And now for the covering letter. Or how to make sure you get noticed for all the right reasons

I found an old, old blog entry from an American fantasy adventure writer that is a pretty good guide to writing a covering letter when you haven't already got an impressive publishing record or happen to be married to the agent's brother.  
Read it in full by clicking on the title of this post. But here's the main points (and I've added a few thoughts of my own).

• address yor letter and manuscript to a named individual in the agency or publishing company - the right individual - remember that directories are out of date as soon as they are published. So check and double check  the spelling.
• No coloured paper or flowery founts. Plain. Simple. Professional.
• Paragraph one:  what the book is about and how long it is
• Paragraph two: why you wrote it. 
• Paragraph three: a thumbnail description 
• Paragraph four: experience and background
• Paragraph five: polite goodbye - no ultimatums. No 'if I don't hear from you by the end of the month this manuscript will be in the hand of your rivals...

Don't say your aunt/husband/mother has read it and loves it. (What do they know...)

Don't make outrageous claims '...a work of tortured genius that will grip the imagination of a generation.' Let your manuscript do the boasting for you.

I think it is probably ok to compare your ook to other works - it's handy shorthand. (For example, saying this is Terminator meets Winnie the Pooh paints a complex picture in a few words.)  But it has its dangers.

When John Walsh was pitching his London Irish memoir The Falling Angels he told publishers it was a middle class Angela's Ashes.

Take the poverty out of Frank McCourt's best seller and you haven't got a book, they said.

So I guess he tried another track (and I am glad he did - his story of growing up in Battersea and west Ireland is an excellent evocation of a childhood that crosses cultures).

More synopsis advice

Just as I finished writing the last post about synopsis writing I came across a blog discussion  that offers this advice. (Click the post title to read it in full)

A synopsis is a summary of your CHARACTER'S story, not a summary of the story itself

Hmm, that sounds good but it needs some thinking about...Can't help but feel it is a bit of an artificial division.  Isn't the story and the characters' story the same thing? The fiction author may be attempting to explore a variety of themes but s/he does it is through the people who come to life in her prose. The characters are the story. 

  

Writing a synopsis

Writing a synopsis of your novel or non fiction book is absolutely essential at some stage if you are ever going to come to the attention of an agent or publisher but it is hard, very hard. Most writers I know would rather walk across broken glass and that's not surprising because it is a marketing tool, not a creative activity. It has to be honest (there's no point trying to pretend it is something it is not....you will soon be found out); it has to sum up the story you're telling without detailing every twist and turn; it has to give a flavour of your writing and it has to be short. Easy peasey.  Oh, and it also has to be gripping. Of course. It's a daunting task and I think the best way to start is by summarising the book in one sentence. It can be an ugly, clunky sentence - the kind you wouldn't say hello to if you met it in the street - but it has to be a single sentence. This is for you: no one else will ever see it. Get that down on paper and and 250 words will seem like a wonderfully generous expanse. And if you can't sum it up in one sentence?  Then perhaps you haven't worked out what the book is really about yet...

International Writing Competition

The Ted Walters International Short Story, Poetry and Playwriting Competition 2010 is now open. This competition has been running since 2007 in memory of a much loved member of Liverpool University’s creative writing life long learning group.

Prizes: 


Short story on any subject or theme to a maximum of 2,000 words: £200, £50 or a £15 book token.


Poetry, on any subject to a maximum of 40 lines: £200, £50 or a £15 book token.


Playwriting 20-minute maximum one-act plays on any subject or theme with a maximum of four characters: £200, £50 or a £15 book token.

Entry fees: 

 £4 for the first poem or short story and then £3.50 each thereafter.

 
Plays £6 for the first play, and £5.50 for each thereafter.

Each entry generates a £1 donation for the Macmillan Cancer Support.

Post entries to: The University of Liverpool Creative Writing Society for Lifelong Learning, 
50 Onslow Road, Elm Park, Liverpool, Merseyside, L6 3 BB, United Kingdom.


Closing date May 31 2010
If you want to know more contact Tommy McBride, the secretary of the writing group. Tommy is an elegant writer himself judging from the emails we've exchanged over the last few days and his address is thomas.macbride2@sky.com   

Grandfather by grandson: a portrait by Joe Whelan

The Peoples' Ferry

This has nothing to do with writing or reading but this is my blog: I make the rules. And I just wanted to celebrate the fact that the Swansea Cork Ferry is now back in action. It's known as the Peoples' Ferry because when the original ferry service closed down it was brought back into life by the hard work and savings of a group of local people from Cork and Kerry and South Wales. This is its first year and there are special offers available now.
And thinking about it...the ferry service really does have something to do with writing. Get off and you'll be inspired by the Irish landscape. You won't be able to help yourself. Drive into the westering sun, into the wild and beautiful Beara Peninsular and onwards to the corduroy fields of Kerry and mountains the colour of rain. (See, it works.) Or sail in the other direction and you're in Dylan Thomas land 

Plenty of time for reading too.... It's a 10 hour trip.

Spoken Word for LONDON and BRIGHTON writers

There was a time when spoken word performances was the province of poets but we prose writers have muscled in. WHITE RABBIT organises regular nights in London and has now arrived in Brighton. The key difference is that writers don't read their own work. instead short stories on specific themes are read out by professional performers at a storytelling night "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" The Brighton venue is The Space at The Basement, 24 Kensington Street which will be transformed into a magical candlelit space: part fifites tea room, part deranged children's party. The stories are supported by a slide show, music, set and costumes appropriate to that month's theme. Free homemade cupcakes and other treats will be served and teapot cocktails are available at the bar. 
White Rabbit are looking for submissions from local writers for the following evenings (deadline the week before)
February 17     LOVE
March 17          SECRETS
April 14             MAGIC
Writers are asked to attend the performance (it's not something you would want to miss - there's a real thrill in hearing your words from an actor's mouth) so you need to make sure that you're are available on the night of the show.  

To submit send by email to Bernadette Russell areyousittingcomfortably@live.com and put Brighton in the subject line.  

Mervyn Peake Awards

Mervyn Peake was an artist, a poet and the author of the Gormenghast Trilogy. He also had Parkinson's Disease and The Mervyn Peake Awards celebrate the creative achievements of people with Parkinson's in art, poetry and photography.

Deadline March 31st.

A reading slut's confession

If you consider yourself well read check out  the blog of a 50s something book addict from Seattle. I laughed so much I just had to add a comment. I feel part of the blogosphere now. My passport's been stamped...I can go anywhere.

Winning Entry

Click on the title and you will be taken to last year's winning entry for the Writers and Artists Short Story Competition.  A story is where something happens: something changes. But it doesn't have to be a big something.  In the Wendy House by Rosey Darbishire an onlooker would simply have seen a mother relishing a well earned moment of quiet -- the change happens inside.

Writers & Artists Writing Competition

What's needed: A short story on the theme of 'Unity or Union' no more than 2000 words long.

Prizes:  *  £500

               * a place on an Arvon Foundation residential writing course

               * publication  on the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook website.

Closing date: 14 February 2010

I like competitions. Winning one some years ago gave me the cash to refit my kitchen ($4000) and the confidence to pursue my ambition to be a writer (although it was still a long time before I felt able to call myself one). 

I think they have value even if you aren't short listed - and after reaching a certain standard it is pretty much down to the personal taste of the judge (s).  Competitions provide a new focus, a new reason to get the pen out  and, best of all, a deadline.  We need deadlines.
This one is free to enter. And that makes me like it even more...

Saying Goodbye

When I decided to start blogging I resolved to do two things.
           One -- never write a post longer than 350 words 
           Two -- post at least twice a week
and here I am, still in the front end of January and its been a full ten days since I wrote anything.  But it is not what it seems. On January 8th my father in law died. This brief hiatus in blogging was an instinctive need not to carry on as normal (although, of course, we did in all sorts of ways: we worked, we ate, we slept and watched television. We went out with friends and listened to music; books were read and The Guardian digested; clothes were washed and the carpet hoovered; the underlying beat of life carried on).  
His going was gentle. He lived to a good age and it was a good death. We knew it was going to happen but it still came as a shock. There's no preparation for the final goodbye.  

Baby, it's cold outside

January cold and desolate;


February dripping wet;

March wind ranges;

April changes;

Birds sing in tune

To flowers of May,
And sunny June

Brings longest day;

In scorched July
The storm-clouds fly,

Lightning-torn;

August bears corn,

September fruit;

In rough October

Earth must disrobe her;

Stars fall and shoot
In keen November;
And night is long

And cold is strong

In bleak December.

Christina Rossetti

An Irish Tragedy

Anne Enright's  article in the current issue of the London Review of Books is a beautifully written pain in the heart. It is a description of what it feels like to be in Ireland now, gripped in an economic winter made all the worst for the thought: it was all our own fault.   But I love her closing account  of the wise children in the toy shop, the ones in the buggies watching their mothers weight up one piece of plastic tat over another, "the ones who are allowed to see it all, because they are still too young for Santa Claus."

Oneg postponed

It's a shame that the event at Brighton and Hove synagogue has had to be postponed because of the snow but I am glad that the organisers did it today instead of waiting for the last moment.  Trouble is I teach at City Lit in Holborn on Friday evenings so it may be tricky fixing another date before April.
I hear that gremlins struck when the notice appeared in the current issue of Sussex Jewish News. My novel's title was transformed from A GOOD CONFESSION to A GOOD CONCESSION...an absolute bargain...

CRAWLEY VS LUTON VERSES

The nation's favourite comedic poet John Hegley is set to dazzle and entertain beyond your wildest dreams (so long as they are not too wild) in Crawley Town Vs. Luton Town Verses.  Show will be 45 minutes each way with interval.

Date: 

Sat 27 February, 2010 8.15pm 
Venue: 
The Hawth, Crawley, West Sussex 
Cost: 
£13, Cons. £11 

Half Price Tickets for Crawley Vs Luton match ticket holders! 

Tickets now on sale at 01293 553636 or www.hawth.co.uk 

Oneg

I have been invited to give an ONEG on January 8th at Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue.  I thought it meant a talk or meeting but I have just discovered Oneg is Hebrew for delight.
The Encyclopedia Britannia defines an Oneg as being more a social occasion than a religious one.  

The group entertains itself with music, drama, community discussions, lectures, or the singing of religious melodies—all in keeping with the biblical injunction, “and call the Sabbath a delight” (Isaiah 58:13)

My nephew Dan said that it looked like this Friday night was going to be ONEG-LITE....

Lijia and Sarah Palin....

Just had an email from Vietnam where the writer and journalist Lijia Zang has been holidaying with her daughters.  2009 was an exciting year for her.

January in Jaipur for a literature festival where she read from her memoir Socialism is Great. It is said that she is the first Chinese writer to be published by an Indian publisher.  In March she spoke at an Asian Studies Conference in Chicago and her article on the legacy of Tiananmen was published in  New York Times.  I last saw Lijia in the summer after her writer's residency at Chateau Lavigny, outside Lausanne, on Lake Leman.  It sounded magical but I was even more impressed when she became a fellow on the prestigious International Writing Program at University of Iowa in October (nominated by the US ambassador to China no less).  Iowa is the grandmother of all creative writing courses - they started it back in the 30s and it still has an incredible reputation.

My favourite Lijia story occurred  at a conference called China Forum organized by a French bank CLSA.  She was interviewed by a senior guy from CLSA.  Towards the end, he told her how much he enjoyed her book and asked if she would mind signing the copy he bought for Sarah Palin, who was also a guest speaker. 

Lijia replied: “Not at all.  It would be a pleasure.  But does she read though?” 

It won laughs from the audience but she suspects that she might have killed her chances of being invited back...

Short Story Competition

Heaven Can Wait

Free to enter and prizes include consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency. 

Closing date is 15 January 2010. Postal entries only. Fictional story maximum 1,000 words on the theme of “Heaven”. Click above to check out author Cally Taylor's website for the full rules. Cally writes romantic comedies and we met at Anam Cara writers retreat last year. HEAVEN CAN WAIT is her first novel. It came out in paperback last October - 20 reviews on Amazon and all of them positive.

In the Chicklitreviews Book Awards 2009 'Heaven Can Wait' was nominated for Book of the Year, Debut Novel of the Year, Tear-Jerker of the Year, Book Cover of the Year, Best Female Character and Best Male Character.  It won Best Debut Novel and BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2009!

Words of 2009

 From Susie Dent at Oxford University Press ( and Channel 4 Countdown fame) words of 2009 

• Unfriend (sounds more like 1984 Newspeak)
• Staycation (or No, we're not going away this year. Just days out. Probably.)
• Zombie bank (a bank that owes more than it owns but can still operate because of government support)
• Jeggings (tight leggings made from a material that looks like denim -- we need a word for that?? It's not a great look...Ok, it is on some people. I'm just not running out to get myself a pair)

Le gach dea-gui dun Ath-blian!

Bit late but just discovered how to say Have a Happy New Year in Irish. Thank you The Irish World.

An alphabet for the digital age

Click above to check out this interesting online alphabet funded by the Arts Council. I felt slightly sea sick after watching D but I enjoyed the light patterns made by the offices at M, it reminded me of the view from the Empire State Building at night.

The alphabet was made for and about "digital natives", defined as those born after the existence of digital technologies (the internet, mobile phones, social networking sites etc.). Not convinced that makes for a good working definition. If the project is about personal experience - and I think it is - than access is surely more important than happening to be around at the same time...after all something like half the world still hasn't touched a telephone.  (And is it possible to say when the post Internet age began? The name was first used in 1974 apparently....does that make thirty somethings digital natives?)

Frozen words

Antisthenes - the Greek philosopher - is supposed to have believed in a faraway land where the cold was so intense that words froze as soon as they were spoken. They could only be heard when the thaw came. It meant that anything uttered in winter became audible the following summer.  (Did six month old never-meant-to-be-spoken-aloud mumbles sound like a swarm of bees on warm evenings….?)

It was cold today but not that cold. 

Why blog?

This is an experiment.  

It is said that there are only two ways to learn how to write: one is to write and the other is to read. So, I have decided to learn about blogging by blogging.
I have been playing around with group blogs since last summer as a way of sharing work with students but my own lack of confidence and technical ability has held the idea back.  So here I am diving in on the first day of a new decade to make my own mistakes, and learn from others...

My plan is that TWENTY TEN will run for 12 months - hence the title. However, as a novelist I am aware that the danger time is around chapter four. The initial burst of creativity fades in the face of the sheer hard slog ahead.  There are said to be more four-chapter-manuscripts gathering dust in desk drawers around the world than full length novels published.

So if TWENTY TEN lives beyond Easter 2010, I will be very pleased. Watch this space.