Suzy Davies's Blog: Book News, page 19

Enjoy! My Interview with Dorset Book Detective!

Here is the link:

https://t.co/UnpLgwQXCB

Conkers, Bonkers - A Poem For Kids!

Off us two went, beneath the trees,
that crackled and snappled
in Autumn’s crisp breeze,
our wellies slish-sloshing through the pelting rain,
plip-plopping, plip-plopping
again and again.

The thunder it rumbled,
and the wind it blew
but on and on,
the adventurers, two,
rustled through leaves
till we came to a tree,
and the treasure it threw -
just for you, and for me.

Dark red-brown shiners
were there to be gathered,
the bigger the better -
that’s all that mattered!
We took them in armfuls,
filled carrier bags,
then we strung them on strings -
“Oh, what fun we had!”

Crashing and bashing,
we let the strings fly,
around our knuckles,
and up, to the sky!
Knocked them together,
till they spun around,
in a smackety wallop -
one fell to the ground!
One of the shiners
was all split into two,
twas tough on the outside,
but inside, all goo!

The champion, victorious,
announced that she won
and I was defeated, but still, it was fun!
Conkers, all bonkers,
Oh, what a game!
And when next year comes
we will do it, again.

Copyright, Suzy Davies, All Rights Reserved. 21/10/2017

On Versatility, Humor, and Writing for Children

One common misconception is that being a Children’s Author is somehow easier than writing other genres of Literature.

Perhaps the reason that some people hold this erroneous view, is that Children’s Authors have a lot of fun. In our western culture, “play” and “work” are regarded as separate things altogether. In fact, people are sometimes skeptical that anyone having fun could be a serious writer. Yet, children’s authors can and do address serious issues of universal interest to the human condition, and one of the ways to reach their young audience is through fun and humor.

Of course, what we must consider here is what makes children laugh, and how this kind of humor is different from the kinds of things adults laugh at. Well, I believe that children and adults do laugh at the same kinds of things - there is overlap - but for young children, the jokes need to be based on things to which they can relate.

Children will always be entertained by cute characters who have funny physical features or have funny ways of doing things, especially if characters’ names are carefully chosen to reflect this. For kids, humor is often based on something dramatic and obvious, and often slapstick or physical. Bodily functions - farting, burping, eating noisily, characters getting messy in mud and water, ice-cream, jelly or cake will make kids laugh and keep them entertained.

Another thing that will make children have fun reading - which may also make them laugh, is onomatopoeia. Children love words that sound funny and are a novelty.

Situations will also make kids laugh. Lovable, naughty characters who get away with it will delight and entertain a young audience with their escapades. Of course, there must be a strong redeeming quality to these characters for them to have appeal, and a “good” hero to highlight the errors of the naughty characters’ ways, and to act as a good example and role model. Inept or goofy characters will make kids chuckle, and it is nice if kids get to see them succeed in their own way in the end. Dark humor may appeal to older kids when a bad, unlikeable character gets their just desserts.

I believe that books written for children should be funny and serious, dramatic and subtle, too. They should be written with sensitivity and the writer should pay close attention to how the stories make children feel and the values they impart. It is important that kids’ books show kids how to think, but not what to think.

Good children’s books should feature the “small” immediate worlds that children are familiar with but take young readers out to the wide world with the timeless “grand” themes they address in a child-friendly manner.

For Children’s Authors, it is a question of balance. How do you cultivate and maintain a playful, light, human touch when you write for children, and communicate serious messages, for example, about friendship, love, and loyalty or global warming, too?

Great writing entertains, illuminates and educates, without the need to dumb down. If it makes children, (and adults,) laugh too, this is all to the good.

Any writer worth their salt will have humor as part of their repertoire.



Copyright Suzy Davies 30/09/2017. All Rights Reserved.

Calling Kids' Authors! Charity Appeal!

Calling authors of Kids Books! I would like to take some books to the local Children's Home for Christmas. I will be taking mine, but I need more, please! My goal is to read and review as many as possible - all for free - before 1st November. I need picture books, chapter books, and YA novels, please. I now have a policy of never posting reviews below 3 stars. Please message me, and I will give you the address to which you may send your books for review, which is in Florida. Please help me brighten up Christmas for the youngsters who are disadvantaged and need your support. Thanks, so much, everyone. Please share this post if you can.

Can Writing Be Taught or Are Writers Born to Write?

The question I ask today is a question that one of my former tutors asked me when I announced I would write a book before I was sixty.

I think that although we are born with a set of predispositions and personality traits, nurture and socialization is by far the most important factor which influences, but does not determine, the career path someone will take in adult life.

Socialization is never “complete,” since human beings are in a constant state of process, but in this article, I describe my formative years up to the age of seven, and some of the things that shaped me as a writer.

According to research, the first seven years of childhood are important, hence the well-known saying, “Show me the child and I’ll show you the man.”

So what kind of childhood cultivates a writer? Writers come from diverse backgrounds, which are as diverse as their work. I am only able to comment on the factors I believe were key influences on my emergence as a writer.

The first thing that springs to mind, is that I hail from a dual language family. My mother was English and did not speak Welsh. My father was a native speaker of Welsh as his first language and spoke fluent English. My paternal grandmother was Welsh, but she, too, was a fluent speaker of English.

I learned basic spoken Welsh when I was very young, and the first language I learned to read and write was Welsh. For me, written English was exotic, even though I was born in England, and not in Wales. This “distance” between myself and English created a fascination for language. I have to say that this came after a rocky start.

When the family moved across the border to England, I was labeled as a “backward reader” because the teachers did not know I was confused. I was used to reading in Welsh. Fortunately, my parents put the teachers right, and I swiftly caught up with my peers, with a little help from a remedial learning support teacher who read aloud with me, one to one.

I can remember the house in which I grew up in England. We had homemade silk-screen curtains with Chinese patterns, that my father had made. There was a French papier-mache table in the hall. There were Japanese silk pictures - one of a Japanese woman, and one of a Japanese fish in the hall. In my bedroom, there was a painting of a bird, which was hand-painted. My father had a sketchbook - he loved Art - and one of the charcoal drawings he did - my favorite one, was entitled, “East Meets West,” and featured hand-drawn faces of children from all around the world, in a circle. The other drawings were nearly all of wild animals. My mother was a keen artist, too, and painted portraits. Both my parents were potters, and the house had quite a few ceramic pieces they had made.

The family ate Indian curry, which my mother made at home, with spices from Birmingham, and once a week, the family would visit the Asian fish and chips shop. I can’t remember whether we had curry sauce!

Both my parents liked Latino music, and my dad was fascinated with all things American. He loved Frank Sinatra. A particular delight for me was when I was given a child’s plastic vinyl record player. I had records of American square dancing music alongside the more usual Beatles records.

My curiosity about different cultures grew alongside my fascination with language from an early age. One of my earliest childhood friends was from Yugoslavia. I can remember staying round for sleepovers at her house, and I always enjoyed the stays because of the family culture, which was different from my own.

Many hours when I was a child were spent communing with nature. Animals were always part of this. In my early years, I explored rock pools at Borth beach and climbed Pen Dinas in Aberystwyth, among the flora and fauna and the sheep that grazed there. I went on donkey rides along Aber beach, and the ocean became one of my daily pleasures, in all weathers.

As a family, we often went on hikes, and my grandmother, a country girl, would name flowers and plants in the fields and hedgerows. She always identified the animals and birds, and could read the weather forecast from what they were doing.

I have a distinct memory of picking winberries, that would be harvested and put in home-made pies, and remember my late dad could identify edible wild mushrooms, from poisonous ones. We would get up early and pick them, and have a big fry up of wild mushrooms for breakfast!

I fed wild birds by hand from the sash window at my grandmother’s flat, where we all lived. As I got older, I trekked wild places in Wales on horseback and went fishing with my dad. The whole thing in Wales was wild and wonderful.

However, after a move to the U.K, by the time I was seven, I was a sickly child and spent a lot of time on my own, indoors, away from school and confined to bed with ear and throat infections, as well as the usual childhood ailments such as chickenpox, measles and mumps. Books were a kind of escapism for me, and from that love of reading, I started to write stories of my own.

When I was well, in the summer, I would go on bicycle rides in the country with my best friend, or play with my friends at the local brook, where we fished for sticklebacks and tadpoles. I had a spaniel, who became a constant companion when I went on walks in the neighborhood. I can remember I always wanted to be outdoors in the summertime and hated being cooped up indoors to do compulsory school-work. Writing my own things was a pleasure and not the same!


My parents were in a sense, arty and liberal, but my Dad liked to have his lists of things I was not allowed to do under any circumstances. I hated some of these rules.

In particular, I can remember not being allowed to go to the fair. Rightly or wrongly, my best friend’s parents used to secretly take me and in a sense, I felt I had surrogate parents, who let me do some of the things that I was not supposed to do. I think this was a blessing because it gave me the chance to have more freedom than I would have had, and it gave me a taste of a different kind of childhood.

At this friend’s bungalow, we used to dress up as characters (usually fairies or witches,) make mud pies in the garage and watch T.V programs that might have been censored at home for being a little too sophisticated. With hindsight, I can see how this “double life” benefited me, since time spent with this friend was almost like living in another world. Neither was better; it was just different.

More than anything, what I remember about my formative years is the rich variety of experiences I was exposed to from an early age. I learned to be adaptable. I also learned how to be creative, since the toys I had I could count on one hand - my friends and I improvised and made our own play.

A particularly important thing was that there were always books - books at home, and at the local library. Many of my books in my early years were hand-me-downs from my mother’s family, but that did not matter. The stories that I read set my imagination on fire.

No, I was not born a writer. I decided I would learn to be one.

On Writing The Truth

There is an old adage, "The truth is stranger than fiction." If we believe this, then as writers, how can we write about "strange" things, and convince people that what we state is true?

Some people say that the art of writing fiction is the art of telling beautiful lies, based on the truth, in such a way that people still believe the stories. And beyond the artifice, fiction, when written well, by playing with the facts, will reveal deeper truths, which are universal.

It is my belief that what we writers write about is often the emotional truth or our own personal truths.

For me, the veracity of our words will move people when we use simple, unadorned language. Think about the lie. The bigger the lie, the more elaborate the telling of it will be. Think about the truth, simply stated, often in words of one syllable, it will hit home. Readers do not have to work to "register" the words, which frees the mind to do work at a subliminal level.

This means that the work of the reader is in their own personal interpretation to discover the deeper meaning.

Poetry is a good medium for writing about emotionally volatile subjects. A good poem, like a snapshot of film, will tell part of a story, in such a way that the reader will feel the emotional impact of the entire story within that small frame of time and space.

When writing poems, I refer to an old book of wisdom, The Tao, which states that what is not there, is as important as what is there. The spaces "in between" are portals for the reader to discover, in their re-reading and reinterpretation, their own emotional truths.

Indeed, there is such thing as truth in the objective world, but in the subjective world, we each perceive the world in a similar way to others, but in a way which is unique to us as individuals.

Hurricane

In any crevice

they can find, they hide,

the lizard,

in its camouflage,

the beetle,

with black armor.



Even the birds knew before;

ink blots in the turbulent sky,

crows fly in numbers -

not solitary,

anymore.



Scarce do I see the feral cats,

skirting boundaries,

laying their scent.

And the Gofers, dormant;

they shiver underground,

in the dark and wet.



Inland we are -

the sky dark, as a tent,

gray clouds suffocate the light -

it feels

a storm is imminent.



Not long now to wait,

and a mass exodus.

The tide surges forth

and the light

goes out on the world.



Buildings rattle,

and they shake,

shards of glass

in the earth -

buried.

What was once,

has changed -

homes have fallen to the ground;

nothing

remains.



“Please, will you tell us where to go?”

“Hush, Hush,

the wind, the wind,

it blows!”

When you listen,

your mind paints

pictures,

in monochrome.



Curfews still in place;

mothers, daughters, fathers, sons.

How long this torment -

how long -

till darkness dissipates?



Copyright Suzy Davies 08/09/2017. All Rights Reserved.

The Portal

I stood beside the garden wall,
as night-shadows began to fall,
and quiet it was,
to stop and think,
and write a novel,
without ink.

The sky was clear,
and to the eye
The Dipper
and Venus
were so bright,
and standing there
I felt so small
by the ivy
on the wall.

The Myrtle swayed,
and in the breeze,
painted shadows,
like a frieze,
that danced and stilled,
and then I saw
portraits of those who’d gone
before.

My mother’s doe eyes
were upon me,
and gazed from
branches of a tree,
and father was there,
and my spaniel as well;
how they got there
I cannot tell.

I stood beside the garden wall,
and standing there, I felt quite small.
What did my people
come to show?
I pondered the question,
but didn’t know.
A glimpse of heaven
had come to say
we live to see
another day.

Copyright Suzy Davies 21/08/2017. All Rights Reserved.

What You Can Do To Develop Your Writing Skills.

This is an answer I gave in response to a question on Quora.

I often crack the joke,”I was born in Reading.” This has a dual meaning. I was born in Reading, Berkshire, in England. I was also “born” as a would-be writer from reading books! In this answer, I talk about how to cultivate writing skills for Fiction only.

Reading and writing are “opposites” in a sense, but doing a great deal of reading will cultivate your knowledge of writing.

First of all, read books that teach you English Grammar basics, how to write sentences and paragraphs that work. They are, after all, the building blocks of good chapters, and good books. There is no short cut to this, but it is a crucial part of being a writer. I like “The Elements of Style,” by Strunk and White, and “English Grammar in Use,” by Raymond Murphy.

Next, choose some books to read (or revisit the ones you already have,) which have stood the test of time, and are regarded by the literary world as good books.

I don’t mean reading in the casual sense. I mean being selective about what you read, and a close analysis of why you admire and like a particular book. You may even dislike some books that are highly esteemed by the critics. However, you need to know what doesn’t work for you, and why.

Read a book quickly on your first read to get an overall feel of the writing. Then, scan the book on the second read, paying very close attention to how things work. A third read, and you will be very familiar with the book.

You need to scrutinize things such as the style of writing - is it simple and pared down, as in the style of Raymond Chandler? Is it poetic, as in the style of James Joyce or Dylan Thomas? Is it cinematic, as in the style of Truman Capote? Is it atmospheric, as in the style of Daphne Du Maurier? Whatever the writing style, every word must count.

Read books on the writing devices which are used by famous writers, and do close reading to analyse the ways in which these writers use their “methods.”

O.K, this may take some of the spontaneity out of your read, but the rewards you reap will be bountiful.

Read each book you select with a purpose. Some writers are known for the brilliance of characterisation and dialogue, others for their plot devices, and others the atmosphere of scenes and settings.

All good writers are good observers, with an eye for detail, and the big picture.

What kinds of details do they leave to the readers’ imaginations? As illogical as this may sound, what do they “not say.” Gaps, silences and absences in a writer’s text speak volumes.

What are the “grand themes” of their books? What kinds of themes are they, and what makes these themes important to their readers?

Some writers are inventive, and they break conventional rules of genre and language. You may be tempted to do the same yourself. But, a cautionary word here! You need to be a seasoned writer to get away with breaking rules or being unconventional. When you have mastery, that is the time to burn the rule books if you so wish!

Another important aspect of being a writer is development of good observational skills. Certain hobbies may help you develop “the eye” for detail, such as Photography, Watching Films, Drawing or Painting, Sewing, being an umpire at football matches, Fly Fishing, Bird Watching, and so-on.

Try to cultivate an ear for language, too. Listening to songs or studying languages can help with this.

Nurture your memory! I am not just talking about visual memory. I mean memory in all the senses - visual, auditory, touch, olfactory.

People-watching in everyday life is the best way to sharpen your memory, strengthen your observational skills, and develop a good ear for language.

Whenever you go anywhere, jot down anything that strikes you as interesting - scenes, people, situations, and so on. Pay close attention to the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings, scenes and situations evoke. Notice people’s idiosyncrasies and not just what they do, but how they do things. Eavesdrop on conversations. Try to imagine the context of what you hear. Be nosy! Take the question words Why, Who, What, When, Where, Which, How, How many, and so on, with you wherever you go, and use them to ask yourself about what you are witnessing. Write down quirky names of people and places to add flesh to what you write.

Another method for developing your skills is to watch T.V. I watch T.V with the sound turned off. No, I am not an expert lip-reader! I create dialogue in my head, and try to make it fit the film I am watching. Watch the action for a while, make some jottings, and then turn on the sound to see if you had the right idea. The answer, of course, is that there is no right and wrong, unless you completely misunderstood what you saw!

You can also listen to drama on the radio. Now, your task is to visualise people and places from what you hear!

Some people have better imaginations than others, but you can still cultivate your imagination and ability to think creatively. I find dreamwork and meditation useful for this. Keep a dream diary, and make a note of the archetypes you meet in your dreams. If you don’t remember your dreams, visit a meditation practioner, and go on a guided meditation - a kind of journey that will help you tap into your subconscious. Strange as this may sound, if you want to write fiction, you will need to tap into this primitive, often hidden side of your personality.

If you develop your imagination, you will be able to write your own stories from a simple stimulus such as an everyday object, a souvenir, a work of art or a piece of music.

Another piece of advice is “Writer know thyself.” Have an idea of your own strengths and weaknesses, and write what you are familiar with, and know. Remember you are a unique individual and bring your unique self and life experiences to your work as a writer! This is what will interest your readers. Show them what you want to say - don’t tell them! Readers like to feel they have discovered things for themselves.

Be self-aware. Ask yourself “What kind of writer am I?” Your authorial voice will be quite distinct from that of other writers. You need to know where your boundaries are - what is you, and what is not you, to create your characters. The paradox is that through writing, you will get to know yourself better than you ever did before!

Being a writer will develop you, and it may change you. As you practise your skills, you will discover that being a writer is a process, not a goal.

If you are serious about writing, write every day, and spend time reflecting on what you have written, so you go from strength to strength. Always take time out to reenergise! You will revisit what you have written, with a fresh mind! Writing can be hard work, so when you need it, request feedback from beta readers, and take their advice.

Above all else, find your own voice, and do not be a poor imitation of anyone else.

Writing buddies and writing coaches will help you when you are stuck, and can be a wonderful source of inspiration to encourage and inspire you on your journey as a writer.

Troubled World

Don’t wan’ you to worry,
dis world’s goin’ bad.
Could tell you some things dat would make
you feel sad.
I’ll put all dis news to one side
for the day,
and we’ll talk bout appiness, laughter,
and joy.

Don’t wanna say
bout dis dangerous place,
or wipe dat sweet smile
from your sweet angel face.
So much is happenin’ -
don’ understand -
and when I’m gone,
you’ll sure be a fine man.

What’s dat you sayin’
dat your friend’s tellin you?
Don’t cry, don’t worry,
and don’t you be blue.
I wanna be honest
an’ say what I know
but it ain’t gonna end in
some nuclear snow.

Hey, now, stop cryin’
and cast way fear,
dey’re people who’re dyin’
but your friends are near.
The fight’s over there, Lo’,
it’s so far away.
So what if dey’re crazy -
don’t matter today!


Please don’t be troubled,
and pay them no min',
nobody’s gonna -
we’ll stop em, in time.
An’ why do you worry, I know it’s a shame,
but we ain’t gonna die
in some nuclear game.

Copyright Suzy Davies. 13/08/2017