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ARWA Retreat meets The Great Calgary Flood

The worst flooding for 100 years.  We’re less than a mile from some of the most badly hit areas, but fortunately we’re warm and dry and still have power.  Four ARWA members have managed to make it in for the retreat – others who were coming in from out of town are staying home for safety, but we’re going to meet on Skype tonight.

http://globalnews.ca/video/661728/raw-video-downtown-calgary-flooding

This is probably the worst disaster Calgary has ever seen. Our mayor,  Naheed Nenshi, has apparently just been on CNN. It appears that out of the 100,000 people forced from their homes, only 1,500 have had to use the public shelters, such is the generosity of Calgarians.  As a city, Calgary rocks!

Stay safe out there, everyone.

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ARWA Writers’ Retreat

I’ve been pretty quiet on the blog this week as I’ve been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.  I’m hosting ARWA’s annual writing retreat this weekend –  I’ll have eight people staying the weekend, with a few others popping in for the day and more coming on Saturday evening for a pot-luck supper – and I’m not renowned for being the best housewife in the world.

And then the rain fell!

I’ve been lucky.  Some seepage in my basement and a leak in my kitchen roof, but other than that I’m fine.  Not so more than 100,000 other Calgarians! A state of emergency has been called in the city and other areas in Southern Alberta. I’ve lived in Calgary since ’88 and I’ve never – ever – seen anything like this before.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Municipal+emergency+plan+activated+officials+Elbow+rivers/8553449/story.html

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Gary Bonn – WriterLot

Talk about keeping it in the family.  My ‘wee’ cousin, Gary Bonn, my guest blogger today, is Anne’s (from my Wartime Rations blogs) son.  Alex (Percy Huggins) – also from Wartime Rations – is our uncle, so I guess we both acquired the writing genes from him.

Gary has published two books, Expect Civilian Casualties and The Evil and The Fear and is one of the founders of the Writers co-operative WriterLot.

Over to you, Gary, and many thanks from your ‘big’ cousin!

 

Some time ago I invited Diana to contribute a short story to WriterLot. In return she suggested I write a blog post – on that very subject.

What is WriterLot?

A couple of years ago I contacted two friends and suggested we invite our favourite writers to team up on a website that offered at least one new piece of writing per day – to fill someone’s coffee break, wind down time, or supply a bed time story. A fiction and non-fiction site that people could access for free.

I had no idea it would be followed in quite the way it has. None of us were prepared for the response.

It was intended to be fun, and still is, but we didn’t expect 150,000 people around the world to look at it.

Part of the fun comes from challenges the other writers give each other. The intention is often to take you out of your genre and comfort zone.

“Gary, you’ve never written from the point of view of an animal. Write something from a frog’s eye view.”

“Write a short romance with dialogue but only full stops as punctuation – nothing else: and make it work.”

“Write a short story that changes genre half way through – but make sure the reader doesn’t notice.”

Lol, I love this gang – when I’m not swearing at them. Being challenged to work with unfamiliar genres and narrative techniques is very stimulating.

Recently I’ve been working with another writer, Christy, on a science fiction project for WriterLot. We’re stunned at the response to it – and it’s been picked up for publication.

Ren Warom and Stephen Godden invented whole worlds for WriterLot (Umwelt and Tales of the Shonri), and keep their stories for WriterLot mainly in these worlds. Tales of the Shonri was published. Ren has an agent for her first manuscript, and we’re all waiting to hold the book in our hands.

Others write whatever comes into their heads, or indeed, house – as Island Writer has done so vividly.

Recently, some of us have used the site to supply whole, or part, books scene by scene or chapter by chapter.

This has built followings of avid readers for the writers. With the audience requesting weekly posts rather than two weekly. They also ask when the book will be published and where it’s going to be stocked.

There’s a slightly bittersweet edge to WriterLot too. We only meant it to be recreation, but soon realised readers want us to produce work absolutely on time – and that can be a struggle when writing/editing/family – even tragedy, get in the way. But you don’t mind – the readers are giving us a huge compliment and that’s a spur to action like nothing else.

If you’re feeling low, Bill Webb will tell you a hundred ways to please your husband, “Be in the same room when you speak to him”: Bill brings us beautifully observed sanity and madness – wrapped in humour.

WriterLot’s mysterious Issy comes at us from all literary angles – never the same twice.

Alison Gardiner… what can I say? Just go and look at her titles to see that you’ll need something wrapped around your abdomen to stop your laughter muscles exploding. Only read for short periods.

Cat Coffey always approaches things laterally. She creased me up with a one minute short, “Navigational Error” and goes from strength to strength.

Alf Haywood, well, he just gets better and better. Mostly romance – with a little naughty on the side.

Boopadoo, a great writer of short stories in anthologies, is about to have complete novels published – deservedly: his writing blows us away.

Jae Erwin takes into what could almost be a genre unique to her – the spiritual thriller. Be prepared to gasp and go dizzy with amazement from time to time.

Girdharry, who has so many enchanting short and serialised stories on WriterLot, has given in to her increasing popularity and is writing full length novels.

Russell Jones had some “guest” slots offered and, after impressing everyone again and again, joined us. He’s built quite a following already – and it’s growing.

WriterLot may be launching whole careers. Patrick LeClerk is published, with his headlong thriller “Out of Nowhere”, and has more books on the way. Janet Allison Brown – already a successful children’s writer, has blossomed into paranormal and romance too. Louise Cole is about to be published as well – with a book that is so breathlessly exciting I’d describe it as aerobic reading.

I’ve had a couple of books published, and another being edited now. Busy times for all of us. What made this all happen?

Behind the scenes of WriterLot are very special elements. The secret formula contains such ingredients as, an obsession with writing, an obsession with each other’s writing and the knowledge that, if you ask one or more of the gang to do a 20-30 hour structural edit on your latest manuscript, they will – without hesitation. And they’ll do all this for you again and again and again. They’ll go on to copy edit, proof read, whatever you need.

And, when they ask you to do the same, you feel a heady flush of excitement, and dive in.

The workload is immense, and I doubt that, after helping each other, any of us have much in the way of free time.

The final element in this formula, is brutal respect. You are required to be as negative, pedantic and nit-picking about each other’s work as possible – quite aggressively so. We know that “nice” comments are worse than useless. When any of us receive someone else’s work to look over, before it goes to an agent or publisher, the writer expects us to tell them every last thing that could possibly lead to rejection and every way that the manuscript could be improved. You simply cannot be sweet about it. It’s taken us some years to understand that if someone has just spent 20-30 hours tearing your work to shreds – it’s because they think the story and writing are worth it.

The best comment I’ve received in an edit? “Gary, your head is a strange and possibly dangerous place.”

Hmm, actually I think “Before you write another book – see a therapist”, tops that (thank you Louise Cole).

I’m not sure how all this happened, but it’s wonderful to be in this gang of skilled and generous people.

Right, Diana, your turn: a short story for WriterLot, please!

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Lorraine Paton

Congratulations to Lorraine Paton – writing colleague and former president of The Alberta Romance Writers’ Association – on the release of her first book – Devin’s Second Chance.

Please check out the excerpt below.  She’s a gifted writer.

I’ve already downloaded a copy to my Kindle and can’t wait to read it.

Congrats again, Lorraine.  May this be the first of many!

http://www.lorrainepaton.com/2013/06/DevinsSecondChanceExcerpt.html

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Forget-Me-Not

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog front recently. No excuse, really. Just distraction.

Elona Malterre talked to The Alberta Romance Writers’ Association a few weeks ago on Writing The Short Story. She’s a multi-published author and one of the founding members of The Alberta Romance Writers’ Association. One of the comments she made really stood out for me: A short story involves unity of Place, Time and Action.

I’m probably not going to be blogging much next week. I’m hosting a writing retreat at my house next weekend, so between then and now I’m going to be busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! Until then, here is a short story for you to read, Forget-Me-Not.

I hope you enjoy it.

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Disengage the digital and engage the mind.

I’ve been having trouble focusing on my writing recently. I might claim writing’s the most important thing in my life  – after my family –  but over the past few weeks I’ve not been giving it the attention it deserves or requires. To try and help get my focus back, I picked up a copy of MANAGE YOUR DAY from Kindle and have been working my way through it.

One contributor to the book remarked that we can’t seem to allow ourselves to enjoy the moment nowadays – that faced with a few minutes of ‘spare time’ we immediately plug ourselves in to some kind of electronic device (phone/e-reader) and cut ourselves off from the world.

So…long story short.  About an hour ago I found myself waiting for a bus downtown. (Last time I used transit, a single adult fare was $1.65.  Now it’s $3.) My immediate response was to pull out my Kindle, but then I thought: Wait a minute. Doesn’t that mean I’m doing exactly what the writer of the book says I shouldn’t do?

So, from 1402h to 1406h, on 5th and 5th in Downtown Calgary, I put down my Kindle, and this is what I saw.

A car that had bronze rims – instead of silver – over black tyres. They looked really cool.

A slim guy, in running gear, running along the sidewalk, discussing a business deal while talking on his phone – he was so fit that he was neither breathless nor breaking a sweat. 

A slim guy, in a business suit, running along the sidewalk (late for a business meeting?) red in the face and out of breath.

Two food trucks driving past.  City council okayed them a while ago – must try one out sometime. 

The bright blue metal transit seat I was sitting on had an open mesh/grated design.  Is that because we get snow in the winter and it melts easier?

A burst of laughter from five window cleaners across the street taking a break.  Four guys, one girl (with blue hair). What does it feel like to clean the 40th floor windows?  And how do you prevent yourself from getting a blue face when you dye your hair that colour?

A few people wearing ear buds on their iPods (closing themselves off to the world – according to the book) but quite a few people wearing headphones of really funky colours.

It’s 20C out today, so quite a few open top cars.

Several men of ‘a certain age’ wearing ponytails.  Is that because they grew up in the seventies… or an attempt to hide their bald patches?

I ‘unplugged’ for four minutes and collected a wealth of data for setting a scene in a downtown location.  Am I likely to use it in the near future?  Probably not, but you never know. But what if we, as writers, take four – oh, go on, make it five – minutes each day to unplug and just look, listen, smell and feel what’s going on around us?  Imagine the detail we’d have for our stories.

BTW, if you’re on a Calgary bus, trying to exit out the back door, and don’t want to look like a total numpty who hasn’t been on one since the fare was $1.65, a word of advice: when the green light goes on above the door, you PUSH the door open!  :o)

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Working with a Critique/Feedback Group

The Alberta Romance Writers’ Association (ARWA) runs a winter and summer writing ‘challenge’ programme. This is an opportunity for small groups of members (3-4) to meet online once a week to read and offer support and feedback on current works in progress. The aim is to produce a first draft manuscript over a 3-5 month period.  Currently we have an 80% completion rate and interest in the ‘Challenges’ continues to grow.

For those of you who have never been a member of a critique group, what kinds of things should you consider before taking the plunge, either with ARWA or with your own writing group?

Being a member of a critique group involves both Giving and Receiving.

GIVING:

1) Tread with care. It seems to be human nature for us to remember the negative things people say about us rather than the positive. There’s a line in the movie You’ve Got Mail where Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan, “It’s not personal, it’s business.” She responds with, “It’s PERSONAL to ME.” Writers who offer their work up to peers for review are putting themselves on the line.  If you flat out say ‘I don’t like it,’ that’s as good as telling someone their baby is ugly. If something doesn’t work for you, try and figure out why.

2) Focus on the positive. My personal creed is to preface my feedback with at least 2-3 things I liked about the manuscript and also end on a positive note.

3) Ensure your comments will help the writer tell the story s/he wants to tell, not how you would write it.

4) Try to find out what the writer wants from a critique.  If they ask for something specific – eg I think my hero might be too unsympathetic – then focus on instances where a little tweaking of a word/action could turn that around.

5) If you feel the writer has a lot to learn, don’t try and overwhelm them with feedback. Concentrate on the one thing you feel is most important to address in that week’s particular submission – eg POV, passive voice etc.

6) Try to give at least one checkmark or ‘nice’ on each page –  eg. for a piece of dialogue/description etc.

7) On a personal note, if I’m critiquing a hard copy of a manuscript, I prefer to use a pencil rather than a pen.  If I’m commenting digitally, I will use a grey font colour rather than a coloured one.  (Never use red – too much like school!)

 

RECEIVING:

1) Make sure you take note of the positive things people say about your manuscript.  Sometimes we only hear the bad things, so be very careful you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater if/when you decide to do a rewrite based on the feedback you receive.

2) Most feedback is subjective.  (Remember the dozen or so editors who turned down Harry Potter?) However, if you have two or more people saying the same thing – eg POV/weak characterisation – then that’s maybe something you should look at.  However, you might also get into a situation where 2 people like something and 2 people don’t. Who is right and who is wrong?  It’s up to you to decide. It’s your story.

3) Don’t defend your manuscript or get into an argument over it. If someone doesn’t get what you’ve written, they don’t get it.

4) A discussion is not the same thing as an arguement. Discussions can be very useful.  For example, going back to the unsympathetic hero, I might make a suggestion which the writer doesn’t like – eg what if he helps an old lady across the street –  but that might trigger a comment from someone else which does work for the writer, or at least sets the writer on the path to find his or her own solution.

5) Remember, this is YOUR story.  It’s up to you to decide whether or not to use the feedback you’ve been given.

 

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I love – love – watching TV!

I’ve just been watching the Queen’s 60th Anniversary of her Coronation on TV. I wasn’t alive at that time, but I know that my parents bought their first TV – as did thousands of others up and down the country – to watch the ceremony. I still have the table on which that original TV sat – it now holds my printer – and I remember that it took a while for the TV set to warm up after you turned it on. I loved – loved – that warm dusty smell when I switched it on at lunchtime to watch The Woodentops.

I can’t tell you how much I loved – and still love –  watching television. Growing up, my Mum and Dad accused me of having ‘square eyes’.  If I wasn’t reading a book, I was watching TV or going to the cinema.

Here’s a list of just some of the programmes that have captured my imagination over the years.   (I’m giving you fair warning – my tastes are not particularly sophisticated.)

I would love it if you’d tell me some of yours.

The Woodentops.

Andy Pandy.

Blue Peter

Doctor Who

Z Cars

The Valiant Years

Star Trek

The High Chaparral

Alias Smith and Jones

The Forsyte Saga

Poldark

Starsky and Hutch

The World At War

The Jewel in the Crown

Dallas

Dynasty

Hill Street Blues

The Sandbaggers

Tenko

To Serve Them All my Days

Flambards

The Young and The Restless

China Beach

Star Trek Next Generation

Brides of Christ

Cracker

History of Britain

Highlander – told you I wasn’t very sophisticated!

The Rector’s Wife

Taggart

Brideshead Revisited

Rebecca (Charles Dance and Emilia Fox version)

Pride and Prejudice

North and South (UK version)

Goodnight Mr. Tom

Band of Brothers

Rome

Dexter

Game of Thrones

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Two posts in one day!

I know, I know, but this is just a bit of fun.  I saw it on Graham Norton on the Beeb on Friday  – I LOVE Graham Norton – then gmail sent me an e-mail advertising it about an hour ago.  Please enjoy.  And if you feel it’s a bit slow at the beginning, fast forward to 3.45mins, or 4.35mins.

I’m still smiling!

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The Magic of What If? and Why?

When I first started writing I had one – just one – idea for a story. That was a bit scary.   Would I ever come up with a second?

And then, as I immersed myself in the craft and process of writing, that wonderful thing happened – as it does to most writers – where everything I saw, read, heard, or did threw up thousands of potential ideas.

But there’s a huge difference between having an idea and transforming it into a story. That’s where the two magical writing questions – and I truly believe there is a magic to them – of What If?  and Why? come in.

For example, here’s an article (click here) I saw in the Daily Mail (please don’t judge me!) a few weeks ago.  This gives you the What If?  What if an apartment in Paris lay empty for seventy years?   (It doesn’t have to be an apartment.  It could be a single room.  A cupboard, even.  And it doesn’t have to be in Paris.  It could be set in London, or Glasgow, or Calgary, or anywhere. It doesn’t even have to be contemporary find. The room/house/building might have been discovered in the 18th Century.  Or the 6th.)

Now comes the most important question – the one that allows you to develop an idea into a story.

Why?

Why was the house abandoned?  What happened here? Does it hold a secret? Was it, perhaps, cursed, and if so, why? Why did no-one ever cross the threshold in seventy years. Why did the neighbours not question what lay behind the doors?

Why then leads you on to the next important question –  Who?  Who did the property belong to? Who was s/he?  (Or they?) Why did s/he never return?  Out of fear? Grief? Denial? Laziness? Forgetfulness? Did the owner perhaps die and her children didn’t even know the apartment existed?  (If not, why not?) What, if any, impact did abandoning this house have on his or her life?

Then come other questions.  When did this happen? What was going on during this time period in the character’s personal life? What was going on in the wider world around him or her?

Where did it happen and why is this place so significant?

Don’t always accept the first answer you come up with – if you dig a little deeper on each question you will probably come up a more interesting and less clichéd answer.

If you still can’t find an answer, maybe you’re trying to force things, or perhaps shift your focus to one detail – e.g. the painting – in the building.  What if the painting is of the owner?  (What if it’s not?) Why was it painted? When was it painted? Who was the artist? Why – if it’s so valuable – was it left in the apartment?

The questions are endless but the two most important  – the ones that will always get you started are:  What If?  Why?