Workshop Details...

If you are within reasonable travelling distance of Nottingham you might be interested in an inexpensive workshop being hosted by Nottingham Writers' Club on Saturday 4th June 10am to 4pm.

Writer Michael Eaton will be leading the workshop. He is probably best known for his television work, including 'Shipman' and 'Shoot to Kill', but has written in many more areas. He's also the visiting Professor in the School of Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

' If you've got a great idea for a piece of work but aren't sure what format it should be in, story, novel, radio play or film - this workshop is for you. Bring it along, talk about it for a few minutes and during the workshop you will get together with Michael and work out the best way to use it. By the end of the session, everyone will have gained experience on how to focus even the vaguest of ideas into a firm reality.'

I know there are still places available (limited) so if you want to attend then follow this link.

If you know anyone who might be interested then please pass the details on...

EDITED TO ADD- you don't need pages already written, an idea and some basic details can be enough.

As Monday is Spring Bank Holiday I'm going to be relaxing and catching up on my reading, so if it's a holiday where you are, I hope you enjoy it.

A Little Introspection Does A Writer Good...

Well it does for me.

Every three or four years I find myself getting to a sticking point in my writing and that's when I find a little in-depth analysis useful.

The last time I did this I decided I needed to learn to use description more effectively, and also try plotting a little more on my longer length stuff- even though that wasn't the natural writing process that I began with. 

When I decided that I wanted to write a novel-back in 1999- I had an idea, a few characters and occasional plot points along the way, plus the ending. (I'd set out not to have a happy ending, in fact it wasn't even going to be a romance).

I put a lot of time in and got to 40,000 words. At this stage I'd reach the end point of my original idea and it had turned into a romance. I realised that there was still a lot more story to write, but I also understood that I still had a lot to learn about the skills I needed to make the novel work.

So I set it aside and promised myself I would come back to it, then I joined my local writers group.

A few years on, more books in my chosen genre read, more experienced and able to write better I looked at that first novel again, but I just couldn't get back into it. So I started new projects instead, including another novel.
(That's where the plotting and description targets came in.)

So now I'm at another of those decision points.

I think I've just about got the description issue more or less sorted from my last set of targets. Plotting- much better but could still do with work.

Now I need to work on my characters more. I've learnt that I can't write to any extended length with just one viewpoint character- so multiple person VP is my preference for novel length.

As I mentioned on an earlier post I had flat character issues. I also realised that I'm writing stories more from a male viewpoint, whether it's a short story or longer pieces.
Admittedly I grew up with older brothers, and my own children are all male too so perhaps that explains it.

So one of my targets this time is to use more female viewpoint characters in shorter stories. And I need to work on rounding out my flat characters.

Finally, persevere.

I think that's enough targets to work on for now.