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.
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…
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 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?
Throughout my time as both a fiction and academic writer, I’ve amassed tons of useful articles and links to help with all aspects of writing. They’ve been collecting dust in my bookmarks for awhile, so I wanted to share them with you in hopes that they’ll motivate you to finish that project you’ve been working on (and make it much stronger in the process).
Building Characters
This comprehensive character chart helps you consider every single aspect about your characters, from their greatest fears to their habits and mannerisms.
Some people are quick typists. Thoughts flow effortlessly through fingers into words on the page. Others of us are not so lucky. Of course, you can always capture your flow of consciousness with pen and paper but then the process of getting it into digital format is even more tedious, having had much of the creativity stripped from it.
You can buy good quality voice recognition software for a tidy sum of money and train it to recognise your voice. The trouble is, if you are a writer you probably do not have a tidy sum of money to spend on such fripperies…
That is where the glory of free software comes in. It will not be as fully featured and you will not be able to personalize it so much but it will achieve similar accuracy. It will save you a lot of typing; however you will need to be more alert for editing. Your problem will not be misspelled words but misinterpreted words. This can result in some very interesting sentences (it may even add imaginative elements to your writing that you did not anticipate). So let us look at what is available.
On the web:
Sign up for Google Docs (it’s like having Word on the web but not buying Office). Start a new document and then click on the Tools menu. From the dropdown menu select voice typing. A microphone symbol appears on the screen. Click on it, start speaking into your microphone and watch the words appear.
Voice recognition is built into Android tablets/phones as well as Apple devices. So if you feel a creative flurry coming on, why not get out your phone and speak your story into an email that you can send yourself for editing and polishing later?
If you are interested in other ways of using free technology tools to help you write or plan more plan more effectively then this round up of writing tools is a good place to begin.
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Litmus 2016 