inspiring creativity and the arts
ISSN 2051-5111
What the Dickens? magazine
7 Issue
the journey edition
Front cover illustration by Amber Cassidy – ‘Let’s Go Boating’
“Hello! I’m a cardigan-wearing, treasure-finding, nature-loving, pencil-scribbling ILLUSTRATOR, storytelling wizard and general creative person living nestled in the South Downs near Brighton (in the UK). I’m very nice and generally found hunched over my desk with a cold cup of tea next to me and paper everywhere – dreaming of magic, adventure and woodland creatures. I like to draw and make things. I specialize in Children’s Illustration and would like to work with you. If you would like to work with me too, or you have any ideas, thoughts, plans or evil-schemes... or if you would just like to say ‘hi’ then please get in touch! ambercassidy.co.uk
editorial Some of you may be reading this online in our sample version on the website. Others may have downloaded to a Kindle device or App to enjoy while roaming the streets at night. However, there will be some out there who are reading this right now from an unbelievably gorgeous silky smooth vibrant colourful creative 100 page PRINTED magazine that has been delivered specially to your very own letter box! That’s right! Somehow, after making a great film, which many of you were in (thank you guys), we uploaded it online to the fundraising website Sponsume.com and asked people to GIVE. These fabulous givers helped us to get enough pennies in the jar so that we could print this spectacular edition of the magazine. Yay! I must take this opportunity to thank all of those who have been involved and have helped, given, shared and supported us along the way. Things can only but happen when we say YES, when we DO something and contribute. There is a lot more to come from us in our endeavours to support, promote, encourage and inspire creativity and the arts. If you haven’t already got a stunning printed copy of Issue 7 in your hands then you can order one via the home page on our website. All monies raised from sales will ensure we can keep the magazine going, enable us to print future issues and will help us to keep building this wonderful creative community for all. With big thanks to everyone!
Victoria
Team WTD & Dougal #WoofTheDickens
Twitter @writersgifts facebook.com/writersgifts veebeewriter.wordpress.com
Contents Letters & Jokes............................................................4 Art – Ben Ottridge.....................................................5 Author Interview – Ed Hillyer...................................6 The Life in the Name..................................................8 Behind the scenes of two and a half writing websites................................9 Make Your Own... Land Art....................................10 Romancing the Story................................................12 Desert Island Reads.................................................14 Wall of Wisdom........................................................15 The eBook Extraordinaire.......................................16 Social Media Review – Facebook............................17 The Muse – The Doppler Shift.................................18 My Life in the Theatre..............................................19 LiteraryUK........................................................20 A Bit of Shopping With... .......................................21 Painter, Philosopher, Poet – Gary Bunt..................22 Art – Rice Lily...........................................................24 Journey Writing........................................................25 Art – Lauren Jonik....................................................51 The Old Curiosity Shop...........................................52 The Curiosity Super Star Reviews: Celebrating All Areas of the Arts..............54 Curious About... Screenwriting..................60 Curious About... Radio................................61 The Power of Radio...................................63 Curious About... Theatre.............................64 The Curious Creative Life.........................68 Curious Interviews Tom Mison......................................70 Bali Rai............................................73 Christine Bottomley........................76 Jeremy de Quidt..............................78 Hugh Bonneville..............................80 Journey Memories.......................................84 Help! The dog ate my manuscript!.......................86 Art – Rachel Saleh.....................................................87 A Writer’s Diary........................................................88 Film Review..............................................................89 Book Reviews...........................................................91 eBook Round-up......................................................93 Astro Creativity........................................................94 Listings.............................................................95 Our Supporters.........................................................98 Competitions, Submissions & Credits...................99
the journey edition ~ 3
letters & jokes
Letters & Jokes STAR Dear WTD, LETTER It was said of a legendary literary figure that “ Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.” With this in mind, and having read all the issues of What The Dickens? Magazine, I have now drawn the conclusion that you have created the Cleopatra of the magazine world. I have never been one to subscribe to anything, and all those glossy women’s magazines that inform me of who is either too fat or thin do nothing for me. I was so pleased to discover such an intellectual, informed, varied, fun, but most of all inspiring magazine for any one who is or is interested in being creative. There are too many articles, stories and poems to mention in one letter but Issue 2 has some of my favourites. Jan Dobbs’ poem Brand New Knickers is so funny and speaks to us all with great rhythm and rhyme; I love the line “Before our thoughts of oysters turn to sausages and mash.” Caroline Auckland’s The Spring Collection and The Great Expectations of Miss Havisham need not make any apologies to Mr Dickens. I am sure he would have been proud to have his work so delicately re-
written with such understanding of the text. As a huge Dickens fan, I really appreciated and enjoyed reading it. The line “Satis house had had enough.” shows how the simplicity of the text carries the weight of the novel behind it and I for one had not had enough of reading Caroline’s work. As for the Writing is FUN – The Rules, by Sandy East... well... what FUN it was to read this! I couldn’t wait to turn the page to find out how that was to be accomplished. The 5th rule – Blue Peter time – encourages us to get our creative juices flowing in other ways – great idea. Number 7 – become your character – oh the fun I could have with that one, I thought. The girl who ate nothing but sweets and cakes? My waistline would suffer. What about the clean freak housewife? My house could certainly do with a visit from her... but where was the fun in that? No, I’m chosing the selfish singleton who does her nails a different colour every day and tries out a new pampering treatment every week. If I do that then I believe that’s another one of the rules covered too. So, Sandy East and WTD, thank you all and I’m off now to a reflexology session before I start my short story. yours gratefully Ali Holland
#wtdzine Send us your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag above!
Why don’t elephants ever pay overdue fines? They always bring their books back on time. An elephant never forgets!
4 ~ what the dickens?
Star letter each month receives a £10 National Book Token!
art
Ben Ottridge is a freelance digital publishing chap and the man who designs this very magazine. He does write songs though and has also had one flash fiction piece published on Paragraph Planet. “This is my daughter taking the first steps along her journey back to Marazion in Cornwall, having visited St. Michael’s Mount with me in the summer...”
the journey edition ~ 5
author interview
Author Interview Ed Hillyer
Ed Hillyer is that rare thing, a Londoner born and bred. Having tried out three compass-points (North, South, East), he’s nowadays settled in historic Wapping – former docklands close to Tower Bridge. Aged 49, going on 18, he prefers cycling and walking to cars or public transport, river and canalside walks to crowds, cinema and film to reality TV. What is your writing background so far? The Clay Dreaming (Myriad Editions, 2010) is the first novel that I’ve written purely in prose. It’s a visionary portrait of London life and mores, then and now. Victorian London at the height of Empire is distorted through a lens – a city haunted by ghosts of an earlier (Regency) era: even as the swollen fruits of a century’s rapacious colonial expansion are enjoyed, a damning legacy condemns all. It’s also a saga of survival, anonymity in the big city as experienced by those having the ultimate in outsider perspectives – a dutiful daughter choosing to defy those limits imposed on her gender; a former sailor and rogue adventurer reminiscing as he dies penniless on the streets; and, not least, the horrified mindscape of a displaced Australian Aborigine. And hark at me, slipping into PR-speak. I’ll just say there really should be something in CLAY for everybody. If not then I have failed at my job. And my job, otherwise and for over 25 years, has been the writing and drawing of “graphic novels” – aka longform or serial comic strips, manga, dub them what you will – self-published, copublished, for international publishers both large and small, principally in the UK & USA but also Europe and Japan. This work I do under the penname of ILYA (a subtraction of my surname in a desperate ploy to appear more exotic). If you want to check any out, try my recent adaptation of King Lear (conflated with the setting of Last of the Mohicans), or short story The Body in noirish anthology It’s Dark in London (both from Self Made Hero). Most of my output in whatever form could be characterised as wilfully independent – cultish and idiosyncratic
6 ~ what the dickens?
as opposed to anything mainstream. I personally think that I create highly accessible narratives suited for a wide audience; it’s just that the world at large doesn’t yet seem to agree with me. In English-speaking culture in particular (and peculiar) there has long existed a certain prejudice, a blind spot concerning the merits of my chosen medium. Historically my comic book work gets a better reception when in translation and abroad. For a very British voice, that smarts. I’ve crafted educational materials (in largely comic strip format) for organisations such as the Family Planning Association, the Health Education Authority, The Royal College of Arts and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. These titles have proven to be hugely popular. So perhaps when the wider circulation and good distribution is there to back me up, the potential is as it should be – unlimited. If I ever doubt the wisdom of my course, every journey that I take provides proof that comic-strip is the language and medium of the future, precisely because the safety instructions invariably take on some version of that form. I enjoy the written word however it comes to me, positively revel in the world of ideas, find a home for every used book /piece of pre-loved paper ephemera that cries out to me, passing much of this mania on in the occasional workshops that I take on for libraries, museums, schools and prisons, whether in or – working with the British Council – outside of the UK. How long does it take you to research and write a book? Typically I’m juggling any number of concepts and stories until one of them
becomes a frontrunner, either because a publishing opportunity opens up, or else my instinct and interest tells me that now is its time. Fortunately or not I’m something of a natural futurist – my head seems to operate at least a decade ahead of prevailing fashion – so this is a tricky balancing act. I was first inspired to write CLAY in 1994-1995, failed to sell it as a graphic novel, decided on prose around 2000, then began working on that in earnest from 2003. If I stitched all of the time that I spent on it together that would make for 2.5 to 3 years full-time, but of course I had to fit that around my “day job” of making comics. Which I love, by the way. Was the road to publication bumpy or smooth? Almost a non-starter: the Arts Council turned down my initial application. I collected many rejection letters from prospective publishers and agents. I had almost no existing contacts in so-called “literary” circles. As often happens in my life, I sort of fell sideways in. The obvious lesson one should take from this is to never give up, never surrender. My mantra remains “success is not the same thing as achievement”. Even if I never get to write another novel, CLAY is my statement in that arena and I am proud of it. What inspires you? Almost everything – my radar is universal and never switched off. That said, neither do I own a mobile phone, no TV, no newspaper, very little internet. The white noise of modern media makes only for distraction from the bigger picture history provides. I’m tuned to reality beyond the lies, daily
author interview life as it is lived, getting an equal if not greater amount from the subconscious or even unconscious – my dream life, as my partner will attest, is very rich and strange. I look forward to going to bed every night for new episodes in the grand adventure. Which books have influenced you the most and why? Comic books mostly – from Hergé’s Tintin, and Asterix, to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s Marvel Universe, to 1970’s (anti-) war comics, and Japanese manga; American pulp authors, from Richard Condon and Joseph Wambaugh to Walter Mosley; cultural exiles, principally Nabokov. These days, when it comes to “proper” books, I mostly read non-fiction, first person eyewitness histories; all potential future research. I think what I get from them all boils down to passion, anger, worlds of wonder, breadth of imagination, the beauty of distilled personal expression, originality –
in a word, truth. The meaning of the difficult Aboriginal concept “Tjukurpa” is popularly misconstrued as “Dreaming” (used in my own title, CLAY DREAMING), when it could be more correctly understood as “Truth”. Where and when do you write? All the time, at any time, in my head, stopping to jot down notes while on my bike, out walking, talking, in my dreams, eventually collating seemingly random scraps together into larger narrative arcs, usually tapped into a keyboard then printed out for inspection and endless revision. Why do you write? What else is there? It is pure compulsion. The world is so bewildering, each life’s span so brief, the glimpses afforded so precious; it amounts almost to a duty to bear witness. Do you indulge in any other creative activities and if so what?
Indulge is a wrong term: any creative act is the most vital. But to let off steam I do love to dance, wildly, and listen to music to reflect or reinforce my moods. Talk in itself can be quite creative, when other than “I’m on the train!” What are your plans now and what’s coming up next? Three projects dominate – one is about a wild child investigating the paranormal; another concerns family via survival on a savage planet, developed in collaboration with a fellow writer (Joe Kelly, who helped create Ben10); and a sex comedy for the end of the world – in fact, the cause of it. Bringing on the Apocalypse one page at a time! None of these are “proper books”. Until CLAY sells a heck of a lot more copies, I can’t afford to indulge in writing any more pure prose. But that’s all right: comics are the medium of the future, like I say. So for now it’s back to the drawing board.
The Clay Dreaming (Myriad. 2010) Set during the first Australian cricket tour of England in 1868, this magnificent début novel explores an extraordinary friendship between King Cole, one of the Aboriginal players, and Sarah Larkin, a bookish spinster living in London. Special offer! Get a copy for £10.00 (free P+P), RRP £11.99. Our website has the details. Myriad Editions have also given us a copy to give away. Head to the Competitions page now!
the journey edition ~ 7
the life in the name
The Life in the Name Caroline Auckland
Journey
A
journey is not about the places you arrive at or the places you leave. It is about the process of leaving A to arrive at B. It is a transitory existence, often forgotten or not really recognised as being part of the event. Nonetheless it is important in adding a richness to our lives and is worth a moment’s consideration. It is the small things that enable bigger experiences. It is the detail that forms the bigger picture. Below is a verbal map or legend of the word ‘Journey’. It is in no particular order because although journeys can be planned sometimes the unexpected happens. It can be read as a list, used for reflection or like a map can be a lexicon for storytelling.
J
Jog, joy-rider, Jungle...
O
‘On the road’, ocean, Orient, orienteering, observe, oasis, outside, opportunity, old...
U
Unsettled, unfolding, unknown, unusual, universe, unpack, unexpected...
R
Rubberneck, railway, river, reflection, road, recovery, ramble, route, rootless, roving, rolling stone, refugee, runaway, runner, run, rowing, ride, return, ruins, re-create, remote, research, ritual, regional, risk, revisit, reading...
N
Noctambulist, navigate, naval exercise, nature, novelty, new, nomad...
E
Explore, emigrate, excursion, explorer, equestrian, effort, events, enrich, earth, exotic, eye-opening, expansiveness, experience, environment, exit, elsewhere, extend, excite, elements, effect, enter, enliven, enrichment, enhance, existence, enthusiasm, evidence, esoteric, exposure...
Y
Yachting, yearn, yegg, yen, yomp, yonder, youth...
Recommended Read: The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton (Penguin Books, 2003).
Caroline Auckland: Communication Studies B.A.(Hons). Blogs a little: newtonhouseltd.blogspot.co.uk writes a lot, reviews books and loves words and tells stories with photographic imagery, can be contacted on carolineauckland@btinternet.com.
8 ~ what the dickens?
behind the scenes of a two and a half writing websites
Behind the scenes of two and a half writing websites Richard Hearn
Paragraph Planet
Writing Workout
A flash fiction website publishing one tale of exactly 75 words every day. Aspiring writers and established authors have submitted to the site since 2008,meaning there’s over 1200 examples in the archive. There’s also author interviews, a writing group map and a blog directory.
Timed exercises against the clock to kickstart your writing. Whether you’re stuck on existing projects or looking for new inspiration, Writing Workout offers ideas grouped according to characters, locations, beginnings or action. Get your first drafts emailed to yourself to refine at leisure.
paragraphplanet.com
writing-workout.com
elcome to Behind the Scenes of Two and a Half Writing Websites. I’ll explain the half in a while, but somewhere on this panel there should be my elevator pitch about the two sites, so let’s get on with what’s changed since I wrote my last column.
W
word ‘brainstorm’ is avoided, although its replacement ‘mindmap’ feels too watery, too passive.) So I changed these sections to be now based on character, beginnings, locations, or action & dialogue with most being applicable to either new or existing projects.
Early on I got some great feedback about the new website, Writing Workout, from writers including regulars on Paragraph Planet and readers of this very magazine. The positive was encouraging, the criticism always constructive. It’s important to go to the right people for feedback. Friends and relatives won’t always be the best ones – you need to go to your target audience. That’s why the What The Dickens? readership – welleducated, creative, beautiful people – are ideal. (Do you see what I did there? I didn’t even get paid for saying that!)
I’ve also added the ability to get your answers emailed to yourself. As I’m not a professional web developer but an enthusiastic amateur (think of me as a digitally-updated version of a Victorian Gentlemen shooting wildlife for research) this part has taken me a while.
Anyway, the feedback meant that I changed a few things. I altered the background colours after people said the text was too difficult to read; I expanded the table width as it was too narrow; and I worked on the font size (too erratic). I also changed the structure of the exercises. They had been split into ones aimed at existing projects or ones intended to inspire new ones. The feedback was that most exercises could be useful for either, and my names for these sections – ‘brainstorming’ and ‘kick-starting’ – didn’t sufficiently indicate which was which. (It was also pointed out that in some quarters the
My technical solution was this (poets look away now): I worked out that a PHP Mail instruction could incorporate a visitor’s email fairly easily, but how do I get their results to be the message sent? I had to ‘concatenate’ (join together) the writer’s form entries using a FOR/ EACH statement and use SESSIONS to transfer this new $MSG between pages. Poets, have a sit down. Ask someone for a glass of water. Ready? I don’t want to rush you... OK, we continue….. At the top of this column, I mentioned two and a half websites. Well, the other full one is Paragraph Planet, which has been plodding along nicely. There’s been some great entries, a lovely mention of the website by author Judy Astley in Mslexia magazine, and a lot of blog chat about it too. As for behind the scenes stuff, I’ve only been doing the minimum. My To Do List from last month is still To Do….
Except – and this is the half from my first line – because of Paragraph Planet I was asked to co-produce Flash Lit Fiction as part of Brighton Digital Festival (together with literary promoters Grit Lit and Story Studio). This involved a flash fiction slam, with brave writers reading out their short, short stories in a tournament, plus a couple of Twitter competitions, one running for a month and one live. It was a great night, and to emphasise the digital theme we needed some projected visuals. As I know more about HTML than I do about PowerPoint, I did it as a temporary website. I think this was 90% successful with the exception being a bit of shuffle code – which ironically, I probably spent 90% of the time on – which was fine at putting all the writers in a random order, but then wanted to re-do it when I had to navigate away from the page to show our YouTube entry. You can see the temporary Flash Lit Fiction website here: paragraphplanet. com/flf12.htm. I was helped by working from a poster that Grit Lit’s Tim Lay had designed, and decided to keep it monochrome with simple pages that would fade between images and text and act as a backdrop. I also tucked away the menus off to the side to keep things simple, but still allowing me to move between pages quickly. That’s it for now. I need to work on my To Do List from last issue.
Richard has written for magazines including Prima Baby, The Artist and Car Magazine. He recently had a short play performed in the Brighton Fringe and writes the Distracted Dad column for Brighton magazine, Latest Homes.
the journey edition ~ 9
make your own...
Make Your Own... Land Art
Andy, Sandy and Getting Ever So Handy...With Nature. Sandy East
A
ndy Goldsworthy is an artist who constantly changes the way we see the world. A man who works with water and land, he gathers up all of its beauty and energy to create new ways of celebrating the earth and the air, and then he has the heart and good grace to hand his creations back to nature to shift and shape in whichever way it chooses... Not only are his works built with and of the finest, purest natural materials, they’re declarations of love and trust: a love for nature and a trust that when we offer our gifts to the world, the world will serve those gifts and us in the best way possible... As a sixteen year old, I spent a lot of my time in art studios studying fine art and always looking for the best way to draw a line, trace a thread, catch the light. I’d lose myself in the shadows of people’s faces for days and nights trying to get every angle, curve and scar just right. It was wonderful and absorbing, and frustrating and exhausting: trying to make something perfect consumes you in every possible way. With the change of term, came a change of topic, and a dodgy VHS recording of a documentary about some mumbling beardy fella building something called Land Art in Scotland and Japan was put on before me. I didn’t want to be impressed by a form of art that embraced giving your work away and allowing other forces to make it come undone. I was an artist who worked hard to get every detail right and to contain that all on a page, a canvas or a wall. I painted portraits with precision, for permanence. But there were aspects in that documentary, and in Goldsworthy’s big, bold, gorgeous photographic books, that were just what I needed back then, and, I believe, they’re qualities, tips, and reminders that all of us need now probably more than ever:
10 ~ what the dickens?
1) Nature makes us prosperous in every way. It is there for all of us, and it is free and in abundance, and within that we are equal. 2) Art challenges us and changes us but most of all it connects us physically, mentally, emotionally, culturally and geographically. Powerful art will always tell us what we need to know. Fast forward to last summer and I am at the beach as part of my daily ritual of “Keep moving, keep doing...” and I am wind-swept, skint, and my notebook is full and all of my pens have all run out. I’ve got nothing, I think. The sea keeps rolling, the sun grows stronger, and clusters of cocky seagulls, yappy dogs, boring adults, and snotty kids, – so, so many kids – just carry on around me flinging seaweed, skimming stones and building sandcastles... There’s one massive clan of small people who are grubby as hell and, well, a bit scrappy-
looking, and I wonder if my ‘nothing’ is maybe more than their ‘nothing’. They’re all completely engrossed and laughing as they scoot around the beach grabbing everything and each other. And I’m a bit envious. Of their joy. Of their inventiveness... And that’s when I see just how much I actually have, and that’s when my return to Land Art begins. Everything I need is before me, so I set down on the sand and start my journey of building massive sea monsters, goddesses, ice creams, shapes, fish and anything else that comes to mind. Soon the kids are all gathered around and some of them join in, some of them call me a twat, and one of them stares at me the whole time as if I’m doing a massive poo on the beach in front of him – he’s the oldest so this is to be expected. He’s on that cusp where he knows more than he should but is terrified he’ll never know enough and that he’s going to have to
make your own... grow up soon so the ‘Poo Face’ is quite normal. It’s a stare I get from a lot of adults when I build Land Art. And it’s fine. It probably is a bit odd to see a woman on her hands and knees, bum in the air, building hugely childish things in public places, and getting excited if a dog wees on it because she believes that dogs only wee in places that they trust and love, and so therefore sees this as a seal of approval...
Anyone can build Land Art at any time of the year using any and all natural materials they find. It costs nothing and, on the whole, people love it and love to join in once they’ve gotten over their shyness. There aren’t any great tricks to it at all. In fact everything I’m sharing with you is probably patronisingly obvious. Sorry about that.
Whether you’re building a butterfly from wind-torn flowers, start with building an outer edge. The butterfly I’ve built is made up Geums and Sweet Williams that were torn down by the winds. I had masses of Geums available to me so it was obvious to use them for an outline and also the base. Space: Next, fill your Land Art by using texture. Create movement by creating lines and patterns. For example if you’re making a seagull taking flight like Gully then create curved lines of stones or pebbles for the wings. It’s a lovely way of making sure that you use ALL of nature’s little gifts whether they’re broken or glistening and unscathed, as when they’re all gathered together in lines they blend into one, and therefore nothing is wasted. Colour: Use the bolder parts of nature to add depth to your Land Art. The rusty-brown stones on the beach might not be considered to be as pretty as the pure white chalk or shiny black flint, but they are striking and they contrast well against the white and grey.
So begins a summer, a year, a continuous journey of building Land Art and it is brilliant. The more I build, the braver I become and I’m not bothered by the odd looks because soon they become inquisitive looks with questions and it’s not just kids who are joining in but adults too, and they’re gathering up any materials I need and asking if they can add a bit here or there. And they come to it freely and openly and if that doesn’t express just what art can do in terms of community and collaboration then I don’t know what does. People take photos, get ideas, and talk about what else could be made... The journey continues... After each piece of Land Art is made, the rain washes it away, the wind blows it apart, or it’s swept away by the sea, and it is glorious. We feel joy in letting it go because in that time of making and creating we were, and still are, equal. Nature offers up all of its materials for free, at any time of the year, whenever we want it: it’s ours for the taking, the learning, and making, and when we’re done, it takes it all back to be used again in one way or another, and everything keeps moving...
The ‘WHAT THE DICKENS IS TAKING FLIGHT’ seagull a.k.a Gully was built in order to promote the magazine and to send to all those lovely people you saw in our promo film and building that piece of Land Art was great. I’ve never had so many people gather around, gather other people, and gather materials in order to help me make it, and they had great fun too.
BUILD YOUR OWN LAND ART:
What you will need: Sky, earth, sun, rain, wind, snow, sea, sticks, sand, shells, leaves, stones, feathers, grass, twigs, cuttlefish, petals, flint, mud, seaweed, stems, flint, bark, pebbles, and anything that grows , rises and falls...
Similarly there are always fallen petals to be found on any grassy area and just sprinkling a few of these on top of a Land Art piece will lift it. Small Details: Take time to make certain features stand out. Gully the seagull is no masterpiece and I look at him now and wish I’d given him grey bits but he’s alright, y’know? He’s got a pretty cute face, a charming face and I reckon he won What the Dickens? magazine a few fans the day he was built. Take the time to make those little characteristics stand out.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN LAND ART:
Outlines: We make our way through life by lines and shapes. Get your basic shape for whatever you want to make and start with an outline. The outline will guide you and establish how much material you will need.
the journey edition ~ 11
romancing the story
Romancing the Story, Bridget Whelan,,,, Novelist Bridget Whelan teaches creative writing in Brighton and London. Here she examines the single most popular genre in fiction.
I
ntimate emotional relationships are at the core of the human experience so it is not surprising that so many of the stories we tell revolve falling in love. Many novels have a strong romantic theme, but don’t come under the romance label because the relationship is an element of the plot rather than the focus of everything that happens. For mass market popular romance the boy-meet-girl storyline has to be the driving force to such an extent that if it were removed there would be no story. This is a lucrative market. Nine out of ten readers are women and women buy more books than men. There is also evidence that fans of romance tend to be hungry readers, reading and buying more than average. Emerging writers should be aware, however, that they have a keen understanding of the genre and a precise list of wants. 1) Readers want to identify with the heroine 2) Readers want to fall in love with the hero. 3) Readers want a HEA ending – happy ever after. Sometimes though a writer can get away with HFN – happy for now. It’s impossible to discuss romance fiction without acknowledging that both writers and readers come in for quite a bit of abuse. Once called female pornography (in pre-Fifty Shades of Grey days), it has been blamed for both undermining the struggle for female equality and creating unrealistic expectations about real life relationships. Radical feminist thinker Germaine Greer has said some harsh things about the genre over the years, but she has also admitted that her sexual fantasies are still fuelled by the
12 ~ what the dickens?
Byronic heroes of Georgette Heyer that she read about in her teens. (Heyer invented the historical romance genre and specialised in Regency romances that dripped with velvet.)
also a place for the writer who wants to keep the bedroom door open. The Liaison category in My Weekly’s Easy Reads is where alpha males meet savvy, passionate women of any age.
I’ve heard Greer argue that critics who complain that the same story is told over and over again are missing the point. She maintains that women aren’t nerds: they don’t train spot or give their home over to a collection of beer mats or motorbike engines, but they do buy romantic novels month after month, year after year, precisely because it is the same story. An interesting girl/ woman – the sort of person you could be friends with – meets an alpha male who is often older, often richer, and always more powerful. Something keeps them apart. Something brings them together and whatever misconceptions he had in the past disappear. He falls in love, deeply, madly, sincerely. And – this is the crucial part – that’s where the story ends. The gritty reality of ordinary life would intrude if the future was lived out on the page. There are no babies or mortgages, no socks under the bed or premature ejaculation on top of it. This is escapism and most women who read it – I would like to think all the women – are well aware that it is not a guide to life. Perhaps the real attraction is that in romance fiction the woman always wins…
In addition, there are writing techniques that will help you fulfil the reader’s expectations. Dialogue is more important in romance than other forms of fiction and a Mills & Boon book is typically about 60% dialogue and 40% narrative. I would also suggest that you be cautious about sub plots and any secondary characters you introduce. The focus can’t be allowed to shift from the hero and heroine.
Writing the fantasy
I
f you are thinking of becoming a writer of romantic fiction you must be aware of the requirements of the various sub genres. Harlequin Nocturne, for example, delves into the dark world of the paranormal, while Harlequin Heartwarming celebrates wholesome traditional values. There is
There have to be highs and lows, changes in the emotional temperature or, as Mills & Boon website, puts it: “All the best stories have stormy weather and sunny days.” When it is time to revise your manuscript the way you end a chapter is more important than the way you begin. A cliffhanger at the end of each one would be excessive, but you want to give the reader I-wonder-whathappens-next feeling. Mills & Boon call this a format rather than a formula and they have a point because it still leaves a great deal of freedom for a writer. Their website, like that of many romance publishing houses, offers a lot of useful advice. One of the most important qualities they would want to see in a would-be writer is respect for the reader. I agree because I’m convinced that cynicism shows on the page and it’s such a waste to spend precious time doing something you hate when you have a choice. Probably the best advice for any writer is to write the book you would like to read
romancing the story The Romantic Novelists Association
I
chose this topic for the December issue of What the Dickens? because you might want to put membership of the RNA on your Christmas wish list. The association has a long and honourable tradition of offering outstanding support to emerging writers. The New Writers Scheme is for unpublished writers and opens in January every year to the first 250 members that apply. Details about how to make your application are published on their website in late December. romanticnovelistsassociation.org The membership fee of £120 (that’s the 2012 rates – the 2013 figures weren’t announced when we went to press) allows unpublished authors to become involved in all the association’s
activities (and they know how to throw a good party) plus – and it’s a very big plus – you’re allowed to submit a fulllength novel. The deadline is usually the following summer, so it doesn’t have to be all done and dusted by New Year’s Day. Your manuscript is sent to an established author with an extensive publishing history for constructive feedback. This is a generous scheme. It takes a lot of time and thought to give well-informed criticism, and reputable literary agencies charge hundreds of pounds for a similar service. Help doesn’t stop there, however. Every year about 5% of the scripts submitted are considered worth sending to a second reader for another opinion. If both readers think the standard is high enough it will be championed by the Association and sent to an agent or publisher. A good proportion of the manuscripts that still need a lot of work are
Creative Writing Exercise
• What is your greatest regret?
F
• Why are you reluctant to get involved in a serious relationship?
inding your romantic hero and heroine
HER
HIM
Tear a photograph of an interesting, attractive man from a newspaper or magazine. It could be someone who has won first prize in the local flower and produce show or a major celerity. Only you will know that your dream hero is Brad Pitt with a Derbyshire accent. Answer these four questions in his voice, as if he was talking to a close friend • What is possession?
your
most
treasured
• When and where were you happiest?
The heroine stands in place of the reader. Think intelligent, sensitive Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, who’s willing to make sacrifices but unwilling to be a doormat, think Bridget Jones who is lovable because of her imperfections and the wry perspective she records in her diary. For the purposes of this exercise, it’s you on a good day, you on your best day. Your heroine can still have a backpack full of self-doubts because she’s human, (and she mustn’t think she is drop dead gorgeous even if she is), but you can have fun by giving her the wit to say all the things you wish you had said.
eventually published, boosted by the suggested revisions of an expert reader. In fact the Association awards a special prize each year to the best book published from the NWS scheme. Novelist and former chair of the RNA, Norma Curtis is one of the expert readers and says that a major strength of the schemes is that it gives new novelists an incentive to write in the knowledge that their work is going to be appraised constructively. Her advice to anyone who has always wanted to write is straightforward. “Write. It’s that simple. And the best time to write is NOW. You don’t need a mentor, a course, a study or a better laptop; these myths are just ways of putting off getting words on paper. As soon as you start writing regularly your brain’s synapses will start making connections and you’re away!”
Answer the four questions above and then jot down three things you’ve always wanted to do but have never had the chance. Choose the one that is rooted in the possible and isn’t dependant on a) winning the lottery or b) miraculously developing a unique talent. Name your heroine and hero. Give them appropriate names – not Darren if he is a Regency buck or Tiffany if she is a World War II nurse – and make sure that no other character has a name that starts with same initial letter. That’s a small point but it’s easy for a reader to confuse Sue and Sara and Sally and you want both your hero and heroine to be strong, memorable characters. Next decide how they meet. Work out what could keep them apart. Then take Norma’s advice and write.
Follow Bridget’s blog at bridgetwhelan.com
the journey edition ~ 13
desert island reads
DESERT ISLAND
READS
with Norma Curtis Each issue BRIDGET WHELAN asks a guest writer to recommend books that they have read, re-read and would willingly read again. NORMA CURTIS started her career by writing reader’s true experiences for a teenage magazine. Her first novel was filmed by Summerhouse Productions in 1988. She joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and her three subsequent books were published by HarperCollins. After being chairman of the RNA she graduated with an MA in prose fiction at Middlesex University and has a typescript surgery as well as being a reader for the RNA New Writer’s Scheme. Her first teenage novel, Holy Bones and Ava Jones is out now as an eBook.
Little Red Riding Hood Ladybird Books This was the first story that give me that mood-altering combination of excitement and heart-thumping fear through reading. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence. I found this on our bookshelf in my early teens. It is written from both Mellors’ and Connie’s viewpoints; Mellors dreads Connie’s power and Connie is afraid of him. And yet the intensity of their attraction is totally life-changing. It was years before I found out how it ended – I made the mistake of asking my father what ‘unexpurgated’ meant.
14 ~ what the dickens?
The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams The heroine, Karin, makes a terrible sacrifice to be with the staid hero, Alan, and despite their passion, the fallout is truly horrifying. The author’s genius lies in one line: Alan says... ‘I do not, cannot wish anything undone, if that would mean we had never loved – no, not though I heard, and shall never forget, the weeping in the garden’. That’s courageous writing. To Writers With Love by Mary Wibberley I had a growing file of rejection letters when I bought this book and I was beginning to think I was less self-confident than delusional. Wibberley’s book includes the cheering fact that John Creasey had a total of 742 rejections before he succeeded so I carried on writing on the grounds that I couldn’t actually fail until I’d given up.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding This is the rueful, funny, post feminist take on the 90’s singleton which started a whole new genre: chick lit. At the time, most publishing staff were women and the genre opened up the world of bigmoney advances to women writers. What’s not to like? First Draft in 30 Days by Karen Wiesner This is a great tool for novelists. I use it in the early planning stages and also to get back on track when my characters get out of hand. The Accident by Linwood Barclay. I’ve just reread this and I love his naturalistic, accessible writing style. Glen’s desperate search for clues as to who his dead wife really was is masterful. It gives me the same nervous thrill as Little Red Riding Hood when she’s standing in her grandmother’s bedroom not quite knowing who or what is in that bed...
romancing thewisdom story wall of
Wall of Wisdom
the thesunflower journey edition edition ~~ 15 15
the eBook extraordinaire
The eBook Extraordinaire Ben Ottridge Why publish an eBook?
O
oh, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons here... With your permission dear readers I’m going to start off on a bit of a tangent, as a question such as this always feels to me like I have to justify eBooks in general and my own career choice as a whole! It certainly feels at times that this question is more of ‘why are there eBooks at all?’ ‘What’s the point?’ It’s a very good question, but I’ve never felt that eBooks are here to supplant all print! I feel it’s perfectly possible for them to exist side-by-side, to even complement one another. Yes, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a good paperback; it’ll last for years if you don’t get it wet (or feed it after midnight...) and, let’s be honest, half the fun of a big book collection is lining them all up on the bookcase. You can’t do that with an eBook, I hear the naysayers cry. But on the other hand, sometimes you just have to get that latest one in the series now, or you want to take a whole stack on holiday
and you can’t fit them in the suitcase... EBooks have their place. I have both print collections and eBooks in my library and switch happily from one to the other, depending on how attached I feel to the physical object. My music collection is much the same; and boy could the publishing industry take some notes from the music industry’s experience over the last decade. It seems some of the big boys still haven’t learned about reasonable pricing. When there’s a ‘hardback’ edition of the eBook at £18.99 and a ‘paperback’ at £6.99, what are you paying extra for? When it comes to you the author, publishing an eBook gives you more control over certain aspects. Even when we’re talking mainstream publishing (rather than self-), an eBook edition is still advantageous. It can be sold around the world with no warehousing costs (although initial editing, design and setup still comes into play), mistakes can be rectified with an updated edition rather than waiting for the reprint, pricing levels can be experimented with to find the optimum sales level. If you’re self-
• • Are you looking for a new way to publish? • • Do you want to enter the digital realm but just don’t know how? • • Do you want to concentrate on the creative rather then the technical side? • • Do you want to avoid high upfront costs?
Then
SelfSelfSelf is for you!
We take your completed words and turn them into fully-fledged digital products (mobi, ePUB, PDF), ready for us to distribute around the world.
selfselfself.com
16 ~ what the dickens?
publishing, all of the above still apply, with the added benefit that you are no longer beholden to major publishers, agents, tricky contracts, schedules. The power is entirely in your hands. Of course it helps if you have someone else fighting your corner for you, but is possible to generate significant sales yourself purely through social media or other means (I’ve seen it done). Publishers still have a part to play. Unless you’re very technically minded, eBook conversion can be a pain, a minefield of obscure errors and coding. They are also very good at sorting the wheat from the chaff and seeing what is likely to sell and do well in the first place. Self-publishing may be democratising the book industry but authors like E.L James are generally the exception, rather than the rule (although I’d give my right arm for those sorts of sales figures!). Until next time!
S SELFSELFSELF
social media review
Social Media Review Katy Lasseter
F
acebook is not only a great place to catch up with your friends and share holiday snaps with your nearest and dearest but it is also the ideal platform for interacting with like-minded folk, especially fellow book-lovers. Contrary to popular belief, bookish people do not sit with their noses wedged between pages all of the time. Occasionally, they venture onto the World Wide Web and there is nothing that they like more than chatting about top reads and finding out about upcoming author events. I know this because I too am a total bookworm. Here are some of the Facebook pages that I love to visit time and again:
3 Great Facebook Pages for Readers
#1 What the Dickens? WritersGifts, Magazine & Other Literary Adventures: facebook.com/writersgifts Having progressed from a collection of writing and literary gifts all in one place (writersgifts.co.uk) to an online magazine to the printed version of What the Dickens? Magazine, the WTD team have a lot to talk about. As well as chat about the evolution of this hub for bibliophiles and lit-lovers, you will find many more gems on this Facebook page besides. Page highlights: • Calls for submissions – WTD loves you to contribute to the magazine, whether it is with short stories, poetry, photography or illustrations. • Literary gift ideas – You will get plenty of inspiration for what to buy
bookworms and wordsmiths, from book cover postcards to Novel Teas (literary tea bags). • Competition time – There are always books and bookish treats up for grabs! #2 West Sussex Reads: facebook.com/WestSussexReads West Sussex Reads, hosted by West Sussex Library Service, is a place to find out about events and bookrelated news in your local libraries, from Southbourne and Chichester to Worthing and Crawley. Page highlights: • News on local library events – The library runs a wide variety of events from author talks and book-signings to open-mic poetry sessions and events to tie in with World Book Day. • News on national book prizes – Look here for longlists, shortlists and winners of everything from the The Specsavers National Book Award to the Man Booker Prize. • Reminders about library resources – As well as books on a wide variety of subjects, library members can benefit from internet access, book talks and workshops. #3 The British Library: facebook.com/britishlibrary The British Library is not only the UK’s national library but also one of the world’s greatest libraries. With over 13 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, it is a booklover’s paradise. Open to everyone, the Library offers events, temporary
exhibitions and a Treasures Gallery that displays myriad items, from the Magna Carta to lyrics by The Beatles. Page highlights: • Upcoming exhibitions – The Library’s latest exhibitions include On the Road: Jack Kerouac’s manuscript scroll, which is running until 27th December, 2012. • Inspirational literary gifts – These include hand-carved bookends and literature inspired jewellery for the bibliophile in your life. • Fabulous images – You can feast your eyes on diary excerpts of favourite historical figures, front covers of classic first editions and a wealth of vintage illustrations.
Top Tips for when you find a page that you like • When you find a page that is on your wave-length, look to see which pages they have “liked” and check them out. It is more than likely that they will also appeal to you. • When you see a picture or a post that makes you smile give it a “like” or share it on your own wall so that your like-minded friends can enjoy it too. • Do not just stick to looking at Facebook page walls; check out photo albums for inspiration, events tabs to find out what is coming up and competition/special offer tabs to be in with a chance of getting a freebie or a bargain.
Who is Chichester Copywriter?
This Social Review is brought to you by Katy Lassetter of Chichester Copywriter. Based in West Sussex, Chichester Copywriter has an impressive portfolio of clients throughout the UK, including University of Cambridge International Examinations. Chichester Copywriter offers a wide range of creative yet professional marketing services, including: copywriting brochures; copywriting blog and news articles; copywriting for websites (Search Engine Optimisation); proofreading and copy-editing; social media marketing and marketing consultancy. Katy has provided social media marketing consultation services to a number of authors, including; Jane Rusbridge, Penelope Bush and Mary Atkinson. This service includes Katy setting up and optimising Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn accounts and blogs. She also provides creative professionals and businesses with tailored tips on how to use social media effectively to build their brands and communicate with customers. Discover more at: ChichesterCopywriter.co.uk or contact Katy on 01243 533421 or at: Katy@ChichesterCopywriter.co.uk to arrange a free consultation.
the journey edition ~ 17
the muse
The Muse
with The Doppler Shift
E
very issue we will be featuring a new or undiscovered band whose music inspires us in some way, whether it ties into our theme or on a deeper level. This time we have The Doppler Shift, from Sussex. You can listen to The Doppler Shift now on our website.
The Lost Art of Living
A
s I write this our new album The Lost Art of Living – available from our website and all good digital outlets by the way – has been on virtual shelves for almost four weeks. Having agonised over every sound wave and dedicated so much time to the process of studio production and artwork creation, it’s hard to listen to any of the tracks without a self imposed chastising scrutiny. But now and again, when the narcissist inside gets the better of me and I put it on, I don’t hear the collection of music, but instead remember the journey that led to this point. The CD has for me become a collection of memories, permanently stored in a shrink wrapped Pandora’s box of plastic and card. It’s far too easy as a consumer to forget the passion, dedication and sacrifice that comes hand in hand with creating a body of work such as this. We are currently waiting for the reviews and opinions of the press and these will ultimately be boiled down into a paragraph at best, followed by a final judgment represented in a crass five star rating system, which is somehow meant to reflect two years of profitless hard work. The Lost Art of Living has been an ever evolving journey. The creation of music is ultimately a series of deliberate mistakes, an evolution over which you have little control. Just as living beings we are the resulting consequence of when a collection of hydrogen and helium travels and evolves for so long that it begins to question where it came from, so the creation of melody forms and begins to pose its own questions over time. It is an organic process that can start in one place and end
18 ~ what the dickens?
somewhere completely different. As with nature music can only progress through failure and adaptation. Entire species of ‘bad ideas’ die by the wayside, collapsing under the weight of their own self indulgence, or mercilessly cut down into more efficient and palatable forms. Socrates was right when he said that ‘Excellence is not a gift, it’s a habit’. To create something that you feel proud to share with the world (or even just family) takes time. The songs themselves may come quickly, but the sense of self doubt carries a burden that brings with it an agonising responsibility to make something that can be enjoyed by others. Our music, although drawing from personal experience, is not meant to be selfish. Any musician who says they write songs just for themselves is lying. Music is a way of communicating and sharing ideas, in fact it is the ultimate language as each lyric, beat and chord change can have a thousand different meanings depending on the person who hears it and their experiences. This is what is the most addictive and inspiring part of being involved in The Doppler Shift. What we have created in this album doesn’t end here, far from it. Journeys do not end, they merely open the way for other things. For each person that hears
our music, something new is formed. An interpretation that we hadn’t even considered, a personal stamp that transforms our collection of songs into something unique to that individual. I am fascinated by hearing what other people think about what we play and how those viewpoints tell you something fundamental about the people making them. It is that which makes music so important to me and everyone else. It is this series of deliberate mistakes that can make us look at our lives, reconsider our own journeys, and perhaps put us on a new path. Josephus The Doppler Shift thedopplershift.co.uk info@thedopplershift.co.uk
my life in the theatre
My Life In The Theatre
Beyond the Proscenium Arch Sarah Quinney
A
s I write this, I find myself sitting in a borrowed flat in Edinburgh, watching the sun set as the rain softly falls (it does both here simultaneously on a daily basis). Beyond that I can see Arthur’s Seat and the Crags, and I’m thinking myself pretty lucky. This has been my 12th Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and over the years I have accumulated a certain amount of experience and knowledge in how to survive Europe’s largest arts festival, and would like to share that with you. My advice is unashamedly from a technician’s point of view, but I am sure that some applies to the performers out there. Firstly, do your research. Before accepting any job on a show or with a venue, look into all the different elements. Anything with the words “profit share” remotely attached to them are to be avoided like the plague. You will end up poverty stricken and hungry by the end of week one. Also, if the people employing you have spent more time deciding on a witty company name than actually on the show, I would avoid that one too. Secondly – get accommodation provided. NEVER EVER take on a job where you have to pay for your own accommodation. You will spend every penny you have on this and earn nothing. It will be miserable. My experience has taught me to take on a show that provides me with a private
room in a flat, then usually I take on two other performances that pay me a weekly wage. Being freelance means that there is time off to immerse yourself in other elements of the festival. Being a venue technician is an excellent way into the Fringe, but it is long hours and hard work. At the same time, there is much to be learned, people to meet and experience to be gained. Choose wisely. The Pleasance is an excellent starting point. Thirdly... It will be hard. There are days when the rain is pouring, you have one person in your audience despite you standing on the Royal Mile for four hours handing out your flyers, there is a power cut, and spear carrier number 3 has come down with a rare and tropical disease (all things that have actually happened to me). Eat properly, drink lots of water, and most importantly, have a lot of fun. Don’t do what I have done for the last two years and make a quick trip to the local A & E department with serious kidney infections... Not fun. In at four – do go and see other shows. Take a risk. Talk to everyone you can. Three years ago I was a venue technician at The Traverse, and a wonderful show called Stefan Golaszewski is a Widower was being staged in my space. I cheeked the producer in the bar one night and got the job stage managing that show in London. He liked me so much, when my current job became available, I was first on his list. Stefan Golaszewski
went on to write Him & Her on BBC3. So we both did alright out of the arrangement. But, being in Edinburgh is amazing. It is one of the best cities in the world and such an inspiration at this time of year. You could walk down the street painted bright blue and no one would bat an eyelid. This year has been very special for me as after a long slog touring, I was able to stop and be still for a little while, take in the scenery for once. I wish I didn’t have to go back out on tour again and Edinburgh could last all year round. Exciting things are happening, there is daily laughter, and a peacefulness amongst the noise of the crowds. There is none of the loneliness of touring life here; there is always a friendly face to greet you wherever you are, or something to look at and enjoy. It’s the one time of the year when so many of my technical friends are in the same place at the same time. So, as the sun sets on another Edinburgh Fringe, and the Highlands begin to call me, the journey begins again...
the journey edition ~ 19
literaryUK
LiteraryUK
James Walker
T
he Alan Sillitoe Committee was one of fifty three organisations selected to produce content for The Space, a new multimedia platform funded by Arts Council England in collaboration with the BBC which ran from May 1 to 31 October. Here James Walker, who edited together the project with Paul Fillingham, explains how he has tried to create a digital literary trail based around Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958). From an early age maps were a very important part of Alan Sillitoe’s life. In the 1974 essay Maps he remembered watching with ‘utter fascination when the teacher in school took a wheeled metal cylinder with a handle to it, rolled it on an inked pad, and then pushed it firmly across a blank page in my exercise book so that a perfect outline of Europe and North America was left gleaming on the page. It was the action of a magic wand, a device made by a wizard.’ Maps would have a more functional role to play during his adolescence when he joined the cadets and later when he served as a wireless operator in Malaya. When writing his Nottingham-based novels, Sillitoe always had a street plan to hand alongside a one-inch scaled map of the area, enabling him to produce a definitive Nottingham landscape. From this position he was able to ‘map the spiritual turmoil of myself and other people.’ We want to create our own ‘perfect outline’ of Alan Sillitoe’s Nottingham. To do this we’ve created a QR-coded cycle trail for smartphone devices
20 ~ what the dickens?
that explores the literary landscape of Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958), a novel about a cunning Raleigh factory worker called Arthur Seaton whose reward for a week’s hard graft at the lathe is to neck a few pints at the weekend and mess about with married women. This lands Seaton in trouble with a couple of Squaddies who come after him, which we’ve incorporated into the narrative of the App so that an exciting chase ensues. On reaching each location, hints are given to Seaton’s location which comes in the form of audio, film, illustrations, poetry, images, podcasts and a few other secrets. On the trail we’ve focussed in on five specific locations, each of which has a theme inspired by the novel and related to that space. These are Old Market Square, where Seaton meets his lady friends; the White Horse pub where he drunkenly collapses down the stairs; his work place Raleigh, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2012; the ‘turgid Trent’ where he goes fishing to gain some solitude and the Goose Fair, where he’s caught on the Wurlitzers by the Squaddies. We are also finalising plans to have quotes from the book carved into the ground at each location, for those without a fancy phone. One part of our commission was to make literature more accessible and reach audiences that perhaps weren’t familiar with this seminal novel This is where the themes come in. For example, Arthur Seaton, the
antihero at the heart of the novel, is defiant towards authority and lives by the personal credo of ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down.’ Our first location, Old Market Square, certainly has a long history of rebellion. Folklore has it that Robin Hood took advantage of an amnesty and won the coveted silver arrow here in a contest devised by the Sheriff of Nottingham. In 1811/12 unemployed Stocking knitters demonstrated against the new frames which were putting them out of work. Recently it was home to the Occupy Movement who voiced concerns at the inequalities of global capitalism. Therefore we asked who are the bastards grinding you down in 2012? By creating different ways through which to experience the novel we hope to offer alternative routes through Sillitoe’s Nottingham. It’s the kind of layering we think would appeal to a lover of maps like Alan Sillitoe himself. We hope that in doing this we are creating the kind of literary walk that not only engages a diverse range of people but one which captures the emotions of the written word. That’s got to be better than taking a photograph next to a blue plaque… You can read about the project or download the App at sillitoetrail.com James Walker’s website: jameskwalker.co.uk