Creative Kicks - Week 8 - Beat the Block with Anne Stormont

By Anne Stormont

Images by JD Lewis

Can't get started or stalling when you do?

Whether experienced or novice, most writers suffer from the dreaded writers' block at some time.

And it's not really surprising it happens. Writing is hard work. It's a craft as well as an art and it has to be learned, practised and improved.

Writing takes time and effort. The only way to learn it is by doing it. And the only way to practise is by doing it. And the only way to improve is by doing it. Yes, it's great when the creative juices flow, but most of the time it's a case of turning up and persevering. 

The block can be brought on by author fatigue, or by lack of commitment. But it can also be caused by lack of experience, by lack of confidence, or by lack of inspiration.

Its major symptom is procrastination which in turn leads to frustration, and in the most serious cases self-loathing and despair – where that voice inside tells you that you were a fool to ever think you could write – and you are tempted to give up completely.

Beating the block

But please, if you're affected by writers' block, don't give up. There is hope. It is possible to recover and become both creative and productive once more.

And because it can be due to different reasons it follows there are different remedies. So let's take them one by one:

Author fatigue – first of all congratulations for having got started and persisted up to this point. You've most likely been writing intensively – a do-not-disturb notice issued to friends and family – and every possible moment has been spent at your desk. You may well have been enthused, full of ideas and completely committed to your project. But then the well runs dry. Suddenly – or gradually – enthusiasm wanes, focus is lost and ideas dry up. It's time for a complete break, time to replenish.

So, get out of your writing space and re-engage with the world. The natural world is a particularly effective remedy. Going for a walk, run or cycle outdoors really does blow the claggy cobwebs away. And as you focus on the physical, your mind can go off on its own to process, refresh and reboot.

Social distractions are good too. A meal, a drink, and a catch up with the important people in your life also give the creative department of your brain some much-needed downtime. It seems as if switching your focus lets your mind declutter and work on things in the background – including your latest writing project – with no active input from you.

And don't forget to spoil yourself a bit too – take a nap or a nice long bath – or even READ, yes, lose yourself in a good book. It's amazing how after some time away you'll find renewed enthusiasm for the work-in-progress.

Lack of commitment – your writing can sometimes stall because the project you're working on doesn't excite you or seems pointless. In which case walk away. But it may be that even although you're enjoying the piece you're working on, you're still finding it hard to do, or to justify the time spent on it. This is where deadlines come in handy. Competitions are a great way of imposing a deadline on your project and will also ensure you give your writing your best shot. Or, if you share the intended date for the publication/circulation/reading of your story, article, poetry collection – or whatever – with your readers, that will also help you focus your efforts.

Lack of experience – the only remedy here is: get some experience. Yes, you need to be brave. Starting something new can often be scary. But like all journeys, learning to write begins with small steps. You won't have a bestseller overnight – indeed most of us who write will never have a bestseller. But that's okay because you'll have so much fun just writing for the sake of it. So begin small and build from there. Write a short story or an article or a poem. Then do some more. Maybe seek out a local writers group or club you can join where you can share your work and get some support. Consider take a writing class or course, online or in the real world. You could even consider a residential course and experience the joy of such an intense and fully immersive experience. But whatever you decide, do seek out constructive feedback, take criticism on the chin (but not as a personal insult) and aim to improve. 

Lack of confidence – this can be related to lack of experience but it affects established writers too. It can be related to disappointing feedback, a scathing review or the above affliction of author fatigue. But sometimes there is no obvious external cause. Sometimes it's that wee demon inside that likes to taunt us, tell us we're useless, asks us who we're trying to kid.

If you doubt yourself because of some negative criticism of your writing, take a bit of time to get over the hurt and then go back and interrogate the remarks made. More often than not there will be a grain (or more) of truth in that criticism and, also more often than not, you'll see a way to improve as a result. Equally, if you decide that no, the criticism is unjustified then put it aside and move on. Don't let one person's opinion stop you doing something you love.

And don't let the wee demon stop you either. Put it back in its box and turn the key. Then get back to doing the thing that gives you so much pleasure and excitement. Because there's nothing like the exhilaration of being in the zone, of seeing where the story – your story – is going to take you. And if one other person – besides you – also gets pleasure from reading it then it's doubly worthwhile.

And finally – Lack of inspiration – you want to write but you've no idea what to write. This is where writing exercises come in handy. So let me leave you with a few:

· Take the first sentence of chapter six in the last novel you read and write a 500, 1000 (or more) word story with it as your starting point.

· Get a photo of a person in e.g. a magazine advert (not someone famous or who you know) and write about them – their dilemma, or their life story, their job, their crime, their secret...

· As for the prompt above but use a picture of a place.

· Write about the first house you lived in, or the first film you saw, the first book you read – say what it meant to you and why.

· Choose something from the natural world – e.g. a starling, a river, an oak tree, or an object – e.g.paperweight, teddy, photo. Or choose an action – e.g. swimming, climbing, driving. Or choose an emotion – e.g. anger, sorrow, joy. And let that choice be your starting point for a short story, novel, poem or opinion piece.

So what are you waiting for? Go on kick the block aside and get writing!

Anne writes contemporary women's fiction. She has published two novels so far Change of Life and Displacement and her third novel Settlement  – a sequel to Displacement – will be out at the end of August.

Anne's novels have been described as thoughtful, grown-up fiction where the main characters are older but no wiser and feature characters who face challenges that involve love, loss and some of life's biggest questions.

Anne is a Scot, living in the land of her birth. She's a retired teacher and when she's not writing, she's a compulsive crossworder, yoga practitioner, avid reader, keen walker and gardener. She also loves spending time with friends and family – especially her two grandchildren.

Anne has travelled all over the world and her visits to the Middle East in particular have inspired her most recent writing.

She can be a bit of a subversive old bat, but she tries to maintain a kind heart.

Website: www.annestormont.co.uk

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/annestormontauthor

Twitter: @writeanne

Intentions by Anne Stormont

The writer's road is paved with good intentions.

I'm ambivalent about New Year resolutions. Don't get me wrong, I like the feeling of a fresh start that the dawn of each new year brings. I like the feeling that positive life changes might just be possible, and find hope in the optimistic perspective of a pristine set of twelve new months spread before me. I like to think I will lose weight, get fitter, be a better person. But I've also been through enough Januarys to know that resolutions seldom last for even those first thirty-one days.

So, in this article I'm not concerned with the above relatively lightweight use of resolution. No, here I'm concerned with its use as the opposite of procrastination, that nemesis encountered by many aspiring and experienced writers. Now, I should say that there are perhaps writers who don't suffer from procrastination, for whom the passion and urge to write is irresistible and who never doubt their role as authors. All I can say to those, most likely, pencil-slim, marathon running, all-round nice guys is Happy New Year. But for the rest of us, let's take a look at the type of resolution that's required to produce a piece of writing.

Resolution is a slippery word. It has, according to my Concise Oxford English Dictionary, eight definitions of meaning and, according to my Oxford Thesaurus, over fifty alternative words. So it's a multi-layered and complex word. But isn't that the joy of so many words in the English language?

Amongst the dictionary definitions were determination, formal expression of intention, and firm decision. But while I think all three can be applied to beating procrastination, I was particularly drawn to the less obvious (for writerly purposes) definitions. This was of course partly because, as a writer, I liked their metaphorical applications.

Firstly, there is the definition of resolution as it applies to music i.e. the passing of a discord into a concord during the course of changing harmony. So for writers that could mean moving from the negative voices in the head to the more positive, discarding the defeatist self-talk that says you're not good enough, that the task is too big, and having the courage and self-belief to go for it. Thereby finding a pleasing harmony between effort, output and the satisfaction of completion.

Secondly, there is the definition as it applies in medicine. That is the disappearance of a symptom or condition. So, goodbye to acute I-can't-do-this-itis and/or chronic I'll-do-it-when-I've-got-the-time- syndrome and hello to being cured and proclaiming proudly, "I'm a writer."

And thirdly, the definition of resolution as it applies in science, that is the smallest interval observable by a telescope or other scientific instrument. This is both an inspiring and comforting metaphorical definition for writers. We can break down our novel, memoir, poem, short story or how-to book  (or indeed one thousand word article) into small steps. These can be microscopic -  such as opening a new document on the computer, buying a new notebook or  researching local evening classes in writing.  Or they can be small - such as writing the first sentence or two, or attending that local course. Or there are the slightly bigger steps of a competition deadline, or sharing our work with a real world or online writing group. And so on.

As for the thesaurus alternatives to resolution, there's a rich seam here that can apply to the required mindset for the productive writer: perseverance, persistence, steadfastness, courage, boldness, aspiration, aim, proposal, strength of will.

I was especially taken with the suggested alternatives of decree, declaration, working out, conclusion and ending.  I like the idea of proclaiming my writing intentions (even if only to myself and my diary) and seeing them through to a satisfying (for me and, I hope, my readers) conclusion. I also liked the suggested antonyms to resolution these being, half-heartedness and prolongation. Wouldn't you just want to kick both their rears?

The motto of Leith Academy, the high school which I attended, was Persevere, so if forced to distil all of the above as it applies to my own resolution to make 2016 a productive writing year, then I'd go for perseverance as my one word  resolute declaration of intent.

And I'd take settlement as my back-up, thesaurus alternative to resolution as that just happens to be the title of my work-in- progress.  Now what's the dictionary definition of karma?

Do you have any writing resolutions? Do you find making resolutions in any of the above senses to be effective when it comes to getting those words written? Or do you not see the need to be resolute, as writing is something you're so passionate about, it comes naturally?

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes contemporary fiction for adults and has published two novels so far. She also writes for children, when she goes by the name of her alter-ego, Anne McAlpine. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.

Websites at: annestormont.co.uk  and annemcalpine.co.uk

Your Point Is? By Anne Stormont

Make sure your readers get the whole picture, give them a leg up and point them in the right direction...

I see things differently from my husband. I don't mean we have major disagreements or irreconcilable differences. But as I'm only five feet tall , and he's six foot two, we do differ in how we perceive the physical world. In our youth, when attending rock concerts or rugby internationals (before stadiums were all-seated) I would perch on his shoulders in order to see the show or the match.

More recently we were on a road trip and we stopped at a designated lookout to take in some stunning mountain scenery. My husband took some photos. Later when looking at the photos, I was surprised to see not only the mountain range, but a lake situated at the foot of it. I hadn't seen any lake when we'd stopped at the viewpoint. The trees at the foot of the slope, in the foreground above the lake, had obscured my view. Whereas my husband could see it no bother. Two people at the same viewpoint came away with two quite different points of view.

This interaction between viewpoint and point of view in the real 'out there' world can also apply to the internal world of the mind when a reader processes the written word. And it's something writers should bear in mind as they write. Writers are communicators after all and we want to convey the whole picture, not just give a partial view.

Any author who's ever had their work reviewed by several reviewers will have found that the point of view arrived at by readers can vary widely regardless of how unambiguous the author thinks they were in their presentation.

A writer presents their story, article, feature or review from a viewpoint, from a particular stance, at a particular angle, and that will have a big influence on the opinion or point of view formed by the reader. We  need to take our readers to the viewpoint, take them to the source of our story, poem or article, hoist them up onto our shoulders if necessary, and ensure they can see the lake beyond the trees.

There is, of course, another even more subtle tweak that authors of fiction can give to viewpoint and that is in deciding who will tell the story.  It can be a first person, third person or even a second person narrator. And let's not forget the omniscient narrator, who is not present in the story at all, but has access to all the action and thoughts of all the characters. That choice of narrator is one of the most crucial that an author has to make. And having made the decision we must then be consistent and remain true to that narrator's view. Each type of narrator carries its own implications as to viewpoint and  point of view for both the characters and the readers.

So, there's a lot going on with point of view. It's both subtle and complex. It has both cause and effect within it. Understanding it is crucial if your writing is going to be effective. And that's true for all genres.

For readers, when forming an opinion about what they've read, a lot will of course depend on their own experiences and prejudices, but what's crucial for authors to do is give a clear and unobstructed view of what it is they're presenting in written form. 

Words are an author's currency, but get viewpoint and point of view wrong and that currency becomes worthless.

Postscript:

While writing this article, the most recent awful events in Paris and Beirut have taken place.

And my awareness of the implications of viewpoint has therefore been heightened. I believe there's a responsibility upon writers to choose our words carefully and deliver them in as honest and clear a way as possible.

The deeply felt reactions to these ghastly happenings have been expressed both verbally and in writing, on TV, radio and in the newspapers. But nowhere more so than on social media. Social media has made writers of us all of course, but I think there's an onus on those of us who call ourselves professional writers to be careful, considered and calm in all our posts, articles, poems and stories.

Yes, we should write with passion and feeling, yes we should express our opinions and give our own point of view. However, we must be mindful of and transparent about where we are coming from. We shouldn't deliberately obscure or distort what can be deduced from our viewpoint.

We should be both true to ourselves, but also honest towards our readers.

Words are powerful .Writers can be a force for good or bad. We can affect another's point of view. We can provoke thought and action. The pen can truly be mightier than the sword.

So, whether we write newspaper articles, biographies, poems, short stories, crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, literary fiction, children's books, cookbooks... Whatever! We can offer enlightenment, entertainment, solace, or challenge. Please let our points of view be a force for good, for the furtherance of liberty, equality and brother-and-sisterhood.

In the words of Martin Luther King 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.'

So let all of us who are writers in whatever format or genre treat our words as candles; candles that illuminate our viewpoints and the points of view of our readers.

---

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children, when she goes by the name of her alter-ego, Anne McAlpine. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.

Websites at: annestormont.co.uk  and annemcalpine.co.uk

Bad guys: Beasts drawn to Beauty

Who are you calling bad?

I admit it. I like a bad guy. I'm intrigued by the man in black, the saboteur, the bringer of danger. And no, of course I don't mean in real life, but in fiction - most definitely.

There is something compelling about a Hannibal Lecter type of character. Yes, he's malevolent, evil and sick but reading a story such as his allows the reader to safely explore humanity's darkest aspects. 

However, that's not really the type of character I have in mind when I think fondly of fictional bad guys.

Nor is it the classic baddie or anti-hero, whether it's the moustache-twirling, cape-swirling plotter of dastardly crimes or the warmongering, power hungry king, dictator, leader of an alien race who is intent on domination of country, planet or universe. And even less so is it the perpetrator who is unmasked at the end of a who-done-it.

No, for me, the fascinating bad guy is the tough, flawed, damaged individual. He could be Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind or the Phantom below the opera house. He's perhaps aggressive, even violent when he needs to be, but only in the furtherance of a just cause or in the defence of himself and those he loves or protects. He may be blinkered and misguided, but he has an interesting back story, can ultimately be a force for good, and there's often the possibility of some sort of redemption. Yes, the ubiquitous maverick cop springs to mind, but it could equally be a rebel soldier, politician, lawyer, journalist - whatever - bad guy will be a boundary pusher and bender of rules. And that edge of unpredictability, unconventionality and danger will make him sexy, intriguing maybe even lovable - as the Beast was to Beauty.

Bad guy pops up in all the genres, and can be the protagonist or antagonist or, indeed, both rolled into one. But as long as he's badass which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as both tough and good, then he'll work for me.

But, wait a minute, this bad guy thing - it seems all very male doesn't it? And if I go back to my dictionary I see that the O.E.D. defines guy (singular) as 'a man' BUT guys (plural) is defined as 'people of either sex'. So surely there should be some leeway for the gender of bad guys?

I must admit, I'm at a bit of a loss to come up with a sexy and intriguing bad guy-woman who has made any sort of impression on me. I know the baddies in fairy tales are often women - and boy are they wicked. The evil stepmother, the wicked queen, the bad witch - scheming murderers all. Then, in comic-strip superhero world there are the Catwoman types and their cousins the femmes-fatales and the tarts-with-a heart who appear in spy thrillers and crime novels. But the bad-in-a good-way female guy - she seems rare if she exists at all. Why that is - well there's a whole PhD thesis in the answer to that question.

But male or female, for writers wanting to employ the services of a captivating bad guy the important thing to remember is complexity. Yes, bad guy can be on a mission to fight a one-dimensional baddie be that a person, organisation or demon, but your guy needs to be nuanced, intriguing  and beguiling - just as any other protagonist/antagonist needs to be. However although my preference is for deepdown-good-bad guys, your bad guy doesn't have to be likeable. The notions of 'bad' and 'good' are difficult  to define objectively and are open to the writers' and readers' interpretation. The truly irredeemable and entirely wicked individual is rare in life and literature, but where a writer creates such an individual some degree of subtlety, ambiguity and credibility is good.  As the saying goes there's a banality to evil, but you don't want your writing to suffer from the same label.

So how do you like your bad guys?

Hmm, thinking about all of this has given me an idea for a novel. Main character is a kickass, badass girl-guy, complete with scar, blackbelt,  aggression and a mission. She's afraid of no-one as she battles through the plot, saves the world, and is ultimately saved from herself by cardigan-guy.

Watch this space for the publication date of Badass Beauty - I may be some time...

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children when she goes by the name of her alter-ego, Anne McAlpine. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.

Websites at : annestormont.co.uk  and annemcalpine.co.uk

From Jim Hawkins to Katniss Everdeen and beyond... by Anne Stormont

A brief history of YA fiction. The more things change etc...

I'm not a writer of Young Adult (YA) fiction, but I did used to read it. I was a young adult back in the Dark Ages of the 1970s. In my teenage years I was just as avid a reader as I'd been in my childhood, and as I remain to this day. I've dipped in and out of YA fiction over the intervening years, partly in my role as a teacher and partly while parenting my own, now fully-formed, YAs.

I'm no expert on the genre. However, I am aware that the last ten years seem to have seen an amazing rise in YA's level of popularity, building as it has on the foundations laid by Harry Potter.

But was it all really so different forty years ago, and what will my present-day toddler grandchildren be reading when they get to high school?

According to A Brief History of YA books on http://www.epicreads.com , the 1970s saw a blossoming of YA fiction, something which had been building since the 1940s and 50s with the appearance of such books as the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series. I don't exactly remember the seventies as being awash with contemporary authors in the genre. There are however, two that I do recall fondly. Firstly, there's Mary Stewart and all her historical fantasies including The Crystal Cave published in 1970. It was set in the fifth century and told the supposed real-life back-story of Merlin. And secondly, Judy Blume, especially her 1975 title Forever. Forever dealt with the contemporary adolescent problems of parental divorce, growing-up, bereavement and sexual awakening. Indeed it was remarkable at the time for its level of sexual explicitness.

But here's the thing, the bulk of my YA reading list wasn't written while I was a teenager, comprising as it did of older, classic material. There were the early twentieth-century books such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies. But my real favourites from my adolescent years were written in the nineteenth-century.

These include Little Women by Louisa May Alcott written in 1868 and Treasure Island and Kidnapped both by Robert Louis Stevenson and written in the 1880s.

Old and classic they may be, but many of the present-day YA themes and settings are there––absent parents, strange, alien or threatening environments––even those rooted in the familiar, see their main characters dealing with strange and challenging events. They each address at least some of the same issues, such as self-reliance, loyalty, moral choices and first love, as today's YA books do.

Little Women was first published in two volumes. The first volume was so popular with its young, mainly female readers that the second volume was published less than a year later. It was then rapidly followed by two sequels and so became a series. Sound familiar? Little Women tells the story of four sisters, living through the American Civil War and its aftermath. The girls' father is away because of the war, and their mother is either pre-occupied with supporting the war-effort or absent tending to their father after he falls ill. They have to cope with poverty, illness, bereavement and their first encounters with romantic love. Each sister faces her own challenges and a certain loss of innocence. Jo, the main character, is tough, practical and independent. Her three sisters all represent other 'young female' characteristics. Meg is the home-loving, dutiful one, Beth is physically weak but heroic and Amy is pretty and light-hearted. So the sisters'  different and sometimes conflicting personalities and reactions mirror the emotional turmoil often experienced by the young adult reader - and surely some of that turmoil remains the same for today's young women. It could be argued that Little Women and its sequels foreshadow questions of the role of women still being asked in the 21st century. For example, there's Meg the stay-at-home wife and mother versus Jo who for a long time resists the pressure to marry and builds a successful career.

Treasure Island was first produced in 1881/82 in serial form in Young Folks, a children's magazine. It was described at the time of publication as being about 'buccaneers and buried gold' and yes, it's a high-seas, swashbuckler but more than that, it's essentially a coming-of-age story. Young hero, Jim Hawkins, is a timid child at the start. His father is dead and Jim must earn some money. During his time at sea Jim develops into a mature young man. He has to deal with deadly enemies. He has to be self-reliant, cope with moral ambiguities and face up to greed and temptation.  There's complexity too. Little is clear cut. The villain, Long John Silver, is a vibrant and charismatic antagonist. Jim comes to a mature view regarding Silver, at one point referring to him as 'the best man here', and at the end he wishes him well. This all contributes to the book being an enduring YA classic.

Stevenson's other novel for young people is Kidnapped. It too was serialised in Young Folks magazine. Published in book form in 1886, it's set in eighteenth-century Scotland. The hero is seventeen-year-old David Balfour. His parents are dead. Having escaped from his kidnappers, he becomes a wanted man and flees across some of the wildest parts of Scotland in the company of another fugitive, the Jacobite, Alan Breck Stewart. In seeking to gain justice for their respective causes David and Alan face danger and death. Their adventures are exciting and numerous and they meet many compelling and fascinating characters along the way, some who are on their side and others who most definitely are not.

And, like Little Women, Kidnapped also has a sequel.

Yes, YA fiction has been around at least since the nineteenth-century and it has continued, in much the same format, series and serials included, to be a major form of literature in the decades since.

During the 1980s the genre of contemporarily written YA fiction became more strongly established, but it probably wasn't doing anything outstanding in terms of more general awareness or outstanding sales. There were the popular, if not exactly feminist, Babysitter Club and Sweet Valley High series of books, but there were also the dark fantasies of, for example, Diana Wynne-Jones.

In the 1990s there was RL Stine's very popular Goosebumps series - a set of horror-meets-humour books, beloved at the time by my, otherwise non-reader, teenage son. And there was also the sexy and dangerous Vampire Diaries series by LJ Smith. But books were by now having to compete for young people's attention with the popularity of evermore technological pursuits.

Then the decade and century ended with Harry Potter - enough said.

And, in the 2000s, YA fiction was able to build on HP's success and the fact that adolescents had returned to reading in a big way.

There was the The Book Thief, a marvellous book by Markus Zusak, published in 2005, and which did that thing that the best YA often does, that is it appealed to a much wider audience than the supposed limits of the genre.

And similarly of course, and in the same year, Stephanie Meyer's New Moon, the first of the Twilight series, was published. The Twilight books have the classic YA mix - young person in unfamiliar territory, pushing boundaries, experiencing first love, albeit with added sexual tension and forbidden elements as one of the main characters is a vampire. Meyer's books also have a great combination of fantasy, reality, suspense and danger and such a good balance of plot and character development that they really can't fail. There's something for every sort of reader.

The same can be said of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games, published in 2008, and yes, with two subsequent books in the series. Here we have dystopian science-fiction with a feisty and independent sixteen-year-old female lead. This eerie, post-apocalyptic fantasy has politics, violence, rebellion and many tests of loyalty. There are moral choices to be made. Adolescents must become self-reliant, must grow up. The plot has pace and twists aplenty. It ticks all the YA boxes and therefore, once again, breaks out beyond the confines of YA in its appeal.

Which brings us to 2010s, to the present state of YA fiction. It doesn't seem to be waning in its success or appeal. Just two of many possible examples: first Endangered by Lamar Giles. Set firmly in the social-media age, it tells the story of photo-blogger, Lauren, who in exposing the secrets of classmates and school staff falls victim to a blackmailer and is drawn into the deadly game of Dare or Dare. And secondly there's Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider. Here the main character, suffering from an incurable strain of TB, is isolated in a sanatorium. It's a story of survival, second-chances and poignant first-love. Again many boxes ticked for widespread YA appeal.

But, looking beyond the Katniss and 2015 generations of adolescent readers, who knows? There's the rise or, should that be rebirth, of the graphic novel. There are the gamers with their need for thrills, immediacy and interaction. Then there's the Minecraft generation building their own worlds online and making up their own narratives. And finally there are the present-day toddlers, already able to operate a smart-phone or tablet by their third birthday, expecting when-they-want-it, visually engaging entertainment.

I hope that books of all sorts continue to deliver their own unique form of entertainment, solace and escape. I hope that YA readers become adult readers. Content and delivery will undoubtedly change and it will be interesting to see where next for YA fiction.

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children - the pre-YA set aged 9 to 12. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.  

Marking Time by Anne Stormont

Writers as travellers in time.

How do you like your history? Do you prefer it linear or layered?

As writers we get to move freely through time. We can set our fiction in the past, present or future and our characters can even move from one time period to another as we allow time to shift or slip around them. If we write non-fiction, it can be a personal record of the past by way of a biography or memoir, or an analytical record of past events; it can involve speculation about the future by extrapolation form where we are now, or  it can chronicle the present as, for example, so many bloggers do.

Then there's creative non-fiction. Writers in this genre can really blur the timelines. Some blur them beautifully as they muse on past and present - H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald and On the Shorelines of Knowledge by Chris Arthur - being two fine examples. My current personal favourite is Robert Macfarlane who just writes so beautifully about the etching of time on our landscape, in its high places and in the rocks beneath our feet.

As I say elsewhere in this issue, I studied history as part of my MA degree. My other subject was psychology. So I suppose it's not surprising that I'm fascinated by the nature of time, by how we humans measure it and perceive it. And I've also noticed as both parent and grandparent, and of course as a teacher, how children often perceive time in a more intense way than adults, but also in a more fluid way. The year between a seventh and eighth birthday is much longer than the year between a fifty-seventh and a fifty-eighth one. Last week is as far away as a decade ago. It's no accident that so much of children's fiction involves flexibility in the laws of time and space.

On the subject of time and space, I was equal parts enthralled and bewildered by Professor Brian Cox's BBC television series on quantum physics and its relation to time. But what the programme did confirm for me was that there's more to history than the linear approach.

When considering history whether in terms of personal, national or world events, we tend to think in terms of a timeline. Even when going very far back to pre-history and the beginnings of human life, we still tend to view all that has happened in a one-event-after-another sort of way. Days in history in one long line.

In each twenty-four hour period things happen, have always happened. Some of these things are considered important enough to be noted down. Long ago they may have been recorded as cave paintings, chiselled onto stone tablets or scribed on parchment scrolls. More recently they'd be published in newspapers, journals and books, and of, course on the internet.  And those recorded events provide reference points on the timeline. They're there to be read, understood and interpreted. They're there to give structure and meaning and a bit of an underpinning to our lives.

I find it fascinating, in a weird sort of way, that there's a date every year that will become the anniversary of my own death. Yes, I'm at an age where I'm aware of time passing, of my own mortality and the end to my own personal timeline. It's not something that scares me exactly, but I don't want it to come around just yet.

I try to make each day count, I try not to waste time and I try to be mindful of this day in my own history. I strive to enjoy the gift of the present and to leave my own tiny, but positive, marks in time.

This day in history, its moments, its joys and disasters, it's all we ever truly possess. However, we can be so pressed for time that we often experience our days as fleeting. We wish we could fit more in, wish we had more leisure and more time for our loved ones. On the other hand, on some days the hours pass too slowly, filled with yearning for days gone by, or perhaps with impatience for days still to come. 

So, what of all those other days? Days of past and future history. Are they truly inaccessible; the past behind us and the future further on up the line? What if we imagine history as layered rather than linear? So instead of looking back, or even forward at a particular day in history, we look down and through.

Time for some lateral thinking.

We live on a small but beautiful, very old planet that spins in an ancient and vast universe. Contemplating history and the passage of time on a planetary or universal scale is truly mind-bending.

Astrophysicists view time as a fourth dimension. They suggest not only that time can bend, but that it flows at different rates depending on location. They posit that its rate of flow is relative to the other dimensions of space and to the amount of gravity that is present.

The everyday, human version of time is just a construct. A useful construct, and one that facilitates the organisation of our lives, but a construct nevertheless. Our clocks and calendars measure something that is relative and is organised in neat lines and circles by a shared understanding and agreement. But it's not fixed and it's not absolute.

Supposing I left the Earth today and travelled on out of our solar system and our galaxy. Suppose I went through a wormhole - a bend in time and space that would let me travel hundreds of thousands of light years in a blink, perhaps even to another of the possibly many universes - I would be far away, not just in spatial terms, but in terms of time as well. And then, after maybe a couple of years holidaying on a far away world, I return to Earth. I would be two years older but it's theoretically possible that fifty, a hundred, maybe five hundred years would have passed here. My days in history would be very different from, and totally  out of step with, those of you who remained earthbound .

I don't fully understand the astro-physical concept of time and space, but I like the idea of it. I find it comforting that time isn't fixed and that the atoms that make up our bodies have existed since time began, and will always exist in some form as long as time continues to be.

I love that when I walk the Earth's surface my footfalls connect me with all the layers of life and time on our wee blue planet. Layers of geology, topography, ancestry, experience and time. Layers not limited by days, months and lifespans.

I love the possibility that all my days could exist simultaneously and forever, all of them layered up, down and through the planet's physical layers and throughout all the multiverses. I love that I might magically get a glimpse of these other days. I love that, even if it's just in theory, there could be places in time and space where my days in history have other and infinite possibilities.

I love that time is immeasurable, and I love that the marks we make on it are immeasurably small.

I love that as writers we can, at least for a short while, make time do our bidding.

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.   

Words with (Jam) History by Anne Stormont

It's not only authors writing  on historical themes who mine the past, all writers do it

I know a bit about history. Both ancient and modern history made up a fair proportion of my university degree, and my days at university could now actually be classed as ancient history themselves. Looking back at my days at St Andrews, reading the earnest essays and tutorial notes, the latter complete with doodles in the margin, or looking at the photos full of seventies hairdos­­­–– feather-cut anyone–– and bell-bottom jeans is akin to going on an archaeological dig. The past is brought instantly to life when I look at those artefacts. What future, actual archaeologists would make of them, I'm not sure. They'd probably decide there was no such thing as a hairdresser in the period 1974-77 and that there was a world surplus of denim which was adopted as the material for the making of uniforms for all students.

When thinking about what to write for this history themed issue, I was struck by how closely related, history and its sister discipline of archaeology are to the art of writing. All writers in whatever genre and no matter how 'out there' the nature of their work, must mine their own experiences in order to come up with their content. Our lives and those of the people who went before us, the life of our planet and its incredible journey through time and space provide layer upon layer of material to explore. And we then reflect and surmise, speculate and extrapolate and finally imagine and create. And it doesn't matter whether we're writing fiction or non-fiction, literary or genre, poetry or drama, we all have to go back to a source. It also doesn't matter if our fiction writing is contemporary, set in times past, or times still to come. Our sources pre-date us no matter what.

All writers extract the story from the history. 

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.   

The Writing Life by Anne Stormont

It's hard work, often poorly paid, but what's not to like?

Like many professions, the job of writer is prone to stereotyping by those who don't do it.

From the notion of the starving, suffering artist in the garret wringing out cerebral literary novels to the sensitive delicate soul on the chaise longue spinning poetic ethereal romances; from the hard-drinking, drug-taking brute who produces perfect incisive prose to the multi-millionaire genre bestseller and possessor of blockbuster film rights––all have contributed to readers' perceptions of what it is to be a writer.

As with many stereotypical ideas, there are elements of truth in them. But they're not the whole story. The writing life is more real, rigorous and rewarding than the above would suggest. And it's way more prosaic than such poetic clichés.

It's true that many (most?) writers whilst not starving, are certainly not rich. According to an article in The Bookseller, the annual average earned by authors in 2013 was just £11,000. The majority of writers need other sources of income besides their writing. Some will do writing-related jobs such as writer-in-residence, or teaching on writing courses. They may write for newspapers, magazines and websites or work as editors, proofreaders, or book designers. However, they may do jobs that are unrelated to writing. Especially, but not exclusively, in the early stages of a writing career, authors are likely to be earning their living as doctors, academics, lawyers, teachers, gardeners or office workers (These are just ones I know of, the possibilities are endless).

Writers with day jobs are not just a modern phenomenon either. Some of the best-known authors in history maintained another career alongside their writing. They include: Sir Walter Scott who worked as an advocate (equivalent to an English barrister) and judge, Robert Burns who was a farmer then tax collector, T.S. Eliot who worked as a banker, Trollope who worked in the Post Office and Dickens who was a journalist. Working at other things certainly didn't harm their writing.

Level of earnings aside, it could be argued that having another job is a good thing for a writer. It keeps the author engaged with the real world. It provides experiences––good and bad–– that can fill up the creative well. Having the mind focus on other things also allows the sub-conscious to work away on ideas in the background.

But the writing life for any author––with or without a day job–– is not just a case of sitting at a desk typing or scribbling in a garret, shed or study, or indeed lying on a chaise longue musing. An eight hour (or more) working day is possible, but it's unlikely the time will be spent exclusively on writing creatively. Even if it were possible, it's probably unrealistic and undesirable as the writerly brain would most likely explode. No, there are other tasks apart from making new books that the writer must attend to. Just as in most jobs, there is of course paperwork to attend to––accounts to be done and lecture/public-speaking notes to be written. There could also be websites and promotions to develop, book-signings to be carried out, research to be conducted, interviews to give and magazine and newspaper features to write or contribute to.

However, having said all of the above, the writing life––and I'm speaking personally now––is a good life. Until recently I had a day job, working full time as a primary school teacher, which I combined with doing my writing. Then, in August last year, I took early retirement. One of the main reasons I did so was to give myself more time and energy to write. Ironically, I do have to be more disciplined about turning up for work. Not having to go to school lulls me into feeling I've plenty of time and procrastination is easy. Having only limited time to write pre-retirement definitely helped me focus.

But I'm getting into a productive rhythm and I think I have a good writing life/retirement life balance.

The act of writing creatively––and by extension––the writing life–– is a process not an event. It has its own rhythms and cycles, it requires planning and evaluation, and these are characteristics I enjoy. It's also a life that requires constant learning and inquiry. It needs a willingness to take risks, to make intuitive leaps, to push boundaries––again these are all things I thrive on.

It's a process that, when it's working well, is magical, thrilling and rewarding. Hours can pass unnoticed, the room go dark and the husband go hungry as the words flow. It's that wonderful, therapeutic thing of being taken out of yourself. Indeed, sometimes if interrupted mid-process, it can take me some moments to come out of character and back into the real world.

When it's working, my writing life is just great. I earn practically nothing, certainly less than it costs to make a book, but to create something real is its own reward. Even if nobody read what I wrote, I'd still do it. Because I have to do it. It keeps me sane and it feeds my soul.

But to hear someone has enjoyed and connected with my stories is the metaphorical icing. To have a book group discuss my characters as if they actually exist is goose-pimplingly surreal, and to have a reader approach me in the supermarket to tell me how much they enjoyed my book is sublime.

When it comes to my writing life at least––what's not to like?

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.  

The Voices in Your Head by Anne Stormont

Don't ignore the voices in your head, write them down and let them speak...

The word voice is one of nuanced meaning. The term covers a broad range from the literal to the figurative, and it's often about more than what is uttered.

The voice is so much more than the ability to make meaningful sounds. It's a complex process and it's a complex concept. It begins as the inner voice, as thought coded into  language, which may then be given external expression.

At its most literal voice describes the facility to make purposeful and meaningful sound in order to communicate. It's fast, economical and dynamic and it requires the active engagement of the listener in order to be interpreted, understood and responded to. The human voice is a way of giving thought and language verbal expression, but it doesn't have to involve making sound.

Soundless use of voice is possible. The use of sign language by the deaf is testament to that. Watch, or take part in, a soundless, signed conversation and you'll see that 'voice' is still very much present. This fact helps to underline that voice is more than noise-making. Indeed even the spoken word is rarely used on its own and is often enhanced by the silent voices of sign and gesture. And, for both speakers and signers, there's the whole other voice of body language.

Just think of the difference between a voiced phone conversation and one that takes place face-to-face and you'll see how layered the human conversational voice is. And that's just the start.

From earliest history, humans have given voice to their inner thoughts and not simply by speaking. From cave paintings to modern art; from body painting for war and ceremonial purposes to the twenty-first century craze for multi-purpose tattooing; from the earliest signals of drum-beat, ram's horn and pipe, and to the symphony orchestra and pop, rock and rap; from tribal chant to opera and hip-hop; from classical and experimental theatre to blockbuster movie; And from stone tablets and camp-fire storytelling to e-books, the inner voice has many routes to outer expression.

But this is a magazine for writers. So whilst acknowledging all of the above let's turn now to words, to words written down and given voice by the writer, to words that are crafted to stick.

The narrative voice of the writer, when used well, can and should be as powerful and versatile as the musical or speaking voice. It will have its own tone, timbre, rhythm and range. In non-fiction, it will proclaim the purpose and content with clarity. In fiction, the voice will convey plot by building content, tension and resolution; setting by building atmosphere, mood and environment; and character by building personality, age and gender. Whatever the genre the voice should strive to be eloquent, erudite and entertaining.

And, as in music and the spoken word, the narrative voice will also use pause and silence. This allows the reader to reflect and thereby will convey much that is powerful and significant.

The process of creating and employing the narrative voice is mysterious and magical. It's a sort of inexplicable alchemy. Anyone who has undergone any kind of talking therapy will know that you often don't know what you think about something until you say it out loud. A thought may be subconscious, but voicing it brings it to the conscious mind. We all make sense of our lives by voicing our personal stories.

And the same can be true of voicing a written narrative. A character's actions or a plot development can sometimes surprise even the author. An unvoiced thought or idea can appear voiced and out there on paper, almost without the conscious engagement of the writer––now that's awesome.

What is also awesome about narrative voice is its potential effects on its readers. Of course, not everything that's written has life-enhancing and life-changing significance, but even relatively lightweight literature can enhance a life by simply entertaining the reader. The possibilities for a strong narrative voice to inspire, motivate and educate are endless. Just ask any political dictator who uses censorship as a means of control if you're not convinced of the power of the unfettered voice.

Words are affective and effective. Words stick. Writers use their narrative voices to give action to those words. And actions speak even louder. So get using those voices. You never know what they may achieve.

Anne Stormont is an author-publisher. She can be a subversive old bat but maintains a kind heart. As well as writing for this fine organ, she writes fiction for adults – mainly of the female-of-a-certain-age persuasion – and for children. She blogs at http://putitinwriting.me  – where you can find out lots more about her.