In a Flash

Last week I entered a story into a competition. As I've said in a previous post, writing to competition rules is good discipline and a great (and you never know, possibly profitable) way of practicing the craft of writing.

With a 1000 word limit, this particular competition qualified as flash fiction and, my word, that was tough! I am naturally verbose and this spills over into my writing, but the risk I take with rambling on is that I bore my readers and they put down my writing, never bothering to finish reading the story. So writing to a tight word count is my way of training myself to cut the crap out of my writing. And as a proofreader for several publications, I know just how much of what people write and think is essential, can be cut out, the effect of which is often to tighten a piece of writing until it right to convey the message with maximum impact. Less is more, so they say and in this respect, "they" are right. 

So  here are some of my thoughts on how to write a concise story. This can be applied to other types of writing: features, letters, reports, monologues, scripts, blog posts...

• Write your first draft freely, then work on it - this lets you freely explore your ideas and lets the creativity flow
• Then rework the piece taking all unnecessary words out - these are words that don't add anything to the meaning of the sentence. Like "very" or "really".
• Use strong nouns and verbs and you can get rid of adjectives that don't add to the sense of what you are writing. Try it out, it works.

• Do you need to elaborate on how someone was talking when using dialogue? Readers can become distracted when faced with a variety of ways of speaking. Have them focus on what is being said rather than on whether they whispered softly (how else would you whisper?), or shouted loudly (ouch, too much!). "Said" is often all you need.
• Pick a key emotion on which to hang your story.
• Limit your images: one or two strong images make a more lasting impact than many crammed into a tight word limit.
• Pick a key theme and stick to that one - there is no room in 1000 or fewer words to elaborate or complicate.
• Limit the number of scenes since world building and context setting can take up much of your word count.
• Limit to just one or two characters - make it personal and make it focused and the reader will be swiftly hooked, engaged and rewarded.
• Use a small idea for a small story and reserve big ideas for longer pieces of writing.
• Limit the viewpoints - one character, one viewpoint tends to work best.

Final tip? Just write and enjoy the process. Work hard enough and you may be rewarded for it in a competition win or publication.

Writing for Competitions

A quick browse on the Internet will soon trawl up writing competition after writing competition - short stories, poems, novels, flash fiction, one act plays, and more. Some offer huge prizes and some more modest. Some only go as far as to offer publication in an anthology for the winners and this alone is enough to tempt the writer who yearns for publication. Some come accompanied by fees, some are free to enter. Is it worth while entering work in a competition, was a question recently asked of me by a fellow writer.

That gave me food for thought. I have occasionally entered writing competitions. I've won some, came runner up or highly commended for some, never even heard of the results of numerous others. But I do believe there is value in submitting pieces of writing to competitions that go beyond the obvious one of possibly winning a prize (hopefully a rather chunky cheque, maybe a residential writing retreat and publication to boot).

Firstly there's the discipline of writing to a theme, where there is one, or searching for a theme that inspires you to write and then voicing the story or poem that the theme sparks off. There's the word count to be aware of, the rules that must be followed (every rule needs to be followed, from the layout and font size to submission details and total number of words, otherwise you run the risk of having your entry disqualified before it is even read). You may  have to write to a particular genre or style and this requires focus and discipline so you don't wonder off the track that is laid out for it. And then there's the time element: the dreaded deadline. They are usually set in stone, and cannot be changed, as is the case in most parts of life. 

For the writer who works alone, from home, without a boss or manager to answer to, the regular application of the discipline of meeting a deadline and set requirements that come from entering writing competitions helps to hone your skills as a writing professional. Just because you want to practise your art and perhaps sell it, doesn't mean to say you can get away with shoddy presentation, ignoring important details and not working to precisely what your editor wants - in the case of competitions, it is what the judges and organisers want that you work to meet.

The other benefit of entering writing competitions is to work the creative muscle. It isn't hard, when working on a long project, to get bogged down and stale. Taking a break and writing in a different style or genre is almost like taking a holiday and works to refocus and energise your creativity. You also experience the satisfaction of challenging yourself, writing to completion and submitting your work to be read.

Okay, so that last bit, having your work read, can feel a bit intimidating. But if we're not writing for our words to be read, understood, thought about, reacted to - why are we writing at all? For writers who are still working on developing their craft, or who have never had the courage to submit work to a publisher or magazine editor, it is a way of gaining confidence. When entering competitions, especially if you are sending your work out online to another town or country, you can feel a degree of anonymity. You have never met the judges, you are never  likely to meet them, so what they think of your work doesn't really matter. 

At which point, it's worth remembering that judges of writing competitions are evaluating the writing. Many competitions do not have the work identified by name when it is passed to the judges - they judge the writing in front of them, and a jolly laborious task it must be to pick out a winner from perhaps hundreds or thousands of entries. It is not you as a person or writer that is being judged, it is the piece that you have entered. If you don't win, it is not always because it was not a good piece of work - often it is because on that particular occasion, someone entered a piece of work that was a bit better.

The lessons that can be taken from entering competitions, even if you don't win are various, and they can help you increase in confidence. The more you write, the better a writer you become, so entering is a way of helping to focus your writing even while you work on your magnum opus. If you get feedback on your entry - which some but not all competitions offer - use it to make a better attempt at the next one. If not, read the winners and see what it is they did that made their work rise above yours, and then apply it to your work.

I think there is tremendous value in entering competitions when you can. I say that as a writer who has recently had one of those polite emails of the type: 'thanks for sending us your entry; better luck next time'. But at least I can go back to the keyboard with a dose of reality swallowed: there were 13,000 entries to that particular competition and I can now work on a way to make my next stab at it stand out above that crowd.

Do you plan before you write - or just write?

Always a subject of debate among writers: do you plan out your work first? Do you lay out a structure so you have a road map, a route to your destination? Or are you more impulsive, let your fingers move over the keyboard and let them take your story to wherever it is meant to go?

I find a bit of planning helps me out. If nothing else, since I tend to write in short spurts as and when I get time to and in a race before deadlines, just to jot down a few bullet points at the start of a piece helps me to focus my thoughts. It helps to outline the angle of entry, the pathway through the theme, the sequence of events and drives me towards the conclusion, which, if all goes well, is a natural summing up of what went before in non-fiction and a tying of loose ends, a resolution, in fiction.

The extent of planning is influenced in part by how complex the piece you are trying to produce. A thoroughly researched piece of political history, a detailed biography of a famous figure, a complex crime thriller are each likely to need a thorough road map much more than a short story with a small cast of characters and a single theme plot. Then again, preferring to plan or not plan, and the extent of details in your plans can be influenced just as much by your personality as by the requirements of what you are trying to write.

I am, in collaboration with another writer, very slowly working my way through a non-fiction book. We began our work with some basic reading around the subject and then discussed an outline of what we wanted the book to be about. From this, we put together a basic plan. This has been reviewed a number of times, reworked and refocused as the research threw up information that we wanted to integrate, and identified irrelevant details that we decided to throw out. As we write, the plan is modified, but essentially it has helped us to focus and to organise what is a vast amount of information that we could have got lost in for years without ever typing a word.

For me, this approach works quite well with non-fiction. Even when I write short articles for magazines, a very basic plan helps me to organise my thinking. 

It works quite well with creative writing too. I remember from decades ago, our English teacher recommending writing a rough plan in pencil at the start of each of our answers before taking the plunge. It's the writing equivalent of warm up exercises before a rugby match to make sure you get the best performance from your muscles: in a writer's case, the mind muscle. What I found used to help the most, was a kind of release of creativity that seems to come when you force your thoughts down the nib of a pencil (you can do it electronically, but pencil works best for me). 

A rough plan doesn't restrict your work, it just helps to shape it. Many a time I've planned out a story to find that as I write, characters suddenly seem to take a life of their own, carve out their own path. Sometimes, it feels that I am writing what they are doing, rather than orchestrating their actions from my writing. It's a weird mental space that writers inhabit!

Which is where non-planning and writing on the wing comes in. Once the creative flow starts, writing seems to happen through you rather than by you. It's as if once you have found the "real" story - that mystical story that exists in the Platonic world of ideas rather then springing from the grey matter between your ears, that story that was just lurking in the ether waiting to be caught and fastened to paper (or translated into digital form) - the story simply materialises. So, I might be sounding a bit metaphysical here, but that's how it feels. 

What actually happens is that by writing freely, with only a vague suggestion about what you want to write, you release the creativity in your brain and it will create the story as you go along. It's quite a liberating way to write, a little exciting, and even a touch disturbing if you are one of those writers who likes complete control over their work.

Whether you plan your work first or not, whether you follow your plan or let yourself get carried along by the power of the story, all writing needs to be revised and polished so that it makes some kind of sense to the reader. Stories without meaning are not stories at all, just a collection of phrases. But revision is a whole other ball game. I'm off to plan a story in the hope I'll actually write one worth submitting to a competition or for publication somewhere. For what is the point of writing if no-one is going to be able to read and understand your work?

One Word at a Time

It is never quite the right time to write is it? Or so it seems to me. Priority has always been given to duty and writing for me is such a loved pastime that in my mind it is an indulgence. And, raised in a strict Catholic tradition which screams fire and brimstone at anything that might appear to be pleasurable, I always have had to relegate writing time to the back end of all my duties. How can you write when there's always so much to do: laundry, dinner, shopping, cleaning...oh, and earning a living while you find someone who will pay for your writing?

This isn't a picture of me, but when all six were at home and there were eight of us, I wish I could have hung washing from each window as well as the lines in the garden and every radiator indoors! Laundry, laundry everywhere and not a stitch to wear!

As a working parent, there were always many more duties than time for indulgences. With six kids to raise, and periods of running my own businesses, there was rarely time to sleep, let alone write. And of course, if you don't sleep, your writing is generally poor because your brain pretty much babbles. You see, it's not "baby brain" - that is just a construct from a paternalistic society that convinces women and the men around them that pregnancy and motherhood somehow affects your ability to be rational, clever, quick-witted, problem-solving, creative, professional and all those things that make you worth employing and successful and worth paying as much as the next man (yes, deliberate use of a traditional male-centred vocabulary). The problem for a writer with being a parent is lack of sleep and how that affects your brain. (I'm going to make interruptions a theme of a later post).

So, six kids later I'm pretty used to thinking in a state of brain fog. And looking back on some of my early attempts at poems and stories, even feature articles, these clearly show that I was knackered. Like this:

Dunfanaghy and beyond

That crumbling cottage by the lough was once a home,

A shelter from the winds that lash the hills.

It had a roof of black thatch, once,

And small windows that caught a little sunshine

To brighten the daily gloom.

The doorway is low

And must have encouraged

A suitably obsequious stoop from the farmer.

No, not farmer.

Peasant, perhaps, or chastened warrior

Driven to the edge of survival by the conquistadors

That came in droves to raid and plunder,

And rape

The very bowels of the earth they trod.

The stones, now worn and tumbling,

Grey as the mist that shaped them,

Still carry the brown scent of the turf fire,

And scattered in the single, ragged room,

Abandoned remnants of rural toil:

Iron cooking pots hurled in a hurry aside,

A spade and a poker dropped in the corner

These last hundred years and more.

Banked to the side,

Leaning, like a child against his mother’s time-worn skirts,

A byre,

Still sweating the stench of huddled cattle,

Sheltering from the leeward lunge of ocean gales.

It was once a home, filled with warmth,

And singing children, smiles amid the toil.

But hunger curbed their joy.

Famine destroyed them all,

And death spread his insidious net

Over barren hills and sterile glens.

Just a little heap of stones,

Staring silent to empty space.

Just a grim and lingering grave.

That effort emerged from a snapped half of an HB pencil, chewed at the snapped end, and scribbled onto a tourist guide pamphlet in the mid-90s during a drive through Donegal. Three kids, full time job, just finished a part-time university degree and wondering if I could cut it as a poet. Awkward phrases, lack of rhythm...but not entirely wasted. I salvaged one or two bits and inserted into other poems and it was good practise at using an observation to develop an idea and write about it.

A published novelist told me last year how she managed to start to publish her work, despite having to raise six kids of her own. "It was difficult. The first ten years were really hard, writing in bits in between doing everything else. But it all boils down to persistence. Every sentence you write means you get better, no writing is ever wasted." It took her over ten years to write a novel good enough to publish. She now has half a dozen to her name and her books can be found on book shop shelves all over the country. Others I have spoken to - few with six kids, though! - were a bit more fortunate: partners who worked while they parented, au pairs and nannies, parents who paid their rent for them...I shan't go into my views on class, money and the opportunity to be a creative, it would become a political rant.

So, all that aside, I keep going, bit by bit, sentence by sentence. Yes, there have been four or five, or more perhaps, stabs at novels. Stories sent off to publishers never to be seen again (oh, the cruelty of the silent rejection!). Dunfanaghy and beyond has not seen the light of day for over twenty years till today. It was all part of the dud notes of practising. I think my writing got better. Use of language, playing with words all improve with practise. Just as a pianist can only learn a symphony one bar at a time, a writer can only finish their piece one word at a time. And sometimes, short pieces can work well. Like this one, which got a "highly commended in a small competition once about eight or nine years ago:

Winter morning.

Morning air so cold

it slices through your skin

and peels back the last of night- time sleep

from eyes that sting in thin 

winter light so bright

it glints rose gold

from silver leaves.

Each step a snap,

 a crack, a sharp shot,

each breath a shard of icy mint

that lingers on your tongue,

then leaves the scent

of musk, of earth,

of naked trees,

of frozen dew

…of death.

I still have a teenager at home, and all the worrying and thinking about my kids, even those in their twenties and thirties who have kids of their own, and I still am a really poor sleeper. But I have kept going, with long gaps, lots of frustrations, lots of interruptions and loss of "the flow" and I finally feel I can say "I am a published writer". And I am paid for some of my writing. I still need to fulfil my ambition of publishing fiction, a novel perhaps, or another slim volume of poetry. But every word, every sentence, is a step closer. 

2017 - did it work for me?

It's traditional to keep spend the dark days of midwinter reflecting on the past year, the good, the bad and the indifferent. It's good to take an objective view of life past from a bit of a distance and learn from it. When it came to reviewing whether my writing resolutions of 2017 had been effective, I found myself a little taken aback. I'm not sure I kept them, but the result of focusing on what I wanted to achieve, may have made a difference.

I had resolved to write less, but better, which might lead to my finishing a project and maybe having something published. 

I ended up writing more than ever, getting better as I went along, and having work published. Better still, I was being paid for my work.

Conclusion, a good year for writing.

But. There's always more to do. When I started the year last January, I put aside some projects that I had been mulling over for ages and decided to concentrate on just one or two.  I made some progress but then found new challenges came along, unexpectedly. Having wasted too much time lacking self confidence and keeping my head down, I decided to say "yes" to every writing opportunity that came my way. It made for a busy year and I can't say everything was successful but here are some of the highlights:

1. One short story only written in 2017. But it won the Gibraltar Spring Festival Short Story Competition. 

2. Only five poems written in 2017. One of them came in second in the Gibraltar Autumn Festival Poetry Competition.

3.  Made a little progress with a non-fiction book I'm writing in collaboration with another writer; less than we'd  hoped but progress is progress nonetheless, and we're in a better place twelve months later to accelerate the writing in 2018.

4.  Wrote the content for a number of commercial websites, developed blogs and social media posts for several clients and had a good number of articles, features and reports published in magazines. This latter was particularly exciting. It is something I have wanted to do for some time but was very slow in getting off the ground.  In the end in needed focus and a bit of self-confidence and some helpful people supporting me. 

5.  Added proof-reading and copy-editing to my skills base, and I found out that doing these can help you develop as a writer as well as improve the quality of the publication you are working for.

6.  Started to keep a journal for jotting ideas which I may be able to use in the future.

7.  Read some of my poems out loud in a local poetry night - loved the experience, which led to a story session in the autumn, and which was also good fun, affirming that telling stories is as essential part of living in a community, of being human. 

8.  Attended the Gibraltar International Literary Festival and met other writers and learned the importance of story to identity. Gibraltar needs writers to write its stories; the stories of Gibraltar and Gibraltarians, by Gibraltarians. Mark Sanchez' talk was inspirational.

As a writer, 2017 exceeded expectations.

Plans for 2018?

• Keep writing.
• Keep sharing my writing with others.
• Network with other writers, for personal support and also because Gibraltar needs writers, now especially, as it formulates a renewed sense of its identity.
• Keep learning from others so that I can make my writing better.

Roll on the New Year!

The Right Resolution for Writing

It's taken me a good week or so to think about what I want to do in 2017 as a writer.  Usually, New Year finds me in a froth of ideas and to-do lists as I aim for more projects than I can actually achieve.  By spring I have usually given up on most of them and by the end of summer, I am utterly dispirited again.

My usual way of thinking goes along the lines of: "I must write more; I must find more time to write; I must settle on a better place for my writing, conducive to intelligent thought; I must enter some competitions; I must start that novel; I must finish that novel....." This last one has been on my list of resolutions for years.

I also usually try that little trick of SMART goals.  But these just remind me of being at work, appraisals and all that capitalist productivity mush.  I cringe every time I see this expression.  So if I cringe, I avoid.  Never mind SMART.  This year I'm going to use good sense.  And that starts with that sixth sense that we don't always use enough - gut instinct.  If it makes me cringe, I will abandon it.  That goes especially for my writing, however precious I might feel about a particular paragraph.

So 2017 is going to be different.  Out with the old, outdated idea that I must write more.  This year, it's all about writing better, going for quality rather than quantity.  So my list has gone from about 30 items exhorting me to produce thousands of words per week, to these three.  

• Get a piece written - everything, including warm up paragraphs, is to get written down.  One idea at a time.  One story at a time.  When one is finished, then write the next.  I frequently take on so many writing projects I can only progress them one paragraph at a time and then  nothing gets finished.  Not this year.  I am shelving everything except the one idea that excites me the most.  When that is over, I will start on the next one.
• Get fussy about revision - I will not hold anything sacred, especially those warm-up paragraphs, or, in my case, pages.  Write them, then get ready to delete them.  Be tough and above all don't be precious.  Writing is for reading and readers don't tolerate easily a writer's self-indulgence. Leave aside all those unnecessary words -'very', 'really', 'incredibly', 'huge', 'most' - in fact, avoid hyperbole altogether.  In fiction, it makes me cringe (so it's got to go) and in non-fiction, it usually reflects a lack of depth and critical analysis (unless it's what the client wants - always produce what the client wants, it's good for the bank account).
• Write for a clear reason - write to inform, to inspire, to tell the story that is burning to be told.  Writers don't often understand why they want to write, what it is they want to write about or even what they want to achieve from their writing.  But there is no point to burbling.  Once you are clear what you want from your writing and what you want from your reader, then write.  Until that is ready, it is just another idea mulling about in your mind.

For me, in 2017 less is more and quality seriously supersedes quantity.

What do you think?  Achievable?  We'll come back to this in the summer, see how things are going; i might just find my work heading for this place!