Gill James's Blog, page 23

Working with beta readers

I've used these before and I am now using them again. The first time was for The House onSchellberg Street. On that occasion I asked a few of my creative writing colleagues, another English colleague who specialised in the Holocaust, a colleague who loves all things German  and some young people. I had labelled this novel young adult and now although I think it can be and has been read by young adults, it is possibly more accurately an historical novel featuring feisty women. I'm now working with beta-readers on the second book in the Schellberg Cycle, Clara's Story. I'm not sure I have the title right yet and indeed that comment has come up.  When is the text ready I think the text should be as polished as you can make it before you send it out. I tend to write a novel within three months but spend up to eighteen months editing it. I will also have shared a good deal of it with a critique group. The better it is before it goes out, the nearer to perfection it will be once you've reacted to what your beta-readers tell you and the less work any future editor will have to do.   What I want to know I want a gut reaction to the text. What have the readers understood? Does it work for them? I'm not here looking for an in-depth critique and I certainly wouldn't expect beta-readers to annotate the text. Is anything puzzling? Is there enough pace and tension?  If they have some form of expertise in the era written about I'm more than happy to have any mistakes pointed out to me and to listen to their further suggestions.  Whilst I don’t expect full annotations I'm grateful if the beta-readers point out any overuse of words or phrases or a general fault with my writing that comes up frequently.  Also I'm happy if they point out the over-occurrence of bad writing habits – telling when I could show, shifting point of view, using clichés, not varying pace, sentence-length or tension. If they spot a typo and point it out, even better, though I'm not expecting this.  How to react You don't always have to rush off and make alterations where the beta-reader has suggested they're needed. Certainly though if two or more have mentioned the same thing it's probably worth taking them seriously. You can ask yourself whether they have a point, though. Sometimes they may suggest something is wrong and offer a fix.  There may be something wrong but the fix they've suggested may not be the best answer. You may need to find a third way.    
Dream teamI'm putting together a dream team of beta-readers, reviewers, illustrators, designers and editors.  Would you care to join us? Find details here.      

News 1 August 2017

Now out of plaster, thank goodness.  

News about my writing I'm pleased to say that my arm is now out of plaster and making good progress. I've now cooked, baked and ironed successfully. My typing speed is back up. I still can't drive though and won't dare until my right arm is thoroughly reliable. So there's still a lot of desk time but I'm beginning to get out a bit more. Canned StoriesI talked a little about this last month. My ideas are firming up on this and I'll be putting out a call for submissions soon. Thank you to those of you who've given me ideas. I see some interesting stocking fillers emerging.   
I originally got this idea from the Ministry of Storieswhere they sold limited editions of stories by well-known writers. I adapted this to use with my creative writing students at the Create Festival at the University of Salfordlast year. These were limited editions – five copies of each story. It's another interesting way of publishing.  .      Patreon I’m selling some of my work via Patreon.  You can find details here. As the name suggests, you would in effect become a patron. I think I’m offering real value for money, with something for both readers and writers. And you can take both if you happen to be both.  Check it out if you’re interested.     Dreamteam My Dream Team of reviewers and beta–readers and for my publishing and self-publishing projects, editors, proof-readers, illustrators and designers is beginning to take shape.  This is a personal recommendation. Initially I intend to use my Dream Team a lot myself but gradually I would add in people that friends and friends of friends had recommended. What happens? You sign up to a mail list and every time a request comes in we mail it out to you or the enquirer contacts you directly via my web site. The conversation then carries on between you and the person making the request. You may also have a page set up on my blog and you may update that once a year.  Interested? You may sign up for more than one category.  Beta readers sign up here.Reviewers sign up here. Editors sign up here.Illustrators sign up here.Designers sign up here.Proof-readers sing up here.    DO REMEMBER THAT AT ANY TIME YOU’RE APPROACHED AND YOU’RE BUSY IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO SAY NO.        Bridge House We have now finished reading the entries for Gliterary Tales. There were a few more submissions this year and some very good writing. And what with my broken arm and Debz moving houses we were a little delayed. The standard was very high this time and we've had to reject some very publishable stories but I've encouraged those writers to submit to CaféLit  or consider one of our single author collections. See below.Here is the list of writers and stories, in no particular order, that have been offered a slot in Gliterary Tales : The Stuff off Fairytales L.G. Flannigan Storm in a Teacup Deborah Rickard  The Party's Over Sharon Zjadman Pictures in an exhibition Stuart Larner To wish upon a star Paula R C readman Snow Storm Catrin Kean The Crystal Gazer Cathy Leonard Silt Christopher Bowles Self-Improvement  Michael O Connor The Lone Valley Clare Weze The Litter in the Glitter Linda Flynn   Pamb Bwark Glitter Chick Dianne Stadhams A little Bit of Sparkle Liz Cox A very Unseelie Act:Kate Lowe All that GlittersTheresa Sainsbury The Girl Who Sings for her Supper A J Humphrey Brighter than Jewels Gail Aldwin Her Coronet WeedsYasmina Floyer Kitsune David Trebus Magpie Sally Angell Following the ThreadDianne Stadhams Footwork Mary Bevan Moe L F RothNote, we are one short as one writer has withdrawn and we're still waiting for the next on the list to reply.  We’re getting plenty of interest in our single-author collections. These are for authors we’ve published before and they may include stories we’ve already published, ones they’ve had published elsewhere and new ones. The description for this is now on the web site. We’ve already had some enquiries and we’re currently working on several anthologies.  You may recycle stories we’ve already included in another anthology, and you may reedit these if you wish. You may also add in new stories. We’re aiming at a total word count of between 30,000 and 70,000 words.  If you’re interested in this, contact me here.    Already in progress are collections by Paul Bradley, Phyllis Burton, Jesse Falzoi, Dawn Knox, Jenny Palmer, Dianne Stadhams and Paul Williams. We now working on edits of Citizens of Nowhere, with the theme of the global citizen. We’re commissioned just over half of the work from known authors and there has been room for a few open submissions.     CafeLit Remember, we’re always open to submissions. Find out how here.  I’ve been encouraging my students to submit. I’m beginning to see some of their work appearing. I've now made the selection for The Best of Café Lit 6 . Here it is: Janet Bunce An Alternative HalloweenBite Marks  Alan Cadman Let it Snow  Patsy Collins Walk a MileHelen Combe Have You Seen My Wife?                         Schrödinger's Data Stick  Hannah Constance ConfessionalDavid Deanshaw Shadow Alyson Faye Treasure Hunt Linda Flynn Poppy, a Puppy for Remembrance                          Wake Up Call Angela Haffenden Emphereal Michael Hennessy In Deep Jasmin L. Jackson PushVicky Jacobson Ruby's Luck Gill James All Things Wise and Wonderful Predictive Text                         Recognition Lloyd Jenkinson Pirates' Island Dawn Knox Christmas on the High Street The Queen's Labour                        Still No Room at the Inn                         Wishing Well    Helen Laycock Pumpkin  Soup with a Dash of Magic Roger Noons Clean Breaks Performance                         Resolutions                         That Friday Night                         Sport for Fun Stuart Page Play FairJenny Palmer The Visitors James Phillips Cider and Chalk Z. L. Porter Elvis's Son Paula R  C Readman Chimes at Midnight Penny Rogers Green for Danger   Allison Symes Pressing the FleshAlun Williams Chalk Lisa Williams An Affair in A-ZMilk Snatcher Ruby Robin Wrigley Dinner for One

The Best of CaféLit 5 is still available. There are some lovely stories in this. I’m very pleased that I have a story in this collection. Order your copy here.       Again we need more reviews for this. Have you read them? Could you write us a review? And again, I’m offering free copies as PDFs or e-mobi files.  ChapeltownNeil Cambell’s Fog Lane is out now. Again, reviewers very welcome. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fog-Lane-Neil-Campbell/dp/1910542083/  I can get the e-mobi or a PDF to you if you're willing to review.   Christopher Bowles' Spectrum, a challenging but very satisfying read. Again reviews welcome. We've not yet done a Kindle version of this as the layout is challenging and getting e-mobi technology to behave is testing all of our resources. I can send you a PDF. Be warned: there is some adult material in this. There is also a lot of beautiful writing. If you would like to buy the book, see details here.     Chapeltown has now successfully published its first picture book. Colin Wyatt’s Who will be my friend? – is a delightful story about friendship and accepting others. Yes, Colin is Debz’s dad. He is a Disney licensed illustrator and his previous publication is The Jet Set. We feel very honoured to be publishing him. The book is out now and available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Will-Be-My-Friend/dp/1910542121/ Reviews welcome. We can provide the PDF.  We’re very pleased with this book and now aim to publish more picture books. We're working on an illustrated book by Philippa Rae and we've offered two more contracts for picture books.   
Creative CaféWe’re always looking for new cafés.  If you visit one of the cafés in the projectand would like to write a review of between 250 and 350 words – nice, too, to have a couple of pictures – send it to me here.Do the same if you find a new café. I’m now sending out welcome letters to each new café that’s added. This will also offer them the opportunity to join the mailing list.   I’m also now proactively encouraging cafes to stock The Best of CaféLit. Do you know anyone who might like to stock it? We can offer a 35% discount to retailers. Query gill at cafelit dot co dot uk.      The Red Telephone I am now working on Richard Bradburn’s Evernrood. Our mentoring programme is now full. I’m now working quite closely with three very different authors: Charlotte Comley, Dianne Stadhams, and Nina Wadcock. They are all presenting some fascinating material. University of Salford graduates Lauren Hopes and Christian Leah have also joined our happy band.        
Book tours If you’re a Bridge House / Red Telephone / CaféLit / Chapeltown author and you want to get serious about book tours, consider our author’s kit. We provide twenty or so books (exact number is up for negotiation) you take to the bookshop and the bookshop can put these through the till. We then invoice the bookshop, with a 35% discount for any sold and top up your supply to twenty. At the end of the tour you can either pay for the remaining books at cost + 10% or keep them until you’ve sold them and then pay the normal price of 75% of RRP. The latter can in any case be set against royalties. You need to allow at least ten days between events. Contact me here if you’re interested in this.           
School Visits I’m proactively promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion. Costs= travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.        I also offer a free half day visit, though you pay my travel expenses, if you allow me to promote my books.       I’m also continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:       Query for a school visit here.I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.        I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises. It is now also possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price.  Upcoming events         Note also for your diary: the London Bridge House / CafeLit / Chapeltown / Red Telephone celebration will be 2 December at the Princess of Wales again. Last year we “sold out” – the event is free but ticketed. We shall have:  general minglingcash baran opportunity to buy lunch an opportunity to buy books at an advantageous rate    “speed-dating”  where you get to speak to as many people as possible in the room i.e. promote yourself to readers, swap tips with other writersauthor readingslatest news from me  collection for a local charitybig book swap (bring one of your other titles and take something else home – hopefully all will be reviewed. If you bring a non-writing friend they can just bring a book they love)  This has now been released to everyone who has been published in 2017. 31 out of 50 tickets are already "sold". I'll be releasing it to the whole of the Bridge House Authors list on Friday. Not a Bridge House author yet? But you'd like to become one and get an invite to the event? Sign up for that mailing list here.      Writing opportunities Remember I keep a full list of vetted opportunities on my writing blog. See them here. New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.     Current reading recommendations I've recently read a volume of very short stories by one of our own writers, Dawn Knox. She has put together an impressive collection of 100 stories each exactly 100 words long, each about the Great War. Read my full review here.   Giveaway This month I’m giving away an e-mobi file for your Kindle of On This Day Download here.You will also find in this dropbox:·         An extract from Clara’s Story·         Some seminars for schools about The House on Schellberg Street·         Some fiction writing exercises·         The opening chapters from my manual for writing the young adult novel   Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage, sell for anything form £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But we’re offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.  Current reading recommendations I've recently read a volume of very short stories by one of our own writers, Dawn Knox. She has put together an impressive collection of 100 stories each exactly 100 words long, every one about the Great War. Read my full review here.   Happy reading and writing.

Me and my email

I actually love my email. Even though like today it sometimes brings me a rejection. There was a time, especially when I was still employed, when I used to be a little afraid of it, a little bullied by it.  Then, however, I remembered it is here to serve us as a tool rather than to rule us. Now it has become like a magical box, full of treasure.     Snail mail all but goneI really do get very little snailmail. I've opted to have pretty well all bills, statements and invoices delivered electronically. That means I can pass them easily on to my accountant. It requires a little organisation but if something gets misfiled, it's fairly easy to do a search on the computer and find it again. I get a lot of email – far more that I ever used to get as snailmail and in fact none or at least very little of it is junk. I have got a good spam filter for that. I'm on several mailing lists and even though I don't always have time to read very post I like to keep them coming because occasionally I do read them and I find a few gems.Limiting timeIt could take me several hours to monitor my email if I read every single one. So I don't. I allow just half an hour a day. I sweep through starting from anything from the day before. I select anything that needs a reply and reply very quickly if I can – otherwise, it goes on to my "to do" list and I then give it all the attention it needs later. I'll then go back to the start of the list and delete or file any thing I can for three days' worth or again to the start of yesterday. I spend the rest of my half hour enjoying some of the non-urgent posts- newsletters,   book recommendations, sales and personal news etc.Proactively sending emailYes of course I do this pretty well daily. This comes up as part of my "to do" list and often includes submitting a text for publication. It's not about using email for the sake of it – it's more that email is the most effective way to achieve certain goals. It's a tool not a ruler, remember.  Actually inviting more email Yes, I'm actually trying to get more people to connect with me by email. Yes, of course, that is for me to be able to email people my newsletter, news about my books and details of my events.  That will generate more replies for me and more emails to deal with. But I'm confident my system will still work and I'll be able to deal with them in half an hour a day. Final tip Think very carefully before you unsubscribe form a newsy email list. Remember, you don't have to read it every time. The delete button on your computer is very useful. Occasionally you will find something very exciting there.
And a warning .....I broke my arm badly as a result of checking my email whilst on holiday.
"That'll teach you," said my son. 
Do remember the handy "out of office" automatic replies you can put on.              

The Physical World and the Writer

We tend to think of writing as a very cerebral activity. Writers are often introverts and can frequently be found day-dreaming as they fail to escape from the world they are creating. Many of us would like to stay in our writing rooms, have room service brought along three times a day, and money for our best-sellers delivered straight to our bank accounts. 
However, it doesn't work that way. 
For starters, if you're not in the world, how can you write about it? Secondly, what we write and what we read always relates to the physical world. 
Perhaps most importantly, the very best writing happens when we write with the senses. Often the visual brings the other senses with it; if we picture the sea, we can generally also hear it crashing on to the shore, taste the salt air, feel a sea-breeze and smell the sea-weed. When a writer gives us details like that we enter her world. The film in her head plays out also in ours.
Marcel Proust tried to capture the whole of his life by writing about its physicality. For him taste and smell evoked memories. A little French caked dipped in tea brought him back to his mother.  A detailed, but not necessarily overlong, description of what the world is really like helps us to avoid clichés. Try describing these: What orange-peel looks likeWhat chocolate tastes likeWhat rain feels like Perhaps we also need to get out of our boxes in order to explore this physical world more closely. If you want to write about the park, go and sit there for a while and even make a few notes.
We often get our best ideas anyway when we are away from our desks. My ideas often come to me when I'm cooking, driving, ironing or walking. We are not alone in this. Archimedes had a Eureka moment in the bath, Pointcaré as he stepped on to a bus and Einstein when he was coming down in the lift.
Yes, the physical world is important to the writer. In fact, we can't do without it.              

Newsletter June 2017

Canned stories anyone?
News about my writing Everything has slowed down a little as I have broken my right arm badly. I'm also a bit housebound. Public transport is time-consuming and juggles me around rather a lot. I'm reluctant to ask Martin for lifts as he's already doing all of the cooking and having to take me to essential appointments. I'm at my desk a lot now so although I'm working much more slowly I'm getting quite a bit done.I'm making lots of submissions and my short story Crucifix is now on CafeLit.   Canned StoriesI originally got this idea from the Ministry of Storieswhere they sold limited editions of stories by well-known writers. I adapted this to use with my creative writing students at the Create Festival at the University of Salford last year. These were limited editions – five copies of each story. I'm toying with this as another way of publishing. We managed to give most of them away last year. These are\a few that were left over.There is something very different about consuming a story that you pull out of a can.  I'm thinking of adding a few more small items to the can. Let me know your thoughts on this.      Patreon I’m selling some of my work via Patreon.  You can find details here. As the name suggests, you would in effect become a patron. I think I’m offering real value for money, with something for both readers and writers. And you can take both if you happen to be both.  Check it out if you’re interested.     Dreamteam I'm still building up my dream team of reviewers and beta–readers and for my publishing and self-publishing projects, editors, proof-readers, illustrators and designers is beginning to take shape.  This is a personal recommendation. Initially I intend to use my Dream Team a lot myself but gradually I would add in people that friends and friends of friends had recommended. What happens? You sign up to a mail list and every time a request comes in we mail it out to you or the enquirer contacts you directly via my web site. The conversation then carries on between you and the person making the request. You may also have a page set up on my blog and you may update that once a year.  Interested? You may sign up for more than one category.  Beta readers sign up here.Reviewers sign up here. Editors sign up here.Illustrators sign up here.Designers sign up here.Proof-readers sing up here.    DO REMEMBER THAT AT ANY TIME YOU’RE APPROACHED AND YOU’RE BUSY IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO SAY NO.        Bridge House We have almost finished reading the entries for Gliterary Tales. There were a few more submissions this year and some very good writing. We have to make some tough decisions so it's taking a little more time than usual. We hope to release the list soon, We’re also getting plenty of interest in our single-author collections. These are for authors we’ve published before and they may include stories we’ve already published, ones they’ve had published elsewhere and new ones. The description for this is now on the web site. We’ve already had some enquiries and we’re currently working on a couple of anthologies.  You may recycle stories we’ve already included in another anthology, and you may reedit these if you wish. You may also add in new stories. We’re aiming at a total word count of between 30,000 and 80,000 words.  If you’re interested in this, contact me here.    Already in progress are collections by Dawn Knox and Jesse Falzoi. There are three more contracts out.
We now working on edits of Citizens of Nowhere, with the theme of the global citizen. We’re commissioned just over half of the work from known authors and there has been room for a few open submissions.     CafeLit Remember, we’re always open to submissions. Find out how here.  I’ve been encouraging my students to submit. I’m beginning to see some of their work appearing. Very shortly I’ll be putting together the Best of CafeLit 6.   
The Best of CaféLit 5 is still available. There are some lovely stories in this. I’m very pleased that I have a story in this collection. Order your copy here.       Again we need more reviews for this. Have you read them? Could you write us a review? And again, I’m offering free copies as PDFs or e-mobi files.  ChapeltownWe’re still looking for collections of Flash Fiction. CafeLit writers might particularly consider this as your stories so often fit this brief anyway. See our submissions page here. We have now signed up five writers already and I’ll be putting out one of my collections as well soon. Take a look here.  Neil Cambell’s Fog Lane is out now. Again, reviewers very welcome. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fog-Lane-Neil-Campbell/dp/1910542083/  I can get the e-mobi file to you if you're willing to review.   The next one out will be Christopher Bowles' Spectrum, a challenging but very satisfying read.    This call for submissions will be closing soon so hurry if you want to submit.  Chapeltown is also excited to be publishing Colin Wyatt’s Who will be my friend? – a delightful picture book about friendship and accepting others. Yes, Colin is Debz’s dad. He is a Disney licensed illustrator and his latest publication is The Jet Set. We feel very honoured to be publishing him. The book is out now and available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Will-Be-My-Friend/dp/1910542121/ Reviews welcome. We can provide the PDF.  We’re very pleased with this book and now aim to publish more picture books.  
Creative CaféWe’re always looking for new cafés.  If you visit one of the cafés in the projectand would like to write a review of between 250 and 350 words – nice, too, to have a couple of pictures – send it to me here.Do the same if you find a new café. I’m now sending out welcome letters to each new café that’s added. This will also offer them the opportunity to join the mailing list.   I’m also now proactively encouraging cafes to stock The Best of CaféLit. Do you know anyone who might like to stock it? We can offer a 35% discount to retailers. Query gill at cafelit dot co dot uk.      The Red Telephone We are currently open for submissions. Hoorah! We’re looking for the next great YA novel. Check out the details here.  We’re particularly open to speculative fiction but we’ll also like anything that is well written and well-targeted.  I welcome others but send sample chapters and synopsis first. The full details are on the site.   I am now working on Richard Bradburn’s Evernrood. We are still open for submissions but this will only be for a limited time now.    Our mentoring programme is now full. I’m now working quite closely with three very different authors: Charlotte Comley, Dianne Stadhams, and Nina Wadcock. They are all  presenting some fascinating material.     I’d also like to mention now that I’m mentoring two of my former students to help them get their novels up to publication standard. They won’t start this until they’ve finished their studies but it is something for them to keep them occupied as they wait for their results. I’m looking forward, too, to working with them.        
Book tours If you’re a Bridge House / Red Telephone / CaféLit / Chapeltown author and you want to get serious about book tours, consider our author’s kit. We provide twenty books you take to the bookshop and the bookshop can put these through the till. We then invoice the bookshop, with a 35% discount for any sold and top up your supply to twenty. At the end of the tour you can either pay for the remaining books at cost + 10% or keep them until you’ve sold them and then pay the normal price of 75% of RRP. The latter can in any case be set against royalties. You need to allow at least ten days between events. Contact me here if you’re interested in this.           
 School Visits I’m proactively promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion. Costs= travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.        I also offer a free half day visit, though you pay my travel expenses, if you allow me to promote my books.       I’m also continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:       Query for a school visit here.I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.        I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises. It is now also possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price.  Upcoming events         Note also for your diary: the London Bridge House / CafeLit / Chapeltown / Red Telephone celebration will be 2 December at the Princess of Wales again. People published 2017 will be invited first and then it will be open to all authors of our imprints. You are in any case invited to bring one friend at the first call. Last year we “sold out” – the event is free but ticketed. We shall have:  general minglingcash baran opportunity to buy lunch an opportunity to buy books at an advantageous rate    “speed-dating”  where you get to speak to as many people as possible in the room i.e. promote yourself to readers, swap tips with other writersauthor readingslatest news from me  collection for a local charitybig book swap (bring one of your other titles and take something else home – hopefully all will be reviewed. If you bring a non-writing friend they can just bring a book they love)  Giveaway This month I’m giving away an e-mobi file for your Kindle of Light in the Dark Download here. You will also find in the dropbox:   ·         An extract from Clara’s story·         Some seminars for schools about The House on Schellberg Street·         Some fiction writing exercises·         The opening chapters from my manual for writing the young adult novel   Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage, sell for anything form £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But we’re offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.  Sign up to get your freebies here.    Writing opportunities Remember I keep a full list of vetted opportunities on my writing blog. See them here. New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.    Happy reading and writing.

Question for Schools on The House on Schellberg Street

1.     Do you have a favourite scene?

2.     Which of the girls who wrote the letters do you find the most interesting? Why?

3.     What do you know about the Kindertransprt?

4.     What do you think Renate most missed from Germany when she first came to England?

5.     Two schools had to close in the story. Why?

6.     How was life different for Renate, Hani and their friends from the way it is for you?

7.     What might it have been like, being evacuated from home?

8.     Why might it have been a little easier for Renate's English friends than it was for some other English children?

9.     How was evacuation different in Germany?

10.                         Why do you think Hanna Braun told the girls just to talk about their daily lives in the letters?

11.                        Why did she later suggest they ought to burn the old letters?

12.                        Hani was not alone in finding the BDM uniform attractive. Can you describe it?

13.                        Why do you think young girls were so pleased to become members of the BDM?

14.                         Renate found it all very hard but in many ways she was more fortunate than other Jewish children. Why?

15.                        Renate's parents were forced to divorce. Why?

16.                        Renate and her mother became "Enemy Aliens Class B". What did that mean and why was it particularly awkward for Renate?

17.                        Why wasn’t Hans Edler allowed to come to England?

18.                        Renate has a nervous breakdown. What triggers it?

19.                        How do Renate's English friends help her?

20.  Do think the ending is upbeat? Why or why not?      
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Writing the World

Writing the World  We have faced a few challenging incidents in the past weeks in the UK. Always when these big things happen we want to do something. Perhaps we add flowers to a memorial site, perhaps we attend a vigil or we might give money. What we choose to do may not directly make it better for the victims but it nevertheless expresses something.
I belong to a choir and some members sang at the children’s hospital last Sunday. This was a reaction to the terror attack on the Manchester Arena. 
As writers and artists we often want to do what we do best. We put together anthologies of stories and sell books, donating the profit to the victims. We paint pictures or we make music.
I was delighted to have my short story The Gift Child published in Lines in the Sand, a collection of writings and illustrations by those who had protested about the war in Iraq. This was my first piece of fiction to be published. It very much told the same story as my novel The Prophecy. It also helped me to feel that I was doing something practical about my anger. Up until then I’d had a lot of time for Toni Blair and New Labour. That government also stopped compulsory language learning in school. That also horrified me. My story, included in the Seeds of  Hope section, addresses that also. Lines in the Sand not only gave all profits and royalties to UNICEF but also tackled the topic of war for children.

We published 100 Stories for Haiti. All profits go to the Red Cross.

It’s our experience that the books don’t make a lot of money. Even when Gentle Footprints starred at the Hay festival we barely covered our costs and then the money we did donate to Born Free got tangled up with VAT. It might have been much simpler just to donate from our own pockets. However the sentiments expressed remained really important. Animals should be allowed to live in the wild. Our collection contained stories from animal points of view – very tricky, and Richard Adams made us a fantastic contribution- or from the point of view of humans who help them to stay or become free. Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, my publishing partner on this venture, has continued to work with schools on this.

Perhaps if we can make others re-examine these situations we make a valuable contribution. Isn’t it the artist’s job to make the viewer look back at the reality? 
What’s up next? Well, we’re working on a collection called Citizens of Nowhere. It’s all about the global citizen. It embraces diversity and multiculturalism. It contains characters that have no fixed cultural identity. Now then, Madam May and co.              

Knowing your world

Book 3 of the peace Child trology

When I first started writing The Prophecy, formerly known as Peace Child, I spent a long time inventing its world. The Prophecy is the first part of what I now call the Peace Child trilogy. It formed part of my PhD thesis, Peace Child: towards a global definition of the young adult novel. It is set in 3500. We have colonised many other planets and then withdrawn again at the beginning of the story. Earth is now called Terrestra. We are afraid of contact with others because we are disease-free. However, it is not all good news: climate change has caused a poison cloud which makes outside air unbreathable. I am now writing a fourth story, as yet untitled. Believe it or not, I’m having to reread the first three. I have to brush up on my world. I have forgotten some details. I worked on the setting for months before I began writing. I spent time in cafés making notes on aspects of this world.I had to work out:·         How they dressed·         What they ate·         If they had a democratic society and how that worked·         How their education system worked·         What their values were ·         Whether they had any religious beliefs·         How their transport system worked. ·         How their environment presented challenges.·         How their healthcare system worked. ·         What they did for entertainment. I had to make up some more rules for it as I went along.  Hidden Information and Golden knowledge emerged.  “That just wouldn’t happen,” said the publishers. No, we just have fake news, secret bunkers and alternative facts. We have spooks who know more than we do. Always these dystopian / utopian worlds resemble our own though they are objectified. I don’t quite have an orange president but I do have a hung parliament and lots of political surprises. Oh heck! Days before the cyber-attack on the NHS I have the health care system crashing.   The Peace Child books are young adult / new adult so are essentially Bildungsromane. So says my PhD thesis. Protagonist Kaleem must set his world to rights. I had to start on this fourth book as he seemed to be crying out for attention. For young adults the science fiction fantasy settings add an important distance. It works the same way as glove puppets and picture books for younger readers.  A properly managed healthcare system free to all might eradicate disease. Climate change might lead to an unbreathable atmosphere.  Writers are told to write what they know. This may seem difficult in fantasy and science fiction. Yet here I take what we have now and work out what it might become. It’s important too, here to make sure the rules of your world are consistent and can work together. Happy world-planning.   

Newsletter 8 June 2017

What a month it’s been since I last wrote. I was very saddened by the terror attack in Manchester and then another on in London. We do know some people affected. I therefore decided to postpone our celebration event in Manchester. We had just reached the point where we needed to do a lot of last minute publicity and that seemed highly inappropriate. But it will happen. Watch this space.
By sharp contrast, I’ve just enjoyed a week away with my choir in Cyprus. I did absolutely no writing and had no mobile device with me apart from my phone. I wouldn’t risk my computer or my tablet in the hold. I did take a note book but didn’t touch it. I’ve kind of made up for it since I got back.    
It did me some good – and my voice has come back.  
Singing in a choir is such a good activity for a writer. Instead of working in isolation and trying to do something different you’re working co-operatively and trying to blend with others. Plus you make lots of friends. Recommended.  Fabulous course for children’s writer interested in writing for TVChildren’s TV Anything but child’s play, led by Dan Berlinka and Elly Brewer, with guest appearance by Sue Nott, will take place at the Arvon Centre at Craven Arms. The course is suitable for those who are already working on a script and for beginners. Each tutor will give constructive feedback in 30 minute slots. Arvon courses are a joy and this one sounds especially tempting. Find out more here.    Patreon I’m selling some of my work via Patreon.  You can find details here. As the name suggests, you would in effect become a patron. I think I’m offering real value for money, with something for both readers and writers. And you can take both if you happen to be both.  Check it out if you’re interested.    Dreamteam My dream team of reviewers and beta–readers and for my publishing and self-publishing projects, editors, proof-readers, illustrators and designers is beginning to take shape.  This is a personal recommendation.  Initially I would use my Dream Team a lot myself but gradually I would add in people that friends and friends of friends had recommended. What happens? You sign up to a mail list and every time a request comes in we mail it out to you or the enquirer contacts you directly via my web site. The conversation then carries on between you and the person making the request. You may also have a page set up on my blog and you may update that once a year.  Interested? You may sign up for more than one category.  Beta readers sign up here.Reviewers sign up here. Editors sign up here.Illustrators sign up here.Designers sign up here.Proof-readers sing up here.    DO REMEMBER THAT AT ANY TIME YOU’RE APPROACHED AND YOU’RE BUSY IT’S PERFECTLY FINE TO SAY NO.        Bridge House Bridge House’s anthology Baubles continues to sell. You can read a few extracts here. Salford Stories is out there also. Both could do with a few more reviews. If you’ve read them, do write a review for them. Please review on Amazon. You can also leave reviews on Good Reads or your own blog.  You may know of other places. I can also offer review copies for free (PDF or e-mobi). If you’d like a review copy, then reply to this email.
So, the submissions are now in our new anthology for 2107, Gliterary Tales. Debz Hobbs Wyatt  and I are currently reading them.  
We’re also getting plenty of interest in our single-author collections. These are for authors we’ve published before and they may include stories we’ve already published, ones they’ve had published elsewhere and new ones. The description for this is now on the web site. We’ve already had some enquiries and we’re currently working on a couple of anthologies.  You may recycle stories we’ve already included in another anthology, and you may reedit these if you wish. You may also add in new stories. We’re aiming at a total word count of between 30,000 and 80,000 words.  If you’re interested in this, contact me here.    
We think we’re there now with our extra anthology, Citizens of Nowhere, with the theme of the global citizen. We’re commissioned just over half of the work from known authors and  there has been room for a few open submissions.     CafeLit Remember, we’re always open to submissions. Find out how here.  I’ve been encouraging my students to submit. I’m beginning to see some of their work appearing. Very shortly I’ll be putting together the Best of CafeLit 6.   
The Best of CaféLit 5 is still available. There are some lovely stories in this. I’m very pleased that I have a story in this collection. Order your copy here.       Again we need more reviews for this. Have you read them? Could you write us a review? And again, I’m offering free copies as PDFs or e-mobi files.  Chapeltown  We’re still looking for collections of Flash Fiction. CafeLit writers might particularly consider this as your stories so often fit this brief anyway. See our submissions page here. We have now signed up five writers already and I’ll be putting out one of my collections as well soon. Take a look here.  
Neil Cambell’s Fog Lane is out now. Again, reviewers very welcome. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fog-Lane-Neil-Campbell/dp/1910542083/     
This call for submissions will be closing soon so hurry if you want to submit. 
Chapeltown is also excited to be publishing Colin Wyatt’s Who will be my friend? – a delightful picture book about friendship and accepting others. Yes, Colin is Debz’s dad. He is a Disney licensed illustrator and his latest publication is The Jet Set. We feel very honoured to be publishing him.
The book is out now and available at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Will-Be-My-Friend/dp/1910542121/ Reviews welcome. We can provide the PDF.  
We’re very pleased with this book and now aim to publish more picture books.   
Creative CaféWe’re always looking for new cafés.  If you visit one of the cafés in the projectand would like to write a review of between 250 and 350 words – nice, too, to have a couple of pictures – send it to me here.Do the same if you find a new café. I’m now sending out welcome letters to each new café that’s added. This will also offer them the opportunity to join the mailing list.   I’m also now proactively encouraging cafes to stock The Best of CaféLit. Do you know anyone who might like to stock it? We can offer a 35% discount to retailers. Query gill at cafelit dot co dot uk.      The Red Telephone We are currently open for submissions. Hoorah! We’re looking for the next great YA novel. Check out the details here.  We’re particularly open to speculative fiction but we’ll also like anything that is well written and well-targeted.  I welcome others but send sample chapters and synopsis first. The full details are on the site.  
I am now working on Richard Bradburn’s Evernrood. We are still open for submissions but this will only be for a limited time now.    
Our mentoring programme is now full. I’m now working quite closely with three very different authors: Charlotte Comley, Dianne Stadhams, and Nina Wadcock. They are all  presenting some fascinating material.     
I’d also like to mention now that I’m mentoring two of my former students to help them get their novels up to publication standard. They won’t start this until they’ve finished their studies but it is something for them to keep them occupied as they wait for their results. I’m looking forward, too, to working with them.        
Book tours If you’re a Bridge House / Red Telephone / CaféLit / Chapeltown author and you want to get serious about book tours, consider our author’s kit. We provide twenty books you take to the bookshop and the bookshop can put these through the till. We then invoice the bookshop, with a 35% discount for any sold and top up your supply to twenty. At the end of the tour you can either pay for the remaining books at cost + 10% or keep them until you’ve sold them and then pay the normal price of 75% of RRP. The latter can in any case be set against royalties. You need to allow at least ten days between events. Contact me here if you’re interested in this.            
 School Visits I’m proactively promoting my school visits associated with The House on Schellberg Street project. I’ve now developed a whole workshop for this. It starts off with a board game, includes some role play and creative writing and ends with a discussion.
Costs= travel expenses plus £400 for a full day and £200 for a half day. This includes all materials and some freebies. Two schools near to each other might consider splitting the day and halving the travel expenses and fees. This is open to negotiation in any case.           I’m also continuously adding materials for schools to the site that are different from the ones I use for the workshops. I’ve recently added in resources and books to do with the topic. See them here:       
Query for a school visit here.
I’m also happy to tailor a visit for your agreed donation. This can be for either a Schellberg Cycle visit or a creative writing workshop. Any monies raised this way will go specifically to a project I have for a non-fiction book about a journey that will follow the footsteps of Clara Lehrs. I’m hoping to do the whole journey by train, including departing via my nearest Metrolink station. It’s important to feel the rails beneath my feet.       
I offer as well standard author visits which include readings from my books, Q & A sessions and creative writing exercises.
It is now also possible to purchase the kit to work on on your own. Find details here.
Please remember, with these as well, I’m open to negotiation if you can’t afford the full price.  Upcoming events         Note also for your diary: the London Bridge House / CafeLit / Chapeltown / Red Telephone celebration will be 2 December at the Princess of Wales again. People published 2017 will be invited first and then it will be open to all authors of our imprints. You are in any case invited to bring one friend at the first call. Last year we “sold out” – the event is free but ticketed. We shall have:  general minglingcash baran opportunity to buy books at an advantageous rate    “speed-dating”  where you get to speak to as many people as possible in the room i.e. promote yourself to readers, swap tips with other writersauthor readingslatest news from me  collection for a local charitybig book swap (bring one of your other titles and take something else home – hopefully all will be reviewed. If you bring a non-writing friend they can just bring a book they love)  Giveaway This month I’m giving away a PDF of Mosaic. Download here. You will also find in this dropbox:·         An extract from Clara’s story·         Some seminars for schools about The House on Schellberg Street·         Some fiction writing exercises ·         The opening chapters from my manual for writing the young adult novel  
Note, that normally my books and the books supplied by the imprints I manage, sell for anything form £0.99 to £10.99, with most on Kindle being about £2.99 and the average price for paperback being £7.00. We have to allow our writers to make a living. But we’re offering these free samples so that you can try before you buy.   Writing opportunities Remember I keep a full list of vetted opportunities on my writing blog. See them here. New ones are added several times a day. Roughly once a month I go through it and take out all of the out of date ones. At that point I send it out to a list. If you would like to be on that list, sign up here.    Happy reading and writing.