Saturday, December 31, 2005

Flying into 2006

We managed to squeeze two flash sessions out of the Boot Campers today, plus had two visitors, one from someone on sabbatical and one from a writer who shared in the Children-in-Need experience. That liitle bit of fun takes us to a really healthy 21 Flashes and 4 stories, a sort of bonus as we roll into 2006.


The Door to Boot Camp



My grown son visited briefly over Xmas. One of the things he pointed out to me was a "trailer" for a film called "Shining." This is one of a series of spoofs. A trailer made from the original Jack Nicholson film (The Shining) but completely changing the sense of it into a feel-good family drama!

There's a great one (somewhere) of "The Sound of Music" (as Children of the Damned), another of "West Side Story" (Zombie Film), and another turns "The Parent Trap" into a film about a first lesbian experience.

These are loads of fun but IMO very meaningful to writers: (Discuss!)

One of the excellent bonuses of scientific advancement is the extra stuff on DVD ABOUT film, about the making, the writing, and so on. On the latest edition of Gladiator there's a valuable lesson in how the film was re-themed turning it from a good B-Movie into a top-drawer piece.

I won't mention the actualities of the re-theming, (go look) but suffice to say we use this on Boot Camp courses as a great example of how a theme can thread through a story and give it strength and resonance.

Have a good night!


Alex

Why Not Flash, Gordon?

2006 continues to ramp up (but why am I expecting tomorrow to be VERY quiet?)

4 Stories and 16 Flashes, already. 32 Subs, 3 Competition hits.
Not bad for ticking over!

We emailed a few this morning and tried to get a flash session going with non Boot-Campers but I figure everybody was out buying their 42-inch HD-Ready Plasma screens at the sales.




But we DID get three flashers who responded to this:

HTML
The Genius of the Roadsweeper
Playing Away
Machiavellis Three Weaknesses
James and the Giant Penis
Why Lexie Fox Can't Do Flashes
Forty Things Not to Blog
A story beginning: "The choice is

Blank Screen Prompt
Start a poem, say a iambic pentameter, rhyming, get two lines (screen on) then switch the screen off and write for at least half an hour. if you get lost just press carriage return and continue. NEVER look. If you can't turn your screen off, then select all and set font colour to white

We had three flashes in with an average score of 108 (quite high for flashes) and two of them look publishable after a couple of minor tweaks. I don't think mine was a story. I was just flexing my writing muscles.

But for those interested, a set of prompt will be posted at 6PM this evening UK time (it's 12:37 UK time now) and all are welcome.


Alex

The Man Who Got Lost in His Office

Up later this morning! Those schoolday schoolrun habits are hard to shake off but last night was LATE. Played Bridge then ended up helping out a stranded motorist until the AA came. Crawled in at 0100 then couldn't sleep so started sorting manuscripts. I figure the less sleep the more living and I have less days to live than I've lived, so..

Yesterday was spent trying to organise my library of unsold fiction, trying to FIND some stories (and that's embarrassing!) and the sheer volume of unplaced stories is ludicrous. I think I'll keep the total secret until I've placed half of them. I have a long, tedious job today, scouring the ten thousand piles of detritus (also called my office) to drag out all those SS manuscripts for which I've lost computer files.

There's a lesson here, folks. First, why weren't the stories out there looking for a home? Second where were my computer back-ups? Third why don't I have a neat and accessible paper-filing system?



Boot Camp is REALLY quiet over the holiday, more so than any other year. Big mistake not to have a blast in the second half of December. I always do and the returns in January and February are a big help in getting through the rest of the Winter and Early Spring.

Want some free advice, right now? Write a flash this morning, right a story this afternoon, and then get six submissions out. While 99% of the world is cruising, YOU are getting active and making things happen.

Every year in Boot Camp we've ended the year with Christmas Day and started the New Year with December 26th. This year, because I was restructuring we actually finished 2005 on December 23rd at 11:00 (The Keegan Calendar) and started 2006 immediately. Sounds silly? See my road-race analogy later.

In 2005 Boot Camper had 26 First Prizes, over 100 Prizes/Final Places and over 450 Hits. As soon as we hit 100 subs for December (quietest month of the year, obviously) and that elusive 26th First Place, I figured, let's wrap the year up and kick on for 2006.

"2006" has started with a rush. 26 Submissions and three more hits. Colin U managed First in SlingInk's Eurofiction, Lexie Fox got second in a comp (trying to remember the name) I think called "The Dame Throgmorton" and I managed a last 12 (but no coconut in a US Comp run by Night Train). Yes we call "named finalists" a hit. You could come 14th of 4,000 in Bridort and "win" nothing, but that's a hell of an achievement. So of course it's a hit.

Road Race

I used to be a club runner and then running coach. In a 10K race, many go off a bit too fast, settle down at about 3K, hang on until 9K or even later, and then kick hard either for the last few hundred metres, 500 metres, or MAYBE all that last Kilometre.

I used to teach people to race from EIGHT K to 9K. The theory is simple. "Everybody" cruises 7-8-9, the hardest part of the race. They are hanging-in, hanging-on, intending to try and raise their game in the last kilometre. So, if you push hard, not from 9 to 10 but from 8 to 9 you overtake hundreds of people. You get to 9K higher up the field than you have ever been, you are on for a PB (Personal Best), and now, even though you are tireder than you've ever been, suddenly you have massive incentive. All you need is one last painful K and you will have your best-ever result. It's a case of getting your retaliation in first. Most importantly it works.

So when the world is on cruise, kick ahead. Start working NOW! Write, write, write, submit, submit, submit. Finish December with a flourish, not getting fat in front of the TV. Start January with the biggest writing-subbing blast EVER. Why? Because you'll see what you can do (always more than you think you can), the hits will come earlier and more often (and motivate you to work harder) and you'll begin to lay down good habits.


In Boot Camp we run personal logs, try to write 250 or 500 words BEFORE ACCESSING THE INTERNET and have individual personal daily and weekly goals. In 2006 I'll keep the Boot Campers on their toes by posting a league table, not of SALES but of WORK. The best predictor of long-term success is WORKRATE.



Set Bronze, Silver and Gold targets, break them down to make them achievable. If you want 52 Hits in the year and you only place 1 in 6, then sunshine, you gotta submit 312 pieces. So aim for one a day, 365, so if you fall short you still beat that 312 and ACHIEVE your targets.

BC has about 25 members ranging from total beginners to damn good intermediates, then me. Last year we hit 450 hits, 26 First Places, so this year I need to aim at 500 Hits and 32 Firsts. 32 seems an odd number. I chose that because if we manage 32, Boot Camp will have had 120 First Prizes since it started.

For a list of 88 Firsts visit HERE select all about Boot Camp, then BC Firsts.

Incidentally, can any web/HTML gurus tell me why that page doesn't come up with a distinctive URL and only comes up with the URL for the site?

Frankly, the numbers above look daunting, even to me. 32 Wins? Seems bloody difficult. It means we have to be in virtually every competition, challenging hard. It means individually Boot Campers have to be really working hard, producing good enough work, and sending stuff out, paying those entry fees, then doing it again, and again, and again.

But when we wer getting 4-5-6 wins in a year, was 15 possible? When we got 17 in a year, did we ever think we could break 20? There must be a limit, mustn't there? Mustn't there?

Oh, BTW, the other prizes, seconds/thirds etc are years out of date!

Alex


Here's Boot Camp's Flash prompts for this morning.


Boot Camp Flashes at 08:15 (UK Time)

Waterland, Waterworld
Shirt Stories
Like a Big Girl's Blouse
Marmalade, Mama, Marmalade
A Bastard in Southern France. Maybe
Me and the Fat Man
Julius, Julius, Approximus
Caesar Had Some Apples, How Many Did He Eat?
China Blue, Formosan White
The View From Under the Table
Cherries, Cherry-Picking
A story beginning: "This time, this time, I'll

So who could write a short with all those in? Hah!

Friday, December 30, 2005

Up in a Flash

Dammit, why do I wake up EARLIER in the holidays? It's now 06:38 and I've done my emails, posted early-morning flash-prompts at Boot Camp, made a cuppa. What am I supposed to do know, WRITE?

Once a year I get all holy and set up a careful submissions log, and check for stories and flashes that are as yet unpublished. In 2005 we flashed a lot in Boot Camp and that resulted in lots of publications and prizes (26 Firsts for the group, all told).

But you can accumulate a lot of work!



My housekeeping revealed an incredible 174 pieces that I've not yet placed, and worse, I have titles for work that I know I've written but can't find the files for. (I had a horrendous system crash in May and lost stuff.) There will be paper copies of this work "somewhere" so January is going to me some literary archaeology for me. Is this another lesson learned?

That 174 represents about a third of my output-ever (in number of pieces, not word-count) and a lot comes from "leading-by-example", writing a flash when leading a flash session. Trouble is there aren't that many places to publish literary flashes and a few places seem to like cheap twist-enders or schlock. Ah, well, ever-onward and upward.

Boot Camp now has a Flash-only section and yesterday a thread started: "So, You All Know the Art of Flash?" The first response was from a very good writer who talked of "Blank Screen Panic."

That's interesting on at least two counts. First, this writer has one a lot of literary competitions INCLUDING Flash Competitions, so there was a time when she could bang out a flash. Second, I remember my first few attempts at Flashing. I totally froze and didn't manage to post at all.

But the key is RELAX and stop thinking, stop trying too hard, let the unconscious mind take over. Start with anything, just engage fingers/brain and soul and let it go. You can always cut a bad sentence or two!

Then MJ asked: I have a question. When you read the prompts and can't find anything - or when you read the prompts, find an "idea," try to write it and realise it's going to come out stillborn, is it acceptable to press DELETE and then sulk and/or kick furniture? The actual "idea" was Free Child Voucher, about a Harrods Sale giveaway for childless couples, was quite good. But I really messed it up good and proper.

My answer was that once I commit, I virtually always "push through" an make a story happen. The danger of giving up is it can become a habit, and once the habit sets in you can then justify your "inability" by saying (for example) "Flashing is just not me".

The very first article I published detailed precisely how I was a novelist and would never be able to write a short-story. I just wasn't built that way, I said. Poppycock. You can say anything and then convince yourself it's true.



Sometimes one prompt, one idea, one photograph can trigger something promising. When nothing jumps out, one trick I use is to put all the prompts close together and try to use them as early as possible in the story. Understand I am NOT at this point "trying to write a story. I NEVER think about the story. I try my damndest to write totally uncontrolled and it's when I do this that I get the good ones.

I talk a lot about controlled, aware "left-brained" writing versus writing where you let your heart and soul lead, right-brained writing, stuff that surprises the writer, where the unconscious makes connections you would never get to consciously.

Taking a pile of prompts and feeling uninspired, simply being mechanical and trying to get them all into a paragraph or two (as an exercise) seems to distract and while you are writing "almost anything" a strong idea surfaces and rushes ahead.

I did this yesterday, on the fly, for the group, finished a piece, got one great title, cleaned it up and subbed it. If I place it, once published, I can talk about the process here.

What I explained was how all I need to do is start with something which might be flat and innocuous but was "natural" and began to evoke a know mood… watching TV, having a meal, getting ready for bed, remembering an old flame, anything where you know approximately how you will feel.

Being in a familiar state allows you to relax and let other prompts in. The other prompts trigger unusual connections, and usually some happy cross-threading sparks a story. Well it works for me!

The above presumes either that you have learned your craft so well it's automatic, or you don't CARE about the craft until later. Get the story out without stopping and fix the flaws in your rewrite. The worst thing to do is stop and fix stuff. That means you are THINKING and thinking brings the left-brain to the fore and the gorgeous unconscious is squashed.

Here are BC's Early-Morning Prompts today:

The A-Z of Heaven & Hell
Cloud Atlas
Murder 101
2084
Waterland, Last Orders
Why Rain is Wet, Mary
Snow Coming in From the East
Why Fridays Are Bad For Lovers


Alex

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Another Day at the Office

My day started when I stumbled on a new story by the editor of an ezine. I read it and was stunned how BAD it was. No, that must be me, I thought, I'm missing something.

So I posted it blind as a ringer in Boot Camp and so far it's scoring an average of 67. If I tell you that 110 is the benchmark for publishability in a small paper journal, you get an idea of how not-good was this story.

Let's say I'm a little bit harsh (I scored the story 73 trying to be kind). The story still falls WAY short of minimal quality, even for a zine. How then is this guy an editor and what does it say about the stuff he accepts or the critieria for acceptance?

There are editors of other ezines or magazines who CAN write, but a brief surf on the internet will find you "editors" and even judges, and Oh my God, TEACHERS who can't write at all, who are actually seriously bad.

I received an email from one zine advertising a writing school based with a "women's writing showcase". I knew of the zine, and knew how weak a lot of the work was, but what of the writing school?

I took a random tutor name, went to her home page and found two stories. They were appalling and scored 69/63 when ten Boot Campers critiqued the story blind.

Beginners occasionally score 40-50, more usually low 60s, and they can, if properly taught, quickly reach the 90s and then 100-110. The naturals go way beyond this.

But what freaks me is the self-delusion when people are set up as TEACHERS on paying courses and their work is so bad. If they were writing par work, solid but undistinguished we might argue that they aren't "brilliant" but perhaps could teach. But if they can post "examples of their work" that are so dire, what then? Presumably if a student wrote a similar story it would glean the highest praise?

What does this say about the parent ezine, the writing school as a whole, the individual tutors, the deluded students? What does it say about the lower end of web publishing, the showcases, the pretty but vacuous sites? What does it say about web publishing? How does this garbage drag down what would otherwise be a far more respected way of publishing and being read?


Alex

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

The Children in Need Marathon

I've been asked to leave a web-record of The recent Children-in-Need Writing Marathon. This may be incomplete. If so, a bit of feedback will correct me, I'm sure, and I can make the report more accurate


Starting in Boot Camp, my captive audience we aimed to recruit 100 writers and eventually had 62 names signed up. But there was at least one spin-off attempt at a rival fund-raiser (it bombed completely) which took away some participants.

On the night we had 33 fully active writers and on the hour, starting at 5PM Thursday, through to 11PM Friday we posted a set of prompts, usually twelve, four from Alex Keegan, four from Zoe King and the rest from Alexandra Fox who also worked non-stop as secretary for the night. Most members started at 9PM on the Thursday. One member wanted to start early so I joined him (hence the 31 hours timespan.)



Participants had one hour to write each story plus a few minutes leeway to email it to Lexie (the secretary) and Alex (insurance.) A few people took short sleep-breaks, some others found a few of their stories so bad they decided not to submit them. We had had two brief trial runs, and after the night we realised we were fractionally short of 250,000 words so I decided to run one more session to get us past the quarter-million mark. The buzz was incredible and I think some would have continued until they were hospitalised!

After the marathon and a couple of drinks (it took a while to come down enough to contemplate bed) and then a few hours sleep the participants then had up to 450 stories to look at. Some sub-groups and individuals narrowed their selections down to just under a third of the original numbers, suggesting X stories to go forward. In a few cases I put forward extra stories from the discard piles.

We narrowed 450 down to about 115 (25%) and Leaf Books looked at these "from the top down". Leaf had slightly different criteria. They wanted commercial or accessible fiction, and, because the anthology was connected with "Children in Need" they did not want material which might be deemed unsuitable for younger readers. They chose 17 stories and asked for one of mine. A few of the stories required edits, slightly more than mere "cosmetics". These stories were disqualified from winning prizes, but were published.

Incidentally, as well as raising over £10,500 the participants paid a ten pounds entry fee which specifically funded the prizes. Some of the winners then chose to donate their prize. I have to say, had I been competing I would NOT have donated my prize. The time and effort invested by everybody was far beyond the call of duty and I would have liked them to enjoy their win, perhaps take a spouse out for a meal.

A closed web site had been created with all the 450 stories, which were slowly sorted into finalists, marginals and non-finalists. The criteria for this was, ultimately, AK's choice but this was strongly influenced by the various members' critiques and marks, mostly made using the Boot Camp system. If the members' scores averaged a high number when AK's did not, then the story went forward. AK's main influence was two-fold: (a) over-riding LOW scores and putting a story forward which he felt had something the group had missed (b) settling "split-votes".

All stories were critiqued blind.



The better stories were listed in A-B-C-D categories but the range from the weakest to strongest in these blocks and between blocks was not huge.* AK's stories were kept separately. Leaf were able to browse stories and chose their short-list and then their final 18. Eclectica did the same. The system was very successful.

*"Flashing" seems to create less of a spread when compared to longer stories.

I began the whole thing very tired and slightly unwell. I had planned a four-hour sleep in the afternoon before the marathon started, but it didn't happen. Cedric Popa (from Romania but living in London) came down to Kingfisher Barn to keep me company and wrote solidly for the whole time. We then had a flying visit from a Boot Camper, "Plotinus" (cost me one of my thirty stories!) and on the second day we had Fleur Chapman drop in on us for the afternoon and second evening to write, plus Henry Peplow (not a Boot Camper) who arrived from Henley and wrote a story with us.

The "Kingfisher Barn" effect struck with Cedric's poem taking second place with "Leaf" and Henry's story third and Fleur getting two stories into the anthology with one of mine. Fleur also managed third place with Eclectica. So amazingly, of the 31 accepted stories, 7 were written under my roof!!

I confess to being a bit "ga-ga" for 3-4 days running up to the marathon, seriously "out-of-it" DURING the marathon, and unbearable for a few days afterwards. I had a very low spot around 1PM-4PM on the Friday (when I felt really ill, and "running on empty") but found a second wind later. As far as I can see (and we did look) there was little obvious correlation between time-written and quality or result.

I wrote a few weaker pieces, a couple of "ditties" just to say I wrote SOMEthing but I got at least a dozen good pieces out of the exercise and three I think are splendid and not yet in print.

The exercise taught me how generous people can be with their time, how their talent can be revealed when they get too tired to screw themselves up with worry, how very supportive people can be, even those who failed to make either collection, and just how resilient people are when "pushed".

Considering the incredible pressures on everyone, there was some fine work produced.

Alex

Somewhere Between Maidenhead and Henley

Debbie still has this idea that once a year I actually want to stop writing for a week and talk to people. So convinced is she of this that Tuesday we ended up travelling to some place between Maidenhead and Henley to meet up with loads of strangers for a post-Xmas walk.

BUT I WENT FOR A WALK ON XMAS DAY!


Some Walkers Stocking Up.


The get-together was organised by Ross and Karen Moyse and the organisation was impressive. They were serving tea, coffee, mulled-wine and bacon or sausage butties out of the back of a 4 x 4 when we arrived and it started to snow at 10:01.


Mulled Wine


There must have been at least 50 people, ranging from a baby in a three-wheeler push-chair to an old guy who looked at least eighty.


Martin






It was definitely boots and wellies weather and the walk was through some unusually neat paddocks with fences of a much higher quality than normal, and horses that seemed far more handsome than seemed fair.


They Set Off



Later it turned out we were cutting in an out of a massive stud farm owned by an Arab Sheik and the fences, as well as being well-made and quality, had real purpose.

No idea how long the walk was. There was some "fun" when we came on two horses in a narrow cut through coppicing and one was "spooked", the rider ending up on his feet and desperately trying to control his mount. A lot of adults suddenly seemed a lot less sure of themselves. Hah!





Only other incident of note was when the dogs discovered this swamp, this black, black, black, stinking swamp, which may well have been a cess-pit run-off. They were straight into this. The various kids were screaming with delight, the various middle-aged 4x4 drivers were not.

The walk finished just before noon. We moved to the pub, then we (me Deb and kids) went on a quick family visit before dashing home for yet more visitors. (I got to the computer for ten whole minutes.)

Jan and Jeremy are actually interesting. Jeremy is a PhD who is expert in Static Electricity and travels the world getting rid of sparks

Funny, I spend my life trying to find sparks and set people on fire.

Jan and Debbie have been friends for twenty years (so they must have met in primary school) and Jan is very arty, seriously into textiles (which she teaches) and puts together a mean outfit!

Does this have anything to do with writing? You betcha! In a single day I was able to see and experience the range of life, from baby through an old man, watch the way the boys immediately congregated, played "rugby" that would be illegal if adults played it (only two dead), note how the young ladies were so much more reserved, conserved, above "that sort of thing".

The walk itself took in beautiful countryside, the mystery of this fencing. I spotted a worker and went to chat to him about "all this" (he was French) then discovered that the whole area (once a Government Research area) was now owned by a Saudi Prince. This very large site was the smallest of twenty-five; the corners of these fields all had sturdy, large, solid fencing because the stallions chased each other into the corners and without the fencing the chased horse would jump out of the field.

Many of the lanes were through "coppice" and until Xmas Day I had never realised what coppicing was (another tid-bit for the unconscious). The dog incident can be used, so can the way a camera works when "not-posed" versus "aware" (same as writing, that) and the various sneaky thoughts about which spouses DIDN'T come, who was who's ex, all the social politics, even my own sad reluctance to do any of this, to be dragged away from the computer.

Then there's static electricity, dangerous sparks (are we thinking metaphors here?) EVERYTHING is material, gives us richness, unusual connections, metaphor, simile, allusion. Just read that website on coppice and do no more than put the words together and let them germinate barrel hoops, charcoal for gunpowder production, frames and shafts of buildings, clogs, gate hurdles, hop poles, hay rakes, pilings, hop poles, tool handles, spear shafts, scaffold, tent pegs, tool handles, besoms, barrel hoops, faggots/bavins for firing ovens, crate rods, faggots for land drains, faggots/bavins for firing ovens, horse jumps, hurdles, turnery, thatching spars & liggers, wattle and daub

Ash, Alder, Hazel, Sweet Chestnut, Birch, Oak, Willow, Hornbeam, Lime

Look at the richness of this language! Think how when we write chances are we just say "tree" and if we name it say "oak tree" almost like a cliché.

Spend five minutes a day "filling up" with traditional words, arts, ideas, and see how sometimes the sense of primitiveness, or "deep arts" or being with nature, or "belonging to the land" can trigger deep feelings in you, maybe give you a story or enrich one.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Creative Writing Articles by Alex Keegan

I'm posting links to my articles, partly as a source for developing writers but also to invite reaction and discussion. In my time I've stumbled on some appalling articles at various places on the web. Too bad there is no system for marking quality or usefulness!

While I think articles such as these, and similar articles in print (eg The New Writer or Cambrensis) are useful, I believe that we learn much more by responding to articles, debating issues, sharing examples which illustrate points etc. Typically in Boot Camp a thread, on, say, Theme, starts with a question, involves one or more pasted articles, story segments and then a to-and-fro of sometimes 200 or more posts. The learning in such discussion is stratospheric compared to merely reading an article or a chapter of a how-to book.

That being so, respond, discuss, argue.




Alice Munro: The Short Answer

In Lieu of Preference

A Few Introductory Articles from 1997

If you visit Writers Write Archives and scroll down to the oldest editions you'll find this by me in Issue Two, September 1997. Beginner, Don't Write That Novel.

In November 1997 there's Plotting is a Seven Letter Word and in December How to Open Without a Bang.

These are simpler articles and as the years progressed, generally so did the articles. You can browse through the Writers Write Archives, read, consider, then hopefully ask questions, or argue issues here in this blog.

Beginner, Don't Write That Novel.
Plotting is a Seven Letter Word
How to Open Without a Bang
Dialogue, Seven Sins, a Sinner

Tries Hard, Could Do Better
How to Win Short Story Competitions
How to Write a Query Letter That Sells
Point of View From My Point of View

Two Articles on Show-not-Tell
Seduction Not Instruction (Part I)
Seduction Not Instruction (Part II)

Ten-and-a-Half Commandments of Writing
Dealing With Rejection

Two Articles on Setting
Creating the Perfect Setting I
Creating the Perfect Setting II

Four Articles on Editing
Be Your Own Editor: Part I
Be Your Own Editor: Part II
Be Your Own Editor: Part III
Be Your Own Editor: Part IV

The Art of Telling Lies
What is a Short Story?
Advice For the Younger Fiction Writer
Left, Right, Left, Right: Character!

That last article was February 2000, the next (the 23rd) was December 2002

Theme Music: Tone is Not an Accident
Judging Writing Competitions
Quick! Quick!
Stealing Stories

Oh BTW, I'll write a page one day on sick writing sites. If you want to understand, go to the one mentioned in the article above and say you like Alex Keegan's articles...

The Novice Screenwriter Refuses to Conform
Sing to Me
If You Whisper, Convince
Choosing a Writing Teacher

Think Before You Click
Ironing While Watching TV
Creative Writing Myths
How It Is
Contract Bridge and Writing. How to Become a Grand Master
A Cool, Dark Guinness
Choosing a Writing Teacher


I hope 40 articles is enought to be going on with.


Best Wishe


Alex Keegan

Creative Writing Articles by Alex Keegan

I'm posting links to my articles, partly as a source for developing writers but also to invite reaction and discussion. In my time I've stumbled on some appalling articles at various places on the web. Too bad there is no system for marking quality or usefulness!

While I think articles such as these, and similar articles in print (eg The New Writer or Cambrensis) are useful, I believe that we learn much more by responding to articles, debating issues, sharing examples which illustrate points etc. Typically in Boot Camp a thread, on, say, Theme, starts with a question, involves one or more pasted articles, story segments and then a to-and-fro of sometimes 200 or more posts. The learning in such discussion is stratospheric compared to merely reading an article or a chapter of a how-to book.

That being so, respond, discuss, argue.




Alice Munro: The Short Answer

In Lieu of Preference

A Few Introductory Articles from 1997

If you visit Writers Write Archives and scroll down to the oldest editions you'll find this by me in Issue Two, September 1997. Beginner, Don't Write That Novel.

In November 1997 there's Plotting is a Seven Letter Word and in December How to Open Without a Bang.

These are simpler articles and as the years progressed, generally so did the articles. You can browse through the Writers Write Archives, read, consider, then hopefully ask questions, or argue issues here in this blog.

Beginner, Don't Write That Novel.
Plotting is a Seven Letter Word
How to Open Without a Bang
Dialogue, Seven Sins, a Sinner

Tries Hard, Could Do Better
How to Win Short Story Competitions
How to Write a Query Letter That Sells
Point of View From My Point of View

Two Articles on Show-not-Tell
Seduction Not Instruction (Part I)
Seduction Not Instruction (Part II)

Ten-and-a-Half Commandments of Writing
Dealing With Rejection

Two Articles on Setting
Creating the Perfect Setting I
Creating the Perfect Setting II

Four Articles on Editing
Be Your Own Editor: Part I
Be Your Own Editor: Part II
Be Your Own Editor: Part III
Be Your Own Editor: Part IV

The Art of Telling Lies
What is a Short Story?
Advice For the Younger Fiction Writer
Left, Right, Left, Right: Character!

That last article was February 2000, the next (the 23rd) was December 2002

Theme Music: Tone is Not an Accident
Judging Writing Competitions
Quick! Quick!
Stealing Stories

Oh BTW, I'll write a page one day on sick writing sites. If you want to understand, go to the one mentioned in the article above and say you like Alex Keegan's articles...

The Novice Screenwriter Refuses to Conform
Sing to Me
If You Whisper, Convince
Choosing a Writing Teacher

Think Before You Click
Ironing While Watching TV
Creative Writing Myths
How It Is
Contract Bridge and Writing. How to Become a Grand Master
A Cool, Dark Guinness
Choosing a Writing Teacher


I hope 40 articles is enought to be going on with.


Best Wishes


Alex Keegan

The Ode Less travelled

Though I've published five novels and won a poetry prize, I'd call myself a short-story writer more than any other kind of writer. I think I know my theory when discussing shorts and I do OK as a teacher, but when I write "poetry" it's seat of the pants stuff for me, pure instinct. If it happens, great, but if I "work" a poem I'm as likely to screw it up as make it better.

I recently got hold of Stephen Fry's book on poetry and I'm crawling through it, squeezing in a few pages bewteen teaching, critiquing, and writing shorts.


A Shot from the BT Tower, London


I like Stephen Fry's attitude, and he writes well on the subject. In a perverse way I like reading as a neophyte and actually having to understand fresh stuff. I'll keep you updated on the book.

I have a few poems out there circulating, but if I'm good at any of the word-arts I definitely think shorts are my forte. But if you're less good at one aspect of the art-group, WORK on it. Being a better poet sharpens your short-story skills, being a better shorts writer makes you a better novelist. Never stop working, never stop learning.

News

Just heard I managed last twelve in Night Train's "Yates" competition. Apart from a last 25 placing at Glimmer Train I've still to do well in US Comps though I've won and placed third in Canada. You can see the third placed story in my blog entry Flash Fiction. Seems there's something about my style that doesn't quite gel with US Editors. Another market to crack!

More Boot Camp News.

Colin Upton wins First Place at Slingink's "Euro" Competition. Details to follow.

As we closed 2005 early these two "hits" count for 2006, so a great start for us in trying to beat 2005's incredible 26 First Prizes. Even with that great start it's going to be very tough.



Alex

Some of My Publications On Line

As I'm a teacher of creative writing it makes sense to list some of my work. A large chunk of my work is in print, rather than on line but here are some of my web publications. My story "Meredith Toop Evans & His Butty Ernie the Egg" was the inaugural story at Atlantic Monthly's Unbound site, but you need to subscribe there to read it.

Here are some (30) you can read free:


Mississippi Review
Ballistics
First Place Lichfield Prize. Also at The Alsop Review, in print in Ireland's "Whispers & Shouts"

Blue Moon Review

Tanner Hop, Coyotes, Interrupt Us
Jack Hancock's War


The Alsop Review

The Last Love Letter of Berwyn Price
£1,000 second in the UK's prestigious Bridport Prize

Mother, Questions
Mother, Questions was Joint First-Place for Buzzwords Prize

The Smell of Almond Polish
First Place Winner Focus on Fiction

Yellow, Black, Red, Blue
Third Place The Philip Good Prize.

Better Just Go
Third Place Raconteur VII

Lights
Twice placed third in UK Competitions

Denis Potter, Bus to Malpas
First Published New Welsh Review and Anthologised, Partian Books.

The Temporary Possession of Frank Smith
First Published in print at Keltic Fringe and Cambrensis.

Prefabs, Colours
First published in print by Cadenza

Lunch, No Oysters
First published in print by Peninsular

Cow 7B

Four Flashes


Eclectica

Jeremy Browne's Guest
First Published in print World Wide Writers II

Lids, Sticks, Joe Loss

Python Pat

A Message to the Writers Group

Her Cat

Our Houses, Night

Motorways

Three Flash Fictions

Asparagus

Fucking Tragic

A Little Man

About Jose

CRANIA


Henry V
Tomatoes Flamingos and Other Interesting Facts
Five Days in May




Alex

Flash Fiction II

This year (the Boot camp year always starts December 26th) I'm determined to be more methodical about my reading. I managed to critique three stories in BC today and then turned to reading a few from Flash Fiction edited by Thomas, Thomas & Hazuka.

I must confess to a degree of disappointment with this collection. It's not that any of the stories are noticeably BAD, but few are truly resonant or special, none so far have lingered long after the reading; none make me want to ring a friend or colleague and say, "You must read this!".

They mostly seem to be highly competent. Some raise a wry smile or a professional nod, but most seem to be "set-ups", set-ups of solid but unmemorable prose leading to a flourish, a punch-line, or a good "close". None strike me as memorable art.

Today I read "Vision out of the Corner of One Eye (Luisa Valenzuela) a good example of "quirky" but ultimately a trivial "so-what?" cute ending. professional, sure, but SPECIAL? Pamela Painter's "I Get Smart" was fractionally better, but was another one setting up a punch-line. I teach beginners NOT to use twists and these punch-lines, while not strictly-speaking "twists" do give the impression that the story's purpose was setting up the end.

Don Shea's story "True Love" was a step up on the other two, a neat take on the battle of the sexes. This one too had its best line the last one, but what came before MATTERED.

In Boot Camp we write a lot of flashes. I find them excellent for breaking down block, creating a good working atmosphere. We have flash prompts usually at 9AM, 6PM and 9PM and in 2006 will be having timed sessions every night.

Of the 450 or so "hits" in BC 2005, well over 100 were flashes and in March 2005 we ran our second "Eclectica Experiment" where Boot Campers and outsiders came together to write flashes for a week and then a shortlist was offered to the magazine, appearing in Vol 9 No 2. We had run an equally successful collaboration in 2004 with stories appearing in Vol 8 No 4.

In November 2005 Boot Camp led 33 writers in a Flash Writing Marathon for a charity, the BBC Children in Need. With a few trial runs and a warm-down this produced 450 stories, over a quarter of a million words. Some writers wrote for 27 Hours non-stop, one flash per hour, and the standard was surprisingly high.

Eclectica will be featuring twelve winning stories from the night plus one from myself, early in 2006. There is also a print anthology (all profits to Children in Need) from Leaf Books


In 2006 Boot Camp will be running a Flash-Only subsection for writers specialising in Flash Fiction.

Here is one of mine, a prize-winner in Canada.


Cheers, Alex

Monday, December 26, 2005

Some of My Publications On Line

As I'm a teacher of creative writing it makes sense to list some of my work. A large chunk of my work is in print, rather than on line but here are some of my web publications. My story "Meredith Toop Evans & His Butty Ernie the Egg" was the inaugural story at Atlantic Monthly's Unbound site, but you need to subscribe there to read it.

Here are some you can read free:


Mississippi Review
Ballistics
First Place in the Lichfield Prize. Also published at The Alsop Review and in print in Ireland's "Whispers & Shouts"

Blue Moon Review

Tanner Hop, Coyotes, Interrupt Us
Jack Hancock's War


The Alsop Review

The Last Love Letter of Berwyn Price
£1,000 second in the UK's prestigious Bridport Prize

Mother, Questions
Mother, Questions was Joint First-Place for Buzzwords Prize

The Smell of Almond Polish
First Place Winner Focus on Fiction

Yellow, Black, Red, Blue
Third Place The Philip Good Prize.

Better Just Go
Third Place Raconteur VII

Lights
Twice placed third in UK Competitions

Denis Potter, Bus to Malpas
First Published New Welsh Review and Anthologised, Partian Books.

The Temporary Possession of Frank Smith
First Published in print at Keltic Fringe and Cambrensis.

Prefabs, Colours
First published in print by Cadenza

Lunch, No Oysters
First published in print by Peninsular

Cow 7B

Four Flashes


Eclectica

Jeremy Browne's Guest
First Published in print World Wide Writers II

Lids, Sticks, Joe Loss

Python Pat

A Messgae to the Writers Group

Her Cat

Our Houses, Night

Motorways

Three Flash Fictions

Asparagus

Fucking Tragic

A Little Man

About Jose

CRANIA


Henry V
Tomatoes Flamingos and Other Interesting Facts
Five Days in May

Back to Work

Up at 0600 today to 45 emails 42 deletable and then into Boot Camp to catch up on critiques and posting grids etc. Into BC and post eight flash prompts

Two Boot Camper stories to sort this morning. One is written with a very heavy hand. It's futuristic but the story hardly matters IMO because all I see is over-wrought language, the sign of one kind of beginner, the beginner who concentrates on "sounding good" and ends up turning a story into a laboured lump. The adjective and adverb count is off the scale; there is no joy in the reading, no light, no air, no fine movement. Instead we have to PLOUGH, plough through words we can't help be aware of so the fictive dream is shattered and the story dies.














A "not-posed" picture from BACCS charity panto 2005

The other story is really a cousin to the first. It appears light and airy but again it's all about ME, me the author, look how clever I am. OK this one isn't turgid and overlain with modifiers but instead it's forever "cute". Nothing can be said directly (only ordinary people write clear sentences, right?) and it's packed to the gunnels with literary allusion, "clever" takes on book titles, plays, film. Again the exercise overwhelms story and we are reading the medallion, not the man.

Writer, think STORY, think first about the message, the tale, the characters, people, life, not about fancy bollocks. How a story is told should come from the heart of the story and instinctively from the writer, right-brained, pure, unadulterated, beautiful and right.

To start with the HOW is to me the wrong way. The more we think consciously of how, the more formalised, aware, left-brained we become and the lumpier, and less naturally flowing will be the piece.

A good story, flowing form the heart or soul will naturally absorb the best of the writer's communicative skill.

Try this trick at a party. Ask someone have they ever been close to death or in a real and genuinely scary situation. A linguist called Labov did this because he discovered that when people "lose themselves" in the telling of the tale, they also lose their layered-on or "acting" accents/dialect and revert to their true, childhood-learned mode of speaking.

But listen to the FIRE and emotion in the voice. Listen to how the person changes, becomes infused with spirit, almost becomes someone else. That's the writer inside, the real person (not the mask) and that's who you have to use when YOU write.

You can be clinical, editorial, careful after you have written your first draft (if you must) but access the soul, the heart, the unconscious, the right brain when you write. Surprise yourself. Get connections you don't expect, tell truths you might otherwise suppress. Write about what matters, not trivial, superficial twist in the tale, or cheap romances, cheap SF or whodunits. Write about what it is to be human, the aches and screams in life, what engages and enrages.


Alex

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Xmas Day Walk





And the "addicted-to-the-web" writer escapes to his computer long enough to scribble in his blog.

Went out for a walk, away from Newbury Racecourse, past the nearby gravel pits



.



and to "The Nature Reserve".


13:00



The Nature reserve is what was once called a WOOD. That is they didn't need to protect places like this fifty years ago.

This Nature Reserve has TREES, and BUSHES and GRASS and MUD. Some of the trees are made of real wood, and are actually GROWING.





The only flower we found. Bridie and Toby both say they took this one.




I took the camera but the light was lousy actually IN the woods and without a tripod we had loads of shots spoiled by camera shake. Nevertheless of 208 photos taken, 100 are OK, 30 are not bad at all and there are half a dozen good ones.




Thank God for digital cameras.



Bridie

Bridie, my beautiful, intelligent, lovely daughter.

Don't ask how an ugly old git like me managed to produce her. That's one of God's mysteries





Then I discovered Flickr, signed up and can start banging the better photos up there. (Very Cool!) As soon as I know how, I can start adding these to the blog.






Debbie About to escape

Saturday, December 24, 2005

A Quietish Hello

I've seen blogs popping up all over the web and with 2006 looming, and my son Toby visiting, I thought, good chance to pick his brains, get him to set me set up a blog and homepage. (Thanks, Toby)

I regularly get into trouble on various writer-sites (I use the word "writer" loosely) because I speak out against crap writing, praised by crap readers and then published by crap sites, showcases, pod publishers, friends-publishing-friends etc. But then I thought, if I blog my protests, maybe I can get it out of my system.

The trouble with these idiot-led sites is they are traps for good writers, or writers with the potential to be good. I've occasionally spotted potential on such sites, writers who might be totally screwed up by the laughable feedback on offer. Sometimes you can steer such people away from the worst critters and idiot commentators, sometimes you can't. But you can try...

I'm always fascinated when I stumble into one of these sites. One thing always seem to occur - the big noises are never good writers. The people who seem to have bullied, cajoled, ass-kissed and flamed their way to a central or leading position (building a circle of sycophants on the way) are always poor writers.

But of course, when they post work it's praised to the highest levels. So the work gets sent out and either fails to publish or ends up in a showcase magazine of the worst possible standards.

In the writing school I run, poor work DOESN'T get praised. We're tough, unforgiving, blunt, but we critique TEXT (not people) and stories are posted anonymously via a secretary. Members rarely get praise for their stories, yet we keep winning First Prizes and publishing widely. With 20-30 members (about 75% of them active and varying from raw newbie to intermediate writer) we managed 26 First Prizes in 2005, yes one first prize every other week. Our latest First Prize was our 89th, all documented.

http://p220.ezboard.com/bbootcampkeegan

I edit Seventh Quark Magazine

http://www.7thquarkmagazine.com


Anyway, two hours to Christmas. I think I've managed to set this up. I welcome discussions of writing on this blog, or questions about writing. I expect to get a steady stream of idiot flamers. I'll just use the delete key a lot.


Have a good Christmas, and keep writing


Alex Keegan