Book Review: The Mammoth Book Of Haunted Houses Stories

Hi readers, 

Today I'm reviewing an anthology of short stories that I have half previously read but never finished and once again, I probably won't finish because as much as I love and have raved about The Mammoth Books before, I just enjoy dipping in and out of them instead of reading them cover to cover. This is because I use them as something to read in between novels or when going on trips/holidays (I'm weird and don't actually like reading on holidays, guess because I'd rather be off exploring!) or like this time around, I couldn't make my mind up about what to read next, so I just decided I needed some inspiration for the short novella I've been writing over on my other blog. Thus I choice a collection about haunted houses!  

To make life easy, I've decided to focus on the stories I've read, but first let me say something about this collection as a whole. I have the expanded edition which has the added stories picked by famous horror movie actors as the last section. Unfortunately, I've not read any of those yet! This anthology is divided into different sections so that stories on the similar themes are group together. I've read Haunted Places; Fact or Fiction, Avenging Spirits and Little Terrors. I like the idea of doing this because you can just read a section that takes your fancy and avoid ones that you might find scary. 

Speaking of, I haven't been scared by the stories I've read so far, but that's mostly because they are mega old dating from 1800's and early 1900's. These stories don't really appeal to me due to their old fashioned style and language. Though there's nothing overall wrong with the writing and characters. Each story opens with this 'fact file' of information about the haunted house in question and a bio of the writer. I found these interested and a good introduction to the stories. There's a mixture of British, American and other places setting, which is nice and keeps the interested up. There's also a range of authors, but they all have one thing in common and that's they are well known for writing supernatural stories. Authors included are; Stephan King, James Herbert, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, M. R. James, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf.

The first story, The Haunted And The Hunters, has the main character and narrator investigating an an haunted house which is based on a true story. The narrator claims the house has been sent up to keep people away and he is proven true. I did like this one because of the twist at the end and that it reflects the tricks the Victorians used to get people to believe in ghosts. 

The next one, Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House, sees a family moved to the coast and stay in a very haunted house. The two daughters see ghostly figures and the father believes them to be burglars. Though it turns out that the remains of a old woman are buried in the back garden and she has been haunting the house. I found this one okay and the descriptions of the ghosts are good.  

A Case of Eavesdropping is set in a New York boardinghouse. A young man gets a room on the top floor and starts hearing a German son and father arguing over marriage and money. He complains about the noise, but nights later he over hears the killing of the son and thus learns that it happened years ago and he's been overhearing these events. I really liked this one because of the tension and the fact that you don't find out the truth till the end. 

Moving on, The Old House in Vauxhall Walk, is the story of a young man who's had an argument with his father and has left home. Luckily he meets an old friend/servant who invites him to stay the night in the house he and has family have just moved out of. There the young man is haunted by a old woman, who turns out hide all her riches and can't rest because of her selfish behavior. I liked the set up to this one and the ending too. 

My favorite has to be No. 252 Rue M. Le Price, which has a group of men stay in a haunted house were dark magic has taken place and the house is now haunted. I liked the creepy feeling to this story and it has a traditional ghost tale about it. It gripped me, though the opening is long, because I really wanted to know what was going to happen!  

The Southwest Chamber is another story set in an America boardinghouse. A teacher comes to stay in a boardinghouse run by two sisters and is put in the room where their aunt died. It turns out she wasn't a good person and there's this whole family saga along side the ghost aunt moving stuff and changing the bedroom around. I liked this story because of the interesting use of the mirror and the ghost making things not as they appear. 

Feet Foremost was one of the last stories I've read. A group of people gather in a house where a young bride was murdered. Her ghost has to be invited into the house and then she kills the person who invited her in. I found this one enjoyable, but the twist at the end just felt it was there as plot device to save the main character's boyfriend.

I've read a few more, but I didn't want to write about them all. I was hoping to have it close to finishing, but I've been busy doing other stuff and like I said at the start I do tend just to dip in and out. I did enjoy reading these, but I do find the age to some of the stories puts me off a bit. I would also say that it wasn't one of my favorite Mammoth collections and I do enjoy the vampire ones more!

Overall, this is a good anthology of short stories with a range of authors and different ghost stories. I'd so recommend this if you are in ghost/haunted house stories. 

Next Monday it's a life update! So, please come from that and also check out my other blog where you can get a story a day. Thanks for reading. 

     

Image from: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580933.The_Mammoth_Book_of_Haunted_House_Stories

November Update part 2 : Why I give up on NaNoWriMo

Hi readers,

I failed National Novel Writing Month. 

There wasn't an easy way to say that, but I failed to reach the 50,000 word count target in the 30 days of November. I only got to just under 15,000 words, though Trust is now at 44, 383. Which is still under! I do feel a little bit annoyed that I couldn't do it, but I was very ill two weeks ago with a bad cold. That put a stop to everything for a whole week - even going to work and playing dungeons and dragons! I somehow manged to post my daily short story though, (Thinking about it, it was all the Trust parts I'd already written!) but writing Trust went on hold. Unfortunately, I never picked it up again.

I did have thoughts about writing it and I do have an idea about where to take it next. I think the brick wall appeared when I suddenly realized that I didn't have a real enemy for my main characters. The vampire who was suppose to be decided he wanted to be good and that kinda meant there was only so much I could do with him. Now though, I've an idea to introduce some more characters and create some more tension. 

So, what did I learn from NaNoWriMo? 

Firstly, that I could write more a day then I was doing and thought I could do. I was able to write one or two short stories and between 500-1,000 words of Trust. 

Secondly, I'm not so great at talking to people online! Remember my thinking about trying harder to connect with people in my last post? Yeah, I didn't do much about it. I don't know, if I still feel over-protected of my stories or I'm just not balancing my time well enough. 

Thirdly, Changing the stats on the NaNoWriMo doesn't make me feel better. In fact, I feel guilty for not writing! 

Fourthly, I did try my best but being ill and life etc, didn't help, still though it doesn't mean I should give up. 

I think one of the others reasons I give up was because for me writing is a thing I do everyday anyway. I don't need to find time or space to write because I've a lot of that. And on the days I don't, I'm taking a break and thinking about things. I look for inspiration all the time - on the internet and around me which I then use in my stories. I've a Pinterest board/s where all my ideas go and which I refer to everyday. 

Anyway, here's my stats page for NaNoWriMo and yeah, I decided to add the total I had actually written, so the last day is kinda wrong, but I wanted to add it in.      

Well done to all those who did make it and to those who didn't! At least you've start writing now.

I did have a few other things to add, but I want to get this post up before midnight, so I'm going to leave it. I'm thinking of doing a post tomorrow about the start of Christmas, though it'll depend on timing as I'm at work and I do have a gift to make for my best friend.

How did your NaNoWriMo go? leave me a comment below and please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

November Update: Taking Part In NaNoWriMo For The First Time

Hi readers, 

I'm currently ill with a virus and I'd like to say I'm writing this from my bed right now, but I'm not. I'm at my desk, counting down the last hour before I try and head into work, (I keep meaning to write an updated post about that, but haven't had the time) I agreed on Saturday-when I wasn't feeling so bad-to cover someone's shift tonight and I'm in desperate need of the money for Christmas - isn't everyone?- So, I thought I'd take my mind off things and write this post, which I did mean to start on last week, but I've been busy. Also, I know I missed a post last Monday which was meant to be my review of the Night Vale novel, I was in hospital. (nothing serious, just stuff to do with my long term health condition, which I also plan to write a post about soon). 

I this year I decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month. I'm not sure how long I've known about it, maybe only a year or two? The idea behind it is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month and it's useful if you're writing for the first time or you struggle to fit writing into you daily life or-like me- you just want to write more. There's lots of other reasons too and what I like most about it is that it brings writers of all levels together and gets rid of that whole writers-need-to-be-alone/solitude writer's life myth. Okay, I get many writers need alone time to write, but we also need a lot of support and feedback from other people, not just editors and publishers. 

To be honest that's what I wanted to use NaNoWriMo for; to connect with other writers, look at what they were writing about and how they were doing it. Have I achieved that 16 days into the 30 day time period? Not really...I connect with four people on the first day and haven't spoke to any of them since and the fifth person shouldn't really count as she is an old friend from uni. Though I've read the opening of her novel twice now and given her some well needed feedback. I guess I've not done it because I've been so busy. I've been trying to reach the word count goal every day and failing due to having to write short stories for my blog, working, being ill and struggling to actually write. I know these are things everyone else has been facing too, so why haven't I been able to reach out to others? I really need to change that!

My second goal, though it was impossible from the start was to try and finish my novel. I decided that I wasn't going to start a new one when I had about 30,700 words of Trust and I wanted to do the next six parts for my other blog this month. The first of which will be published this coming Friday. So, far I've written 13, 625 words and that is actually all six parts-since I aim for about 1,200 words per part and the start of the next six parts for December.  (You can read Trust here;

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit.php?category_name=trust-novella ) 

 Below I've got a screen shot my of current stats and yeah, I know the total count is a little bit higher then what I just declared and that's because I might have been cheating just a little. But who can bear to have a empty gap on these kinds of things? I've made up the word count twice now, but it's been over the weekend and today when I've been ill. I struggle to fully focus when I'm like this and feel its' pointless trying to write. So, I've got some catching up to do and I've kinda all ready decided that I'm not going to reach the 50,000 word goal. I'd have to write 2,000 odd words a day, maybe even more to get there now and that's not something I can currently commit to. 

A blogger, I was talking to a few days ago after I'd read his post on the opening week of NaNoWriMo, said it was about 'quantity over quality.' And I agree with that. You are forced to write and to meet the goals, which isn't a bad thing if you are new or struggling, but for me I always do a little editing on the side throughout the writing now, because I find it saves time in the long run and it gets editing clearer in my mind when I actually come to it fully. For me, I'd rather focus on good writing then just spilling everything out on the page and praying it works - though I'm well known for doing that anyway. 

My finally thoughts for now are that I have proven one thing and that is I can get more writing done in a day if I set my mind to it and don't get distracted by other things. I've been able to juggle writing a short story or more (up to four so far) alongside writing a novel. That's the third thing I wanted to get out of this experience really. I overall, I think it comes down to this; the more you put in the more you are going to get out of these types of challenges. So, if you're busy taking part right now or thinking of giving it ago -there's still time, there always is- then good luck and I'll give a final update on my progress at the end of the month. 

Next time; my review of the Night Vale novel.      

Book Review: For Want of a Shoe

Hi readers, 

It's weird to think that in my last post I said I won't really be doing book reviews any more and here I am starting September off with one! This one is a little bit different through because it's a self-published novel based on The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen -though it also feels like the writer set out to re-write Fifty Shades Of Grey-. Now, I don't really read normal romance and erotic genre stories because they just don't grip me enough. I enjoy supernatural romance novels through because there's always more interesting things going on in the background or with other characters that keeps my attention. Of course, when FSOG took off I jumped on the bandwagon to see what all the fuss was about and well, I'll just keep my thoughts on that till I get around to reviewing it and the other books. With that in mind how did For Want of a Shoe add up?

The plot feels pretty basic; a pretty young woman, Abi, who has relationship and financial troubles gets a new job and falls for her boss. Her boss, Lester, though is only interested in 'a no strings attached' / 'friends with benefits' relationship within a BDSM lifestyle. She of course agrees to this in exchange for room and board in his huge fancy farmhouse. Only, she wants more and to be loved in a real relationship which isn't what he wants, so she leaves him. Only, she is still struggling financial and ends up making a deal with Lester's business accountant, who turns out to have a fetish for inflecting pain using canes. Abi can't cope with this and just in time Lester decides he can't live without her and saves her. 

I get that this plot is different from FSOG, but I can't help to make connections between the two of them. I think part of my problem with this genre is that I like my stories to feel realistic - even the supernatural and fantasy ones- and the main theme (BDSM, relationships ects)- don't feel real enough to me. It also makes me question what the writer's experience/ research has been like. I know for a fact that having experience of something can dramatically improve your writing and the realism of your characters. Setting that aside, I do have to admit that the plot was okay and it did draw me in, but not as much as FSOG (I wanted to know what Grey was up to and why. But when I finally got there is it was very anticlimactic and I regretted being so eager to know). There didn't feel much of a twist in the plot and nothing unexpected happens. 

What about the characters? Well, there's not much development for Abi and Lester and none for the background characters. Abi learns that she does sort of like the BDSM lifestyle and that she needed it to escape her boring reletionship with her ex. Lester learns to love again. That's basically it. I'd have liked to have seen more and the background characters are just there to push Abi and Lester along without their goals/wants really looked at. For me, the background character should be as important as the main characters and that's a sign of good writing. The characters do feel realistic, though Abi's ex really bugged me and not enough time was spent looking at his actions/wants. They didn't make me think about the characters of FSOG/Twilight though.            

The 'bedroom'/adult content stuff? Without going into too much detail of course! It worked and felt real for the most part. The BDSM stuff seemed more natural, though in some parts it does feel slightly abusive, especially the moments Abi has with the accountant. (though they are kinda meant to be like that. Also, I really disliked Mr Solomon and his addiction to all things Victorian. It just didn't feel right to me). I had to remind myself a few times that was a 'fantasy' story and thus it was okay. Strangely, what stood out for me was the 'piercing down there', I'm not sure why, I guess because I just felt it was an interesting thing.   

The worse parts for me were that nothing about the lifestyle is really explained to Abi and she is just sort of dragged into it. She can't really say no or suggested things, though I guess if that happened then the plot would've been different, but I'd so like to read a book where the Sub was fully on board and really into the lifestyle and the Dom felt the same way and it didn't feel abusive or victimized. (I also want to read a story about a Dominatrix and her male slave. I guess I could always write one myself!) Secondly, I cringed over the word usage of  'personal joystick', which only appeared two or three times, as I would have preferred a different terminology and it didn't feel in line with the narrative structure.  

The narrative and dialogue are all right. It seems better then FSOG and there some higher vocabulary words thrown in, (which might send some people Google-ing). There is a bit too much 'telling and not showing' for my liking though as the narrative finds it easier to just tell the reader what they need to know rather then trying to show it in the actions and dialogues of the characters. For me, also there needed to be more description of settings etc in places, but there's enough overall to carry the imagination through. Plus, the over use of the exclamation mark and question mark irritated me and devalued the usage of them. The bulk of the dialogue is realistic and fine, though some parts feel a bit clunky/clumsy.  

Overall, I have to admit that I liked this more then FSOG. The writing is a lot better and most of the bedroom stuff feels more realist. The characters, though lacking serious development, are less annoying and more easier to connect too. There's not a lot new with the plot/story nor any twists, but its good enough to get into and understand. I think if you are into this genre then this book is worth a read.  


Ps. Don't forget to check out my other blog, where I publish a new short story every day! I'm also requesting submissions for October. I'm looking for short stories from 5 words to 2,000 words with a horror, supernatural, Halloween theme. Please email them to me at hrhardman66@mail.com and help spread the word by re-posting this or my requests on my other blog. Thanks.    

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Writing Techniques : Writing Prompts

Hi readers, 

Today and to kick off the new ideas I've had for my blog, I'm going to look at writing prompts and how they can be useful to us writers. I'm sure that many people are already aware of them and for me in the last few months they have become something of a reliable source for generating ideas and starting my creative writing pieces for my short story blog. For those that don't know about them, prompts can take many different forms including single words, whole sentences, dialogue and images, (all of which sometimes come with instructions) and you can use them to inspire you to write.

There is no right or wrong way when using prompts and no one is going to judge you for using one! I normally start my opening line or paragraph with the word or sentence or dialogue, then continue the story from there. With image prompts I normally start with introducing the setting or the character, before trying to include as much as the image as possible. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a short story I wrote about a piano in the woods and it can be read on my other blog, here:     http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-soldiers-piano/ One of the best things I have also found about using prompts is that you don't have to begin the story with them, you could have them appear at anytime or not at all. For example, removing them in the finally draft or just not including the prompt at all. 

Let's now look at some actual prompts. The first one I chose was a written prompt and these kinds seem very popular. There are so many pages and websites out there that list a whole load of these and they can be so useful for starting off imagination and writing.   

The key to these prompts is that it gets your mind asking questions, which hopefully will make you want to write in order to get answers. So, for example this prompt makes you ask: who is he? Why is he knocking on doors? What happened at the other doors? What is going to happen next? This really does kick start your brain into wanting to find out and from there you should be able to write a story all around this prompt. 

My next prompt is an image one. I'm a visual person, it's how I learn and think best, so I love image prompts more because I find I get a really good use out of them and can create much deeper stories. This is one my newest images on my Pinterest board (Pinterest is a great website by the way and it lets you group things together under different sections. I've included the link to mine below). So, if I'm going to use this image I'd start my story by describing a character walking down this road and coming across this gate. The image, like the word writing prompt, helps to raise questions, for example: where is this place? what's beyond the gates? what's going to happen, if anything at all? 

The last thing I want to look at is physical writing prompt books, like the 642 Things To Write About one below. I own this book and have found it useful, though I just enjoy looking through it and giggling to myself more then actually using it for writing. There is a number of books and also ebooks available now packed with prompts similar to the ones above and they do work in the same way - get your mind and writing going-. Some of them even have blank spaces or pages which you can write in, so you don't feel stuck to your computer and notebook all the time. Some of the ebooks are even free to download like this one;  

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen. (linked below) I recently downloaded this myself and though I've not used any of the prompts, most of them look really interesting and do most of the setting up of the story for you.

Overall, writing and image prompts can be great tools to help with any writer's writing. They can get your mind and imagination working and your fingers typing. They can be used in a number of ways; as warm up exercises, the opening line of your story or perhaps in a group or teaching situation. There seems to be an endless supply of them too, so you are always sure to find one that you can use. Also genre and themes are always nearly neutral and you can use them how you want to. If you are just starting out using prompts I'd recommend searching around on the internet first and gathering lots of free ones - in fact I'd recommend that to anyone. Having the prompts in a physical book or ebook which you have to pay for can be useful if you aren't near technology, or you like your breaks from it. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a book, but in this case and with so much being free online, I'd recommend going down that route instead. 

I hope this has been a useful post and you can let me know by commenting if you wish. Also, if you have any other writing techniques you'd like me to look at and try out. You can follow me in a number of different places and these were linked in my last post, so feel free to check it out. Up next in a few days is my book review on Prince Lestat, so I'll see you all then.

Links and Images:

http://www.invyn.com/category/writing-is-like-quotes/

http://thesarcasticmuse.tumblr.com/post/82864997733

http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/fantastical-stories/

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Creative-Writing-Journaling-ebook/dp/B009GLMF7U/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420493456&sr=1-3&keywords=writing+prompts

http://poetryismedicine.wordpress.com/

Up And Coming Posts

Hi readers, I thought I'd put together a list of all the posts I'm planning to do in the next few months/the rest of the year. This is also because I've not finished the book I want to review. The other book I thought about reviewing today, I've not read in a good few years. Even though it's by one of my favorite writers, I realized that I so needed to read it again to get the review right. So, I thought I'd do one of these posts again and make a list of things. Hopefully it'll help you as well as me! Please note these are not in any order, beside from the first one.

Book reviews 

1. Wool by Huge Howey.
2. Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite.
3. Shift by Hugh Howey.
4. Dust by Hugh Howey.
5. Batman and Dracula comic book trilogy.
6. One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Japanese Manga)
7. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (The Novel)
8. Rapture by John Shirley (Bioshock Novel)
9. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
10. Soulless by Gail Carriger.

11. Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine.

12. The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow
13.Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
14. About a Dragon by G. A. Aiken.
15. Prince Lestat by Anne Rice
16. The King by J .R. Ward.

Other Topics 

1. Has education made us hate literature? (My Opinions)
2. How To: Promote Your book.
3. Editor Jobs.
4. Proofreading Jobs.
5. Ghost Writing Jobs.
6. What other jobs can writers do?
7. Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition.
8. Writing Promotes.


Images from:
http://sablegrey.net/home/?page_id=20

Creative Writing Courses Online.

Hi readers,

It's been awhile since I wrote again, but unfortunately I've been ill and busy and not reading much. That's why this week's post isn't a book review, but still links in with the theme of my blog. I recently signed up for and this week started an online writing course run/partly by the Open University. My mum suggested it to me as she had been looking into it as part of her offices' writing poetry for nurses' day activity. The main focus is on creating characters, so I thought I'd give it a go and see what happens.

Its' been awhile since I last talked about writing courses and it'd been interesting to see if my views have changed about them. Actually, though I wanted to focus to be more about people/writers who'd already taken course/s on writing, ( no matter what they were) and weren't new to doing a creative writing course. I know this might leave a few readers out so I thought I'd go briefly write something for the new people afterwards. Okay, so, this is going to run into an A&Q post, but it seems the best way to write it.

Question 1: why if you've already done a creative writing course be it at uni level or equal too or just online etc, would you want/need to do another?

Answer: for lots of different reasons. It could be that the course is looking at one element of creative writing that you want to improve or be introduced too. For example you might be a poet, but you have an interested in travel writing but don't know much about it, then you could find a course tailored to met that need. Due to the fact that there are a lot of different subjects and they divided into different topics that make up a general creative writing course, it means that each course can offer different things and focus or main theme subject matters. The course I'm on for example does contain all the information a new writer needs, but its key theme is creating and developing characters.

Another reason might be that you've taken a break from writing -like I have and you want to get back into it but you don't know where to start. Plus, you need some motivation and to just go back through things. Courses can be really good for this. There one aim is always about getting you to write and getting you confident about your writing. The questions and assessments they give you can help get you back in the mode and time management for writing. It also allows you to make new connects, which are always useful to have. Adding into this is if you did a course a long time ago and you need to update your knowledge.

Question 2: How useful can it be to take another course? 

 It really depends on if its' suitable for you and if you put in as much as you can. For me, writing has always been something that can't really be taught, similar to other creative areas. Yes, you can learn about, but the talent and determination needs to still be there at the end. I also believe that you never stop learning and with Creative Writing being so broad this seems very true. Some writing courses wouldn't be much use to me now as I already know the basics and a lot about the publishing industry. However, a course that is focused on online-publishing or writing horror fiction might be still be useful to me because those are the areas I'm looking at and weren't that focused on at uni.

As an add to this going to public talks and readings to can be really useful. I can learn a lot about a certain subject and meet new people. You can also get inspired too and it's great to support other writes and teachers in this way.

Questions 3: Online or classroom?

I think this just depends on the course and yourself. I've got experience with both. I enjoyed going to classes and physically meeting up with tutors and friends. Certain environments can allow you to do more work or become more focused. I would love to go back to uni and do an different or related course, but I've not got the money to do so. Doing an online course paid for or free, is actually become more popular and I'm already seeing the benefits of it. Being online means that you can go at your pace and fit it in at a good time for you. So, there's no worrying about being late or missing things. A lot of people from around the world can get on the course as most of the time there's no number restrictions. You can do it all from home or from anywhere with a computer and the internet. You are still able to talk to the tutors and other support staff as well. Lastly, the qualification you might get isn't that different from a classroom on.

Question 4: Course or Writers' Retreat/Holiday? 

To me these have always been different things. A course is were you learn and the writers' retreat is where you go to get the space and time to write. I've seen some writers' retreats that do run classes and readings. But most of the time they do seems to be for someone who is currently writing and wants sometime to continue to do so. Most of the time there are other writers there for you to meet as well. Once again this depends on what you are looking for.

Question 5: Can I run my own writing course?

This is a tricky one but I was thinking about it before. The answer is technically yes. Though it does help if you some experience and a qualification in teaching to start with. Also, having stuff published can be a big element. Where to teach and how much to charge, is something I've not really looked into. However, I'm still trying to get a writing group set up at the youth center, though I'll probably won't get paid for that. I did know someone who went into prisons to teach creative writing. Schools might also be interested. I think it'd need some research and connecting the right people.

So, I've pretty much answered everything I had my head now. Hopefully it's also give you more insight into writing courses. It really does come down to what you want to get out of it and how you want to study. I'm really wanting to get back into writing my novels and meeting other writers. I miss how we motivated and support each other and that can be a large part of the writing process. It's also easier and cheaper for me at the moment. One thing it's also allowed me to do is find a use for these notebooks I  made. Though I fear I might need some more soon!

New writers

I want to do a writing course where do I start?

I'd so recommending doing some research into the different courses out there. Also think about how much time you can commit to and if you can offered to do it. Plus, traveling and other living expenses. Uni and college courses can be very expensive now. Of course you don't have to do a writing course to start writing and self-publishing. There's lots of information and helpful people on the internet and just doing that might be more useful to people then taking a course. but if you really do want to do it then I'd say look at doing a uni course or the equal to it. Doing a whole course like my BA Hons one meant that I could write a whole range of different things, I could also work in the publishing industry or do things like editing and making content online. There are ones that are tailored or more focused on certain parts of writing. So, it just depends what you want to do.


Images from:
http://chalkthesun.co.uk/?page_id=51
Handmade note books; Author's own. 

The Powers of Editing

Hi readers,

I feel a bit bad that this post is going to be cutting into the flow of my Series of Unfortunate Events review. Also it might become a small rant, but I'll try and remain calm. I'm also not in the mood to break down books and digress about things right now. So, I wanted to look at editing and how writers and editors face this section of the writing process. I've been forced into thinking about this due to an editor heavily editing my latest non-fiction story on a website.

Guess I should explain what's happened before I launch into things. So, a few weeks ago, I got messaged on this site by an editor who wanted to put my story on the editor's picks page. I was mega happy about this as any budding writer would be. She told me that some edited was needed and I agreed because I was very aware that some changes and corrections were needed. This afternoon, I finally saw my re-drafted story. I'm not sure how long it's been up for, because the title, summary and image had been changed. Not really what I wanted, but if it draws more people in okay. I then started to read my story and for the first few lines I believed it was actually someone else's and I'd made a mistake. However, certain lines and paragraphs looked familiar and there was a lingering of my work and voice within this story. When I got to the end it suddenly dawned on me; this was my story and an editor had mega edited it and then re-written it!

I was moved to tears and anger. How could someone do this? This story had my name and ideas attached to it, but it was no longer mine. There wasn't much of me left within it and yes, the meaning of the piece was still there, but it felt like someone else's. Having another read, I saw lines and words, I won't have used. I saw ideas that just shouldn't be there and actually the deeper meaning of my story had been removed. The ending was the worse. In my original, I describe my sense of uncertainties like fishing for an oyster with a pearl inside of it and that being the key to me making the next step in life. In this edited version, it had me taking the bull by the horns and feeling like I could take the world on and do everything because I didn't want to be waiting around any more. But that, even though it's similar, isn't the way I wanted it to be.

Seeing from the point of view as a writer and then from an editor is something my degrees have taught me. I learnt too that it's your story and though someone might suggest some changes, you don't have to use them. It's important to stand by your own work and have believe in it. Editors can't always be trusted. Yes, they want your work to look the best and sell good and they suggest changes to make that happen. but if you feel that something is going to be lost and you can't seem to re-write it well enough, then you either let it go or you fight. Some times, the fighting does actually work!

Let's get to the heart of this situation, because the whole editing thing is just the surface. The heart is that I wasn't consulted about the editing done to my story. I wasn't asked to do it myself or make suggestions for the changes. The editor just did it and re-posted it. I think that's the thing that makes me really angry. It didn't belong to me anymore and my voice had been faded out. I couldn't be proud of the story any more because it wasn't mine. If there'd been small changes and the story had remind more intact or else I'd been asked to do the edit work myself, it would have been different. From my point of view though, someone had taken my idea and just wrote their own opinion about it.

Many new writers will be happy to have their work shown on other peoples' pages and won't really think about the attachments of the line 'after we do some editing.' They'll think along the lines that I did and then when they see that their story has been altered so they don't know it, they might feel that they can't do anything about it or that the editor just decided it had to be that way. Actually that'as not true. IT's still your story at then end of the day (unless you've agreed via contract etc) and you have a right to stand up for your writing. Don't be afraid to challenge an editor or anyone else for that matter. If you believe so strongly about something, it's important to carry it though. So, I've deleted that version of my story, re-published the original and messaged the 'editor' with a professorial sounding note about my unhappiness with the editing and why I felt as I do.


So, after all that what is my opinion of editing and editors? Well, both are needed. It's very important for all writers to edit their work. I'm not just talking about spelling, grammar and formatting here, I'm taking about physically editing through every page, paragraph, sentence and word. Ask yourself the questions of; is it really needed? Is there a better word that should be used instead? How does it effect the flow of things? Would this line/word be better some where else? Does this really show what I want to say? Does it stay true to the character/plot? There is also the technique of cutting every word you dare and trying to improve your writing by taking out as much as possible. Always remember to keep a copy of your first draft just in-case you don't like your second draft! Also novels and stories go through a lot of drafts the minimum should be about three or four at least.

Editors from what I've heard can be tricky and sometimes they can see a completely different world to the writer. More often then that, a writer might not have a choice who they work with. Every writer dreams of finding a suitable editor and agent for them. It's not always possible of course, but you have to make the best of what you've got to get to the places you want to go. It would be nice to take a car, but if a bicycle is your only option, take it or else you'll end up walking!

I've sure learnt from my lesson now and I hope that this post makes other people aware of some more writing pit falls! I feel a lot better after writing this and deleting my story. It can be hard, but as long as the choices you make feel right to you, then go and do them. Now, I'm going to sing to some Bon Jovi and get some inspiration for my next story.

Images:

http://www.gracebooks.org/book-editing/different-types-of-editing/
http://www.adelekamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/book-editor-office.jpg

Fill Your Soul and Writing With Music

Hi readers,

Here's another different post for this week, but I'm still staying with the writing theme. Two things actually gave me the idea for this post. The first was an article from helping writers become authors; 'how music affects writing process.' (linked below) Which discusses how listening to music can be important during writing and how it can have different affects. The second, though off topic, but just linking in, comes from a conversation about Sonic the Hedgehog Underground characters getting their own music themes. This was due to someone posting and suggesting pieces of music-which actually didn't match the characters- in the comments of that particular review on my boyfriend's YouTube channel.

Everyone has their own place and system for writing, even if you don't realize it or you do one or two simple things. I'd be shocked if anyone told me they just sit at their computer or notebook and wrote solidly for a few hours. Most people have chores or other jobs or must grab a coffee first. I'm not saying its impossible to just start writing straight way, but its rare to do that. At the start of my degree, I remember being given a task/writing technique to try, which meant that the first thing I had to do when I woke up was to write. Now it could be anything; a dream, a stream of conciseness, recording what I could sense, a story idea. It didn't matter as long as I spent my first awake moments writing.  I never actually got in the habit of that, but it was the beginnings of my thought documents, where I write a lot of stuff, mostly personal/story relented and often in a diary like way. It gives me a private space to just write and not think or edit.

I don't think I have an actual 'set' way of preparing myself to write. I know that I like to have eaten something and have a drink at my side. I will have checked out my favorite websites and updated things. I'll have watched some internet videos, but now have iTunes, Spotify, media player or my ipod on shuffle. Or else playing music from a certain artist or album. I still like to write in the afternoons and evenings, when I've had time to do other tasks and wake up fully. I've only recently become a fan of flavored coffees and have been drinking them to stay warm more then anything else! I might write in my thought doc or read a chapter/short story of my current book, before officially starting to write.

The one thing I couldn't write without though is my music. I find it impossible to work in silence or with the TV/movie on or with an internet video. The only time I've wrote without it was during school/college lunch times and free lessons, when I didn't have an ipod. Back then I was still learning about writing and found my stories very easy to escape into. Now though I sort of relay on music to help me escape. Listening to certain songs reminds of things, like right now Before I'm Dead by the Kidneythieves is on and it reminds me of the Queen of The Damned movie because it's part of the soundtrack. Thus, I think about vampires, Anne Rice novels and Lestat. It's not just about the lyrics or the singing though, when I write I feel more focused on the actual music. Is the beat fast or slow? Is it heavy or soft? Does it change or is it constant? How this going to affect my writing; speed wise, ideas/inspiration and the flow of the words?

In my brief research and thinking about it, I've found that music is a popular subject with writers. There are lots of different articles, posts and discussions out there. It was hard to stop myself reading them and becoming influenced by them whilst I'm writing this. There are recommendations for the type of music you should listen to whilst writing to achieve the highest out of it. I found some science also relenting to how and why music affects the brain -you can read all about that in the link below-. The interesting part is of course what you should be listening too. I half fancy following the suggestions and seeing what happens, though I'm very set in my choice of writing music!

This is a summary of the suggest way; (for it in full see the link to Keep It Lit below)

 Choose instrumental music. 

 Choose songs within a 50–70 bpm range. 

 Choose music with lots of repetition to encourage your brain to let go. 

 Consider the tone of the project you're working on. 

Pay attention to how you feel while listening to music. 

Experiment. 

 I recently got into listening to Natural Sounds-especially rainfall and stormy weather- I actually started listening to become more relaxed and sleep to, but I found it good to listen to during writing as well. The almost white noise/constant sounds just help you keep the flow going and also can help picture the settings a lot more. I've always said I write better when it's raining and now I can listen to it all the time without it actually raining! Brad McBride has a good YouTube channel for these; 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBoTun54dQmzQMTxWTdJ9Sg

Secondly, I've been listening to some Japanese instrument music. I'm not into classical or instrument unless its' heavy metal relented. My boyfriend got me into the Studio Ghibli movie soundtracks which I do like listening too, but I'm sure it's only because I know the music from the films. Expending out from this though, someone else introduced me to the Yoshida Brothers. I have found their music to be fascinating, though it can be a little bit too fast for me to write too. A YouTube channel for some of their music can be found here;  http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIvFJmgxa8wXAHs3AKVEsog

Another thing to consider relates to the second thought in my introduction; characters and music within the inner workings of the story. We are surrounded by music and sounds daily, but what about characters? In some stories music has no or a small role to play, whilst in others its' a major theme which helps the plot and reader along. For example Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, named after The Beatles song, has a large part in the plot and has other connections with the characters. Music and artists named in the story can say a lot about characters, (though it can also conjure up stereotypes for readers) and also the writer. So, what kind of music your character likes is important for making a complete picture of them, even if you don't include it in the story.

The last part of this is that the story within the lyrics of songs can inspire you to write stories based or around them. My MA dissertation piece was a story inspired by Bullet For My Valentine's Your Betrayal. That actually helped create one of my best non-vampire antagonists, who also fascinated my tutor. Though she did make me concerned about which part of me she had come from. Though as I looked at in another post some time ago; when we write we aren't actually ourselves...

Hopefully, that's been useful for some people. All the other links are below for you to check out. Next week I'll be back to a book review. I wonder which on it'll be though!

Images from:
http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7967-words-and-music-our-60-favorite-music-books/
http://images.firstcovers.com/covers/flash/m/music_and_writing-12360.jpg?i
http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/words-worth-reading/


Websites:
 http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2012/12/how-music-affects-writing-process.html
http://www.backwoodsauthor.com/2013/08/26/guest-post-how-music-can-affect-your-writing-by-marcela-de-vivo/
http://keepitlit.squarespace.com/blog/2012/7/30/listen-up-how-music-affects-focus-creativity-and-mood.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-bRvd4-oHA

Social Writing - Writers on the Internet.

Hi readers, thought I'd write something a bit different today. So this is going to be a sort of informal essay style post discussing how the internet has made writers more sociable and the positives and negatives of this.

I want to look at this subject more closely due to my recent activity on a site called Readwave. This website allows people to put/publish their writings, though there is an 800 word limit. The one thing that really attracted me to Readwave was their weekly challenges, which they have been improving. Every week there is a different subject (now four) which is often connected with a theme. Writing can be fiction, non-fiction and biographically. You can add images, tag lines and summaries. Also, as far as I know there's no limit to the stories you can put up, but you can only enter a challenge once. You get your own page for your stories and can have a bio. There is share buttons for social websites. The best bit about Readwave is that people can comment on your stories and can share them. My page can be sen here;
http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/

I think that's the key to most writing websites. The internet is allowing writers to interact in a new way which was not possible before. Writers know that they need isolation time and space in which to work, but afterwards, social interaction is needed. The writer wants and often needs a readers opinion and other minds to spot things that they have missed. Also new writers seek reassurance about they work. Thus the sites are very useful. The other side of this is that they allow readers to experience new genres and writers.

There are downsides to this though. A writer shouldn't let other people's opinions influence their on own every occasion. The writer needs to remain in control and do what they think is right. Over-posting needs to be avoided. The writer doesn't want to flood their page or their readers with too much at once by continuously putting up new or redrafted pieces. The writer also shouldn't think that just because they are gaining a large readership that they must post up more pieces to keep all the readers. Normally, posting once a week or month, the same as doing a blog, is a good strategy to have. Readers can become easily bored with the same or similar pieces.

 Lastly, don't let negative comments or lack of readers get to you. People always have opinions on things they don't like. Remember not to take it to heart and perhaps if they make suggestions you could see these as changes to bare in mind during redrafting. The internet is massive and there are so many other websites and stories that grab peoples' attentions. It can take a while to get a readership, the same with a blog and the way to do that is to keep publishing different stories and doing a bit of self-promotion.

There are all different kinds of websites for publishing too. Doing research into this could be beneficial for some writers, as if you have a piece on a certain topic or containing certain themes, which you wish to share with a connecting audience which some sites are tailored too. Fan fiction is a good example of this as some sites only accept fan related pieces and others sometimes don't.




For me, publishing on these websites does need to be taken seriously. That's because it is increasingly becoming the in between of officially unpublished and published writers. There are writers now who are earning a living through self-publishing online/kindle without an agent or a publishing company. Writers are also being picked up by agents and publishers after their work has been seen online. It can also be used as examples of writing for job applications or agents.

I publish though because doing the challenges means I have to write once a week and it's helped me get over my writers' block. It also allows for story subjects that are new or need a different take on them to happen. This is a good way to practice more and share your thoughts with others. I have also enjoyed reading and commenting on other peoples' works. That is something that really needs to be done, you need to give back as well as receive. Becoming an active member of a site can also attract more readers and help other writers to develop.

So there are a lot of good reasons why a writer should be getting themselves out there on the internet. That saying of you take out what you put in is very true and I believe that every writer will find publishing on writing websites beneficial in some way. It is a great chance to share your work, get a peoples' opinions and read the works of others. That idea of writers being anti-social is a fantasy, because we are a very supportive and respectful network.

That's it for this post then and next week I'm going to be writing a book review. It's going to be slightly different though. I hope this post has been helpful and the discussion can be carried on in the comments below. I've also included a list of websites for people to check out that relate to this post.

Images from:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg
http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-100-best-novels-1898.html
http://blog.moveguides.com/skilled-freelance-writers-wanted/


Websites:

http://www.readwave.com/
http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/
https://kdp.amazon.com/
http://www.lulu.com/
https://www.createspace.com/
http://www.writeandshare.co.uk/
http://www.writing.com/
https://www.fanfiction.net/

Collaborating Writing

    
Been almost a week since I last wrote, but I've been ill and busy. I've had lots of ideas for posts though and today I've picked to write about collaborating writing. This is due to the fact that I'm currently embarking on this myself with my boyfriend. So, I thought it would make an interesting post and get me in the mood to write some more. Also it's about time I had a post on writing too! My last few ones have been focusing on my life and D&D. Which is understandable, since I've not been doing much writing since finishing my Diss. I hope that's about to change now.

There are lots of different ways for writers to collaborate on writing. Too many to get into here, so I'm just going to talk about the main ways. It's possible to see when work has been collaborated on as two authors names will appear on the front cover. This can get you wondering about how and why they decided to join forces. I like the idea of the manuscript being passed around and the writers each adding a chapter or changing things until it becomes a whole, but that sounds like a long process and could led to disagreements or unevenness appearing in different areas of the works. However, writers both doing some of the writing is common enough, though they probably take half the chapters each to achieve this.

One of the simple ways to collaborate is for the first writer to have the idea and the second writer to write it. This is what my boyfriend and I are currently doing. He came up with the basic plot and characters for a Darren Shan styled story and I am busy expending on his ideas and trying to write it. It's proving a bit tricky because teenage novels are not my normal area-though they were when I first started writing-so it's getting back into that mind set. This way does work well though, though all the work is left up to the second writer and the first comes up with most of the ideas. The first write may also do some editing as well and that can be mega useful to allow the writers to discuss things further.

Another way to collaborate is something I've been doing for the last 3 years with my friends and that was having them suggest ideas/events that could then appear in the writing. They also wrote the backgrounds for many of the characters and though most of this work didn't appear in the finished novel it was still important to know. Having them read and edit the novel also helped, though they didn't really do any of the writing. That was all down to me. This way works more if there is only one actually writer in the group and the others are just there to listen to ideas of to help redraft.

It's not just novels and short stories that writers can work on together. Lots of TV and film scripts can have joint or secondary writers. Series writers (Normally there's more then two writers and they sometimes can have guess writers too) also take it in turns to write different episodes, something that can be very noticeable- take Dr Who for example- sometimes, but this generally doesn't effect the main characters or plot of the story. Series writers also have to work closer together to make sure that things are considered throughout and that the running background plot stays the same. This is a great way to work though as it gives each writer a chance to put different ideas out there and create spins on events that other writers might not have thought about. It's also good for the audience as they get to experience a slightly different view or story that keeps them interested in the show.

Film scripts are less collaborated on than TV ones and when they make books into movies nearly 99% of the time a different writer will write the film script. There's a whole list of reasons why this happens. Sometimes the book writer might have some influence or get ask how they'd like some represented but normally what you see in a movie is the scriptwriter's and the director's verison of things. Writing a script is actually easier then writing a novel, it types up a lot faster and needs less imagination to create. However, none of my ideas have really been suited to this formatting.

So, why do writers join together? Yeah, they can just write their own ideas and things, but sometimes it's fun to work on projects with others and other writers can bring certain things to the work that might not have happened otherwise. Of course working with someone can have it's problems. Everyone views the world different and no one really has the same ideas. It goes for readers too. Everyone has a different vision of Harry Potter or Frodo Baggins in their heads. So, how does a writer go about turning someone else idea into a novel without going off track and making it their own? It can be almost impossible to do this! But collaborating is just that, people getting together and creating something they can agree on. Luckily enough I'm actually working with another writer though he does scripts, but because of that he understands that I'm going to put my own spin on things and the visions in my head are going to be slightly different from his. This is an experiment though and we are both keen to see what's going to happen.