I’m dead chuffed to announce that my first piece of creative non-fiction has been published. You can read it in full on the Ellipsis Zine site here Third Best Fighter in the Year.
This is a departure for me from working on fiction to creating a novel length memoir that focuses on working class masculinity and ADHD.through me and my father’s lives.
A mate, said, ‘Who’d want to read a memoir about you. You’re not famous.’ This is true and it’s the question I most often ask myself when writing a piece of creative non-fiction: why am I writing this? Who will want to read this? But good creative non-fiction isn’t just about the narrator, or subject, as in the person at the centre of it, it’s about the themes they touch on, the connections they make and their voice.
Creative non-fiction uses the same literary styles, tools, and storytelling techniques of fiction applied to real events to create a compelling narrative.
The piece in Ellipsis Zine is short, just under a 1000 words, but gives a flavour of what I’m aiming for, so if you do read it, let me know what you think.
I’m currently writing a memoir centred around my dad and me, looking at working-class masculinity with a bit of ADHD thrown in for good measure, and it led me to remember an incident at school that turned the notion of the weaker sex on its head. If you want to find out more about this, you’ll have to keep an eye out for the August edition of Ellipsis Zine. This is the second piece of creative non-fiction I’ve had accepted for publication and could possibly be the first that you, wonderful reader, will get to see.
This image of me, I’m the one on the left, is from around the time the story is set, probably slightly earlier. Looking at my hair, I’d say I’m at the tail end of my Suedehead stage and moving into full-on Mod mode. I’m wearing a Fred Perry t-shirt and my coveted red Harrington jacket.
The guy next to me is called Rupert, which is about the best name, short of Tarquin, to guarantee getting your head kicked in at Mereway Upper School. I can’t remember how we became friends, probably a shared taste in music and clothes, but he was the first middle-class kid I ever met and became a conduit to a world I’d only seen on TV.
Like me, he lived close to the school, but unlike me, he lived in a large semi-detached house with a huge garden and a short drive out the front, which made our two-bed council house seem positively hutch-like by comparison. He never spoke about his dad. His dad was not present, but his effervescent mother and eccentric grandmother made me feel incredibly welcome. I think his mum was slightly concerned about him hanging out with the rough kid from the council estate, but his gran spoke to me like an equal and regaled me with tales of India and the Far East.
I never really knew how he felt about me because we don’t speak about stuff like that. He often seemed aloof, acting superior when it came to matters of music and clothes, but would defer to me when we were threatened by others; he wasn’t a wimp. Fighting was best avoided as it could lead to a torn shirt or scuffed shoes. Maybe he used me as muscle, I don’t know, but I know I got as much from him as he got from me with regards to tips on music and clothing, and I think that’s pretty good for any relationship.
I thought he was the best drummer in the world, although, to be more accurate, he was the only drummer in the world that I knew. He would calmly tolerate my discordant chord-chopping on my shit guitar and drum along perfectly to the first Specials album.
Me at art college, Bradford 89-91.
I bumped into him once in The Racehorse pub in Northampton. It was the mid-nineties, and I’d not seen him since school. I’d been away to Bradford studying Art and found myself unemployable and back home. We hadn’t spoken for 6 or 7 years. I’d embraced Acid House and Baggy culture, and my days of short hair and Harringtons were long behind me. It was early afternoon, and I’d already had a couple.
‘Betsy!’ No one used his first name.
‘Betsy!’ No one used his first name.
He flinched, as if bracing for an assault.
‘Fucking Hell, man. How are you doing? Let me get you a pint. Lager?’ Two beers into the afternoon, and I
He nodded.
‘Sit down. Sit down. I won’t be a minute.’
I placed a pint of lager and a pint of bitter on the table.
‘What are you up to these days?’
Again, that look, like I was the Stasi checking his papers at a Berlin checkpoint. I ploughed on. Asked him questions and never once thought the silence was oppressive. Eventually, three beers in, I learned that he’d sold his drum kit and now worked as a panel beater in some small industrial unit off the Welly Road.
‘You sold the drums?’
‘Yes.’
‘You sold the drums?’
‘We’ve covered this.’
As weird as his working as a panel beater was, it was the selling of the drums that floored me. Effectively, we’d swapped roles. I was working in a care home, a stopgap to build up funds and go travelling, but painfully aware I didn’t belong there, while my former mentor in music and clothes was wearing shitty overalls and hammering metal all day instead of doing the thing I’d thought he was born to do.
Rupert will feature in future writing, but to learn more about the world I grew up in, you’ll need to wait for the August edition of Ellipsis Zine.
After a year of sifting, editing, sifting and editing the second glorious book from Floodgate Press is almost here. The book is due to launch on the 12th of September at Voce Books in Birmingham but you have a chance to grab a copy before then by pre-ordering on the website.
This is a sublime collection of new work, fiction and non fiction, from writers based in the West Midlands.
This is a great opportunity for a design or illustration student to have their work on the cover of a new book due to be published this year. The successful submitter will receive a copy of the book and an invite to the book launch in Birmingham. The opportunity has been offered to students at BCU in Birmingham but it is open to anyone in the West Midlands area – people further afield are welcome to submit but they may struggle to get to the launch event.
There’s not much turn around time on this as the deadline is the 20th of February 2023.
If you are interested the full brief can be found here or you can scan the QR code below. Any questions can be posted below.
I’m very much looking forward to this event. Here you will get to meet the editors of Digbeth Stories, hear their thoughts on the state of publishing in the UK, why they’ve chosen Digbeth and what makes a good piece of writing as well as hear from Kit de Waal who will be submitting a brand new story to the anthology. As well as all the above it’s an ideal opportunity to meet other writers and to pitch your story ideas to the editors. See you there.
My last post was concerning the huge boost to arts funding that would become a reality after Labour won the 2019 general election – well, that never happened. A bit of a shock if I’m honest. I’m a bit of an optimist, and I was convinced that Labour’s argument couldn’t fail, but it did, so what does the future hold? Well, not a lot if you’re going to sit around waiting for someone to do things for you. It seems that the right-wing have public opinion sown up, thanks to their super-rich media-moguls, but that doesn’t mean we can’ bring about change in our own lives – just look at the huge impact Greta Thunberg has had upon the world simply by going on strike!
We need to make things happen ourselves – don’t worry, this isn’t the part where I hurl internet platitudes at you, ‘Be the lobster you want to be!’ So what am I doing, apart from displaying my fondness for the word lobster? A few things. Me and a talented friend are putting together a book. We’re both fed up of being at the mercy of literary gatekeepers and decided we’d do it ourselves, but this isn’t some self-publishing vanity project – to be fair, much of the self-publishing world isn’t. This will be a labour of love to a part of our city that means a lot to both of us. We’ll be documenting in words, both factual and fictional, and images, a part of this glorious place we live in that could soon be no more. Some of you may even buy it – now there’s a thought.
I continue to scratch away with my own writing. I will have a short story out this year in a Birmingham themed collection from Dostoyevsky Wannabe, and I continue to send words out to potential publishers – chin up, no man’s put me down yet…
There are opportunities out there for creative types like me and I shall be doing my best to snag a few of them. I enjoy working with others, and unlocking other people’s potential, so I’ll be looking out for more stuff like that as well as stand alone projects. A few are already on my radar – it must be this 2020 vision.
I’ve also agreed to climb Snowden in the dark – climbing it in daylight is too easy! That last statement is something I’d never say. I’ll post some more info regarding this soon.
January has nearly gone and I’ve not done half as much as I intended to. I will do more in February. See you there.
I received my copy of Songs For The Elephant Man the other day and its a beauty. This great collection of short stories is yours for mere pounds – £8.99 for eighteen stories!
You can order this from any good bookshop or buy it direct from the publisher’s website by clicking here.
Last Saturday, we launched Night Swimming, at the ‘book festival in a day,’ States of Independence. When I say we, I mean Matthew Pegg – a marvellous and industrious human being – introduced it, and I read a brief extract from one of the stories.
Matthew did a top rate job taking about Mantle Lane Press and the three collections that are out now, including, Night Swimming. My reading went really well; there was a great reaction from those there and a posting of purchases on Twitter soon after.
Night Swimming is:
“A collection of dark, urban tales: the pros and cons of stealing a pensioner, a mothers prison visit, incipient love and roller skating, the guilt of a brothers death, and a past love burnt out by rioting. Stories that deal with loss, longing and hope.
Garrie Fletcher writes about the gaps between lives, the pauses between stations and the static hiss of the city. The moments he captures are fleeting and easily missed, but resonate like a steel string plucked above a pickup, distorted and electric.
Mantle Lane Press small books can be slipped into a pocket and make an ideal stocking filler for literature lovers. ”
To get your hands on a copy of this beautiful book just click here. You can also order it from your local bookshop, or if you’re local, to me, get in touch, and I can get a signed copy to you.
My first collection of short stories, Night Swimming, is almost here. It’s still not really sunk in. But on Saturday, March the 11th, I will finally hold a copy in my hands – that should do the trick.
To be able to look at the cover of my book and flick through the pages, pages covered with words that I typed, deleted, retyped, crossed out, scribbled over and screamed at should fill me with joy, or at least a deep sense of satisfaction.
However, this isn’t ‘job done.’ Now starts the long process of promotion, of convincing people to buy my book. The first step, along the road of self-promotion, will be taken on Saturday at this year’s States of Independence in Leicester. I will be reading a short extract from, Night Swimming, as part of the Mantle Lane Press launch. I’ve read my work at many events over the years, but this will be the first time that I’ve had a ‘product’ to promote. At the moment, I’m reading through the stories and trying to decide which one will tantalise the most and leave an audience wanting more.
If you’re in Leicester, or fancy a day out there, please come along to States of Independence. Here’s some info and details from their website:
This year’s States of Independence is our eighth. It’s a book festival in a day, a marketplace, a conference, a chance to relax and listen to some readings, an opportunity to argue about issues in the industry and to meet with independent presses from across the region.
States of Independence supports independent thinking, independent writing and independent presses. Join us for the day or an hour. Attend lots of events – you will be spoiled for choice – or just one, or simply come along and browse through the twenty or so bookstalls to see what the independent sector is publishing.
As always there are poetry and fiction readings and industry panels discussing current hot topics – this year focusing on independent literary magazines. Non-fiction wanders from British Palestine to John Clare’s escape from an asylum, via the political power of music, reminiscences about being gay in the 80s, and how to talk about poetry
States of Independence is a free event, underwritten by Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham and the Centre for Creative Writing at De Montfort University, with the support of over fifty writers and over thirty presses.
All sessions are free, no tickets required.
Just turn up and stay for an hour or two, or the whole day.
States of Independence is organised and funded by Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham and the Creative Writing Team at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Garrie Fletcher 