, so you could read about the quest to decipher what
dark matter is, or the origins of humankind, or health. It’s broad, and people
love that breadth. You can jump from difficult subjects, but we take care to
break them down and explain them in plain English. Making things clear
without presumed knowledge.’
Daniel values writers who can convey information with clarity. ‘In
commissioning, I always say explain the science as you would to a friend.
Science is a big world, so pieces have to have the wow factor – is it interesting
enough? It goes back to how you’d talk about it in the pub – what would grab
your attention?’
BBC Focus covers a broad church of subject matter. ‘We like to look at
issues that affect people’s future, like the plastics problem, or health issues – but
within that we want to find the specific stories. Good features have the wow
factor. Is this going to affect the reader? Why will they care about this? Science
is very exploratory and you never know where research will lead, and readers
want to know how it will affect them.’
Daniel likes writing that looks for solutions. ‘Readers are aware of the
problems we face, climate change, energy, and they want to know how to
solve them, so a positive spin is good. It’s good if we can be positive and find
a solution. For me, what’s most important is the positivity of it all. We’d cover
something negative, but people reading us are genuinely curious. They’d want
BBC Focus covers topics to in an way that shows the stories behind the
science. ‘It has to entertain. There needs to be a story there, maybe a scientist’s
endeavour to solve a specific problem, or a look at antibiotic resistance and the
new heroes of that battle.’
Feature lengths are between 800 and 2,500 words. ‘Those are essays,
a deep explanation of a specific topic or idea, so they’re less journalistic,
more a presentation of a specific issue. 2,500 is the longest we go - we’re
a coffee-table magazine and you’ve always got to think about your reader
and how long you’re going to get them.’
All the features are written by freelances. ‘The first step would be to really
make your pitch good. Get an original idea first, or failing that there are so
many topics that come up over and over gain, and give me a reason why I
should commission you: an angle; a hook; what is your story that the subject is
hung off? Make sure your story has a proper angle. Read the magazine.’
It’s helpful to send links to past examples of work. ‘Writers need to
be familiar with the world of science. Focus is where you really have to
understand what you’re writing about in order to explain it really clearly – so
you have to understand the science. So let us read something that shows you
get the Focus tone.’
They key is to reveal science through story. ‘We need the subject to come
across to us quite powerfully. Meet the scientist, go to the science. That kind
of coverage of a subject is infectious, and translates. And make the editor’s life
easier – suggest headlines and captions.’
Payment varies, starting at 25p per word.
Details: email: daniel.bennett@immediate.co.uk; website: www.
sciencefocus.com

Away from Get out of your

garret for some
Back soon!
your desk upcoming activities
and places to visit

The Word Factory’s two-day

festival in London on 11 and 12

Season of Sound November looks at storytelling,

nationality, identity and belonging,
with confirmed writers including
The British Library looks at the significance Nikesh Shukla, Ben Myers and
of 140 years of recorded sound with a free Lionel Shriver. Website: www.
exhibition from 6 Oct to 11 March.
thewordfactory.tv/site/events/
Website: www.bl.uk/events/listen-140-
years-of-recorded-sound

Hay House Writer’s Workshop The Magic Writing Workout!

Taking place in Bristol on
11 and 12 November, the
in the Everyday Winchester Writers’ Festival is holding
a one-day Writing Workout on 4
two-day workshop from the Explore magical realism in a workshop on November, a day-long workshop
leading self-help publisher 21 October with Marcia Douglas, visiting with five sessions of guided exercises
includes a workshop the UK to promote her new bookThe led by experienced writing tutors
with Julia Cameron. One Marvellous Equations of Dread: a novel Adrienne Dines, Isabel Rogers, Stephen
participant will be awarded a in bass riddim. Thompson, Laura Fergusson and Judith
Hay House publishing deal Website: http://writ.rs/ Heneghan (pictured).
worth £5,000. magicintheeveryday Website: http://writersfestival.co.uk/
Website: www.hayhouse.co.uk/writers-workshop-bristol-2017

www.writers-online.co.uk NOVEMBER 2017 89

PICS: CC BY 2.0 Carl Lender, CC BY 2.0 https://www.flickr.com/photos/simonru/1667562002/, CC BY-SA 3.0 Steinsky, CC BY-SA 2.0 Mrjohncummings, The Lakeview Estate, Albert Turpin; The Seabright Arms, Albert Turpin

p088 News.indd 89 22/09/2017 11:57

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 Competition rules and forms
Enter online at www.writers-online.co.uk or by post, with the ref code in the address, to: Writing Magazine Competitions
(Ref Code xxxxx), Warners Group Publications, West Street, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH. Remember to add a front sheet
with full contact details and the name of the competition you are entering (see Rule 3)
To enter:
• Other Worlds Competition (see p29)
For fantasy and SF stories, 1,500-1,700 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 Dec; Ref Code: Nov17/FantasySF

• 500-word short story Competition (see p29)

For stories on any theme, under 500 words; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 Nov; Ref Code: Oct17/500

• Nostalgia Poetry Competition

Nostalgic theme, any form; forty-line limit; entry fee £5, £3 for subscribers; closing date, 15 Nov; Ref Code: Oct17/NostPoetry

• Mid-story Sentence Competition (see p53)

Fiction, 1,500-1,700 words, incorporating ‘Without that, it all falls apart.’; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 15 Dec; Ref: Nov17/Midstory

• Subscriber-only Real Time Short Story Competition (see p53)

Short stories with a tight, current, timeline, 1,500-1,700 words; free entry, subscribers only; closing date, 15 Nov; Ref Code: Oct17/Realtime

• New Subscribers Competitions (see p53)

For fiction, 1,500-1,700 words, or poems, up to 40 lines, or one of each, any genre or theme, by a new subscriber to Writing Magazine; free entry;
subscribers only; closing date, 31 January 2018; Ref Code: Jan17/SSNewSub or Jan17/PoetryNewSub

How to enter Poetry Competition

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

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

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

p091 comp rules.indd 91 22/09/2017 10:33

 M Y W R I T I N G DAY
WritingALICE
My
day
ALLAN
The novelist and breastfeeding specialist tells Lynne Hackles
that she starts her day with dreams and coffee... in Uzbekistan
F
or debut novelist Alice
Allen a typical day begins
at 6.30. ‘I give myself the
space to slowly emerge
from my dreams with a
cup of tea,’ she says, ‘before rushing to
get my kids ready for school.’
Alice’s mother always encouraged
her to keep a dream diary. ‘Dreams
can be such a rich resource for writing.
When I’m still half-submerged in my
unconscious I can make connections
that might not be available to my
waking brain. The rare times when I
really get into writing “flow” remind
me of that half-dreaming state, which
can be rich and weird and exciting.’
‘Once the children have left, Frank
(my big Ethiopian street dog, who
travelled with us to Uzbekistan, where
we now live) is waiting hopefully with
his lead. I walk him for an hour. It
gets the blood flowing and it helps
me to filter my ideas and plan my
morning’s work. One cup of coffee
later and I’m at my desk, with earplugs
in, trying to ignore social media.
We live in an embassy residence
and there are always people about,
setting up for an event, or mowing
the lawn. It can be really distracting
and there’s a difficult balance between
being involved in embassy life, and
knuckling down to writing. I shut
the door when I’m working and the
earplugs keep me in my own little
muffled world. My perfect writing day
(or week!) would grant me a house to
myself from dawn to dusk. I fantasise
about how much I would get done.
‘The biggest threat to my creativity,
though, is Facebook and Twitter. I
use Twitter mostly for professional
promotion, and I am reasonably
directed about it. Living so far away
from friends and family, Facebook has
been a lifeline, but I’m shamefully and
fruitlessly addicted.
92 NOVEMBER 2017
p092 My Writing Day.indd 92
‘I can only really write creatively
in the mornings, so I will work until
lunchtime. I need a four-hour slot to
get much done – any less and I can’t
commit to getting deeply immersed. I
shift part-time work and meetings to
the afternoons to accommodate this,
but really there’s no regular pattern
to my writing. Family and work take
precedence and my writing has to
squeeze into the margins.
‘I studied English Literature at
University and my dad’s an author,
but I always wanted to act, not
write. It wasn’t until I had kids that
I transferred that energy to the page.
I was living in Japan when I had my
first daughter, and I wrote a teenage
novel set in Tokyo, partly as a way to
record the sights, smells and sounds of
the city.
‘I retrained as a breastfeeding
specialist. When I wrote my novel
Open My Eyes that I May See
Marvellous Things, I was living in
Ethiopia, and volunteering in public
hospitals. Writing the book helped
me process the anger, sadness and joy
of working with premature babies,
and the hard realities of poverty. The
book is fictional, but grounded in
my personal experiences in Addis
Ababa. One homeless character
is obsessed with the charismatic
Emperor Tewodros II; I went on an
epic road trip to his hill-top fortress,
Meqdela, to research the emperor’s
story. Writing Open My Eyes was
often compulsive; I didn’t so much
procrastinate, as, slightly cross-eyed,
endure the minutes before I could sit
down and finish it. I found editing
much harder; seeing the big picture,
neutrally estimating the quality of
my own writing and “murdering my
darlings” was difficult.
‘When I present about my novel, I
talk about my experiences in Ethiopia
www.writers-online.co.uk
too. I recently did a talk for a group
of diplomatic women. I was nervous
about their reaction to some of the
rawer passages in the book but I’m a
passionate and animated speaker. By
the end of the talk, their reserve had
melted, some of them were in tears
and the questions flowed.
‘Right now I am editing two teenage
novels, and gestating ideas for a YA
book with a diabetic lead (my eleven-
year-old has Type 1 diabetes), and a
book set in Uzbekistan in the 1930s
when the Soviets were lifting the veil.
The publication of Open My Eyes has
given me increased confidence in my
writing. In addition to the touching
feedback I’ve received from readers,
publicising the book has forced
me to write to short deadlines, in
different voices and formats. Imposter
syndrome strikes often, and I’m still
experimenting with calling myself an
author, but holding my book in my
hands gives me great pride.’
https://aliceallan.co.uk
Follow Alice on Twitter @alicemeallan
MY WRITING PLACE
‘The family office is on the ground floor of the
embassy residence in Tashkent. It’s separate from
the “official” part of the house and looks out onto
the garden and a little guard house where the Uzbek
guards sometimes smoke and lift weights to relieve
their boredom. I wage a continuing war with my
children about the clutter of art work and computer
cables they leave on my desk. I clear the decks and
my mental clutter before writing. I’ve filled the room
with plants and photos, which mitigate the sterile
Foreign Office-issue furniture and the unpleasant
swirly carpet.’
22/09/2017 10:34
 DON’T MISS THE DECEMBER ISSUE OF

ON
SALE
2 NOV!

STAR INTERVIEW PLUS

We catch up with
WM fave Joanne
Harris for our star
interview, on being
inspired by folk tales
for her latest book
THE POWER OF EDITING
Polish your prose to pro
levels with our expert
advice
How to organise and
make the most of
school visits

What are the most

successful fiction genres
Mythbusting! of 2017? We find out
The five pieces of WRITERS’ NEWS

advice that can most Your essential monthly round-up of

competitions, paying markets,
opportunities to get into print and publishing
industry news. GLOBAL CRIME
MARKET
WRITERS’ NEW
S

damage your writing,

Digital crime on rise
BYJENNY ROCHE

A new twist on fairy tales

Reflect on that
Penguin-Random House’s
of digital-only imprint mystery and thriller
fiction, Alibi, publishes control of all electronic
The National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury ebooksforces
have joined and print

landscape
which publishing rights.
for fairy tales are available from all major
competition retailers
for The Short Story Prize 2017, a new and compatible with
all reading devices. To submit, complete
the form on the website
for children by unpublished writers. The imprint aims to with details of your

and what you really

aimed atand children offer
BY TINA JACKSON Writers are invited to send short stories up-and-coming authors’ ‘forward thinking genre, length, a short
book, including title,
aged 8-12 that give a well-known fairy
tale a modern on twist.
which to introduce a solid platform description, whether
have a completed manuscript you
offers its winner and two by Bloomsbury in an their work to new
The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize Annual The winning entries will be published audiences. All authors will be book would be right and why your
runners-up the chance to attend the Alpine Fellowship
ebook anthology whose royalties will be donated editor National
to the
and assigned to an
with a 1,500-word
for this publisher, along
winner will also be presented chosen stories will each a dedicated marketer and publicist, extract. The form will
Symposium in Venice in August. The Literacy Trust, and the writers of the will be able to work with
a cover designer request a short bio also
by poet John Burnside (pictured). and offered about yourself, information
with £3,000 win £200. on any publishing/w
of writing in response to and 4,000 words. social media tools and training to riting history you may
The prize will be given for the best piece Short stories should be between 2,000 connect directly with readers. have and if applicable,
this is ‘Chora: reflections on synopsis themed around your
the theme of the symposium. In 2017 Writers should also include a 350-word Full length works of 40,000 words Authors have an option agent’s details.
Plato refers to the Chora as
landscape’. The AF17 website notes that re-imagining fairy tales. wanted. Previously are profit share or more to choose a 50-50
the event in which things take will bewhich
template, published manuscript traditional model
‘“that which gives space” – the site of Submit entries by email, using the official considered
fee. Type as long
s advance plus 25% of
their submission as you have net.

need to know
their shape.’
and writers may apply from will be sent to entrants on receipt of Website: www.rando
All genres of writing may be entered, The writer’s name mhousebooks.com/alib
be original, and must never manuscripts in 12pt Arial, double-spaced. i
anywhere in the world. All entries must must not appear on the manuscript.
Send entries by email by 1 May
have been published in any medium. There is a submission fee of £30.
with the name of the prize in the email
subject line. Entry is free.
in joining the symposium
The closing date is 25 June. New comp
t.org.uk; website: Win a Virago contra
• AF17 also invites people interested from all walks of
(scholars, artists, poets, and also non-specialists theme. To apply,
this year’s
Details: email: fundraise@literarytrus
www.literacytrust.org.uk/support/short-stor for newbies
y-prize-2017 ct and £7,500
advance
life) to send their ideas in response to The Virago/The Pool
setting out how and why you The Michael Terence
send a CV and a three-minute video cover the food and Publishing Short Writer Award is inviting New Crime
or thriller novel consisting
will Story
would contribute to AF17. The Fellowship and might also be able Competition is for
short stories by debut women crime entries from
5,000-word sample of a
accommodation costs of successful applicantsThe deadline to apply new authors who writers. and a 500-word
Long-sighted new work
has never Virago, which has synopsis of the plot
to help with travel costs to and from
Venice. published or self-publish previously been forefront of women’s been at the of the novel.
is 31 June. Long-sighted new The competition is
ed. publishing since Virago would hope
that the prize-
work Series, for writing up to its foundation in winning novel would
Details: email: apply@alpinefellowshi
p.com;
Eyewear Publishing has launched the
2017 Lorgnette words,Pamphlet
which mayofbe fiction, science 3,000 with The Pool, a
1973, has joined
up within a year of winning. be completed
series builds on the success digital platform for
website: http://alpinefellowship.com/ and is inviting submissions. The new non-fiction (ie biography or memoir).
fiction or women, to find an As Virago is an imprint
was shortlisted for the Michael exceptional new
2015’s 20/20 Pamphlet Series, which are prizesseries.
of £300, £150 and £50, There female crime writer for authors, for
the Virago/The Pool women
Aviator Pamphlet
Marks Publisher’s Award, and 2016’s winning published
be selected andstories will be published in
and the The winner will be Virago. Crime Writer Award New
Twenty limited-edition pamphlets will anthology
welcome to
andsubmit. a print publishing contract awarded a Virago women. Entry
is only open to
are online. with is free.
from this call. All poets working in English unpublished. advance. The winning a £7,500 submit only one entry.Writers may
must beall
All entries Upload
Exit earth, enter storgy
Pamphlets should be original and previously work by £20 fee
is awho
original and unpublished get two hours of mentoring writer will also
the proposal and Double spaced
system. There writers submit it by email.
submissions through Eyewear’s Submittable or self have never Jill Dawson. with author
published. Enter online, been published The closing date
is 21 May.
short story competition to submit. entries as doc or pdf formatting The competition Details: email:
Exit Earth is the STORGY Magazine is for debut writers.
The closing date to submit is15 September. annual Beverley files. Your name must not Writers who have viragoandthepool@lit
to its previously self
for 2017. to the theme and • Eyewear also has a call for submissions appearofon the manuscript.
non- published may enter, website: www.virag tlebrown.co.uk;
The competition invites writers to respond Series, which is for an original, unpublished work There fiction,
is a reading the book
but o.co.uk
a second prize of £500 on style or subject fee of £3 per story, being entered
break free. There is a first prize of £1,000, fiction, poetry or criticism, with no restrictions payable by PayPal. must not previously
for the Beverley Series have
and a third prize of £250. be original fiction matter. One or more works will be selected The closing early indate is 31 May.
2018. been published in
Entries may be up to 5,000 words, should in any genre. Each each year, with the inaugural work to
be announced
Website: form. To enter, submit
any
inspired by the ‘Exit Earth’ theme, and
may be system. Therewww.mtp.a
is a submission
gency a
Submit online through the Submittable proposal for a suspenseful
September.
writer may enter one story.
double-spaced in 12pt fee of £20, and the closing date is 15 original, intelligent ,
Format entries as a Word doc or docx, its annual award for a crime
• Eyewear’s Melita Hume Poetry Prize,
the story title, author and under who has not yet
Garamond. Include a front page with
should be the story title and full-length collection by a poet aged 35 Get creative for
entries until 31 August. The
name and word count. The filename published a full collection, is open for Cymru

MEET THE AUTHORS

sent as email attachments publication of their collection, plus £1,000.
author name. Submissions should be in the subject line. winner receives The Individual
48 and2017 pages. Poetry
100 Welsh
with ‘EXIT EARTH – TITLE OF STORY’ Submit original manuscripts between launched but the Competition, which independen
by PayPal. Include the notDavid’s
There is an entry fee of £10, payable poems in the collection may have been
published, on St
There Day,
is a 1 March, tly funded, is internationa
in the submission email. through Submittable.
invites in l
PayPal reference number collection as a whole. Submit online entries. scope, and invites entries
from poets
There is a £5 entry
fee per poem entered
The closing date is 31 May. £20 submission fee. There is a first prize
of £500, a second
anywhere in the world. by post, payable by
cheques made out
Details: email: submit@storgy.com; Website: https://store.eyewearpublishing.com/ prize of £250 and
a third prize of £100. Entries may be on
any subject and in The Welsh Poetry
Competition. For online
to
website: https://storgy.com/ There will also be seventeen any style. The maximum entries the fee is £6
specially commended runners-up, and length is fifty per poem, payable
lines. Each poem must PayPal. The closing by
entries. The judge be clearly typed in date is 18 June.
be Kathy Miles. will single sides of A4. Details: The Welsh
The poet’s name must Poetry
The competition, which not appear on the 9 The Avenue, Pontypridd Competition,
is proudly manuscript. , CF27 4DF;
88 MAY 2017
www.writers-online.co.uk
entry form must accompany A completed email: info@welsh
poetry.co.uk; website:
each entry. www.welshpoetry.co.u
k
22/03/2017 12:06

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p093 next month.indd 93 22/09/2017 10:36

 N OT E S F R O M T H E M A R G I N
Reading
&RIGHTING
Doing the right thing by her students and comp entrants leaves Lorraine Mace short for story ideas
M
any years ago, probably
about the same time as
Noah was shepherding
his animals onto
the Ark, I started
my writing career by selling
short stories to the women’s
magazine market. A
continuous torrent of water
has passed under numerous
bridges since then (to stretch
a metaphor to flood level) but
I have never lost my love of
the short fiction form.
In recent years, life (as it has
a habit of doing) got in the way
and demanded I write novels, non-
fiction books, magazine features
and columns. My author mentoring
and critique work, as well as being
a competition judge, also has to be
allocated time each month. The
priority I give to all these activities has
something to do with my desire to
keep a roof over my head and a great
deal to do with a wish to eat on a
regular basis. In short, I ensure I have
sufficient income to keep the bailiff
from the door. This also makes me a
welcome customer in the local shops
where I drool over the little luxuries
in life and sometimes allow myself the
odd treat. Odd as in occasional, not
as in strange. Although, I have been
known to indulge in… never mind,
that’s probably best kept to myself.
Just recently, though, I’ve been
revisited by the muse of short fiction
and decided to return to my first love.
In the dim and distant past I never
struggled for plot ideas, so what could
stop me from turning out half a dozen
94 NOVEMBER 2017
p094 Margin.indd 94
shorts? I’m glad you asked. It’s fear of
inadvertent plagiarism.
As I’ve mentioned in
previous columns, I run a
I probably read quarterly flash fiction
competition and an
more short fiction in a annual short story
week than most would one. Although I
don’t judge either
in a year.The effect reading category, I provide
so many has had on my the critiques and
so get to read
ability to craft an original many of the entries.
plot has been I am also head judge
of other competitions.
catastrophic. As a result, I probably
read more short fiction in a
week than most would in a year.
The effect reading so many has had
on my ability to craft an original plot
has been catastrophic.
I’m more than a bit paranoid
because the last thing I would want
to do is subconsciously use someone
else’s great idea, but how can I know
if a thought came to me from my own
(once fertile) imagination, or that I
somehow stored away plots, characters
and settings from the thousands of
stories I have judged and/or critiqued
over the last ten years?
Anyway, after weeks of plotting and
then deleting the file in frustration, I
felt I’d crafted a plot that had to have
originated in my mind, or I’d surely
have remembered reading it. The very
next day I received a story to critique
and the premise was so close to my idea
the writer could have been camping in
my head (not always a good place to be)
scribbling down my thoughts before I’d
even had time to think them.
www.writers-online.co.uk
My story would have been very
different to the writer’s but the theme
was close enough that the author
could have thought I’d stolen the
idea if I was ever lucky enough to get
mine published. So that was another
file deleted.
I know there are only supposed
to be a limited number of plots and
that it’s the way each author treats the
storyline that adds in the originality,
but if I were a writer who’d sent my
baby off to be critiqued and then the
person who provided the feedback
had success with something that was
even slightly along the same lines, I
don’t think I’d be happy about it.
While I was sitting mulling over
these depressing thoughts, I decided
to use my situation to craft a story
about a creative writing tutor who
did exactly that – stole his students’
ideas and won accolades with them.
Super excited, I worked out the
entire plot – right down to the killer
ending. I started on it last week and
was really happy with how it was
going. That is, until yesterday when
the following arrived.
Hi Lorraine, please find attached a
short story for critique.
The plot? You guessed it! It’s
about a college professor who steals
his students’ ideas and gains literary
fame until his unethical behaviour
is discovered.
I’m going to concentrate on my
crime novels. You have no idea how
much easier it is to invent original
ways to kill people than find a short
story idea that hasn’t already passed
across my desk.
22/09/2017 10:37