Women’s Prize for Fiction – The Orange is a Lemon

Posted on June 3, 2015 by literarylad

And the winner is…

Orange01

…a woman.

Isn’t it time that the Women’s Prize for Fiction was cancelled?

I’ve never been in favour of positive discrimination. Victims of discrimination are not black, white, gay, atheist, etc., they’re human beings. Positive discrimination attempts to balance discrimination against one group by discriminating against another. It does nothing to correct individual wrongs, just creates more victims. It does nothing to persuade those who discriminate that they’ve behaved wrongly. Just the opposite, in fact; it vindicates their behaviour, and creates a power struggle. Discrimination is an absolute, but whether a particular instance of discrimination is positive or negative depends upon your viewpoint. The right way to deal with discrimination is to identify it, correct it, punish those responsible, and put in place processes that make sure it can’t be repeated.

At the same time, we live in an imperfect world, and I would accept that positive discrimination has sometimes helped to bring about a positive outcome in areas where there is a definite imbalance in opportunities for different groups. But is that still the case in literature?

In painting and music women have, in the past, not just been discriminated against; they’ve been effectively shut out. Can you think of the name of a great (by which I mean famous) female artist or composer from before the later part of the twentieth century? In music, with the exception of Hildegard in the twelfth century, the best I can do is Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelsohn. In painting I’m really struggling. I know there were many fine Pre-Raphaelite women artists, such as Evelyn De Morgan, but up until recent times you wouldn’t have known that the Pre-Raphaelites weren’t exclusively male. In literature it’s different. Think of famous writers, and after Shakespeare and Dickens many of the names that come to mind will be women, from Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters through to Sylvia Plath and Doris Lessing. Now, while women may not have been shut out of literature in the way they were shut out of painting and music, I’m well aware that they have suffered a great deal of discrimination and disadvantage. And I’m happy to believe that this was still going on at the time that the then Orange prize was set up. But I look around me now and I see that women writers proliferate. They’re not just on an equal footing with men; they dominate the market. They do pretty well for themselves in all of the major awards.

So why do we still have the Women’s Prize for Fiction? Just what is its purpose in today’s equal market? Could it be that it’s been so successful, makes so much money, that the people who run it don’t want to give up the gravy train? It’s not as if this is the only fiction award that only accepts entries from women. I might never be in a position where my work is being nominated for the top prizes, but there a number of prizes at entry level that are women only too. It seems to me that this is unacceptable, and it’s time that it stopped. These prizes will have been started to fight discrimination, but they’ve ended up promulgating it – all they’ve done is to flip things on their head. I don’t believe this is an acceptable outcome. There’s one way to put it right though. Gender specific literature prizes should be outlawed. And then we can get on with taking the fight for gender equality where it really needs to go – to the boardrooms, to senior management, to the Cabinet and to parliament. To those organisations and professions where women don’t get a fair chance. And also to those where men don’t get a fair chance.

However good a writer Ali Smith may be, the competion itself is a farce. Like the new sponsor’s product, it’s OK at first, but too much of it and you start to feel sick. I would have had a lot more respect for her if she had got up on the podium and told them where to stick their sexist award.

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Book Sale

Posted on May 18, 2015 by literarylad

I’m sad to say my experience of Kindle self-publishing hasn’t quite matched that of the successful people Amazon wheel out in their regular newsletter (‘I was an ordinary hobooksaleuse-husband/builder/shop assistant, etc. and then I wrote a novel, published it on Kindle and now I’m selling millions of copies worldwide…’)

I don’t suppose my little book comes anywhere near the top of keyword searches, and on the rare occasion when someone has scrolled far enough down the list to see it they’ve generally decided not to give it a go. You could say people are discounting it. Well, I’ve decided to follow the old adage that if you can’t beat them, join them, by discounting the book myself – I’ve reduced the price by a significant margin. Yes, roll up, roll up ladies and gents, ‘Single Point Perspective’ is now on the market not for 2.99 of your American dollars (GBP price according to exchange rate) not even for $1.99. No, believe it or not you can now buy your copy for a limited time offer price (probably the foreseeable future) of just 99 cents. Available at all good bookshops (well, OK; just online at Amazon for now).

Link to Single Point Perspective on Amazon.com

Link to Single Point Perspective on Amazon.com

Just in case you’ve not come across it before, Single Point Perspective is a moving and engaging story of everyday lives in and around Manchester; a well told tale of drama and intrigue, with a fair helping of humour. To quote one of the reviewers on Amazon:

‘Excellent book – best I’ve read in quite a while.’

(Thanks Rich: I owe you a fiver.)

Why have I reduced the price? Well, I recently read of an author whose book wasn’t selling, but when she reduced the price of her novel significantly, it started selling well. So I thought, you never know, it could work for me.

Have any of you fellow writers tried reducing the price of your books? If so, what effect did it have on your sales?

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Fiction or Autobiography?

Posted on May 9, 2015 by literarylad

fiction n. 1 prose literature, especially novels, describing imaginary events and  people. (1.)

I’ve read that the questions authors most hate are those that suggest their work is autobiographical. Questions such as, ‘To what extent is your work autobiographical?’ or, ‘How much of yourself is in this character?’ can be seen as a bit of an insult, implying that the author is writing about themselves and their life, rather than creating something new. First time novelists are likely to be more sensitive than established authors, who have already proved themselves. You could argue that all fiction must to some extent be autobiographical, because however much the writer tries to create something out of nothing, their writing still comes out of their mind, and so is subject to their way of thinking, their influences, their perception of the world.
NoraWebsterWeb

Conversely, inexperienced writers are often advised to write about what they know. And there are many established authors who use their own lives as source material. I recently watched a documentary about Colm Toibin. He was talking about his latest novel, which is loosely based on the life of his mother. There was no suggestion that this might make it any less worthwhile; no sense that there was any shame in this. It probably helps if you’ve had an interesting life (if you haven’t, you really do have to use your imagination to come up with something people will find interesting). I suppose that if an author can draw on their own life experiences to tell an interesting story, and put across how events affect people and circumstances in a way that is engaging, interesting, and thought provoking, then their readers will be persuaded that they are reading a story about fictional characters. The author’s own experience gives the characters credibility. But to do this successfully an author needs the ability to be objective.

A book I read recently by another well respected author concentrated extensively on music; on the importance of music – and a particular type of music – to the main character. Pages and pages of description of the music, great long lists of artists; intense, poetic prose describing the emotional effects that the music had on the character. And at the end, in an appendix, an essay by the author about their love of the exact same music. I’d guessed as much. If they’d said that they hated that music I’d have been much more impressed. To have created such an intense and loving description of music they didn’t actually have any interest in would have shown the power of their writing. The way this author wrote about music made me unable to continue suspending my disbelief. It made me think I was reading about the author themselves, and that the character was a sham. I could probably write just as intensely about the music that I play, listen to, write. I could, but I haven’t written about music to any great extent, and when I do touch upon it in my writing, I always have my characters extolling the virtues of music that means nothing to me personally. Maybe the cynical criticism of autobiographical writing has gotten to me. But I see it as a test of my ability as a writer of fiction – if I can make my character’s passion about music convincing when I don’t share that passion, it proves I can write.

Would you be happy to use your own experiences, your own life, as the basis for your stories and your characters? Would you say it’s a measure of a writer’s talent that they can use their imagination to create something outside of themselves and their world? Are both approaches equally valid? Does a really great writer need to be able to both?

 

 

(1.) Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Eleventh Edition

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Election Burnout

Posted on May 5, 2015 by literarylad

If you’re anything like me, you will have had about as much as you can take of the interminable and vacuous spiral of lies, misinformation, accusation, counter-accusation, image-projection, banality, ageism, ignorance and, above all, overwhelming stupidity that is the 2015 British general election campaign. ed01
Dodgy Dave Spameron is desperate to persuade us he’s a genuine man of the people, rather than an insufferable toff with no idea of what life is like for most people. Meanwhile, Ed Millipede is desperate to persuade us he’s a man of the people, rather than a moneyed intellectual with no idea of what life is like for most people. Nigel Barrage, despite his loopy and possibly dangerous collection of policies and party members, continues to be the man most people would be happy to meet with over a pint of beer. Nicola Sturgeon (no need to make up an amusing name – she’s already got one) is proving to be a bit of a handful. The others all seem to have lost the media’s interest and dropped out of the scene.Farage

I’m a bit concerned about Millipede’s creepy stares into the camera, as if he’s trying to persuade us all to get into bed with him literally, rather than metaphorically. Maybe sex is a subliminal force in this election though. There’s the lovely lady from Plaid Cymru. And the Sturgeon would make an impressive dominatrix (have you seen those heels?) It would be bad news for the avuncular, toad-faced Barrage. Bad news too for the putty faced Dave (“Oh my goodness no: it’d be like shagging a wax work”).

Perversely, no party is likely to win an outright majority, and so the balance of power will rest with the SNP, who don’t even want to be part of the UK. I’m confused as to why Scottish and Welsh parties are playing a full part in the campaign, whereas the parties of Northern Island which, as far as I’m aware, is still part of the UK, aren’t getting so much as a mention.Sturgeon

I’m fed up with the leaders telling us what they intend to do for ‘young people’ and ‘working families’, as if no-one else mattered to them (oh, hang on a minute – they don’t). But it’s the rank stupidity of the politicians that gets me. I considered voting green, except Ms Bennett has announced that anyone who wants to come and live in Britain will be welcome, and she intends to build as many houses as are needed to put p468777_b_v7_abthem up. So much for sustainability then. I thought Mr Darcy was supposed to be keeping her in check. It’s ironic that the only party who seem to have any understanding that ours is already an over-populated country and that we can’t afford to let our population grow any more, are pretty much bonkers on everything else. Although they are saying that they’ll ensure any new houses are built on brown field sites, which makes more sense than the Tory’s attempts to dump housing estates on Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

I’ll be glad when it’s all over. Except, I know it’ll end in tears. It shouldn’t be that difficult a choice for our supposedly sophisticated electorate. If only they could learn to think for themselves, rather than believing the lies and misinformation fed to them on a daily basis by a media controlled by the rich elite.

So it looks like another five years of austerity then…

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Bird Brain & The Maniac Street Preacher

Posted on March 25, 2015 by literarylad

Up until now I’ve resisted Twitter. I’ve never wanted to become a member of the ‘Twittersphere’, ‘Twitterati’ or whatever made-up twit-word you care to use, because while Twitter could be argued to give everyone the opportunity to have their say, it’s too easy, too instant, too disposable and too shallow. And then there’s the 140 character limit, which is far too short to contribute anything meaningful to an involved debate. I’ve always thought it was for those who, to quote David Mitchell (not the Cloud Atlas one – the other one) ‘may not know much but probably reckon plenty’. And then there’s that stupid name, and the stupid logo, neither of which can have been dreamt up by someone of my generation – someone who remembers ‘The Birdie Song’ (and is most likely still suffering from the trauma). A word of warning; whatever you do, don’t listen to the You Tube clip below.

Birdie Song induced self-humiliation.

Birdie Song induced self-humiliation.

But yesterday, in a fit of anger, I signed up to twitter. I am now, officially, a ‘Twit’. It’s the National Secular Society’s fault. I’m a member (as well as a twit) and they send me their news letter every week. Last week there was an article/blog post about a street preacher who was arrested and is being prosecuted for ‘religiously aggravated harassment’ and ‘using threatening words’ for his abusive rants against homosexuality. The article criticised his prosecution and supported the aforementioned fruit cake’s right to freedom of speech and repeated the often mentioned idea that no-one has the right never to be offended. This is not what I expect from the NSS. I wanted to comment. Up until about a year ago you could write a reply, send it to the NSS, and they’d publish it in the next issue, in the letters section. Not any more. It looks like the only way to comment now is via the dreaded Twitter. That’s democracy for you. So, in my angered state, I signed up to Twitter. It was a traumatic experience, and I only narrowly avoided ticking the box to ‘follow’ a random selection of 40 vacuous celebrities (including Jeremy Clarkson). But it seemed as though I had no choice if  I wanted to ‘have a voice’. And so, freshly armed with the facility to go out into the world and right wrongs (i.e. a Twitter account) I donned my superhero costume and set about making a comment.

I wanted to make the point that someone’s sexual orientation is on a par with skin colour and gender, in that you’re born with it, it’s difficult, if not impossible to change, and logic and scientific knowledge assure us that one type is in no way inferior to another. I wanted to make the point that it’s all very well to have opinions, but another thing entirely to create a situation where gay people can’t pop down to the local high street to buy a litre of milk and a packet of Liquorice Allsorts without the risk of some nutter shouting homophobic abuse at them. That’s not offence, it’s abuse. I wanted to say; substitute ‘black people’ or ‘women’ for ‘homosexuals’ and ask yourself if you would still consider the preacher had simply been exercising freedom of speech and that it’s unreasonable of anyone not to accept that they might have to be offended now and then. I wanted to say all this and more, but try putting all that into just 140 characters! I’m a writer, I value language. Twitter destroys language. I did a ‘tweet’ anyway. But just to complete my misery, my tweet isn’t showing up amongst all the other ‘reckonings’ that show when I click on the Twitter button attached to the article. Maybe I did something wrong. I’d try tweeting it again, but if my first attempt suddenly appears it’s going to make me look computer illiterate and I worry I might become the laughing stock of the twittersphere. To think I used to be a computer programmer. Maybe I’m old, but I just don’t get modern software (or ‘apps’ as we’re expected to call them). Computers are supposed to be intuitive, but ‘apps’ like Twitter and Facebook are counter intuitive.

After this debacle I’m thinking of cancelling my subscription to the NSS. Maybe I’ll set up a rival organisation. I’ve got some ideas. It would have to be a full-on atheist group, rather than just secularist. If I do get it set up, would you join it?

 

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Fifty Shades of Graham

Posted on February 20, 2015 by literarylad

Warning: May contain scenes of a sexual nature (but don’t count on it)…

Sunglasses
I’ve been continuing to make occasional submissions to short story competitions, and in the spirit of ‘Fifty Shades’, I recently submitted a story to the Stringybark Erotic Fiction competition.

http://www.stringybarkstories.net/The_Stringybark_Short_Story_Award/Home.html

Stringybark is an Australian publisher that runs regular competitions on various themes and publishes the best entries in anthologies. You don’t have to be Australian to enter, but your story does have to relate in some way to Australia. I guess if it’s set in Southend you could always have a kangaroo hop down the pier.Kangaroo

It’s the first time I’ve done erotic fiction, so I had to write something specially. I’ll write anything me; poetry, song lyrics, letters to my MP (or anyone’s MP), IT manuals. The idea of writing erotic fiction didn’t really bother me, but I haven’t really read much, unless you count DH Lawrence, so I wasn’t quite sure what would be required. I guess I could have bought the anthology from their last competition, but it gets expensive if you do that for every competition, and in any case, I don’t get much time to read these days. I aimed for a dark, subtle eroticism, fairly abstract, with lots of descriptive text; nothing too explicit. The feedback they gave me was very positive about the quality of my writing, but was also pretty clear that they were looking for something a bit more full on, so sadly I didn’t win this time.

Writing erotic fiction may not be something to be embarrassed about. Finding yours isn’t sexy enough; well, that’s another thing. Which brings me neatly to Fifty Shades of Grey, the film of which has just been released. I haven’t read the book. Well, I did have a look on Amazon and use the ‘read inside…’ function, which shows you the first few pages. Just to see if it was as bad as had been said. I’m not going to provide a critique here. I will liken it to diving into a frozen lake. I found myself bouncing off the surface. I think it was a self-defence mechanism. Let’s just say I didn’t find it inspiring. I don’t remember reading anything that was at all sexual, but as I said, my mind did sort of shut itself down in a desperate attempt at self-protection.

The film is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, an artist known for making a photograph of herself suspended in mid-air with no visible means of support. I can’t help thinking that will be useful experience for the next few weeks. I’m not sure what’s happening with her name. She used to be Sam Taylor-Wood. Presumably she’s got a new husband and decided to swap the Wood for a Johnson. Perhaps she could have kept all three and been Sam Taylor-Wood-Johnson. Although that does sound a bit like a firm of solicitors.

It’s a bold move though, for such an inexperienced director to take on this kind of project. It could make her name (although she seems to be quite capable of making her own names). Or it could become a white albatross hanging round her neck in the corner of the room, with no-one talking to it. I read (well, skimmed actually) an interview in which she was careful to say that what she’s made isn’t a porn film; isn’t a film about sex at all really, which is odd considering that’s what Fifty Shades of Grey is supposed to be about – sex. She’s made something more subtle and altogether more clever than that. So, nothing to do with the film not getting past the censor if she’d kept the sex in then? The really brave thing to do would have been to put the sex in and accept that the film would be banned. But then, they wouldn’t have made much money. And as someone who wrote an erotic story that wasn’t sexy enough, I’m probably not the one to make the point anyway. I was going to put in a link to a download of my erotic story, but I’ve come over all shy all of a sudden Maybe another time. Perhaps I’ll sex it up a bit first.

You probably won’t hear from me again until there’s another popular phenomenon that I can shamelessly use as a tool for self promotion. For now, I’m off to write a bodice ripper with an Australian slant (a ripper bodice ripper) for next year’s competition…

 

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A Scribbler in the Bush…

Posted on January 10, 2015 by literarylad

30 St Albans 21.12.2014.02I’ve just come back from a research trip to Australia (the hat gives it away). Well, I say research trip…it was actually more of a family visit and holiday, but I used the opportunity to do some research for my current novel, which is set mostly in Perth (Australia, not Scotland). Writers never stop working, even when they’re on holiday. Behind those mirror shades the little grey cells are working away… I love research, real research that is; not the sort that involves using a search engine. It’s like a warrant card. It gives me purpose and authority, emboldens me to walk into places, talk to people, in a way that I never would usually. It’s a bit like stepping into someone else’s shoes (but without the person whose shoes you’ve stepped into calling the police and accusing you of stealing their shoes).

I love Australia too; it’s a beautiful country, and the people seem so friendly (at least, most of the people that I’ve met). And Australian culture is always good for a laugh. However much you see of it there’s always something new waiting to surprise you.

IMG_20141218_101938For instance, I came upon this sign under a tree in Hyde Park. Sadly the photo isn’t clear, but what the sign actually says is, ‘Heavy seeds or cones may fall from this tree without notice’ Without notice, mind! Bloody trees: no consideration. The sign itself would be unusual for a country that isn’t generally all that bothered about health and safety regulation.

I never did get around to taking a photo of the bins they have for dog owners to dispose of their little plastic bags, which is a shame, because I don’t suppose many people will believe me when I tell them that they’re labelled ‘Doggy Dumpage’. Only the Australians could make something so quotidian and unpleasant so much fun.

IMG_20141212_174016Something else I never got my head around is these signs in IGA (one of the main supermarket chains). I can’t help thinking I’m missing something, and perhaps I should have asked one of the assistants for an explanation, but it looks to me like the special offer gets you 3 mangoes for five bucks, instead of the $4.98 you would have paid if you bought them individually. Like I say, perhaps I’m missing something, but I like to think it’s the manager having a bit of fun with their customers. The mangoes were tasty, in any case.

I also love the way that Australian shops price everything at $x.99, but when you come to pay they round it up to the nearest dollar anyway. So if you pick up something priced at $4.99 and take it to the till, you’ll hear, ‘that’s five bucks then mate.’ It took me a while to get used to that, too.

The language in Australia makes me smile. Three of the most used words are; ‘look’, ‘yeah’, and ‘aw’, as in the standard opening gambit of, ‘aw… yeah look…’ The word ‘look’ is seriously over used. It must be very frustrating for anyone who’s blind.
The standard greeting, particularly in shops, is ‘How ‘ya going?’ (or, ‘How ‘ya going, guys’, when speaking to more than one person). It’s best not to say ‘pretty regularly at the moment as it happens, not that it’s any of your business’. The correct response, as far as I could work out, is ‘Good.’ or ‘Good, thanks.’ or, if you’re feeling particularly effusive, ‘Aw..yeah, look I’m good, thanks; how are yoo-oou?’

I didn’t get as much writing done as I’d hoped while I was away – too many distractions maybe? I’d hoped to make great progress on those long flights, but the environment wasn’t really conducive – too uncomfortable, too distracting looking ahead at rows and rows of flickering television screens. I did manage to knock out a short story, based on a news item about a property development – a multi-million dollar mansion in an affluent suburb of Perth – that had run into difficulties and was due to be demolished. And I did cover all of the research that I’d wanted to do for the novel. At least I think I did. Then again, now I think about it, I’m not so sure. Maybe I’d better go back again, just to check…

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Grammar Overload (I think I’ve been had)

Posted on November 28, 2014 by literarylad

Asteroids-750x421

My current novel involves two separate threads; events taking place in the present, and a separate, gradually unfolding story that took place some months earlier. I’ve chosen to relate the story of past events in the past tense. It made sense to me. It’s a good way of delineating the two separate stories – when I slip into the past tense the reader will immediately know that I’ve moved to the second thread, which took place in the past. I’m relating past events, so I set them in the past – easy really. The trouble is, while it was fine at first, it’s beginning to become somewhat cumbersome. Instead of ‘he thought’, I’ve got ‘he had thought’. Instead of ‘she did something’ I’ve got ‘she had done something’. Instead of ‘they had dinner’ I’ve got ‘They’d had dinner’ (which does at least neatly avoid the clumsy and rather ridiculous ‘double had’ problem – as in ‘they had had dinner’). I had thought,.. I mean, I thought this would be fine, but the longer passages are becoming tortuous. I feel as though I’m picking my way through a grammatical minefield. I can imagine how it might feel to fly a spaceship (if there were such things as spaceships) into an asteroid field, to escape your enemies. Dodging the asteroids is fine for the first few minutes. After half an hour it becomes wearing. And  then you realise that it’s going to take hours to get through to the other side. Somebody beam me up, please!

I’m actually getting there. I’m half way through the penultimate chunk of the past story. Once I’ve finished this, I’m going to dispense with the past tense, and write the final (and, I think, rather exciting) ‘denouement’ (that’s French, you know; it should have an accent, but I haven’t got one) of the past history as if it were happening in real time. I’m hoping this will work well. I’m hoping it will be ‘seamless’ (not that books have seams) in that it will give this final, important past scene energy and drive, without the reader (and I use the singular advisedly, based on past sales) noticing that it’s written in a different tense to the other parts. I’m hoping it will be the literary equivalent of the cinematic trick of filming in black and white to start with and then having the film burst into colour at a critical point. There are many things that I lack. Ambition isn’t one of them.

I just hope that I don’t hit any of those grammatical asteroids on the way. I guess I could do with some advice from my fellow writers. What do you think, blogging buddies? What would you do? Would you stick with the difficult option of writing the separate threads of the story in different tenses? Or would you use the same tense all the way through and find another way to delineate between the different time settings? And if so, how would you do this?

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Writers’ Forum (or against ’em?)

Posted on October 28, 2014 by literarylad

One morning last week I bunked off work to attend a writers’ forum, held as part of the Penarth Book Festival (watch out Hay!) The presenter was Phil Carradice, a Welsh author and poet with over fifty books behind him. Actually, I’ve got over fifty books behind me. But then I am writing this in a library. It was a useful and informative event, even if we were told ‘you’ll never make a living out of writing!’ Ouch! Don’t hold back Phil; tell us how it is. Apparently most authors make their money from associated activities such as readings, seminars and teaching. Phil also does radio work (he’s on the BBC website) and, occasionally, television. These peripheral activities generate a large part of a writer’s income, and also provide opportunities to promote book sales. He stressed how much hard work is involved. He also stressed how difficult it is to get a publisher, and how picky publishers are and how much they expect from all but the most famous authors. You might think from this that he had a very low opinion of publishers. You might think this, but I couldn’t possibly comment.

None of this bad news came as much of a surprise, but it was probably worth hearing it again. There is a tendency to push this kind of unwelcome knowledge to the back of your mind and replace it with the hope that you might one day snare one of the major publishers, persuade them to give your book their full attention, and thereby move straight into the upper echelons (and income group) of the writing world. It does happen, and as Phil said, you have to believe in your work and say that if it happens, why shouldn’t it happen to me? One day, perhaps. In the meantime, he had lots of tips on how to promote your work, using local connections and networks to get started, to develop a reputation that can be built upon.

Phil read out one of his short stories, ostensibly by way of explaining a point about how short stories should be structured, but actually, I think he just wanted to do it. I’m not complaining. It was a very good, well-written story, which distinguished him from at least one Cardiff author, who for some reason thinks they are suitably qualified to teach other people to write (bitchy, I know, but at least I didn’t mention a name). He has a good, strong voice, and reads very well, I suppose through practice (he was a teacher, which probably helps). Impressive, but daunting. Could I hope to read so well? Could I command the attention of a room full of people right to the end of a story? It would help if I had a good voice to make use of, rather than sounding like Ken Livingstone on a quiet day. I came away with a lot to think about. My primary activity remains to continue writing novels and presenting them to publishers and agents in the best way I can. I’m aware of the need to make my submissions stand out, to make the concept attractive to publishers,  giving the writing a chance to sell itself. I should probably make an effort to hunt out the local writing scene (assuming there is one) and see if I can somehow get involved, make some contacts, etc. You know, I thought this writing malarkey was a lonely business. If I’d known it involved dealing with people, I might have thought twice…

 

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Would you Pay for Feedback?

Posted on October 6, 2014 by literarylad

Feedback01 October 2014

I’m in the middle of a spate of submitting stories to competitions. All of the competitions I’ve identified charge a fee for each story submitted, which I suppose is fair – they need to cover their costs. Some of them offer a feedback service, for which they also charge. I’m not so sure this is fair. The feedback takes the format of the marks that the judges award for plot, character development, etc., plus some text outlining their thoughts on the story. What you get is essentially the assessment of your story that the judges will have prepared anyway (assuming they judge the competition in a properly structured and documented way). The charges are not excessive (as an example, one of the competitions charge AUS $10 to enter a story, and another AUS $15 for feedback). But if you enter a number of competitions, the charges will soon add up. For someone on a low income (such as yours truly) it’s difficult to justify paying the extra. Then again, I’m sure the feedback would be useful. Although.., actually, I’m not. The stories I’ve written (and I’ve mostly written a new story specifically for each competition) are in a variety of styles and have different structures and subject matter, which makes me think that the feedback might be inconsistent and difficult to apply more generally. Although, if I were to see some  consistent criticism across such diverse writing, it would be fairly persuasive.

Writing all these short stories has slowed progress on my second novel. It’s frustrating, but it will be worth it if I have success in some of the competitions. Theoretically, it could be a good way to get some of my work published and have something to put on my CV. Although I’m not holding out too much hope – my first two entries got nowhere!  I hate stopping work on the novel. Within a day of putting it down I feel as though it’s beginning to drift away from me. And when I start work again there’s a process of re-acquaintance that takes valuable time – like taking two steps back before I can take three forward. I am progressing though. I’m up to nearly 40,000 words now, and foreseeing the time when I will need to do some significant editing to cut it down to a more manageable size. Established authors may be able to get away with epic novels, but publishers seem to want and expect something under 100,000 words from new writers.

Anyway, what would you do about the feedback; save your pennies and hope your story is selected (which is all the feedback you need) or stump up the cash for feedback in case it isn’t?

 

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