Articles written by jean.knill



Is it a novel or a book of writing tips?

It’s both actually, if you want it to be.  On her website, the author says it came out of “discussions I had with my mother”.  So it is about a writer and her mother, but also about a creative writing class.  Since Breen herself has taught such a class, parts of it are autobiographical, although she declares there is a lot of fiction woven in.

“Susan Breen has written a beautiful and inspiring story with a few surprises thrown in for good measure. Read it! There are so many layers to this book, you’ll find something that touches you or inspires you.” ~ Mary Evelyn Lewis at Virtual Wordsmith

The story is structured around the nine weekly classes and what happens in between them.  The sections on the classes are numbered sequentially, but they are interspersed with numbered chapters, so Chapter One comes after First Class, and is followed by Second Class.  Another element enters the structure part way through, but it would spoil the story to tell you about that in this review.

The writing tips fall out of the description of the classes.  In the first class, the teacher tells her students they will find it easier to start writing if they pick subjects that are important to them.  I love the way she expresses it: “Write about the thing that sets up a commotion in your mind, and you will find that the words come flowing.”  That’s one of the great things about this book.  Many aspects of writing may be familiar, but the language used to explain them is unique and wonderful.

Each class ends with an assignment that the students have to complete before the next, and the assignment follows the book section that describes the class.  For aspiring writers or blocked writers, these assignments alone could be helpful as prompts to get them going.

“This is a delightful first novel written with genuine wit and personality.” ~ Dennis Lythgoe at Deseret News

The first sections also include a brilliant demonstration of how to show your readers what your characters are like.  The main characters in this novel are the teacher and the students of the writing class, plus the teacher’s mother and her carers.

In Chapter One, after the class the teacher visits the nursing home where her mother wants to hear all about it.  The story of their relationship forms a backdrop to the classes, or it could be the other way around, depending on your point of view.  There is also a little love interest, so this book could appeal to quite a wide readership.

But writers, or aspiring writers, will certainly take away lots of writing tips from the class sections.  The section called Second Class discusses characters and what to do with them once the initial ideas for them have germinated – how to make them come alive on the page.  Third class concentrates on plot, the narrative arc, the inciting incident and the climactic scene.  (If you want to know what all that is about, you need to read this book.)

The fourth, fifth and sixth classes cover points of view, description and descriptive language, and dialogue.  In the sections on the final three classes you can learn, or revise, pacing, theme and voice – not active and passive, but the author’s voice that makes each one different from every other.

After reading this book, we should have no trouble writing our own novels.

And interspersed with all these tips and guidance are some hilarious goings-on, plus a very touching story about a mother/daughter relationship developing into a greater understanding and affection, through the medium of language and learning to write.

“Susan Breen teaches fiction classes for Gotham Writers’ Workshop in Manhattan. Her stories have been published by a number of literary magazines, among them American Literary Review and North Dakota Quarterly. She lives in Irvington, NY with her husband, children, two dogs and a cat. In her free time, which she has none of, she likes to read.” ~ From SusanjBreen.com

When reading short story submissions, if there’s one thing that will put editors’ or competition judges’ teeth on edge it has to be telling instead of showing. Many stories of old were written like this – that’s why we sometimes find them a difficult read. We haven’t been given word pictures to stimulate our minds.

All the creative writing gurus nowadays tell us you can no longer get away with this. You can’t ‘tell’ your readers that someone felt scared, for example. You have to say the person’s hands shook or heart pounded, so that readers are shown how to make the connection for themselves.

You may believe showing will be easier if you write in the first person. Your readers can get to know your character by what he or she thinks, as well as what they say and do. But you can still fall into the trap of telling. ‘I remembered the tales of the goblins and I was terrified as I walked through the dense wood’, is telling, while ‘My mind imagined hungry goblins behind all the trees, waiting to pounce on me and drag me off to their cooking pot’, shows the readers just how scared your character is. It’s a word picture that can jump into their own minds.

The other disadvantage of first person writing is that you have to stay in the head of that one person all the time. If the person walking through the wood is Mary, how can you show your reader that Pauline is secretly following her? Mary doesn’t know, because Pauline is doing this in secret. This can only work if your plan is to reveal it somehow later in the story. So choosing whether or not to use a narrator, and write in the third person, is an important decision in choosing how to show, not tell.

How can you be sure you don’t commit the crime of telling? How can you stop the anxiety about this from interfering with the flow of your writing? The answer is to forget about it until the editing stage. You wouldn’t write a story and submit it on the same day, would you?

No, you leave it for a couple of days, and then come back to it. And you go through every sentence carefully to check for errors and ambiguity. You want your work to say exactly what you mean in good and correct English.

So you need to add one more layer to this. Ask yourself more questions. What is this telling me, and then, how is it showing me? How else could it be shown? That is the point when you can decide to make changes that will show, not tell.

Once you get into the habit of this, you may find that you need to make fewer changes, because it becomes second nature to write in that way in the first place. And your competition entries will be more likely to reach shortlists and become winners.

Jean Knill is an talented writer and I’ve adored reading her lively and genuine voice. You can read more about Jean and her writing life on her blog, Jean’s Musings and at WriteLink.

Jean Knill is an talented writer and I’ve adored reading her lively and genuine voice. You can read more about Jean and her writing life on her blog, Jean’s Musings and at WriteLink.

As one of the millions who’ve always wanted to write, I started freelancing in the 1980s. I achieved some success among UK specialist newspapers, magazines and trade journals. Then life took over and, single again, I had to concentrate on a day job to house, feed, clothe and entertain my children.

I always knew what I wanted to do when I was able to retire from the day job. One day I was silver surfing when I found Writelink. And that’s when my rejuvenated writing took off.

Writelink is a UK based website with an international membership. Reading membership of the site is free, but to get the most from it, you pay £15 a year to become a writing member. The core group of these members are the most supportive folk you could wish to meet.

The site has been through many stages of development, but when I got involved, there were already a number of helpful sections. In the Arena, writing members can post work in progress for others to review and give a star rating. Arena sections allow for articles, short fiction, book chapters and poetry, but only one at a time is allowed in each.

The ambition of all new members is to get a total of 40 stars on piece of work, so it is spotlighted and moved to a permanent section. Other work is removed after 10 days, but during that time, authors can note the comments of their peers to help them edit and polish their work. They might also get views on markets and how to target them.

Once a writer is spotlighted, they can submit to the Resources Section. Anyone who is already published will receive automatic spotlight status when they join. New work is added to the Resources section each month, when new submission guidelines are issued for the next lot. Authors are paid £20 for work accepted for Resources. Not long after I joined, my piece on Making the Most of Writelink was accepted for Resources. Another article of mine, Internet Middle Men, is currently featured.

Other helpful sections of Writelink are a library of e-books, free for members, and lists of markets and competitions, which are updated monthly. Writelink also runs its own monthly competitions, which are great fun. There is also a forum for members to chat, get more advice, or share their successes and their grievances.

Many of the site developments over the last couple of years have been controversial. The latest is the addition of a blog site, which will eventually swallow all the other sections from the old site, and do away with it. It’s happening slowly and carefully, and getting lots of feedback from members. The one downside is that, as members take on the blogging, they use the old site less, so it’s more difficult for new members to get enough reviews to become spotlighted.

I try to get there as much as I can, but it tends to be in bursts now, since my writing has taken off in different directions, and I’m really busy. But I know I have a huge debt to repay to Writelink and its members. Recently I posted a children’s story in the Arena hoping for some helpful reviews, which I received. So then I made time for about 10 reviews of other people’s work in the Arena.

I’ve dabbled with other writing communities, but never found the same kind of support, or the number of good virtual friends. I’m so pleased I found Writelink first.

Have you had experiences with Writelink? What do you think of the site and the services it provides? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

How I love the feel of the early mornings.  It’s great to wake up to the freshness of a new day with all those writing hours to fill.

What puts me off getting out of bed is the thought of all the things I have to do first, before I can sit down at the computer and transfer my thoughts to the screen.  I’m actually quite fond of deadlines if they mean I can allow myself to move directly from bed to keyboard without even getting dressed.

Unfortunately can’t do this on a normal day.  My mind is distracted by guilt at the thought of all the waiting chores.  And what if someone came to the door after 9 am and found me unwashed and still in my dressing gown?

But long ago I decided that, if I couldn’t be writing, I must seek inspiration from my personal relationship with mornings.  Here’s a typical morning.

When I can’t put it off any longer, it’s off with the duvet and my feet hit the floor.  It’s no good bathing or showering before exercising, so I’ll get that out of the way first.  Oh heck, I can’t walk past that laundry basket without taking it to the washing machine, scrubbing the shirt collars and searching for other stains that need treating before I can switch it on.

This wakes up my muse, so I retrieve notebook and pencil from my dressing gown pocket and write: Poem – Wash Tub Blues.

After my shower, I do my hair and make up if I’ve time before hubby comes in for breakfast.  I’ll sit and eat with him for 20 minutes and perhaps the mail will arrive.  If something’s been accepted, it’s not too early for a bucks fizz.  Rejection notices will have me crawling to the fridge to find some little extra delicacy to cheer me up.

Here’s that muse again: Article on comfort eating for women’s press + more general one for content site.

Before I head upstairs to the office, there’s the washing to hang up and the kitchen to clear up.  Gosh, I almost forgot – what can we have for supper tonight?  Do I need to get something out of the freezer?

Inspiration: Article title – Fast but Healthy Food From Your Freezer.

Oops, there’s the phone – it’s my sister who’s recently retired and thinks a little chat would stave off the boredom for a while.

Hello muse, what now?: short story about someone newly retired.

Finally I sit down in front of my VDU.  My mind is clear for work, but I’ll just check my emails first, to see if I have anything else to celebrate, like an on-line sale.

Prompt: another article: How Writing for Websites Differs from Writing for Print.

At 10.45 am, I click on Word and the screen fills with my current project. Once that is completed, I’ll get out my notebook to make plans for the next pieces to write.  Not such a bad morning’s work really.

Jean Knill is an talented writer and I’ve adored reading her lively and genuine voice. You can read more about Jean and her writing life on her blog, Jean’s Musings and at WriteLink.