Tuesday, 6 May 2014
That brilliant first line
That brilliant opening line
Writing is about many things, hues and shades, subtlety and tension, hints and plotlines. And fiction needs time to develop, to tell the story. However, it is also true that if you want to impress a would-be publisher or maybe a judge in a competition, those early lines are crucial.
Why? Because a great first line can take a story a long way, hook the reader straightaway, get them intrigued, desperate to know more.
I thought about this because a short story has just come into the Global Short Story Competition which had a cracking first line. Would not be fair to mention which story - and Fiona Cooper, our judge, has to make the decision anyway - but it did get me seeking out some cracking first lines from published works.
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. —Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. —George Orwell, 1984
I am an invisible man. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. —J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. —William Gibson, Neuromancer
I am a sick man . . . I am a spiteful man. —Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
All this happened, more or less. —Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
It was the day my grandmother exploded. —Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road
I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. —Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall. —Louise Erdrich, Tracks
It was a pleasure to burn. —Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. —Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups
John Dean
Friday, 2 May 2014
'And this is me'
Emotion is something of which some writers are wary, preferring to produce work without revealing too much of themselves.
However, for many other writers, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves in it. For some authors, there is always part of them peering through, their fears, their hopes, their aspirations, their take on life. They may not say ‘and this is me’ but it is there all the same.
For many authors, writing has to be a deeply personal art. That was certainly the agreement when some of students discussed the issue the other night. ‘Writing comes from life,’ they concluded.
Of course, it is not all autobiographical - many writers write characters and scenes which readers find abhorrent and use language and ideas with which readers might not agree but which need to be there because they reflect the world about us.
However, in there somewhere are also tantalising glimpses of what the writer really thinks of the world.
However, for many other writers, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves in it. For some authors, there is always part of them peering through, their fears, their hopes, their aspirations, their take on life. They may not say ‘and this is me’ but it is there all the same.
For many authors, writing has to be a deeply personal art. That was certainly the agreement when some of students discussed the issue the other night. ‘Writing comes from life,’ they concluded.
Of course, it is not all autobiographical - many writers write characters and scenes which readers find abhorrent and use language and ideas with which readers might not agree but which need to be there because they reflect the world about us.
However, in there somewhere are also tantalising glimpses of what the writer really thinks of the world.
On the same lines
An interesting thing has happened recently in the Global Short Story Competition, namely that two writers entered stories with the same storyline.
So since the stories are similar, does that devalue them? Of course, the answer is no, they are as valid as each other. Each stands on its own merits.
The theory is that there are only a small number of stories to be told - the children’s writing centre on Tyneside, here in the North East of England, is called Seven Stories because that is the number of children’s stories, apparently.
It is the same theory as racehorses - that ever racehorse in the world is related to just three bloodlines. And yes, you punters out there, that means the hopeless nag that trailed in last with your money on their back!
What makes writing endlessly fascinating is the way writers take those stories and tell and re-tell them, infusing them with their own passions and style, giving them their own original twists and their own personal insight.
That is why the two stories that came in are so rewarding because both tell the same story in a distinctive and, in the end, deeply effective way. And that is all that matters.
You can enter the May competition at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean
So since the stories are similar, does that devalue them? Of course, the answer is no, they are as valid as each other. Each stands on its own merits.
The theory is that there are only a small number of stories to be told - the children’s writing centre on Tyneside, here in the North East of England, is called Seven Stories because that is the number of children’s stories, apparently.
It is the same theory as racehorses - that ever racehorse in the world is related to just three bloodlines. And yes, you punters out there, that means the hopeless nag that trailed in last with your money on their back!
What makes writing endlessly fascinating is the way writers take those stories and tell and re-tell them, infusing them with their own passions and style, giving them their own original twists and their own personal insight.
That is why the two stories that came in are so rewarding because both tell the same story in a distinctive and, in the end, deeply effective way. And that is all that matters.
You can enter the May competition at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean
Scandinavian writing
One of the great things about running this competition is the way that it connects you with the great literary traditions of the world.
Entries from North America remind you that it is credited with creating the short story, tales from Australia that there has long been a thriving writing community, stories from England that the country was home to William Shakespeare (now whatever happened to that lad, did he do OK for himself?), stories from Africa that the continent has a remarkable heritage when it comes to creating compelling stories, and so on.
And stories from Scandinavia? Well, this blog started because we have had one or two recent entries from that part of the world into the Global Short Story Competition.
Scandinavia has a proud literary tradition and it is one that goes back to the very birth of stories - storytelling.
For all storytelling can be a different art - watch a storyteller hold an audience in his or her thrall to see that - there are, of course, a great many affinities with the writing of fiction.
There is the creation of characters and places, of pace and tension, of evoking strong emotions in the reader/listener, of leaving people changed even if only in a small way. Both a storyteller and an author would regard that as job done.
I tried my hand at storytelling a few years ago. I was a real novice and relied on notes the first time I did it. The kids were ok but I felt it lacked something so I threw away the piece of paper and next time just winged it and let the stories tell themselves. It was a liberating experience and I was such a success that I was never asked back!
I cannot finish this blog, though, without pointing out, as a crime novelist, that Scandinavia has produced some of the very finest exponents of the genre in recent years.
John Dean
Entries from North America remind you that it is credited with creating the short story, tales from Australia that there has long been a thriving writing community, stories from England that the country was home to William Shakespeare (now whatever happened to that lad, did he do OK for himself?), stories from Africa that the continent has a remarkable heritage when it comes to creating compelling stories, and so on.
And stories from Scandinavia? Well, this blog started because we have had one or two recent entries from that part of the world into the Global Short Story Competition.
Scandinavia has a proud literary tradition and it is one that goes back to the very birth of stories - storytelling.
For all storytelling can be a different art - watch a storyteller hold an audience in his or her thrall to see that - there are, of course, a great many affinities with the writing of fiction.
There is the creation of characters and places, of pace and tension, of evoking strong emotions in the reader/listener, of leaving people changed even if only in a small way. Both a storyteller and an author would regard that as job done.
I tried my hand at storytelling a few years ago. I was a real novice and relied on notes the first time I did it. The kids were ok but I felt it lacked something so I threw away the piece of paper and next time just winged it and let the stories tell themselves. It was a liberating experience and I was such a success that I was never asked back!
I cannot finish this blog, though, without pointing out, as a crime novelist, that Scandinavia has produced some of the very finest exponents of the genre in recent years.
John Dean
Making characters sound different
It’s important to make characters different from one another. Why? Because otherwise, readers get confused. Characters need to be just that.
Of course, you can give one red hair, another blonde etc, but one effective way to differentiate is the voice. They could:
Use different words: Characters can have their own slang and favourite expressions
Use different sentence patterns: Let one character use short sentences, another long ones.
Use humour: Why not give a character a jokey persona?
Let a character ramble: Rambling speech or thought can be tedious for the reader but it can work if you want to create such a character, as long as it is used sensibly.
Maybe have characters pay attention to different things—some will note their surroundings, some will be oblivious. Some will notice other characters, others will ignore them ; we all know people that call people by their name all the time, others that never do. It‘s a good way of making characters sound different.
John Dean
Of course, you can give one red hair, another blonde etc, but one effective way to differentiate is the voice. They could:
Use different words: Characters can have their own slang and favourite expressions
Use different sentence patterns: Let one character use short sentences, another long ones.
Use humour: Why not give a character a jokey persona?
Let a character ramble: Rambling speech or thought can be tedious for the reader but it can work if you want to create such a character, as long as it is used sensibly.
Maybe have characters pay attention to different things—some will note their surroundings, some will be oblivious. Some will notice other characters, others will ignore them ; we all know people that call people by their name all the time, others that never do. It‘s a good way of making characters sound different.
John Dean
Thursday, 1 May 2014
Encouraging support for new writers
It’s always good to see new writers acknowledged - in my opinion, the big names of the publishing world get far too much attention at the expense of those lower down the ladder.
So, I was delighted to see that the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) has announced the shortlist for its prestigious Joan Hessayon Award for new writers with no fewer than seventeen contenders from all over the UK and abroad.
Pia Fenton, RNA Chairman, said: “As always, the list of contenders shows the incredible diversity of RNA authors and I am absolutely delighted that there is such a bumper crop of graduates from our New Writers’ Scheme this year. It shows that romantic fiction continues to go from strength to strength and that our mentoring really works."
The New Writers' Scheme has been run by the RNA since 1962 and is unique among professional writing associations. It aims to encourage fresh talent in the writing of romantic novels that reflect all aspects of love and life, contemporary or historical.
Manuscripts submitted under the scheme are from unpublished authors and are read by an experienced writer or editor who provides feedback. Any manuscript that is subsequently published as a debut novel is eligible for the Joan Hessayon Award. All eligible books are judged by a panel of RNA members who are already published authors.
The Award will be presented at the RNA Summer Party on 22nd May at the Royal Over-Seas League, Park Place, London. It is sponsored by gardening expert Dr. David Hessayon OBE, in honour of his late wife Joan, who was a longstanding member of the RNA and a great supporter of its New Writers’ Scheme.
The full shortlist for 2014 is:
Celia J Anderson Sweet Proposal Piatkus
Elaine Everest Gracie's War Pulse
Helena Fairfax The Silk Romance MuseItUp
Sue Fortin United States of Love Harper Impulse
Kathryn Freeman Too Charming Choc Lit
Jessica Gilmore The Return of Mrs Jones Harlequin Mills & Boon
Laura E James Truth or Dare? Choc Lit
Jennie Jones The House on Burra Burra Lane Harlequin Australia
Alison May Sweet Nothing Choc Lit
Teresa F. Morgan Plus One is a Lucky Number Harper Impulse
Jane O'Reilly Once a Bad Girl Escape
Helen Phifer The Ghost House Carina UK
Jill Steeples Desperately Seeking Heaven Carina UK
Jo Thomas The Oyster Catcher Accent Press
Lin Treadgold Goodbye Henrietta Street Safkhet Publishing
Susan Willis Yes Chef, No Chef Endeavour
Jennifer Young Thank You For the Music Tirgearr
John Dean
So, I was delighted to see that the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) has announced the shortlist for its prestigious Joan Hessayon Award for new writers with no fewer than seventeen contenders from all over the UK and abroad.
Pia Fenton, RNA Chairman, said: “As always, the list of contenders shows the incredible diversity of RNA authors and I am absolutely delighted that there is such a bumper crop of graduates from our New Writers’ Scheme this year. It shows that romantic fiction continues to go from strength to strength and that our mentoring really works."
The New Writers' Scheme has been run by the RNA since 1962 and is unique among professional writing associations. It aims to encourage fresh talent in the writing of romantic novels that reflect all aspects of love and life, contemporary or historical.
Manuscripts submitted under the scheme are from unpublished authors and are read by an experienced writer or editor who provides feedback. Any manuscript that is subsequently published as a debut novel is eligible for the Joan Hessayon Award. All eligible books are judged by a panel of RNA members who are already published authors.
The Award will be presented at the RNA Summer Party on 22nd May at the Royal Over-Seas League, Park Place, London. It is sponsored by gardening expert Dr. David Hessayon OBE, in honour of his late wife Joan, who was a longstanding member of the RNA and a great supporter of its New Writers’ Scheme.
The full shortlist for 2014 is:
Celia J Anderson Sweet Proposal Piatkus
Elaine Everest Gracie's War Pulse
Helena Fairfax The Silk Romance MuseItUp
Sue Fortin United States of Love Harper Impulse
Kathryn Freeman Too Charming Choc Lit
Jessica Gilmore The Return of Mrs Jones Harlequin Mills & Boon
Laura E James Truth or Dare? Choc Lit
Jennie Jones The House on Burra Burra Lane Harlequin Australia
Alison May Sweet Nothing Choc Lit
Teresa F. Morgan Plus One is a Lucky Number Harper Impulse
Jane O'Reilly Once a Bad Girl Escape
Helen Phifer The Ghost House Carina UK
Jill Steeples Desperately Seeking Heaven Carina UK
Jo Thomas The Oyster Catcher Accent Press
Lin Treadgold Goodbye Henrietta Street Safkhet Publishing
Susan Willis Yes Chef, No Chef Endeavour
Jennifer Young Thank You For the Music Tirgearr
John Dean
May short story competiton launched
The May Global Short Story Competition has been launched.
Begun more than six years ago, the competition runs every month with a £100 first prize and a £25 prize for highly commended writers.
The competition, which is approaching £11,000 in prize money handed out, has had entries from more than 50 countries over the years.
Each month’s competition is judged by Fiona Cooper, an author in North-East England, where the competition’s organisers Inscribe Media are also based. The competition can be entered at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
* There is still time to enter Inscribe Media’s latest free flash fiction competition at its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inscribemedia/183385438479538 or accessed through www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean
Begun more than six years ago, the competition runs every month with a £100 first prize and a £25 prize for highly commended writers.
The competition, which is approaching £11,000 in prize money handed out, has had entries from more than 50 countries over the years.
Each month’s competition is judged by Fiona Cooper, an author in North-East England, where the competition’s organisers Inscribe Media are also based. The competition can be entered at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
* There is still time to enter Inscribe Media’s latest free flash fiction competition at its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inscribemedia/183385438479538 or accessed through www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean
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