Liz Williams's Blog, page 20

Getting things wrong, getting things right

I was not heavily involved in Racefail, but obviously, the issue of cultural appropriation is one that concerns me, both as a British citizen (EPIC fail on the colonisation front), and as a writer who writes stories set in another culture. Someone has just sent me a link to a long and thoughtful critical thread on the Chen series - somewhat belatedly, I'm responding, as I've only just been pointed to it.

With this kind of issue, I think you have to be as objective as possible. There's no way that I'm going to have a better handle on someone else's culture than they do. I think you have to start out from the beginning with the assumption that you will get things wrong, and the knowledge that you have an obligation to get things right. I do obviously undertake research, but there are areas where the nature of that research is going to be problematic: it's in translation, it may be outdated, and there's also an issue regarding who it is written by. That's going to be the case with historical research, as well. However, you can't blame your sources; you've got to do better.

Basically, if as a writer you get something wrong, you have to look into it and you have to correct it (with a mea culpa if necessary). Which, since I have the rights of the novels and if I reissue them in e-format, I will be able to do. Thank you to all who have contributed to this particular issue.

Weekend

Almost like a mini-convention - we had the launch of Anne Sudworth's wonderful exhibition at the gallery on Sunday. About 100 people came throughout the afternoon, including a lot of folk from the British SF scene whom we don't usually see in Glastonbury. In the evening, the G&P was wall-to-wall Goth, but they seemed to cope! Yesterday we met up with a friend from Magdalene in the evening and had a great evening out near Bristol. So it has been a very social few days. I'm currently in the gallery for most of the week, and writing Worldsoul in between visitors.

Weekend

We've had a very busy week, with an exhibition by artist Anne Sudworth coming up at the Grail Centre tomorrow: this is now in place and it looks amazing. Hopefully those of you who are on this side of the Pond will be able to come and see it.

Otherwise, we've had a house full of guests and a lot of coming and going - is here at the moment, assisting nobly with shop and dog-walking duties. She has put up with being leaped on at 6 a.m by Lily ("I WOKE UP! ARE YOU AWAKE!?") and taking a plodding Cass round the Abbey.

Creative writing tutoring - repost

As some of you will know, I have been offering manuscript appraisal services for some time now, but I have recently been joined by historical novelist Maria McCann. I am updating this as Maria has now come on board with the Arvon team, and I'm including details of that below.

Maria McCann's first novel, As Meat Loves Salt, was published to considerable acclaim in 2001 and was an Economist Book of the Year. Described as a 'fat juicy masterpiece', it has never gone out of print. The Wilding (2010) was longlisted for the Orange Prize and was one of eight novels selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club out of a hundred and sixty titles submitted by publishers. She has also published shorter pieces in anthologies and magazines.

Maria has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Glamorgan. For nearly a decade (until December 2010) she ran the Creative Writing courses at Strode College in Somerset, helping writers of all levels of ability to nurture their creative processes and to craft their work. Alongside historical novelists Emma Darwin, Rose Melikan and R N Morris, Maria appears at literary festivals as part of a panel discussing aspects of writing and researching historical fiction; from January 2011 she will be one of three writers (along with poet Daljit Nagra and playwright Nell Leyshon) selected to mentor upcoming talent as part of the Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme.

I will be dealing with SF, Fantasy and Horror, or any related sub-genres. Maria will be dealing with literary fiction and historical fiction. We will be offering:

- manuscript proposal appraisal (first three chapters and synopsis)
- full manuscript appraisal (novels and short fiction)
- submission package assessment

We can also offer tailor-made packages, depending on your needs and requirements. If you want an assessment of your initial three chapters, to see whether a manuscript is worth continuing, we can look at this. If you have a whole novel, and would like it taken up to the point where you are ready to submit to an agent, we can structure a timetable for you and take you through a chapter-by-chapter assessment. This process is likely to take about a year (unless you're a very quick writer!) and we will suggest that you rewrite if we think it's necessary.

You can start at any point. We are both very thorough – this is aimed at the serious writer who is aiming at a professional career. We start with an appraisal, and if we think your expectations are unrealistic and that you would not benefit at this point from a full appraisal program, we will tell you. However, we are solution-oriented and our criticism will always be constructive!

The aim of this process is to prepare work for publication. Obviously, we cannot guarantee that, although I would note that my last student has just had her first novel published as part of a 3 book-deal. I can put you in touch with former students if you wish. For other genres, including detective fiction, post-colonial fiction or other, let me know if you would like details and I will pass you on to a wider mentoring agency.

If you would like to discuss this with either Maria or myself, please email me at mevennen(at)hotmail(dot)com for further information, including a full breakdown of costs.

NEW SHORT STORY SUBSCRIPTION - REPOST!

This year's sub is going to be a little different. Morrigan Books will be bringing out the final (for now) instalment in the Chen chronicles, MORNINGSTAR, in the next year or so, but for some time now I have been planning to do a prequel. This will be the story of how Chen and Inari met, and quite a bit about Zhu Irzh's time in the Hell Vice Squad which, as those of you who have just had the latest story will know, is somewhat different from its earthly counterpart...

The first instalment has already gone out, and a big thank you to everyone who has signed up. I've just had a lot of fun writing instalment 2, which will be out to you all in early September.


So instead of a Chen short story, you'll be getting a section of a Chen novel - A THOUSAND LI - and instead of getting it every three months, you'll be getting it every month instead. Confused? You will be, because in addition to this, there are 2 more short story sets:

MONDHILE: I will be writing 4 short stories (every 3 months) set in the world of GHOST SISTER, DARKLAND and BLOODMIND.

What will I be getting?: feral people, dangerous landscapes, romance, a far-future post-tech society and possibly a couple of battles at sea.

ISIS DANE: (Also 4 stories, every quarter) I've done a couple of short stories in this series already - it's the same magical Albion as the Cygne novels, and set around the same time, so Cygne may well show up. Isis is a water magician, dealing with rivers and river spirits.

What will I be getting?: water magic, underground rivers, demented magicians, sinister faeries, dangerous royalty and a determined heroine.

If you have been enjoying the Garnet Park series, don't despair, because I'll be doing a Christmas special which ties in some of the story so far. I'll announce this a little later in the year, with the opportunity to sign up for it.

Worldsoul: I will also be writing a package of 3 short stories set in the Liminality - this is the world in which Worldsoul, my new trilogy with Prime takes place. These will be ready for Christmas as well.

It's exactly the same deal as before, with no rise in price. I'm doing a limited run of 100, for each story.

Cost: £5/$8 per story. If you sign up for 4 (one series) over the course of a year, I'll call it £18/$30.

The whole deal (12 short stories): £50/ - depending on the USD rate, this is from $78 to $90.

You can do it through Paypal, below.

Stories will be sent as a Word attachment or a PDF - let me know which is best for you.
Interested?: email me on: mevennen(at)hotmail.com.





Short Stories
A Thousand Li £18.00
Mondhile £18.00
Isis Dane £18.00
All 3 series £50.00
Worldsoul pack of 3 £12.00

Colin Harvey

I was very saddened to hear of Colin's death this morning, from a stroke he suffered over the weekend. I did not know Colin well, but corresponded with him over the last few years over various anthologies: he was due to come to Milford a couple of years ago but was unable to make it. He was a very nice man and will be sadly missed.

Glastonbury Conference for the Fantastic in Literature reminder

THE WRITE FANTASTIC PRESENTS:

THE GLASTONBURY CONFERENCE FOR THE FANTASTIC IN LITERATURE

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2011

At: The Grail Centre, 24 Chilkwell Street, Glastonbury

Guest of Honour: Freda Warrington

Speakers include Dr Liz Williams on Dion Fortune, Dr Kari Maund on the Arthurian tradition, Paul Weston on John Cowper Powys, and others.

Rioting

I haven't posted much about this because it just seems like - well, a really bad case of mass guerilla shopping. I don't think it has much to do with politics, or poverty, or race, or injustice, or any of the things that usually cause people to riot. Nor do I think it has to do with innate evil. People want stuff and they've seen an opportunity to go out and take it: the people processed through the courts so far have been a postman, several students, and a primarcy school worker. It's also the chance to have a ruck, and the EDL distinguished themselves last night by having a clash with the Met in the complete absence of any rioters (what one of my FB list described as fat white dolts in action, referring to the EDL). That the riots diminished last night is significant, because it rained over most of the country and it's harder to set fire to stuff in the rain. Also, you might get your new trainers wet.

I don't think it's a co-ordinated plot by the government to distract attention from the financial crisis: anyone who has had the misfortune to visit an averagely sized British town on a Saturday night will have noted that it's just under riot conditions as it is. The only startling thing about Gloucester's rioting was that it happened on a Tuesday, not a weekend.

The only results of this will be a police crackdown, possible curfews, a lot of mobile phones suddenly ppearing on Ebay and the conditions of genuinely poor people who are trying to eke out a living in Handsworth and Hackney will be made a great deal harder.

Sunday - various

Finally, the thunderstorm that has been promising to appear for the last couple of weeks has finally done so, improving the local mood no end in spite of torrents of monsoon-like rain. I've been in the shop, working on various manuscripts (my own and other people's) and aiming for a quiet evening tonight: we have a joint of lamb and it's starting to look like an evening for a roast... I have been spending most evenings this week in an outrageous and decadent manner: catching up with the boxed set of Coast. Although we did go to the pub last night.

Readers of Facebook will already know that yesterday was brightened by the appearance of a skunk - on a lead held by a woman who runs a ferret sanctuary. She let me hold the skunk, who promptly fell asleep with his feet curled around my necklace. In disentangling him, a ring worn by his owner got tangled up with one of mine, creating a knot of women and skunk in the middle of the shop. He was very sweet. They are not native to this country so we rarely see them outside zoos.

I have been reading Jack Parson's Freedom is a Two Edged Sword - known as the 'James Dean of the occult,' Parsons was a remarkably character - a follower of Crowley and ceremonial magician who was also a rocket scientist at Pasadena. He died in 1952, having blown himself up. I'm not wild about the libertarian cast of his political essays, but he was an interesting individual.

Spring sale - another heads-up

New Con Press have very kindly sent me copies of A Glass of Shadow, so if anyone ordered these in the Spring Sale, I'll be posting these out this week and your copy should be with you soon.