EXTRACT FROM

LIFE-WRITES: Start an Ideas Book

In order to begin searching for the key to accessing these new ideas, we need to start on a practical level by keeping an Ideas Book. As Secret Step One tells us, there are more ideas locked away in our unconscious minds than we could ever write about in a whole lifetime. What we must discover is how they can influence our short stories, novels, poetry or non-fiction to the very best of our ability.  Instead of relying on memory, the Ideas Book should be used to record snippets of conversation, great one-liners, quotations, reference books, locations and characters.

The aim of Life-Writes is to encourage you to open your ears and eyes, to view things differently with your mind and heart. In other words, to free the inner voice so that you’re not afraid to trust your imagination and take a few risks with your writing. Become an observer and develop a willingness to see people and the world around you in a completely different light. By expanding those powers of observation, you will continuously build on the entries in your Ideas Book, which in turn will help you re-explore existing plots and themes, and generate new ones. Try to be honest but above all, do not be afraid to push against any restrictions imposed by current thinking or political correctness. No one is going to see your Ideas Book – its contents are for your eyes only.

To set the ball rolling, the first entry will be to give five examples of what you consider to be ‘things that arouse a fond memory of the past’ and here we need to reflect on why we consider them to be ‘fond memories’. The items on my list will probably be far removed from those on yours, while you will probably be completely unmoved by those ‘things’ that are important to me. What we also need to consider is the way that language has been devalued and how some words can take on a completely different emphasis when used in contemporary conversation. We are talking about perspective or viewpoint, and this is where we begin to access those ideas that are locked away in our unconscious minds. So let’s begin with …

A collection of old family photographs

Images of a life-style that can never come again because the people from that time, and who made it worth remembering, are all dead. The family home, long since demolished to make

way for a ring road. Childhood recollections of summer holidays, and family mealtimes. Pet dogs. Days at the beach. Haymaking and harvest. A childhood friend with whom we still keep in contact.

Many of these ‘fond memories’ will re-surface throughout this book because we are writing from Life, and drawing on happenings that are unique to one person. Your first collection of ‘things’ will probably prompt some rather serious thoughts but even these can be extended and expanded to encourage you to plumb the depths of your own ‘ideas’ and explore their possibilities. Keeping a record of your own ‘things’ in your own Ideas Book should eventually lead to dozens of ideas for fiction, articles or poetry but first we need to explore ways of making them exciting before turning them into submissions. On a day-to- day basis, our conscious brain registers the ‘facts’ or the most obvious impressions about a situation; for creative writing it is necessary to dig deep into the subconscious to locate the ideas that have been compressed into the brain’s equivalent of a

computerised ‘zip-file’.

Remember:  Our past is a mine of good ideas for future use.

LIFE-WRITES: Freeing the writer’s inner voice

Because Life-Writes is about drawing on submerged inner resources, it means that I’ve chosen to share many of my own private thoughts and family memories to illustrate many of the points made in the text. As a result, this has become a very personal book, because the examples, stories and anecdotes are real-life revelations, not fictional ones. Drawing on our inner reserves means that we have to be honest with ourselves about how much we are actually willing to give, or reveal, to a general readership in order to further our writing career. Where, we must ask ourselves, does reality end and creative writing begin?

The original idea for my book, Creative Pathways: Freeing the Writer’s Inner Voice, came after reading The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, a sort of personal journal of a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Emperor of Japan towards the end of the 10th century AD. Today, a pillow book refers to an illustrated manual of erotic advice but Sei’s book was a mixture of diary, gossip column and ‘commonplace’ book that showcased her literary observations off to perfection. History tells us that both her father and great-grandfather were both noted poets and scholars and, were Sei Shonagon alive today, she would probably be one of our leading literary lights. In this capacity, she can quite easily fill the role of ancestral spirit, or kami, of creative inner thought.

Unlike Julie Andrews’ ‘Favourite Things’ from The Sound of Music, however, the ‘things’ that Sei Shonagon commented upon were not always pleasing. Nevertheless it is her wide-ranging observations that set the pattern for some of the exercises for my creative writing workshops, combining Zen-like word-pictures and contemporary commercial writing ambition in order to free
the writer’s inner voice. The age-old categories were Sei Shonagon’s own – the ‘things’ in Creative Pathways were mine.
For example:

The Pillow Book:
Things that arouse a fond memory of the past

Dried hollyhock. 
The objects used during the Display of Dolls. 
To find a piece of deep violet or grape-coloured material that has been pressed between the pages of a
notebook.
It is a rainy day and one is feeling bored. To pass the time, one starts looking through some old papers. And then comes across the letters of a man one used to love.
Last year’s paper fan. 
Night with a clear moon.

Creative Pathways:
Things that arouse a fond memory of the past

A collection of old family photographs
Old theatre programmes
A particular piece of music
Wood smoke
The smell of hawthorn or bluebells in blossom

Here we have two collections of memories (or, from the writer’s perspective ‘ideas’) that immediately spark very clear images in the mind’s eye despite the fact that eleven centuries separate
them.
 
Make a note of your ‘things that arouse a fond memory of the past' in your Ideas Book

LIFE-WRITES: Exercise of the Intellect

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” Orson Scott Card

Having dispensed with the nuts and bolts side of creative writing, we are now going to study the intuitive, imaginative and off-beat aspects. We are going to explore what I’ve called:

Creative Pathways For Writers – the 10 Secret Steps

1. There are more ideas locked away in your unconscious mind than you could ever write about in a whole lifetime – but how can they influence your creative writing. The secret is finding the key to access them.

2. There is a story (article or poem) behind everything you encounter during your daily routine in both inner and outer worlds if you have the courage to experience and explore. The secret is learning to look behind the obvious.

3. No matter how mundane and/or familiar a scene, there are countless different angles from which to view it. The secret is thinking ‘sideways’.

4. You are unique: no one can access the same experiences and memories, which means you have the ability to generate unique responses to situations. The secret is knowing how to express yourself.

5. Creative energy fuels creativity, so immerse yourself with creative images and stimulating art forms to give fresh ideas and ignite the creative flame. The secret is tapping into whatever can unleash creative energy.

6. Encourage the flow of creative energy from your unconscious mind through visualisation, meditation and relaxation. The secret is drawing energy from other sources.

7. Use your imagination when exploring other artistic mediums such as painting, sculpture, music, etc., because creativity is a state of mind. The secret is allowing other influences to stimulate the creative impulse.

8. Give your imagination free rein and open up your unconscious mind to the creative possibilities around you; if necessary do the opposite of what is considered the norm. The secret is having the strength to dream.

9. By connecting to your unconscious mind you can explore the wealth of universal memories of myth, fantasy and symbolism – but don’t be embarrassed by your ability to travel to the ‘hidden’ world. The secret is channelling your favourite childhood images.

10. Certain images or symbols open the door to the collective unconscious; try working with these mind pictures to stimulate your creativity no matter how ridiculous or outrageous at the beginning. The secret is focussing the mind on those things that will encourage creative energy.

Multiple & Simultaneous Submissions

Let’s have a word about multiple and simultaneous submissions. The only instance when it’s permissible to make multiple submissions is for poetry, when editors will often request that

writers send up to six poems at a time. Send two or three unsolicited short stories or articles in the same envelope and they will probably go straight in the bin.

The question of simultaneous submissions is a lot more complex, so let’s use an analogy before we start. Just suppose a market gardener was told that he could only sell one box of lettuce to Tesco or Wal-Mart at a time; and that these would have to be sold and eaten before he could sell another box to another supermarket chain. It wouldn’t make for good business and his stock would be well past its sell-by date by the time he could offer it elsewhere. The same applies to writers’ submissions. Some editors state quite openly that it can take between 3-6 months before they will give a decision, so what are our options?

• All submissions should be tailored-made for the appropriate market and shouldn’t automatically suit another editor’s requirements. All typescripts would need some tinkering before being sent to another editor, so simultaneous submissions are not a good idea from the writer’s point of view.

• By rule of thumb, give short stories, poems and articles a month before offering them elsewhere. Novels and nonfiction book proposals should be given between six to eight weeks before sending them off to the next publisher/agent on your list. Give them the courtesy of another six weeks to

respond.

• A ‘perhaps’ ‘later’ ‘maybe’ response is no good to a writer. Keep your options open by all means, but a piece isn’t sold until you have a formal confirmation.

The ‘no simultaneous submissions’ rule was put in place over two decades ago by publishers and editors, and has become another of those urban myths within the creative writing industry. It’s dog in the manger stuff and if you’ve been waiting for weeks, or even months, for a reply, then it’s hardly ‘simultaneous’ if you decide to submit to someone else after a reasonable delay. If your submission is accepted, do send a polite letter to any editor who’s ‘kept it on file’ and explain that the piece has now been sold. And thank them for their time. You never know when you want to submit to them again.  One response I’ve noticed that it relatively new is: “If you have a request from another agent/publisher for the full manuscript, please email us and let us know.”  In other words, we might have overlooked something good and it gives us the opportunity to steal a march on the other agent/publisher who might not realise there’s competition in the offing!

The only real no-no for simultaneous submissions is when submitting material for a writing competition. Because there is often a 3-6 month lapse between the competition being announced and the closing date, be prepared for your entry to be on-hold until after the judging process has taken place. Generally speaking, however, material entered for competition, particularly short stories, would not be the sort of fiction normally written for commercial publication, since it tends to be more adventurous and non-genre specific.

Every submission should be tailor-made for its intended market.

Standard Operating Procedure

Having edited a writers’ magazine for over 20 years, and acted as commissioning editor for a small, independent publisher for a decade, I think it’s safe to say that generally speaking, most submissions are rejected because the writer has:

• had an idea, and not bothered to develop it into something out of the ordinary.

• not attempted to find the right marketplace.

• completely ignored the submission guidelines.

• not made a study of other publications on the back list, or previous issues of the magazine

If it hadn’t been for indulging in a bit of serious market research one wet Irish afternoon, none of my non-fiction books would have been under contract by the end of 2015. “Who’s the most popular publisher for my sort of stuff, these days?” I asked a friend who runs one of the more interesting bookshops in London. She gave me two names. The first, and despite the rather uninspiring entry in The Writer’s Handbook, I went to the website ... made a telephone call and 48 hours later I had the emailed contract in my possession! Two months later I had the contract for a second book., which developed into a series of six. The other publisher mentioned has never bothered to respond. In all fairness there had been a change of commissioning editor and that may have accounted for the silence. I may try them again when I have written something else that suits their list … but then again, I may not.

Another book was sold to a publishing company who does not appear in any of the writers’ handbooks, and neither does its sister publishing venture, a monthly magazine. Another friend who advertises in the magazine told me to have a look at it for a possible article outlet. In trawling through the website I discovered the link for books and back issues ... and five weeks later the contract for Signposts For Country Living was signed and sealed, and the first part of the advance paid.

 Don’t rely on existing sources to provide you with a marketplace – go out and find your own.

The moral of this story is that although writers’ handbooks list hundreds of publications, there are much wider publishing opportunities that do not always appear in these hallowed pages. If you have a specialist subject, it might pay to do as I did and check through trade or professional publications governing that subject, or ask people with similar interests: “Which publisher or magazines do you read/recommend?”

My experiences as a commissioning editor has also shown that writers will work through A-Z of the handbooks, regardless of whether their material is compatible with the publisher’s guidelines.

They literally start at ‘A’ and send proposals to every publishing company listed — even when the entry states quite categorically that the publisher does not want to receive the type of material they’re proposing. I am aware that I’ve banged on ad nauseaum over the years about the importance of market research, but it’s still as vital as ever, if not more so, in today’s computerised publishing climate. Especially as I now have a sneaking suspicion that many smaller publishers deliberately don’t include their details in the handbooks, and thus avoid having to deal with hundreds of unsolicited typescripts from unreasonable people.

We should also be aware that time and publishers’ fads wait for no writer, and that books appearing in the shops and literary supplements in July, were contracted up to 18 months previously. And usually the bigger the publisher, the longer the wait for the book to be produced. Of course, it isn’t possible to second guess what publishers see as next year’s potential bestsellers, but there will be little point in submitting a proposal for what was being commissioned 18 months previously. Like all areas of business, publishing trends move fast, and as authors we need to use more than just our imaginations to get ahead of the game.

• Begin by making a list of all the publishing houses that accept titles in your genre, and make a point of regularly logging onto their respective websites to check for forthcoming titles and up-and-coming authors.

• Set time aside each month to devote to updating your potential market outlets and discover the subtle differences between each publisher’s requirements – regardless of where you live in the world!

A writer’s income derives from material sent out weeks, months, or even a year, previously and so there needs to be a continuous stream of work under consideration and/or acceptance to provide a regular financial return. A large proportion of freelancers earn considerably less than £4000 per year from their writing alone, and the competition gets fiercer with each passing year. Which is why it is said that professional writing is roughly 60% forward planning and 40% talent; and why successful writers always work with an eye on the calendar, not the clock.

For example: As I sit here wondering what to write about in the next magazine editorial, the sun is shining and bathing the Galtee mountains in a misty blue autumnal haze. It’s the weekend that the clocks alter. By the time our subscribers read about it, we will have been plunged into the gloom that usually follows the festive season and my mountain view will probably be shrouded in dense fog and darkness. January and February are gloomy months but the writer can’t afford the New Year blues ... if you’re not already doing it, resolve to send out one proposal or submission per week. Needless to say, much depends on career/domestic commitments but you should soon be able to increase your target to two or even three proposals/submissions per week once you get into the habit.

I appreciate that it’s often difficult to conjure up images of summer in the middle of winter, or offering new ways to celebrate Christmas around Midsummer Day but that’s exactly what editors are doing. Any seasonally themed piece, whether fact or fiction, needs to be submitted some 6-12 months ahead of the publication date. And, at risk of repeating myself, there needs to be an original slant on the traditional offerings, not the same tired old ‘how to survive Christmas/summer holidays with relations’ etc. This is why Chambers Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection with the Calendar is such a ‘must-have’ because it acts as a great seasonal reminder, and focuses the attention on distant points in the calendar with a flick of the pages.

 Don’t get left behind … plan ahead

This extract was taken from Life-Writes: Where do writers get their Ideas from?  It’s called life is published by Compass Books – www.compass-books.net

EXTRACT: Life-Writes: Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas From?

What the How-To Books Don’t Tell You

Since creative writing became one of the largest growth industries in the hobbies market, there have been countless how-to books written advising new writers on the best way to get their work into print. So here’s a simple A-Z checklist of some of the do’s and don’ts to get out of the way before we start:

Agent

A semi-mythical creature that inhabits the twilight world of publishing. Everyone seeks them but they remain elusive and shy, avoiding new and not-so-new writers like a cat avoids water.

Can only be attracted by the smell of success ... when the writer has already hooked a publisher’s interest ... after the author has done all the work.

Book

The Holy Grail of all publishing ambition and a must-have for all serious writers, both old and new. If unable to place the typescript with a mainstream or small, independent publisher, many writers go for self-publication, regardless of the cost or quality of the content.

Clichés

A no-go area according to the how-to books but they form an integral part of our daily speech, are easily identifiable, and appear constantly as the basis for hundreds of titles in

magazines. If uncomfortable with using an old-fashioned cliché — invent your own.

Discipline

Try to write something every day during a set time period. Great idea in a perfect world. Most house holds don’t function like that and it is almost impossible to set aside a daily creative period when football is on TV; the cat’s just been sick on the mat, or the dog needs to be rushed to the vet; a child has found an exciting new way of attempting to eliminate itself; and the boiler’s packed in. Self proclaimed discipline is a smug person’s way of letting you know that they’re a more serious writer than you are.

Email Submissions

Easy to lose and/or ignore. Not always viewed as serious contact if the office is busy and can therefore be deleted with a flick of the little finger. Whoops! Make sure this is an acceptable means of contact before submitting your work via this medium.

Frustration

A permanent condition that hampers a writer’s every attempt to get things done. Like trying to get some sense out of the ‘girl on the switchboard’ when you’re trying to find out the correct editor to whom you wish to send your material. The jury is still out on whether she’s being deliberately awkward, or just plain thick.

Good Advice

Ignore it! As Oscar Wilde said: “I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never any good to oneself.” But still lots of it around, and everyone’s an expert on getting published these days.

Humour

An absolute minefield for the fledgling writer. Never state that you are submitting a humorous piece as ten to one it will fail to amuse the editor. If they read it and it makes them laugh, it’s humour and stands by itself - telling an editor they are about to be amused seldom works. Most humour pieces that arrive on an editor’s desk usually mean instant rejection, simply because they don’t even raise a chuckle.

Ideas

Let’s get one thing straight - there’s no such thing as an original idea in publishing. “Ahhh!” I hear you cry. “What about Harry Potter?” Been done before ... what about all those Enid Blyton boarding school adventures? It’s a highly original slant on an old (and in its time, very popular) theme. JKR had the imagination to extend that theme into the world of fantasy and came up with a winner. And that’s exactly what we’re talking about!

Jam on the Bread

In other words, getting paid for your work. OK ... agreed it’s exciting to see your by-line in the initial stages of a writing career but just how long are you willing to carry on churning out

material for free? How-to books will guide the novice towards a diversity of publications but hardly ever state that very few of the mags listed will stump up with cold, hard cash in return for your well-crafted piece. Expecting to earn a living from the written word is a very precarious situation indeed.

Karma

Or putting it another way, ‘don’t piss off the editor’. Editors move around from mag to mag or between publishing houses - and have very long memories, so any altercation may single out a writer as a person who’s too much trouble to deal with. This isn’t to say that all editors are good guys, but your ‘trouble’ may still come back to haunt you several years down the line.

Letters

Accompanying letters need to be short, concise and to the point, rather than some rambling discourse that gives everything from your blood group to your grandmother’s maiden name. This style of letter may just convince an editor, agent or publisher that they couldn’t possibly work with you, no matter how much they might like your work.

Muse

A pretentious referral to some perceived guardian/creative angel, who hasn’t got anything better to do, other than sit around feeding ideas to wannabe writers. Also used as an excuse

for not writing, because the creative Muse has gone AWOL (see Writer’s Block).

No Word Count

All magazine submissions, both fiction and non-fiction, have to fit into a slot in the publication’s layout. If this information isn’t included on the title page you risk having your otherwise excellent piece being discarded because everyone’s too busy to sit down and

work out whether it’s going to fit the pre-allocated space.

Opinions

Never have one! The majority of editors dislike ‘opinion pieces’, so if you want to make a political or controversial statement get quotes from both sides of the argument before you begin. The writer’s voice is merely the channel for other people’s viewpoints. A good journalist, however, can always get the intended message across by knowing when, where and how to use the quotes. Leave yourself out of the picture.

Publishers

The Olympians of the publishing industry are almost as difficult to corner as Agents. These lofty creatures aren’t looking for the next Dan Brown or JKR, they’re looking for someone new. No matter how good your presentation, there’s got to be much more to catch their eye. Study publisher’s catalogues and become familiar with the type of material they are looking for ... and try to pre-empt them!

Quirks and Foibles

Every editor has them ... silly little things that please or annoy, which can lead to rejection as quick as [insert appropriate cliché or simile]. Quirks and foibles have little to do with the actual presentation of a typescript ... it’s more to do with a writer’s personal style. Twee address stickers … signature in pink ink …coloured/fancy paper ... spelling a name incorrectly ... Don’t leave yourself open to an editor’s personal dislikes by not submitting a totally professional package.

Rejection Slips

Possibly the most boring subject in the whole field of creative writing but the same old stories circulate about how many times [insert name of famous writer of your choice] had a MS rejected, together with personal tales of having received enough rejection slips to paper the lavatory. Every writer receives rejection slips ... just the same as everyone receives an electricity bill. It’s just not worth commenting on, never mind writing tedious articles about

them.

Stamped-Addressed Envelopes

There has been a great deal of speculation over the fate of the SAE in publishing circles. Often comes under the same heading as ‘Where do flies go in the winter?’ No matter how many SAEs a writer encloses with submissions, there is very little chance that the ‘girl in the office’ will be able to marry a SAE to a submission, so no chance of a reply. And you do have to stick the right amount of stamps on if you want a reply, because SAE means

‘stamped-addressed’ not self-addressed envelope. And IRC means International Reply Coupon.

Typing

Nice old-fashioned concept in this age of computers but you’d be surprised how many experienced writers don’t observe the basic rudiments of the typing class. Such as changing the ‘ribbon’ (i.e. ink cartridge) when printing off a finished typescript. Editors still receive pale (and therefore not interesting), single-spaced sheets that are extremely difficult to read, and often from experienced writers who should know better.

Under Pressure

Professional writers are always under pressure. Once you have your proposal accepted, whether for a full-length book, magazine feature or regular column in a local newspaper, you will be under pressure to supply on time. Once you miss that deadline the opportunity will be gone and someone else will step in. This is why it is essential to understand that it’s not a good idea to give up the day job if part-time writing finances your living expenses. The pressures on a writer are great enough without having to worry about the mortgage, paying off the car, or covering the monthly direct debits.

Vulneratus Non Victus

Literally meaning ‘wounded but not conquered’ and an ideal motto for a beginner writer. Beware of using foreign words and phrases without clarification, otherwise you’ll come across as trying to be too clever.

Writer’s Block

One of the most popular urban myths of all. Only amateurs refer to it as though it is some form of obligatory childhood complaint such as chicken pox or measles - professional writers can’t afford to have it, and don’t get it. They work on something else until the ideas start to flow again.

X-Factor

The sign that all the chemicals have blended well enough to turn dross into gold. It can’t be defined but everyone can recognise it when they read it. Aim to give the performance of a lifetime but don’t be too devastated if someone else is declared the winner. When all is said and done, the final decision will always go to the item that appeals personally to the editor or competition judge.

Yearbook

Every writer has their favourite version but do bear in mind that a lot of information can be out of date before publication comes around. This is because yearbooks are compiled a year in advance, so all details should be checked before submitting material.

Zany

Can be initially appealing but wears thin after a while. Use in your writing but not in your covering letter to an editor.

Keep these do’s and don’ts in mind and, with an added emphasis on originality, we’re ready to pursue another shy and elusive creature, the commissioning editor ... to be continued:

Life-Writes: Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas From? It’s Called Life is published by Compass Books – www.compass-books.net  Available in paperback or e-book.

BOOK REVIEW: The Angel's Lamp

For all lovers of Irish history ...

“The purpose of a good novel is to encourage the reader to suspend disbelief ... with historical fiction it is also necessary to transport the reader back in time so they taste, see, smell, hear and taste the era in which the story takes place.   Right from the opening paragraph, ‘The Angel’s Lamp’ takes us to the horrors of the execution yard during Ireland’s troubles as seen through the eyes of a Irish-born, British soldier, Johnny Flynn.   Ashby Jones has written a powerful story that often sees both sides of ‘the Cause’ and will appeal to all those who have a passion for Irish history with a touch of doomed romance.”

Suzanne Ruthven

The Angel’s Lamp by Ashby Jones is published by Top Hat Books www.tophat-books.com