It’s been 75 years since the infamous book burnings in Nazi Germany in 1933, which coincidentally forms part of the plot of this month’s Crafty Writer Book Club book. Books that were considered antagonistic towards Nazi philosophy were piled up in town squares and burnt in a frenzy of apparent public support for Nazism. Check out this BBC clip for original footage and modern-day reflections on the burnings. Continue reading ‘Book burnings’
Archive Page 16 of 22
Now that I’ve wiped the tears from my eyes, I can finally put together a post on this beautiful book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
For those of you new to the Book Club, we discuss best-selling novels from a writer’s perspective to see what makes them tick. As in the last Book Club discussion, I’ll pose some questions under the following headings:
How ‘Free’ is Free Verse?
In my introduction to creative writing classes, I’m amazed at how many people believe that free verse has no structure; the result is a formless offering of words that often leaves the reader unfulfilled or with a sense that something is not quite right. And because there is no predetermined pattern to refer to (eg an abab rhyme scheme) it’s difficult to pinpoint what’s wrong with the poem.
Now while I agree that writers of free verse do not have to conform to the ‘rules’ of set form poetry (eg sonnets, ballads, limerics, haiku etc., each with its own rules of rhythm, rhyme and meter) there is definitely structure. The difference is each poem defines its own structure which emerges from within. If you don’t like the word ‘structure’, consider balance, pattern or cohesion. The tricky thing with establishing your own structure in a poem is that you have to ‘teach’ your reader how to read it, and, once established, you need to continue with it – or subvert it, but more of that later. Continue reading ‘How Free is Free Verse?’
For those of you who participated in our last book club discussion on The Grave Tattoo, you may have been disappointed at the end of March when the promised discussion of The Book Thief didn’t take place. I do apologise. I was ill for quite a few weeks and didn’t get it together. However, we’re back on track and will be discussing it at the end of this month. So dust it off and give it another once over.
In the latest in our series on so-called niche markets, we speak to Christian ‘chick lit’ author Penny Culliford. Penny first came to fame with the Theodora’s Diary series, which were described by one critic as ‘Bridget Jones Goes to Church’. After concluding the third in the series, Penny turned her hand to a reporter sleuth mystery, The Art of Standing Still, (Zondervan, 2007) about a community that revives a series of mediaeval mystery plays. She also writes poetry, plays and articles for magazines. Continue reading ‘Niche markets: Christian ‘chick lit’’
We at the Crafty Writer are proud to have such talented and experienced writing tutors on our team. Apart from the services they offer on this site, they run a variety of courses in Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounds. So if you’re in the area, why not sign up for one of them? All courses are being held at Centre for Lifelong Learning; check out their website for costs and enrolment details.
‘Creative Writing’ with Kathleen Kenny
– 8 meetings starting Tuesday 29 April (9.45 – 12.15)
‘Reading and Writing Short Stories’ with Kathleen Kenny
– 10 meetings starting Tuesday 24 April (7pm – 9pm).
‘Reading and Writing Contemporary Poetry’ with Kathleen Kenny
– 8 meetings starting Wednesday 30 April (1pm – 3.30).
‘Non-fiction Writing with Fiona Veitch Smith
– 10 meetings starting Friday 2 May (10am – 12.00)
‘How to Write a Novel’ with Joan Johnston
– 10 meetings starting Wednesday 23 April (2pm – 4pm)
Fellow freelance, Linda Jones, has asked me to guest on her excellent blog www.freelancewritingtips.com. You may want to pop over there to read my tips as well as all the other useful advice that she provides on her site.
Some writers are specialists, others generalists. I’m the latter.This is partly a matter of personality and partly one of fear. Although I trained as a news reporter in the early 1990s, I soon realised that the rigours and confines of writing hard copy for news did not allow me the creative freedom I desired – so I became a freelance feature writer. Naturally, I pitched for work in areas that interested me. The problem was, lots of things interested me… Read more.
Due to other writing commitments, including the success of a non-fiction writing career, Linda is withdrawing from editing her blog. However, she’s looking for another successful freelance writer to take over the site. We wish her the best in her future plans.
Anyone else’s desk look like mine (perhaps I need one of those hideaway computer desks)? Fortunately I don’t subscribe to the old “cleanliness is next to Godliness” cliche…
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
Continue reading ‘Writing space’
Sometimes literature is defined by its content and other times simply by its target readership. There is ‘black’ literature, ‘feminist’ literature, ‘Christian’ literature and ‘gay’ literature; and somewhere I’m sure there’ll be black, feminist, Christian gay lit too! It may be argued that these are simply marketing niches rather than literary categories or that they are sub-genre of broader literary categories. For example, is gay literature just romance with homosexual characters? Is a Christian historical any different from an ordinary historical? Is there a more overt ‘message’ when a niche readership is catered for?
The Crafty Writer interviewed gay novelist and short story writer Jay Mandal in the hope of shedding some light on the debate. Continue reading ‘Gay literature: separate genre or marketing niche?’
Arthur C. Clarke has died at 90. I’m not sure if it was a grand old age, but it certainly was a grand old literary life. I knew about Arthur C. Clarke before I’d ever read a book of science fiction because of his inspirational adaptation of his short story the ‘Sentinel’ to the screenplay of A Space Odyssey: 2001. I always enjoyed science fiction films – and for a time I even watched Star Trek – but for some reason I resisted reading them. It was only when I read Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness as part of my first year English lit at Rhodes University in 1989 that I first realised that the genre wasn’t so much about science, but the human condition. Continue reading ‘Remembering ‘the grandfather’ of science fiction’
