Feeding the machine by Tracy Darnton

I'm about to go on holiday in Cornwall. I should be ramming piles of unread books into bags right now. 

We'll be staying in the same cottage on the Roseland Peninsula that we last visited in September 2020 when I was struggling with my WIP and wrote this blog  I'd realised that all that 2020 brought us had really messed with my head and powers of concentration. The usual way I had of ramming images and experiences into my brain, pressing go and waiting for stories to come out had malfunctioned. My output was stalled. 

I needed to see the creeks and beaches, harbour towns and gorgeous holiday homes that I wanted as settings and hoped that 'seeing' and 'feeling' the book would spur me on. Well, Reader, it must have worked because Ready or Not, came out last month. Teenager Kat goes missing during a game of hide-and-seek at a party on holiday in Cornwall. 

So next week, I'm going to sit on the beach and take a moment to reflect that I got through that sticky patch with the book, maybe I'll even treat myself to a celebratory ice cream. If I can do it with that one, I can find a way through with the current WIP. The more books I write, the more I realise that there isn't a magic formula* for how to do this. I can only do my best and not beat myself up. 

In that blog, I said I needed cultural top ups to feed the creative part of my brain. I'm sharing some pictures from the things I've done lately to do just that. I no longer take any of these activities for granted. I hope one might spark a story for me, or any of you.

(*If there is a magic formula, please let me have it.)

Historical time travel adventure set in the Roman Empire 
(the Newt)

A YA set at a busy festival?
An author mysteriously murdered in the Kids Lit tent ?
(Boney M at Wychwood)

How about a cosy crime plot packed with innuendo?
(Much Ado About Murder - Heartbreak Productions)

What world is beyond the gate?
(Corsham Court workshops)

A procession of unusual exhibits comes alive?
(Tate Britain with a writers' group)

Tracy Darnton is the author of YA thrillers Ready or Not, The Rules and The Truth About Lies. She really needs a holiday... You can follow Tracy on Instagram and Twitter @TracyDarnton

Adventures in Spontaneous Fiction by Kelly McKain

 

At the Folly Farm Winter Warmer retreat, I managed to stay in bed until 12.45pm on the first full day and then sauntered down to the dining room for a delicious and huge lunch. It was absolute heaven, and so was the beautiful blazing fire pit, the cosy chats, the community and friendship and of course the very special memorial which we had for our dear friend Kit in the pavilion in the woods. The adopted Exmoor ponies came out to be with us, cantering about in the field, playfully rearing a little and nuzzling each other. They were just being in life's flow, expressing themselves, moment by moment. 

And in the two flash fiction sessions we had, guided by Claire Fayers and then by me, I felt a strong sense of being in that flow, as words appeared on the page in front of me. I wrote a ghost story using words of only one syllable. I wrote some contemporary romance - a man proposing to his boyfriend in a hung-over hotel room. Daniel and Jamie, to be precise. Within a page I felt like I knew them. I wrote of a witch of many talents, and a tavern owner of ill repute. Of ten dastardly devas looking for a fight in a teacup. Of spiders that weave webs that harden and snap, and taste like latticed caramel but melt lies onto your tongue. Of Betsy Big Boots, a little girl who is so full of spells and enchantments she has to wear chains to hold her to this earth.

I wrote an existential duologue called Frustration in the Police Station Interview Room. And a really dark fairy tale about a girl who does not want to go down into the engine room because Deadlock is there. Who the heck is Deadlock? I have no idea. He didn't exist five minutes before, and now he's down there. Skulking. Growling. In piles of old bones, newspapers, clumped hair. I wrote a poem with the opening line, which I gave everyone, of 'I've been meaning to tell you' that was all sparseness and white and blue, with a deep exhaustion at the centre of it. I wrote about what was in the room around me - the last three lines of that loose-form, sort-of poem were 'Creativity without agenda. Alive in this moment. Surrender.' which about sums it up.

I was like the ponies - just being, just playing, with life happening round me, and in me, and flowing through me and in my case, coming out of my pen. It was a beautiful experience. Just to be and breathe and write. Thank you Claire, and everyone, for the wonderful worlds we made with just a couple of one-hour sessions, pen and paper, and of course, being Folly Farm, the promise of home-made biscuits and fresh coffee afterwards... 

by Kelly McKain

https://kellymckain.co.uk/authors-hour-of-power/

Kelly offers one-to-one Authors' Hour of Power strategic/creative mentorship sessions to aspiring, new and established authors, and (occasionally) year-long mentorships, all to help you ignite your writing/publishing journey.

To read the pieces that came out of her pen (in all their scribbly glory!) visit https://www.facebook.com/authorshourofpower/

Finding New Ways - Ciaran Murtagh

How we all doing? It's tough isn't it. It's like that last bit of a long distance flight, we've watched all the good films, the food's been eaten, the novelty's worn off and now we just want to get off the plane. Unfortunately it turns out our Captain doesn't know where he's going, he can't fly a plane, and he's just told us we're going round again.

I've been lucky, I've had work to do and I've kept on doing it, squeezed around home schooling, supporting sick relatives and everything else. But now things have started to get a little tricky.

Working in animation you tend to work on contracts that last a year or two. The processes are set up and established, you have your teams and you know what is expected of you. For the past few months, I've been working on shows that have been in progress -  Ninja Express and Viking Skool. They've been a lot of fun, but now they're coming to an end. I'm at a point in the creative process where I'm gearing up for some new projects and figuring out how to move forward with new people and new relationships.

Ninja Express - coming to a screen near you soon. 

This is a tricky thing.  You may have worked with some of the people involved before, but not always. Some of them may be in different countries, some will speak different languages and you have to come together to find a process that works for everybody in order to get a project up and running. It's a very delicate thing, it breaks easily and it's all about relationships.

Viking Skool - also coming to a screen near you soon.

The usual way to do this is to get everyone into a big room and thrash it all out over sandwiches, biscuits and a bucket of coffee for a few days. It always works. The ice is broken, you find out you're all fairly decent, professional people who want the same thing and you commit to getting it done as painlessly as possible. Of course you are. But you have to go through that process to know that. However, right now, in these times, that's not possible and that makes all of this difficult.

An eight hour Zoom call is never fun, and when you're on a call you don't tend to chit chat - you're there to work. You can't form informal relationships over a juddering screen with twelve other people fighting the same barrier. I always knew how important the personal relationships formed at the start of these processes are, they're just as important as the professional ones when it comes to getting  you through the sticky mid series humps. It's nuanced and it's balanced and it starts right at the very beginning.

So far, I've been muddling through, getting stuff done that's been in play, stuff that's already trundling down a well established track. I can't do that any more. I'm about to embark on an 18 month project without doing any of the things I would usually do. We haven't even built the track.

In the scheme of what everyone else is going through it's small beer, but finding new ways to be creative in these difficult times is a challenge. I was hoping I could wait it out until things got back to normal and start things properly, but with the plane going round again and the Captain not having a clue, it looks like I'm going to have to try and generate some kind of spark, jet lagged and exhausted. It's not a good recipe for creativity, but right now it's all we've got.

Oh. And I need a haircut.

Sustaining a Lifelong Creative Practice - Heather Dyer

Following a creative pursuit can sometimes be lonely and frustrating. Here are five books I’ve found particularly inspiring because they contain practical advice from other writers and artists who’ve ‘been there’:

Three Marriages: Reimagining Work,Self and Relationships by David Whyte

David Whyte is a poet. Only indirectly about creativity, this book is about integrating our work, our relationships and inner selves in order to live a fulfilled and productive life. Writers often talk about finding 'balance' between day jobs, family and creativity - but Whyte's advice seems to be to knit them all together rather than think of them as separate. He includes nice examples pulled from authors’ lives.

The Everyday Work of Art: Awakening the Extraordinary in Your Daily Life by Eric Booth

Booth explores that small ‘pull’ that makes us want to make art in the first place, and shows us how to fan those flames. This book, ‘illuminates the artistry we all practice, and it enables us to reclaim the fun and satisfaction that is already happening unnoticed right under our noses’.

Creative Quest by Questlove

This book might best be described as a riff on retaining your creativity throughout your career. Questlove is a musician. One of the things he says is that, as emerging creatives, we are hungry to be influenced by others, but as we solidify our practice we become more concerned with influencing others. Stay open to being influenced, is his advice. I also like his description of what collaboration should look like: “Collaboration isn’t about what’s there so much as what’s not there. It’s the jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing and a pile of bright pieces nearby.”

Creating a Life Worth Living: APractical Course in Career Design for Aspiring Writers, Artists, Filmmakers, Musicians and Others by Carol Lloyd

This is an accessible how-to-sustain-your-practice guide for emerging creatives. The book is described as helping the reader ‘search memory for inspiration, understand his or her individual artistic profile, explore possible futures, design a daily process and build a structure of support.’ In the past I’ve drawn from this book for exercises for an 8-week ‘Developing Your Creativity’ course.   

Creative Calling: Establish a Daily Practice, Infuse Your World with Meaning, and Succeed in Work + Life by Chase Jarvis.  

Chase Jarvis is a photographer who now runs a successful online learning portal. The book includes a lot of advice about how to find your 'tribe', network virtually and in person, and market your work. 

What all these books endorse is listening to that early intuitive pull, exploring by doing, drawing inspiration from living, creating a regular practice (however short) and staying open to flow by letting go of expectations and setting out anew, each day, into uncharted territory. If you have your own recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Heather Dyer is a consultant in writing for children. She provides writing and publishing advice through The Literary Consultancy, The Writers' Advice Centre for Children's Books, and privately. If you’re ready for feedback on your work-in-progress contact Heather at heatherdyerbooks@gmail.com. 

Heather’s children’s novel The Girl with the Broken Wing was one of Richard and Judy’s book club picks, and The Boy in the Biscuit Tin was nominated for a Galaxy Best British Children’s Book award. Heather also teaches creative writing for the University of the Creative Arts, and facilitates workshops in creative thinking techniques for creatives and academics.

Keeping going in the summer holidays - Alex English

The school holidays are looming, in fact, here in France they've already begun and will go on for nine (nine!) weeks. These long summer months are a great time to relax and unwind with the kids, but not so great for getting any writing done. Here are a few things I've tried to help keep my writing going while school's out.

Summer's here!

1. Down tools for the summer

In the absence of deadlines, the most obvious option to the summer conundrum may be to stop writing and take a break. Unfortunately for me, while working around the children is difficult, not working is even worse! Ideas bubbling inside me with no time to write make me a tetchy and irritable mum. So, while I've tried this before, I don't recommend it unless you want a break.

2. Embrace childcare when you can

This is an obvious, albeit sometimes expensive one. We live in France so grandparental help is limited, as are holiday clubs, but whenever there is a chance to palm the kids off on someone else and write, I am not ashamed to take it.

3. Work on mini projects 

When the kids were babies, I wrote in nap times. I was mainly working on picture books at that point, which were easy projects to pick up and put down. I sometimes even worked alongside my children. If they were busy playing with Brio trains on the floor, I would sit alongside them and scribble picture book ideas longhand in my notebook. As long as I was sitting with them, and not staring at a screen, they were happy to play alongside as I doodled. So, a picture book text or a few poems might be the sort of writing to do over the summer to keep your writing brain well-oiled and ready for September. Similarly, bits of research or website admin can be easier to do in small snatches than longer pieces of fiction.

Drawing lizard characters for my WIP with my co-conspirator

4. Co-work with the children

As my children have got (a little) older and started to enjoy colouring and drawing, working alongside them has become easier. My boys' love for drawing has inspired me to start myself, so often in the holidays I can be found sketching maps of book settings with my children, drawing my characters or key props. I also like to test out potential school visit workshop ideas on them, or take them to interesting museums for research under the guise of 'fun'.

5. Get up early

Longer fiction demands periods of deeper concentration, and this summer I was loathe to completely stop work for two months when I had just put together a synopsis for my next middle-grade novel and was bursting with inspiration. I've often read about writers getting up early and writing before the children wake, but have only recently tried it for myself (night-time waking and general knackeredness had always precluded it before). Anyway, I am pleased to report that it really works! I don't write masses, but I tend to get around 300-500 words done by jumping (staggering) out of bed thirty minutes earlier. A bit like running, I never want to do it but I am glad afterwards that it's done. There's something very liberating about having a little bit of writing complete before I've even had breakfast, and it leaves me free to enjoy the rest of the day with my boys.

6. Don't beat yourself up

Lastly, life as a writer with kids is tough. If after all this, you get nothing done at all, don't beat yourself up. There's always September!


Alex English is a graduate of Bath Spa University's MA Writing for Young People. Her picture books Yuck said the Yak, Pirates Don't Drive Diggers and Mine Mine Mine said the Porcupine are published by Maverick Arts Publishing. More picture books and her first middle-grade novel are forthcoming.
www.alexenglish.co.uk

An Attempt at Exhausting a Place - Alex English

In my previous blog post I wrote about Lynda Barry’s simple template for listing the details of the day with her Daily Diary.

Now I’d like to introduce you to Georges Perec – a French novelist and filmmaker and member of the Oulipo group of writers, famed for their constrained writing (Perec famously wrote a novel consisting only of words that don’t contain the letter ‘e’).

In 1974, frustrated with newspapers’ focus on disasters and sensationalist stories (which rings very true with me at the moment – I almost cannot bear to read the news), Perec decided to shift his focus to the ordinary mundanities of life.

“The papers annoy me, they teach me nothing.” 

Georges Perec 

The result was a short (40 pages!) book titled An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, published in 1975. It consists solely of lists of every detail of ‘mundane life’ that Perec observed while sitting in a cafe on Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris for three days.

There's something rather beautiful and hypnotic in these simple lists, and it's something I've tried to get into the habit of doing whenever I have a spare moment.

The numbers in Perec's notes refer to buses.

Refreshments are allowed!

'Exhausting a place' is something I now do whenever I'm not sure what to write. There's no expectation of a finished piece, just an exercise in noting down details. And I do happen to live in Paris at the moment, but it doesn't have to be a glamorous-sounding location. Anywhere can be exhausted, all it require is pen, paper and (most importantly) your attention.

As a side note, during my research into Georges Perec, I happened upon this rather lovely short film An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Sussex by Jessica Bishopp, inspired by Perec’s book.

I also came across this intriguing creative writing workshop, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Leicester, on Tuesday 16 July.

Have you ever tried 'exhausting a place'?

Alex English is a graduate of Bath Spa University's MA Writing for Young People. Her picture books Yuck said the Yak, Pirates Don't Drive Diggers and Mine Mine Mine said the Porcupine are published by Maverick Arts Publishing and she has more forthcoming from Bloomsbury and Faber & Faber.
www.alexenglish.co.uk