So, at long
last, here’s what happened on Sunday. In the morning I went to a very
informative talk entitled “Getting Published: Four Things Nobody Tells You”, given
by Tony Booth. Tony is a Guernsey-based writer with a number of non-fiction
books to his name and a refreshing, no-nonsense approach to the business of
getting published. The focus of his talk centred on the submission package you
send to prospective publishers and/or agents – the bundle of cover letter,
synopsis, and sample chapters.
This is one
area of the process that I find fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. I’ve
read a lot of books, websites and heard different people talking about what
publishers “really want”, and the overall impression I’ve been left with is
that nobody really knows. Tony’s
guidelines made a lot of sense, though. His core message – that, above all else,
publishing is a business and your job as a writer looking to get a book deal is
to give the agent/editor all the information they need to make an effective
business decision – may seem slightly cynical to those more interested in
literature as an art form. But as an unknown author approaching a publisher,
your chances of being offered a contract are slim, if for no other reason than
sheer weight of numbers (Tony quoted a submission to acceptance ratio of 5000:1
for UK publishers), so it makes sense to do everything you can to make the
editor’s life easier. If the cover letter is concise and conveys all the
information he or she needs to decide whether it’s their type of book, they’re
more likely to read the synopsis. If that shows you know how to structure a
story, control plot and character development, they’re more likely to read the
sample chapters. After that, you’re on your own, but at least you’ve got that
far; you've got your metaphorical foot in the door. It was an interesting talk, and some of the details Tony included about
his own working methods gave a real insight into his approach to the craft –
the thing that stuck in my mind most of all was his admission that he employed narrative
techniques used in 1980s rock videos to shape the structure of some of his
chapters. Just goes to show, inspiration can come from anywhere.
After lunch,
zero hour arrived and it was my turn to contribute something to the festival
rather than just sitting back and soaking it up. I arranged my stack of books,
checked and double-checked my notes, ran through my timings once again, and
waited nervously for my class to arrive.
... And what
an enthusiastic and talented bunch they turned out to be! And friendly, and
patient (I lost track of my timings within about 30 seconds of starting, and
the start of the workshop veered wildly off-course as I realised I’d forgotten
to introduce myself before starting to talk about short fiction). Having never
led a workshop before, I was uncertain whether I’d done enough to get the
creative juices flowing by the time I handed out my ‘ice-breaker’ exercise
sheet. It was a short characterisation exercise, and although I think a couple
of people didn’t quite get what I was trying to achieve with it, it seemed to
do the job and get people thinking about character – and it got the pens moving
if nothing else.
I’d
structured the rest of the class with the idea that I’d talk for a while about
short fiction and the essential elements of a short story, as well as some
flash-specific tips on how to pare the word count down to an absolute minimum,
then let people write for 25 minutes, then talk a little about editing, then
give everyone another 25 minutes to either edit what they’d already written or
tackle a new story if they preferred. At the end there was time for people to
share what they’d written with the rest of the class. Knowing that it can be
tough to write under pressure I’d also prepared a series of prompt cards to
give a gentle nudge to anybody who needed it.
On the
whole, it seemed to work pretty well, with a fascinating range of subjects and
styles in evidence. We had dark stories, light stories, a couple of tales of
canine revenge, a madcap tour of Russia in a mobile museum, and one man’s desperate
search for green food colouring. I was impressed by the quality of the writing
and the fact that so many of the class were able to produce finished work within
the workshop’s limited timeslot. For those who didn’t manage that, or who didn’t
feel comfortable reading their work out; don’t worry, it’s extremely difficult
to write stuff “on demand”, and it can be intimidating to share your work with
a room full of strangers. All I can say is stick with it; it gets easier with
practise.
I really
enjoyed the workshop – once the nerves had settled down – and one of the best
aspects was meeting a whole new bunch of people passionate about the written
word. I must say a quick hello to a couple of people with an online presence.
Firstly, Martine Ellis, a newcomer to short fiction and curator of the iMake
blog. She’s been kind enough to give the workshop a very favourable mention on
her blog, even though I caught her unawares with my demands for short stories
to be written there and then. Also, I had the privilege to meet Ric Carter, a
very skilled writer with a real flair for quirky and imaginative flash fiction. I
urge you to check out his website – he wrote Grand Gestures during the
workshop, and I think it’s great. Ric also made a grand gesture himself,
presenting me with a copy of The Second Beestung International, one of his
beautifully handmade mini-books. I didn’t get a chance to take a proper look at
it at the time, for which I apologise (the library was closing, so I was hurriedly
packing everything away) – but now I’ve had a proper butcher’s, it’s a
fantastic thing and a brilliant couple of stories. Thanks again, Ric, I’m
honoured.
Also deserving
a special mention is Ed Jewell, the Customer Services Librarian, who couldn’t
have done more to make me feel more welcome and supported, despite my
diva-esque demands to have the desks laid out half a dozen different ways
before deciding on the correct one (which was, as you’d expect, the way we’d set
them out at the beginning). Thanks again, Ed!
4 comments:
It sounds as though it was really worthwhile for everyone involved, Dan.
Sounds like you had a really great time and that people enjoyed your workshop. Just the start of a new career as a workshop leader...
Thank you both. I think it was a success, and I hope everyone who came along had a good time and found it useful. No-one demanded their money back, at least!
Chloe, I'm not convinced it's the dawn of a new career, but it's good to have another string to my bow. I hope all's going well with your book.
Excellent stuff, Dan. It will open more doors, defo. Maybe a bit of extra writerly-income too. Just to tie you over til the six-figure advance.
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