Newcastle Writing Conference

This time last week I was limbering up for the Newcastle Writing Conference. The programme read well and I looked forward to hearing Nicola Morgan speak. Her blog Help! I need a Publisher is choc full of information I've dipped into time and again.

Claire Malcolm chaired the conference for New Writing North and did so very well. The Great Hall in the Sutherland Building of Northumbria University was vast and I was surprised to see it completely full by ten when everything began to click into action.

Questions were not allowed until the plenary session, which did not suit everyone. Most, like me, probably forgot their question or had to rush off home at 4pm when the Plenary session was just about to kick off.
The first session included Nicola, Juliet Mushens (Literary Agent)  and Lisa Highton (Two Roads Books Publisher) I wished Nicola had been allowed more time. Juliet is a new agent and therefore deals mainly with debut authors. Lisa selects books that reflect her taste, and is looking for talent and an individual voice.

(Aside to self - If all agents select to their personal taste, isn't it time we knew what their personal taste might be? and - if thousands of fiction books are published every year in this country, how does she realistically expect to discover an "individual" voice? There simply cannot be thousands of individual voices. Or is that just me being picky? And - what exactly does she mean by individual voice?)

The second session was about Market Focus, subtitled What's Hot and What's Not, but do you know, no one actually told us what was Hot. Or Not. Barry Cunningham  (Chicken House), Mark Stanton (Jenny Brown), and Julia Churchill (A M Heath) were entertaining (even though BC kept his trilby on the entire time he was on the dais and the conference in general). On the stairs afterwards I asked him to describe J K Rowling's voice, since he was the man who "discovered" her. Straightforward, he said, not too grammatical, over use of adverbs, focussed on character. The one thing that drew him to the book was the friendship of the children.

On the whole I enjoyed the day, though the paper bag lunch could have been more imaginative, and I learnt a good deal about the process my book will go through once it has been accepted. The next conference should be on the writing process and have agents who can say what it is in writing that makes them say no - or I like it but I don't love it.

The pic? Sophie Rochester of the Literary Platform, Toby White, Lisa Gee and Chris Rickaby.

Keeping on the right track

Since I'm fuzzy headed in the throes of a cold, I am going to cheat today and give you the wise words of Nicola Morgan, otherwise known as the Crabbit Old Bat. The link to her blog is below. Plus which these are things I need to read from time to time, to keep myself on the right track.

Ten Tips for Adults Writing to be Published:

1. Write confidently, subjectively and with your heart; revise critically, objectively and with your head.
2. Be in it for the long haul – real writers keep writing.
3. Listen to the right people – people who have succeeded or who are in the business. If you want to know about publishing, don’t listen to those who have never been published.
4. Aim to be better.
5. Respect good writers. Don’t become bitter. Good writers will be your friends.
6. Understand your writing, your genre, your aim, your readers. Understand them properly.
7. Understand why publishers make their decisions – and mistakes.
8. Understand all the rules of writing, so that you can break them with skill and intention.
9. Support the book industry – especially bookshops and libraries. They create readers and you need readers.
10. Read.

Any comments? Disagree with any of them? Any tips you’d add? But if you add one, you’d have to remove one, otherwise there wouldn’t be ten…

http://www.nicolamorgan.com/heartsong-blog/ten-tips-for-getting-published/

A summer night

Aproaching Lou Peyrol

Last night we downed a few kirs by candlelight in the garden because it was so warm and we suspected it might be the last opportunity of summer! We'd heard the weather forecast predicted lots of rain for the next few days, so we wanted to make the most of the warm evening.It was fun sitting talking in the dark as the little candles expired one after another... After a late start this morning, I look out of the window and see we have no rain. In fact, we have cloudy sunshine. There's no keeping up with British weather. Or weather forecasters.

After purchasing and reading Nicola Morgan's books on writing a synopsis and how to address an agent, I sent off two submissions yesterday. Even if I say it myself, they looked immaculate, but we'll see how they do out in the big wide world. I rewrote the synopsis and my query letter and think both are much clearer now, and therefore better, so that is down to NM's advice. I sent both submissions snail mail, because I'm not happy with receiving absolutely no response to e-mail submissions.

This week has been a bit of a spending spree for me, and I am noting it here because it is so unusual! I'm not by nature a big spender, but I bought a smart new suitcase and pair of lightweight beach shorts on Monday which will be fine for when we're at the beach house in Australia, and then yesterday, when I saw the turquoise cord jacket in M&S, I very much wanted it. (I'd always wanted one of those denim bomber jackets, but never found one I really liked!)  Pillowcases, one of those big, heavy two inch deep blades chef's use, and a new pair of shoes. All in one day! Phew!

Dear Agent

One of our walks

I'n blogging again today so I can get back on my normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine. I have to confess that not a lot has happened since yesterday, but this morning I went wild and made 4 purchases on Kindle!

I've just finished a book I bought for free - I often wonder if the verb to buy can be used when something is free - anyway, I acquired "Natural Causes" from the Kindle Free list, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The author, James Oswald, publishes via Devildog Publications, which seems to be his own electronic publisher. (And that is Food for Thought right there.)

I acquired another of Oswald's free list this morning, and then went on and bought Nicola Morgan's How to Write a Synopsis and Dear Agent. They too are low-priced on Kindle at the moment. I love the way I click on Buy on my PC, switch on my Kindle and in a second or two - La! The story is there on my Kindle. So a big chunk of today will be spent in reading Dear Agent.
I don't know about anyone else, but I find holidays so disruptive to the working process. I've been home seven full days now, and I've very little to show for it. Yes, I'm ashamed of myself. Yes, I will sit in this chair and work all of the weekend until I have a new chapter to show for it.

Synopses

 Durham Castle Keep

I've been horrendously busy and will be again until Saturday when I can relax like the advert for those toffees with chocolate inside them!
So: I'm going to cheat a little by giving you the gist of Nicola Morgan's take on synopses. It's relevant, because I've been thinking about the darn things, since our writers' group is having a session on synopses on Friday. (Her blog, btw, is a mine of info: Help I need a publisher)


Here's what she says:
If your book is a journey, the synopsis needs to include:
1. Who is on the journey and why?
2. What is the intended destination and why?
3. What terrible thing will happen if they don't reach their destination and who or what is trying to stop them?
4. What happens to knock the travellers off course?
5. What characteristics and tools do they use to get back on course?
6. What is their actual destination and who survives and with what injuries?

Here’s what we do not need to know:
1. All the detours they took along the way - unless without it we can't understand the book
2. The weather.
3. What they said to each other.
4. What the scenery was like.
5. The people they met along the way, unless without them we can't understand the book.
6. The route in order.

So my message to you today is: when writing your synopsis, cultivate a really crappy memory like mine, a memory that forgets everything except essence. To paraphrase all of our mothers: if you can't remember, it can't have been very important. And if it's not important, it has no place in your synopsis.

Therefore: whatever you do, don't look at your book when writing your synopsis. Your book has no place there.

PS Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Possibly by Saturday.

Accepting criticism

"Any writer who dismisses the negative but laps up the positive had better be ready for the negative reviews of her book which will come.
I have had books published. Some of them have won awards. Some of the ones that have won awards have had yuckity reviews. Some of those reviews I (try to) ignore because I don't value the opinion of the giver, BUT if someone says something positive and negative, how on earth could I justify believing the good but not the bad?? If I value someone's opinion I cannot only value it when it suits me. That doesn't mean I have to kow-tow to it but it does mean I should not dismiss it out of hand as this writer seemed to, and to dismiss it so disrespectfully. For a start, the critique opinion seeks to give you the best chance of publication, about which there are no certainties."
This morning Nicola Morgan's blog here has an interesting piece about accepting criticism even if it criticises something in your book, and commenting on the people who willfully ignore advice they don't like. I nodded my head as I read through it, because I know how difficult it can be to admit that I'm wrong and someone else is right when we're talking about my work. It took me time with a couple of critique groups to learn that there was usually a point to what critiquers were saying, even if they weren't always 100% right in their comments. (but often, they were 100% right!)


Some people don't accept any criticism, and can be quite sharp when refuting it. Which is a shame, because if someone has taken the time to read and think about a piece of work, then their comments should at least be considered honestly. Critiquers are readers, after all, and if they are puzzled by something, then you can be sure other readers will be. There's no point in saying 'oh but that's because of x' - the critiquer doesn't have the author's detailed knowledge of the story any  more than the average reader, and if he or she hasn't got it, then x hasn't come through on the page. If it hasn't,  then  an author should know what to do!

Upping the tension

Ovingham

Take a deep breath and go to this site today: here It belongs to Nicola Morgan, and there are two novel extracts up for comments.

In this day and age I think nerves of steel are required to put work up so openly and, given the occasional ill-natured comments that crop up on Amazon reviews these days, putting work up in this fashion could be said to be begging for  nasty comments!

On the other hand, I'm sure there will be good advice too, and  I'll be popping back to see what is offered in the way of constructive criticism throughout the day. Initially I must go into town, but once I'm home again, I'll keep checking. and I must do some more editing.

I'm up to chapter eighteen in editing my first Matho story, and I've taken out at least a couple of thousand words . In many places it's simply because I've smoothed out and combined two sentences into one.  I've also removed odd snippets of information (accurate and interesting) that are not really relevant to the story I'm telling. Aiming for clarity is always intriguing, and of course I kow my characters so much better now than I did when I was first writing thestory, so I've been able to up the tension in places. Maybe there's a whole blog post in that phrase, but I don't have time to go into it now - maybe Wednesday!