Thank you and Goodbye!

The time has come and the end is nigh.

Before we all get stuck in to the last few weeks of furiously writing and polishing our dissertations, we just wanted to thank you all for keeping up with the Litmus 2016 blog. We hope that you enjoyed the time spent on this site, and that you will be back for more when it’s time for Litmus 2017. There is a fantastic group of writers coming through the ranks, so keep a keen eye out as they are bursting with talent and new stories.

Thank you to all of the 2016 guest speakers, tutors and students; we have had a wonderful time working with you and creating this blog, and of course, seeing our lovely anthology come to life.

Keep writing!

Abi, Lorna, Annie, Mel and Georgia – the Litmus 2016 Blog Team.

Winchester Writers’ Festival – Thoughts from Scholars and Student Hosts

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The Winchester Writers’ Festival took place on the 17-19th of June and it was a fantastic weekend, jam-packed with talks, readings and panels, and a fantastic keynote speech given by Meg Rosoff. We asked a selection of the under 25 Scholars and Student Hosts to share their thoughts about the experience. It’s so easy to get involved as a student host or volunteer (if you study at Winchester University), and to find out more about the scholarship scheme, click here.

Scholars:

Natasha Orme: For me, the Festival was an important step in keeping the writing flame alive. It was amazing to meet with like-minded people and be mentored by the speakers there. Being able to focus specifically on my genre allowed me to feel that I could really progress with my writing. I had a great time and have made some long-lasting writerly friendships that I hope will continue to encourage and motivate me.

Further Contact Details:
Blog: http://www.natashaorme.com/
Twitter: @NatashaCOrme
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/natashacorme
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/writerreaderloverofwords

Georgia Benjamin: The Festival came at the end of a year packed with writing – I’m in the very last stages of an MA in Writing for Children at Winchester University, and the support and advice I gained from the writing community has been invaluable. Everyone was so friendly and willing to discuss their projects and hopes for their writing futures, I felt completely at home and have taken away a fresh sense of determination and inspiration.

Further Contact Details:
Blog: georgerwrites.blogspot.co.uk
Twitter: @GeorgeWrites

Clio O’Sullivan: Whilst the festival has been an unparalleled opportunity to develop my writing, what particularly resonated with me is the question put by Meg Rosoff in her keynote speech: what has been a turning point in your life? In that moment I couldn’t answer with any certainty. But over the weekend, as her words reverberated throughout my mind and were joined by others which had varying levels of impacts on me, I came to the realisation that perhaps this was my turning point. Writers have a responsibility to give hope through their creations. When I reflect on the festival I can say that it was my turning point to have the courage to be creative.

Further Contact Details:
Twitter: @ClioCliona

Claire Kerry: This is my third time attending the Festival. The first, as a volunteer campus guide in 2014 felt like only a taste, and in 2015 with my mind on an MA dissertation I felt a little out of place. Thanks to the scholarship it felt like the first time I was able to experience the Writers Festival to the full. Attending the workshops and master classes certainly expanded my knowledge, but the real highlights were the one-to-one appointments with agents. Their constructive criticism was invaluable and I left every session feeling encouraged and raring to write. On top of that, to be able to network and socialise with other writers made the Festival something special. I hope we’ll all be sharing our writing with each other for years to come, and maybe see each other again at next year’s Festival!

Further Contact Details:
Blog: https://crkerry.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CRKerry
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CRKerry

Sarah Corrigan: The festival was an exciting, unique opportunity for me as it was a chance to meet people from all areas of the publishing industry – authors, agents, editors, booksellers, and more. It was great to find more like-minded writers who were also interested in the same genres, and to interact with other creative writing students from different universities. The agent one-to-ones were particularly exciting as I’ve never queried a manuscript before, but after several full manuscript requests from agents I met, I’ve been instilled with so much fresh confidence in my work!

Further Contact Details:
Blog: http://www.theladyofastolat.wordpress.com
Twitter: @SarahCorrigan94

Student Hosts:

Beth Neal: The highlight of my Saturday morning at the Festival was guiding latecomers into the back of Meg Rosoff’s inspirational keynote address. During the rest of the day, I helped support Barry Timms and Ruth Bennett from Little Tiger Press with the technical aspects of setting up their talks. They were both genuinely lovely to chat with, and their talks were packed with words of wisdom! The best part of Sunday was definitely being able to accompany author Andrew Weale to his workshop on the magic of picture books. The group had a fantastic positive atmosphere, and at the end of the session, there were some truly magical picture book ideas proposed.

Further Contact Details:
Twitter: @Bethany_Neal

Mel Elledge: For the Winchester Writers’ Festival, I hosted two lovely people – literary agents Sallyanne Sweeney and author/former lecturer of mine, Paul Bryers.
Throughout Friday, I assisted Sallyanne Sweeney from Mulcahy Associates in her Master’s course, ‘Beat the Slushpile’. In the six-hour session, Sallyanne gave aspiring writers the tools to write stellar pitches, query letters, synopses, and stronger beginnings to their manuscripts. She also workshopped with course attendees on their own synopses and pitches and gave them personalised tips on how to improve them. The session was essential for anyone who is serious about writing to be published.
Just before noon on Saturday, Paul Bryers and I set up for his first talk, ‘Rainbow Writing’, which taught writers how to use character, writer, and reader arcs in a rainbow in order to visually plan out their entire novel. He went over this same system with us in lecture, so it was a nice refresher. His second talk, ‘The Time Traveller’s Knife’, was more hands-on, and prompted the attendees to solve mysteries based on the information he gave them. He also discussed time travel and mystery as plot devices, and how to implement them effectively without relying on cliché.

Further Contact Details:
Blog: saidthelioness.wordpress.com
Twitter: @mjelledge

Cass Morgan: It was my first time as Student Host at the Winchester Writers’ Festival and first thing I was full of nerves and excitement. I was host to literary agent, Becky Bagnell, who was joined by one of the authors she represents, Sue Wallman. They were both lovely and a great team in their talk together, From Festival to First Publication. It was obvious how supportive Becky is of Sue, who had her first book, Lying About Last Summer, published last month. It was a great opportunity to be a part of their time here, supporting them and ensuring everything was set up and ran smoothly. Altogether, a brilliant day!

Next year the festival will take place on the 16-18th of June, don’t miss out!

All photos courtesy of The University of Winchester, Melissa Elledge, Natasha Orme and Judith Heneghan.

Litmus 2016 Launch Evening

Yesterday saw the launch of the University of Winchester Litmus 2016 Anthology, a collection of works by MA Creative and Critical and MA Writing for Children students. It was a brilliant evening attended by students and their plus ones, tutors and literary agents Becky Bagnell of the Lindsay Literary Agency, and Amber Caraveo and Joanna Moult of Skylark Literary Agency.

After some cheerful mingling and introductions from course leaders Judith Heneghan and Julian Stannard, students read extracts from their work, expertly controlling their nerves as they brought their pieces to life.

They say that a picture is worth 1000 words, and we hope that you enjoy the slideshow gallery, and that you have enjoyed following our journey to this launch.

To the students who contributed and organised, took photos, videos and tweeted, all we can say is thank you. It was a wonderful evening, and one to be very proud of.

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Post by The Litmus 2016 Blog Team, with thanks to Alex Carter for the photographs.

The Winchester Writers’ Festival – An Introduction By Judith Heneghan

This is my third year as Director of the Winchester Writers’ Festival. I’m still finding my way, of course, but I am beginning to recognise certain patterns in the yearly cycle: that first bubble of excitement mixed with nerves when the programme goes ‘live’; the anticipation that builds as the third weekend in June approaches; the occasional nightmare about ‘leaves on the line’ that prevent everyone from arriving…

These days, people talk about ‘curating’ an event, but I don’t think I’m that precise. How do you pull together a series of all-day courses and workshops, talks, readings and over 700 one-to-one appointments in a way that allows each individual attendee – writers, all – to have a fulfilling experience? My approach is more instinctive than curatorial. We need to cater for a broad range of genres, forms, levels of expertise, but above all else I look for literary agents, commissioning editors, authors, poets, scriptwriters and teachers who will support, guide and nurture each emerging writer.

This doesn’t mean massaging peoples’ egos and saying their work is wonderful when clearly they need to re-think. Our speakers are there to challenge, critique, encourage, stimulate and inspire. This is the stuff that sustains writers. It is also why I am particularly excited about our Keynote Speaker this year.

Meg Rosoff is, of course, an outstanding and critically acclaimed author of books for young people (including my personal favourite – Just In Case – in which she confronts, brilliantly, just about every so-called writing ‘rule’ and laughs in its face). But being a uniquely gifted novelist is merely one reason why I invited her. I have been lucky enough to hear her speak before, at the University, to a small group of our own MA creative writing students. She threw away my plan for the evening and instead spoke about voice – the writer’s voice. I think we all ended the session a little bit changed.

I am not going to presume to pre-empt her Keynote address. However, I can tell you it is titled ‘What it means to have a voice and where to get one’. And I can’t wait.

The University of Winchester Writers’ Festival takes place on 17-19 June at the University of Winchester. Attendees can book to come for one, two or three days and devise their own itinerary from a selection of 17 all-day workshops and 28 talks. They may also book up to four one-to-one appointments with literary agents, commissioning editors and other writing professionals.

For full details, visit www.writersfestival.co.uk Follow us @winwritersfest

Post by Judith Heneghan

The Fleur Adcock Symposium

The Symposium will run on Saturday 21st of May: 10.30am – 5.30pm, with more details to be found here.

This event is co-hosted by the University of Winchester and the University of Northampton.

Fleur Adcock’s Poems 1960-2000 was published in 2000. In 1996 she was given an OBE; in 2006 was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry, and in 2008 was named Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature.

What’s going on? A lot. Fleur Adcock is one of our most celebrated poets and this is a really exciting opportunity to hear a range of critics and poets discussing her work. Fleur will be at the event too. There will also be several readings by well known poets – so all in all: papers, readings and discussions (see more details on the link).

This is an excellent opportunity to attend a rather special event at the Stripe Lecture Theatre, University of Winchester. Feel free to bring a friend or a partner, but as a non-student they will have to register online for a ticket (see registration details on link).

There will be a book stall and the opportunity to get signed copies of Fleur’s work! Do come along for an hour or two if you can’t manage the whole day.

Students of the University of Winchester may come to this event without charge; just bring student I.D. to show on the door. Otherwise, for non-students, tickets are £30 (includes buffet lunch) or £10 (includes coffee and tea). If, as a student, you would like the official lunch you need to buy the £30 ticket, but this is your choice! The Cyber Cafe will be open in any case, so you don’t have to buy a symposium lunch ticket.

If you have any enquiries, please contact Julian Standard at Julian.Stannard@winchester.ac.uk

Post by C.S Taylor

Harry Gallon – Winchester Reading Series

On the 22nd of March, author and University of Winchester alumnus Harry Gallon read some excerpts from his debut novel, The Shapes of Dogs’ Eyes. He brought with him a representative from his publisher, Nathan Connolly from Dead Ink, who also talked to us about the world of crowdfunded publishing. Dead Ink is slightly unorthodox in that they prefer authors to approach them directly with submissions rather than going through an agent. The company is funded by the Arts Council and publishes approximately six new titles per year.

After the reading, the MA students participated in a workshop. We paired off into groups where one person was the ‘author’ and the other was the ‘agent’. The authors were given about ten minutes to give the agents as much information about their works in progress as they could, and then the agents pitched the work back to Harry and Nathan, who decided whether they’d accept the manuscript. This exercise was meant to get us used to talking about our own work in a way that would help sell it to a publisher.

The final instalment of the Winchester Reading Series was a nice note to end on, and showed us that there’s a separate world to that of traditional publishing. Seeing the publishing paths our visiting alumni took was interesting, and I’m sure many of us are hoping to achieve the same success some of our fellow MA graduates have.

View Harry’s reading here:

And his talk with Nathan Connolly here:

post by Mel Elledge

Becky Bagnell (Agent, Lindsay Literary Agency) – Winchester Reading Series

Becky Bagnell.jpg — Left to right: Judith Heneghan, Becky Bagnell and Claire Kerry

It was no surprise that Becky’s session for the Winchester Writing series was of a high standard. The surprise was that the high standard was achieved at a moment’s notice. It was a rich and informative session of which these notes – necessarily – form an abridged and paraphrased version. Nonetheless, I hope they help catch the essence of the evening.

Becky came into the world of publishing at 19, working for a small press in Northern Ireland. Becky has dealt with some big names over the years but reminded us that the difference between a ‘would be’ writer and a published author is summarised in a short sentence – ‘Authors are those who keep going’.

Approaching an agency:

Becky receives 20 – 40 scripts a day including weekends and bank holidays. If you do the maths…that’s some 7000 a year. You need to (i) stand out and (ii) send to as many agents as possible. Understandably, agents are looking for any excuse to reject because they are always feeling swamped.

Becky’s tips for standing out are listed below but there was a refreshingly subversive tone to her advice – ‘You make the rules’ she said.

Successful submissions needs to contain:

Whatever they ask for – which is likely to include…
Research – make sure you send submissions relevant to their preferred genres and be familiar with their lists – are their authors compatible with your sort of stories?
Full compliance with the submission guidelines
Correct spelling and grammar
Brevity – less is more if you are reading 7000 submissions a year.

If you hear nothing after a couple of months a gentle prompt is appropriate (but check submission guidelines!) but beware of your tone – making demands on busy people who are reading your submissions for free will not go down well. Becky gets a cross phone call from impatient submitters about once a week. It doesn’t help their cause…

Becky’s slush pile method:

Brief glance at covering letter.
Read the first page. In 1 in 50 submissions she’ll read all three chapters.
Of these she’ll read the full script of 1:3.
Becky takes on 2 new authors a year.

Given the 7000 submissions a year, the odds of being taken on are 1:3,500…

How good is the writing?

The questions Becky asks when reading the first page include:

Is there a picture building?

Do I know where I am; time, setting, place?

Who are the characters?

Is it making sense?

Is it original writing with a distinctive voice?

Is there a hook or intrigue?

Finally – if the writing grips – she will look at what author is like.

The opening paragraph:

Make every word count – these are the most crucial few words you can ever write. Like a mini summary of your book the first paragraph should encapsulate everything you think and feel is important.

Look at the first paragraphs from as many books as possible, especially those that are similar to yours and remember that to be alive (paraphrasing Julia Green) you need to look, listen, touch and smell.

Feedback:

Getting a personalised rejection is a real achievement – Becky only writes about one a month. Try again if given feedback. Target agents who have given personalised feedback with your next story and remind them that they ‘said such and such last time so you might be interested in this one’. Try different styles and genres. Remember that rejection is only in relation to that publisher at that time.

The 4 S’s of a successful submission:
Story

Needs strong hook. The title explains story – ‘does what it says on tin’.

Memorable characters.

Page-turnability.

Originality.

Sales

Is it commercial – will people buy it

Is it truly original? Or in a style/genre with a proven track record?

Will your book convince other stakeholders? Acquisitions meetings – sales, foreign rights, editorial, marketing, art department?

Consider whether certain features might help it make the international market – e.g. multinational characters but don’t sacrifice the fluency of the story to be ‘internationalised’.

Series

Is there potential for Book Two?

Can you repeat the success?

They tend to like series to continue in genre you were successful in.

Success

Are you an author with potential?

Are you hungry for success? (This needn’t imply being egotistical or extrovert – it could be in a quiet authorly way that responds to feedback etc). Hard work tends to encourage success.

Will you help promote the book and engage audiences?

Questions:

You skim the cover letter and go straight to script so do you read synopsis?

If I’ve read the first few pages I’ll read the synopsis. Don’t put in too many spoilers but you could say there’s a big twist coming in the end.

Can you sell picture books without an illustrator?

Generally speaking NEVER try to do the illustrations. Publishers pride themselves on pairing the illustrator with the words. If you are a picture book author then that’s all you should do – leave the illustrations to someone else.

Do you exclusively represent children’s fiction?

No, I represent adult too but I’m focusing on children at the moment

Conclusion:

A very informative and encouraging evening with some useful ‘behind the scenes’ case studies of Sam Gayton, Pamela Butchart and Mike Lancaster. Even Bear Grylls got a mention.

Some of the takeaway messages for me included:

You can get spotted via Litmus and the MA course.
You can get spotted via the Slushpile
You can get spotted through an editor session at the Winchester Writer’s Conference.
You’ll probably be rejected but aim for a personal rejection – it’s the next best thing to being published!
Be imaginative, creative and even a bit subversive (‘You make the rules’) but always be polite.

The latter is a pretty good rule for life in general… there’s a book in there somewhere…

Post by Alistair McNaught.

Litmus 2016 Cover Reveal

litmus 2016 cover litmus back cover FINAL

The team at Litmus are proud to finally be able to present to you the finalised cover of this year’s anthology, which will be launched on 3rd May 2016. The editorial team have been hard at work, and the full selection of children’s fiction, adult fiction, poetry, and non-fiction has now been edited to perfection, and is ready to go to print.

Everyone on the team is excited for the launch, and we hope you’ll love it as much as we do.

post by Lorna Penny

Luke Kennard – Winchester Reading Series

On the 8th of March we had the pleasure of listening to award winning poet Luke Kennard talk with us about his writing, and give a reading of his poetry, both of which you may enjoy by watching the videos below:

After this, we lucky MA students took part in a workshop run by Luke, in which he gave us a wealth of interesting tips and tricks, but also, a great exercise to do when writer’s block strikes and your stories aren’t playing ball.

The exercise is a simple prose/ poetry one, and is a fun way of getting back into the creative flow. We were told the beginnings of three sentences, and then given free reign as to how we wanted to finish them off. This workshop was amazing, and the results produced everything from heaving buttocks to dreamlike landscapes. If you want to try the exercise, the beginnings of the sentences are given below, and all you have to do is to complete them three times to form three verses or paragraphs. Whether they relate to each other or not is up to you; but this is an exercise to have fun with.

The beginnings:

When I reached the edge of the desert I saw…

You told me…

It was as if…

Post by Georgia Benjamin

On Editing

The editing process can often seem daunting and a bit of a slog. The anarchic joy of just writing has ended, and sometimes this can pull a writer up short. In this article I wanted to outline the five steps that I have built my editing routine around, in the hopes that they will help someone else start on this crucial part of the writing journey with excitement and confidence.

Leave it alone!

Whether you’ve written a single chapter or finished a draft manuscript, all ideas need time to rest and expand. Step away from the computer (or at least change what you are working on) and let those ideas breathe as much as possible. I would recommend taking a break after each of these steps in order to regain some objectivity and clear your head before plunging back in for another round.

The Plus Edit:

This is the best step! After the first waiting period, go back to your piece, read it through and add in every single thing that you can to make sure that what you have thought in your head is definitely on the page. Having left your piece alone for a while, these ideas will flow quickly and you will have all sorts of tweaks and changes to make as characters and plots have evolved in your absence. This is the literary equivalent of throwing the kitchen sink at the piece – feel free to have fun with this one and just enjoy the ideas. The next step will bring you back down to earth.

The Cut Edit:

Remember the fun you had with the last step? Well forget it! This is the Cut Edit, and there’s no more playing around! This edit is brutal and heart wrenching, but absolutely vital and non-negotiable. Go through and be ruthless. Cut everything that is unnecessary; cut every scene and detail that doesn’t contribute to the main plot or develop the characters. CUT CUT CUT. Whilst appearing brutal, this edit actually gives you time to really focus on the story and go slowly. Think about what the aim of the book is and how your characters can work towards that aim. It will be difficult, but if you get into the right headspace, it can also be quite meditative.

The Line Edit:

You’re on the home stretch now! You’ve added in all that you can and stripped back everything uneccessary, and now it’s time to go through the story with a fine toothcomb. The Line Edit is your chance to assess every line in detail, to pick up on what the other edits have missed, and craft your manuscript into a coherent, readable piece of work that makes sense separate from the author. This is your chance to make sure that every word is doing its job and playing nicely with others, and if doing so turns one briefly into a hermit… Don’t panic! The real world will still be there when this edit is completed.

The Loud Edit:

The final step, and honestly, the one that I find most useful. This is an opportunity to go through your work and literally read it out loud to yourself. It sounds ridiculous, and it will take some getting used to, but there is nothing better than reading aloud to spot those pesky missing commas or spelling mistakes. Reading out loud will also help you get a feel for your piece, and it will reveal those last few sentences that really don’t work, or stick out for the wrong reasons. Remember, when someone reads, there is a voice in their head, bringing the words to life. The Loud Edit will ensure that this voice is not stumbling or breathless, but smooth and confident.

So these are my tips, and I hope that you find them useful. Editing often seems like an overwhelming task, but I’ve found that breaking it down into steps can turn it into something manageable and fun. After all, editing is the chance to make your book exactly as you want it. What could be better than that?

post by Georgia Benjamin