Hobbies CHRISTMAS
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YOUR Book Reviews
Warm thanks go to Jacqui Brown for sharing her festive book reviews with us.
by Alison Morton
hen we say ‘creative writing’ what do we mean? Poetry, a story, a play? Perhaps you are moved to write a short story or a piece of flash fiction. Or go for a full-length novel or its little sister, the novella. Let’s unpick some of these… Plays and poetry are well recognised as such but here I’m looking at stories written in prose – a form that shows a narrative with a natural flow of language in a grammatical structure. Novel. This is an easy one! A fictional narrative of over 50,000 words with a beginning, middle and end and telling a story. It can be literary, genre or popular fiction, highbrow or lowbrow. The most important aspect is that it develops a coherent story whatever its style. Most are around the 80,000 – 130,000 depending on genre; romance, crime, sci-fi often come in at the shorter end with historical and literary fiction at the longer end. Sometimes called “long form fiction”, novels are what most people pick up in a bookshop, online or at an airport when they want a ‘good read’. Novella. Currently immensely popular as an ebook, “...it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without making the elaborate structural demands of the full-length book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel.” (Robert Silverberg) Today, a novella is often written in between novels, as an accompaniment or complement to other books in a series. Sometimes, an author may be trying out a new genre, character or storyline; other times, they may tell the story of a secondary character. These are quick reads, but no less enjoyable and are typically 20,000 to 45,000 words. War of the Worlds by H G Wells and Animal Farm by George Orwell are famous examples. Novelette. Usually around 7,000 to 17,000 words, so falling in between a novella and a short story. Not much in fashion these days, they are featured in some literary awards such as the Hugo and Nebula science fiction awards.
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Fa-La-Llama-La by Stephanie Dagg
N
oelle arrives in rural France, in a snowstorm, a few days before Christmas, hoping the last minute pet-sitting project will help her struggling finances. However, although the llamas waiting for her are just as lovely as her quick Internet research led her to believe they would be, nothing else is quite what she was expecting. There is no power, no water and aside from the llamas, the company, to begin with, is rather difficult. The sensible option would be to leave as quickly as the snow will let her, but with nowhere to call her own, she opts for the adventure. Amid the snow, strange goings on seem to become normal, the nativity comes to life and with it there is a hint of romance in the air. This book is a warm, feel-good read that picked me up on a lonely weekend when I was at a bit of a loose end. Stephanie’s way with words and fun with accents made me laugh and I’m sure other word nerds will be just as entertained as I was. I could have stayed longer, but it finished.
The Parisian Christmas Bake Off by Jenny Oliver
N
ewly single Rachel gets a surprise from her friends, a trip to Paris, with a catch; she has been entered into the competition to find Paris’ next patisserie apprentice. She has one week to prove she’s got what it takes to bake patisseries, in Paris.
Short story. Often the first way writers try out their writing legs, the short story is immensely popular. In general, it features a small cast of named characters, and focuses on a self-contained incident or theme, but uses the same techniques of writing as used in a novel. Short stories are often collected together as an anthology by the same author or different authors, or featured in magazines. Moreover, there are countless short story competitions! And their length? Sticking my neck out, I would say 1,200 to 3,500 words, although I was once commissioned to write one of up to 5,000 words!
When she first arrives the loneliness of her small Paris apartment, the competitiveness of the others she finds herself thrown in with and the arrogance of the French chef all make for dark times when the rest of Paris is high on Christmas. Full of self-doubt she wants to run, but to run away would disappoint those who have arranged this special treat for her. With determination she buries herself in flour, crème-patissière and beaten egg whites and begins to create her dreams. Paris in all her winter glory comes to life, the food descriptions are tantalisingly delicious and there is light at the end of the tunnel for Rachel.
Flash fiction . A very, very short and succinct fictional work that still shows character and plot development – a tall order! Examples include the Six-Word Story, 140-character stories, also known as “twitterature”, the “dribble” (50 words), “microfiction” (100 words), “sudden fiction” (750 words), “nanotales” and “microstory”. At its best, flash fiction hints at or implies a larger story.
This is a good fun read, packed full of French patisserie delights, Parisian Christmas sparkle and even a sprinkling of romance. After all we can’t have the single heroine of a chick-lit set in Paris at Christmas time without a little Paris love and magic, can we? If you want a winter break in Paris, this book is the perfect getaway.
All fiction requires inspiration, good craft and technique. The shortest forms demand pinpointing and extreme distillation, but the long form needs stamina and application. Over to you! Practising what she preaches, Alison has written a Roma Nova novella, CARINA, which came out November 2017. Season’s Greetings to all and happy writing!
14 | The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, December 2017
Happy Christmas Reading...