Criticism Required!

Hello everyone, hope the writing's going well. I'd really appreciate it if you could give me some feedback and criticism on an Invisible Man story I'm working on for Crumey. It's been changed and re-edited so much that it's now a completely different story to the one I read out in class and I was just wondering if the new direction I was taking it in worked. It's called 'The Partial Man' (bit of a giveaway there) and there's an extract of it on my blog:

http://tooclosecartoons.blogspot.com

Thanks!

Be Fearless

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.”

Stephen King, On Writing

agents, manuscripts, and more

If you haven't all ready had a look at the Mslexia site, this is a clear cut, helpful page about agents, manuscript formating, publisher's jargon and more.

http://www.mslexia.co.uk/writerskit/writerskit.html

For Crumey...

So, seen as I didn't get a chance to read it out in class (and I know how you were all DYING to hear it... ;) ) here is the beginning of what I will probably hand in for Prose 2. I've written more of it, but it is by no means finished.

When you've read it I'll let you know where the rest of the story goes :)

Thanks for all your comments/criticism.

Help Please

I know this is very short notice, but if there is anyone alive out there...if anyone can hear me...please have a look at this story I'm turning in tomorrow for Creative Writing and Psychology!!! I'm beginning to lose my mind writing about people who lose their minds... does the story make sense?

STORY

Get off your arses and EXERCISE!

Found this list of writing exercises, a lot of which could be really fun and helpful.

Personally, I'm looking forward to doing #48... ;)

Just found an astoundingly brilliant website called www.writerswrite.com which has a veritable ton and a half of good stuff. I'm still checking all of it out, but at first glance it looks like it has everything, and I mean everything, that might help us in our writing careers. There are some very interesting articles that cover all parts of publication and beyond. It also has some fairly good interviews with famous authors too. So don't just sit here reading this; you should have clicked on that link long ago!

All the best,

Rob

Memoir writing short course

Hey. I'm working on my submission for memoir writing.  

If you guys are bored or have some extra time lying around,

could you give it a look over?

You can get the file from here:  

http://www.box.net/shared/6dif7pw8c4  

(don't worry, it's perfectly safe)

Please and thanks :)

Cassie

Life of Wriiting Letter

Just mailed this. Any suggestions? Volunteers?

Dear Margaret,

I'm sorry to have to bring this to your attention after being so sick recently, but it is important. As the student representative I have been asked to convey a serious frustration about the "Life of Writing Class". This particular frustration is not about the essay at the end of the class, though I suppose that has been an issue. Rather, the frustration centers around the written goal of the course- to help writers live a life of writing after they leave Newcastle- and the actual presentations themselves.

There have been a few exceptions, however, the students I've talked to do not feel as if they have received much of use in living a life of writing after Newcastle. Most of the sessions have seemed to have concentrated on what a particular person did, rather than how WE can make it happen. For example, last week's session was little more than a slide show on art work in the city. We learned who did the art work. We learned a little about how it was created- but almost nothing about how WE could get such jobs. One student even asked for this information and beyond a few statements about the arts council and reading certain arts mags and newsletters for job listings, there was little that was helpful. For those interested, a few things that might have been helpful would have been: How to write a proposal to the arts council- perhaps even practice in this field. Who to contact and how to contact. What they're looking for in a proposal. Successes of the artist in relation to getting contracts and jobs and more importantly- how and why he/she got those jobs. Failures of the artist and how and why.

As another example, a few weeks ago we were handed a list of national organizations we could peruse on our own time and then spent 2 hours doing goal planning. Some said they found this helpful- however most felt that while the goal planning did a good job of helping us see potential problems to reaching our goals (which some of us knew already) there was no help provided in solving those problems (which most of us thought was what the class would be about). And that seems to sum up what the class has more or less been about. Time and again the presenters have told us about the difficulties in getting published or living as a writer but few have actually provided any practical solutions to those problems.

To be fair, there was one presentation where the presenter gave us handouts and talked about how she markets her books. This was helpful. She gave us practical suggestions about how to get out there and sell books. How to get booked for readings etc. These kinds of practical suggestions and skills are what most of the students who've talked to me seem to desire.

Some topics that students thought would be helpful are: How to get published. How to write cover letters. How to get agents. Whether to get an agent. How to deal with rejection. How to submit. Where to submit. How to do research on learning how to submit. How to get jobs that relate to their field while they're writing- not just a list of possible jobs either, but the actual how to. In essence, practical skills and suggestions on how to live a life of writing.

This discrepancy between expectation and reality has led in some cases to anger, in others to depression, in most cases to a general frustration- a frustration that seems to be growing every week.

I don't know if this is a case of misplaced expectations on the students' part or presenters not understanding what they were asked to do or perhaps a little of both but I was wondering if there was something we could do about this?

If it would be helpful to meet with some of the students, I'm sure I could gather some volunteers.

Regards,

Sean

I was unfortunate enough to hear 'novelist' Jeffrey Archer on the radio the other day, and although I wasn't really listening to the interview, I did hear him give one piece of advice to writers out there, which was 'Write what you know', and (and I'm paraphrasing this next part a bit) 'then hope that its popular'. And while I like Jeffrey Archer about as much as salt in a wound, I can't help but agree with most of that advice, because so much of getting published is down to sheer luck, and its the first time I've heard a published novelist say that (even if it was in a very roundabout sort of way). He also alluded to the fact that even if you get published, the popularity of the novel depends entirely on the mood and tastes of the market at that time, which I think we all already knew, but its not often that writers admit this in public.
But I've never listened to Jeffrey Archer before, and I don't intend to start any time soon.

List of occupations

Ever have a hard time creating a character or deciding what they do for a living? I found this list of occupations helpful!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_occupations

Lord Smedley

The other shots that turned out well...

I thought I'd also put these up. Enjoy!

'Publishing's Future Stars, all in one shot!'

I was hoping this photo would come out well, and thanks to the lovely photo-processing people it has. Nice to have a pic of us all together I think.

Just thought i'd share something I came across today:  BBC's How To Write section.  Thought it might be interesting, if anything for it's style.

On Beginnings

"There was once a boy by the name of Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." C.S. Lewis The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

"Your beginning- whether a short story, novel, or even a travel article- is very important. That first page may make the difference between whether the editor reads on or not. No matter how great the rest of the piece is, the reader may never get to it. Even famous writers are sometimes guilty of slow beginnings. (Much as I ultimately loved the best sellers Lonesome Dove and Presumed Innocent, I nearly gave up on both of those novels several times during the first slow 100 pages.) The beginning writer, or at least the unkown writer, cannot afford the luxury of a leisurely start. I believe the first page- maybe even the first paragraph- of a story or a novel should either introduce conflict or hint strongly of conflict to come. A word or two can sometimes be enough to whet the reader's interest." (The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction)

"There is simply no set or standard way to begin a short story or a novel except for the feeble, generalizing rejoinder: 'Start interestingly!'

I would add- with the modern proclivity to boredom your first sentence should grab the reader and not let them go until they've finished the book.

"The oyster leads a dreadful but exciting life." M.F.K. Fisher- Consider the Oyster

"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." Rafael Sabatini- Scaramouche

Sean

Working in publishing

If those interested in working in the publishing industry, I found these very informative!

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/structure/admin/acareg/careers/news/topic/business/publish.html

http://www.sfep.org.uk/pub/faqs/faqhome.asp

How we come to a life of writing

A couple of recent posts have gotten me to thinking about how we become writers. I'm curious how/why others started writing and if there was a specific moment in time when they decided/knew they wanted to be a writer.

For me, it started with a Christmas gift--a book (Anne of Avonlea), when I was twelve. Oddly enough, I hated reading before this book came along! Something in my imagination was sparked by the story and I began to realize I wanted to try writing my own stories. By fourteen I was working on my first (horrible) novel =) I think writing clicked with me because I had a need to express myself in words not just for fun but for "therapy" in a sense. I've heard people say writing is like breathing--it's something they HAVE to do. That's what it became for me. Been writing ever since.

Sharing our work?

We keep adding things to do on this blog.  Think it's too much?  If not, would you guys be opposed to sharing our work here and having each other look it over?  I'd go first, as long as you give honest criticism...  :)

Crazy Lovely Things

Hey guys,

Here are some quotes to brighten your day.

"Know something?" Sinclair Lewis said one afternoon in 1947. "We writers have power not given to anyone else?"
As his young secretary, I dutifully responded: "What's that, sir?"
"We have the power to bore people long after we are dead."

Ray Bradbury wrote: (I know it's long, but it's worth it!)

"How does one go about becoming a writer?

Well you might as well ask, how do you go about becoming a human, whatever that is! You go about being a sci-fiwriter or historical fiction writer or romance writer or mystery writer pretty much the same way you go about being a "normal" writer. We are all, first and last, tellers of stories.

You fall in love, early, with all kinds of things. I fell in love with books when I was 5 or 6, especially the way books looked and smelled.

I have been a library jackdaw all my life, which means I have never gone into that lovely holy place with a book list, but only beady bright eyes and my curious paws, monkey-climbing the stacks over among the children's, and then again where i was not allowed, burrowing among the adults' mysterious books.

I would take home, at the age of 10, eight books at a time, from eight different categories, and rub my nose in them and all but lie down and roll on them like a frolicsome springtime dog. Popular Mechanics and The Boy Mechanic were my bibles. The encyclopedia was my open meadow-field where I rambled and muttered: "Curiouser and curiouser!" and lay down with Jules Verne's robot pups only to rise with Edgar Rise Burroughs's Martian fleas.

I have run amuck ever since in libraries and booksores, with fevers and deliriums. Hysteria must be your way of life, then, if you wish, any of you, to become writers. Or, for that mater, painters or actors or any other crazy, lovely things!

If I emphasize libraries it is because school itself is only a beginning, and writing itself is a continuation. But the meat must be found and fed on in every library you can jump into and every bookstore you can pole-vault through.

Even as I did nont prowl there with preconceived lists, so I do not send you there with nice, dry, tame, small indexes of my taste, crushing you with an iron-anvil dropped from a building.

Once you start, the library is the biggest blasted Cracker Jack Factory in the world. The more you eat, the more you want!

And the more you read, the more the ideas begin to explode around inside your head, run riot, meet head-on in beautiful collissions so that when you go to bed at night the damned visions color the ceiling and light the walls with huge exploits and wonderful discoveries.

I still use librares and bookstores in the same fashion forthy years later. I spend as much time in child's country as I do over the corseted adults'.

And what I take home and browse and munch through each evening should give you a relaxing view of a writer tumultuous just this side of madness.

I may start a night's read with a James Bond novel, move on to Shakespeare for half an hour, dip into Dylan Thomas for 5 minutes, make a fast turnabout and fasten on Fu Manchu, that great and evil Oriental doctor, ancestor of Dr. No, then pick up Emily Dickinson, and end my evening with Ross Macdonald, the detective novelist, or Robert Frost, that crusty poet of the American rural spirit.

The fact should be plain now: I am an amiable compost heap. For I learned, early on, that in order to grow myself excellent I had to start myself in the plain old farmyard blood manure. From such heaps of mediocre or angelic words I fever myself up to grow fine stories, or roses, if you prefer.

I am a junkyard, then, of all the libraries and bookshops I ever fell into or leaned upon, and am proud and happy that I never developed such a rare taste that I could not go back and jog with Tarzan or hit the Yellow Brick Road with Dorothy, both characters and their books banned for 50 years by all librarians and most educators. I have had my own loves, and gone my own way to become my own self.

I highly recommend you do the same. However crazy your desire, however wild your need, however dumb your taste may seem to other... follow it!

When I was 9 I collected Buck Rogers comic strips. People made fun. I tore them up. 2 months later, I said to myself: "Hold on! What's this all about? These people are trying to starve me. They have cut me off from my vitamins! And the greatest food in my life, right now is Buck Rogers! Everyone, outa the way! Git! Runty Ray is going to start collecting comic strips again!"
And I did. For I had the great secret!

Everyone else was wrong. I was right. For me, anyway.

What if I hadn't done as I have done? Would I ever have grown up to become a writer of Science Fiction or, for that atter, any kind of writer at all?

No. Never.

If I had listened to all the tastemongers and fools and critics I would have played a safe game, never jumped the fence, and become a nonentity whose name would not be known to you now.
So it was I learned to run and leap into an empty swimming pool, hoping to sweat enough liquid into it on the way down to make a soft landing.

Or, to change the metaphors, I dropped myself off the edges of cliffs, daring to build myself wings while falling, so as not to break myself on the rocks below.

To sum it all up, if you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling.

You must write every single day of your life.

You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next.

You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.

I wish for you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories- science fiction or otherwise. Finally, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world." (From The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction)

Sean

List-less...

While I was gadding around on the web today the thought struck me that maybe we should compile a blacklist of sorts; to warn each other which publishers/agents/editors etc. aren't to be trusted, because let's face it, there are a LOT of fraudulent people/agencies who want to make money off people who want to be published. Nothing libellous of course, just companies and people who, if you've encountered, you advise others to stay away from for one reason or another. After all, its very easy to find publishing firms on the net, but less so to find reputable ones. I know I've got a couple I could mention.
What do you all think? Maybe we could come up with a list of 'trustworthy' companies/agents etc. too...?

Write to Done

Just thought I'd share this blog that I subscribe to; thought you all might like it. Lots of interesting articles to help with your writing - inspiration, the business of writing, the habit of writing etc.

Also, if you're interested, the blog was spawned from another brilliant blog - Zen Habits. Nothing to do with writing, but it's a great blog for all sorts of personal development/motivation/productivity stuff.

Hope everyone's writing is going well. Mine isn't, particularly... although Abbi gave me a brilliant idea for a story last night which I'm rather excited to start writing! Hopefully you'll see it up at Chapter 23 soon.

Microsoft Offer

Has everyone heard about the deal Microsoft are offering to students?

For £38.95 you can download the new Microsoft Ultimate Office 2007 package. All you need for proof is your student email address. I did it a few weeks ago and you get the full Office suite with all the fancy new buttons and features. Vista was driving me nuts and this package is great. The offer ends 30th April.

www.theultimatesteal.co.uk

The Fridge

Does anyone watch The Book Show on Sky Arts? Can't remember what day it's on, but they do a nice segment where they get authors to take the crew round the place where they do their writing at home. They talk about their process, what inspires them, and what their work habits are, etc. It's often really interesting.

Anyhow, one of the writers, whose name I cannot remember, advised all writers to keep a copy of their manuscript that they are working on in the fridge. Apparently if your house burns down the only items that are a dead cert to survive are the items in your fridge. So whilst your hard drive melts you know there's a copy safely tucked away with your lettuce and moldy half eaten banana.

Just a thought

Inspiration

I was reading an interview with author Jasper Fforde today and he said that he always listens to music from the 80s when writing his novels because it helps him get in the mood and write. I sometimes like to listen to music too when I'm writing - stuff that fits the mood of the piece: something sad for an emotional scene, something uptempo for action etc, cos I find it helps me concentrate on the mood. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else did this - or did something else entirely - to help them while writing? Or do you like to work in complete silence? I'm not talking inspiration here, just something to help focus and capture the kind of emotion/idea you're trying to get across while scribbling down that all important story...

All the best,
Rob

This is all I have to say about Crumey:

Right, anyone seen any centaurs on campus?

Robert gets his ass kicked...

Just read my feedback from Crumey, and I'm still smarting from the 30 line ass-kicking my story and I have just received. Don't get me wrong: I need criticism, I like criticism...it's necessary to the craft, but when your Prof writes 'Overall, I was disappointed by the lack of specificity' (in a 1000 word piece about a man who wants to become invisible??!?!), you can't help but bash your head against your keyboard. Oh, and TWICE he calls my protagonist 'a cackling mad genius', which I was going for but he didn't seem to like, so I'm not sure if that's personal taste or a nod at the general literary trend (the guy knows what he's talking about after all). There's a lot of other critical stuff he wrote in what I'm now going to term 'Rob's Literary Kick to the Crotch', and I really wouldn't mind, but my gripe is that there was very little encouragement.
Anyway, enough of my moaning: I'm interested if anyone else got rather tough feedback, or whether I'm just a bad writer who doesn't realise it.

All the best,
Rob

Thought I'd share something fun I came across a couple months ago called Bonsai Story Generator. It's great for generating story ideas as well as giggles!

http://www.critters.org/bonsai.html

A Quick Post from Rob...

Just testing that I can post really, but I thought I'd stick up a lovely quote I found and that seems more apt given the most recent Prose Writing Workshop. It's more about reading, but I figure we're in the business of doing that too...

'No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don't read is often as important as what you do read'
-Lemony Snicket ('Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid')

Testing... (Welcome!)

Here we go... a place to share thoughts, ideas, advice, rants... just about anything to do with the (extremely) slim chance that any of us have at getting published. Although hopefully, given the positive start we've had with our seditious writing group over the past two weeks, that chance will become less slim as we start helping each other right here on this blog.

So, post away! I've been thinking; as well as strictly "How To Get Published" stuff, we should also share other things here, like motivational quotes, links to interesting articles on writing, maybe even pointless 'fun' stuff on the Internet to procrastinate with. After all, we can only tidy our desks so many times.

I was thinking about naming this blog, "Give Me My 4 Grand Back!", but decided against it. Hell, if we're going to be impoverished writers, we may as well start now!

Looking forward to collaborating on this blog with you all.

Christopher