A new book on teaching creative writing

I'm in this!

Teaching Creative Writing - Practical Approaches is edited by Elaine Walker and published by Creative Writing Studies, an inprint of The Professional and Higher Partnership Ltd. It is full of chapters written by the likes of Philip Gross, Steve May, Craig Batty, Donna Lee Brien, Gill James to name but a few. The idea behind the book is to showcase practical approaches to teaching creative writing in higher education. All the chapters are written by practitioners. Each innovative chapter is based on an exercise that can be borrowed or adapted. Also, I have to say this, the cover is absolutely beautiful - such a girl I know!

Chapter titles include such exercises as: 'Who I am' icebreaker: establishing a group dynamic, by Elaine Walker; Gift Wraps: a collaborative poetry game, by Philip Gross and Steve May's: Paperless workshop: save trees, increase interaction, reduce preciousness. I have gone through the book and it gave me so many ideas. It is always interesting to see how other people do things. I can't wait to be back teaching in September and using many of these exercises in my workshops.

The current edition is really aimed at libraries but a lower priced paperback edition will be coming out later. In the meantime there is also an e-edition if you are interested. Check it out here: http://creativewritingstudies.wordpress.com/how-to-buy-our-publications/

I cannot deny I am still new enough to this game to be thrilled to see my name in print. Does that ever get tiresome? I wonder what will have my name attached to it next...a book on writing YAF or a piece of fiction - who knows but watch this space.

And for all those dreams here is Newton Faulkner's Dream Catch Me

Editing and polishing my manuscript

Trafficking that was.....

This photo shows the first complete version of Ham and Jam that was completed two years ago on the Arvon Tutored Retreat that I was awarded. It has now undergone several reincarnations including two total rewrites. One where I took the number of points of view down from four to two and the latest one where I moved the setting of the whole story from France to the UK. At times it has been like pulling teeth, at other times it has flowed, totally unstoppable, like lava down a volcano.

The original story had sex, drugs and alcohol in it - after all that was my PhD. The latest version has none of these but does have a bit of violence and a shooting. I am pleased with this version and am confident that the rewrites have definitely improved the story. I realised I was writing  a thriller, something that never occurred to me I would ever write. But I loved doing it and look forward to doing more.

Having done the rewriting, I am now in the position of editing, editing, editing and polishing. It can be quite painful and tortuous as you try and make the manuscript as perfect as possible. This weekend I will find myself asking questions of the MS such as:

Am I telling anything I have already shown?

Is the dialogue relevant the story and moving it on or is it a bit 'talking heads'? (talking heads is where characters are doing a lot of talking but not moving the story forward)

Have I just info-dumped? Instead I need to drip-feed this information in. Resist the urge to explain.

Have I remembered to use the setting as a character? It can create moods etc - think the moor in Wuthering Heights.


Have I left some stuff to the reader's imagination?

After that, and using the 'Find' tool, I will search for the following words and try and replace them: 'as', 'very', 'then' and 'suddenly' - plus any other 'ing' and 'ly' phrases. I may not get rid of all of them but I will check that  there is no better way of saying it.

The slightly disheartening part of this is that you know if, and when, you show your completed manuscript, which you have lovingly crafted and can't see how it could possible be improved, they will promptly spot holes, mistakes and ways of making it better. Don't give up, listen and see what works for you, but most importantly don't ever be precious about your manuscript.

Right I am off to pull a few teeth ;-)

This song, Paper Birds,  is written and performed by one of my ex-students, Meg Burrows:

Those Games

She loved life and wine....

I am sorry but this is going to be quite a self indulgent post. I was listening to the radio on the way back from a meeting today and it played the moment we heard that London was going to host the Olympics. It was one of those moments where I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was with my mother and cooking her lunch. We were drinking wine (as always) and watching the excitement unfurl on the television. It never occurred to me at that moment that she would not be here to share the actual Olympics with me. She would have loved them.

She was an armchair sport fanatic and in her younger days a very accomplished tennis player. She could remember the 1948 Olympics. The next few weeks would have seen her in absolute heaven and drinking just a few bottles of wine.

I also remember the day because the following day I was in the same place but instead of celebrating I was desperately trying to get a message to my sister to let her know that my nephew was ok. He worked in London and he couldn't get through to her and had only just managed to get a message to me before all the systems went down. It was the day of the 7/7 bombings. A friend missed being in the wrong place because he was late for the first time ever in his life. I know we were lucky that day.

It was an extreme of emotions. Elation one day and despair the next. The roller coaster of life.

Below is a song that she loved. It has very happy memories for both of us. It reminds me of sitting in The Square in Winchester, drinking coffee and watching the world go by. She loved it there. Also the words are quite poignant and reflect how much we miss her particularly at this time of year as she shared a birthday with my daughter so I am off to toast a glass of something bubbly to both her and those games.

Normal service will be resumed in the next post and please forgive me this indulgence.

SCBWI-BI Conference 2012

The website for the SCBWI-BI conference has just gone live. Check it out here: http://scbwicon.jimdo.com/. It is being held at my own University - the University of Winchester where  we also run a fantastic MA in Writing for Children so it always seems totally appropriate to me that the university should be the venue. But I also feel very privileged that it is so close to home.

Once again there is an amazing amount packed in to the weekend. This year starting on the Friday afternoon when I am running the first Pre-Conference Sketch and Crawl around Winchester followed by a conference critique group and an informal dinner. and that is just on the Friday!

On the Saturday the keynote is being given by the award winning author Celia Rees this is followed by various breakout sessions and a party in the evening with a mass book launch. Then on Sunday there are opportunities to take part in several intensive sessions as well as meet up with other members of SCBWI in your area. There are also opportunities to book 1-2-1s with agents and publishers as well as a chance to exhibit your work if you are an illustrator. Let's face it the conference is one big opportunity that you can't afford to miss.

My brief description of what will go on does not really explain how dynamic and inspirational attending can be. I attended last year's conference and it was a fantastic experience (see my previous posts:  the first being here http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/2011-scbwi-conference.html - there are two others which follow on straight afterwards). If you can do it I recommend it whole-heartedly as I know you will get something out of it as well as a whole load of new friends.

Go on book it now!

And this is for all us writers as this is what we do a lot....sitting,waiting,wishing...

Children's books reflect harsh reality - haven't they always?

There has been a bit of a brouhaha in the media recently. It started with an article in The Guardian (Friday 6th July) which was discussing some recent research undertaken by Professor Kathy Short where she stated that abandonment, alienation and homelessness are increasingly the themes covered in modern literature for children. Then this morning GP Taylor appeared on BBC Breakfast Time announcing that children's literature (including his own books) have become too frightening and there should be an age certification scheme. I have to be honest I disagree with both these on many levels.

OK let me start with the last point first, there has been a whole argument on this subject four years ago, which I am not going to retell in detail.  Basically it was highlighted by many authors how inappropriate age certification on books could be. If you are a struggling reader aged 14 do you want to be seen reading a book which has 7+ plastered across the back. In the same way should you be prevented from reading above your age if you are a confident reader. This is the time for booksellers and librarians to step in and use their expertise to guide potential readers. Luckily, Patrick Ness was there to rebut this idea and point out that it would be irresponsible 'for young adult novels to ignore the darker side of life.' As a writer I was slightly concerned when GP Taylor stated that he hadn't really read Vampire Labyrinth when he wrote it. I know when I edit and rewrite I am constantly reading my own book. I need to know it is working and to take a step back from it, reading it as a reader and not just as a writer. But maybe that is a personal thing.

Going back to Kathy Short's points about abandonment, alienation and homelessness being themes in modern children's literature. Firstly, I would suggest they are there because they reflect the world we live in. We live in a world, rightly or wrongly, where our children have access to a lot of images and ideas via the media including the internet that we probably wouldn't have seen as children.  But I would also contend that they are not new. What about Mary Lennox in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden (1910). You could argue to some extent she suffers from all three of these. Then there is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976) by Mildred D Taylor, now there is an amazing but truly dark book at times. Or even William Golding's Lord of the Flies and numerous Roald Dahl books.  And these are just the few that came immediately to mind. Children's literature is often dark but invariably offers hope by the end.

As a writer these ideas can be plot devices allowing your characters the freedom to make their own decisions and solve the problems they are in without relying on an adult. The 'absent parent' can take many forms. For example, it can be the alcoholic parent who is there yet absent. It is what helps to make a good story and that's what children want. A good story that they can get lost in. They will be looking for characters to identify with; characters like them but also, and equally important, characters that are NOT like them. It is all part of the search for an identity.

Yes, there are lots of dark stories out there but there are also a lot of other 'lighter' stories which are not being mentioned (this is not meant as a derogatory term but just to infer the opposite to dark stories). Children and young adults will  read all sorts of stories. Some dark, some not. They will read what they need to read at any particular moment. And I would suggest that it is up to us as writers to continue to write good stories, well told whether they are dark or not.

Going back to my childhood, a bit of Paul McCartney

The importance of SCBWIs

First SCBWI Social

On Thursday I held the inaugaural Winchester SCBWI Social meeting and it was a refreshing reminder of how important this organisation is to me. We met at a local pub and had a large jug of Pimms to celebrate - it was delicious! The best part was to be able to sit and discuss your own writing and that of others with people who understood the issues of writing/illustrating for children and the stress of the publishing machine. There was never an awkward silence as you tried to think of something to say and two hours went very rapidly. I will be organising another one in August. If you are interested leave a message in the comments below.


I first came across SCBWI-BI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) in 2006 when I attended their conference which is held at my university. I had just finished my MA in Writing for Children and just embarking on my PhD. There were some fascinating speakers but I also found it quite daunting and overwhelming at that time. I sat on the periphery for several years, watching from the sidelines. Once my PhD was nearly finished I started to get more involved. They have their own Facebook page, which is a wonderful thing for networking and making friends. The members are all so friendly and supportive. And the more involved I get the more I realise how important the organisation is. I suppose it comes from all being in the same boat and understanding the pressures.


The aim of SCBWI-BI (some call it Scoobies) is to support published and, importantly, unpublished writers and illustrators. They hold many events during the year including the professional series held in London, the north and the north east. These can be events where you meet publishers, talk to other authors or have a specialised session like one on marketing. Who knows, maybe I will be able to get Winchester to start its own professional series on day..... ;-) There is even an Agents party, where you can schmooze and use your one line pitch.


Also, there is their annual conference which, as I previously mentioned, is held at Winchester University and always well worth attending. I went again last year and it was so much larger than the conference I attended in 2006. This year I am holding the first conference Scrawl Crawl on the Friday. This is where we will be visiting various places within Winchester to find inspiration and write and/or draw.  I will put up a link to the conference when it is ready.  They also hold an annual retreat. This is something I haven't managed to attend yet but from the feedback and photos it looks amazing and well worth attending.


I suppose what this post is really about is finding support networks when you write. The members of SCBWI have been fantastic. They celebrate everyone's successes and give a great deal of support to those who are having a difficult time. They become like a family. I am lucky many of them have become very good friends too that go way beyond the writing. But that's what you need as a writer is to surround yourself with people who understand what it is like to write/illustrate. How lonely it can be and how pressurised it can become once you have been published. People who understand and won't take offence if you need to be left alone because you are in the middle of a writing session. As the BBC would say, 'there are other similar organisations' - one that comes to mind is Lapidus, another one that is well worth looking at particularly if you are interested in creative writing and well being.


Finally, I would like to thank all my SCBWIs friends who have been such great friends and have helped me get to where I am. And thank you to those who attended Thursday's event. I look forward to many more.


Mary Chapin Carpenter's 'Chasing What's Already Gone.'

Write Cold, Edit Hot

This quick, little post was triggered by a comment left by KM Lockwood on my previous post where she stated that she felt 'thick' for not understanding what 'write cold, edit hot' meant. I thought I would explain as that is the last thing I want to make anyone feel, particularly, as it is me that does things the wrong way round. It is apparently 'normal' for writers to write using every bit of purple prose they can think of and then have to edit hard with a cruel red pen which removes swathes of words. What results eventually is a highly polished piece of work.

Well I'm not normal. I can't do it that way. I have tried and failed miserably. What I do is write the bare bones of the story until it is complete and there is a solid plot. I call it writing cold. That in part is why I can write so fast (16,000 words in three days recently). But I then have to go back and edit hot. I have to add in elements of description using all the senses. Making sure there are some motifs  and subplots which follow through the story. Painting the picture so that the reader can see what I am seeing - or at least a version of it. Some might say add some padding to an initially thin story. The best analogy I came up with was doing some tapestry where you stitch all the outlines and only when you have done that do you go back and fill in the colour.

I am not saying this is the right way to do it. In fact, I don't believe there is a 'right' way to write. Instead I think you have to find what works for you. I found this out by trying the 'normal' way and struggling but if I hadn't tried it I wouldn't have known. You have to try things out before you settle into your own style of writing, I believe. It helps you become a better and stronger writer. Or that's what I believe anyway.


Well the music just had to be Carole King and Tapestry didn't it!