Confessions of a first-time novelist - how I used manuscript assessment and mentoring services

A writer at a workshop I attended once, said that the twenty thousand word mark is the place where a lot of people give up. She said that it was here that the inspiration runs out for her, and the really hard work begins. I'm sure it is not the same for everyone, but there have been a couple of ideas for novels that I've run with for about twenty thousand words, and then given up.  One or two would-be novels have found their way to the recycling bin, not because they were necessarily bad ideas (they might have been) but because I didn't persist. My own particular mix of bald arrogance in thinking that I could do this novelist thing, a pathetic shrinking insecurity in feeling that I was not worthy, and an unswerving egalitarian belief in the right of all to be heard drove me to think about this another way.

I wanted to finish a novel. After all, regardless of whether I did or didn't finish, I would continue writing. It is what people who have this particular affliction do. 

At the 11,000 word mark of the first draft of my (now) debut novel I stopped writing forward, and started obsessing. At this stage I  normally plough on womanfully, for about another 9,000 words, give or take a few, and then give up. It takes a while to understand that if something doesn't work the first, second, or fiftieth time, it won't work the fifty-first. In previous attempts it had never occurred to me to talk to someone who understood, and could help.

This novel was different. I started it in a hard-headed way, not really knowing where it was heading, but deciding that I would keep going regardless. I had decided at the outset that when I got to the point of wavering in this decision, I would find a good manuscript assessor, and have them take a look at the work.  11,000 words doesn't seem like much, but I felt the need for some advice at this point.  Not just any advice. I set my sights high.

I searched the Internet, found a list of manuscript assessors on a reputable site, checked out their websites, and was amazed to see that there were some really good, published novelists with great credentials, who had set themselves up as manuscript assessors, and read work for a relatively modest fee.  I found Chris McLeod that way (check out his credentials on the link!) emailed him, and sent off the first few cell divisions of my embryonic novel.  Of the assessors that I found, I thought he would be the best for me, and I really lucked out here. Chris's advice fell in the Goldilocks zone - not too much, not too little - for each stage of my process.I was encouraged and empowered to continue. When that first bit of manuscript came back, I went on with the work, probably wrote another twenty thousand or so words this time, sent it for another assessment, and at this point Chris offered to mentor me, which I gratefully accepted.

After the first few drafts of the novel, I felt that it would be helpful to get a fresh pair of eyes to do a manuscript assessment, and in a second stroke of luck found Tom Flood who was able to provide a different, highly professional perspective, and detailed feedback which helped to lift the work further.

I guess the take-away message for me was that while my personality type might default to introversion, and while I might have a stubborn tendency to do everything for myself, and  even a concern that if I obtain advice, I am somehow not quite doing it right, the reality is that we live in a writing community and this is a good thing. Accepting the community certainly helped my work and my skills to develop and grow. Besides asking professional, highly skilled assessors to look at my work, many of my friends also generously read and commented on early versions of the work. Sometimes I took the advice and sometimes I didn't, but it was always, always of the greatest value.

Of course, once a manuscript is accepted for publication, there is another process of fine-tuning, which I will discuss at another time in this forum. 

Invitation for this coming Saturday 4pm

Invitation: Book Launch 

Horst Kornberger Sat 1 December

Global Hive  - Bee crisis and compassionate ecology

This was a book that needed to be written and because no author took it up, it chose me. Global Hive reveals the bee crisis as a master metaphor for the world-crisis. This book is about paradigm change and imagination. It is about the possibility of a new science that knows through relatedness, and a new civilisation built on compassion and care.

You are all invited to the launch of Global Hive at 4pm on Saturday 1 December at FAWWA (Fellowship of Australian Writers WA), Mattie Furphy House, Allen Park, Swanbourne. Australian writer John Stubley, founder of the Centre for Social Poetry and co-director of Macroscope Solutions will officially launch the book. Refreshments provided.  

If you can’t come to the launch, the book can be purchased at The Honeyclock, St. Paul's Shopping Centre, La Fayette Blvd, Bibra Lake. Ph: (08) 9434 1944 or ordered through Amazon in hardcopy or Kindle format. Details below. 

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Hive-Crisis-Compassionate-Ecology/dp/0980293138

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Hive-ebook/dp/B008ZUG3WQ

--
Horst Kornberger

PO Box 456, Hamilton Hill, 

WA - 6963, Australia
++61 (0)8 93311880

horstkornberger@gmail.com
www.thewritingconnection.com.au
www.horstkornberger.com

www.creativityconsultantsworldwide.com
www.thewriterspassage.com

In conversation with Campbell Jefferys, Writer in Residence at FAWWA

If you were to choose an object that could best tell the story of your life, what would it be? A box of matches? A toy car? A house that is falling apart? A glass of good red wine? 

What is in your refrigerator, your wallet, or your handbag?

Such was the nature of the conversation I had with FAWWA Writer in Residence, Campbell Jefferys this morning. Campbell is the author of True Blue Tucker (winner of the bronze in the Australian/New Zealand fiction category of the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards); Hunter (Winner of the general fiction category of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and runner-up in the overall fiction category); The Bicycle Teacher (New edition due for release 2013); and Die Rache des Lords (A Lord's Revenge) A novella for English language learners.

Objects, and combinations of objects, their arrangement or lack of arrangement, what happens to them, what they do, are used for, their history, all provide layers of information about character, relationship, and story.

In tackling a lengthy writing project, the manuscript might contain an object which acts as a unifying motif. Think James Bond and his sports car, Batman and the Batmobile, Mr Bean's Teddy Bear, or a work that celebrates the importance of an object perhaps, placing it at the centre: The Hare with Amber Eyes. 

Campbell's novel, Hunter, employs a leather bound notebook to connect two ultimately converging stories. The object is incorporated into the book's cover design.

So, in practical terms, what are some of the things to try at home? One exercise is to take an everyday object as the starting point for an automatic writing exercise. When you stop writing, you stop. Within what you have written could be the idea for a story, a chapter, an article, or a poem. Another is to imagine finding a wallet. What do you find inside. List the things. Write a description of the person to whom the wallet belongs. Or try the exercise the other way around. Think about one of your characters. What is in his or her refrigerator? Write a list.

For the sake of this exercise, reading as a writer can involve looking for the way in which objects are used in stories, becoming aware of the purpose they serve. (I like to also read for pure pleasure, so the distinction for the sake of this exercise helps me to draw a line around reading for instruction versus reading for fun, although probably this is a false dichotomy.)

Campbell told me that he does writing exercises most days to limber up. We got up on our individual soap boxes and discussed how writing takes practice. It involves skill, something that we learn. The more skilled we want to become, the more we practice. Writing exercises are a bit like a musician practicing scales. Sometimes they are simply about developing proficiency. The exercise itself doesn't need to be any more than that. Other times, the exercise can lead to something more. It can grow into a beautiful, finished work.

Don't miss Campbell's next workshop at FAWWA next Saturday. Contact FAWWA for details.

A blog from David directing you to his site of creativity

I feel like a terrorist.  I’ve scrapped my way to the cockpit of Iris’s blog, and now run the risk of bringing the whole thing to a crashing halt.  I don’t have any demands, but if anybody does follow the link below, it may be advisable to fasten your seatbelts.  The link will drag the intrepid passenger down into the depths of my cheery site…with no other parachute other than the ‘back’ button.

There, one will find a bizarre collection of pages displaying my abandoned jaunt into digital art, some rubbish short stories, preceding all the fabulous writing advice I’ve received this year, and the journal that I have kept at each stage of my novel writing.

The journal section is the bit I hope will be of interest to other writers.  Despite feeling a bit exposed by opening this up to everyone, so far I’ve carefully hidden it in the most secretive place on the web, I think it may be a worthwhile read.  If, for no other reason, I think we have a shared experience.  Seeing that someone else is having the same emotional voyage of :

a)      Being creative,

b)      Hearing you are a genius,

c)       Submitting work prematurely,

d)      Learning that you are not a genius,

e)      Digging deeper, searching for  ‘the bar’,

f)       Returning to point (a) again

…may hopefully be reassuring.

I’ve never proof read my blog, it’s written as a stream of thought.  Bad grammar and ill thought out ideas will be everywhere.  I apologise if anyone finds anything offensive – I never mean to offend - except for when I do, and then I’ll probably swear a bit and bring your mother’s social reputation into question…but no offence.

Please feel free to register and comment. 

Now, I hand the blog back to your captain, Iris.  I think she knows how to drive this page better than I do.

Website:             http://www.shunnedhouse.net

Facebook:           David Wildsmith

Twitter:                @DavidWildsmith

Westerly launch invitation

The Westerly Centre invites you to join us to celebrate the launch of Westerly 57:2, ‘Writing and Ethics’ issue.   5.00pm for 5.30pm on Friday November 23, 2012   To be launched by Emeritus Professor Andrew Taylor.   UWA Club, Ground Floor Hackett Drive, Car Park No 1 (Check notice in Foyer)   RSVP by Wednesday November 21 to westerly@uwa.edu.au

 

A note from Glen about places to send your stories!

Allrighty then,

First of all, Thursday night at UWA Press begins with a tour from 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., before the actual 'open night' from 6:00 to 8:30. RSVP for the tour was supposed to be by 19 November but they still might let you in if you're quick. Email marketing-uwap@uwa.edu.au or call 6488 6827.
 

Other people who might be worth sending short fiction or poetry to:

http://dotdotdash.org/ which is run by creative writing students at Curtin Uni.

http://www.regimebooks.com.au/; another local outfit which put out their first journal volume earlier this year. Submissions for Vol. 2 are open until Fri 9th December 2012.

http://www.westerlycentre.uwa.edu.au/magazine Westerly is (probably) WA's premier literary journal; their two submission deadlines per annum are 31 March and 31 July.

http://www.killyourdarlingsjournal.com/ comes out every quarter.

http://www.theliftedbrow.com/ comes out every two months (or so)

The other heavy hitters from over east are Meanjin, Island, Southerly, Overland, Griffith Review, Going Down Swinging and Quadrant. A quick Google search will get you to their site. Don't forget to look at the kind of stuff they publish (and particularly what they've published recently) as well as checking their submission guidelines i.e. word lengths, line lengths, font, page layout etc.

Happy browsing,

Glen.

A new book by Horst Kornberger - Global Hive

Horst has given me permission to let you know about his new book. Read his words below, if you want to know a little about the world's bee crisis: This was a book that needed to be written and because no author took it up, it chose me. I’m not an expert on bees and yet have written on their collapse. Perhaps it was this lack of expertise that allowed me as an artist to see the obvious in the maze of facts. In this book I have plotted the link between the history of science and modern bee keeping. The facts I encountered tell a riveting story and this story resolves the mystery behind colony collapse. But this book is not just about bees. The bee-crisis is a master metaphor for the world-crisis in which we are all involved. Ultimately, Global Hive is about paradigm-change and imagination. It is about the possibility of a new science that knows through relatedness, and a new civilisation built on compassion and care. The book is self-published and available in hardcopy through Amazon and as an e-book through Kindle. I trust in the global hive of friends and like-minded people who find this book useful. If you are one of them please help the book to find its way into the world through your social media networks. Paperback available at http://www.amazon.com/Global-Hive Kindle available at http://www.amazon.com/Global-Hive-ebook . I am available for talks on the content of the book. You can contact me through www.creativityconsultantsworldwide.com or www.thewritingconnection.com.au The book will be launched In Perth at the Fellowship of Australian Writers, Allen Park, Swanbourne, at 4 pm on Saturday 01 December 2012. Horst Kornberger

Creativity workshop

19 November 2012

Some were privileged to be able to attend a creativity workshop with renowned Writer and Poet, Kirpal Singh yesterday at the Fellowship of Australian Writers WA premises in Swanbourne.

I took away three useful things that I had forgotten, and which might also help with your quest for greater creativity:

Say Yes
Have Courage
Trust.

(Please excuse my extravagent use of Capital Letters!)

'Yes' is something that enables kids to play. When children play make-believe, it always goes best when they get lost in the imaginative world that is being created by avoiding the critical (or fearful) stance, or the tendency to default to the 'No' position.

Yes, there is a big giant, and Yes it is a girl, and Yes she lives in a castle made of edible flowers and Yes she can fly and arrive on the other side of the world in half an hour etc etc. The same applies to the world of improvisation (or adults called actors playing). To say 'Yes' is to allow the improvisation to develop, extend and take flight. To say 'No' is to block off the possibilities, to frustrate, to give the message that your idea is not as good as mine, or my idea is not good. One is called improvisation and the other is called competition or politics.

In writing, a largely solitary occupation, how often do I say 'No' to myself. 'No, that's not going to work.' Again this position blocks the path to something as yet unknown. 'Yes' allows me to follow the path to discover something that would have otherwise remained hidden.

I say, play with the text. Have fun with it. Write silly stuff. Be a clown. Allow yourself the freedom to use cliches and banalities, or the wierd and the wonderful. Soon, something will emerge. The business of writing is too important to take seriously. Be courageous and trust yourself.

Being courageous and trusting accompany the  Yes that allows creativity to flow, that allows the words to flow, and ultimately that finds something new.  Caution at the initial stage is an anathema to creativity.

Of course once something is down on the page, it can be shaped and honed, but the raw material must come from a kind of anarchic energy (albeit, I believe, with an underlying intention of love, goodwill towards others, and a deep desire for the well-being of us all).

My debut novel: Elsewhere in Success

This hyperlink will take you directly to my novel on the Fremantle Press Website.

 

http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1340

It was released in February 2013. You can preview the first three chapters here.

It is available as a paperback or as an ebook.

Blooming in the desert

The question is this:  how does a writer continue working on a large project in the absence of external feedback? How do we know we are not simply wasting our scent on the desert air? The question comes down to why we write at all.  For me, the answer is likely to change with my feelings, and with how well the writing is flowing.  I really don't know why I do this thing - get up in the morning and write something, or play around with something I have already written. Or why hours can go by in a flash, especially if I have somewhere else to go.   Writing feels like a luxury that I indulge in when I am not engaging in the business of real life. Or perhaps it really is a waste of time. I could spend a week on something that is ultimately discarded. Or six months. Years.

Some self talk now: Enough of the self-defeating thoughts! The idea of wasted time comes from an idea of scarcity. Forget about scarcity and dwell in the idea of an abundance of time. Long live abundant time because it is there that new discoveries are made. For me, these weeks, months, years build the scaffolding around the fragile building that will ultimately become a novel. Without the scaffolding, the building would collapse. When the building is strong enough, the scaffolding will no longer be required.

So, today, this morning, the answer to the question as to why I continue working on something that nobody asked for, and maybe on something for which I have no real authority, is that I am building something. It is a kind of Arc in a vast fleet of Arcs. A folly, perhaps. I am endeavouring to harvest the raw materials from the electrical signals that scoot around in my brain in response to my interactions with the world, and bring something into existence. A new story. In the spirit of genuine meglomania, I want to do more than this. I want it to be beautiful. As I work on this grand project, I change myself a little. The story is brought into existence. Maybe it changes the world a little. Like the beat of a wing. It's a bit like life itself.