Tell me what you’re reading?

Reading this partly as research for my end of term piece.

The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway.

Janice Galloway is one of the few Scottish writers who truly captures what it feels like to be a working class woman. I will finish this book tonight and to be honest I’ve had to reluctantly put it down a few times already, lest I devour it all at once.

The narrator gives an unnervingly honest account of her inabilty to manage her life as it disintegrates around her. This really sturck a chord with my own circumstances a year or so ago. I’m rooting for her now to recover, as I did.

There is a wonderful feeling of familiarity in the setting too. A book that describes the characters and scenery of my own place in the world.

Though I love the escapism of reading about ancient Egypt or uptown New York, current UK fiction often seems to miss out “my” view of the world.

Decent female writing, is so often either set in London (which may as well be a world away) and/or written to a middle class audience.

Male UK writers seem to have more freedom to explore the sense of place and class, but few, if any, capture womanhood, in a way I can relate to.

But Janice…

…she’s got the lot.

I’ve a feeling I’ll be treating myself to just a wee bit more “research material”.

But once her books are all read, then what?

Suggestions anyone?

Writing Sestinas and Pantoums (and other mathmatical challenges)

Part of me really enjoys the pressure of a deadline.  It’s too easy sometimes, as writer to find other things to do with your writing time.  I love writing but sometimes when it’s not coming out the way I hope I find myself fixating on “research” or playing online scrabble.

Having assigments to hand in by a certain date keps me on my toes.

For the next one, due 13th March, I have the option of submitting either a 2500 word piece of fiction/biography or 80-100 lines of poety.

I planned on writing prose but after diving into the section on poetry I’m becoming fascinated by some of the forms used.

For example, the Sestina is a highly structured piece of poetry.  For the best explanation see here.

The way it interconnects and seems to repeat itself is clever, and it’s clever because actually, the secret in writing a good one seems to be to find ways to use the identical ending words in new ways.

There are a load of Sestinas on this page

Some are great, some, not so great.

Myfavourite though has to be

How to Build a
Sestina Template
in Microsoft Excel.

BY DANIEL ARI

from McSweeney’s.net

Have a look, it does exactly what it says on the tin!

Given that I’ve already enjoyed trying out the Pantoum (another of our optional taught forms) I’m thinking I may have a go at submitting poetry.

But it’s a big 20 % part of our overall mark

And the tutor is a poet.  I don’t know if this means she’s more likely to “get” what I write or more likely to see my lack of experience.

Technorati Tags: poem, poetry, pantoum, sestina, poetic form, creative writing, Open University. A363,

Welcome to my blog

Having had a few stories published here and there, I gained a place on the University of Glasgow’s Creative Writing MLitt.

This blog charts my progress as a fledgling author and mature student.  Feel free to have a nosey around…