Another attack on authors...free novel downloads

It was bound to happen…free novel downloads for your enjoyment.

http://www.truly-free.org/

The owner of the site calls himself The Burgomeister. And he says this:
Who is the Burgomeister?
All you need to know about me is that I'm a reader: a connoisseur and a lover of literature for whom paper is finally passé. I recognise no genres, no categories; the sole criteria are truth and excellence.
Thought is like the wind; it cannot be bottled and sold. In the form of electromagnetic pulses it is less fettered still: free to roam in a universe of electrons untethered by 19th Century notions of ownership and property. On the digital frontier, our imagination's nourishment is at last free - free as in Liberty, free as in accessible to all, regardless of income, locality, or place in the pecking-order.

Well, Burgomeister, I am delighted you are a reader. And obviously a serious one. But why should Mark Haddon’s book be free – to pick one example?

It is lovely to know your imagination is being nourished. Spare a thought for the actual nourishment of the writers you deprive of a royalty.


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REWRITING LISTENING REWRITING LISTENING REWRITING

You may or may not be interested to know the provenance of the short story that has come second in the Fish Short Story Competition, The Return of the Baker Edwin Tregear.

The story was written about two years ago, after researching a mining accident that took place in a tin mine in Cornwall, in 1919.

It was entered for the Fish Historical short story competition in 2007. (too quickly)

It bombed.

It was entered for the Willesden Herald Competition in 2007. (too quickly, and not listening to the message...)

It bombed.

I could not stand back to 'see' that story. It was the first piece of researched historical fiction I had attempted.

So, I got a professional critique done. Plenty of things pointed out. Too many characters, overladen with detail in places. 'A novel packed into too small a package'.

Willesden Herald published a list of things wrong with their entries. The nicest ththing they could have done.

I used that list to reappraise the story together with feedback from the critique, and over a few months, I rewrote the story completely. I changed it from a third person narration to first person, forcing the main character to talk directly to me and to the reader. I dropped my 'favourite' character completely, deleting a whole 'sub plot'. (kill your darlings). I introduced one very minor but important character, device-wise. I changed the ending radically, to underpin the theme.

I entered it for Fish Historical Short Story competition again, mid 2008.

A few months later, Fish cancelled their Historical short story competition, offering entry fee back or the chance to sling your work into the main short story maelstrom and let it take its chances alongside 1500 (in the end) entries.

I left it in the running. And got on with things.

It wins a nice prize.

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Moral of the story, if there is one:

Don't think because you have won a few prizes, that you always write super stories.
Don't forget you can get things badly wrong, and that you are always learning.
Don't be too proud to ask for good, professional comment, and pay for it.
Don't be too proud to listen, and try to stand right back and disentangle yourself from the emotional tugs of some characters.
Don't be afraid to change a piece of work completely radically. How you see it is one thing. Others will see it totally fresh. Try to see how they will read it.

Do give yourself time, to put distance between you and your work.
Do rewrite well, thoroughly.

And do go on loving the story, and trying to get it as right as you can.


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The Willesden Herald article: How NOT to Win Short Story Competitions can be found HERE.




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Teaching, reading, visiting

Like waiting for a bus. Nothing for weeks then...
1) Invitation to attend a meeting of local U3A writers, to read and talk about my recent Fish Competition story. (see above post)
2) Invitation to attend a meeting of three reading groups, one of which is reading Words from a Glass Bubble as their April book choice. There will be a lasagna supper, then I'm talking and reading. More Bubbles on sale. Tickets and book sales will raise dosh for breast cancer.
3) Invitation to lead a buzzy blasty creativity/flash workshop for twenty gifted and talented 14-17 year olds in April. Decent fee, plus travel and a night's accommodation.

Maggie Gee's Book Launch

Maggie (seated) and left to right Marian Garvey, Sarah Butler, Adam Marek


Highlight of the week, a party at Al Saqi bookshop in Westbourne Grove to celebrate the launch of Maggie Gee's new novel, My Driver.
Lovely to spend the afternoon with Marian Garvey (winner, the last Asham Award for new Woman Writers, and now working on a bigger project with funding from the Arts Council, mentored by Maggie. Lucky lady.)
Lovely to see Sarah Butler at the party. I reckon this lady will hit the big time some day. You just know when you read someone special...
Lovely too to meet Adam Marek again. And to skive off to a nearby noodle bar together after the party started winding down, to natter writerly things and plan stuff.


Quick plugs:
Marian's winning story leads the field in this great Asham anthology:
and Adam's collection, An Instruction Manual for Swallowing, has to rank among the best single-author collections I've read. Original, quirky, beautifully written.

My book giveaway - but...

ya dont get summat for nowt from me! My litle comp is still running -
All I need is a short piece of fiction (max 500 wds) inspired by the photo below. Send to me at vgebbie at gmail dot com

Book Titles to die for???

These are real, actual book titles. Arent they a scream?

A challenge... write a flash for each title?


1. How to Avoid Huge Ships by John W. Trimmer
2. Scouts in Bondage by Michael Bell
3. Be Bold with Bananas by Crescent Books
4. Fancy Coffins to Make Yourself by Dale L. Power
5. The Flat-Footed Flies of Europe by Peter J. Chandler
6. 101 Uses for an Old Farm Tractor by Michael Dregni
7. Across Europe by Kangaroo by Joseph R. Barry
8. 101 Super Uses for Tampon Applicators by Lori Katz and
Barbara Meyer
9. Suture Self by Mary Daheim
10. The Making of a Moron by Niall Brennan
11. How to Make Love While Conscious by Guy Kettelhack
12. Underwater Acoustics Handbook by Vernon Martin Albers
13. Superfluous Hair and Its Removal by A. F. Niemoeller
14. Lightweight Sandwich Construction by J. M. Davies
15. The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes by Michel Pastoureaut
16. How to Be a Pope: What to Do and Where to Go Once You're in the Vatican by Piers Marchant
17. How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

IBIZA in MARCH

Benirras
Es Vedra


Benirras