Room To Write

All writers know about the search for story and for what it is we want to say. Sometimes this means digging deep, like Stephen King says to uncover the fossil – the story which is buried beneath the soil. Sometimes this digging is just that: the sheer hard work of writing itself, the pen in place of the spade. Write on, we say, and the story will emerge. But it doesn’t always work. We begin and then we get stuck. Some stories are just more stubborn than others. In my Spring Novel Group we seem to have done a fair bit of searching for our stories. Talking has helped, as has research and reading – but sometimes I think what works best is to take a fork and prod and shake the soil – mix things up a bit, change things round and see what emerges. Here are some ideas for doing just that….To read more and discover 7 Ways to Find Your Story go to   www.avriljoy.com

Now here’s how Wendy’ story which refused to get going was kick started back into life

one day my A4 drafting book fell off the table in the little study. I flicked through the pages and admired the inky flow of my own writing and the energy of those paragraphs before they were transcribed onto the computer.

In a second, it seems,  I was in Ryman’s choosing a new ink-pen and a fresh bottle of ink. Then the sun came out and when I got home my story was sitting on the garden table ready to flow out of the bottle onto the page of the A4 book.  All that day and the next and the next… Whoosh!  Talk about the genie springing out of the bottle! Pure magic.

wx For more click here on  lifetwicetasted

Whether you are just starting out or are part way through a piece of long fiction, completion can be a daunting task. In roomtowrite small novel groups we aim to offer you advice, support and focus in achieving your goals, as well as a warm welcome, coffee and biscuits and a share in our own passion for writing and getting the work done.

The latest group, run by Avril (six sessions at fortnightly intervals ) is now underway and she has already received some very generous feedback:

I thoroughly enjoyed the first session of your novel group and benefited considerably.

Thank you so much for a very rewarding and stimulating afternoon.  I really appreciate the amount of effort you put into helping us and you are so encouraging and welcoming.  I am really looking forward to the next session.  It has given me much to think about and several challenges to work on

Avril says – We had a great time! Members of the group are so enthusiastic and  committed that I know I will enjoy our sessions enormously.

From Avril’s Introductory Letter My intention is that we will concentrate less on reading out and the fine detail of our text (although this may sometimes be appropriate and relevant) and more on process – plot, narrative voice, structure, beginnings, middles, drafting, editing, the language, dialogue, research, procrastination…….we might discuss some or indeed all of these and more, depending on where you are with your writing and what issues or problems you bring to the group.

FOR DETAILS OF FORTHCOMING GROUPS PLEASE  e-MAIL ME AT  amjoy@hotmail.co.uk

PUT THE DATE IN YOUR DIARY NOW!  The first of our Reading Down The Decades book groups

3-5pm Saturday 19^th June- Whitworth Hall Conservatory (Free Event)

1960s - The Beatles- First Man in Space –Average House Price £2,530- Coronation St starts  – First Concorde Flight …

Novels

John Le Carré The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

The archetypical espionage novel, set in Berlin during the Cold War.

Harper Lee To Kill a Mocking Bird.

A novel of racial prejudice in 1930s Alabama in which a white woman accuses an innocent black man of rape.

Jean Rhys the Wide Sargosso Sea.

Set in Jamaica in 1830s, tells of the life of the first Mrs. Rochester, the ‘madwoman in the attic’ in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

Invitation from Wendy

Please join me 7pm in Ponteland Library on Wednesday 13 April  to celebrate the launch of my new novel — An Englishwoman in France— the first of a three novels set in the Languedoc—an atmospheric and strange part of France which I love. Share with me some of the story and the novel’s secrets over a glass of wine. I look forward to seeing you Copies will be available …

Wendyx

If you fancy joining me ring the library to confirm numbers 01661 823 594 (If you can’t get there the novel is available on Amazon or you can obtain a copy from me at wenrob73@hotmail.com) …

Stella is pretty relaxed about her gift of second sight, but . . . my partner Philip thinks I’m barmy. No, seriously, he thinks I’m mad! In fact I’m very normal – normal as any of us ever is. Me, I see the dead in the more ordinary way of things. I saw this woman standing behind the woman at the till in the Spar shop. She was very old and wore a red sari with gold edges. She was like smoke in the air . . . Stella’s happy-go-lucky attitude to her gift screeches to a halt when Siri, her twelve-year-old daughter, is savagely murdered and Stella can find her daughter nowhere, in this world or the next. Then, in the old French town of Agde she meets Louis, a clever, mysterious man and a young boy who is always near him. These two lead her to a place and a time where her search for Siri takes on a new meaning.

From ‘The Romancer’, my book about the writing process: Agde courtyard -this house is the inspiration, of course, for An Englishwoman in France. From the first time I saw it I had this weird feeling that I knew this place, that I’d been here before. And so the writing, the chapters, started to unfold in my head and find their way nto The Notebooks. I felt there had to be someone here who could see – even move through time into the layers of the old city. And so the astrologer Stella walks into the story, into this house, to regain her sanity after the insanity of the murder of her daughter. She drops through time to meet the boy who will eventually be martyred and become St Tibery, the patron saint of the mentally ill….’

The conservatory - first thing in the morning

As always Whitworth Hall did not disappoint – the conservatory was flooded with light   and we hope, with enlightenment after our day of intense workshopping. All of our short stories got close  attention in light of the key principles  of short story writing. We looked in detail  at our texts, and in the company of masters: Raymond Carver, Katherine Mansfield, William Trevor, Lorri Moore, Ian McEwan, David Almond, and contemporary writers like Tania Hershman, we asked how can we  improve what we write – how can we learn to leave room for the reader and what can be left out,  how can we make every word count?

I for one was exhausted by the end of the day as I know were Gillian and Wendy and I guess all our participants. We were however fortified as always by the beautiful lunch with cheese board and fresh fruit and of course our afternoon tea inc. scones with cream and jam and toasted tea cakes. Then there were the two glasses of white wine, feet up at the end of it all!

I learnt so much in preparation for this conference and as Wendy and I say we always gain a great deal from running days such as these – being immersed in writing in this way  only serves to  enrich our own work.

More pictures and feedback forthcoming……………………….!

The Wild Sargasso Sea -one of our book group choices

Welcome to our new website/blog! As RoomtoWrite moves into its third year we are widening our net and are very pleased to be launching our new site which will be updatedly regularly and will keep you posted on all forthcoming RoomtoWrite events.
As well as keeping you abreast of developments and opportunities the site will showcase work and publications by RoomtoWrite participants.

LATEST NEWS

1. Short Story Conference Sat March 12th – now booked!

2. Our next exciting venture is our reading group – Reading Down The Decades. These meetings hosted by RoomtoWrite regulars Wendy, Gillian and Avril will be  FREE of charge.

Watch this space for venues and dates, in the meantime click here or on our Reading Down The Decades to discoverwhat we will be reading