BACK TO SCHOOL FOR WRITERS ... Sharing a collection of writing tips

As we wave goodbye to warm summer days and students return to school, it's the perfect time for writers to review project goals. So in the spirit of encouraging continual development we've gathered a collection of handy tips and wish everyone a successful and productive autumn ...

Victoria says:

It’s important for a reader to bond early with the protagonist so they are motivated to follow their journey.  My writing tip helps to form that bond quickly and it should be done early in the story so the reader feels this protagonist is worth sticking with. I’ve used the device I am about to share for several years, but only lately discovered Blake Snyder, author of the screenwriting guide, Save The Cat, also recommends it. The tip is to ensure your protagonist does something nice/kind early in the story. It may not be as dramatic as saving a life, or as in Snyder’s book, saving a cat, it could be letting a butterfly escape out of a window or, as in The Thief’s Daughter, the hero gives a hungry child a piece of his meat pie. It doesn’t matter how the protagonist is dressed, how much money they have, how grumpy or drunk they are, as soon as the kind act is carried out the reader knows this person, despite their flaws, is okay and worth the reader’s time.

Linda says:

When I first started writing every man/woman and his/her mother felt the need to give me writing tips, and there were numerous 'how-to' books on the market with more of the same. All very good advice but, perhaps, a bit 'dry'. As I became more and more published I was even asked to contribute to a few. But I always felt a bit of a fraud - a touch of the Imposter Syndrome, perhaps?

So, I came up with a couple of my own.

Tip number one :- I never, ever, leave my work-in-progress at a full stop. I always finish my writing day halfway through a sentence and usually I will add ... Doing this means I have an 'in' on my writing day. I don't have to think what to write next because I have to complete the sentence from the day before. Almost instantly I'll be in the zone and ready to knock out another couple of thousand words - or, on a good day, more.

Tip number two :- Get your teeth fixed. Why? I hear you ask. Well, it's obvious, isn't it? It's for that little bio your publisher is going to ask for, for your books. And for your profiles on Facebook and Twitter and whatever other online format you are going to be part of. Unless you can smile like the Mona Lisa you need to be teeth-aware.

So, these tips could transform your writing life, if not your life. And if you want any other tips well, I might .........

A perfect smile : )

Jennifer says:

My writing tip? That’s easy. I have a lot, but there’s one that’s so much more important than all the others. Surround yourself with fellow writers.

When I first started thinking I might one day become a serious author I kept hearing that writers were jealous of others’ success. They damned with faint praise, they bitched about your work, they stole your ideas and, when they’d trampled all over you to become the writer you hoped to be, they pulled up the ladder behind them. I have no idea where that idea came from — maybe there are one or two like that, somewhere? — but my experience is that writers are helpful and co-operative. Pretty much without exception they are generous with their advice, their critiques and their time. 

The most important thing, though, is that whatever you’re going through, they’ve been there. The joys of acceptance, the pain of rejection, the crashing of your high hopes, the good, bad and weirdly contradictory reviews, the poor sales, the non-existent royalties…they know. They sympathise. They make it all better. 

So, find writers. Find them locally. Find them online. Join Facebook groups and follow them on Twitter (the hashtag #writingcommunity is great). But find them, and when you need help — which you will — ask them. They’ll be there.

Jennifer with writing friends -

Jennie says:

I love this time of year. For me it always feels a much nicer time to make resolutions and get life back into gear rather than actual new year in January. I know I give an audible sigh of relief around the 1st September when summer is over and I can get back into some sort of sustainable writing routine for the next three months. This year I've even worked out a weekly timetable for myself in an effort to get the next book written as quickly as possible. I have a writer friend who has a full-time job as well as running a home and family, who makes appointments for herself in her diary and blocks out time that way. 

My actual writerly tip for the purpose of this 'Back to School' blog concerns characters.  Choices are what makes a character's story - especially bad decisions! So have your characters make flawed choices that change the direction of the plot. And remember the 'because' clause. Things happen because a character reacts to something and because of that reaction the story moves forward to another because - ad infinitum! 

Happy writing.

Kath says:

My favourite writing tip? Ooh, that is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Let's see.

"Write every day," a successful writer-friend told me when I was just starting out. "Your writing 'muscles' need to be regularly exercised or they will seize up."

That seemed like good advice, and I certainly tried to keep to it. But my friend was a full time writer, whereas I had a day job, young children and an ageing mother, and I found it impossible to find time every single day to write. It suited me better to write for a few hours at the weekend and maybe one or two evenings a week.

Another tip I heard when I was a beginner was to avoid using adverbs and cut out the word "that" as much as possible. Naively I tried both, before deciding it was pointless advice and that every word has its purpose. The trick is to pick the right word for the job, rather than be hung up on whether you should be using a particular type of word or not.

What about the tip to avoid reading books in the genre you are trying to write, in case they influence your style or you inadvertently copy ideas? Yes, I heard that one too. But the genre I write is the genre I most love to read, so following this tip would simply make me miserable. Plus I want to see what top writers in my genre are putting out there.

So my tip to all writers, whether established or aspiring, is to listen to all advice but only use the tips that work for you. Everyone is different, we all work in different ways, and no single tip will help every writer.

Oh, except for one: Never stop trying.

Never stop trying ...

Rae says:

When we agreed upon a writing tips post, my first thought was ‘who the heck am I to dispense writing advice?’ But then I remembered my favourite how-to write book crammed full of juicy tips, a guide I’ve recommended to friends. It’s The Emotional Craft of Fiction (How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface) by literary agent, Donald Maass. The tip I’ve chosen to share builds on Victoria’s one - ensuring your character does something nice at the beginning of the story.

Donald Maass invites writers to think about your protagonist then asks what one good deed would they find almost impossible to complete? Then work backwards, to make that honourable act even more difficult. Later on, perhaps following a crisis point, find a way for your protagonist to accomplish, at last, that good deed.

Now all I need to do is put my own writing advice (as well as all the other fab tips) into practice!

A favourite how-to write guide by Donald Maass

We hope you find our tips useful and would love you to share titbits of advice too ...

Happy writing!

Rae x

FROM A MAN'S POINT OF VIEW THIS WEEK

Today we welcome John Jackson as our guest blogger. 

John writes about 'life, love, history and, hopefully, all sorts'. And we mustn't forget his love of hedgehogs. He's also very keen on photography and does a lot of back-office stuff for the RNA of which he is a stalwart member. Here he talks about being a man writing in a predominately female genre. Welcome and over to you John.

The 1%

Walking into a Romantic Novelists Association function can be an ear-splitting experience, especially for someone like me – a mere male. However, it only takes a few minutes to get accustomed to the RNA Roar, and if not, there are always ear-plugs.

Men ARE rare when it comes to membership, though. I did a quick count-up and found that – at the time I counted – there were just 10 out of 1000 – or 1%. 

Its not as if male writers lack talent. I am more inclined to think its because they see romance as a predominantly female readership, although various surveys show that up to 30% of readers are, in fact, male.

There have been some very successful male romance authors too. Peter O’Donnell, writer of the Modesty Blaise cartoon strip and subsequent action / adventure novels also wrote romance as Madeleine Brent. In 1978, his novel Merlin's Keep won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. He didn’t appear in person to collect his award, though. 

In more recent times, we had the late and much missed Roger Sanderson. Roger wrote medical romances for Mills and Boon for many years, using his wife’s name as a nom-de-plume. When not busy writing, he was to be found up a mountain or cliff as an experienced and keen mountaineer.

Up here in Yorkshire, we have the wonderful Bill Spence. Bill served in the RAF during the war, as a bomb-aimer in Lancasters. Peace brought him back to civilian life and a career in teaching and store management, where he tried writing westerns. Eventually his publisher suggested he tried his hand at romantic fiction. To date he has written 23 romances, generally sagas set in North Yorkshire. He is STILL writing at the age of 96, and still attends his local chapter of the RNA for occasional lunches.

I joined the RNA quite by chance. I met and got to know two lady novelists, and through them, met several more. They seemed perfectly nice, and normal, and one thing led to another. Two years later I found myself in the New Writers Scheme.

I was fortunate in that, as a male, I didn’t shy away from the idea of reading romance. My father was a big Georgette Heyer fan, and passed them all on to me, and, at the end of the day, good writing is good writing, and makes good reading. 

Of course, like all tyro writers, I thought Draft 1 was the best thing since sliced bread. It took a Conference or two, and a very helpful NWS Reader’s report to make me realise that, like most things, writing is a craft, and that we all have to learn it. What’s more, we don’t stop learning it. We should all be continually “sharpening our pans” 

I would urge ANYONE who wants to write, and who wants to write something that has some element of romance in it, to try and get into the New Writers Scheme. There are few, if any, schemes like it. 

John (One of the 1%)

Heart of Stone", now available at http://viewbook.at/Heartofgoldlink

You can learn more about John here:

Email: jjackson@btinternet.com Web: johnjacksonauthor.com/

And follow him on Twitter: @jjackson42

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnjacksonauthor/

And John would like to put the following call out: Calling all writers who were born in Yorkshire or currently live there.Join Us at http://www.promotingyorkshireauthors.com/

A Piece about Numbers - on a Blog about Words

My son recently graduated with a degree in Drama (gaining a First!), and for his dissertation he had to write, perform, direct and produce a one-man, 40-minute play. Essentially the piece was about an angsty student being counselled by an artificial intelligence psychotherapist (my son's own, recorded, disembodied voice). In one section, he riffs about numbers and how your life is defined by numbers - some which identify you (National Insurance number, phone number); some you wish were bigger (salary, bank balance, IQ); some you might wish were smaller (age, weight).

It got me thinking. Writers deal primarily with words, of course, but we can also find ourselves rather obsessed with certain numbers.

Firstly, word count. I don't think I've met a writer yet who is not obsessed with word count. Many set themselves daily or weekly targets - eg 1000 words a day, 5000 a week - to hit their required novel length of say 90,000 to 100,000. Writers will joyfully report they've had a fabulous day and managed to put down no less than 2,786 words. Or they might moan about writer's block and be advised by friends to just try to get 100 words a day done - there, there, don't fret, it all adds up. Every journey starts with a single step; every novel starts with a single word.

Word processing software helpfully shows word count of the current document at the bottom - look, I've written 243 words so far in this piece. I've been a member of groups 'racing' each other - cheering each other on as we report weekly wordage. Oh yes. We do love tracking our word count.

And then, for published writers and especially those making a living from writing - there's another set of numbers we always want to know. I'm talking about sales figures - both units sold and royalties earned. For most writers we'll need to wait till the end of the month to receive statements showing how well our books sold two months previously, but self-published writers will be able to see more up to date figures, showing sales almost up to the minute. Every end of month I transfer sales figures and royalties earned onto a spreadsheet, which also allows me to track totals by sales period and by book, and calculate average royalty per copy sold, and other interesting, juicy numbers.

Finally there's another number which I think is probably the one published writers check most frequently. I know I do. I'm referring, of course, to our books' rankings - their chart positions on Amazon and other retailers. Especially when we have a new book out, or a book on promotion, we might check its ranking several times a day. Even though we know perfectly well that Amazon only updates rankings no more than once an hour, we'll still check more frequently than that to see if anything's changed!

So, we may be all about putting words onto a page, but we find certain numbers fascinating. We should probably spend more time on the words and less on the numbers, but they're addictive, you know? Anyway. This article is now over 550 words, which is the usual length for our blog posts, so now I can save it and go check my rankings. Again.

A MATTER OF LIFE ..... AND DEATH - COMPUTERS GET ILL TOO!

Like many of us when we get that ache, that niggle, that uncomfortable feeling that something's not quite right and we ignore it for a while, so it was when my computer began to go so sloooooooooooooow. I'd be typing away on the work-in-progress, totally in the zone, look up and see that the last half dozen words I'd typed just hadn't appeared - yet. Sometimes they'd then jump onto the screen and I'd think 'Oh, it's only a blip' then off I'd go again. Then it started to do it when I was doing emails. So ennoying. I did toy with the idea of getting Ian, my man-what-does, in with his version of a technical stethoscope but, I suppose, I was wary of it turning into a hideously expensive bill - you know, those bills you get when you take the dog to the vet for a thorn in its pad or something, and the vet says the pooch needs blood tests and an xray and then some horribly expensive medicine it's the devil's own job to get down its throat. So I didn't. I soldiered on. And then that niggle began to be bothersome. Especially at weekends when my grandchildren were playing games on Google Chrome. Alex came to tell me that the screen had died. It had blacked out - the computer equivalent I told myself of a human faint. I put it down to these games having so much content that it had decided to take a break from it for a while. Alex switched off, then switched back on again, and he and his sister were off again for an hour. It happened a few more times so I started to limit them to an hour, maximum - they'd be on there all day if they could! By this time the computer was still going very slow at times ... okayish the rest of the time. It had never blacked out on me when I was working on w-i-p. But then .... while I was answering an email it did it to me. Time to call in the cavalry. Ian - my man-what-does, remember - came and said he'd take it away for the weekend and bring it back on Monday afternoon. He gave me three options - a sort of computer sticking plaster, a bit of medication, or a transplant of a whole new hard drive. I went for the third option. He was, he said, going to Bulgaria for a fortnight on Wednesday. So, this was Thursday. As those who know me well will know I was dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age. I'm still not totally au fait with it all. I do Facebook and Twitter but that's because my publisher says I must, and I probably don't do it as often as I should. But my goodness, did I miss not being able to check and see how my books were doing, what some of my fave FB friends had been putting up, and being able to message people because I can get more in an FB message -and more quickly - than I can in a text message. I had to resort to pen and paper a couple of times.

So, the computer came back. Ian - my man-what-does - said, 'Linda, you have been very, very lucky. When I tried to transfer your old stuff to the new hard drive it kept dying on me. So I had to resort to the back-up.' Ah yes, the back-up. A couple of years ago it was suggested I might like to cough up £50 a year for a super-dooper external saving system. I had used memory sticks a while back but, well, my memory's not what it was and I couldn't remember what safe place I'd put them in so I gave up on that. I didn't understand all the technicalities of it but it sounded to me as though all my stuff was up there on a cloud somewhere and could be brought back to earth when needs be. So it was. All my files came back, including my latest w-i-p which was 50,000 words in at that time. All my photos came back. So far so good. 'But there has been one fatality,' Ian said. 'Your email address book'. Slowly I'm clawing those back but if anyone's thinking I'm ignoring them, I'm not ... I'm just living in hope you'll contact me so I can save your address again. Now then, I am slowly getting to grips with Windows 10. It is soooooooo fast compared to my old system. And a bit different in the layout. Icons that used to be top left, now seem to be top right. Some aren't there at all and Alex had to show me how to 'copy and paste'. Some things I haven't been able to master at all yet. I can download photos from FB posts or the internet but I haven't worked out how to add all of them to blogposts and FB posts - some do but some have a nasty red exclamation mark telling me I can't. So annoying, because I've spent ages looking for, and downloading, images for this blogpost. A stethescope. A computer game. Clouds. A poorly person in bed. But I'm afraid you'll have to visualise the images I wanted to send. You are all writers, after all, so I'm sure that won't be hard.

So, be warned ... like that cough that might be nothing, that pain that shoots through you something but goes if you give your leg a shake, it might be a good idea to get it all checked out sooner rather than later. I've learned a salutory lesson. Oh, and I'm still paying the £50 a year in case Ian - my man-what-does - has to get me out of another hole at a later date. Happy writing, everyone. P.S. Before whizzing this into the ether I had another go to get photos up. I didn't manage the clouds or the computer game or the stethescope, or the poorly person in bed with a themometer in his mouth, but I did manage two that had been in the old system. So I'm learning .... when Ian - my man-what-does - gets back from Bulgaria I'll ask him to give me a few lessons.

EDITING IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS – Escape to Moniack Mhor

As the days grow shorter, it’s time for some hard-core writing to be done. I have the guts of a novel in place and yet I’d reached a stage where I felt publication might forever be beyond my grasp. The ogre of doubt who leans heavily on my shoulder was growing louder … Your writing’s not good enough. What are you doing? You should find a proper job. What was needed was some focused time, away from family distractions, with others who understand this crazy urge to keep tapping away no matter what. So I set off for Moniack Mhor …

WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT MONIACK MHOR?

Located high in the Scottish mountains near Inverness, it’s a writing retreat I’ve been lucky enough to visit a couple of times. Whilst the vistas it offers are awesome (sorry – I’ve spent the summer with teenagers), the peaceful location makes the wider world seem distant, making it easier to concentrate on writing.

The Hobbit House where workshops take place

THE DREAM TEAM

But the main reason I chose this particular retreat was because of the opportunity to learn from two fabulous tutors. Nathan Filer’s debut novel, The Shock of the Fall, became an award-winning bestseller. A multi-talented writer, he also tutors at Bath Spa University.  His latest non-fiction book, The Heartland: Finding and LosingSchizophrenia, quashes myths, offering a fresh perspective on mental health.

Whilst Francesca Main, editor and associate publisher with a list of bestselling fiction and non-fiction titles at Picador - including Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt, as well as Dear Mrs Bird by A J Pearce – was someone I knew I would learn from.

Nathan Filer and Francesca Main - our tutors - the Dream Team

WHAT DID WE DO?

The weekend opened with some meditation before we moved outdoors to write a personal reflective piece. Being a part-time yogi (I practice when I remember), I loved that mediation could help writers, or anyone, access thoughts that might otherwise remain stubbornly out of reach. It’s definitely a practice I will use again.

The next two days followed a set pattern, optional workshops in the morning examining character and structure, followed by one-to-one tutor feedback with time to write in the afternoon.

The quirky inside of the Hobbit House

READY, STEADY ... COOK

As well as learning and writing at Moniack Mhor, participants are also expected to help prepare dinner – during which there was so much laughter that it was a minor miracle that a tasty meal for seventeen was served. A highlight of the weekend was when the skirl of bagpipes announced the arrival of the haggis, which was ceremonially carried to the table, addressed then toasted with a tot of whisky.

Addressing the haggis

Hmm - Cranachan, made using cream with a dash of whisky

NEXT STEPS …

Nathan and Francesca’s generous sharing of their expertise has helped bolster my shaky confidence. It’s now time to put their editing tips into practice.

Our final evening before we take our next steps ...

WHERE IS MY OGRE NOW?

And my ogre of doubt - he opted to stay in the Scottish Highlands. Let’s hope he takes up residence there, leaving me in peace for a while!

An early morning farewell to Moniack Mhor

So how do you control your pesky ogre? I’d love to know …

Happy autumn,

Rae x

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER by Victoria Cornwall

I love the film You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It tells the story of  Kathleen Kelly, an independent children's bookshop owner who is trying to compete with the large bookstore along her street. Her relationship with the owner, Joe Fox, initially develops (unknowingly) via email. In their day to day life they are at loggerheads, but online their friendship and romance blossoms.

     Kathleen's shop was called The Shop Around the Corner, a production nod towards the 1940's Hollywood adaptation of the same film starring Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The film portrays the financial and emotional impact small bookshop owners face as they try to compete with the larger chains and supermarkets.

     Vast numbers of small independent bookshops have closed over the decades. The decline started when the Net Book Agreement (which existed from 1900 to 1997 and ensured that all books had to be sold at roughly the same price) ceased. It was hoped it would encourage competition, but in reality led to a two tier system which placed the smaller shops at a huge disadvantage. Supermarkets and larger shops, which had greater buying power, were able to buy in larger quantities and negotiate better dealer discounts, something the smaller shops were unable to do. This resulted in the larger stores being able to sell the books for very low prices and the practice continues today.

     This price cutting makes it difficult for the smaller shops to compete as do the rise of eBooks and crippling rates on the highstreet. Gradually the smaller bookshops began to leave the larger cities or were forced to close.

     Independent bookshops have had to adapt to the changing landscape around them. Many "go the extra mile" for customers that some of the bigger shops are unwilling to do. Book themed events, author signings, storytelling, breastfeeding friendly environments, coffee corners and unique decor have all been used to entice customers to step inside and browse.
   
     The more successful have identified their customer base. Many of the bookshops in Cornwall have done this. They have embraced the local talents and culture of Cornwall to cater to the tourists seeking keepsakes as a reminder of their holiday. This tactic became evident to me when I toured the independent bookshops in Cornwall and discovered that most were located in the tourist hot-spots, such as the many picturesque coastal towns.

     The idea of a tour was inspired by talking to the co-owner of Lost in Books, a wonderful independent bookshop in Lostwithiel. It was refreshing to speak to a bookshop owner who had a real passion and enthusiasm for books.

      There was only one way to tour Cornwall on a sunny summer day and that was in Ruby, the camper.

     The first stop was The Falmouth Bookseller, in Falmouth

     The second was the Edge of the World Books in Penzance.

     The third stop saw me in St.Ives at The St.Ives Bookseller.

     Fourth stop was at The Padstow Bookseller in Padstow.

     Closer to home, I just had time to pop into The Bookshop in Wadebridge.

     The tour came to a sudden halt when our brakes failed driving down a hill. Luckily we managed to avoid an accident, no thanks to me! I was too busy screaming while my husband steered our runaway camper! Ruby spent the next few days  recuperating in a VW specialist garage. She is fighting fit again and ready for the next stage in our tour, which will include Spencer Thorn of Bude, The Bookshop in Liskeard, The Bookshelf and Tearooms at Saltash and Bookends in Fowey.

     I had a great time (apart from my near-death experience) and recommend a visit to an independent bookshop.

     If you would like to find your local independent bookshop, search them out by clicking HERE

     Independent Bookshop Week is celebrated every year. It will take place 20-27th June in 2020. To find out what it is about and how to get involved, just click HERE

     Or you could take part in a tour, as I did, and visit some bookshops you may not normally come across. Find out more about a #bookshopcrawl by clicking HERE

     Support your local bookshop. Use it or lose it, before your unique little Shop Around the Corner is lost forever.

Victoria Cornwall

   

CALLING ALL WRITERS ... DO YOU SUFFER FROM W.S.A.D?

Victoria Cornwall
We have all heard about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a depression which comes and goes with the seasons and may be linked to the amount of exposure to sunlight.  It can be debilitating and make the autumn and winter seasons very difficult for sufferers of this very real disorder.

     The condition got me thinking and asking myself if the seasons can affect other parts of our lives? As a writer, I know the seasons affect my ability to be creative and write. Not because it changes my mood and causes depression, but for far more shallow reasons. I am more creative in the winter when the clocks go back and the daylight hours end early. I find it easier to snuggle up with my laptop and write because, quite frankly, the wind, rain and limited daylight outside don't encourage me to do anything else. This is very different when spring arrives (with its blossoming blooms) and summer (with its long, warm days which are perfect for socialising). Needless to say I want to be outside instead of inside writing. Yes I think I suffer from Writers Seasonal Affective Disorder (WSAD), which, incidentally, is a condition I just made up!

Victoria exploring a Cornish rock-pool instead of writing

    So I asked my writing colleagues the same question, Are you more creative in any particular season and why? This is what they told me.

Kathleen McGurl
     Oh wow. I have never been asked this question before, and have never given it any thought. Ok, right, here goes. Putting my thinking hat on.
My instinct is to say I write more in the late autumn and winter. Those dark, rainy days when there's nothing much else to do but sit inside and write. But then, I remind myself, I always have more energy in the spring, when the days get longer, the trees are in bud, the birds are singing and the words are flowing... Wait, though, isn't it also fair to say that some of my best writing has been done during the summer months, even while travelling?
     So actually, I write all year round, fitting writing around everything else. Until recently I had a full time job so had to make do with writing in the evenings and at weekends - no scope to prefer writing in one season over another.  Just needed to get on with it, in whatever time there was available!

Kath being creative in the winter

Rae Cowie
      When Victoria suggested we share how the seasons affect our creativity and writing, I was thrilled! As someone who lives in darkest NE Scotland and suffers from mild SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), the rhythm of the seasons definitely helps structure my writing year.

     In spring and summer my creativity is sparked by travel, encountering new people, places, buildings, stories etc. A time when I squirrel away ideas to be unearthed in the depths of autumn and winter when I’m tucked up in my writing den. That’s not to say I don’t feel creative during darker days, I do. In lots of ways it’s easier to settle my bottom into my writing chair when there’s no lure of a sunny day tempting me outside. Autumn and winter are the times I get the actual writing done – word count up, achieving those writing goals. So I need all seasons, the fun and excitement of being out and about during spring and summer, followed by the discipline and hard graft in winter, working with the seeds I’ve gathered that will hopefully blossom again in spring.

Squirrelling away ideas

Jennifer Bohnet
     To be honest I struggle with being creative in every season.Winter's dark and grey days can bring a small 'black dog' that hangs around me for days, where doing anything let alone write is difficult. When the daffodils and primroses of Spring appear I definitely perk up only to fade away again when the heat of Summer arrives. This summer has addled my brain completely! I am so looking forward to Autumn 2019 - not that I'll be anymore creative as the nights draw in and we light the log burner. But writing gives me an income so whatever the season I have to get over myself and write, promote and do all the accompanying administration. My grandmother had a saying that I mutter to myself whenever the weather is affecting things:

'We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not'.

Jo Allen
     To every thing there is a season, says the Bible, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

     But is there a season for writing? I’m going to answer that with a qualified no. I write whenever there’s a story needing to be told and that can be summer, autumn, winter or spring. It can be work time or holiday time. It can be day or night. But for me there is a fixed time to write and that’s November. I’m target-driven. I tick things off of lists and fill in apps for my step count and the like. Every November I sign up for a programme called National Novel writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I sit down and produce the first draft of a novel. Other than that, no. No season at all!

Linda Mitchelmore

     As a short story writer with over 300 stories published worldwide under my belt I’m well used to writing in every season, and out of season. So, it’s almost always been, during my writing career, snow in summer, and bikinis in November ... well, in my mind, that is. I’d say my writing is weather-dependent and I write better when the sun isn’t shining, because when it is I just want to be out there in it. My house is small and my writing station is in the hall with a patio door behind me and a big window - facing south - to my left so sometimes heat dictates whether or not I write.

     I know people who use props to get in the mood .... wearing a summer frock and sandals to write in winter when writing a summer story, for example, but I don’t think I’d ever go that far! Writing all the above has made me realise how few Spring and Autumn stories there are .... Easter, of course, and some bonfire ones but neither of those seasons seem to sustain a novel to me.

     If I’ve got a deadline to meet then I just knuckle down to it – The Little B&B at Cove End was written mostly in winter, and Christmas at Strand House was written early morning and late evening in the summer to avoid too much heat at my writing station. There’s dedication for you!

Victoria

     So it appears that some writers are affected by the seasons and others are not. What about you?

Are you more creative in any particular season and why?