Tuesday 12 May 2015

Curtis Brown Creative Summer School

I have reached an important decision. I would like to start posting to my blog again.

In the past many of my posts were reviews of novels that I had enjoyed. However my current aim is for my blog to document my journey as a writer, reflecting the process of my writing. I thought I would start with a brief post about Curtis Brown Creative.

I attended the Six Month Novel Writing course in spring 2014, tutored by Louise Wener and Anna Davis. I reflected on my experiences on approaching the end of the course in a previous post here: - http://iandavidkirkpatrick.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/curtis-brown-creative-approaching-end.html

So ten months further on, what have I achieved? Firstly I completed the re-write of “Ilona”, the mid-life crisis crime thriller that I had been writing throughout the CBC course. I submitted it to a number of literary agents, with a degree of initial optimism, but an undercurrent of realism. It was rejected by all of them, although both Gordon Wise and Sheila Crowley had the decency to offer some excellent suggestions about narrative voice and pacing which I intend to act upon in a future re-write. So I have decided to shelve "Ilona" for a while. She's glaring at me as if I've somehow betrayed her, but if I'm honest I think my new novel has a better narrative voice, better pace and represents a more commercially viable proposition.

Over the course of the last six months I have been working on a second project, a Mature Young Adult novel with the working title of "Safe Sext". This explores the consequences of the sexting phenomenon for a group of teenagers, who unwittingly find themselves at the centre of a revenge porn shit-storm.

I have just signed up for the Curtis Brown Creative Summer School in July, once again led by the excellent Louise Wener. I intend to workshop an extract from “Safe Sext” as part of that course. So why have I decided to fork out more money and return to CBC?

What CBC offer is a sympathetic magic; a sense that your writing will be transformed through a process of sharing, workshopping, meeting and listening to other writers. Creativity through a process of contagion. It sounds ambitious; yet for me it worked. I was inspired, enthused, challenged and forced to raise my game.

Anna, Louise and Rufus were a constant source of encouragement and reassurance to me. Together they equipped me with the tools that I hope will enable me to achieve my ambition of publication. They make no promises. It’s a journey that I’m still negotiating, but I feel that CBC have given me a road-map.

Saturday 14 March 2015

Second Life by S.J.Watson

The writer writes; the reader reads. As you slowly become immersed in the book a delicate balance of trust develops. As a reader you trust that the writer will tell you the story, because in the end it’s the story that really matters. You hope that the writer will be honest and fair and will not cheat. You hope that your faith will be rewarded.
 
Steve Watson understands his genre perfectly. His writing is simple yet nuanced. His prose is sparse yet perfectly pitched. His structure is beautifully judged. When writing in the first person as a female protagonist he is utterly believable. He draws you in. You begin to trust him. Don’t.
As a writer he fucks with your mind and he does it brilliantly. I am in awe.
If you are currently wondering “Should I read this book?” do not hesitate. Buy it. Read it. Reach your own decision. But do not trust the judgment of anyone who tells you that this is not well-written, because it is.