08 Thursday May 2014
Posted in comissions, New Birmingham Library, writing
Tags
Anya Jung, Birmingham Literature Festival, Birmingham literature festival 2014, birmingham uk, illustration. story telling, writing
Yesterday was rather wonderful. I met with Sian and Joanne, from the Birmingham Literature Festival, and the very talented Anya Jung. Anya is a mighty fine illustrator. Don’t just take my word for it, check out her site: Anya Jung.
Why did we meet? Well, that’d be telling, just keep your eyes peeled and look out for some graphic news soon.
08 Tuesday Apr 2014
Tags
Benjamin Zephaniah, Birmingham Literature Festival, birmingham uk, Carol Ann Duffy, Cindy George, Fiona Joseph, Helen Cross, Literary map of the midlands, New Brochure, Rochi Rampal, Room204, Support for Writers, uk, West Midlands, William Gallagher, William Shakespeare, Write On!, writing, Writing West Midlands, young writers
I’ve been very lucky to have been involved with Writing West Midlands over recent years. They are a fine bunch of human beings who live to promote literature in the West Midlands region.
I was approached by them to see if I’d mind being included in their new brochure, this would include being photographed by a professional photographer. Of course I didn’t mind.
I’ve been involved with a number of projects through Writing West Midlands and run one of their many Write On! Young Writers groups. If you are a writer based in the West Midlands you should get in touch with them. Anyway, the brochure is now out. Here’s the cover:
You can just spot me on the left amongst the grime of the old library.
Inside the brochure there a wonderful overview of all the incredible work that the Writing West Midlands team does across the region and across all the possible formats that writing can take. There’s a great map of the region, beautifully put together by Kerry Leslie, that pinpoints some of the outstanding talent that has come from the area. This includes J.R.R. Tolkien, who used to live just down the road from me, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jonathan Coe, Carol Ann Duffy, John Osborne and of course William Shakespeare. Information on the Birmingham Literature Festival, Write On! Young Writers, The New Library of Birmingham and tons more.
The brochure is beautifully put together with great photography, a cool layout and printed on pleasingly thick paper.
Inside there is a section on local writers that WWM work with and there are brief interviews with: William Gallagher, Deborah Alma, Cindy George, Fiona Joseph, Rochi Rampal, Helen Cross and me.
My page can be read below. Just click on the picture and it’ll open at a readable size.
Cheers.
Scary man in cool coat.
22 Saturday Mar 2014
I’m in the middle of updating this blog.
I want it to be informative and entertaining, I want it to be somewhere people feel welcome and want to come back to.
So, with this in mind, I’m asking you, the good people of the Blogosphere for some advice.
What would you expect to see on a writer’s blog? News of their latest work, information on how to get hold of that work, workshops that they run, ideas about writing, tips about writing, a small sketch they once did on the edge of a napkin, or maybe a highly processed photo of a stick in the shape of a fist?
Leave me a comment below and you never know I might use your idea.
Cheers.
20 Thursday Feb 2014
Posted in creativity, Short Stories, Think Tank, workshops, writing
A huge thanks to all the staff and kids who were at the Tweeted Objects workshop on Tuesday. I was made to feel really welcome and was allowed to wander through the stored items in the warehouse, which has to be seen to be believed. Extra thanks to Lynsey for organising it all and for introducing me to Story Cubes. Here are some pics of the day.
Kipper ties!
Happy scribbler.
The cabbage hat.
Inside the vaults.
The kids produced some great tweeted fiction and managed to tell some marvellous stories in 140 characters or less. Tales of cabbage hats, of cats trapped in boxes and the bejewelled wonder of a jealous prince…
Check out the exhibition in May to see their work and to tweet your own. I’ll post full details nearer the time.
11 Tuesday Feb 2014
Posted in creativity, Event, teaching, workshops, writing
Tags
13-16yr olds, 140 charcters, Birmingham, Birmingham Museum, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Dollman Street Collection, kipper ties, make every word count, tweeted objects, tweeted stories, young writers
On Tuesday, the 18th of February, 2014, I shall be working with young writers at Birmingham Museum’s Dollman Street Collection.
This is a warehouse full of items that the museum is unable to exhibit permanently; picture the huge warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones’ Raiders of the Lost Ark, now bring the scale down a tad and instead of sealed crates imagine engine parts, huge, ornate clock brackets, antique computers and old prototype cars that never saw production.
Giddy up
You get a very rough idea from these pictures of the type of thing you can elect to discover there.
This workshop is open to children aged 13-16 and will allow the children to explore this great space and then to handle objects from the collection.
I’ve been sent some pictures of the objects and they’re rather marvellous: kipper ties, weird hats, strange cats and other stuff I can’t identify. I’ll be putting the kids through a series of warm up exercises and focused tasks that lead up to them writing about the objects in no more than 140 characters (that includes spaces, punctuation etc.) just like a tweet, hence the title.
I’m really looking forward to this. I think it’s a great idea and will help them to think about editing and getting to the heart of writing: make every word count.
Here’s a rough outline for the session:
12.00 Arrive at MCC
12.15-12.30- Tour of the stores
12.30- 1.00- Lunch
1.00- 1.30- Introduction to the objects by a curator
1.30- 3.30- Facilitated session to create the interpretive material 4.00- Collection by parents
Here’s the brief:
Outline
Participants will be working with objects from the ‘Patterns and Textures’ sec- tion of the exhibition including examples of textile, glass, carved wood and more.
I’m not sure who you contact if you have a young one who’d be interested in this project but you could try Dollman Street, just click on this link for details Dollman Street.
Cheers
08 Saturday Feb 2014
Posted in get published, Short Stories, Uncategorized, writing
Some sound advice from the Ideas Tap website on how to write short stories:
How to write a short story (and get published).
27 Monday Jan 2014
Posted in Reading, Uncategorized, writing
Some sound advice from David Hewson on using Scrivener to check your manuscript.
04 Saturday Jan 2014
Posted in creativity, writing
Tags
After a very excessive and tiring festive season it’s now time to get back to the serious business of writing. To help me, and any of you, that find yourselves in this situation, I thought I’d post Neil Gaiman’s, all important, writing tips. Read, digest and then write.
Write
Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
Laugh at your own jokes.
The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
28 Thursday Nov 2013
Tags
6 creative workshops, aspiring writers, Birmingham, Custard Factory, Digbeth, Helen Cross, Teachers, uk, workshops, writing, Writing West Midlands
Calling all teachers, yes you. Crawl out from beneath that mound of marking, take ten and read this post, you deserve it.
Those lovely people over at Writing West Midlands have recruited the novelist, Helen Cross, to deliver a course aimed at helping teachers to become writers. Helen is a novelist and all round creative whirlwind and just the kind of person you need to help you become a more accomplished writer for yourself and in school.
Check out the blurb below for more info:
In these six creative workshops novelist Helen Cross shares tips and techniques for improving teachers’ own creative writing and energising the subject in the classroom. Through a series of practical activities and discussions Helen’s workshops, which cover poetry, drama and prose, examine the core aspects of creative writing.
The course will be useful for teachers wishing to develop their own writing, and those looking for exciting ideas to share with Key Stage 1,2 and 3.
Key topics include:
creating believable characters with detailed identities and dramatic possibilities
techniques to sharpen and improve prose and poetic style
autobiographical writing and the importance of lived experience
engaging dialogue for stories and scripts
thinking empathetically about other people, real and imagined.
structuring, editing and shaping towards a final draft
Helen Cross is the author of three novels, including My Summer of Love, which became a BAFTA award-winning movie, and most recently Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, which she has recently adapted for the screen. She is an experienced tutor of creative writing in schools and universities both in the UK and abroad. She has worked with all the leading creative writing in education organisations including Write On! The British Council and The Arvon Foundation. She lectures in writing at Leeds Metropolitan University, and Birmingham City University where she is a Fellow of the Institute of Creative and Critical Writing.
http://www.helencross.net / http://www.writingwestmidlands.org
To Book follow this link.
13 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in comissions, Event, New Birmingham Library, Reading, Short Stories, writing
Tags
Birmingham, Free event, New Birmingham Library, short story, uk, West Midlands Readers Network, writing
Ooh lookee here:
An event you may be interested in…
2013 Short Story Showcase
Building on the success of their 2012 project Seven Minute Stories, The West Midlands Readers’ Network is once again commissioning regional writers to create short stories in collaboration with readers’ groups. In 2013, six writers will work with groups in locations around the West Midlands. The writers are: Gaynor Arnold, Garrie Fletcher, Ian MacLeod, AL Pietroni, Rochi Rampal and Amanda Smyth. Each writer has been given a few key narrative ingredients by their group and been asked to throw in some magic of their own in order to conjure up a memorable new story. Join us as these stories and their writers come together in a special anthology and showcase event.
Attendees will be able to pick up a free anthology.
The event will take place at 7pm on Monday 2 December 2013, at the Library of Birmingham.
This event is free to attend but booking is essential. To book please call 0121 245 4455 or click here.
Garrie Fletcher 