Back from Conference

What a day at my 2nd Get Writing conference at Hatfield University, organised by the good people of Verulam Writer's Circle. So now my creative batteries have been recharged for another year, filled with inspirational and motivational speaking from publishers, agents, buyers and of course the writers.
The difference between last years and this years is the rapid growth of technology. I cannot recall Twitter being mentioned at all last year and yet this year it was not just mentioned but indeed promoted. One speaker went so far to say "if you're a writer and you don't use Twitter...why?" Personally I don't get it. I haven't got to grips with how to use Twitter in a functional way in terms of networking with people within the literary world and having to do this within 140 characters. When it comes to words I can't see myself being that economic. I have a Twitter account, and I use it to promote this blog, but I'm not reaching the right Twitterers.

Kindle has taken the book world by storm, with millions of people giving them as presents to their loved ones at Christmas. I was no exception. Indeed I received my Kindle in November for my birthday. Today,I came away from the conference with mixed feelings about my newfound boy toy. As I have said in a previous post, I have been on a massive binge-read since November, but I now share the guilt that our beloved bookstores are seriously under threat.
I have not turned my back on P-books or tree books as they are now described, and have purchased real books since having my Kindle. I think readers, writers and booksellers have to think seriously about how we can all benefit from this change. Waterstones, WHSmiths and other retail outlets need to look at how they can    compete with Amazon. One delegate suggested bookstores need to remain in the High Street so readers can browse and handle the books physically and then decide whether to purchase the paper book or download to a flash drive in store. I for one would prefer to do that than online.
It has been suggested that there could be an alternate market for writers who may want to think about writing specifically for the e-book  market, with shorter 'Kindle-sized paragraphs, short stories, novelettes and perhaps serialized stories. Instead of waiting for the Tsunami, the booksellers should by all means embrace the change and go with it, but not without finding a way to preserve the printed page.

Get Writing 2011

I forgot to mention, I am going to Get Writing 2011 conference on 19/02/11 (this Saturday). I went to this event last year and got to meet crimewriter Mark Billingham. Interestingly enough, crime is a favourite genre of book reading for me, and I don't generally read comedy although I write it. Mark Billingham said, "don't write comedy, it is too difficult," but although he's an award winning crimewriter, when he's not writing he does stand-up comedy on the comedy club circuit.

This years keynote speaker is writer/broadcaster Sue Cook. There will also be publishers and agents addressing the conference and some handy workshops too.

I know its late in the day but there are a limited number of spaces left..

http://www.verulamwriterscircle.org.uk/getwriting2011.php

Structure and motivation.

From time to time I do correspond and meet with other writers. Whenever people mention structure and planning to me I go quiet. When forced into a corner I will mutter something about my writing being a journey, and that the journey is a mystery tour because sometimes even I don't know where it's going. I have come to believe if it's a good trip for me then it will be a good trip for my reader or audience.
Editing this somewhat haphazard modus operandi of writing can be an arduous task, because I am trying to establish some structure, shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
A screenwriting friend recently Skyped me from NY and recommended "Save the Cat" by Blake Snyder, which is supposed to be the last word on screenwriting.
I got my book delivered from Amazon with 3 days and within 3 days more I had read it. Snyder's book left me so motivated I felt like an athlete poised at the starting blocks.
I rushed out to Ryman Stationery and bought a large notice board, index cards and coloured pens. I then produced a template for my 'Beat Sheet' and wrote the story divided into 15 specific beats which were so specific they reserve in advance what page number they will be on.
I'm at the 'Board' stage now, that's Board and not Bored, which I have sectioned off into Acts 1, 2 and 3, (2 being sub-divided into two parts) and then commence to write my Scenes on the index cards. When they are all on the board, all 40 of them, then I can adjust my structure at this stage, a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, which is a whole lot better than rearranging whole chunks of writing, as you cannot see a whole script in one glance.
Blake Snyder says a lot more about scene writing and character development, but you'll need to buy the book to find out more.
I haven't lost that 'journey' experience I previously had in my writing. The journey happens for me in putting my beat sheet together and then on the storyboard.
None of this is writing, but boy the writing will flow so much better when I know where I am going. I hope my fingers can keep up.
My partner read my beat sheet, and said "It's not your usual style of writing, and there is no comedy there." I pointed out to her that it isn't my writing at all until I go to the laptop and  bring the story to life by adding richness and depth to the characters, location and storyline.
Comedy is absent from my story at the planning stage, because story is paramount, and comedy is my preferred style of presenting my characters as the story unfolds. I don't plan comedy.
I'm writing a film script this time. I don't expect it will ever go into production because it involves location expenses and no producer would do that for a new writer. It is a story I have wanted to tell and for me it's a worthwhile project in my mission to develop into a writer in my latter years.
Its called Midnight at the Alhambra, and I will post a sample in the near future.

Finding a balance.

I have spoken about my experiences of constructive criticism from the screenwriters group I go to once a month.  I have sent another post to this blog about editing. Well I have had  good criticism from my group. There are some good writers there who really know what they're talking about, which sent me on my way back to my computer to edit, then edit and edit.
Hey I think I've found another condition to rival Writer's Block. I'm going to call it Writer's Locked-In Syndrome. It is when you are thinking about what you want to say and keep changing it, until it reaches a point that unless you release those words soon you're never going to be heard. Does that make sense?
So I've had my proof reading, and I think I've polished my script so much that any more polishing and I am likely to rub it away. It's time to submit.
I am so agonisingly slow. Goodness knows how I'd cope should I ever become an established writer and have to work to deadlines. But then I could give up the day job which would unburden me of a major distraction.
I know you shouldn't rely too much on friends for criticism, because friends have difficulty with pointing out errors or anything that as a reader they do not understand. The tendency being they only want to tell you what they assume you want to hear. But last week I thought, what the heck, and passed my electronic reader (which I had uploaded my script on) to two co-workers. The first reader, (Daspikster, one of my followers on this blog) is a young man who does stand up comedy in the Comedy Clubs around London, and also is writing some comedy himself. My second reader, Omesh has written a self help book, so as you can see I have chosen my readers carefully.
The upshot of all this was, I can honestly say is, from the feedback that was given was that they had been entertained. "I was laughing out loud" was one of the comments which helped convince me, my script is now ready.
I have now printed the final draft and will be sending it to the BBC Writersroom, in the hope that I can avoid the slush pile. Having had Henley's Ricotta rejected by them without any feedback, I have since improved that script enormously, but, alas, the rules of the BBC are that I can never send the same script to them twice. This is probably the reason I have sat on Fairfax Goes to Ephesus for so long, because you only get one shot at it.
The reality of the situation is that the BBC Writersroom receive, on average, 10,000 scripts per year, most of which only have the first 10 pages read, so I have to expect rejection.
My rejection plan this time will be to see if I can get myself an agent, who will advocate for me and try and get in that way. There again, I'm up against it as like the BBC, agents  also handle thousands of scripts and manuscripts per year.
Oh, why can't I be normal and do something else with my spare time like grow vegetables.

Henley's Ricotta

At last it's posted, the first 15 pages of Henley's Ricotta. The dialogue is almost sitting comfortably but it needs at least another draft.

At last I have some followers and comments. Hello and welcome to Nari, Judith, Deborah and Daspikster.
I will reply to your comments in due course and follow your blogs too which I will ensure is well publicised within these pages.

I've been reading a lot lately which has left me less time for writing. But it's not all bad, because I reckon I needed to recharge my batteries and what better way for a writer to do that than to stick with the written word and read books.

My current reading is something that I am reading for the third time in my life... Oliver Twist. Not my most favourtie Dickens story... but oh boy, even today his prose simply takes your breath away and takes you back to a bygone era in a way no modern writer could emulate. Social history as written by one who has experienced those times.

Finalising Henley's Ricotta is my next task... and maybe I'll try my hand at sending Fairfax to the Writersroom before Christmas. I also have some new stuff started.

I have been to the last meeting of the Screenwriters group I belong to until next year, which leaves me plenty of time to get something ready for them to critique.
I am lucky to be in such good company in my writers group, many of them involved or employed in the film and television industry.

I just hope there is still room for people like myself  with raw talent.

If you have read this please comment and you are welcome to follow. Always nice to associate with other writers.

Until next time, keep scribbling.

More rewriting.

I don't know how I'll ever have time for writing, because I'm far too busy rewriting.
Fairfax Goes To Ephesus was aired at my screenwriters group last week. The feedback I was given was that it was too well written, which is probably a polite term for long winded. Some of the historical facts were hard to follow, and I needed to put in more sound directions, as this has been written as a radio play.
All good advice, and I am really lucky to be in such a good group who give constructive, but never harsh criticism.
Learning to accept criticism I consider to be part of the skill of being a writer, and possibly one of the most difficult skills to acquire. Let's face it, generally when people write their ego comes to the fore in a way it never would in their ordinary life. No holds barred.
So what happens when your precious peace of work that you have previously edited until you think cannot possibly be edited anymore has reached as near perfection as it will ever reach, is given constructive criticism which no matter how kindly is delivered always comes down to the same meaning... COULD DO BETTER? Ego can come out in defense, before it's had time to consider what has been said. The inner turmoil this can induce can be like hell unleashed if you are a naturally creative but sensitive soul.
The best way to deal with critism, is  and learn to value it and to make full use of it is to just accept it and make sure you write down the comments in your notebook, taking care to date and name who has said what. Only then when you later have time to reflect, (I recommend no sooner than a week later), can you make sense of what has been said, and choose whether to agree with the criticism or not.
I'm going to see if one of my writer friends will give this latest (but maybe not the final) draft a once over before I send it to the BEEB.
Meanwhile I'll get to work on something else...oh and I've still got to rewrite Henley's Ricotta because I've promised a sample to this site.

Edit, edit, edit -it-or I will beeeee.

There's only one thing holding me back from my writing... it's my editing.
Stephen King, in his autobiographical writing guide On Writing, said "to write is human, to edit is divine". Okay, a play on Pope's "to err is human, to forgive is divine", but true nonetheless. It has become a mantra that haunts me, inasmuchas it will never allow me to let go of a piece of work and say those all important words THE END.
At my writers group recently, Ushabti was critiqued. Stage or radio... but not telly, I was told. Too much dialogue. One member of the group said that people don't talk like that...OUCH! Although I didn't flinch, and smiled back at him, inwardly I sulked for a couple of weeks. He was right. I looked at it again, using my ears, not my eyes. That's the problem for me. Read a script, you use your eyes and absorb the writing. People do indeed write like that, but they do not talk like that.
So what was wrong? Long sentences, too many long sentences. Unless you're a newsreader, preacher, politician or double glazing salesman, you do not speak in long sentences.
Good lesson learned. I listen to my characters. Their voices are in my head. I've told them they'd better shape up or else.
I have written yet another version of Ushabti... a radio play, and removed the TV version off this blog. That's all I've got to say for now... or is it? Maybe I'll come back and edit this post.