Announcing our first Short Story Slam, July 20th 2012!

Hi everyone. We have a very special announcement to make about something that's been in the works for a few weeks now. This morning we finalised the remaining deails, so we can officially invite you to the first:

Storyslingers Short Story Slam!

Friday 20th July, 2012.

The Rutter Room, Shaftesbury Arts Centre. 7pm start. The official SAC page is here.

Storyslingers is hosting Shaftesbury’s first ever Story Slam – THE summer event for emerging writers to showcase their work, and for audiences to engage in fresh local literature.

A story slam is a contest of words, like a poetry slam for prose writers. Each writer has approximately five minutes (or 780 words) to read their story in front of a cosy audience and a friendly panel of judges.

This is an open event, and any writer can register to participate, though please be aware that some content may be unsuitable for children. We have a 60-seat maximum capacity with 10-15 performance slots. If we have any slots free on the night you can register on the door.

There are no set themes—you can read anything you like, from contemporary to fantasy, literary to genre-based fiction. The only restriction is that it's your own work. And it doesn't end there: Stories can even have live musical accompaniment if you want. But please contact us in this case so we can sort out the technicalities beforehand.

If you'd rather not compete you can still read a story during the non-competitive readers’ slots. Just please make clear in advance whether you want to compete or not. If you plan to read out a story email Jennifer K. Oliver at joliverdesigns(at)gmail(dot)com to book a reading slot.

Winner(s) will receive a small prize! And everyone will receive a massive round of applause.

Non-writers please come along and hear fresh new writing from the best local authors. There will be handmade books, zines, bookmarks and postcards for sale – mostly limited edition prints/ books, or one-off Book Art pieces.

Tickets £5 (£4 for SAC members and under 18s).

Bar and coffee-making facilities available.

Frome Festival, July 2012

Frome Festival, taking place in July 2012, looks set to be a wide, interesting mixture of events, lectures and workshops, and a good place for creative types to do a spot of local networking. There are a lot of different things going on in the writing and publishing fields too, and it's worth checking out the line up if you're involved in the local lit scene.

Both me and Jennifer Bell are attending this year. I'll be going to the Dickens' London seminar, run by author Peter Clark, and Jennifer B is going to What Do Agents Look For In New Talent? run by Julia Churchill, and then we're both doing Editing Without Tears – A Workshop For Writers, run by writers Jane Elmor and Jill Harris.

They're also running a Short Story Competition for stories of any theme between 1000 and 2000 words, and it's not too late to enter. The judges are crime novelist Peter Lovesey and novelist Maria McCann. The winning story will receive £300,  second place £150, and third place £75. Stories that make it through to the longlist will also be recorded and broadcast over FromeFM, so if you've always wanted to hear your stories on the radio, this is definitely a competition you should consider!

We hope to see some of you there.

Happy Birthday!

It’s been exactly one year since Storyslingers formed. We met yesterday, brought WAAAY too much cake and goodies, and decorated the room in Muriel’s handmade bunting (amazingly crafted things of beauty) and Robbie’s birthday banner he designed (above) 

Simon bought delicious expensive cake from Waitrose, which rather trumped the sorry looking 80p sponge from Co-op

So what have we been up to during this formative first year? Here’s a round up of all the amazing things members have got up to:

1)       The first event I went to as an official Storyslinger was a Dorset Writer’s Network Marketing Your Writing Group workshop. I got loads of good ideas, some yet to be tried out.

2)       The group had our first book sale at Shaftesbury Arts Festival. We sold handmade books, bookmarks, postcards, Robbie designed some comedy cards, and we displayed publications that we’ve been in, edited or published (including Victor Canning books re-published by John Higgins).

3)       Robbie and I performed at Mere Literary Festival’s Open Mic event. I read a flash fiction and Robbie accompanied me playing backing guitar; I won a little prize. Then Robbie performed a comedy sketch that went down really well with the crowd.

4)       We had another handmade-book stall at the Mere Literary Festival.

5)       Playwright, Tony Benge came to Storyslinger HQ to lead a Writing for Performance workshop. We’re grateful to the DWN, who funded/ facilitated this workshop.

6)       John directed Beggar’s Bush, an excellent play written by Victor Canning, which went down very well, receiving good reviews and attended by at least one local celebrity.

7)       Confusingly, a new café opened up called Beggar’s Banquet (we kept calling it Beggar’s Bush!) Jennifer and I frequently met up there to talk writing and scrawl our famously slap-dash Storyslinger agendas.

8)       Simon and I visited London galleries, looking mostly at avant-garde art movements such as the Vorticists and the poetry of Ezra Pound. Inspired, we developed a Dada Poetry workshop, constructing crazy verse from random words cut out of books.

9)       Simon and I attended Bridport Open Book festival. We saw Greta Stoddart perform some poetry, and Joe Dunthorne read from Submarine, Wild Abandon and a few shorts. We sat behind PJ Harvey in the audience! Later in the festival we returned to hear our favourite author, Adam Marek, and other Bridport Prize winners talk about what the prize meant to their careers, their inspirations and writing processes. They each read excerpts from their books. Adam Marek read out a forthcoming short story, and I had a long chat with him about writing.

10)   We revived our Dada Poetry workshop for the Christmas party, this time Christmas-themed, to hilarious effect. We played a variety of literary and arts parlour games, such as literary exquisite corpse, and write-draw-write-draw.

11)   Jennifer Oliver and I gave a talk about on-line publishing as part of DWN’s Publishing Day in Dorchester.

12)   I read out a short story Intersection at a party, with a friend providing backing guitar.

13)   Colin submitted the first few chapters of his novel No More the Hero to a major competition run in conjunction with Good Housekeeping Magazine.  (and I undertook two funding bids for a literary project, both of which unsuccessful – but we’ve got to try these things. The process brought me in contact with local band Achilles, who are keen to work with us on a narrated song collaboration).

14)   Jennifer and I went on a research trip to Bath, Jennifer focused on her Steampunk novel (set in a re-imagined Victorian Bath), and me on my Arthurian novel (partially set in Post Roman Bath). We picked the brains of various historians on our visit to the museum at the Crescent.

15)   Robbie expanded his comedy organisation Cobedy to act as a network for other comedians and to market and promote the work of members (aka cobedians). 

16)   Jennifer Oliver, Beth, Becky and I went to Bath Literary festival, attending the Speculative Fiction workshop. This was an excellent opportunity for networking and meeting writers.

17)   I returned to Bath Literary Festival later in the week to attend a general writing workshop and met with writers on the Bath Spa MA and PhD.

18)   Jennifer was interviewed by the notebook publishing company Paperblanks. 

19)   John and Muriel attended Dorset Libraries Readers and Writers Day in Sturminster.

20)   Beth gave away 24 copies of Rebecca to mothers at Gillingham Primary School as part of World Book Night, inspiring them to take up reading and even form a book group. I gave away How I Live now to various people in various locations, and attended a World Book Night party hosted by Sherborne Literary Society.

21)   James and I attended a Bournemouth Festival of Words workshop on characterisation, which was good despite the fact we had to dredge up all sorts of significant personal history and air it to a room of people. Cathartic, maybe. 

22)   Simon and I attended a Bournemouth art school “happening” – sound art performance choked full of energy, and free beer.

Member’s literary achievements May 2011-May 2012:

I had a story Beached shortlisted for a competition, and then later accepted by Kasma SF, it is published here.

Jennifer K Oliver had her story Death Car Alley accepted by Jersey Devil Press, published here.

My story Intersection was published by British flash fiction ezine The Pygmy Giant.

Jo completed her MA in Creative Writing at Plymouth University with a Merit.

Jo had a two week internship with SFX magazine in Bath.

I won a bursary through The Free Reads scheme to have the beginning of my novel read by The Literary Consultancy.

Jennifer finished writing the first draft of her steampunk novel.

I was offered a place on Bath Spa’s Creative Writing MA.

Becky was offered a place on a Journalism course.

Muriel and I have had stories published in a forthcoming flash fiction anthology. Polishing the Air and Automorph by Muriel, and Trapped in Nomansland by me.

Muriel’s story Polishing the Air was short listed for the National Flash Fiction anthology.

Members have been proactive all year, with several ongoing projects and novels. Becky is an editor of Splendid Fred Magazine, Jennifer is working on a Steampunk novel and various short stories, Colin is writing his novel No More The Hero, I’m working on a few different novels, Robbie’s cobedy projects and films are growing and drawing in larger audiences, Beth is working on her urban fantasy novels, John has been bringing Victor Canning’s writing to new audiences, and many members have been writing some excellent short stories.

(Please inform me if I’ve missed anyone out and/or made any mistakes, I’m sure I have – I’m working from rusty memory.)

Wow! What a huge lot of stuff we’ve been doing. And I have a feeling that this next year is going to be even busier and more exciting, with new members, forthcoming events, writing conferences and literature festivals.

Poetry from Jesmond Arbour, world-class drunkard

Never let it be said that our Storyslingers writing prompts don't inspire moments of creative madness. This is a result of last Tuesday's meeting. The prompt was 'Scarecrow.'

The Scarecrow

by Jesmond Arbour

Bloody thing-

Stop looking at me!

I've only stopped for a second pee.

The third I shall save for Auntie Doris'

And maybe some more for the car park at Morrisons.

What's that man doing mummy? - a shrill voice cries

PISS OF YER LITTLE SHITE, OR I'LL SMITE YOUR EYES

Oh god, how simple life would be

As a Scarecrow - like this one in front of me.

So in I climb, into the clothes that were, once tied with string around the frame now bare.

The hat with straw sits atop my bonce while the allotment owner shouts:

What the jolly fuck do you think you're doing, sir?

You can also watch the author himself reading this poem:

Link to the video on YouTube in case the embedding breaks.

Mr Arbour (the author) wanted to add "Where did you get that?  I didn't write that.  You must be mad sir, this is the work of a deranged drunkard!"

Many thanks to Cobedy for providing the laughs! For more hilarious sketches, check out Cobedy's video channel here.

Author Interview at Paperblanks Blog

It’s no secret I’m slightly obsessed with Paperblanks notebooks, as I’ve Tweeted and blogged about them before. I recently picked up two new notebooks, their stunning “Midnight Gold” and “Indigo Sky Mares,” and after mentioning my purchases on Twitter I got into a micro-conversation with the good people at Paperblanks, which lead to an opportunity to take part in their bi-monthly “Featured Artist” segment.

Before I link to the interview, I should point you to their various ranges of notebooks (both lined and blank), guest books, day planners, and address books of all shapes, sizes and designs. It’s so hard picking a favourite design, and I talk more in the interview about the ones I tend to favour, but there are a couple I’ve got my eye on for my next Paperblanks spree—their Japanese Lacquer Boxes collection and the Mucha collection. They’re both so elegant and beautiful!

You can read the interview, in which I ramble about notebooks, creativity, and inspiration here. (There is also a pic of me looking all thoughtful and authorish.)

And the rest of their Featured Artist interviews can be found here.

Outlining Backwards

It's a totally different experience writing a novel compared to writing a short story. You have to get a special novel-head on to cope with the sheer magnitude of words and scenes, and to tie a longer plot together. Things are looser, in terms of how much you write, but sometimes that can work against you and you end up veering off your plot.

I was just thinking about how I'm writing my novel—or, more accurately, how I'm plotting my novel. Rather than work out a detailed outline before I began writing, like I did with the test-run novel I wrote in 2011, I let this one fly, with only the major plot points (my key milestones) in mind. Everything connecting those milestones unfolded as the story progressed. It's like carrying a torch along a night-road that has twists and turns: you can only see a restricted portion of the road ahead of you, and you can only reveal more of it by moving forwards. I've never written in this way before and it's been eye-opening and mind-boggling and an adrenaline rush of discovery so far.

My path is almost fully illuminated now, as I'm nearing the climax of the story and I know what needs to happen right at the end to round it off. And it's not until this point that I'm starting to write down my outline. Seems a bit of a backwards way to 'plan' a novel—planning it after the fact—but this method seems to be more about looking back at a map of the road recently walked, taking note of what I've uncovered along the way, and then considering which parts need to be shuffled around and which need to be discarded so it's the tightest, clearest, and most interesting route for readers.

I'm not entirely sure if this rumination has a definitive point to make, but I wanted to highlight it because it's one way of doing things. Like with most methods, it depends on the type of story you're telling, but don't ever worry about starting out without a clear outline in mind. Sometimes, a story will unfold on its own, and all you can do is write and have fun with it, and trust it to lead you to your goal.

And while we're all about writing processes, here are some links to other authors' blog posts on the subject:

Cat Rambo – Another Interminable Process Post.

Elizabeth Sogard – Outlining After You Write A Novel.

Paperback Writer – Novel Outlining 101.

Alicia Rasley – Outline Your Novel in 30 Minutes.

Randy Ingermanson - The Snowflake Method.

Short Story Published - "Death Car Alley"

One of my short stories has been published in Issue 27 of Jersey Devil Press, and you can read it online for free here: "Death Car Alley."

It's a dark, urban fantasy with hints of post-apocalypse and a dash of tongue-in-cheek. There's also a .pdf version of the entire issue available here, which I highly recommend checking out because then you'll be able to read all the stories from Issue 27.

I hope you enjoy! And don't forget to check out our Stories page for other published works by Storyslingers members.

Too Much Good Advice?

Greetings, Storyslingers readers. I've been doing a bit of market research lately and it's made me ponder writing advice, how much of it exists out there, and when enough is just plain enough.

OK, so writing often being a lonely business is a given, since the author is the only person who can write the story that only they can tell. Sure, you may have friends and readers or even co-writers around you during the process, but ultimately your ideas start inside your head, and there they percolate and unfold all alone and uncertain before you get down to the nitty-gritty of drawing them out. When you're feeling a little lost and alone, it's tempting to dive headlong into the murky depths of writing and publishing blogs, if only for reassurance that you're not the only one feeling that way.

And that's good!

But doggy paddling through those unfathomable waters can quickly become overwhelming if you try to take it all in, because a lot of the advice out there for writers is full of disagreements and contradictions, and you will get bogged down. Pretty much all advice for writers is subjective, and what works for one writer might not work for the next.

In earlier days I'd find myself frantically saving links, blog-hopping and forum-stalking to find The Ultimate Writing Formula. But a lot of what I found was basically the same things being said over and over, just in different ways (so they seemed shiny and magical and helpful at the time). Isn't it hard enough wrestling stories and novels and plays and poems and articles without also worrying that you're not abiding by the gazillion 'How To' articles floating around out there? You can't follow all of them. But you can pick a few good ones—blogs and articles that resonate with you, that seem to apply to your style or method of writing or the particular piece you're working on right now. You'll get to know writers and agents and publishers you like, and you'll find yourself gravitating to their blogs more often than others.

You generally only need one or two staples. It's like a balanced diet. These are the clear, concise posts that you can refer to time and time again. Posts where the advice is broad enough so as not to restrict you or become too outdated over time, and not bog you down with too many hoops and details. Everyone's journey will be different—no two query letters will be the same, just as no two agent searches will be identical. Keep in mind the most important elements, as a lot of the rest is common sense.

Here are a couple of articles highlighting what I mean about condensing the avalanche of advice. I'm picking them because they're reasonably brief and not heavy with nit-picky details that may not even be relevant to you:

The Basic Query Letter Formula – from ex-literary agent and now published author Nathan Bransford. He breaks down the raw elements; you shouldn't be able to go too wrong following these.

Formatting Your Manuscript – also from Nathan Bransford.

Saying that, of course there are times when authors just want a quick brain-hug, and that's OK. As long as you don't get those times muddled up with the times when you need to think clearly and concisely, you should be fine.

(And if in serious doubt and various states of distraction, there's always the option to unplug your Internet. Yeah, I have to do that a lot.)

How Social Networking Can Help Establish Authors

Good afternoon, Storyslingers readers! Today we have a blog for you about social networking and how it can benefit new or up-coming authors. As always, discussions are welcome, and if you have any questions or comments about this post, feel free to drop them below.

The Importance of Networking

Reaching out to your readers and potential readers both offline and online is majorly important if you want to draw in the crowds. With an ever-widening market for e-books as well as print books, it's easy to sink beneath the ocean of other writers struggling to be seen and heard, and most importantly—read. A good place to start building your author presence is online, particularly if you're a busy writer or can't afford to attend book and writing conventions.

To someone unused to social networking, the sheer amount of websites, blogs, and forums can seem daunting. The key thing to remember is you really only need to pick one or two (or a handful, depending on your free time) to visit regularly, at least at first. It's about cultivating a presence in your niche, not spreading yourself too thin. When you're relatively unknown, it might be tempting to create accounts on multiple websites, but realistically, it'll be difficult keeping on top of everything.

Choosing the right social networking sites for you is a little bit down to personal preference, although there are a few biggies that you should be aware of. These are generally the best places to create accounts due to their immeasurable popularity and how current they are. Facebook is one. Twitter another. I'm sure you've heard of them, even if you haven't visited them.

There are also a number of busy forums dedicated to writing and reading. An excellent example is Litopia Writers' Colony, a sprawling website that hosts discussion boards, podcasts and radio shows, interviews, reviews—just about everything a reader or writer could hope for. For similar sites, please refer to the links below.

Getting Started

Again, social networking doesn't have to be a stressful endeavour. You can put in as much effort as you want, but bear in mind, you'll probably get out about as much as you put in, sometimes less, which is why it's advisable to log in at least once a week and drop a note to update friends and connections on what you're up to. Take a moment to check other people's statuses, too, and comment on anything that catches your eye. As nice as it is to have a ready audience waiting to hear from you, there needs to be some give as well. If you rarely post and never comment on anyone else's blog or page, you may find people will stop commenting on yours. The secret is in the name: social networking. Give and take. Communication. These are the things you'll need to build up a solid network—and hopefully a solid fanbase.

Handy links:

Social Neworkingfor Writers - These are all writer-specific, rather than the more general (and often busier) venues like Facebook and Twitter.

Social Networking and Message Boards for Writers - Similar to the above, though this one covers the lesser-known boards and forums.

Goodreads - One of the more popular books and writing websites. Goodreads is a cunning amalgamation of different things: a virtual library, book club, discussion board, blogging platform, and a place where authors can connect personally with their readers and hold competitions/giveaways.

Shelfari - Similar to Goodreads, this site is dedicated to books and reading. It also gives authors the opportunity to reach out to readers and vice-versa.

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That just about covers the basics, but if there's anything else you want to know, ask away. If we can't help, we might be able to point you to a website that can. There will be a follow-up post sometime in the New Year covering social networking tips, tricks, and etiquette, so keep an eye out for it.

And finally, thanks for reading!

Bridport Open Book Festival Part 2

Continued from the last post: http://storyslingers.blogspot.com/2011/11/bridport-open-book-festival-part-1.html where Simon and I went to Bridport Open Book festival, heard Joe Dunthorne read from Submarine, Wild Abandon and some poems, sat behind PJ Harvey in the audience and appreciated Gretta Stoddart's excellent poetry. 

We returned to Bridport on Friday afternoon, had a little wander around the town, ate some amazing cake at the wonderful Beach and Barnicott, and bought some cheap shoelaces at This ‘n’ That.

This time we were in for a more informal reading from past Bridport Prize winners. The name that drew us to this event was Adam Marek, writer of Instruction Manual for Swallowing (Comma Press). After our knife and fork themed prompt at Storyslinger HQ, I handed around Marek’s story, The Thorn, in which a splinter in a boy’s foot turns out to be a silver dining fork. And now we’re raving Marek fans. Marek’s writing style is hugely original, marked by the clashing together of the impossibly bizarre and the mundane routine of reality. He takes magical realism one step further than the typical canon.

The evening went very smoothly, with multi-award winning Vanessa Gebbie acting as compere for the evening. Also present was Judith Allnatt, who has two books published by Black Swan. The three writers chatted about their work, routines, inspiration-points and career-to-date, as well as how important being placed in the Bridport Prize was to their careers (very important). Allnatt and Gebbie read out extracts from their novels, and Marek read a complete short story, as yet unpublished.

Afterwards I chatted to Adam Marek about the process of writing. It’s nice to know that one of my all time favourite short story writers was once in the same position that I am in; in possession of a stack of rejection letters, wondering why I spend so much time and energy on writing, and feeling that wherever the end of the tunnel is, it’s sure not shedding any light yet. Marek’s advice: keep on going, you’ll get there someday, maybe pretty soon.

Here’s a really interesting interview with Marek at this year’s Kikinda Short story festival in Serbia wherein Marek talks about how he fuses fantasy and reality. 

And here he reads from Fewer Things, shortlisted for Sunday Times short story award: