Ruth F. Hunt's Blog, page 8
August 3, 2015
July 26, 2015
Book Group Tips for New Authors
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been visiting book groups to talk about The Single Feather. Its been an absolute delight as well as a great way to meet readers. I found out things about my novel, even I hadn’t thought about, for example, one group thought The Single Feather had echoes of a film – The Way, and when I watched it, I agreed!
Now, book groups have different set ups. Most work in tandem with the local library. The library comes up with a list of books – one for each month, which the groups then read and discuss. You may think unless you’re on that list you have no chance, but that’s simply not true. What you do need is someone from that group to have read and enjoyed your book, and enjoyed it so much they have asked the library and fellow group members if they could have a guest speaker.
Other book groups have each member suggesting a book, and again you need someone from each group to have read your book in order to suggest your book and then invite you. You could approach a group cold, but I think that’s more of an uphill struggle to get them to agree.
Tips
1) Try to have a chat before you visit the group, so you know the format, and how much time you’ve got.
2) If you’re attending the full group, arrive ten – fifteen minutes early, so if there’s an opportunity – you can chat to members as they arrive
3) Think about where you sit down. Aim to be in the middle of a group rather than at the end of a table – as some members may be hard of hearing.
4) Involve everyone in your discussion, and try to offer personal insights – something they couldn’t find out online or in another format. Remember to use lots of eye contact, and smile!
5) If you’re supplying the books, before you do your bit, give out copies of your book to everyone. While you’re talking and questions are being asked, they will be picking it up, reading the first few lines, reading the back. At the end of your bit, if they’ve enjoyed the discussion and like the look of your book, they won’t want to give it back.
6) If you might have sales, take more books than members. At all the book groups I’ve been to, some members have bought additional copies as gifts.
7) Take plenty of change. If your book is £9.99 don’t assume they won’t want the penny change.
8) At the end of the session, thank the leader of the group, the person who invited you and the group. If the group is based in a library it might be worth thanking the librarians if you can. Have the address of the person who invited you, as it would be thoughtful to send a card to say how much you enjoyed visiting the group.
Do you have any other tips you can pass on?
July 8, 2015
Writing about Groups.
For those of you who have read The Single Feather, you’ll know that Rachel wants acceptance after being in a traumatic situation. To help with this, she joins an amateur art group.
Groups for a writer need special attention. Whether they are formal or informal groups, Linda N Endlestein (A Writers Guide to Character Traits) said they generally follow this pattern of development
Phase 1) Coming Together
Phase 2) Defining the Task
Phase 3) Unrest
Phase 4) Cohesion
Phase 5) Interdependence
The Single Feather follows this pattern, with phase 3 providing the conflict, which then triggers other more subtle consequences.
Endelstein states: “When groups are good, they are creative, and can generate more ideas than an individual. When groups are bad, people may behave less competently, make strange alliances (often unconsciously allow projections to take over, and practice scapegoating.”
So if you want to put in some ready made conflict, create a group, whether it be an art group, knitting group, or simply a group of women who often meet up in the park, or men who sit at the same table in the pub etc.
When joining a group, Endlestein says there is a basic conflict in “How much of myself do I surrender”
“If a person surrenders all, then she belongs wholeheartedly but gives up individuality. If a person gives little of themself, they retain individuality but never fully belongs to the group…Members want to participate and belong, but preserve their own identities. The conflict of self vs other is not static it shifts over time, depending on many factors, such as time of life, other commitments etc.”
When Rachel first joins the group, she is very guarded and gives little away, but when that phase 3) unrest/conflict comes into play, there is a shift.
The other factor you have to deal with if writing about a group is not confusing the reader with introducing all the members of the group at the same time. In The Single Feather, I introduce each member individually, sometimes in pairs (if they are a couple) so by the time you meet them all together you know who they are. You need to give them distinct personalities, and make sure their actions and behaviour matches their back story and experiences in life. This will help the reader in identifying each character. You may want to try to focus in on a sub group for key scenes.
Group dynamics are a great way of creating allegiances and factions amongst your characters. You could have cliques, jealousy, competitiveness and all manner of minor to major conflicts, as well as friendships, relationships and a sense of community.
June 18, 2015
The Single Feather (drumroll)…at the BBC!
If you are a Facebook friend you’ll know that on Monday I had some exciting news after I was phoned up by a producer at the BBC. I was so excited, I had to tell someone, but then I felt I’d better wait until some more arrangements had been made before announcing it on Twitter.
Anyway (cough, to clear my voice) I will be travelling down to London, for a 10:10 slot on June 30th at BBC Television Centre – it will feel like I’m in my own strange episode of W1A. I hope I meet the Head of Values!
I will be part of a four person panel discussing various topics. I will be talking about The Single Feather novel, and site, plus whether people with disabilities are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting published as well as joining in the general discussion. It will be recorded for a podcast for BBC Ouch! A team who recently won a major media award. I might also be writing a piece for their website…
When I know when the podcast is out,I will post a link to it, and it will hopefully be on here as well.
June 12, 2015
Shhh! Revision ongoing, but coming up….
This blog has and will be a little quiet from now until October, mainly due to my end of year exams coming up in September. As The Single Feather was released in February, I haven’t been able to devote much time to my studies as I’ve been doing book signings, book groups, blog interviews and articles, with workshops coming up soon as well. So I’m feeling a tad worried I’m under-prepared for my university exams.
However, that isn’t to say the blog will be completely silent, as coming up there will be an interview with the lovely and talented Jane Isaac about her new novel Before it’s Too Late.
Also, a notable anti-austerity campaigner recently read and reviewed The Single Feather -and wants to do an interview with me, which will be hosted on this site.
Finally, I will be posting any material that gets published. This is mainly for my own benefit as it keeps everything in one place, however if you’re interested in inequality,disability and poverty you may find something you like amongst these articles.
Then in August I will be at my first Edinburgh books Festival – so I may have a blog post with some photographs from there!
If, and that’s a big if, I pass my exams, I will be doing a year of Creative Writing study with the OU and ready and waiting, is my box folder full of ideas, chapter profiles, character studies and more for book number two which I hope to have ready by summer 2016.
June 9, 2015
June 7, 2015
Morning Star :: Punishments for the poor and blameless
I get an honourable mention in this editorial from The Morning Star today:
Morning Star :: Punishments for the poor and blameless.
Mslexia – article about disability in fiction.
Recently, in the Mslexia magazine, there was a great article by Cath Nichols – Kill or Cure about having disabled characters in fiction. In response to the article I wrote a letter, and it appears so did a lot of people, which fits with the feedback I’m receiving about how refreshingly it is to see people with disabilities in fiction, especially fiction for adults. 
Here is my letter and the (rather creased) first page of the article from Cath. 
What do you think? Have you read The Single Feather? Should there be more characters like Rachel, who has a severe disability? Who else is ‘missing’ from fiction?
