Maureen Green says Social History is IMPORTANT

 

Social history holds an important place in our lives. Stories told by ancestors sitting around a fire free from modern day distractions, gift their thoughts, feelings and way of life. These help future generations to know more about who they are, where they've come from and what's gone before.

Age after age, through generation after generation, all round the world, elders have recounted family stories. In some cultures important stories were learned by rote and handed down as treasured gifts that taught each new generation what people could aspire to, and how they should strive to live their lives.

In our society today, the extended family no longer sits down and shares stories from the past. The majority of families are scattered and elders denied that opportunity.

At my sister-in-law's recent celebration of a milestone birthday where numerous octogenarians were gathered with family members, fascinating stories of past times abounded. In awe and silence I listened to witty renditions following one after the other. As the audience swelled I noticed a sense of companionship growing as the listeners aligned their experiences with those of the raconteur.

I mused, 'What a pity,' as I listened spellbound. 'These historical events and reminiscences will all fade unless they are recorded.'

After the chatter had died, one of the women sidled up to me, said, "I've read your book."

"Which one?" I asked.

"Footprints in the Sands of Time. I've got heaps like those stories to tell, but don't know where to start."

"I was fascinated by your stories. Why not write them down.

"Mmmmm," she said. "I get a piece of paper and pen and stare at the blank page but nothing comes."

"There is no right or wrong way to shape your story. It’s just another way of conducting a conversation. Rely upon your own experience and feelings. Decide which ones you wish to hand on."

"I'll think on," she said, moved off and added as a throwaway, "My stories are not that important."

 Such a remark highlights the danger in this age of experts and information that we may start to believe that the colour and content of our personal experiences are trivial. That is not so. There are worlds of meaning and wisdom in social history. Nothing should keep us from telling our stories because they belong to us and those we love.

Maureen Green

CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS

You want to be a successful writer. You would like to have dollar signs coming out of your ears. Here are a few tips on how to achieve that:

1. Treat your writing as your profession. Make sure the family know, those are your working hours and no one is to intrude on them. If the house has caught fire or someone has broken a bone then they may knock on your door. Otherwise, be firm. Your writing has moved from being a hobby to a profession. You are going to write every day, you are not going to write when you “feel” like it. You wouldn’t do that if you had a boss and went into an office every day.
2. Decide on how many words a day you are going to write. Aim for 1,000 words. It’s not impossible, it's only three pages. Think of it long-term. With 1,000 words a day you can churn out a book in three months, three or maybe four books a year. Thing is, if you have set your goal at 1,000 then you write 1,000, not 900, not 950. Sit there until the magic 1,000 is done. And it will be magic!
3. Don’t diversify. General advice is to stick to one genre and, preferably in that genre, to a subject that will turn into a series. For example, you are going to write thrillers and, more specifically, paranormal thrillers. With one subject area your readers will know what to expect when they see your name on the book cover. (And this is where I have fallen very short. I’ve written bios, novels, a gift book, an instruction manual. It’s time I took my own advice and had a major subject area in which I can specialise.)
4. The well needs to be filled so make sure you take a break. Just as if you were going into the office every day you need to have time off to cool down and re-source. That means spending time at the beach, or walking in the wetlands, or even having coffee with friends at the local café. (I was offered a day at the races. I didn’t go. Darn! That could have been a source of a new book.)
5. Spend some time in the week doing your marketing and promotion (and that’s another blog waiting to be written).
6. There are some necessary tools you are going to need in your “office space”. First is Roget’s Thesaurus. A dictionary; I have a two-set Oxford I wouldn’t be without. Elements of Style by Strunk and White and I have a copy of Write Edit Print: Style Manual for Aotearoa New Zealand. Poetry books galore and a couple of shelves of how-to write books.

You are now set to be the best and most professional writer you can be. Good luck.

Jenny Harrison

www.jennyharrison-author.com

Evan Andrew reflects on life and the changing seasons.

It’s a perfect autumn day, perhaps too humid for April, but after all aren’t we getting global warming? I have just returned from a dear friend’s funeral. On such a day we ponder on our own life, and the ones that we have lost over time, and look at the blue sky and fleecy clouds, wonder about nature all around us, how short our time span might be, and yet still life rolls on.

Spring has always been my favourite time. Despite all the inconsistencies of the weather, I always feel it is a time of hope and promise, with new life all around you, and the promise of summer just around the corner.

Winter is snuggling up by the fire, good food and wine and laughter with family and friends. It’s when I get most of my writing done, while outside the winter storms arrive with cold and rain. The ground remains dormant, waiting for the arrival of spring.

Autumn though, had always seemed to me when I was younger, a sad time. The leaves falling from the trees, and the last crops of fruit and produce being picked before winter comes. There used to be the smell of smoke lingering in the air, from the burn-offs of the last corn planted, or the clearance of scrub. Now I’m older, I find it a more restful time of the year, when the garden is waiting for its winter rest.

I am off to the Coromandel for a week, and hopefully the good weather will stay. I will indulge in several of my pleasurable activities, which my children used to moan about.

I love blackberry picking and mushrooming, while catching the tuatuas, and a few other varieties of fish, always goes down well. Invariably, whenever I spotted a clump of blackberry patches, the kids and I were never dressed for it. We were usually in shorts, flimsy shirts, jandals, etc, and we would end up getting scratched, bitten, sunburned, and prickles in our feet and hands. Ah, but the blackberry pie that night! And the jam! All worth it in my book, but I’m not quite so sure my children saw it that way.

Mushrooming was much easier, though the find was not always so plentiful. Teaching them the good ones from the poisonous ones was always tricky, but in time the message got through. Does anyone else ever go mushrooming any more? Luckily I have a friend with a farm, so…

So, despite the loss of life that we have to endure as life rolls go on, sometimes the simplest things in life can still bring a smile to our lips, as we get on with the business of living, while the seasons roll around.

 

Evan G Andrew

 

TITLES THAT WILL HOOK READERS

You want your book to stand out from the crowd. The two things that will do that: cover and title.
Sadly, we writers spend more time worrying about commas than worrying about the titles of our books. I believe we should be thinking about our title as soon as we put our fingers on the keyboard and type ‘Chapter 1’. It is critical that we have the right title, one that is going to entice our reader in through the portals of page 1. Quite literally; titles sell books. Write that one hundred times and stick it up on your Creative Board so that you see it every day.

Here are a few ideas on how to find that winning title. First off there is no formula to creating a good title. Nor is there a copyright but it’s a good idea to check out amazon.com where you’ll probably find almost all recently published books. Put your title into ‘search’ and see what comes up.


We Indie writers don’t have to worry about a publisher scrapping a beloved title and putting one of their own in its place. That happened to me with Debbie’s Story. I wanted to call it Flying on Mended Wings and had a lovely quote to go with it. (Gustav Mahler wrote; “On wings I acquired through suffering I will soar”.) The final title is pretty mundane but the sales department thought they could sell a book called Debbie’s Story whereas they couldn’t with my original title. Which they did. It was a bestseller. On the flip side, while being an Indie writer gives us the freedom to put the title of our dreams on our book it also gives us the opportunity to make a big fat boo-boo.


Your title needs zing. It needs to be intriguing. Think of Norman Mailer’s book The Naked and the Dead. How would it be sold if the title was The Nude and the Deceased? Not very well, I imagine.  
If you’re planning a series, think about the connection; think Janet Evanovich and numbers: Hot Six, Smokin’ Seventeen, Sue Grafton’s alphabet titles. I’ve just found Twenty eight and a Half Wishes by Denise Grover Swank. It’s the first in her series. The next one is Twenty nine and a Half Reasons and then Thirty Four and a Half Predicaments. And so on.


So how do we get from here to there? Scour books of quotations, poetry books, your local book shop shelves, your own bookshelves. You’re a writer, right? You have books all over the place, right?
Try to think of an object or a symbol that represents the theme of your book. Metaphors also work pretty well, when the author put two things together that don’t normally go together and comes up with a brilliant title:

• Tender is the night
• A moveable feast
• The catcher in the rye
• The grapes of wrath

Ask your beta-readers to check out your list of titles (the twelve or so you have conveniently placed on your title page) and ask for a rating.

It’s hard finding the right title. I’ve known writers racked with indecision, gibbering. When all else fails remember you can always re-package.

Jenny Harrison

Thanks Jenny, our Mairangi Writers Country Correspondent and Blog Writer extraordinaire! Officer in Charge really appreciates your work. :)

 

Pam Laird has a Lightbulb Moment about Molehills!

An Alan Bennett’s quote in a recent English Writing Magazine: A writer has to use whatever is to hand in the way of experience. He or she is in the business of making mountains out of molehills.

Light-bulb moment! So simple, why didn’t I think of that? Mind you, Alan Bennett is knee deep in humour and there’s no denying he does it brilliantly.

Take The Lady and the Van. Most of you, if you haven’t read the book, (shame on you) will have seen the film. Such a simple, unlikely but for him, everyday experience and what has he done with it? Turned it into magic.

Molehills into mountains? Who knows? But although the behaviour of the main protagonist, Miss Shepherd, comes across as totally outlandish, even bizarre, it is all entirely possible. And that’s where Alan Bennett comes in. His masterly hand has transformed a barely endurable situation for him into a delightful world-wide money-spinner. Sigh!

Looking back at his quotation, you can only be filled with admiration for his ability to spin a pile of straw into a barrow heaped with gold.

Having said that, I shall remember his ‘molehill/mountain’ statement and will see what I can do with some everyday happening. (I suspect a retirement village is likely to be a bottomless pit of Miss Shepherd events.)

Pam Laird

Hoping to win the Pullet Surprise for Literature?

Thank heavens for those who mangle the English language. The likes of the Reverend William Archibald Spooner and Sheridan’s Mrs Malaprop bring to the language a sparkle and a sense of humour that, if it doesn’t drive you to distraction, invigorates and amuses. In A Decapitated Coffee, Please, author Des MacHale has collected a whole book of malapropisms. It should be on every writer’s bookshelf. (Quote: “General Rommel commanded Hitler’s Pansy Division...” Now, where can I use that?)

Over the years, I have created a couple of characters whose personalities are moulded by their, shall we say, unique approach to the English language.

In my book The Indigo Kid, Stella Goodstar runs the Sixty-Nine Club, a porn-slash-spiritual store (she didn’t know which end to cater for, so she combines the two). Stella has decided to dispense with posters in her store as someone has promised to ‘paint a nice Muriel on the wall’ for her. And discussing a charismatic evangelist: “That Peter Shepherd...A real fox in the penthouse, that one.”

In Rusty and Slasher and the Circus from Hell the priest, Father Shamus Appelbaum, follows in the splendid footsteps of Rev Spooner by urging his congregation to ‘hollow their fart’. Slasher is not averse to mangling the language either. “Maybe that’s because wriggle mortis had set in.” Slasher gave a theatrical shudder. “Now I know why they call them stiffs. He was like a cardboard box with legs.”

Creating such characters is fun. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? This writing lark. Having fun. Creating characters you like, that are maybe a little spark of your own inner, hidden, self. Characters you wouldn’t mind having a cuppa with. (Which says something about Nana Naills and me – she is naughty and not-so-nice and she needs adult diapers before going on a heist.)

Comparisons are odorous, I know. I will never write a spy novel, like John le Carré, about a Soviet agent who defecated to the West. I will never write a classic like Lame is Rob by Victor Hugo or Don Coyote by Servants. I may never win the Pullet Surprise with my novels but, boy, I’ve had fun.

(Malapropisms are thanks to Mr MacHale.)

Jenny Harrison

Jean Allen allows us into her writer's notebook

Jean’s World

A writer is a listener and observer. Being the youngest, by far, in a family of five children (in an era when we were taught to be seen and not heard) I learnt those two abilities early. In the 1970s I started jotting Jean’s World.

Jean’s World I have not travelled far nor risen high ~ but ah! what a life I’ve

            seen what a glorious world for Jean © 1978

 

Duskpines       Three pines on a hill navy ~ black ~ still ~ clear-edged ~ sharp ~

minutely stark, against the pale pink breast, of quiet sunset ~

this day’s last gentle kiss ~ a lingered sigh ~ goodbye ©Jan. 1983

 

Small Moment Locusts are humming and strumming their legs. They sing with the wind as it rips and it tears. In all the whole world with its wars and its crime I love God’s small moments of locusts’ song time ~ © February 1983

Moons & Clouds & Trees & Footpaths © year 2000.

The moon is a bright, white ball ~ or not at all; a squashed up circle, a flat banana or lost in the dark forever after.

Clouds can be white or black or grey ~ mostly slow and moving away. Or they can be heavy or fluffy or streaky, animals, castles, light or leaky.  

Trees in the rain are full of surprises, lifting their branches, waving their leaves. When they are drinking they swell and they breathe ~ grow as you watch ~ turn shiny- bright- green.

Footpaths lead to other places; turn on corners; stop on roads. It all depends on the way you’re going – uphill, downhill, to-ing or froing.

So these are a few of my observing minutes; those minutes when the urge to catch … is stronger than the lethargy to ignore. I have probably used all of the above in my books and my handwritten book of ‘Jean’s Small Moments’ keeps filling up …… and spilling into another!

This is Jean L Allen hoping you are enjoying your reading or writing, today.