Short Story Competition

Mslexia is running a short story competition for Women’s Writing. I don’t think that this means it has to be written by a woman necessarily, but that might help. In any case, further information can be found here: http://www.mslexia.co.uk/whatson/msbusiness/scomp_active.html or if you’d prefer a hard copy, and some flyers about other competitions, 2010 writer’s diary and a whole lot more, I’ve got a packet of stuff they sent in my office. [DC]

Former Student’s Book Now Out

Just received an email from former RHUL student Paul Edwards. This is what he says:

I’ve just brought out a book on rap lyrics — How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC. … I’ve got some good blurbs for the book, one from poet Dana Gioia was particularly nice: “Paul Edwards’s How to Rap marks a cultural coming-of-age for Hip-Hop. His Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC is the first comprehensive poetics of this new literary form. Clear, concise, and immensely useful, it alternates a practical introduction to the subject with the comments of leading rap artists. Combining literary criticism and street smarts, Edwards has made his bid to become the Aristotle of Hip-Hop Poetics.”

Cool, eh? Here are the relevant links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Rap-Art-Science-Hip-Hop/dp/1556528167

http://www.howtorapbook.com

http://www.barbarabraunagency.com/

I wonder what Aristotle would have made of rap? ‘My name is Aristotle, and I rap full-throttle …’ [AR]

Conversations

Here’s a series of talks–conversations rather than lectures–that might be of interest. More information here and a description below:
Siobhan Davies Studios is soon to host a series of Conversations on Making throughout November and December 2009. Siobhan Davies has invited four artists from different disciplines to discuss how they make their work. Each artist will invite a guest speaker from outside their own practice and will talk to them about their creative process.

13 Nov Katie Mitchell (Theatre director) + Paul Clarke (Composer)

20 Nov Lavinia Greenlaw (Poet/Novelist) + Cornelia Parker (Artist)

27 Nov Edmund de Waal (Ceramicist) + A S Byatt (Author)

4 Dec Tim Crouch (Playwright/Performer) + Karl James (Dialogue artist)

*For further information see our website www.siobhandvies.com/conversations

These talks provide a unique opportunity for students to participate in discussions with professionals from different artistic walks of life.

[DC]

Launching your book

Several points I touched on in the lectures are covered here.

The website has more:

Once we get back from Frankfurt, we’d like to see you on morning talk shows like the “Today” show and “The View,” so please get yourself booked on them and keep us “in the loop.” If I’m not here—which I won’t be, since after the book fair I go on vacation for two weeks—just tell Jenni, my assistant, when she gets back from jury duty.

Remember in your blog to tabskim your readers’ comments. You can use Twitter, Chitt-chaTT, or Nit-Pickr. When you reply to comments, try to post at least one photo per hour of you doing everyday tasks around the house, such as answering comments and posting photos. Please make sure they’re pre-scorched. Let me know, when I get back from Retreat a week after my vacation, if self-surging is a problem.

Very funny. In a painful way. [AR]

3rd Year Final Projects

As I said in the lecture: in the second half of term we want you to get into groups to discuss, in a workshop manner, your various final projects. Arrange these yourselves; get together with friends (it’s fine to mix people doing poetry, fiction and drama), pitch your ideas, get feedback from friends, listen to friends ideas, give them feedback. The only wrinkle is this: one person from the group needs to email me, Adam Roberts, to let me know that the group has been constituted and who is in it … so that I can tick everybody’s name off the big list I have. After that it’s up to you: meet as often or as infrequently as you wish, whilst always bearing in mind that if you meet infrequently then it’s not going to be very useful to your project. [AR]

Some Thoughts on Characterisation

Thoughts, that is to say, on how to write characters: what is the best approach or strategy for characterising the agents in a piece of fiction? Most of the creative writing team got together in a London pub last night, and many things were talked about; but in particular I had a very interesting exchange with Ben Markovits on this very topic. He said a number of intelligent, persuasive and penetrating things; but I’m not to be taken in by mere intelligence, persuasiveness and penetration, you know.

Actually, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought recently to this question, and trying to work out some more coherent sense of my own praxis on this. One of the prompts was reading A S Byatt’s recently Booker shortlisted novel, The Children’s Book. My first reaction was that I didn’t like it much (you can read my initial review here). Then, partly prompted by other reviews I read, but more forcefully by a letter Professor Isobel Armstrong wrote to the LRB about that very novel, I started having second thoughts. I’ve blogged some of those second thoughts here, including some gropings-towards a particular ethos of characterisation. Have a read, and tell me what you think.

Where do you stand on the question of ‘characterisation’?  [link]  [AR]

Choice Amazon One Star Reviews

Something to which all creative writers can aspire; courtesy of Mark Chadbourn:

If most reviews say more about the reviewer than what’s being reviewed, consider the Amazon One-Star review. These are generally a breed apart. A one-star review essentially says the work has such little value it should never have been released on the public. As a psychological road map, it’s invaluable. Take a look at these, all from Amazon. Grammar, writer’s own.

HERMAN MELVILLE – MOBY DICK

I have read a lot of books in my life but this was the most miserable reading experience I ever had. There was absolutely no story. It was all about fishing… If you want to be a sailor this might be the book for you but personally I think it is a colossal waste of time. – ONE STAR!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE – COMPLETE WORKS

Shakespeare may be a genius, but cmon, this is the worst reading material i have ever seen. – ONE STAR!

CHARLES DICKENS – GREAT EXPECTATIONS

after reading this book i think dickens would benifit from very low expectations. and by that i mean a lot of people will be returning this book and giving bad reviews. all the classics always in my opinion, are very bad – ONE STAR!

Booker Prize-winner A S BYATT – POSSESSION: A ROMANCE

Frankly, I would rather read the terms of my home and auto insurance policies than read this book. – ONE STAR!

CHARLOTTE BRONTE – JANE EYRE

I enjoy classic Victorian era romance , and this by far is the worst book I have ever read. – ONE STAR!

J D SALINGER – THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

It’s not that it was above my head, it was just plain old poorly written in my humble opinion. The grammar was beyond horrible. I think my 10 year old son could’ve done a better job. – ONE STAR!

JOHN STEINBECK – THE GRAPES OF WRATH

I should have known that a book you can buy togehter with Cliff’s Notes is going to be boring. I read “East of Eden” and thought it was great. I was hopeful that “Grapes of Wrath” would be just as good. No luck. It’s dull as heck. – ONE STAR!

EMILY BRONTE – WUTHERING HEIGHTS

The book is filled with nasty, disgusting, wicked, cruel people. Every single person, and yes, ESPECIALLY NELLY, hateful, jealous, manipulative, lying, conniving, nasty Nelly, every single one of them are foul. – ONE STAR!

DANIEL DEFOE – MOLL FLANDERS

I had to read this for a book club, and a fifth of the way into it, I began to wish I were blind, so I wouldn’t have to continue. – ONE STAR!

F SCOTT FITZGERALD – THE GREAT GATSBY

If I wanted to read about lame, rich, full of themself people going to parties, I’d pick up People magazine. – ONE STAR!

ERNEST HEMINGWAY – THE SUN ALSO RISES

If you liked Sienfeld but thought it was to funny, this book is for you. A book about nothing, that takes 200 plus pages to get there. – ONE STAR!

My favourite is probably the Moby Dick review; though the extraordinay focus of the hatred of Nelly Dean is rather wonderful too, and ‘Shakespeare may be a genius, but cmon’ has a certain laconic forcefulness. [AR]

CW3020 Final Project novel Supervisors

Below are the supervisers either chosen or (if you didn’t get around to choosing yourself) assigned to you for CW3020 Final Project: Fiction. DC is Doug Cowie, BM Ben Markowits and AR Adam Roberts. If you haven’t already done so you need to arrange a meeting with your supervisor asap, and before Reading Week at the very latest.

If you’re doing CW10 Playwriting, then you need to get in touch with Dan Rebellato. If you’ve opted for CW30 Poetry, please contact Kristen Kreider. [AR]

CW3020
Anderson, Sophie BM
Bull, Hayley BM
Cabieses-Beauchamp, Katharine BM
Carpenter, Caroline BM
Chan, Maxine AR
Coles, Kim-Louise KK/AR
Draganova, Boyana AR
Dray, Kayleigh AR
Dunford, Christopher AR
Ellison, Charlotte DC
Gallacher, Edward DC
Hodgkinson, Cary DC
Linge, Katharina BM
Massoudi, Sara DC
Mayo, Thomas AR
McAdam, Sarah DC
Miller, Melody BM
Nash, Zosha BM
Nelms, Catherine AR
Nunneley, Laura BM
Ottway, Shaun BM
Patient, Diana DC
Sadler, Philip BM
Sin, Matthew AR
Soh, Zealyn AR
Sugihara, Iona DC
Swindall, Thursa AR
Taylor, Lusana DC
Trescothick, India-Lucy DC
Tull, Sarah DC
Wheeler, Sebastian BM
Wong, Ian DC

Copyright query

In yesterday’s Final Project lecture on copyright (UK copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the author, people; not after the date of publication of the text!) an interesting question was raised.  What about posthumously published works?  This is what my extensive googling proper-research-no-seriously-honestly-I-did has uncovered:

With effect from 1 August 1989, the 1988 Act provided a fixed period of 50 years from 1 Jan 1990 for unpublished works in existence at 31 July 1989. Works created on or after 1 August 1989 enjoy the normal copyright period, calculated in relation to the author’s life, whether they are published or not. These periods are unchanged by the 1995 Regulations.

So there you have it. rather complicated, really. [AR]

Tips from the master

Want to be as successful as Nobel laureate and multiple prizewinner J M Coetzee?  Why not copy his working routine:

Coetzee is known as reclusive and eschews publicity to such an extent that he did not collect either of his two Booker Prizes in person. Author Rian Malan has said that: “Coetzee is a man of almost monkish self-discipline and dedication. He does not drink, smoke or eat meat. He cycles vast distances to keep fit and spends at least an hour at his writing-desk each morning, seven days a week. A colleague who has worked with him for more than a decade claims to have seen him laugh just once. An acquaintance has attended several dinner parties where Coetzee has uttered not a single word.”

Life and soul of the party.  It worked for him; maybe it’ll work for you! [AR]