• About
  • Commissions
  • Competitions
  • Publications
  • Readings
  • Samples
  • Short Story

Garrie Fletcher

~ writing and all that

Garrie Fletcher

Category Archives: writing

Yakking About Writing.

18 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Birmingham, comissions, creativity, Mantle Lane Press, Music, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art, Birmingham, Comics, David Cousins, Garrie Fletcher, Kevan Manwaring, Mantle Lane Press, Nene College, Night Swimming, Northampton, short stories, Submerged, The Sliding Door People, University of Leicester, writing

Following on from my visit to the University of Leicester last week here are some pics of me in action and a link to the podcast that came from the day. Scroll down for the link.

Definitive book-pointing pose.
Reading to 3rd year creative writing students.

Click here for the Golden Room podcast featuring me interviewed by Dr Kevan Manwaring.

I’m pleased with the podcast because I don’t sound like an arse and you can hear that we genuinely get on and enjoy talking about writing – there’s quite a bit of laughing, which can’t be bad. There’s also a couple of old songs from me, not too cringeworthy, as well as some recordings of the work I read on the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Leicester answering questions from the students and sharing my limited insights into the world of writing and publication. I hope you enjoy the podcast and pictures, well, the podcast more than the pictures.

The Laughing Heart

14 Thursday Nov 2019

Posted by fletcherski in writing

≈ Leave a comment

youtu.be/bHOHi5ueo0A

The Fictional East Midlands

13 Wednesday Nov 2019

Posted by fletcherski in writing

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

fiction, writing

Well, the real East Midlands, but I’ll be talking about fiction.

Today, I’m off to the University of Leicester to talk to creative writing students about writing and all that jazz. I’m looking forward to it, but what do you say to someone just starting out as a writer? I’m not sure. Thinking back to when I first started reminds me of how impossible it can feel, and still does even though I’ve a few publications under my belt – yeah, it’s books, not middle-age-spread.

But what would I have helped me way back then? Well, a peek behind the curtain wouldn’t have gone amiss, but I didn’t know any writers. I didn’t know where they hung out, or even what trousers they wore – was there a special hat? I did meet one writer when I first moved to Birmingham, he’d placed an ad in the local paper, it was pre internet, asking to meet other writers, but I, rightly or wrongly decided he was mad and gave him a wide berth.

Nowadays, there’s tons of stuff on the internet about writing, you can even watch videos of writers talking about writing! Some of this is useful and some of it is watered down cut n paste gibberish from the click-bait crew.

The things that would’ve helped me were talking about the craft and the industry. You need to get your head around the craft before you can think about publication. I initially put ‘master the craft’ in the previous sentence, but this is something you work towards your entire writing life. I have not mastered the craft, but I continue to try.

I’m getting closer to Leicester, so I better wrap this up.

My tips:

Write. I know it sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many people are in love with the imagined life of the writer that never write.

Re-write. Hard to do unless you’ve cracked the first one. Editing your work is when the real work begins, but if you’ve no work to edit…Years ago, I thought writers say down in front of a typewriter and bashed out their masterpieces…

Hone your craft. Look at the writers you admire. How to they construct their stories? What makes their sentences alive and engaging? When I first joined a writers’ group, one of the members said my work reminded them of David Peace. They were right. I’d become so obsessed with his writing that I’d started to write like him – I don’t now, but I learnt a lot from copying his style. There’s nothing wrong with copying someone else’s style as long as your own style develops along the way.

The mechanics. This is what they teach in schools to the exclusion of everything else; it’s the nuts and bolts that hold stories together: spelling and punctuation. I’ve always struggled with this. I recently discovered I’m mildly dyslexic which answered a lot of questions. Check your work thoroughly before sending it out.

Finally, because I’m already at Narborough, read, read, read. I’ve met some writers who say they don’t have time to read, or they don’t read fiction even though they write it. This baffles me. You’d be hard pressed to find a successful musician, artist etc. who didn’t follow the work of people they admired. Reading other people’s work is so, so important – just do it!

Bugger, I’m approaching Leicester. This is way too brief, but let me know what you think.

Four Towers Walk

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by fletcherski in writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, creativity, Drawing, Lost Districts, readings, short stories, uk, Walking, West Midlands, writing

I’m walking and talking this Saturday the 19th of October, tomorrow. The wonderful people at Overhear Poetry commissioned me to create a walk that would be a writerly response to my home city of Birmingham, so that’s what I’ve done.

This is not a facts and figures tour. It’s a creative look at a city you think you know, an interpretation of space, environment and architecture. But it’s not all me. I’ll be asking you to respond to points on the walk with snippets of poetic text in the style of Ian McMillan’s daily tweets.

Join me tomorrow at 10:30 outside Birmingham’s Roundhouse and delve into the heart of the city. There are a few tickets still available and you can get them here.

Overhear

03 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Birmingham Literature Festival, Short Stories, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

audio, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, download, fiction, free, Ikon Gallery, short story, uk

It’s the perfect supplement to the Barry Flanagan exhibition that is currently on at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. Yes, you’ve guessed, it’s my short story, Ikon. Simply get the Overhear App, visit the Ikon Gallery, and download an audio file of me reading the story at the Ikon. Sorted.

October!?

01 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by fletcherski in App, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

App, Art, audio-file, Birmingham, Clues, fiction, Friendship, Ikon Gallery, Overhear, Questo, Spokenword, story, Walk, writing

I’m pretty shattered at the moment. I’m busy with the day job and I’ve lots of writing stuff to get done too. I’m not complaining, I like to be busy, but it would be nice to just stretch out and switch off for a bit. Anyway, what have I been up to? Well, writing, obviously, but not in the way I’m used to. Let me clarify that. I’ve been writing for two Apps, something I’ve never done before. Both are very interesting applications that I think a lot of people are going to love. The first I want to talk about is the Overhear App.

Overhear Birmingham.

Overhear is an innovative way of sharing poetry and prose and bringing greater exposure to some of the beautiful spaces and places that Birmingham has. It works like this: you download the App, select your city, and then go hunting for literature. For example, my story, Ikon, unsurprisingly, is linked to the Ikon Gallery. You have to physically be in the Ikon Gallery to then unlock my story. When the story is unlocked, you will then be able to play an audio file of me reading the story. There are a whole host of files to collect as part of this year’s Birmingham Literature Festival, and you can also collect poems that were released at this year’s Verve Poetry Festival. The App is free, as is the downloading of the files. The only thing you have to do is be in the correct location to download the file. The really terrible thing is that lots of the venues serve fantastic coffee, cake, beer, food etc. It’d be just awful if you happened to eat or drink in one of them.

The actual writing work for this was fairly straight forward. I had a couple of constraints, most commissions only had one. All of the commissions had to link their story to the site where it was to be unlocked. They didn’t necessarily have to take place there, but the site must have some link to the story. The extra constraint I had was to link my story to the current Barry Flanagan exhibition that is on at the Ikon. This may sound like a bit of a bind, but I found it liberating and challenging all in one – and I like a good challenge.

I’m pleased with the story I’ve produced. It speaks about the nature of art, loneliness, and friendship between males – something we’re not very good at expressing. Do check this out next time you’re in Birmingham, and please let me know what you think.

The Overhear App is available from the App Store and Google Play.

The other App I’ve been writing for has been a very different kind of challenge altogether. Questo is a location-based App. It’s like a cross between a puzzle and a story. You have a physical starting point in Birmingham, and you have to solve clues before you can move onto the next stage of your’ quest.’ It’s a great, fun way to explore a city, to enjoy a story, and to learn a bit about the place you’re in. The challenge for me was to not only have an idea for a story, but to also plan a route through the city, and create clues that need to be solved.

I had to do a fair bit of research for this commission. There needed to be the right proportion of historical facts interwoven throughout the quest, and it had to link in with the given theme. I won’t say what the theme is, but the fact that it launches on October the 31st should give you a clue.

To be honest, the second App, Questo, has been the more significant challenge. I’ve learnt a lot about collaboration and communicating with others, but there have been moments where I’ve felt like chucking it all in. Thankfully, the Questo team have been very supportive and have guided me through the whole process.

Questo is also available from the App Store and Google Play. There is a fee for unlocking each quest. If you do try this quest, I’d love to hear how you got on.

That’s it for now. I’m going to lie down in a dark room for a bit.

Marvellous.

Ikon

21 Saturday Sep 2019

Posted by fletcherski in writing

≈ Leave a comment

www.instagram.com/p/B2q7qRFD_Ky/

It’s Out! Songs For The Elephant Man in shops now.

09 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by fletcherski in books, News, Publication, Short Stories, Short Story, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Anthology, books, fiction, Mantle Lane Press, short stories, uk

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.

As always, let me know what you think.

Songs for the Elephant Man

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by fletcherski in Short Stories, Short Story, Writers, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Mantle Lane Press, short story, writing

My story, Electricity, will be published shortly as part of this wonderful anthology from Mantle Lane Press.

It’s a excellent title for the collection as all the stories are about or misfits. However, thanks to Matt Berry’s Year of the Rabbit on Channel 4 I can now only ever see the Elephant Man as a camp thespian on the make.

Submerged in the West Midlands

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by fletcherski in Birmingham, Birmingham Writers, books, Event, Mantle Lane Press, News, Short Stories, Short Story, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alan Beard, Birmingham, books, fiction, Garrie Fletcher, Lisa Blower, Peter Haynes, readings, short stories, Submerged, West Midlands, Wolverhampton, writing

You have two chances to hear me read from my latest book, Submerged, next week.

First up is City Voices in Wolverhampton. It all starts at 7:30 at The Lighthouse a few minutes walk from the train and bus stations. City Voices is one of the Midlands’ finest spoken word evenings and never fails to delight with its range and quality of work on offer. I will be selling books.

Secondly, will be the official Birmingham launch of Submerged, and it’s going to be a corker, but don’t just take my word for it check out the line-up here.

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,375 other subscribers
Follow Garrie Fletcher on WordPress.com

Goodreads

What the hell's he on about...

Anthology Art Arts Birmingham Birmingham Library Birmingham Literature Festival Birmingham Writers Blogging books Comics comissions competitions creativity Culture Drawing Education Event fiction Film get published Inktober Inspirational Leicester Live Music Mantle Lane Press Music New Birmingham Library News Poetry Politics prize money Publication Q & A Reading Review Short Stories Short Story Sketchtember Submissions teaching The Arts Uncategorized Unthology 5 Vinyl work workshops Writers Writers Group writing Writing West Midlands

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Garrie Fletcher
    • Join 143 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Garrie Fletcher
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...