Advice



Source



Watching the TV Book Club the other day (yes I will pretty much watch anything with 'book' in the title) I saw an interview with 'the Grandmother of Chick Lit' Jackie Collins. Aside from that absurd title for the bestselling author, one of the things which bugged me came from Ms. Collins herself. She trotted out that old 'write what you know' cliche. This is one of my pet peaves when authors are talking about their work; it is one of those empty phrases that does little more than fill time while they can think of a better answer. Yes, I get that it doesn't mean 'only write that which you have direct experience of' and more 'draw on your life experience to enhance the quality of your writing'. I would, however, prefer to hear that stated plainly with perhaps some advice on how that particular author makes their life experience work for them in their writing. Do they draw on people they know to create characters? Do they extensivley 'people watch' to see varieties of expression and movement? Do they research extensivley, plan meticulosly, sit down and write from the top of their heads? Do their characters come to them fully formed, or do they build them up during the writing process?

 

Of course there's no way that all that information will fit into the time it takes to churn out that stock phrase, but that is because to do more than spit out cliches leads to thinking about and engaging with the writing process.

 

That's my two cents (or pence I suppose, but the invasion of Americaisms is another post for different day). What I really started this post for, before Jackie Collins distracted me, was that I'm thinking, perhaps, maybe of taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. GULP.

 

I won't be able to make a decision on this properly until after my End of Year Review. If that goes badly (please God don't let it go badly) then I'll have to spend the time trying to fix that. Hovever, I have put writing The Novel off until I get on better with the thesis and if that's going well and I get to take the extra class I want top take for the new semester, then I should be able to devote some time to getting the creative stuff up and running.

 

So, over to you. Have you devoted the penultimate month of the year to NaNoWriMo before? Was it worth it? Were you more or less motivated? And did you reach the magic 50,000?

Quick Post: Look at my Books.

Yes, I said books. I had my anual trip to the used bookshop on campus today. I try to keep visits to a minimum for good reason, but I'm very excited by my loot this time around. If anyone is ever in Old Aberdeen (Scotland) its on Spital just around the corner from Orchard Lane. It's called, rather imaginativley, Old Aberdeen Bookshop. Seriously worth a look.

AAAARGH!

I'm going to do something rarely, if ever, do on the blog; I'm going to have a rant.

Source

Now that you're duly warned, I'll begin.

The person you are calling is unable to take you call...

Hi, you've reached Kar'a blog; she's not around at the moment thanks to Graduation (work) and thesis (PhD). She is still trawling the blogoshpere reading about your exciting lives, but won't be posting regularily until August when she hopes to get back to the blogging schedule there ==>

For now, enjoy the new blog template and check out older posts or fellow bloggers JudetheDreamer and Rachel Marsh.
Please feel free to leave a message after the tone. *BEEEEEEP*

Svengali, or the Art of Creating Tension

Source

I went to see Derren Brown's new stage show Svengali on Saturday in its closing night at the Edinburgh Playhouse. Even without Derren's very polite request to not reveal the details of the show to anyone I would never reveal the end of a show or story, particularily online (if you don't believe me ask my Mum if I've told her how Harry Potter ends yet). That's not about to change, so if you're here looking for spoilers then try someone else. What I am going to discuss is the similarities between that art of the performer and that of the writer, and a few observations that I made on creating nd maintaining tension in an unruly audience.

Character Takeover

Source

I'm Mel and Kar asked if I'd be interested in doing a guest post on her blog. She's super stressed just now, so I don't mind helping out. Apparently I've to tell you a bit about myself then, "you know, whatever you want to write about is fine". Althought that was after I vetoed the idea of an interview. Some crazy woman wanted to know if I pee with the door open when I'm in the house on my own. Seriously.

Thesis? What thesis, I've got a wedding

Another video that I got from someone posting it on facebook, but thats gone well in the past and this give me an excuse to bring up the topic of the Royal Wedding on the 29th April. The only chances of you not knowing what I'm talking about would be if you've been living in a cave since November.

Writing about writing

I'm going to write about something that I don't normally discuss on the blog, or with anyone really: my creative writing. I haven't completed a project on my own, written a story from start to finish since I was 12 years old (it was called 'Jenna's Homework', my Mum thought it was quite good). I've started loads and I've abandoned them all so far. I have notebooks filled with ideas which have amounted to no more than that.

♪ ♫ ♪"I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning"♪ ♫

This is what my house looks like...well except
that you can still see the floor.

Hi everybody! Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, I got some good advice and lots of support about the 'ol blog. I'm going to reform my blogging schedule and post on Mondays and Wednesdays at least. Mondays will be for any regular features like Confessoins of a Justified Bibliophile or the Writers Platform Building Crusade and Wednesdays will be a 'whatever's on my mind' kind of day.

You there, yes you...you look fab today.

Flattery will get you everywhere, especially when you have to apologise. I've not blogged in a while and am feeling a little guilty, so sorry to all my fellow Crusaders. I have been reading your blogs, I promise and I appreciate all the comments I've been getting even though I haven't posted in a while.

Go Dundee!

This blog is getting less and less anonymous and I blame the Crusdade, but I'm so proud of my City today I'm outing myself as a honorary Dundonian.

Laughter

I cannot imagine anything more joyous than this sound. A friend posted it on facebook and I just had to share it.

Very Merry Unbirthday to Me

I was going to go with a completley different post, but a friend (Julie) wished me a very merry unbirthday this morning and it reminded me about a post I made around this time last year, so I'm going with the second annual unbirthday post instead.

Crusader Biz(ness) first though. I really enjoyed the guesses from everyone, and I'm sorry I didn't get around everyones' Challenge post, but I promise to be round to your blogs soon. I'm not really a closet philatelist, or a philatelist of any kind. I did inherit a relative's stamp collection once, but I have no idea what happened to it and I do keep the used stamps that come my way as my work collects them for charity (still not sure how they get money from used stamps, but I send them anyway). The guesses were brilliant and I apparently wrote loads of things that could be mistaken for a lie. So for the reccord here's what they all were:

• I was bullied in first year for being flat chested (secret) 
• I always make sure I've got extra chocolate spread on the knife so that I can lick it off the blade (interesting quirk)
• I'm not good with concise and have the habbit of going on a bit (annoying habit)
• I'm very determined and its a character trait I get from my family (best character trait)
• When I was little I loved dressing up and my Grandma's fur coat was the best (favourite thing in the whole world) 

Other guesses for the lie were that I don't bloviate during academic debates, that I don't like nutella(!) or lick it of the knife, that I didn't study philosophy and that I don't live in a pond. Apart from the pond bit, those are all true. I was surprised that no-one thought that the fur coat bit was a lie, ansd that the 'closet philatelist' wasn't more obvious. I also obviously need to work on my metaphors, since I had no intention of implying that me and my family live in a pond...

Special mention needs to go to Jolene, who commented to say that the 'toast' bit of my breakfast really is optional. She got it absolutley spot on and qwhile I do like the excess nutella off the knife if I have it with toast, more often than not I just eat it from the jar with a spoon. (Incedently I do the same with peanut butter, but never at the same time).  

My Birthday was on Sunday and I had a lovely day out with the family. I got tonnes of DVD box sets and some beautiful notebooks for my PhD (I chose a set of Paperblanks notebooks to use for it). Its my Mum's birthday a week after mine so I also get to do it again this comming weekend. I also get to have two birthdays in a way since I usually spend the weekend near my Birthday at home, and celebrate with friends through the week. Tonight is my 'Birthday with friends night' so I' better run and go get ready.

All thats left is for me to wish you a Very Merry Unbirthday!

 

(I have no idea what the little dancing banana man is doing in this post, but I had hiom saved long with the post title, so there must have been some reason)

A blog post all about me (Crusader Challenge)

So, I've to tell you all about me in 300 words or less. In case you haven't noticed yet I'm not so good with concise so this really will be a challenge. I do have the habit of going on a bit, its one of the things that people find most annoying bout me. When I get onto a topic I feel passionately bout, one way or another, it’s hard to get me to stop and I do tend to bloviate a bit when it comes to academic-style debate. I think its something to do with having studied philosophy. Maybe.

One of my favourite things in the world when I was little was dressing up and my Grandma's fur coat was the best. Imagine how I felt when I found out that it was real rabbit.

I was bullied in high school, like most kids are but my story has a happy ending (kind of). I was bullied in first year for being flat chested; I was twelve. By the time I was thirteen I was on my way to a D-cup. Hmm, perhaps not the best secret to tell you, should I have gone for 'I’m a closet philatelist' instead?

I love toast and nutella for breakfast, and I always make sure I've got extra chocolate spread on the knife so that I can lick it off the blade.

I'm very determined and its a character trait I get from my family. We are fuliguline is many ways, belonging to quite a big flock but not your average birds of a feather: a bit quirky and not found in your usual pond.

Of all these things about me, one of them isn't quite true. Can you guess which one?



P.S. I don't share much about myslef on the blog, mainly because I like to keep sections of my life seperate and blogging is where I am the 'writer' me, rather than the girlfriend, daughter, friend, colleague, sister or student me. So, this was a bit diffucult and really challenged my writing skills. A huge big THANK YOU to Rach for hosting this awesome challenge. Keep crusading!

P. P. S. The moral of the story is not that you need big boobs to be happy, but that bullies are usually clueless individuals and you should never take what they say on board. And check what that vintage fur coat is really made of first, it might freak you out. And comparing your family to a flock of sea ducks is hard.

Blogoversary

Jules

This is a bit of a blogoversary-valentines-spread the love kind of post. Jules from Trying to Get Over the Rainbow created this little love heart to say 'thank you' to her followers, without requiring any link backs to her blog. Of course, lots of people have linked back to her anyway but I thought this captured the spirit of both Valentines Day and the whole blogging community. I've been blogging for over a year now, and I still can't really believe that anyone is actually reading my blog and thinks what I have to say about the whole life-and-writing thing is interesting, but you're out there. So this is my big thank you to all of you who read and comment on my blog.

Also, check out the fabulous Crusade badge up there to the left, and the competition section to the right. I was complimented on the 'new look' of the blog today and it is looking rather snazzy, if I do say so myself.

And just to confirm everything I've been saying about blogging since the first Crusade, Heathfield Primary School were on the news this morning discussing their innovative use of blogging to get their pupils engaged in writing. Not only has this gotten the previously uninterested boys in the school writing 5,000+ words on a regular basis, higher than average literacy score have gone up from 7% to 63%. I also met up with a friend who is a primary school teacher and he was in the process of making a blog for his class (hi Mark), so it looks like its catching on north of the border as well.

Happy Blogging everyone!

Kar x

Confessions of a Justified Bibliofile (1)

Welcome to the first of my Confessions of a Justified Bibliophile blog features, where I discuss the authors and books which have made the biggest impact in my life and on my writing. Each will be accompnied by a 'confession' related to the author or genre of the month.

Since this is my first Confessions... post and my Blogoversary, I'm holding a little competition to win the book I'm discussing. Just fill in the form at the bottom of the post. The winner will be selcted at random on 11th March 2011. I'm using The Book Depository, so check that they ship to your country here. So what could you win?

Title: The Red Tent
Author: Anita Diamant
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis: You will have heard of Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob and the oldest son of his favourite wife Rachel, but do you remember his sister from the Bible? Dinah's story barely takes up any room in the book of Genesis and it is told from the male persepective. This novel expands Dinah's story and attempts to interact with the account in Genesis to answer some of the questions many readers face; how could the son's of Jacob slaughter an entire city? why would a Prince look to marry a woman he had raped? what happened to Dinah?

Confession #1: I love reimaginings of existing stories. Whether it's Little Red Riding Hood comic book style, a novel based on a play by Shakespeare or a funky new spin on the vampire, re-tellings have always captured my imagination. So much so that my PhD is on the rewriting of myth in contemporary literature because the best thing about doing English Lit as a subject is that I get to work with literature I love, rather than literture someone else thinks is important.

This novel was recomended to me by a friend who thought that every woman should read this book. Not only is the writing excellent, the research into the history of the red tent shows and the concept of reading between the lines of patriarchial society really griped me. In some places the word midrash is used to describe this novel, something which Diamant disagrees with. Midrash is a particular way of interpreting a biblical story which goes beyond the surface level of the text and fills in gaps in the narrative. Its also sacred, which is where Diamant disagrees, quite rightly giving the full title as The Red Tent: A Novel.

Dinah is a character who haunts the reader long after the book has been closed. She is witty and bold and flawed and hurt. She somehow manages not to come accross as bitter, but melancholy. I am not a mother, but I would like to be some day and The Red Tent along with Dear Nobody by Berlie Doherty are novels which inspire me to be a good mum (hopefully) and a good writer.

You can check out Anita Diamant's blog here and her thoughts on midrash and The Red Tent here.

To enter fill in this form. All informtion supplied will be used for the puropse of the competition only and will be deleted once a winner has been selected and contacted. If you supply a shipping address which is not on The Book Depository list for shipping, your entry will be deleted, so please check first. Good luck!

Holy Potatoes, Batman! (or Crusade Mark II)

Ok, so I'm running out of quirky titles for the blog posts, but in my defence I need to get this post up so that I can sign up for the Second Writers Platform Building Crusade with Rach over at Rach Writes... and get on with my amazing, fantabulous Blogoversary COMPETITION! Besides,
Crusdade-->Holy-->Batman...not too much of a leap, is it?

I was late to the party for the first Crusade and I missed the first challenge, but I'm definitley hopping on board from the start for Rach's second crusde, and you should too. Its a great wy to meet new bloggers and this time round Rach is sorting us all into groups so that it's  bit easier to keep on top of the Crusading and, more importantly, we get intouch with other writers with a similar style or genre.

I can unequivocally say that my writing has improved in volume and regularity since joing the first Crusdae and being introduced to some wonderful fellow bloggers who write engaging posts and aske me questions about my writing, either directly or indirectly, which have really motivted me.

So sign up here and come Crusading!

The Highwayman

A while ago Miles over at An Author's Quest posted about well written music being like good writing. He used the example of Taylor Swift and I had a big comment ('cos when are my comments ever little?) typed up about how I feel the same about Dido's album 'No Angel', but my internet being its usual temperamental self decided to flake out, and so the comment was lost in the void between typing and hitting 'comment'. What's got me on to the topic again is an acoustic gig at a bar in town I've just come home from. My friend Shoshana was playing, hence my being there, and she did a version of 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes which was set to music my Lorenne McKennit.

A Word on Libraries

A speech made by Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, on the closing of public libraries due to public sector cuts being forced on local authorities has been pinging about the internet since its publication on False Economy on Tuesday. Pullman is the perfect spokesperson for many literary-related causes, an none more so than this one. He is articulate and I reccomend having a read through his relativly lenglthy speech as he touched on many things whoch apply to our funding of community programmes in general, not just the arts.  He also touches on the subject of the unregulated free market which has gotten the world into this mess from the Chicago School of Economics and for further information on this you could do worse that Naomi Klein's lecture The Schock Doctrine which I've pasted below. (You can also go here to dowload the mp3).

Interim post



Photo from Unhindered by Talent's flickr

 I have a whole host of exciting discussion posts, a couple of reviews and a competition brewing but no time to write them all out at the moment.