February 2010 Archives

What a week it's been. I remember promising myself that 2010 would be less full on, that I would take more time for myself and Do Less. Who was I kidding? Ah well, it's all good fun - and certainly was on Wednesday evening. I was lucky enough to attend the launch party for Undiscovered Voices 2010, the anthology that I blogged about here. The party took place on the top floor of Foyles and was a festival of excitement and buzz as agents and editors formally met the twelve writers whose lives they are to transform. The two Saras had everything organised with regimental precision, down to name badges, a Who's Who crib sheet and even the official anthology photograph. Here everyone is, having their picture taken by hordes of ... Well, not paparazzi exactly. Friends and well wishers are much nicer. It was a great evening and felt like the mark of something special happening. It was lovely to meet some of the writers, and their partners - or 'plus ones' as their name badges labelled them. Melvyn Burgess gave a speech, wine was quaffed, nibbles nibbled, faces become redder, and then it was time to go home. A typical publishing evening!

In quieter moments, I've been reading Keren David's novel, When I Was Joe. I sat on the tube one morning, my spine rigidly straight as I read chapter 24. Fast-moving and highly dramatic, I couldn't stop turning the pages, eyes darting quickly from left to right, left to right, jerking my head up occasionally (if I remembered) to make sure I hadn't missed my stop. When I reached the end of the chapter I turned back to try to analyse the craft behind this oh-so-exciting sequence. It's all in the narrative voice, darlings. Joe, our main character, breathlessly narrates the fast-moving events. It's the type of excited monologue that almost any teenager must indulge in on a Monday morning at school when reciting a weekend's adventures. 'And then this happened, and then that happened, and I said this and she said that.' Hardly a pause for breath. There are a lot of paragraphs in this chapter that begin with 'And'. The sentences dart between short and sharp and long and crammed. Keren writes as a teenager would speak. We are, by sheer force of the narrative, caught up in the excitement. Dramatic stuff and compelling craft. I have 47 pages to go.

On Saturday I spent the afternoon reading someone else's manuscript to feed back. And today, I took advantage of a birthday present to spend my time with the Urban Writers Retreat. Battling - and I mean battling - through the wind and the rain, I joined other writers in Spitalfields for a day's solid work. Amongst our group was a stand-up comedian writing new material, the owner of a classical music website, a creative writing student, several novelists and Charlie, the organiser, who was working on some non-fiction. What a mixed bag we were! I found my spot, pulled out my notebook, my netbook, my wireless mouse - and I was off. Well, perhaps not quite that energetically. I started slowly, tweaking a word here, a sentence there. Easing myself into the fourth draft. By the end of the day I'd also done about 3000 words of new writing and felt as though my vision for this draft was falling into place. The voice has changed slightly. I don't know why. More anger, more attitude, fewer languid descriptions. Or perhaps that was just the theme for today's writing. Time, as they say, will tell.

If you know anything about children's publishing, you'll know of Anne Cassidy. She's an established YA writer of gritty, tense novels. She doesn't shy away from difficult subjects and her most famous novel - 'Looking For JJ' - deals with the topic of child murder. Her writing is lean and sparse and a masterclass in the 'less is more' approach. I'd advise any aspiring writer to read Anne's books for a true lesson in the discipline and craft that allows talent to shine. There's no showing off in Anne's books, and they speak all the more powerfully for that.

Anne is also one of three authors who set up the Scattered Author Society. I have been a member for a year and now can't imagine a writing world without this group of supportive children's writers. We may not all have met, but we brainstorm book titles, share details of our professional lives, support and encourage, meet up before publishers' parties and attend retreats. Not bad for an organisation that is run on a completely voluntary basis. Oh, and we also have a rather brilliant collective blog - An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. This blog is required reading for all children's authors and anyone interested in the world of children's books. It also allows enthusiastic blog readers such as myself to explore a whole world of further blogs from individual writers.

Anne's latest book, 'Guilt Trip', is about a group of teenagers who rescue a boy from suicide, only to kill him themselves. Like all of Anne's books, it's a slim volume that keeps you tightly in its grip because of the superb plotting, authentic teenage voice and ooh... Those twists. Anne very kindly agreed to answer some of my questions and I was fascinated to hear about her writing approach and thoughts on YA fiction. I hope you enjoy the conversation:

Your depictions of adolescence prove that the devil really is in the detail. The teen relationships in 'Guilt Trip' brought so many memories flooding back for me. The subtle dance between who is going out with who, the etiquette of teen drinking, even a backpack's ties dragging across the floor as someone walks. How do you think your way back into a young adult's mind set?

I think the years between 12 and 16 are powerfully emotional years. So much happens to the young person in the space of time. There is no other period of four/five years in a lifetime when we consciously go through such major changes. It's for this reason that I remember things so keenly. When I think back to my teens it just seems like yesterday. I also use music* and talk to my family about those days. I suppose the fact that I write stories about teen life for a living means that that part of my memory is constantly stimulated.

Young Adult fiction often needs a strong voice. I love the pared back narrative that you use in 'Guilt Trip'. Not a wasted word in sight! Is this your natural writing voice, do you think, or something you adopted for the type of book that you write?

I think this is my natural writing voice. I love stories which are elliptically told. I'm not a great fan of descriptive writing unless it is poetically brief. I also like stories where the plot moves quickly. Sometimes I think I've been too brief. The ends of some of my stories feel sliced off. 'Forget Me Not' is like that. I read that over now and wish I had fleshed it out a bit more.

'Guilt Trip' deals with an event that is purportedly immoral and outrageous - the murder of a teenage boy by his peers. Yet, there are no 'baddies' in your book. The cast of characters panics and makes a bad decision. Were you consciously trying to send out a message about the hazy morality of choice, or was it simpler than that? Did it just make a good story?

There's a lot of crime fiction which deals with 'evil' people. I'm much more interested in ordinary people. I think most people, given the right circumstances, could do terrible things. You only have to look and see what happens in war zones wehre people are brutalised by what's happening to them. My characters are ordinary teens. Alison, Stephen and Jackson don't mean anything bad to happen but it does and instead of dealing with it they run away. This leads to a much worse tragedy. Each of them are pretty self centred, concerned with superfluous things and somehow amid all this a boy is killed. I honestly wonder what I would have done when I was a teen. I probably would have run a mile and hoped for the best. But by luck nothing like that ever happened to me so I am a 'good' member of society.

I've heard you speak at the Society of Authors about the fact that for several years as an author, you never met or corresponded with any other children's authors. Do you think today's world of Facebook, Twitter and social networking would have made a difference to your learning curve as a writer?

No, I don't. I like all the modern communications but my learning curve as a writer came from writing one book after another and seeing what worked. My breakthrough book, 'Looking For JJ', was my seventeenth book! I'd worked out how to do it by then.

Crime fiction is notoriously dependent on a tightly woven plot. As a crime writer, do you have any hints or tips for others who are writing in this field?

I read a lot of crime fiction and am always taking note of plot devices and interesting ways of unpacking a story. But you don't have to read crime books to discover the way to plot. Jane Austen did it brilliantly. I was stunned when Wickham ran off with Lydia. The clues were there though and JA hid them beautifully. That's all you have to do in a crime novel.

You have a long-standing career writing for the Young Adult market. Do you have any thoughts about the current fashion for YA and the type of books that are being published into this field?

I think YAF is brilliant. When I started writing there were a lot of 'issue' type books around. Now I have the feeling that good stories are the thing. I love the fact that there is such a range, vampires to political thrillers. The key always is to provide believable and interesting characters, put them in a difficult situation, stand back and see what happens.


Thank you so much, Anne. What about that? A generous admission that she's not satisfied with all her novels, some fascinating comments about the personalities in 'Guilt Trip' (I hadn't picked up on the theme of selfishness) and great advice about plotting and storytelling.

Anne's book, 'Guilt Trip', was published last month and I really recommend reading it. There's a fantastic use of a text message on the very last page that left me asking questions as I shut the book. And if you're left asking questions, that can only be a very good thing indeed.

* Please see my ABBA blog here for a discussion about music and inspiration.

If you like this interview, you might enjoy my other interviews with Michelle Harrison and Jon Mayhew.

Update! On this beautiful, sunny day I wandered down to my local Waterstones. And this is what I saw:

 

This week marks the first birthday of my blog. I remember how difficult I found it to write my first blog entries and when I revisit them it's like watching my childhood self during a visit to my grandparents: being careful with my Ps and Qs, asking permission to leave the dinner table, sitting with my knees together and no - definitely no! - licking of my plate. Oh dear. A sudden memory returns of Grandad's pancakes with homemade raspberry vinegar. I well remember my sisters and I gleefully licking our plates clean, gorging on the view of each other's flattened tongues through the transparent pyrex plates. Well, hurrah for plate licking and double hurrah for learning the fine art of blogging. The rules seem to be the same: chillax!

On this irreverent note, I'd like to direct all aspiring writers with utmost urgency to this Youtube video of the Imaginary Writing Process, which I discovered courtesy of Liz Kessler posting a link on Facebook. (Liz, by the way, has one of the most superb writer websites I have ever seen.) The video made me laugh a lot and I loved the image of writer and agent skipping and dancing towards a publisher's office. Cycling to work this week, I remembered the video and laughed out loud once again as I steered my way through Islington streets. I now insist that if Jenny, my agent, and I ever get to the stage of presenting my current manuscript to publishers we dance the good dance, hand moves and everything. I'll be practising!

Jenny and I met on Tuesday to discuss my next draft of the current Work In Progess. I did my usual: mumbling incoherently, allowing Jenny to reassure me and steer me until I finally hit upon an idea that could work. I am going to deliver a new draft in April so I will definitely need this blog to keep me going. Nothing like reporting to others to inspire self-discipline!

This latest draft seems to coincide with a strong creative urge that has led to... Well, can you guess from the photos? I find my evenings of crafting the perfect balance after a day's concentrated editing in the office. Both need patience and concentration, but make quite different demands on my time and mind.



Finally, and most importantly. Please do come back to my blog at the weekend to see the third of my Author Interviews. We will have a very special guest ... Anne Cassidy, author of the recently published 'Guilt Trip' and 'Looking For JJ'. I'm excited. Are you?

Yes, it really is. The above photo was taken by the husband of a lovely Walthamstow friend who baked the three tier birthday cake you can see the top of. I've never had three tiers in my life! Well worth turning 40 for. Can you believe how kind people are? I'm still staggered at the effort people went to for my birthday party at the Adam Street Club*, travelling the length of the country, booking babysitters and hotels, buying presents - and yes, baking cakes. I'll tell you something, though - we had a brilliant time. What else are significant numbers for, if not to bring friends together? I don't know how I'm going to top this when I turn 50!

Writerly presents included a beautiful notebook for my scribbles. I love looking back through full notebooks and revisiting my thoughts, word counts, chapter lists, shopping lists, web addresses, doodles and stains from months and years ago. In the day and age of a clean and easily amended Word document, this is often the only 'history' left behind by many a manuscript. Though I still own sheafs of typesetter's pages from my first novel. I can't bring myself to throw them out, even though they sit in a blanket chest being ignored.

Another unexpected but perfect present was a place booked at the Urban Writers Retreat. I love the UWR and can't wait to spend another day with the host, Charlie, and other writers as I work on ... what? My current novel or my next one that doesn't actually exist yet? I've had feedback on my work in progress from my agent, Jenny, and another friend who kindly read the latest draft. I meet with Jenny on Tuesday and then there will be further revisions. In the spirit of full and frank disclosure, I should admit that I had a slight wobble earlier in the week, worrying not that I would disappoint myself (well, that's always a worry!) but that I would fail others. I'm over it now, and these wobbles are all a writer's due, but I would like to thank my writing group who were there when I sent a thinly veiled plea for ego massage. 'I feel sorry for myself and would like you to make me feel better.' Oh dear, Karen. Not a single person told me to pull myself together, and for that I am grateful!

Today, I rest my weary body and drink many liquids. Tomorrow, it's back to the workaday world. And next weekend, I shall undoubtedly be writing. One other inspired birthday gift was a flask. Now I can take hot drinks with me to the Royal Festival Hall when I'm writing! My only concern is that the gift arrived in my hands sans a gift tag, and I don't know who bought me this lovely present. Anyone out there want to let me know who you are? Because I'm ever so grateful.

* A great venue, highly recommended, with lovely staff.
 

Right, come on. Enough is enough. I've spent the past month reading other people's manuscripts, pontificating on blogs, celebrating friends' publishing deals and generally doing anything other than writing. But now I am ready to return to the coal face, re-energised. Well, perhaps not quite re-energised. But writing is a bit like any other exercise - stop using the muscle and it turns flabby. I am definitely going to do some new writing ... tomorrow. So shoot me! It's mid-afternoon, the sun is out, I've been working for four hours and if I don't get some fresh air soon, I'm going to crumble. (I love you, Royal Festival Hall, but whoever controls your heating system has tropical tastes.)


I have a new book idea! That's a start, isn't it? Yes, Karen, if you're a fan of Jeremy Kyle. I ran the strapline for my idea past a friend and asked, 'Too trashy?' Dear blog reader, we all need honest writer friends. 'A bit trashy,' she admitted. So I've tweaked my new favourite idea and still think I have something there. Hopefully not something that could be an episode of the morning TV show we all love to hate.

Honest Friend mentioned above is in the same writers group as me and we met this week. I bemoaned my inability to talk coherently about my manuscripts - to sell my ideas. So we've all tentatively agreed to meet up at our next meeting with a pre-prepared pitch. I am determined to sound confident yet relaxed, succinct yet punchy as I reel out a novel summary that will send publishers falling at my feet. Either that, or I will blush, laugh nervously, wave a dismissive hand in the air, forget my rehearsed speech, lunge for a glass of wine and swallow it down the wrong way. That's how I usually behave when things really matter.

I have two more things to mention before I race out into the sunshine. Have you visited An Awfully Big Blog Adventure recently? Please do, as I have blogged there today about the quiet secrets of publication day. And please click on the 'conspiracy theory' link as it takes you to a comic strip that I put together all by my self.

The second thing? Next week, I turn 40. I'm throwing the Party Of Dreams to celebrate. The last time I threw a party on this scale was probably when I turned 18. I hired out the bar in Chesterfield Football Club. (Oh, the heady glamour!) As a birthday surprise, my two allegedly best friends booked the town's notorious Tarzan-ogram. Do you know what it feels like to have an oiled muscle man with a Derbyshire accent and tattoos throw you over his shoulder? Neither do I, I've worked hard on erasing the memories. Let's hope no surprises are planned for this party. I don't think the venue would appreciate fake tan, blonde highlights and a Tarzan outfit.