Ali Bacon's Blog, page 15

Merivel – history serving fiction

Rose Tremain’s Restorationis possibly my favourite historical novel of all time, putting the endearinglyflawed Robert Merivelat the centre of an era we all think we know a lot about and teaching us so much more about it. If there was an image that stayed with me it was of Merivelin his plague doctor’s garb, showing us how it was to practise medicine and live through events likethe Great Fire of London. In terms of story arc the book is also perfect, with Merivelmaking every error a man can ma...

Standing Room Only – how to get 100 people at a book launch

As Bristol Women Writers swung into action on October 23rd for the launch of Unchained, I had all the symptoms of stage-fright, but I was only nervous for myself. As soon as the audience started to arrive, I was pretty confident that the evening was going to well – and it did. Around a hundred people (full house!) came along to Bristol Central Library and we sold a big chunk of our stock. So what made it work?

Planning!As a group unaccustomed to having a public face, the entire project (writin...

Getting it wrong: or may we be forgiven

A friend recently recommended a series of books about a coroner set in Bristol Having just finished May We Be Forgiven – an absorbing but in some ways challenging read (check out the disparate reviews!) – it seemed a good moment for a straightforward crime thriller and so I popped down to the library and picked up The Coroner by M.R. Hall.

The openingis assured – woman starts new job, back story of mental breakdown and divorce, instant confilict with new assistant and we haven’t even got to a...

Non-fiction as the novelist’s apprenticeship

Meeting Debbie Young was one of those happy online occurrences that led to a real-worldget-together where we talked non-stop for a good hour. (Who said writers were quiet types?) But even then I didn’t realise what a fascinating journalistic career career Debbie has had up to now. Now she is pursing her dream of fiction-writing, but I’m delighted she has come along to tell us about her past life and what it has taught her about the craft of writing. Take it away Debbie – I’m off to put the ke...

The Fishwives’ Tales

Next week my guest here will be whom I met after she had read Kettle of Fish while on holiday (appropriately) in Scotland. As we chatted in the excellent Hamptons of Chipping Sodbury (we know how to live!) she told me about her visit to the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther which gets a brief mention in Kettle (even though I haven’t been there!) and also the amazing Fishwives Choir (yes, think Military Wives but different) who are celebrated this week on her blog.

Bristol Women Writers and Unchained

Time to celebrate!

Less than two weeks to go until the official launch of Unchained, our anthology celebrating the 400th anniversary of Bristol’s original chainedlibrary. After a whole year of preparation, it’s truly exciting to see it all come together.

Join us for the launch

Reference Library by Andrew Eason – via Flickr

If anyone out there hasn’t heard the details, the launch event is part of the Bristol Festival of Literature (lots of other great stuff going on there) and will be at 7.30 on O...

Call yourself a writer? Yes, actually

In my recent tweet-up with Debbie Young (of Off the Shelf promotionsfame and appearing appearing here soon) we started talking about how our ideas of writing success have changed as time has gone on. (Yes, I’ve covered this before too, but it’s the season for revisiting past themes!) Or maybe it’s not success per se I’m thinking about so much as the milestones we set ourselves and how if things don’t quite go to plan, it doesn’t always matter too much.

For instance, I remember when I finished...

Coming out of the writing closet – an act of arrogance?

I may have said some of this before, but hey, since this blog has now been going seven (yes seven!) years I think I’m entitled to repeat myself from time to time! Today’s topic is, what makes it so hard for beginner writers to come ‘out of the closet’? I had forgotten how much it took for me to pitch up at my very first writing group until my writing workshop last Wednesday when one participant said how she had ‘nearly changed her mind’ as she walked across the car-park and gone home rather t...

Those who can, teach

Becoming a published author brings a number of other opportunities along with it. First of all comes the ‘author appearance’ scenario, which for me elicits mixed emotions. I don’t usually find public speaking too daunting in itself, and who wouldn’t welcome the recognition and even applause (!) that comes with having a first novel published (not to mention the opportunity to sell a few copies). On the other hand, I’m still not entirely comfortable with talking about and selling myself and I a...

Unchained uncovered!

Absolutely thrilled tobe sharing the news I’ve been keeping under wraps for a while. You all know I’m devoted to my writing group which has been the breeding ground (is that the word?) forall kindsof successes over the years , some of which are celebrated in last week’s post.

We did it!

But last year, around this time, we decided it was time to have a group project and set ourselves the task of creating at least one new piece of work each and looking at ways to make it as widely available as po...