Faber Session 8 – Guest Tutor Mick Jackson

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Arrived in a foggy rainy London 😦 That’ll teach me to wear suede boots! Lol

So I arrived at class with wet feet where we went straight into a discussion/talk by Mick Jackson which was all about Pace & Style.

A few of the things I took away from the session:

Style seems to be more important to reviewers and creative writing tutors.

style should develop naturally. Each writer has their own style.

Writing is like a game of tennis between the subconscious mind and the conscious mind.

Can you reproduce another writers style?

Pace is the speed of the narrative.

Adding back story can slow down the pace if not weaved into the story.

Attach little details to the stream of narrative. It shouldn’t stand out.

Reading your work aloud can pinpoint problems in pace, but it can also help you establish if you have a set style.

A fascinating session, and now, I’m sitting in a hotel room enjoying some chill out time 😉 So if I’m quiet, you know why. I’ll catch up with you all tomorrow 🙂

Do you think you have a style? I think I can see a style developing within my work but I will definitely be reading my work out loud from now on 😉

The Artist Manifesto

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Jeff Goins told me to share this, so I will 🙂

Soooooo…..

THE TIME IS NOW!

What creative thing will you do today?

Have You Voted?

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Every year, the brilliant website for writers Write To Done asks readers to nominate their favourite “writerly” blog. Winners get to display a nice shiny button on their blog to say they are in the top 10 blogs for writers and smile lots.

So have you voted?

I have 🙂

Oh go on, it takes 2 minutes just to post a link to your favourite blog in the comments. I’m sure you know loads of blogs you think deserve to win. Support all our marvellous writing bloggers 🙂

Will you be voting?

In other news….I’VE DONE IT! I’VE HIT THE 50K FOR NANO! GO ME!

Where The Ideas Are And How To Get Them

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

No actual post today people, but I’m really excited!!!! My article went live on the Faber Website last night *grins* 🙂

So if you’d like to have a read (please do!) check out my article which they’ve entitled Get Inspired. Stop Waiting Around which is all about where i find my ideas.

Photo courtesy of winnond at freedigitalphotos

Read it here>>>>> Get Inspired. Stop Waiting Around.

Pop back and tell me what you thought 🙂

How Can I Turn My Mess of Ideas Into Something Organized and Useful? (lifehacker.com)

Faber Session 7 – POV

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Before I talk about class, lets get down to the important bit… cake 🙂

Today I divulged in Lemon, Rosemary & Olive Oil cake, but I was so busy enjoying it, I forgot to take a picture! Lol

So here’s a pic of my purchases in the book shop after cake 😉

So today’s class was about Point of View.

It made me realise how utterly unwell read I am (when Tim kept giving us examples and although I’d heard of most of the books, I hadn’t read them!). It made me realise that I don’t think about POV when I read a book. Jeez! I’m a bad reviewer and a bad critiquer 😦 I really need to work on that don’t I.

Anyway, POV….. Where does the authors voice end and the characters voice start? A good question, and one, I can’t really answer….can you?

We talked about 1st Person, 3rd Person, Omniscient, Free Indirect Style, and whether the first two should be singular or multiple. How, over the years, many authors have experimented, bent the rules and played with perspective. A really interesting session, I learnt a lot 🙂

Then we did a writing exercise which, hopefully, I’ll share with you later on this week 🙂

So, dear reader, what POV do you tend to write in and could you explain WHY? I admitted in class that the reason I write in 3rd Person is because all my 1st Person pieces sound like the same character lol 😉

My fellow class mates took home my submission this evening *gulps and bites finger nails* I’m going to be a nervous wreck next Monday! 😉

He Said, She Said: The Double Perspective and Its Perks (addictivestory.wordpress.com)
The Art of Narrative, Part One: Introduction and POV (evarieder.com)

The To Do List 19th to 25th November

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I’m exhausted! Lol…..what with Nano, Write In’s and Faber, it’s all beginning to take its toll….I’m constantly yawning! 😉

So how did I do last week?

1. Edit, the piece for Faber & hand in *gulp* Done! It will be handed out to my fellow students tonight!

2. Keep up with Nano word count – try to get ahead a bit more. Done! Not too bad. As of last night I’m at 40,019 so aiming for another 2000 today. Need to finish by Friday as I’ve got a heavy weekend coming up.

3. Finish current read – Don Delillo Done! gave it 2 stars.

4. Finish Richard Skinners book. Not done, will continue with it this week.

5. Print out and read Faber Guest Tutor stuff – FOR MONDAY! Done!

6. Clear inbox – which means catching up with all your blog posts from the weekend. Kind of done! Got it down to about 20, so if I owe you an e mail I WILL get to it over the next couple of days 🙂

So what’s on my list for this week?

1. Finish Nano by Friday (23rd)

2. upload words to Nano.

3. Print off Sorrento Sunrise and start padding lol.

4. Start new book….an eBook.

5. Continue reading Richard Skinners book.

6. Print off But Not Forgotten and READ IT!

That shouldn’t be too bad should it? 😉

So what are you up to this week?

Six Sentence Sunday 18th November

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

Thank you for all your comments yesterday. It’s really interesting to hear how you all work 🙂

Today’s 6 sentences come from an exercise I did in my Faber class the week before last. The idea was to imagine you’re walking into a house and describe what you see…..

The hallway was a sensory overload. The muddy tones of the paisley carpet battled against the tiny delicate flowers that covered the walls. The ceiling and woodwork, painted white, a welcome reprieve to the eyes.

Turning into the dining room the carpet continued, but the walls were now a deep shade of red. A blood bath to dine by. The furniture, reproduction deep mahogany, a homage to Victorian style.

Who would live in a house like this?

Which Comes First? The Story or The Character?

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

A recent session at Faber, Kidnapping A Character, brought up a very interesting question.

Most writers have their own way of working. They either start with a story idea, then make up characters to fit it. Or they start with a character and then make up a story that fits.

Personally, I’ve done it both ways, and I can’t really say which one I prefer.

But I’ve never tried the method where you come up with 2 totally unrelated characters and write a scene where they meet. It was amazing to hear the interesting stories that had started to develop from 2 complete strangers having a chance meeting (during a 20 minute writing session). It’s definitely a technique I will be trying out again in the future.

courtesy of jscreations/freedigitalphotos

Like most things in writing there is no right or wrong way to do things, but out of curiosity which do you start with?

I’m a pantser. (smpauthors.wordpress.com)
Where to Get Story Ideas (shelleywidhalm.wordpress.com)
Facing your character(s)… (diedreblake.wordpress.com)
Know Your Character (thewearywriter.com)
Writing Character: Challenge of the Character Most Like Yourself – Part 1 (elissafield.wordpress.com)

The Red Violin

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

I don’t often do film or book reviews, and this isn’t going to be one. But, I just wanted to get down on paper (so to speak) my thoughts about the storyline of this film.

The Red Violin is a prime example of “concept” and something that would definitely be of interest to a publisher. It’s the story line that I’m searching for….the story I would love to write myself. Inspired by true events, with those events twisted, slightly, to make for a more macabre tale.

Don McKellar & Francoise Girard (the writers) took their inspiration for the story from an Antonio Stradivari violin, the Red Mendelssohn (1721), which is currently owned and played by Elizabeth Pitcairn. Her grandfather bought it for her 16th birthday for $1.7 million at auction from Christie’s London. It’s called “The Red Mendelssohn” because of a unique red stripe on its top right side, but how the stripe came about is still unknown.

Now picture the scene….. McKellar & Girard, having coffee one day, the sale of the Mendelssohn on the front cover of the newspaper (bear with me, I’m surmising lol). One says to the other…. “What if that stripe is blood?…..what if the whole violin was painted with the blood of the makers wife who died in childbirth?” And viola! A story is born.

Damn! Why can’t I come up with something like that? Why do I always come up with the boring mediocre stories that just don’t excite? It’s not fair! *stamps foot and pouts* (just kidding).

I guess I’ve just got to keep reading newspapers and asking “what if?” All the time…. Maybe one day eh?

Tell me…..is there a particular story you’ve stumbled across recently that you wish you’d thought of?

A Prompt A Day…..

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Vikki Thompson

A couple of months back I had the chance to see Ros Barber talk about her new book, The Marlowe Papers and hear her read some of her poetry. Wow! :o)

Ros runs a website with fellow writer Kate Marillat called Be The Writer You Dream Of Being and together they run writing courses and do talks. I can highly recommend it 🙂

So when Kate requested that readers submit articles, I jumped at the chance (you know me, I do like to waffle on about writing stuff lol).

Head on over to Ros & Kate’s website to read my article, A Prompt A Day Keeps Writers Block Away where I talk about my experience of using writing prompts.

Please leave a comment. Oh, and let me know what you thought of the article? 🙂