IF YOU CAN DO IT FOR JOY, PUBLISHING TIPS FROM STEPHEN KING, by Saviour Pirotta

Like many teenagers who discovered adult books in the late 1970s, I was an avid horror fan.  Guy Masterson, William Peter Blatty, David Seltzer, Dean Koontz, Frank de Filitta; we waited for their books with bathed breath. But the undisputed top of the heap was Stephen King. We had no access to publishing news in those days, so I would drop by my local bookshop on a weekly basis, hoping to see his latest bestseller (and it was always a bestseller) on the shelves.

Egged on by Brian de Palma's film adaptation, the first Stephen King book I read was Carrie. It was also the first book I read which was a collection of letters, reports and diary entries. (I hadn't yet read the original Bram Stoker's Dracula, only the Bancroft Classics abridged version). I was hooked. As Mr. King's books grew in scope, so did my enthusiasm for his writing. I read The Stand and The Shining over and over again.

My fervour for Mr. King's writing ran aground with Rose Madder. By now I had moved to England. Lured away from horror by more diverse writing discovered at Shepherds Bush library, I just couldn't get into it. And I've never read another horror book since. I still regard Stephen King as a master of his genre, though. Of any genre, really. On Writing is still my go to book when I need a refresher course on plotting and, over the years, I have amassed quite a collection of Stephen King writing tips. Here are my favourites, and how I interpret them, in no particular order:

1. IDEAL READER

Always write for one reader, whom you must keep in mind through the writing process. Stephen King calls him/her IDEAL READER. For me, it's Rosemary Sutcliff, who I imagine sitting beside me, nodding enthusiastically when I get something right and shaking her head sadly when she's not so sure. She's at my elbow all through my writing time, whether I'm chained to my desk or tapping away at my laptop in Espresso Yourself. I even read out loud to her (when I'm at home, obviously, not when I'm in a cafe. That would be weird.)

2. WHAT IF

The most interesting situations can be expressed as a What if? question. I tend to use this a lot, even when I have the plot all worked out. I still keep asking the question. I find it takes me up interesting alleys and along side roads I did not consider first time round.

3. THE CHARACTERS, THE EVENT

A good story always ends up being about the people rather than the event. The characters are what we remember. Can I call the plot to Great Expectations to mind? Only vaguely. What first springs to mind when I hear the title to Dicken's masterpiece is Miss Havisham in her tattered wedding gown, sitting at a wedding table covered in rotting food.

4. 3 PARTS

A story has three parts.

NARRATION, which moves the story from point to point, from event to event.

DESCRIPTION, which creates a sensory experience for the reader.

DIALOGUE, which brings the characters to life through their words.

I think this is one of Mr King's most important writing tips. I write the three words on three different coloured sticky notes and stick them to the side of my screen, moving them up every time I use one of them to make sure they keep abreast of each other.

5 And, finally, a tip (I'm so tempted to use the word 'hack' but I won't, I won't) we should keep in mind through the ups and downs of being published authors.

IF YOU CAN DO IT FOR JOY, YOU CAN DO IT FOREVER.

The Crocodile Curse, Saviour Pirotta's second book in The Nile Adventures series is out from Maverick now.  Otter-Barry Books have reissued his picture book classic Turtle Bay.

Follow Saviour on Twitter @spirotta and on TikTok @saviour_pirotta. His tag on Instagram is saviour2858. 

 

A creative tip that might just change me for good! Moira Butterfield

This blog is short because it contains one important message about creativity that I think could provide invaluable for me and perhaps for you, too.

I heard it on Grayson Perry’s Art Club, which I’ve been enjoying on Channel Four for the past few Mondays (the last one was on June 1^st). Each week the public were asked to send in their own lockdown art on a specific theme, some of which was chosen to be part of a future exhibition. Grayson and his partner Philippa Perry both worked on pottery in their studio (I did have workspace envy), and talked to artistic celebrities. (That bit was slightly annoying because celebrities - usually comedians - have to be shoehorned in everywhere on TV, but that’s the way of things.)  

I was interested in the varied creative ideas that people offered and the interviews with members of the public that Grayson did via computer screen. They were both insightful and emotional. In particular there was an inspiring blind artist who responded in her work to the shadows she encountered, and an autistic boy who made very imaginative monster figures.

I even tried some performance art of my own, filmed by my bemused son, and though it didn’t get to the show it provided a morning of fun.

Grayson wasn’t afraid of trying new ideas and perhaps failing.

  “I did feel quite vulnerable making that,” he said when he tried drawing a portrait of his wife and making it into a plate. “We have to be open and be prepared to fail.”

One of Grayson Perry’s comments really struck home with me, and it’s one I intend to hold on to.

“If we get imposter syndrome it means we’re trying something new.”

I love that. It turns the imposter syndrome (that familiar feeling that you can’t do something) on its head and makes it into a positive forward-engine instead of a roadblock.

Like most writers I know I regularly wonder how on Earth I’m going to do something I’ve said I would do – even after years of writing. In fact, as Grayson Perry points out, it’s a consequence of propelling myself forward by trying new ideas. I do sometimes fail and get ideas knocked back regularly, but I do strive to be forward-thinking. In fact if I didn’t get that imposter syndrome feeling at some point when I’m developing a project, perhaps it signals that I’m being a bit too smug and liable to coast along producing the familiar.

Next time I think 'I can’t possibly do this’ I’ll be translating it into ‘Well done. You’re progressing, not stagnating!’

Moira Butterfield

www.moirabutterfield.com

Twitter @moiraworld

Instagram @moirabutterfieldauthor 

Moira’s latest book for children – A Trip to the Future - will be published in July by Templar.  It's illustrated by StudioFago and it is filled with the new because it imagines the science, engineering and creativity of the future based on today’s scientific breakthroughs. It's for children aged 8+ who are learning science, design and technology and it aims to inspire them to think in new ways, 

On Learning. And on learning again - by Rowena House

This month I bought two more writing advice guides: On Editing by Helen Corner-Bryant and Kathryn Price, and Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott, both of which I’ve been meaning to read for ages.

The contrasts between them are remarkable; you’d be forgiven for thinking they aren’t about the same subject at all.

On Editing is practical, clear, logical and full of excellent editing advice, like how to develop a Show Not Tell mindset, how and why to control viewpoint, and classic ways of plotting your story’s shape.

 

Bird By Bird is personal, wise, endearing, and full of excellent creative writing advice about the importance of not taking yourself too seriously, of finishing whatever small portion of a story you’ve started, of silencing inner critics, of freeing your imagination.

 

 

Devouring them both, it became clear that On Editing is the right book for me as a mentor for writers seeking publication, but I dithered about whether Lamott’s vision might be more relevant to where I am at the moment as a writer: i.e. starting over.

Again.

(Yup, I know. Sadly, after a year or so exploring the WWII story I’ve blogged about before, I found I didn’t believe in it enough to keep on keeping on. Never mind. There are galaxies of stories out there, and we only need to discover one star.)

Anyhow, if you’re a writer you’ve no doubt discovered long since that there is no ‘right’ way to write a story. This is a truism of our business. We each do what we do. Plot or not. Start with a hunch or refine a premise. Run with an obsession. Fall in love with a character. Ask What If…?

After a decade of attending writing courses, and running them myself, this tenet of individuality had come to seem rather obvious and run-of-the-mill. Trite, even. I certainly thought I knew myself: I plot, I structure, I edit. Guides like On Editing, Story and Into the Woods were the books for me. Then…

I attempted to teach creative writing skills to young people who weren’t remotely interested in the subject (!) but had, nonetheless, to write an original story for their exams. In the classroom, all the received wisdom, all the insights about creativity I’d gained over the years seemed to count for naught.

My enthusiasm for conflict, for protagonists, for rising tension and turning points simply didn’t translate into 450-600 word coherent narratives, with varied sentence structures, and good spelling, punctuation and grammar, to be written in 45 minutes.

Worse still, my research into effective ways of teaching creative writing in schools and colleges unearthed an alarming amount of academic evidence that professional writers teaching in class have statistically insignificant effects on official measurements of pupil attainment and progress.

 [It was a relief to read the Literacy Trust’s report (link below) which showed author visits do have positive benefits for literacy, but that report came too late to offer any comfort during my teacher training year.]

Suitably humbled, and with a brand new toolkit marked “author visitor”, I’ve now returned to the realm of the writer with renewed appreciation for the magic and wonder of the creative process. What a gift it is to be able (eventually) to say what you mean, and shape that into a story worth sharing.

It no longer seems to matter a jot whether one writes methodically, with a guide like On Editing to hand, or as a free spirit, completing each nugget Bird by Bird. What to write remains a big question, of course. But how to write it? Any damn way you please.

https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/impact-writer-visits-children-and-young-peoples-literacy-engagement/