Finding Your Voice 2

by Em Lynas

I'm still experimenting with voice, see here for the first post on Finding your Voice.

This post it's the storyteller voice - and my mentor text is Anthony Minghella and Jim Henson's The Storyteller. It was a family favourite both for the videos with John Hurt's superb narration and the book by Minghella because it's such a delight to read aloud.

I've been analysing the narrative techniques Minghella used and, as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the best way to analyse and learn, here's a story.....

In the days of before, and before the tomorrows, a young husband and a wife lived alone. They lived in a house of cosiness, warmth and welcome, where all was peace and smoke rose into the chimney and never clouded the air or coughed the lungs. All was happiness and all was loveliness and all was togetherness until one day...

I am loving using the power of three and getting a bit of imagery in there. And that word all, all is this and all is that. Good word. Plus, I'm a great believer in...

...there was a knock on the door. Now this was no ordinary knock. This was a powerful knock, a knock that makes Husband and Wife jump, a knock that makes Husband and Wife look at each other with startled eyes and say in unison, "Who can that be? Look at the time? Shall we answer it?"

 They shake their heads with matching shakes and don't answer the door but the knock is knocked again and again and again until the knock is in their heads and it won't stop and they have no choice but to open the door. So Husband unlocks the lock and Wife draws the bolts and Husband lifts the latch and Wife creaks the door open and...

Loving the escalation of anticipation that you get to write with the storyteller voice - and and and and...

...there's no one there.

A reveal!

But there's a whoosh of the wind past Husband's ears and a sniff of the cold past Wife's nose and a tingle of fear runs through both of their beating hearts as the door slips out of Wife's fingers with a slam and a lock as who knows what invades their house of cosiness, warmth and welcome.

Getting in a bit of a repetition going with a refrain.

"Oh, I don't like to think of what might have just come in to our home," whispers Wife and Husband's head nods a nod that agrees with the words and they huddle by the door and wait and watch until...the rocking chair rocks.

Husband gasps and whispers, "The rocking chair is rocking, my love, and it shouldn't be because you're not sitting in it."

"No," whispers Wife, "but something is, look."

I had a break at this point to research what the heck could be sitting in the rocking chair. I'm finding these books very useful at the moment.

A boggart? A brownie? A flibbertigibbet? Ooo, yes. Flibbertigibbet can mean an impish child. A chatterbox. Perfect. It's incredible what people have believed. Are we really so gullible? So superstitious?

Anyway, back to the story.

Wife grabbed Husband by the ear and whispered, "It's a child! It's a boy." And it was. It was a boy so bonny, so beautiful, so BIG that it filled the rocking chair with plump and chubby and cute and cuddly.

"Did you wish for one?" asked Husband.

"Of course not," said Wife. "We've only been Husband and Wife a month. It's too soon. But maybe we should keep it now it's here?"

"What's that?" said Child. He pointed at Wife.

"That's Wife," said Husband.

"What's that?" said Child. He pointed at Husband.

"That's Husband," said Wife.

"What's that?" said Child. He pointed at the door.

"That's a door," said Husband.

And from then on Child was all What's that? and the couple were all That's a... until night left the earth with a shudder and day took it's turn not knowing what lay ahead.

Getting in a bit of personification of non human stuff there. Did you notice? Also, names are often not named in the storyteller genre so liking Wife and Husband. You can't query the truth of a story if no one is named?

"What are we going to do?" whispered Wife, her voice all croaky with answering. She grabbed Husband's ear again, adding to the bruises that had been made with the grabbing that had already been grabbed. "I am exhausted, Husband. Doesn't it ever sleep?"

"That's a lock," said Husband, then quickly whispered his own whisper, "What if you sing to it? A lullaby. That's a cobweb."

"Yes!" said Wife. I've heard that sends them to sleep. I'll do it."

So Wife began to sing a lullaby but her voice was so croaky from all the answering that Child did not like Wife's voice and he screamed and screamed and screamed until Wife gave up and Husband tried. He sang with a voice of deep that soothed the ears and tickled the skin and closed the eyes. But every time Husband stopped singing Child stirred and wriggled and threatened to wake and both Husband and Wife despaired.

I'm possibly going off topic here and channelling new parenthood from the deep past so bringing it back to folklore.

Then Wife had an idea that should have come earlier but the idea had hidden itself until the moment was right in the story.

Wife talked as Husband sang. "I have thought some thoughts and brought an idea into my head. The idea is this. This Child is not a normal Child. It's obviously a fairy child escaped from fairyland so we have to send it back so we can have our home back. Our home of cosiness, warmth and welcome, where all is peace and smoke rises into the chimney and never clouds the air or coughs the lungs."

Husband nods the nod that signals agreement so Wife continues.

"And you know that I know how to do that."

And Husband nodded another nod of agreement because it just so happened that...

You have to love the storytelling - it just so happened that... You can't get away with that in any other genre.

...Wife was an expert folklorist and she had bookcase and bookcase and bookcase on the walls of the home of cosiness, warmth and welcome. And the bookcases had shelves and shelves and shelves and the shelves had books and books and books. And the books were all knowledge and knowhow and fable and myth and advice.

I do like starting sentences with And and But and Because and Then and So...

Wife read through the books and Husband sang through the day until the day was tired and gone all dusky. And all the while Child snuggled and snored and rocked in the rocker that creakity creaked into night.

Then "Eureka!" said Wife, just before midnight, and Husband screeched a note and Child twitched a twitch as Wife waved a book under husband's nose, the leaves all a flutter with excitement.

"I have the answer! Listen." She bent close to Husband's ear. "If thy home be invaded by a fairy being, a child, a flibbertigibbet of a chatterbox who's all What's that? you must turn the tables by asking the flibbertigibbet What's that? But you must ask the What's that's that the flibbertigibbet has asked. All of them."

"All of them?" sang Husband.

"All of them," said Wife, shutting the book. "And we must do this between midnight, which is now, and dawn, which is then, or Child will stay for a year and a day."

 "A year and a day! We'll be dead from exhaustion before the month is out," said Husband. So he stopped singing and Child snuffled and stirred and wriggled and woke and said, "What's that?" and Husband answered "It's a toenail."

 And Wife immediately asked, "What's that?" and Child answered, "That's a toenail." "What's that?," said Husband and Child answered, "That's a book." "What's that?" said Wife and Child answered, "That's a nose."

And from then on the couple were all What's that? and Child was all That's a... as night settled thick on the earth and stayed until dawn threatened to creep over the horizon. And Husband and Wife were running out of What's thats? And panic was living in their hearts.

Everything had been asked. They searched the room for more What's thats? Repeating What's thats that had already been repeated repeatedly during the night.

"Is it dawn?" asked Wife. "it must be dawn, oh if only it isn't dawn for we have not remembered all of the What's Thats. We must open the door and see."

 So Husband unlocks the lock and Wife draws the bolts and Husband lifts the latch and Wife creaks the door open and Husband remembers the creak and he remembers all the remembering and says...

Bookending makes me happy.

"WHAT'S THAT?"

And Child says...

"That's Wife."

Husband nudges Wife and Wife remembers and says, "WHAT'S THAT?"

And Child says...

"That's Husband."

And the couple say in unison...

"WHAT'S THAT?"

And Child says...

"THAT'S A DOOR."

And there's a whoosh of the wind past Husband's ears and a sniff of the cold past Wife's nose and a tingle of happiness runs through both of their beating hearts as the door slips out of Wife's fingers and slams shut. With them on the inside and Child nowhere to be seen.

 So with a sigh and a smile and a tired goodnight they settle back down in their home of cosiness, warmth and welcome. And for all I know, they're still there.

The End

I have had so much fun writing this! It's a first draft, it won't ever be published but the techniques will be fed into my writing and hopefully make it richer and deeper and the words will welcome the writing of them.

Em Lynas is the author of the Witch School series published by Nosy Crow.

Her website is emlynas.com and you can follow her on twitter @emlynas

                        

What Makes a Writer? Busting Myths About Authors ( or not)

Recently Piers Torday, winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction, made a shock confession on twitter.

He Doesn't Have A Note Book Obsession.

Or even a notebook.

What?? Piers Torday, writer extraordinaire?

What other well-established  myths about writers just aren't true?  Myth by myth, we shall discover the truth through the power of Twitter. I asked fellow writers a series of questions and received nearly a thousand responses - quite astonishing really and proof that number two is beyond question despite the only 71% who owned up.

1. All writers are stationary addicts:

 81% said 'gimme all the notebooks' but very many of that 81% said that they also use technology, such as their phone, to take notes. I fall into that category. I'd love to be a tidy writer who starts a new notebook for every new book but basically, I scrawl notes in one giant notebook but  I use Siri a lot  - especially when I'm driving - I might accidentally write a novel one day called "Hey Siri, take a note..."

Kathryn Evans and her book of scrawl.

2. Born procrastinators, writers spend 90% of their day on social media:

Only 71% of writers confessed to being procrastinators with the remaining 29% split between those who were pretty disciplined and those who had to be disciplined because writing pays the rent.

The figures say one thing but the evidence says another. I genuinely thought I'd blogged about this already but it turns out, I started two posts on the subject and never finished them because I got distracted...YOU SEE, this is evidence based science happening RIGHT here. Also some actual tips to stop procrastinating:

1. Writing a novel means WRITING a novel. Lower your sights,  it's not going to be brilliant first draft. But it's not going to be anything if it's no draft at all.

Get it writ then get it right.

Said someone way cleverer than me.

2. Use an app to help you focus - like Forest.

It costs 1.99 but you can find free versions. You plant a tree and as long as you're working, it'll grow. If you switch off the app you will kill the tree and then you'll be an:

EVIL TREE MURDERER 

who hasn't got any work done.

3. Writers are social hermits whose greatest desire is to have a writing shed:



56% of respondents needed peace to write with 19% wanting their own writing shed. I was surprised at how low that number was  and at the 44% who could write anywhere with 11% actually preferring to be out. I should have asked if they were going to coffee shops...
But look, the truth is,  we can't all have our own writing shed. You write where you can and when you can - but nothing can stop you dreaming so have a little read of this lovely Book Trust post . After you've done your work.

4. It is impossible to write without caffeine:

MYTH BUSTED 44% said they didn't need coffee to power their work and of the remaining 56%, 24% were tea drinkers.

I can't even function without tea though so who these weird people are, I've no idea.

Never far from a cuppa

5. Bad grammar makes us shudder.

This was true for 66% - of the remaining 32%, half pleaded a seventies state school education  which left a generation of adults unable to position an apostrophe, including me. Fortunately, Philip Ardagh  is like a Facebook Grammar Vigilante. A combination of humilation and practical advice led me to a copy of Strunk and Whites Elements of Style sorted me out. I still add in random apostrophe's ( ;) ) just to annoy him but at least I sort of know what I'm doing now.



6.Writers block is real

56% of people agreed with this. I'm not sure I do but I do get stuck. A lot. I walk it off. Take the thoughts out and walk and walk until you've resolved your plot issue or until you've got a scene that will start your novel. Sometimes it take a long time. That's not writers block, that's process. Try and trust it.
Thinking is work for us, it's not all about words on the page.



via GIPHY

Turns out writers are a mixed bunch, so do whatever works for you. We're all different,  a bit like people really. Imagine.



 Kathryn Evans is the award winning author of More of Me. Her new book, Beauty Sleep, is out in April 2019.  Kathryn loves faffing about on social media: find her  on Facebook and Instagram @kathrynevansauthor and tweeting @KathrynEvansInk.  

Making the Most of an Opportunity

By Candy Gourlay

Amazingly, my novel Bone Talk was shortlisted for this year's children's Costa Book Award.

Unfortunately (for me) the other three shortlisted titles –– The Skylarks' War by Hilary McKay, Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen and The Colour of the Sun by David Almond – were pretty magnificent books. The winner, announced last Monday, was the uber-talented Hilary McKay.

On the night, my daughter cheered me up by awarding me with her own version of the Costa. And then we watched laughing baby videos for the rest of the evening.





To be honest, when the shortlist was announced. I was under no illusion about the possible outcome.

But there was no time to waste.

The shortlisting had created an opportunity. There would be more people paying attention to my book – many of whom would not have heard of me before. How was I going to make the most of the time between the announcement of the shortlist (in November) and the winner (in January)?

Opportunities happen all the time in this job. Tiny opportunities that are the building blocks of a platform. I'm not just talking short-listings and prizes. Opportunity also comes in small packages: completing a manuscript, learning a skill, attending a conference, the launch of a book, a positive review.

How do you make the most of your opportunities?

Don't Wait.

I suppose I could have waited until the winner was announced. But the shortlisting was THE opportunity. The winning might never happen (and it didn't). So whatever I decided to do, I needed to do it right away. No putting it off.

We all procrastinate, don't we? I can build that website later, post those photos later, work on those resources another day.

As a former journalist, I am keenly aware of the ephemerality of the news. Something in a blaze of attention today can turn cold and forgotten overnight.

Making the most of an opportunity means doing something while people are still paying attention. They're still receptive, still ready to share your good news. If you get the timing wrong, it will be too late. And you'll never get that white hot moment back.


Reach out to True Believers.

Like many authors, I am my own one-person marketing department. One thing I've learned is you just don't have time to go door-to-door, selling your goods to every individual you meet. Most people don't get this, hence the many invites to do free events because "it's good publicity!". Random targeting is a waste of time better spent writing another book.

Don't go door-to-door, go find True Believers. True believers, in marketing parlance, are people who are already interested in what you have to give. They want to know about you, and they will talk about you to their friends, who are likely to have the same interests. I quoted Seth Godin in a recent piece over on my author blog:

"You put an idea in the world. Not to everyone in the world, just to people who want to hear it. And then maybe it spreads. And if it spreads it grows. And if it grows you get to do it again ... The goal is to go the people who care. To invite them in and to tell them something they didn't know before ... Not with a grand opening but with a whisper. Here, I made this. That's our work."

I've discovered over the years that the people who really make a difference to my book getting read were not the individual punters I met at a festival, nor even the child readers who write me fan mail ... not even my large family in Manila, who have been known to create shortages of my titles by buying up all the stock in local bookstores. The people who make word of mouth happen about books are the children's librarians who champion books and put them into the hands of readers they know will love them. After librarians are the literacy advocates. And then maybe teachers.

Realising this, the challenge is: how do I connect with the people who want to hear about my ideas? Perhaps learning about them is a start, getting to know what makes them tick. This will give me the wherewithal to create work that truly matters to them – carefully considered essays, videos, etc –  rather than just fly-by sound bytes.

Make something that will last.

Yes, social media has made it easy to be our own marketing departments. But beware, the scrolling news feed and the disappearing Instagram story are only good for the moment.

Twitter and Facebook are superhighways that don't stop moving. It's all about reach, but not necessarily about engagement.

To make the most of an opportunity, you need to create things that have lasting value – something that adds to the sum of your public profile, ideas you will be building on, something that you and your audience will learn from, something that readers will continue to discover over time.

It might be a well-written essay filled with nuggets of wisdom that people are always searching for. It might be a How To video that anyone in search of guidance might access. It might be a podcast that can be shared and revisited over and over again.

My years of blogging on Notes from the Slushpile, for example, have made me a better author. They gave me a chance to reflect on the issues of publishing – and thinking is never wasted time. They had the incremental effect of helping me formulate opinions and ideas that I continue to refer to in my writings and presentations. More currently, I find that my writing on blogs and other platforms, has been helping me learn about diversity, cultural appropriation and other issues that, as an author of colour, I am frequently invited to comment on.

For the Costa shortlisting, it was important, I thought, to create something that would outlive the Costa buzz. Something for the immediate audience here in the UK, who are already familiar with the Costa. And something for the audience back home in the Philippines, who do not know about the Costa but who would be so pleased that a home-grown Pinoy was up for the award.

So I recruited the assistance of a couple of videogenic friends – fellow author Sarah Towle and Pinoy artist/editor/writer pal Joy Watford – to create interview videos about Bone Talk.  We made two – one in English, with Sarah, for British readers, and the other, with Joy, in Taglish (Tagalog and English) for Filipino readers.

Filming a Taglish interview with my friend, Joy Watford. We filmed it using the selfie camera of my Android phone  attached to dual lavalier microphones. As you can see, we forgot to tidy the book case behind us.

They were not short videos so I published them on my YouTube channel, which is a platform where people take more time to watch longer form stuff (unlike Facebook and Twitter where a minute is a long time, and people zoom through videos,  often not even bothering to turn up the sound).

The videos are not for casual passers by. I made them for people who are prepared to make the time to watch – maybe someone who's read and loved my book, a teacher who would like to teach it, a librarian who wants to know more so that she can share it with more readers, a bookseller who would like to hand-sell the book.

I'm not expecting masses of traffic. And I'm not hoping for an instant spike in views either. I'm happy for people to discover the videos over time.

"The goal," Seth Godin said, "is to go to people who care." I know this is going to be a quality audience.


Make it matter.

We authors do so much for scrolling newsfeeds. Partly because it's compulsive. You can't help yourself when you feel the the newsfeed's siren call. We pretend that it's work, that it's all in aid of the author platform our publishers expect us to have. But deep down, we know our posts are destined to be forgotten. The social media superhighway moves too quickly and too many people are on the highway already.

So how do we make an impact on social media?

How do we make what we do matter?

Slowing down is one way. Posting less, and leaving your posts there for enough time to be found, to gather attention.

Another way is by being more selective about what you share and when you share it. The less dross you post, the more people take you seriously and want to see what you have to say.

It also means taking the time to put your post into context, so that it's value is clear to the audience. Why am I sharing this? What does it mean to me and my books? Why should it be of value to you?

For the past few years, I have favoured Facebook and Twitter, neglecting my websites and blogs for the ease of microblogging and the instant gratification of the scrolling newsfeed.

But now I want to invest effort into making things that last,  that continue to be relevant beyond the spark that led to its creation. This year, I'm going to test this by using platforms that aren't ephemeral: platforms that won't scroll away and disappear.

I'm ready for a change.

I'm ready to make the most of every opportunity.

I'm ready to make it matter.

---

Candy Gourlay is leaving Facebook. Read why here and here. Please stay in touch via Instagram, Twitter and via her website www.candygourlay.com