You can find them on my Events page: Whitstable’s Harbour Books on Thursday 2 August and, with Peter Pegnall’s Bright Scarf poets, at the Poetry Society’s Poetry Cafe in London on Saturday 6 October.
Come and say hello!
Good morning, writers
No blogpost today, I’m afraid. I stumbled yesterday and am looking at a rather swollen right hand. More next week or the week after. In the mean time, have a very happy time with your writing – I’ll be sending you supportive thoughts.
One for the Road
As my editor at London Grip has said, I’ve ‘entered into the spirit of an intoxicating anthology of pub poems mixed by Helen Mort and Stuart Maconie’. I’m not fond of all pubs actually but this anthology encapsulates in excellent poetry the ups and downs of pub life, and the best of them.
Mary Evans Picture Library – Poems & Pictures blog
I’m thrilled to be on the Mary Evans Picture Library’s beautiful website, on the Poems and Pictures blog.
Enjoy a happy roam through the rest of the website too…
Thank you, Loose Muse in Winchester
Monday evening’s event in Winchester’s Discovery Centre (aka public library) was excellent fun – thank you to everyone who turned out on a chilly evening and especially to Sue Wrinch who organises Loose Muse so deftly. It was an honour for me to hear the wonderful open mic readers and to read alongside Jacqueline Saphra whose poetry I admire so much.
Sue Wrinch writes up the evening here.
Because of the weather, I stayed the night in Winchester and spent Monday afternoon, as far as I could, in the company of Jane Austen who came to Winchester for urgent medical attention in her last days and died in College Street. She was 41 years old.
Thanks to her brother Henry’s connections, she was buried in the cathedral. She lies among bishops, soldiers and other powerful members of the community, one of precious few women. Like the other women, her floor plaque describes her by reference to her family men.
Henry Austen has been criticised for not mentioning her writing in that first memorial of hers but, standing there, I realised that he was probably guilty only of conformity in emphasising her sweet character instead. Who knows what pressure he was under from powers that be in the cathedral who felt they had conceded enough in allowing a woman to be buried there at all? Anyway, it wasn’t long before a second memorial was added – if you look up from the floor to the outer wall, you’ll find a pretty brass plaque – and for a third to follow in the form of a stained-glass window describing St Augustine as … St Austin.
I’ve been a fan of Jane Austen since my teens when it was common for men as well as women to list her among their top five writers. She teaches us writers several things:
Not to throw away our early writings. Most of what we read by Austen was written in her twenties and, crucially, rewritten in her mid to late 30s.
We won’t always be in the right place and circumstances to write. While Jane and the family lived in Bath, apparently she wrote nothing. The move to Chawton (sixteen miles outside Winchester) loosened the burst of writing and rewriting that was so sadly cut short by her final illness.
Do keep going and relish every scrap of encouragement, wherever it comes from.
Happy writing.
Bright Scarf poets: 7.30pm in West Greenwich library SE10 on Tues 16 January
If you’re in or around London on Tuesday 16 January (two weeks from today), you can find me reading my poetry – some new, some published – in West Greenwich library SE10 from 7.30pm. It’s a Bright Scarf event run free by Irena Hill, with the mighty Peter Pegnall, Dominic James and Quentin Cowdry.
Happy New Year! What’s coming up next?
Happy New Year to you all and thank you for dropping by, so often and in such numbers. As well as happiness for you and your loved ones, I wish you all a productive, successful writing year. If, by next January, you have a regular writing practice and know roughly where your writing is heading, you will have achieved a lot. That may not sound like a lot but, believe me, it is.
Usually with my writing groups, our second term (in a sort of academic year) is about plot. It’s my favourite: we get to sit around telling each other our favourite stories and chatting about books that have stayed with us through a lifetime.
Usually whenever people look for writing advice, they’re after hints on writing dialogue, show and tell, point of view, that sort of thing. The Box of Tricks. Should I change my usual tilt and go for that now? Then, this morning, I read this.
Storytelling is not about cheap tricks and formulaic writing. It is one of our oldest and most valuable crafts. Character interests us readers first. Plot keeps us engrossed until we reach that fantastic combination of inevitability, surprise and bittersweet longing for more that is a perfect ending. It’s not about writing to a tired formula – I am all for you reinventing the wheel as often and thoroughly as you can, go for it! But if your story has hit buffers and you’re not sure why, then thinking about what has worked in the greatest stories of all time can help.
So, the Box of Tricks is going to wait. We’ll start by looking at the oldest classic plot in the book: Quest. See you here on Sunday!
#Afterhours by Inua Ellams
My latest poetry review is here on the marvellous London Grip website. If slush and drizzle are keeping you snug indoors, London Grip is your perfect companion. Every kind of culture is there.
London Grip poetry review – Jennifer A. McGowan’s With Paper for Feet
My latest review for London Grip is here. London Grip is a fantastic online culture magazine and it’s free. Happy browsing.
Where are we now?
My blog was later than usual this week so here is an extra post to warm us up for the writing weekend…
We’re travelling deep into the hidden furrows of your characters’ hearts and memories now so it’s time for a breather before we go even deeper. Let’s look around at the places in your story where your characters eat, sleep, work, suffer, celebrate and love.
SHORTCUT
Your draft flows more quickly, more consistently if you get to know those places early in your writing. Most important of all, find out how your characters feel about them.
This is about more than location: what are the colours, smells, textures and sounds that tell us about your character and are significant for your story? What is the atmosphere in each place? How does the air move there? Is it warm or cold, stuffy or clear-headed, does it bring a taste to the mouth? Does it bring memories? Above all, does your character want to be there? Why? If not, where would they rather be and why?
- Let’s start at home. Using your scribble-chat technique, let your character invite you to where they live and show you, a room at a time, their kitchen, sofa, bathroom, garden/ view from the rooms, bedroom, bed and so on. Robert Graves’ kitchen in Mallorca is below – I loved that place.
- How does your character describe their bed. Tracey Emin was right, you’ll learn a lot.
- Let’s move on to day to day travel – how does your character usually get around? Ask your character to describe their car, bike, route to work etc.
- From there, it’s easy to lead the scribble-chat to your character’s work place. We spend vast chunks of our lives at work and have a wide range of feelings and reactions to it.
- What does your character do in spare time? Find out about their gym, choir room and so on.
- Can you think of other places that are important to your character? Friends’ and relatives’ homes, for example. Worship spaces. Places to socialise.
- Where is your character’s favourite place in all the world, real or imaginary?
Different characters will see the same places differently of course and that’s always fun.
As usual, this is just exploration. You could have another go next week and find yourself up to the eyes in different answers. That’s great! You can choose what excites you most and works best for your characters and your story. Above all, you are immersing yourself more and more in your characters and their world, letting your writing flow, and getting closer to a deeply imagined, consistent draft.
On Sunday we move to Stage 4 – where is your plot’s engine? See you then!
Rosie Johnston 