Awful Arrogant Authors

Talking with and listening to other writers is one of the most valuable and enjoyable things I do on my writing journey.  I’ve already learnt so much from them, even from passing comments or throwaway remarks.

For some reason beyond my logical comprehension, I had an expectation that authors – especially published ones - would be egotistical, superior literary gods who have perfect prose flowing out of their fingertips at the slightest provocation and look down on anyone who isn’t as miraculously gifted.

Having now met a growing number of writers, I haven’t actually met even one awful, arrogant author…yet.  Because we’re not in direct competition, we’re generally nice to and encouraging of each other.  Even if two writers were writing about the same topic, the books they produce will be markedly different, as no one has the exact same voice or viewpoint as anyone else.  Everyone’s work is unique.  Writing is nothing like an exam where there are right answers and we can compare our marks and grades.  Good work sometimes doesn’t get published and bad work sometimes does!

The amazing authors I met at Arvon (not awful or arrogant in the slightest!)

It was when reading an interview with Harlan Coben earlier this year that I discovered that, like me, he swings from thinking his work is great to the next day thinking it sucks.  At Arvon, Lucy Christopher shared how stuck she’d sometimes got while writing “The Killing Woods” and had to walk around the Forest of Dean, as well as get a friend to write some music for her, to release the story.  Also, at Arvon, Meg Rosoff told us that she often gets caught between finishing one book and starting on a new one, with no ideas coming and no obvious way forward, sometimes for weeks (although she more than capably gets there in the end) :-)

Sharing our writerly struggles is unbelievably important.  Writing is a very isolated task – the majority of it done at home, on your own.  I often go whole (school hour) days without talking to anyone.  It’s far too easy to end up thinking that you’re the only person who ever faces certain difficulties or having certain struggles.

Other things we share can be more positive, like recommendations of useful books, courses or conferences.  I was encouraged to find out at Arvon (yes, “at Arvon” will be a repetitive phrase in my blog, definitely for weeks to come, possibly months, perhaps even years!) that my writing process is a lot like Melvin Burgess’s.  When we’re working on the first draft of a book, we both have key scenes in our heads which we write and then start to link them together.  I admire people who can write in a linear way, but that doesn’t appear to be my style and it was great to find out that I’m not completely odd in my preferred method!

Writers can also help you to tap into and understand unconscious thoughts more fully.  At Arvon, Meg Rosoff shared a dressage analogy about resonance - the art of the horse and rider working together in complete unity – and how that is also true in writing, when you suddenly connect with an idea and it starts going full flow, in perfect tune with the story.  It was useful, but one of my course mates, Dale, reiterated it the next day as a surfing analogy, which I understood a lot better having surfed before (but never having done dressage!).

To surf, there’s a lot of preparation, including checking the tide times (finding the right time), but if you’re ever gonna do it you actually have to get into the water.  There can be so many obstacles even when you get there – the wind taking the tops off waves so they’re not that good; it’s too cold to be enjoyable; there are too many people in way to get a good run.  But when you catch THE wave, then the triumph and exhilaration of the ride make it well worth the wait! 

It can be hard to find the right time to write and even when you do, the right words might not come, a character might be difficult or a plot twist not authentic and credible enough.  But on those days when it all starts to flow, wow!  The rest of the world falls away and literary magic happens on the page.  Those days make all the hard slog and the times when you write one word after another on the page just coz you have to worth it.  They are the practice waves that mean you’re there and you’re ready when the big one comes!  I’ve found this image really encouraging and a great motivator to get on and write every day, regardless of how well it goes.

The writing has been going splendiferously well recently though :-)  More on that next time…

Zooming Along - An Update on the Progress of My Kids' Book

With my kids on summer holidays at the moment, I’d thought that progress on my writing journey was going to go along at plodding speed for a few weeks.  Unexpectedly though, I've found myself zooming along the path at dizzying speed instead!

I started drafting this post a week ago.  Since then I’ve had to seriously amend it once, then decide to split it into two separate posts – one as an update for my kids’ book, the other for my YA writing.

I haven’t done an official progress update for nearly 3 months, so for those of you interested enough to be here (thank you!) this is where I'm at with my children’s book (Young Adult post coming on Thursday).

Concise Update 

Finished draft 3 of B4 (shorthand for the book title - realised I shouldn't broadcast it on web for now)

Gave it to 2 families – great feedback received from one, other one coming soon

First 4,000 words given to published children’s’ writer for critique – received last week and discussed in person on Sunday, very constructive and helpful

Hoping to complete fourth draft as early in September as possible and start to send out to literary agents

Went to Swanwick Writers’ Summer School on Sunday and will go again tomorrow – so useful and inspiring

Detailed Update 

I finished the third draft of my kids' book a few weeks ago, which was a very exciting moment as I seem to have been working on it for aaaaages. With slightly less trepidation than last time I handed it over to a couple of friends, who have boys of the right age, for reading and feedback.

One family are part way through it and the son is apparently enjoying it despite having just read the first two Harry Potter books (high praise to compete even vaguely with those!).  They raised an issue needing clarification, which – combined with other feedback below - has helped me rewrite the first chapter already and make it more pacey and accessible (essential characteristics for a first chapter!).

I received the other family’s feedback at the weekend and it made me cry!  Thankfully not coz it said that my work was complete rubbish and should be used to get the BBQ going, but because it was so helpful and encouraging.  As well as general feedback, the mum had marked on the manuscript the bits that made the boys (10&8) laugh or tense or jump up and down and act things out.  I loved it, such a great insight!

What got me crying though were the boys’ feedback sheets.  They told me themselves what they liked best and what they didn’t, and there was something really special about seeing it in their own handwriting.  The 10-year-old wanted to know if I was gonna write a sequel (the ultimate compliment?)  and marked the story out of 100.  Apparently 0 = the worst book ever, 50 = a good book and 100 = the best book imaginable.  I got 92/100!!!!!!  I’m definitely aiming for full marks with the next edit :-)

To be well received by the target audience is the biggest encouragement imaginable. If kids like the characters and the premise of the story, then any issues with the writing or details can be easily rectified as far as I'm concerned.  I was so touched by those feedback sheets that when I get my own writing space I’m gonna frame them and put them on the wall!

I also sent the first 4,000 words to Steve Hartley, a published children's writer, for a paid critique as part of the Swanwick Writers' Summer School.  He's the first person in the business to have read any of the manuscript so I was seriously excited - and terrified! - about getting his critique.  But it was great!  Not in terms of “this is the best piece of children’s literature I’ve EVER seen and every publisher will rip your arm off for the opportunity to publish it!” sadly ;-)  However, the areas he highlighted for improvement were so spot on and helpful that I instantly knew exactly what to do to make the manuscript even better.

This email critique was followed up with a chat with Steve at Swanwick on Sunday, which was fun.  He’s also running a course on writing children’s fiction there and I got along to Sunday’s session on humour.  I picked up lots of great hints and tips from that too, e.g. using funny words, timing.  Plus I’m back at Swanwick on Wednesday and Steve is going to save his session on pace (the key area for me to work on) until then for me, bless him, yay!

My fingers have been twitching ever since getting all this feedback and thankfully I was able to do some serious work on the manuscript yesterday (hurray for holiday sports camps!).  I feel like Frankenstein.  I’ve already cut out 1,000 words and moved whole sections around to improve the pace.  Hopefully when they’re all settled in their new positions they’ll fit perfectly and look a helluva lot better than the patchworking of Frankenstein’s Monster though!  I’m chuffed with how it’s shaping up already. 

My plan now is to complete the fourth edit as soon as I can and start sending it out to literary agents in September to see if anyone would be interested in representing me, Ben and Ned to the publishers :-)  That would be such a major step on my writing journey, it makes my heart lodge in my throat every time I think about it!!  Knowing my time-keeping record with writing goals that may not end up happening until October, although there are good reasons why I need to push myself to get it done asap….(to be continued ;-) )

Encouragement From The Guys!

It’s a distinct possibility that a few people misunderstood my previous post on encouragement and were under the impression I was talking about ego stroking or relying on other people’s appreciation for our sense of self-worth.  Being misinterpreted is something that I’m already beginning to get used to – which is useful, as it’s sure to happen more and more the further along this writing journey that I get :-)

True encouragement isn’t about sycophantic praise, but giving people courage to press on.  That’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard on encouragement in this sermon from my much missed church leader, Arnold Bell.  It was definitely one of those mornings when you feel like the speaker is talking solely and directly to you!

Although I stand by my comment about encouragement being a predominantly female attribute, it would be wrong not to acknowledge that some of the most powerful sources of encouragement for me on this writing journey have been male. While I do have a few male friends who make the effort to encourage me (thank you guys!), most of that male encouragement comes in more general and public ways, rather than personally.

Someone I find constantly encouraging, via Twitter, is Nicky Gumbel. What a wise, inspiring and godly guy - I wish he was my dad!  He has that amazing gift of so often having the right words at the right time for me.  I could give you pages of examples from his tweets but here’s my current Top 5:

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

Be generous with encouragement. It is verbal sunshine. It costs nothing, it warms hearts and enriches lives.

'To avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.'

Humility is not a denial of ability; it is a recognition of where it comes from and for whom it must be used.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven't spent the night with a mosquito - African Proverb

 (And one for luck - If the grass looks greener on the other side, it's probably astroturf.)

Another key encouragement and inspiration recently has been a musician called Michael Gungor.  He’s written an amazing book called “The Crowd, The Critic and The Muse: A Book For Creators”, and it’s what he talks about in relation to the title that really resonated with me.  Whatever you create – art, writing, poetry, craft, photography, cookery, anything - it’s important to consider where our creativity flows from and what influences it.  This extract sums up issues that I’ve already started to face and will do even more so, if any of my work is ever published.

“For the creator there will always be the voices.

Voices of critique.  Voices of affirmation.  The voices of the ego and the audience.  The marketers, the fans, the bloggers, or the executives.  The more exposure that an artist has to the outside world, the louder the voices will become.  The more successful the work, the more people will step in to try to influence and manipulate the work for their own benefit.

The creator has a decision to make.

What voice will I listen to?

This decision must be made daily.  Hourly.  Moment to moment.  As the voices swell and pitch, demanding that she go this way or that, the creator must decide which voice to listen to.

The crowd, the critic or the muse?

This decision will give her creation its form.”

The critic – real or imagined – can be very useful and enable us to see and take action on flaws and weaknesses in our work.  But it can also be crippling or make us change our work into something it shouldn’t be, just to keep them happy.

The problem with always listening to the crowd is, again, the temptation to create something that they want, rather than creating what I truly want to create. There’s no harm in keeping in mind what might be commercially viable – and I do – but if I write a story that I think will satisfy the crowd mentality, rather than express what is within me, then I won’t be writing fully with my voice.  It could become a commercial product, a churning out of the same old, same old, instead of something that is deeply unique and personal.

The muse should be the primary source of our creativity:

“Creative work should not come out of who the external voices want you to be, or who you wish you were, but from who you are.

You are not a mere cog in a machine.  You are a human being, unique and miraculous.  The whirls and lines in the skin of your fingertips are unique to you.  Only you have your particular set of relationships, beliefs, passions and circumstances, and only you have the ability to create what you ought to create.

As an artist, the voices you listen to ought to align with that inner Voice who knows who you are.”

As a Christian, that Voice for me is God.  He is my Encourager, and seeing as He told me to be a writer in the first place, His encouragement alone can keep me writing ;-)  He is also my Inspiration and the Source of my creativity.  I’m not writing Christian books, but they will naturally contain my worldview as it’s part of who I am and I am their author.  Being a Christian writer could undoubtedly be a cause for criticism from some people in the future, even though few other writers will have their beliefs delved into and criticised in the same way.  However, if I try to write and create anything other than my stories, then I may as well not write at all.  If you want different stories then fair play - but someone else will write those for you.

My stories – whether I’m conscious of it in the writing process or not – spring from my unique set of “relationships, beliefs, passions and circumstances”, as do everyone else’s.  I’m only just beginning to discover how those emerge and merge in my writing, but it’s a fascinating process.  And if you ever want to give me courage to press on with that (aka encouragement) – whether you’re male or female! – then please feel free!  I will endeavour to the same for you :-)

An Encouraging Rant!

I like to think I’m a bit of an encourager.  And unfortunately, because I naturally look for ways to encourage people, I have noticed that there really isn't as much encouragement going around as there jolly well should be! 

Encouragement also seems to be a predominantly female trait.  Take one of my recent Facebook statuses as an example.  I shared my excitement that I’d finally finished the third edit of my book, which is a flipping big deal to me!  29 people liked that status - 28 women and 1 MAN (thanks Nick!)!  I have lots of male "friends" on Facebook, so do I assume they’re not good at encouraging, don’t realise how encouraging the “Like” function is or just don't care about me and my life? 

This is tongue-in-cheek, just in case you were wondering...

I came across a fantastic blog post a few weeks ago and its suggestion blew me away with its simplicity and power.  Rachel, aka Hands Free Mama, talks about the amazing change that came about in her kids and her relationship with them, by simply sharing her pleasure in what they did, rather than always analysing their performance and suggesting room for improvement (which I also find far too easy to do). So, instead of suggesting ways her daughter could perfect her swimming technique, she just said "I love to watch you swim", because it was true.  The response from her daughter was beautiful.  

I decided to try it out and was amazed by the results. I would add at this point that it needs to be genuine and sincere, not an attempt at manipulation!  Tempting though it is, I haven't yet said to my kids "I love watching you unload the dishwasher" or "I love watching you vacuuming" :-D  But I have said (among other things) "I love watching you guys chatting together and enjoying each other’s' company", coz it really does warm my heart to see that.  They beamed at that comment and harmonious sibling relations were enjoyed for the rest of the day!

Encouragement has to be genuine though!  But it's really not hard.  It might involve opening your eyes a bit more to what's going on around you, or intentionally taking the time to vocalise what you're feeling.

I could tell one friend that I love watching them take photos, coz not only are they great photos, but I'm fascinated by how they see the world.  I could tell another friend that I love to see how they welcome and care for people.  I could tell many friends that I love seeing how much passion they are pouring into projects that will bring freedom and change to the lives of people facing really dire situations.

There are an overwhelming number of negative and discouraging comments floating around in the world already.  We can see, hear and read them all the time.  Why not play a small part in bringing in a greater tide of encouragement today and in future todays?!

One piece of encouragement can make a huge difference in someone's life.  It could be the difference between them doing something or not, or how confidently or enthusiastically they go about doing it.  A little encouragement goes a long way, but it doesn’t last a lifetime though.  We need to do it more regularly, in all sorts of ways and about all sorts of things.  Why?  Because it’s so easy to get discouraged and end up thinking "why bother....?".  That can leave us feeling hurt or disillusioned, withdrawing from people and situations, and not giving out as much encouragement to others.

It's well understood amongst writers that we swing so easily (within the same 5 minute period sometimes) between thinking our work is brilliant and then complete rubbish, with very little middle ground!  I am plagued by regular doubts about what I'm doing:

"I'm deluding myself that I’m even a half-decent writer" OR

"I’m wasting my time coz I probably won’t get published and if I do then no one will like or buy my books anyway”

These insipid voices tell us that no one cares and what we’re doing is pointless, unimportant and unappreciated.  But, when we encourage one another, our voices drown out these crushing demoralising voices and people are released to do whatever it is they’re supposed to do.

Why am I so passionate about encouragement? It's not just coz I would like more of it, although naturally I would ;-)  Writing is a solitary business and it’s too easy for me to hear the discouraging thoughts/voices when I’m on my own.  I’ve learnt a lot about how to manage this issue recently - I’ll tell you more in a future post – which is why I’m able to write this post now without so much of a personal agenda (honest!).

I’m passionate about this issue, because I genuinely believe that if people were more encouraging and encouraged then we would all excel more at what we do.  It could make the world a better place in so many different ways…