I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last week at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland, squirrelling away on a psychological thriller manuscript.
The MKWC offers residential stays for ‘writers-in-residence’ and international ‘visiting writers’ in the old Signalman’s House on slopes of Takarunga Mt Victoria in Devonport, Auckland.
The Centre is halfway up the hill in the background.
The Centre offers peace and quiet, a beautiful natural setting with lots of walks nearby, as well as close proximity to shops, supermarkets and all that stuff. But remember it is NZ, so there are hills.
I’ve had a wonderful time concentrating solely on my writing and feel like I’ve got right into the depth of the story. One day, I hope to share it with you all.
But if you’re a writer looking for a residential getaway, check out the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland.
Today I’m sharing a little poetry and a guest blog post I wrote for Debbie Young on my love for Enid Blyton boarding school stories.
I’m a recent poetry convert. In the last weeks and months, I’ve been drawn to reading and writing poetry (Kathleen Raine, Yeats, Robin Robertson, Marissa Davis). Poetry writing has been a welcome and liberating change from my usual novella/novel writing. I’m also pairing my words with images and here is my latest dabbling ‘Shelter Feather’, inspired by Robert Macfarlane‘s Word of the Day tweets.
On to school stories…I was a bookish child – yes I know, hard to believe – and I especially loved boarding school stories. Debbie Young asked me to review (as an adult) one of my favourite boarding school books and consider how these stories have influenced my writing. My Favourite School Stories.
It’s with an element of sadness that I announce the end of Write Through The Roof podcast.
After almost three years and 76 episodes, it’s time to do something new. But I’m really going to miss great conversations with interesting writers and having the opportunity to selfishly ask my writing heroes the questions I want to be answered.
So what I have learned about writing over the 76 interviews?
There is no right way to write
From meticulous spreadsheets of Oscar de Muriel to the pantsing of Rebecca Tope and everything in between, there is no right way to plot your novel.
Some write every day but many more wish they could. However, others see the definite need for rests to replenish their creative well. But discipline is the key and to finish what you start.
Take all writing advice with a pinch of salt.
AMANDA BRIDGMAN
Trusting yourself. You don’t have to write like other people.
KAARON WARREN
Cherrypick techniques but develop your own style and process.
DEAN MAYES
Do you writeevery day? I wish!
ROSALIE MORALES KEARNS
Don’t bore the reader. Don’t annoy the reader. Don’t confuse the reader.
PATTY JANSEN
Writers are generous and lovely people
Coffee runs in our veins
Writers like to read ‘like a fat kid at the
dessert table’
Thanks for the quote, Angela Slatter but all the writers I
spoke to love to read. The most popular inspiring authors were Stephen King,
Jane Austen, Neil Gaiman, Daphne du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Angela Carter and
Margaret Atwood.
Most writers are life-long learners
Aside from the amazing Karen Rose Smith with 100 romance
novels under her belt and a comfortable writing process, most of the writers I
spoke with were trying something new with each book and continually trying to
perfect their process.
So all things come to an end but I’d like to thank all the writers I spoke with!
Plot beginnings and endings and pants it all the rest of the way
Word count spreadsheet – 1000 words per day
Obsessive about edits
Satisfies the canine overlords before she begins a writing session
Dark and weird genre – on the edges of horror
Themes – loss and death and love – various aspects of being human- twisted fairytales and folklore
Perceptions of horror writers
‘Reading a lot. Writing a lot.’
The benefits of working with a good editor
Writing in the middle of the night – inspired by HP Lovecraft
Michelle Paver, Jason Arnop, Paul Tremblay, Joe Hill, Katrina Ward, Andrew Michael Hurley, Nathan Ballingrud, Priya Sharma, Angela Slatter, Graham Joyce
Mistletoe – ghost stories at Christmas – MR James, Victorian times – folklore and history of the plant and the season
Historical research
Cottingley faeries and changelings
‘Plot beginnings and endings and pants it all the rest of the way.’
‘People back away when I say I’m a horror writer.’
Interview with Afro-futurist writer Agnes Gomillion
“I wanted people to reflect on their relative state of freedom.”
Episode 67 – Agnes Gomillion – Show Notes
Writes something every day – maybe poetry or notes but not necessarily her ‘work-in-progress’
Poetry, songs and lyrical writing
Sleep is writing fuel of choice
Afrofuturism – lift the audience from reality for the purpose of looking back and better understanding African-American culture.
Humanity with an African-American lens.
Writing about the underlying person brings different people together.
Perseverance
‘Story’ by Robert McKee – how to create a character and how to use structure to ‘show, don’t tell’.
Having to incorporate more structure in the writing day with children
Jesmyn Ward – Salvage the Bones, Stephen King
Frederick Douglass inspired The Record Keeper with his spirit of freedom. The story of how someone overcomes their fear set in a dystopia after World War 3.
Interview with alternative history novelist Alison Morton
‘Exercise your writing muscle in different ways on different days.’
Episode 66 – Alison Morton – Show Notes
30% plotter and 70% pantser
Black moments: when it all falls apart for the main character
Writing versus marketing
Tea imported in from England – sergeant major’s tea
Wanted to explore female-led action stories with a Roman flavour. But needed to create an alternative history world to feature strong female leaders. Values, betrayal, rebellion, resilience
Alternative history research: taking history and twisting it but anchoring back to the facts.
Using historical logic – what would have happened if?
Collaborating with other writers, exchanging ideas, being accepting and giving
A team effort to produce a book
Robert Harris’ Fatherland, William Boyd’s Restless, Sebastian Faulks, Lindsay Davis, Georgette Heyer
Aurelia: going back to write the backstory of the grandmother of the main character of the Carina Mitela series
Writing short stories and novellas
‘30% plotter and 70% pantser.’
‘You do need other people to get a successful book out.’
Interview with best-selling romance & mystery writer Toby Neal
‘People are preoccupied by crime because we want to recognise the wolves in our midst’
Episode 63 – Toby Neal – Show Notes
Writing is like a muscle – needs regular workouts
2000 words a day target
Both a plotter and a pantser. More pantser for romance and plotter for mysteries
Recording affirmations and listening prior to writing session
Themes of good versus evil and the shades of grey in everyone and how love can overcome a multitude of problems
Dark themes but with hope – fascinated with the duality between dark and light
Mastering your craft – Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – the 10,000 hour rule
Take off your pants – Libbie Hawker – the hero needs to find a cure for their flaw
Unconventional childhood – Memoir – Freckles
Putting off writing goals for security – started with an anonymous blog – using real life experience as a school counsellor
Speeding up the writing process
Dictation, health and accessing creative brain by writing longhand
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens, The Outlander series – Diana Gabaldon
Wired Truth: multi-cultural kick-ass female main character. Pushing the envelope for what’s acceptable with female behaviour. Experimenting with different kinds of love.
‘Nothing but writing is going to make you a better writer’
‘I tried to do literary fiction and I bored myself by page 40’
The three rules for writing; don’t bore the reader, don’t annoy the reader & don’t confuse the reader.
Concentrate on telling a good story. Get a reader and an editor and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Non-fiction reading – the psychology of marketing and political biographies. In fiction, writers who can write across genres – Harry Potter/Robert Galbraith
Ambassador series – different ecosystems, politics and conspiracies, action, Kiwis in space. Currently working on book 9.
‘It is up to you. It’s not up to them to write your book.’
‘It is a fantasy setting but it obviously has reverberations in the real world.’
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 54 – Sandra Ireland – writer of tartan gothic
“I like to be scared when I’m writing.”
Episode 54 – Sandra Ireland – Show Notes
Morning writing – not as creative in the afternoon
Goal of 500 words per day
Ritual of two cups of tea and one cup of coffee in favourite mug
Dark, creepy with a heavy dose of menace, toxic relationships
Landscape as a starting point for writing – sense of place to inform writing
Manipulating people’s fears and shadow sides.
Not just scaring the reader, not just horror but writing about what personally scares you. Vulnerability and readers not knowing what is imagination and what is true.
Currently writing non-fiction about the folklore surrounding the Mill (setting of Bone Deep). The words coming out faster with non-fiction.
Fiction as a therapy – creative release.
Giving herself the permission to be creative.
The tribe with the right vibe – people who understand to bounce ideas off.
Be careful who you share your writing with.
Brontes, Benjamin Myers – The Gallows Pole, Julie Myerson – The Stopped Heart
A resurgence of gothic writing – perhaps as a reaction to current events
Bone Deep – inspired by work as a tour guide in a water mill. At times the mill felt unwelcoming. Modern story with a strand of an old folktale (Border Ballad).
The key struggle for writing students is a lack of confidence. One technique is forcing students to share their work.
Playwriting is collaborative with the director and scenes devised in the moment
Writing whenever you can.
Cuban coffee – cafecito
Obsessed with Cuba – overcoming economic and familial embargoes. Obsessed with erased stories for refugees. Motherhood.
Write the scenes you want to write. Don’t worry about bridges connecting the scenes.
Discipline. Time carved out for writing and sharing your writing
Hiding away from writing advice
Using spreadsheets for interactive theatre – audiences following different stories happening at the same time
Reinaldo Arenas, Leonardo Padura, TV shows ‘I’m Sorry’,’Broad City’ and kids TV.
Amparo – inspired by a call from a marketing company then turned into an experiential theatre work. The story of the family who created the real Havana Club Rum.
“Storytelling and then story selling.”
“There’s writing coming out of TV which is just as literary.”
Challenges with current work ‘Girlstown’ mixing visual elements, fiction and non-fiction
Cindy Crabb ‘Things That Help’ 90s zines, Angela Carter, Octavia Butler, Helen Zahavi – Dark Weekend
House of Erzulie inspired by recurring dreams of a gothic house. Researching gothic literary elements. Triptych – three narrators across time. Epistolary structure and mirroring different POVs
“Too much structure hinders the creative process.”
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 46 with Peter McLean – urban & grimdark fantasy author
“Grimdark doesn’t work like that. If your leg gets cut off, you’re going to get gangrene.”
Episode 46 – Peter McLean – Show Notes
Writing binges. Plotter and pantser
Strong black coffee and whiskey
Thriller writer at heart but in the fantasy genre
Aftermath of war, Peaky Blinders, retired service people as sensitive readers
Defining “grim dark” – consequences and more in line with reality
Reading and writing
First novel published was the fourth novel completed
Ed McDonald, Sarah Pinborough, Crab- cakes and Courtesans – republican Athenian social history, Anna Smith Spark, Joe Abercrombie, George RR Martin, Stephen King, Tanith Lee
Exploring different POVs
Writing urban fantasy but reading swords and horses fantasy
Priest of Bones inspired by a gangster character in a Joe Abercrombie novel and Peaky Blinders
The explanation behind the name Talonwraith
“I am one of the most undisciplined writers you’ll ever meet.”
“Just years and years of practice. I don’t think there are any shortcuts.”
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 39 with Alexandra Sokoloff – thriller author & screenwriter
“You are directing a movie onto the page.”
Episode 39 – Alexandra Sokoloff – Show Notes
Good and evil and what good people can do
Screenwriters have to be plotters. Journey from impro to screenwriting
Milk
Exploration of violence against women using a female serial killer
Using screenwriting techniques to become better authors
Multi-task while appearing to have a social life
Taking your favourite movies and working out what the classic movies are doing: Silence of the Lambs, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, The Hunger Games, The Wizard of Oz
Editors want a movie in their head
Shirley Jackson, Daphne du Maurier, Denise Mina, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mo Hayder, Tana French, Val McDermid
Huntress/FBI series – to be read in order – like a binge watch TV experience
Hunger Moon is an unhappy read for Trump supporters
“If you’re going to talk about good and evil, you need to talk about people and what people do.”
“I do this with a total agenda of changing rape culture.”
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 36 with Michelle Worthington – award-winning picture book author
“Kids are so bombarded with visuals these days, they love verbal storytelling.”
Episode 36 – Michelle Worthington – Show Notes
Picture books can be scribbled on the back of napkin or receipt
Learning the industry & the craft after getting the first book published
Coffee and Mum chocolate
Writing a story for one person in particular. Empowering kids who are not represented in other books.
Reading and ask your audience what they’re reading and why they like it.
Talking with teachers about child development and the stages.
Be a lifelong learner
Authors are small businesses. The best businesses are the best storytellers.
The story you create around yourself as an author. Creating your author brand.
Publishers are looking for people to work with, not stories
80s picture books with Australian voice; Mem Fox, Mulga Bill, Man From Snowy River, YA, Stephen King, Jackie French, Nevermore
Pugs Don’t Wear Pyjamas based on a real person with a real pug.
Worries about creativity after publishing fifteen books. Stop and listen to your creative voice.
Coming up – Beards and Middle Grade fiction
“Lovely words that not only look good but sound good too.”
Welcome to Write Through The Roof, the podcast for writers who want to improve their craft.
Episode 33 with Kim Newman – novelist & film critic
“My novels are my purest me.”
Episode 33 – Kim Newman – Show Notes
Novels as favourite medium, loose outlines and historical research
Takeout coffee and working in the dressing gown
As a critic putting people into boxes but as a writer refusing to be put in a box
Reading, time and never having had a real job
The way writing as a career has changed since 1980s
Buying first computer with money from writing for porn magazines with Neil Gaiman
Editors used to have more time to deal with and develop new writers
Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Patrick Hamilton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Ramsay Campbell, Peter Straub, David Thomson, Greil Marcus
Criticism and deadlines
The need for a continuity person during novel writing
Big file full of random film quotes
“Some people don’t realise I’m the same person.”
“My critical range is not good or bad but interesting or dull.”
