Tag: writing

Yippee – I have been accepted

“Why don’t you just write? You don’t need to do a course. Just write.”
I can write on my own; and I do. But how can I know what is good and bad. I am too close to the process

Photo of child doing some creative writingFollowing my disappointment with Nottingham University, I reappraised my options.

Had I set my sights too high applying for an MA in creative writing? Yes, almost certainly.

My husband said, “Why don’t you just write? You don’t need to do a course. Just write.”

But I feel that I do need a course. And I tried to explain to him why.

  • I need guidance. I can write on my own; and I do. But how can I know what is good and bad. I am too close to the process.
  • I need structure. Too often this happens; I sit down to write and get distracted – check Twitter and follow-up a few tweets, check my emails, look at my blogs, look at other people’s blogs, get onto Facebook, play Zuma Blitz …. You get the picture?
  • I want someone else to read my work with a critical eye and offer advice and suggestions. I want an audience.

So, what did I do since my last rejection?

  1. I applied to do a 12 week Creative Writing module (Start writing fiction) at the Open University
  2. I registered for a couple of days ‘Writing Great Short Stories’ course at Knuston Hall
  3. I applied to Birkbeck University, part of the University of London, for a place on their BA in creative writing

My interview at Birkbeck took place last Monday. I had 15 minutes to persuade two very young lecturers that I was a suitable candidate. They sent me an email on Wednesday, informing me I had been accepted. Yippee. Can’t wait!

Ray Bradbury writes about writing.

Farewell Summer ends with an Afterword, in which Ray Bradbury writes about his approach to writing. Fascinating stuff. I have just selected a few nuggets. If you want more, you will have to read the book yourself.

Ruth Livingstone blog post.
Photo of Ray Bradbury by Alan Light
I have just finished reading Farewell Summer, by the great master, Ray Bradbury.

(If you are interested in my thoughts about this novel, read my review on Ruthless Reading)

The book ends with an Afterword, in which Ray Bradbury writes about his approach to writing. For me, this was fascinating stuff. I have just selected a few nuggets from the Afterword. If you want more, you will have to Continue reading “Ray Bradbury writes about writing.”

Rejections….

“rejected”
No reason given.

hand writingSome months ago, I applied to do a MA in Creative Writing at a well known University.

I paid £25 for the privilege of applying online and found 2 referees and asked them (both very busy people) to write references and submitted a sample of my writing and found various ancient certificates and photographed them and sent them in by email. This took many days of careful thought, effort and work. And, of course, I rearranged my work commitments to make sure that I had the time to participate in the MA course, turning down offers of work for October 2011 onwards.

Photo of green binThree months later I receive a response, arriving late one evening in my inbox; a brief email asking me to look at a web page in the applicant portal. So, I find my user name and my password, logon and scroll down the page to find the single new word that tells me the decision status.

“rejected”

No reason given. No hints or suggestions for the future.

A few days later, I receive a letter through the post. The letter is a little gentler, but still gives no indication of why the rejection. Writing sample not good enough? Not enough previous experience? Had I set my sights too high? Poor personal statement? Too old? Fierce competition from better applicants? All these may be true, and probably are, but I am not told.

Working on the basis there is no failure, only feedback, I have applied to a few other places, offering creative writing courses.

Interestingly, I have not had to pay for these applications.

  • Been accepted by the Open University (I love the Open University!) for their Start Writing Fiction course. 12 weeks, starting in May.
  • Applied for a part-time BA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. Birkbeck offers evening tuition and the course looks really good.
  • Enrolled in a 3 day “Writing Great Short Stories” course at Knuston Hall

So, plenty of things to look forward to.

In the meantime, I continue reading ruthlessly and writing daily.

Advice for writers – find your story and render a novel.

If, like me, you wrote a novel without any planning – maybe during NaNoWriMo month – and are now wondering whether your new masterpiece is publishable, this article explains why it certainly isn’t.

Hand holding a pencil and writing a novelA Mindset Shift That Can Get You Published is a great article I stumbled upon.

If, like me, you wrote a novel without any planning – maybe during NaNoWriMo month – and are now wondering whether your new masterpiece is publishable, this article explains why it certainly isn’t.

Larry Brooks says:

.. your draft doesn’t stand a chance until the story is solidly, front to back, fully conceived. If you haven’t landed on a theme, a pace, on context and sub-text, if you haven’t discovered what your character arc is, if you don’t know how things are going to end…

And his advice, in a nutshell, is this –

Consider writing as two sequential processes:
1. The search for the story.
2. The rendering of the story.

What excellent advice this is. So, I must treat my NaNoWriMo writing as the search for my story (which it was). Now all I have to do (all!) is render it into a proper novel by rewriting it.

For the rewriting, I will turn to Holly Lisle for help. She shares an excellent article,‘How to Revise a Novel’ on her website.

First of all, I have to finish the damn thing.