congrats, Liz!

Congrats to my fellow writer Liz Prato, who won third place in the Juked Fiction Prize, judged by Frederick Barthelme. Nicely done, Liz, crack open the champagne!

A short story competition cautionary tale

Without naming any names, I feel duty-bound to pass this on as a cautionary tale about the big, bad world of not-real short story competitions. A few months ago I submitted a very short story in to a contest run by an online writing group for a £6 fee. I didn't check the terms and conditions of entry; i.e. what might happen if I won or got placed. Now it has come back to bite me. I was named as a finalist and was delighted to hear that my story would be published in the competition anthology. I received an email a few days ago that the anthology has now been published. So I reply, asking innocently "I assume that contributors receive a free copy?"

No answer.

So I am now expected to shell out a further £8 to buy the anthology. Which means that I have spent £13 to get my own story published. What have I won here?

Ladies and gentlemen, the lesson is this: check the fine print before you submit. And check it again before you agree to be published anywhere. I feel that a free copy of an anthology is the very least a competition can offer, since I already paid to enter! Unless this isn't a real competition at all, simply a way to generate content and 100 willing buyers. You make up your own minds.

It's good to laugh

I used to be a little obsessed with all those TV shows involving lawyers, cops and solving gruesome murders, but I've recently discovered what a difference it makes to my mood - and my ability to sleep at night - to watch things that make me laugh. Two quick tips: 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory, both very silly and very funny! Enjoy.

To Plot or Not

So, I've taken the plunge. I've signed up for NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know what this is, it may sound like torture. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the original idea was to stimulate writers who don't think they can write a novel, setting them the goal of writing 50,000 words in 30 days. The point is that these are not 50,000 good words, they are just 50,000 words. This is to show people they can produce quantity, and give them a rough draft to work on. You upload your daily writing to the site, which counts them automatically (no-one else sees your writing) and keeps a tally. Anyone who makes it to 50,000 is a "winner".

I signed up two years ago. Me, who has never written anything longer than 6000 words. I wrote a few hundred, and spent all my time in the forums moaning about how I couldn't write anymore. Now, when I seem to be comfortable with stories of less than 700 words, I decided it was time to push myself.

This time, though, I have a support group: six or seven of my fellow Fiction Workhouse members are taking the plunge together and egging each other on. We don't start til nov 1st, but already I feel calmer.

I actually have a main character already, someone from one of my short stories who intrigues me. But that is as far as I get. I have no plot, no novel-length story idea. And that terrified me. I found a few others on the NaNoWriMo forums who are in the same position but most people seem to have plotted their novel out. I was panicking a little.

Until this morning.

Until this morning I was firmly in the camp of the non-plotters. I've never plotted a short story before writing it. Hmm, but then I've never written more than 6000 words. However, today, I was shown a whole new way of working. I am taking an online screenwriting class, with the idea that we all write a full-length screenplay. I have had an idea in my head for a few years - but just an image, a beginning, a concept. Nothing else. One main character. I've tried over the years to just start writing the script and seeing what happened. But that just didn't work.

Today, however, I read the 2nd lesson that the instructor posted online, and in half an hour, following the guidelines, wrote an entire synopsis/Story Map of my film, with beginning, middle and end. The story unfurled as I wrote. Now I have the plot. And it may well be that the plot will change radically as I write the actual script, but I have somewhere to start.

I thought this might help with the novel, as well. I don't know - since I have never written a novel - which parts of this are specific to films, but I have a feeling it's quite similar, just adjust the terminology accordingly. So, tomorrow I will have a go. We'll see if I get anywhere.

How to avoid writing

What do I do to avoid writing? One thing that is excellent for wasting hours is redesigning my website. Tweaking, changing colours, trying out a new layout. Hours and hours... Much better than washing up. What do you think of the new design? Do the pictures slow it down? Is it eye-catching or a bit too much? Comments very very welcome.

string theory anthology

I was thrilled to receive an email tonight saying that my short story, Secrets, has been accepted for publication in an anthology inspired by String Theory. String Theory is the branch of physics that is trying to persuade everyone that the basic building blocks of matter aren't particles but instead tiny strings, that become different particles when they vibrate at different frequencies, a bit like the way a violin string can produce different notes depending on how you play it. There are still some outstanding "problems" with string theory, not least that if this theory is to work then instead of our four-dimensional world (three dimensions of space and one of time) we would need at least 10 dimensions, some of them folded up very small. Hmm. No, I don't understand it either. The discussions are ongoing. (If this has whetted your appetite, you can learn more here.)

Anyhow, back to me. I have been working on what I call "science-inspired" short stories for the past few years, stories that take as their starting point an article from NewScientist magazine and go often in mostly very non-scientific directions. Half the stories in my collection will be science-inspired. So when I heard about this anthology, I was very excited! Exactly my cup of tea. The call was:

Writers are invited to submit either a poem, a short story, a short play, or an essay. Fiction may be, but is by no means limited to, science-fiction.

I wrote a flash story especially for the anthology based on the notion of all these extra dimensions. So I am thrilled to have been accepted and am waiting with baited breath to see the anthology, due out in May, and read all the wonderful ways my fellow writers took this theory as inspiration and made something magical out of it.

Fish-filled sea

My flash story, Fish-Filled Sea, is Every Day Fiction's story of the day. They have a comment facility so pop by and let me know what you think.

congrats, Zoe!

I just wanted to spread the wonderful news that my writing colleague in the Fiction Workhouse and dedicated editor of Cadenza Magazine, Zoe King, will be joining the Salt Publishing stable of authors, and her short story collection will be published in 2008. Congratulations, Zoe! Very well deserved, and very exciting!

Drinking Vodka in the Afternoon on Radio 4

My short story, Drinking Vodka in the Afternoon, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow, Wednesday October 3rd, at 3.30pm UK time.



It's very exciting - my third story on the radio in three years! And the first story that I wrote for radio. We'll see if it worked. Always slightly nerve-wracking, I never get to hear it in advance. Fingers crossed! It will be available on the BBC Radio 4 website for 7 days afterwards, and then, I hope, I will upload it to my website too, so you can still hear it if you missed it.

Inspiration is other people

I belong to two amazing online writing groups: the WriteWords Flash Fiction Group and the Fiction Workhouse , and both those groups are incredibly supportive and inspiring places to be.

The WW Flash group has a weekly Challenge, which one group member "wins" and then they set the challenge for the following week. And in the Fiction Workhouse we are now in the middle of something quite wonderful called a Blastette. This is a period of time during which we all write as many flash stories (under 500 words or so, no set rules) as we can inspired by 24 sets of prompts that one member of the group has compiled. This is the third Blastette that has happened since the FW was set up 9 months or so ago, and it is just an astonishing experience. There are 20 of us involved, on several continents, but the energy is palpable. Whenever someone writes a story, they immediately post it up on the site, anonymously, and as well as writing as much as we can, we try and give brief comments on other people's stories.

What this has taught me is that the more you write, the more you write. Writing is truly a muscle that will atrophy if under-used, but when kept healthy and given a good workout, is infinitely flexible. During the Blastette, there isn't time to think, there isn't time to listen to that Censor who resides in your head. You just let go, and write. And because you're not investing your all in just one Story, you don't care so much if maybe several flashes don't "work" for you. Something magical will happen in there somwhere, even if it is just a line or a character that you then do something with at a later date.

What working in both these groups shows me too is the power of taking inspiration from a prompt. I did, to my surprise, once have a conversation with someone about prompts who said "But isn't that cheating? Shouldn't you come up with the ideas on your own?" Does anyone come up with an unprompted idea for anything? We don't live in a vacuum, we don't just lie on our beds and contemplate the ceiling waiting for inspiration to strike. Prompts are all around us, and these exercises are just honing this, giving it some focus, encouraging it. No two people will ever write the same story from the same prompt. That is what is beautiful. The prompts may be the same, but we aren't. And it is wonderful to see the directions people go in.

This Blastette we are in right now is still ongoing (it's actually a 48-hour one, and we each drop in when we can), so I'd better wind this up and go and write more. I just wanted to share a little of the energy, and to thank my groups. Inspiration is everywhere.

Sukkah with WiFi

I am blogging from my sukkah.



It has WiFi.



This is only the second year we've had a sukkah in our little garden, lovingly built with much sweat and ingenuity by J from scrap wood and assorted sundries.



Yes, but what has this to do with writing?



Well, the Sukkah is intended to celebrate the Sukkot holiday, and supposed to be up for 8 days only... but last year I was so enamoured of it that we left it up for a few months and it become my little outdoor writing space, despite the worsening weather.



It's a little bit of inside and outside combined, nature and technology, permanent and fleeting, creativity and peace. Everyone should have one.

vignettes

A gorgeous short story publication landed in my mailbox this morning. Called Minishots, they are produced by Vignette Press, a twelve-year-old "indie publishing outfit", as they describe themselves, operating out of Melbourne, Australia. So far they have produced 7 Minishots, which are stunning-looking small magazines each containing one story. Here it a selection of the front covers:




There is a similar American venture, One Story, to which I subscribed for a while, but their covers, while different colours, were plain, not like Vignette's, where the artwork is part of the overall impression. Also, I have to say that I only tended to enjoy one One Story story in every five or six, I found the writing too "American" for me. It's the same reason why I don't like most of the NewYorker fiction: so many of the stories they publish are, to me, like mini-novels, rather than being the unique and beautiful thing that is a short story, where every word counts, and where magic can happen in such a small space.

Anyhow, much luck to Vignette. I have only read Minishot #001 so far and was also impressed by the writing, so am looking forward to the other six that came along with it, and more as they are produced. It's great to find more English-language publications that aren't from America or the UK - which is my own fault, I know, I am sure there is a great deal I haven't found yet. (I stumbled across Vignette Press thanks to Duotrope, which is a godsend for writers and deserves much support and praise.).

All this only adds to my impression that it is an exciting time to be a short story writer, with imaginative and creative people like Vignette Press doing such wonderful things with our stories.

Writing and pain

My hands hurt. It's been a long time since this last happened, since my last bout of repetitive strain injury. Maybe 8 years. Back then, my whole arm went numb, I had to stop typing for several months, which is very difficult for a journalist. I remember I dabbled in voice recognition software but just couldn't get used to talking to myself. I had to stop knitting, too, which I was sad about. I had a lot of chiropratic treatment etc.. and that helped. Then I discovered yoga, and that really really helped.

I haven't had pain for years, I've been doing yoga regularly, sitting properly at the computer (I think), not really knitting. Then a few months ago I took up knitting again, delighted, because it's pretty trendy now, I don't get called "Grandma", everyone wants hand-made jumpers. But I must have overdone it, or over-used my laptop, or been careless about posture or something, because now I have those familiar twinges, mostly when I am not typing, not writing.

It's very upsetting, feeling I shouldn't type, shouldn't write. Writing by hand isn't any better. All I want to do is write. I did go to yoga last night and it felt like everything was stretched and wrung out, so that should help. In the meantime, I have to look longingly at the cardigan sleeve I am in the middle of, look longingly at my laptop. I do have this laptop stand



so maybe I can have a go with the laptop at a different angle. Although I know I shouldn't really type at all. But I am antsy, irritated, I need to write. Why should it be painful?

Paring it down

I've been rewriting. Or, closer to the truth, slashing. I've had some success in the past few months in taking a short story a few thousand words long that I like but that isn't quite working - and rewriting it as a flash, under 500 words. What happened in the case of one story is that it began with the same opening scene but then went in a completely different direction. That flash then won 2nd prize in a competition. I thought, Aha, I'm onto something!

I decided to try this with all of my "problematic" stories, of which there were four main ones. I rewrote two in the last two weeks and it has been a revalation. One, which I must have tried writing ten times from different viewpoints, tenses etc.. over the past year or so (that's not including different drafts, hundreds), I began again and pared down to 240 words. When I say "pared down" I mean stripped of everything. It's not even in complete sentences now. It has exposed the raw story, any waffle is gone, such as lengthy explanations of why my main character does the bizarre thing he does to library books. All it is now is the story - what he does. No why, almost no where. My online flash group seemed to love it, they said it was a great combination of form and content - the choppiness of the writing matched the plot.

The second story I redid in this way came out longer than 240 words, around 1000, but before my groups said that the main character's tone was wrong for the story - too flippant, too cheery. All previous drafts of the story had also been quite cryptic about what it was she was doing. So this time I began with the first line stating what she was doing, taking away the mystery. The story became why not what , and while laying out the why all her anger and bitterness at her life came pouring out. A completely different story.

So, rewriting - paring down - is highly recommended. The discipline of making something a flash - whether under 500 words or under 1000 - brings out something very different, doesn't allow space for non-relevant padding. I have two more stories (at least) to tackle this way. Will see what comes of them.

Eco-Libris | Our vision

I just came across this and found it a very interesting idea:

Eco-Libris is for everyone. It enables people to do something reasonable, affordable yet with an impact: plant one tree for every book they read. We believe that taking responsibility for the environmental costs of the books we read is only natural.We strive for a world where reading books doesn’t have adverse effects on the environment, and therefore our mission is to make reading much more sustainable than it is today.

We are committed to doing our best for this to happen as quickly as possible. This is why we decided to aim high and to set a challenging goal for ourselves: we want to balance out half a million books by the end of 2008.Eventually (and hopefully sooner then later), books will be made from recycled paper or other eco-friendly materials. But till then, we can still do something to make the world greener. We hope not only to see more trees being planted, but that the Eco-Libris sticker you get to put on the books you balance out will inspire you to keep looking for more ways to make a difference.

http://www.ecolibris.net/

Then I clicked on Our Team and discover to my great suprise that it is all Israelis. Why am I suprised? Well, living here, you don't get the feeling that environmental awareness is high on the list of priorities. We do what we can, we recycle plastic, glass and paper, but there are, obviously, slightly more pressing concerns, like survival. I applaud the founders of Eco-Libris for wanting to make the world we are trying to survive in not the same world we are depleting and destroying. Good luck to you!

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Flying Saucers Go Into Production

How long have I waited for this:

US company Moller International has begun to manufacture parts for its Jetsons-like personal flying pod, the M200G Volantor.The M200G is the size of a small car and is designed to take off and land vertically.

Flying Saucers Go Into Production |Sky News|


And it only costs £45,000. A bargain. Watch out for me hovering 3 metres off the ground near you soon.

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Antarctica

I had an interesting experience this week. I was Googling myself, as you do (you do, don't you?) and I discovered a web page called Representations of Antarctica: Short Stories. And there, lo and behold, was this:

Hershman, Tania. "The White Road." Wonderwall. Route 16. Ed. Anthony Cropper and Ian Daley. Pontefract, West Yorkshire: Route, 2005. 29-37.

This is a story I wrote a few years ago, the first story I had broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and then published in Route's Wonderwall anthology. It is set in Antarctica, a place I have never been, nor did I do any research about it before I wrote the story (I don't believe in research for my fiction, it reminds me too much of journalism).

I was extremely delighted to appear on this website, and I wrote to them to find out how they'd found me. Turns out, the web page I stumbled across is the bibliography for a book called 'Fictions of the Far South' being written by Dr Elizabeth Leane, a Lecturer at the School of English, Journalism and European Languages at the University of Tasmania.

When I got in touch, Dr Leane asked me, naturally,

"why you decided to set your story in the Antarctic - did you have a pre-existing interest in the place?"

Hmm. I started feeling a little like a fraud. I replied:

The White Road was inspired by this article:

The White Road
"What's long, white, and very, very cold? The road to the South Pole is nearing completion… Almost a century after the explorers Amundsen and Scott battled their way from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole, a US team is heading the same way but constructing a road as they go. Due for completion by March 2005, this road will stretch for more than 1600 kilometres across some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.
NewScientist,
- 07 February 2004

and then tried to divert attention from my lack of knowledge back onto her book. She hasn't written back to me yet!

This is quite a strange feeling, to have my short story, set in a place I have never been to, referenced in a bibliography for a book about that place. Should I have researched more? The story isn't really about Antarctica, it's about one woman's personal tragedy and how she deals with it (if you'd like to hear the Radio 4 broadcast click here). Should I have set it somewhere nameless? What is my responsibility as a writer of fiction? How much can we really make up?

Sending books to prime ministers

Apparently, in an attempt to stimulate more interest in the arts, Booker-prize-winner and tiger-on-raft writer Yann Martel sends a book a fortnight to his Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, the Canadian PM. So far, Martel has sent Tolstoy; Hindu scriptures; and Strindberg's Miss Julie. Interesting. The article mentions that Harper is, of course, a very busy man, but Martel hopes he might fit in a page or two at bedtime or even on the loo. This inspires me to suggest that perhaps Martel should send something rather easier to read in tiny snatches of time - why short stories, of course! Some of his own (The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios) or some from Canada's many and wonderful lit mags, such as Front&Centre, Grain, Maisonneuve. or The Walrus.

It also got me thinking about who I might like to send books too, and why. Living in Israel, I'd like to send Gaza Blues, a collection of short stories by dark and funny Israeli writer Etgar Keret and dark and funny Palestinian writer Samir el-Youssef, to our dear Prime Minister, Mr Olmert and to Palestinian PM Mr Abbas, to show them what co-operation looks and feels like. Maybe they could start a book group to discuss? If anyone in high places is reading this, I am happy to lend you my copy and then come up with a few more suggestions.

New project

I'm feeling better today. The last few days were pretty rough, not-wanting-to-get-up-in-the-morning kind of days, not something I've really experienced. But then last night this idea that has been buzzing around in my head for a while landed with a thud and insisted on being addressed. I am not going to go into detail, but I will say that it's related to short stories but doesn't involve me writing any. It's something for all short story writers and readers, I hope. No, it's not a literary magazine!

It's going to take a little while to set up, but it feels really good to have a focus, to take the pressure off me in terms of what I am going to write next, but still to be involved with short stories.

More details soon, I promise! In the meantime, visit my friend's wonderful new site JewButt and get yourself some new underwear! Congrats, Bev, we're all really proud!

T

a bit lost

I'm feeling a little lost today. Well, not just today, it's been about two months. I didn't believe that the offer of publication of my collection would throw me like this. I thought I'd just keep on going, writing stories. But I feel very stuck. I feel as though I should have a big project to work on - a new collection, a screenplay - something. But I feel completely at a loss to even think about what that could be. I wake up in the morning and I'm not fired up, not driven to jumping out of bed and creating. I wander around, waking up slowly, doing little things here and there, aimless, highly irritating to J, I imagine. Everything feels a little foggy.

I also feel guilty at my aimlessness and annoyed at my guilt. Layers upon layers. How dare I, who has the luxury of all this time, not use it to the full? Yes, but use it how? I have both the sensation that I can do whatever I like, and a heavy weight pressing down that is stopping me from doing anything.

I joined a wonderful forum called Bloggers With Book Deals, whose public face is Bookarazzi. BWBD has 50 or so members, all of whom blog and all of whom have book deals, some of them related to their blogs, and others not. I blog, I have a book deal, I can join in, I thought. Everyone seems lovely, but they are chatting about film rights, about their readings, appearances on major UK talk show Richard&Judy and interviews in the national newspapers, and I am lurking in a corner, totally overwhelmed. I can barely talk about "my book", I feel raw.

This is not how I thought it would be.

I thought I would move to the next rung up the ladder, to actual publication of a collection, with delight, with a boost to my confidence, smoothly moving on to the next thing you do. Instead, I feel as though I am half hanging off the ladder, I don't want to look down, the next rung is so far out of reach.

And I look back over what I have just read and am furious for even feeling like this. I'm so lucky, right? Why I am whining? I think I might take up pottery, maybe try and join a singing group. I should tidy up my workspace, which is utterly chaotic. Or maybe I'll have another cup of tea. Maybe I should just ride this out, notice my un-ease, my discomfort, as my meditation teacher would say. Don't judge it, it's not good or bad, just notice it, and breathe. Breathe. There's an idea.