Monday 28 September 2020

Virtual HumberSFF #7 – The Social On Your Sofa


Hornsea Writers member Shellie Horst not only writes and reviews Speculative Fiction but organises HumberSFF. Under its umbrella she facilitates its twice yearly “Socials” – free mini Litfests – inviting authors from around the country to visit the Humber region to talk about and read from their work.

This being Covid year, face-to-face events are no longer an option. Not to be daunted, Shellie organised HumberSFF’s first Virtual Social via Google Meet. Participants and attendees alike sat in their own comfy chairs, grabbed a beverage of choice, and for nigh on three hours enjoyed a series of readings, Q&A sessions, and hearing the inspiration and working practices of the four authors. If you weren’t there you missed a treat, and much inspiration.

Keith W Dickinson brings his love of Steampunk and Crime together with a wry sense of humour in Dexter & Sinister: Detecting Agents. A liking for mechanical cats is not obligatory.

Shona Kinsella writes both Fantasy and Science Fantasy. Her current work, a novella The Flame and the Flood will soon be followed by a reissue of her Fantasy trilogy The Vessel of Kaladene.

Joe Hakim is a performance poet, a broadcaster, a writer in residence. His Science Fiction/Horror novel The Community is set firmly in Hull.

Tim Major is a prolific writer of works that cover the full gamut of Speculative Fiction. Hope Island leans towards Supernatural Mystery. Beware of singing caves.

As ever with HumberSFF’s Socials, there was a free book raffle. Four lucky attendees are currently awaiting delivery of their chosen titles, ably facilitated by the independent bookshops who stepped up to help out:

JE Books of Hull  :  The Portal Bookshop, York  :  The Rabbit Hole, Brigg

Thanks to everyone who contributed. HumberSFF’s Socials are not recorded. You have to be there, virtual or not, so Follow the Website to receive notification of the next.

Friday 18 September 2020

When "How to" becomes "How NOT to"

 

All writers know that the more they write, the more they will improve. But sometimes this quest for perfection can prove to be a trap. Let me tell you my experience.

I have around 14 titles in the virtual world, but, like most writers, I am always looking to improve how and what I write. But sometimes, the quest to achieve this can stop you in your tracks. By which, I mean “how to write your book” books/articles/blogs/courses and the like.

After I had written 10 or so books and novellas, I wanted to try and refine my writing process. And so I began what has been a two-year journey to find that perfect method, and believe me there are thousands of self-help books etc. out there. This begs the question as to why there are so many. I am afraid to say that my cynical answer is that the authors of these books will probably earn far more from their self-help books than they do from their own creative writing because these books feed a need in authors to improve, but they also feed our inbuilt insecurity in our own abilities. I know that I could quite easily teach a 10-week writing course for students at my local college. And I also know that if I did so, I would earn so much more from that than I do from my crime books. 

The sad truth is, that after two years of searching for perfection, my writing has dwindled to a struggling nothing. Some days every word is like wading through treacle. It seems the more articles/books I read and try to incorporate into my writing process, the deeper the quicksand becomes. I have now called a halt to reading all these “improvement” books. And do you know why? Because I know how I write my books. I know what my process is, what works best for me.

After much deliberation, I've decided I must reacquaint myself with the way I used to write in order to be able to keep on writing – find again that wonderful joy in my craft I seem to have lost. I do not decry any self-help books and articles. And I think, even for the seasoned writer I now realise I am, they can prove useful for the odd nugget of information. But for me, they made me question my own ability to write and that is what has stopped me writing. 

I must find my old inventiveness, the one that isn’t lashed to a someone else's structure, but a structure that works for me. The problem writers have is that people can tell you but you can write until they are blue in the face. This is the same for many professions but especially the creative ones and, having been a serious singer for most of my life, I can tell you we creatives are all insecure creatures who don’t believe we can do anything well.

I have decided I am neither a plotter nor a pantser but a hybrid. Instinctively, I start with what-if? Then I find my characters and get to know who they are. I put them into my what-if situation. I already know what the end will be. In fact, after writing four or five chapters, my default was to write the last chapter. I will go back to that.

What happens between those five chapters and the end is, as I have often said, like a roadmap. I want to get from London to Edinburgh, but my characters decide which route I will take. I also use index cards to denote the towns – i.e. significant events - I must drive through in order to reach Edinburgh.

My objective is to publish three titles by Christmas 2020. Long Shadows is written and in process of being edited. Loyalty in Conflict has been messed about with so much in the past two years that I am now at the stage where I have ripped it apart and am rewriting huge tranches of it. The third will be the farewell George Pattison Mystery, where she marries her beloved Sir Edward Broome, but of course, there’s just the little matter of a murder along the way.

Next year I intend to start a new crime series set around the northern UK town of Guisborough. It will be crime with a paranormal element. It will also be very interesting to see how fast I write it going back to my method. Watch this space.

 

You can read more about April Taylor here:

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Friday 4 September 2020

Making the Most of a Windswept Book Launch

It was the August Bank Holiday weekend in the coastal town of Hornsea. After the long Covid-19 lockdown the town was open for business, visitors were streaming in, and Saturday was the date of the Artists’ Fair in the garden behind The Townhouse gift shop. 

It was also the launch for Book 2 in my Yorkshire historical series, The Story of Reighton: New Arrivals. What could possibly go wrong?

As can be seen from the photograph below there is no accounting for the British weather. Sun-tops were out; big jumpers and wet weather gear was in. 

I was sharing an open-sided tent with a photographer and a young couple selling slate and glass art. Before we’d officially started, the photographer and I each had to grasp a tent pole to stop them flying out of their sockets in the strong gusts of wind. This was a recipe for disaster. Guy-ropes were being shaken free of their pins. And then it started raining, the spray covering our wares.

Desperate measures were needed. So, trying not to stand on any flowers in the nearby border, I climbed through the shrubs, guy-ropes in hand, to find something a little more secure to fasten them to.  A nearby tree seemed sturdy enough, but throughout the afternoon I still kept a hand on a shuddering tent pole, just in case, and only dare let go to sign copies of my novel.

Me in red making the most of it

Did the weather keep people away? To my astonishment, no. And much to my surprise I sold 20 copies. The day was well worth the effort and it was great to meet and chat with readers.

Joy Stonehouse

Book 1: Witch-bottles and Windlestraws (A Story of Reighton, Yorkshire 1703 to 1709)
Book 2: New Arrivals in Reighton (A Story of Reighton, Yorkshire 1709 to 1714)