Roving Romaniacs at Julie Cohen’s Advanced Novelists’ Workshop

Advanced Novelists’ Workshop – 13 October 2012

 with Julie Cohen

Laura : The two hundred mile round trip from Weymouth, Dorset to Reading, Berks, to attend Julie Cohen’s course was worth every moment.

It started with catching up with Sue and discovering, although we were travelling from different locations, we both saw a village in the sky and a hot air balloon floating above our cars.

Sue : That was so weird, I promise there were no illegal substances involved. Our journeys just happened to merge at the same point, the M3 and that’s where we had this mirage. 

Laura : I arrived at nine thirty and met with the other attendees, all of whom were lovely and very interesting ladies. And what an array of genres and writing styles. I learned much by listening to everyone’s ideas and solutions to writing problems.

Sue : Yes, I got there shortly after Laura, probably only a few minutes, but then spent about 10 more trying to fit into the tiniest parking space EVER. Which I did, I hasten to add. 

It was lovely to see some people I’d met before, some who up until that point had only been a Twitter profile picture and some that I had never met. It was also fascinating to find out the different genres we were all writing, especially the YA authors.

Laura : The day was divided into sessions, all of which we had requested. I’m desperate to learn how to write a sympathetic flawed character, and I asked for a section on what to include in a submission letter to agents. Both topics were discussed in great detail and I am keen to put my new knowledge into action.

Sue : I wanted to find out more about writing sex scenes but in the end we skipped that part as it wasn’t appropriate for all genres. I’ll just have to research it in other ways.  Err, I was actually thinking along the lines of reading more books, not what you were thinking!  Although I did have an interesting conversation with Julie on the way back to the car park about this topic and the ‘key’ words, but that’s for another day.

Julie very kindly critiqued the first five pages of  my WIP and has given me some great advice. I am writing from three different points of view, but experimenting with the third and first person.  Is this wise? Does it pull the reader out of the story? Does it interrupt the flow? Obviously, something I need to give thought to – so thank you, Julie.

Laura : Even though we submitted the first five pages of our WIP’s for Julie to critique, upon her advice, I am using the lessons learned to build up my hero in my first novel, Truth or Dare? The information and methods are brilliant and have given me ways to increase the percentage of the hero’s POV and for it to have purpose. I’m very excited by this prospect. Once I have sorted him out, I will use the techniques to create a likeable, but extremely flawed heroine for Follow Me.

It was a fantastic day with cake, new and existing friends and a great tutor. Oh. And a visit to the pub afterwards. What’s not to like?

Sue : OMG! I was in heaven with all that lovely cake, I think I ate enough for both Laura and I. Okay, I probably ate enough for all nine Romaniacs – I didn’t  like to leave anyone out.  It was a great day, really enjoyed the company, loved Julie’s natural ability to make you feel at ease and then fish and chips at the pub – when can we do it again?

Laura  and Sue x

Roving Romaniac: Vintage Tea at the Little, Brown offices with author, Vanessa Greene.

I’ve been out on a covert operation and managed to infiltrate the little, brown offices. Well, ok, I was invited, I didn’t just break in. I was there for a special event – a vintage tea – to celebrate The Vintage Teacup Club by Vanessa Greene.

I promised the other Romaniacs that I’d get a few pictures of the offices so we can all drool over them and dream of the day when we get invited there as one of their authors.

It was every bit as grand and I was hoping. It was shiny, with massive sofas and books galore. I would have liked to live there for a week to carry out a sponsored readathon, but my giddy smile would give away the fact they’d have trouble kicking me out.

So instead I tried to act as sensibly as a Romaniac can. I didn’t once go up to someone sitting innocently at a computer and ask if they wanted to sign 9 nutty, but lovely writers. Instead I found myself sharing a lift with Vanessa, the author of The Vintage Teacup Club and by the end of the event convinced her to join us on the blog to answer a few questions.

Q: If you could take afternoon tea with any celebrity, who would it be and why?

Benedict Cumberbatch would make a pretty gentlemanly tea-date, don’t you think? I developed a bit of a crush on him in the recent series of Sherlock, and then Parade’s End sealed the deal – he has a really magnetic, quirky charm. Alternatively (and so my boyfriend doesn’t get miffed) a nice natter about books with Mariella Frostrup over cake would make for a great afternoon.

Q: If you could visit any era for 24 hours, which would you choose and why?

It would have to be London during the Blitz. I’m so curious about what the reality of wartime life was like – what did women like us find to laugh about, how did they help each other cope? What was it like falling in love then, when your world could change in a moment? On a lighter note, I love dancing, so I’d definitely seek out an underground party I could swing at!

Q: Is there anything that you collect? Vintage teacups, pretty hardback books and antique postcards.

Q: What value do you place on history and how does this relate to the book?

I think our past, and also our family histories, are an important part of who we are, whether we realise it or not, and so that is one of the themes of the novel.

In The Vintage Teacup Club all three of the women – Jenny, Alison and Maggie – are confronted by aspects of their past, and their village’s past, that they haven’t properly understood or dealt with. Together, they are able to work through those hidden histories and truly move on in their own lives.

In a way that’s true of my family history too. My father was German, and my mother is English – so during World War II my grandfathers were, essentially, fighting each other. As I was born in London and feel English, I used to find it difficult to understand how my German grandfather could have fought on Hitler’s side. But when my German grandmother died, and we went through the letters her husband sent from the front line, you could see how much he loved her, and how delighted he was at the news that he was going to be a father. Sadly, he was killed before he had a chance to meet his son, my dad. I realised reading those letters and seeing photos that both grandfathers were human first, and soldiers second – both were doing what they felt was right.

Q: Milk in first or second? Now this one’s far easier! I like to surprise myself by varying this. Simple pleasures.

Q: Do you have a favourite tea advert?

It’s not an advert, but I loved the bit in the series Homeland where Carrie almost blows her cover by mentioning Brody’s liking for Yorkshire Gold tea. It’s my favourite brand (my boyfriend, who’s from Yorkshire, introduced me to it) and I went straight out in the ad break to make us a cuppa!

Quick Fire:

Cup or Mug? For special occasions I can’t resist a vintage teacup – but at home I prefer my tea out of a mug. I have a mug from New York, with an illustration of a dog walker walking every possible type of dog. Tea always tastes best out of it.

Paris or Rome? Rome – it’s the lure of pasta and ice cream. I also love the Audrey Hepburn film Roman Holiday and it would be fun to retrace her steps.
Tea at the Ritz or a West End Show? Are you offering? Tea at the Ritz please! I’ve always wanted to do that.

Cupcakes or Cookies? Cookies are better for dunking in tea, I find – so they come out on top.

Bargain Hunt or Dickenson’s Real Deal? I can’t resist Bargain Hunt. As I work from home I try to pretend daytime TV doesn’t exist (far too much temptation), but I sometimes make an exception for this, in the name of ‘research’.
Champagne or Chocolates? I love a bit of fizz – it turns even a small event with friends into a real celebration.

Thank you for answering all of our questions, Vanessa. The Vintage Teacup Club comes out tomorrow. Just enough time to pop out to the shops, buy some cake and join Vanessa on publication day!

Belgian buns, that’s vintage, right? Off to the shop to go and get some. Maybe if I take some to the little, brown offices they’ll let me in again?

The Vintage Teacup Club can be purchsed here and you can find Vanessa on twitter: @VanessaGBooks

Catherine x

Feel the Fear! Rose McClelland guests today.

Today we welcome the lovely Rose McClelland, sharing tactics for dealing with a writer’s fears.

“I just don’t have the time to write” …. and other excuses masking FEAR
“I don’t have the time to write”
“I should’ve started writing in my twenties, there’s no point now”
“It would take me too long to write a novel so I should just concentrate on my day job instead”
“People like me don’t become published authors – that dream only happens to other people”

These were all the excuses I gave myself. The notion “I want to write” hammered away at me for years but I successfully batted off the desire with these nifty excuses. Clever, huh?
It wasn’t until a friend shoved a copy of “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron into my hands and told me “we are going to study this 12 week course” that things began to change.

What’s the point?
I discovered, through a series of tasks and tools, that my excuses were just that – excuses – and the real problem was fear.
“What’s the point?” is a clever mask for fear or resentment.
• What would my father think of me?
• What if he read the sexy scenes and was appalled?
• What would the blokes at work think?
• Would I have to write under a pen name?
• I’m not very outgoing or confident – how would I promote my book via Facebook or twitter or god forbid, newspapers and the wider media circle?
• What if I got bad reviews?

The first thing I learned was that those fears show a pretty active imagination. Projecting that far into the future and visualising such strong negative images shows that, in-fact, there’s a good healthy writer’s mind ticking away in there. Now how do I turn those negative visualisations into positive ones?

Play time
I learned that as a blocked artist, I was not lazy – I was blocked. In fact, I was using a lot of energy worrying, feeling guilty, feeling jealous and doubting myself. I learned that it would be easier to just do the writing than waste the time worrying that I wasn’t doing the writing. It was easier to get on with it.
I took small steps. And I made those steps enjoyable. I found a coffee shop I liked – one which had an upstairs section which was quiet and tucked away from the hustle bustle. It overlooked a water fountain and had comfy sofas. I settled myself down with an Americano and a sparkling water and I began to play with ideas. A scene here, a scene there. One scene at a time. Pretending I was in the audience watching the characters. Having fun. Enjoying myself.
It wasn’t a chore, or a hurdle, or a massive mountain to climb, it was fun. On a Saturday and a Sunday morning, it was my writing fun time.

List the fears and resentments
I was honest with myself. I listed my fears and resentments about doing this project. I asked myself “why is there no point?” I put it down in black and white. This is not an easy task to do. No-one wants to admit those negative thoughts that are swilling around in your sub-conscious. But on the plus side, once those negative thoughts are down on paper, you can look at them for what they really are – just thoughts. They are not facts.

Jealousy is a map
One thing I have learned is that jealousy is a map. If you are looking at someone who has just got published and you find a stirring of jealousy within your gut and a tightening in your head; that is a sign. A sign that you want that thing. And there is nothing stopping you from going after it. Who do you know who has had a book published? How can you learn from what they have done? Read their blog; find out how they went about it. Once I started to admit I needed help, the help landed in my lap.

Visualise
Now you know what you want, start to visualise having it. Write in the present tense as if you already have it. Find images surrounding your dream and pin them on a board. I wrote “published author” in bubbly colourful writing.

Affirmations
Did you have any negative affirmations about your dream? Perhaps you secretly saw creative people as disorganised or chaotic. Start to realise that it’s possible that you as a creative soul can be organised, helpful, kind and giving.

Goals
Set yourself goals – for this year, this month, this week.
“By this time next year I would like to __________”
“By this time next month I would like to _________”
“By this time next week I would like to _________”
“What small action could I take today?_____________________”
Now do that thing.

By the way, my dad did read my book – he skimmed over the first chapter, lowered his glasses, looked at my mum and said, “I don’t really think this would be my kind of book, love”. And that was that, nothing more was said. The blokes at work have never commented on my book, except for one who asked, “What chapter can I skip to for the sex scenes?” And my agent encouraged me to write under my real name, not a pen name. “Shout it from the roof-tops!” she said. And that’s exactly what I’ve done.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Look-Like-You-ebook/dp/B008GX9LCG/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1341341281&sr=8-13#

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Break-Up-Test-ebook/dp/B007QVI28I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1341434847&sr=1-1

rosie

Huge thanks to Rose for these words of wisdom – now, over to the rest of you; how do you combat your own writing fears?