Guest Post - Gail Aldwin

I'm pleased to welcome fellow Chapeltown author, Gail Aldwin to my blog today to talk about her journey as a writer, and the way she has used different forms to improve her fiction skills. Gail is launching her first poetry pamphlet today, adversaries/comrades (Wordsmith_HQ).

'The relationship between siblings is explored in adversaries/comrades. From the games, jokes and confusions of childhood, to the rivalries and tensions of growing up and the secrets and confidences shared between adults. Siblings often enjoy longstanding relationships that are frequently enduring. This pamphlet celebrates the tenacity of siblings.'

My Review:

Gail’s poetry is sharp, astute, playful, wry, yet never sentimental. Every word has earned its place, and the imagery is as clear as a bell. This is a poet who takes her craft seriously, yet isn’t afraid to play with words as well as work with them. An accomplished debut pamphlet.

Now over to Gail...

I started writing in 2009 as an aspiring novelist. Drawing on my experiences of living in different parts of the world, I wrote a manuscript thinly disguised as fiction. Although the first novel was completed within seven weeks (writing one thousand words each day) it took another nine years to build the skills necessary to write a publishable novel. The String Games is the result of that long apprenticeship and will be published by Victorina Press on 28 May 2019.

Over the years of writing novels, I turned to other forms of writing to address weaknesses in my manuscripts. Short fiction is a great medium to hone editing skills and enable each word on the page to earn its place. I turned to script writing to improve my ability to effectively capture dialogue. And poetry, I came to poetry late, penning my first poem in 2016 and surprisingly winning the National Poetry Day Competition in Bournemouth that year. The skills I’ve learnt from poetry relate to the quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge who defined prose as ‘words in the best order’ and poetry as ‘the best words in the best order’.

Now, with a range of writing skills at my disposal, when I get an idea, I decide which form of writing best represents that idea. If I want to capture a moment, a glimpsed image, an engaging thought, I turn to poetry. Where there is an evident story arc I write short fiction. For scriptwriting, I depend on ideas sparked by my writing collaborators and as for novels, I now plan to the nth degree to prevent years of rewriting.

During the summer of 2018, I entered a poetry competition run by Wordsmith_HQ. To my delight, I was awarded joint first place and offered a contract to write a poetry pamphlet on the theme of siblings. I’d never written poetry to a theme before and I found huge pleasure in putting together poems to celebrate this relationship.  adversaries/comrades is the title of the pamphlet which I think reflects this longstanding and enduring relationship. 

About Gail 

Settled in Dorset since 2006, Gail Aldwin has lived in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Spain. Her work includes a collection of short fiction Paisley Shirt which was longlisted in the Saboteur Awards 2018. Her debut novel, The String Games will be published by Victorina Press in May 2019. As chair of the Dorset Writers’ Network, Gail works with the steering group to inspire writers and connect creative communities. She supports undergraduates on the Creative Writing BA (Hons) at Art University Bournemouth as a visiting tutor. adversaries/comrades is her debut poetry pamphlet. 


You can buy adversaries/comrades here

And The String Games can be pre-ordered here, from Victorina Press

Guest Post on Sandra Danby's blog - Talking All Things Short Story

I'm over on Sandra Danby's blog today, talking all things short story. Here's an excerpt:

A warm Yorkshire welcome today to my blog to short story writer Amanda Huggins, a 2018 Costa Short Story Award runner-up, who has clear ideas about writing the short form. Welcome Amanda! “There’s been talk in recent years of a short story renaissance. In January 2018 The Bookseller magazine reported that sales of short story collections were up 50%, reaching their highest level in seven years. However, this turned out to be largely due to a single book — Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks. This January the news was all about poetry — sales were up 12% in 2018, for the second year in a row.

“It’s great to see a renewed interest in both forms — certainly a couple of independent bookshops I’ve talked to this week have confirmed that short story sales are up — and more collections are being featured in review columns. There was also the buzz around Kristen Roupenian’s short story, ‘Cat Person’, published in the New Yorker at the end of 2017, which really resonated with a younger audience. Whatever you thought of that story, it was all good publicity for the short form.”

Four books on Amanda’s ‘To Read’ pile

“As a writer, I know that crafting a two thousand word story requires a different set of skills to novel writing, and the former should never be seen as practice for the latter — a short story isn’t a miniature novel any more than a novel is a protracted short story. Although short fiction is suited to the pace and attention span of the modern world, some readers say they don’t read shorts because they can’t lose themselves in the story the way they can in a novel. It is true that they demand your fine-tuned focus, they seek to be read straight through, and every sentence weighs in heavy because it has to earn its place. Yet all these things bring their own rewards. A cracking story will repay your time and attention by leaving you with something to think about for days after you’ve read it.

“When I’ve finished reading a novel I often pass it on, however I usually keep short story collections and return to them over the years in the same way that I do with poetry. I have countless favourites, many by established authors, but also a growing number by emerging short story writers. The collections on my shelves include books by William Trevor, Tessa Hadley, Helen Simpson, Helen Dunmore, Raymond Carver, AL Kennedy, Wells Tower, Stuart Evers, Miranda July, Yoko Ogawa, KJ Orr, Ernest Hemingway, Taeko Kono, Haruki Murakami, Richard Ford, Alice Munro, Flannery O’Connor, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Annie Proulx, Isaac Babel, Angela Readman, and AM Homes.”

If you'd like to read the full post, you can find it HERE

The Book Stewards Blog

I'm over on The Book Stewards blog today, talking to Teika Bellamy about writing and submitting short stories. Here's an excerpt:-

Q&A with short story writer Amanda Huggins

Posted on March 13, 2019

By Teika

As I was recently emailed a request for advice about the short story submission process and how to decide which path to take to publication, I thought it would be great to hear from some of the most talented short story writers I know. The multiple prize-winning writer Amanda Huggins was kind enough to take part in this Q&A and I am very grateful to her for sharing her knowledge. (You can read her powerful story ‘Red’ – which was a runner-up in the 2018 Costa Short Story Award here.)

1. What kind of short stories do you write and how long have you been writing in that genre and form?

I started writing short stories around 2011, mainly contemporary literary fiction, dealing with relationships and the human condition. Each story is as long as it needs to be, which means that most end up being between 1500-2500 words. However, I also write a lot of flash fiction under 500 words.

2. What’s your writing process (from idea to polished and ready-to-submit piece)? How long does this take on average?

Some stories tumble out of my head fully-formed, and some have to be dragged out! I’m not much of a planner, so as soon as an idea appears then I tend to throw it straight down. Having said that, I am a very slow writer. I’m never happy with what I’ve written, even after it’s been published, and despite editing as I go, I still revise and revise and revise. I can tweak for England, and I work on most of my longer stories for weeks. My collection, Separated From the Sea, was really the result of five years’ work. In my defence, I did have a lot of family commitments in that period, and I do have a full-time day job in engineering!

3. How do you go about finding the right publishing home for a story?

I’m glad you posed the question that way round, and didn’t ask how I go about writing a story to suit a publisher/competition. Because the truth is, I never do. I always write what I want to write and then look for the right competition or publication for the story. I’ve been entering competitions since I started writing, and I always read previous winning stories and check out the judges. However, as we all know, it’s a very subjective thing, and sometimes you just have to wing it. With literary journals you should always read a copy first to see if your work would be a good fit. Publishers advise this all the time, yet writers still don’t realise how important it is.

 If you'd lke to read the rest of the interview, you can find it HERE