Reviews and WW2

I have been very spoilt this week. Went to a post graduate seminar which included Erica Wagner (Times Literary Editor), Matt Thorne, Celia Brayfield and Fay Weldon. I had many preconceptions about book reviews/reviewers and was interested to hear just how passionate the TLS reviewers are about books and how carefully the reviewers are selected. However, reviews aren't everything - the most likely reason someone reads/buys a book is through a recommendation from a friend. I also went to a talk in the evening titled 'Why does WW2 still fascinate?'. There were three authors - Justin Kerr-Smiley (Under the Sun), Roger Moorehouse (Killing Hitler) and Keith Lowe (Inferno - the Bombing of Hamburg). The latter two are non-fiction but Under the Sun is fictional. I asked how Justin managed to maintain a balance between the research and the writing and how did he deal with leaving most of the research out of the book. They all agreed that for fiction you should only research what you need. I know that's the case but I still find it hard!

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

The weeks are going quickly now that I am back at lectures. Last week we looked at writer's block, inspiration and the muse. It was an interesting one for me as I must admit I found it difficult to relate to. Firstly, I don't get writer's block. I have days when I don't feel like writing or I can't find ways to say what exactly what I want to but I can still write something. I also struggle with the concept of the muse - this is just something that I haven't experienced. I do, however, appreciate that this is my experience and that there are many people out there who can relate to these concepts. I enjoyed the homework for last week - writing about someone with writers block. I wrote a piece entitled Story Collector which was about a woman who was trying to find the 'first' stories.
This week's homework is less enjoyable. The focus of this week's lectures was creativity and speech. There were very interesting examples of dialects, children's speech and Polari (a language based on italian and used by people in the theatre and latterly the gay community up until the 1960's). The reason I am not enjoying the homework is that I find it difficult to launch into dialogue without spending some time with my characters first.
Anyway, it is done now and I am content with it. I can now spend a wonderful afternoon doing more research for my coursework.

Under the Influence

Last week we covered imagination and the influence of alcohol, drugs and mental illness (my lecturer referred to the latter as madness which annoyed me). I have always been interested in the relationship between mental health and writers. A useful handout showed us the number of writers, artists and musicians who had suffered from depression and bi-polar but to be honest, as mental health affects one in four if us, it would probably be the case that one could identify a number of 'famous' people in any category of employment that had had mental illness at some point in their life.
I have started researching my coursework (a critical essay, creative piece and critical commentary - 6,000 words) and am getting happily lost in it. It isn't due until January but I do not want to be doing it at the last minute.

Voice

I have neglected my blog for a couple of weeks due to the fact that work is busy and lectures have started again. Last week I did a piece based on Shklovsky which involved taking a familiar object or process and de-familiarising it. I made cooking bacon and eggs a very mystical and lyrical experience! This week we looked at 'voice', including parody and pastiche. Homework this week is to look more closely at our own voice. I have to say that this would have been nigh on impossible a couple of years ago. It is only now with exploration and practice that I can step back from what I want to write and think about how I want to write it.

How We Write

So far during my MA, I have looked at elements of fiction (plot, character etc) and the publishing industry. I am now doing some preparatory reading for the next module (theories of practice) and am absolutely fascinated. The focus of the reading so far has been on 'How we Write' (Mike Sharples 1999). I must admit, I spend hours doing research and thinking about/writing content but have never stepped back and looked at how I write. This includes everything from how our approach to writing changes from childhood to adulthood, varying approaches to planning, the difference between writing and reflection, the materials used, the working memory... The list goes on. I have had a few eureka moments where I have had confirmation that the the way I think while writing is both recognised and correct.

New Term

I've been on holiday, so haven't blogged for a while. I tried to stop thinking about the two books but they never really go away. I had a wonderful time in Barter Books, Alnwick working my way through hundreds of second hand books for my research. I managed to find some fantastic stuff. The Internet is a good initial research tool for historical fiction but nothing can take the place of records and contemporary accounts. I have registered for the second year of the MA and can't wait to get back to lectures.

The Plot

I have been quiet for a while as I have been reading what seems like every book ever written on plot. The majority are 'how to' books which I skim through but to be fair there are elements within them that are useful. I am really using them as triggers to help me get deeper into the two novel structures that I am working on and to identify key scenes. It is very hard work, particularly as I am developing two at once but it will be worth it. I can see by the changes that I have made to the various structure drafts, that if I were to have launched into the writing after a first draft I would have wasted a lot of precious time. There are issues around the fact that as you write, new ideas will come to mind, characters will develop etc. Indeed, separating the character from the plot is another issue - does the plot lead the character or does the character drive the plot. The key is that the plot provides something by which the character can show a change.