More than Writers

  I detest change, unless I’m in a routine, then I crave it. The last months have been devoid of routine and rather testing my patience and sanity, and writing has suffered, as well as other things like reading. But it has made me think about flexibility and how this can affect us. My children are pretty flexible, as we have worked on this for years, but still, any uncertainty causes huge outbursts, forcing me to be more flexible as well as predictable! I was thinking about characters, and how they will be affected by their ability to be flexible. Often in a series, you can see the main character having standard things, like the hat and pipe in Sherlock Holmes, in so much that they are a fixture. I enjoy that in a character, something stable and predictable. Having to flexible as a character can bring out other flaws or strengths as well though, and as a writer, I enjoy watching my characters struggling with the unexpected. I enjoyed the difficulties my characters had in Down...

Image Credits:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Once upon a time is the classic beginning for fairytales. Those fuelled my love of reading. It is a great shorthand way of showing you  this story is a fantastical one. From the classic fairytales, I discovered C.S. Lewis’s Narnia Chronicles, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and then Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings , plus much more besides. This classic fairytale opening line should inspire us with our story beginnings. Once upon a time sets a genre, the fact the time isn’t the present day, and leads you into what follows. Our opening lines need to show something of a genre, the setting, and a sense of what is to follow.  With a crime story, I am expecting in those opening lines to either know what the crime is because the author opens with it, or I meet the victim, or I meet who will investigate the crime which is about to happen. No question of what the genre is here either. It is shown through tho...

  “May you feel His presence today in your writing”. This is Philippa Lenton’s prayer for us in her April 6 th post, titled ‘ Eclipses and transfigurations’ . As I read through her post, I felt the presence of God and was inspired to drop this post at that moment after my reading. God also brought about a couple of factors to my consciousness. I was relaxed, refreshed and away from my crowded space in London. I was in Majorca, Spain. The views of the Mediterranean Sea, picturesque hills, the summer sky (even though it’s spring), and holiday makers from various countries surrounded me at different points.  I enjoyed a buffet served 3 times daily to satisfy my curious palate. All this kicked-started my writing for this post, but best of all, a Christian crime fiction I had abandoned for about a year, came to life!  I am grateful to God when He answers my prayers unexpectedly. If, in January or February, I had been told I would pick up on my writing mood, I would neve...

  Hello, my name is Liz, and I’m a Knitwit. That is the way I have been introducing myself for the last fifteen or so years. Even my email address announces me as Knitwitliz. The Crochet group I belong to is known as the Croqueteers (after a blooper description of us in the local press). I love quirky words and, if you hadn’t guessed I love knitting and crochet. Breaking news now. At the ripe old age of 71 I have moved on, and finally have the confidence to call myself a writer.   Now, don’t get me wrong, I have written in many shapes and forms since I was ten. I write (and have had published) Bible study notes, prayers and articles. I’ve written essays and sermons, newsletters and church magazine stuff. And letters in abundance.   Attending the Writers’ Summer School at Swanwick for the first time last year has been a life changer for me. It introduced me to writers – I was going to say in all shapes and sizes, but perhaps in all forms and genres is more politicall...

Image of someone holding the word 'ENCOURAGE' made from Scrabble letters, by  RachH  from  Pixabay   "By words we learn thoughts, and by thoughts we learn life." —Jean Baptiste Girard "Colours fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure." —Edward Thorndike I supported thousands of young people during my 30 years as a youth worker. One such person was Linda. A teacher told her, in front of her peer group, that she would never amount to much. This one comment held her back, and two years after leaving school, I helped her to confront that teacher. After that, she never looked back. My school years were not the best, and I often had teachers tell me things similar to Linda. I attended Marling Grammar School and recently joined the Old Marlingtonians Facebook group. This was my first post on the group page. Dear Marling School, sorry I didn't amount to much at school and left in 1976 with few qualifications. I did, however, go on to c...

 The very first writing class I went to, in 1971, was led by the lovely, now sadly late, Scottish crime writer Alanna Knight. She told us firmly that our novels should be 60,000 words long (which is what the publishers of the day demanded for genre fiction) and have 12 chapters, which followed a rising arc up to the penultimate chapter when all is revealed, and the last chapter wraps it all up. I believed her. I followed her instructions. I wrote my first novel (science fiction) that way. And the second (Gothic suspense). And the third (Young Adult adventure). And struggled. And gave up and went and edited and published other people's non-fiction books for years and years and years. It wasn't until much later that I learnt that you don't have to do it that way. If that's not the way you're hard-wired. There are plotters who thrive on such a structured approach, and pantsers who wing it, following the words to wherever... But there is a downside to pantsing. I get ab...

  At the ACW writing for children group last month, we had the prompt of ‘Letting God’s light in.’ I don’t know about you, but I’m not always good with prompts. Sometimes they don’t spark anything other than frustration. But this one worked for me. Stained glass was the first thing that sprung to mind. A shaft of light cutting through the gloomy interior of a medieval church, lighting the darkness literally and metaphorically. But that’s not really relevant to me. I’m not a glass artist and I don’t worship in an old church with stained glass windows or write the sort of fiction where people attend such churches. What I do is write for teenagers. For the confusing world of hormones and burgeoning identities; of pressure to fit in and find your crowd while accepting every pronoun and life choice. Of needing to revise for constant tests and make decisions about a future you can’t possibly know. Of the inescapable demands of social media and online trolling. Of co...