Comma Short Story Writing Course

From February to July 2017, I'll be teaching a Comma Short Story Writing Course at Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds. The course is six months long, and consists of six two-hour workshops on the craft of short story writing. 

Writing the course has brought me back to thinking about my own development as a short story writer. When I first started writing short stories, way back in about 2006, I had little to guide me. All I knew were the things I'd taught myself, and I didn't know many other writers - I certainly hadn't got many other writer friends at that time - and as I counted up the rejection slips for the stories I sent out, I often asked myself: where am I going wrong? 

It was a very hard time, because although I knew I had some good ideas, and a level of good craft, I didn't have anybody to ask. 

I've been thinking about this a lot as I wrote the Comma press course. Over the past 10 years of trying, failing, trying, failing, and finally trying, and succeeding, to be a short story writer, I've learned an awful lot. It wasn't until I first started reading Raymond Carver in around 2009, that things finally started to click into place. 

The first Carver story I read was Neigbors. (There's a free PDF of it here.) It's short, like so many of Carver's stories - only 8 pages long, and on the surface of it, it doesn't seem to be about very much. A man and his wife agree to water a neighbour's plant, and look after their cat, while the neighbours are away for the weekend. Simple, right? 

I read it, and found myself thinking: this story is simple... almost too simple. Nothing really happens! Where's all the drama? The exploding cars? The discovery of an affair? The slapped face, the knife in the back? Needless to say, and probably because I'd been reading so much of Roald Dahl's short fiction prior to this, I really didn't get the Carver love. 

But something about the story stayed with me. For days afterwards, I kept on thinking about it. It was in thinking about the story in the following weeks that I came to realise - the drama is there; it's hidden under a veneer of respectability. It's lurking there, quietly, hidden amongst Carver's incredibly well-constructed sentences. It happened to me after the fact of reading Carver's story, as so often does with brilliant literature - I was hooked after the fact. 

Can it really contain all the things I remember, I asked myself? So I read it again, and yes, it did. I was amazed that a story could have the power to make me continue thinking about it for days afterwards, and have further realisations. 

The next thing I did was to take a book of Carver's entire published works out of the library. This book included the story So Much Water So Close to Home (originally published in Carver's collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love). This story, like so many of his other works, is incredibly short - just 7 pages - and yet it has everything. Drama - deceit - betrayal - an unbelievable sense of having the rug pulled out from under you; fully realised characters, a marriage and relationships that all seem completely real and believable - little wonder that Carver is considered one of the masters of modern realism. If you haven't read the story, I won't spoil it for you - I just recommend that you go and read it for yourself. 

Carver was my first introduction to absolute mastery in short story writing. What he could do in just a few short pages has never since been equalled by any other writer, in my opinion. 

In my Comma Short Story Writing Class we will discuss and learn from one of Carver's short stories; and in the following months we will discover, discuss and learn other short story writers too -- including several modern day writers. Each month the course will cover topics like structure, creation of tension, creating character, and editing and endings. 

Every month there will be writing exercises - I will be asking every participant to write a short piece in every single workshop, so there will be plenty of time for writing itself, too. 

Numbers on the course are limited - which will allow every participant the chance to have at least some of their work read and critiqued. At the end of the course, following our final class - which will be a session on Editing & Endings - all participants will have the opportunity to have their stories published in an e-Book by Comma. Two reduced fee places are available for writers who are single parents or in receipt of benefits - email Becky at Comma Press to book one of these places (address at the bottom of this link) 

You can book onto the course through the Carriageworks website or by calling their Box Office on (0113) 376 0318. 

Look forward to seeing some of you there!

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Advice for new writers

Yet again, I'm here with an apology for not blogging more often...

Things have been busy, and at the moment I'm ferreting away at my short stories, trying to get them all to behave themselves. Soon, I'll have enough for a collection. And after that, I'll go on holiday.

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a short story writing class. I was asked what advice I'd give to young people who want to become writers. I will share the advice I gave then, again on here. And just for the record, this advice applies whatever age you are.

It's really pretty simple. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. Some people manage to make a living from writing, usually by taking on paid commissions, some people don't. (I'm the second type: I support my writing with a day job.) Either way, the answer is still the same. If you want to be a writer, you have to write!

So my advice to anybody who wants to write is, find a way to do it. Try to get yourself into a position where you can work compressed hours, or part time, so that you have a day or two a week that you can devote to writing. If you can't work as few hours as you'd like, maybe devote a day at the weekend to writing, too. It might mean that you have to give up other things, like doing fun things with your friends, or spending time with your family. This choice is not a fun one to make, but unless you're in the luxurious position of not having to earn money, and having the freedom to write full time, sometimes you have to make sacrifices in other areas. Also, it will help a lot if your other half is supportive. One thing I did a lot when I was starting out, was that I cut down on doing things that were taking up a lot of my time. I stopped doing volunteer work and didn't socialise so much. It was rubbish, and sometimes I slightly resented it, but it also meant that I manage to write a novel, and get it published. So there's that.

On your writing days, make sure you write. Don't make excuses for yourself. If you're on a writing day, and you don't feel like writing, write anyway. Just write one sentence, and then another one. Then another one after that. It won't be long before you've got started, and you'll soon wonder what all the fuss was about when you got up that morning and didn't feel like doing it. Whatever you do, don't go on the internet. Just get to work.

My other big tip (it's no secret) is to keep at it. Writing is horrible sometimes, especially at first. But it gets easier the more you do it. Writing and imagination are both muscles that get stronger with use. Cultivate them. Make them do 50+ reps every time you sit down at your desk. Also, try to surround yourself with writer- and artists-friends who are going through the same thing, and who will be able to cheer you on a bit. And keep going!

Good luck!

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Short Story Writing

Hello, readers.

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog (hello, four people) will know I'm not generally in the business of going around telling other people what to do. I don't consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination, and also generally think people should find their own way to do things. But recently, having had a bit of success having my own short fiction published, I've had a few writers approach me for help. So I decided to do a little blog post about my own approach to writing short fiction. Hopefully some of you will find it helpful. You can take what you take and leave what you leave. It's not intended to be definitive....

Ideas

I have these all the time. They come from all sorts of places. Maybe I overhear a funny argument in the supermarket, or see somebody nearly fall off their bike. Maybe I have an idea during the day while I'm at work. Often these ideas need a bit of time to fully form into something that could be a story. Either way, I write my ideas down in a notebook small enough to carry around everywhere. That way I've always got something to work from.

I often find that the best short story ideas come when my brain is partly occupied in something else, like washing up. This is pretty common. It's when your conscious brain is occupied that your unconscious can have a little bit of a skip about and come up with something good. So my advice here is, pay attention to your daydreams.

Work

Write every day, or as close to it as you can manage. Set aside writing time and don't let anybody or anything interrupt it. Get used to having to say no to things. People might assume that you can write any time, and try to intrude upon your writing time. “You can write any day!” they'll tell you. NOT TRUE. Discipline yourself to write when you say you're going to write. Don't make the mistake of thinking you'll do it later. For reference, my excuse to say no to things is always, “I'm working that day.” Nobody will try to persuade you to skive off work to go out drinking, or whatever. As excuses go, it's solid gold.

Write your story

Do whatever it takes to get it done. There's that piece of advice from Neil Gaiman that says, “Whatever it takes to finish it, finish it.” It's such good advice. Finish everything you start, even if you start to think it's total bollocks halfway through. Finish it anyway. It's good practise, and you'll never be a writer if you don't. No excuses.

Rewriting & editing

Another piece of advice from a great: this time, the graphic novelist Chris Ware. “Work hard. And then when you think you can't work any harder – work a little bit more.” So true. Look at the standard of published work in the best places. It's so high. Sure, if you don't want to aim for good publications, there are always ways to get your work out there. You can get them in a local free paper, or put them out yourself. And if you want to do things that way, you should. But the danger is that doing things that way doesn't force you to work hard. If you want good publication, you have to really put yourself through the mill. More so than may even seem possible.

For some people, this is where the real wailing and gnashing of teeth begins. For me, certified nerd, this is my favourite part of the process. I usually spend at least twice as much time rewriting and editing as I did writing the first draft – and sometimes longer. I often think that more than half the battle to be a good writer is in learning to be really ruthless. Don't let yourself get away with anything. Look for sloppy sentence structure, parts of the story that don't contribute to the whole. Tear anything out that doesn't work. Does it hurt? Yes, good. It ought to.

If it helps, write a one-sentence summary of what the story is about. For example, for my story Top Dog, the sentence would probably be: “A story about finding value in simple pleasures; in finding the worth in something others discard.” As I go through the story, I look for resonances to this central theme in everything, and bin things that don't contribute to it. Sometimes it hurts to take things out. Usually I paste the cut sections into a separate document. I tell myself, “I can put this back in later if it turns out the story needs it.” It's a bit of a psychological crutch. Most usually, it turns out the story doesn't need what I'm throwing away. But it's there just in case. Ha! I fooled myself! Way to go, me!

Learning to bin things you like is hard at first, but it's worth doing. It totally serves your writing in the end. You might be writing about sentimental things, but you don't have to be sentimental in how you go about it.

Marinade

With short fiction, I always think it's worth going away and coming back, going away and coming back. Work on something else between finishing the draft and the first edit, and between the first edit and the second. You will always see things much more clearly this way. It places a bit of distance between you and it, and lets you be a bit more objective. Really good short fiction is a bit deceptive. The simplest-seeming stories, those that seem effortless, are the ones that take the most labour to write. So go away and come back. But! NEVER use going away as an excuse to never come back. You must ALWAYS finish things. Even if you still think it's bollocks at the end. It's all a process. You have to go through it over and over again, before you get to the point where you'll do anything you're happy with. The lesson: you'll never get anywhere if you don't finish.

Practise, practise, practise

The more you do it, the easier it gets. Sure, writing short stories is never easy (where would be the fun in that?) - but the more you write short fiction, the more confidence you'll have about doing it. Your early attempts may well be a bit derivative. Don't beat yourself up about that. All the best writers go through that. Nobody ever wrote a story as good as “I could see the smallest things” first time out of the gate. Just keep going.

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