Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Treasure Hunt
Fiction Friday
Friday 7th November 2014: Treasure Hunt.
Fiction Friday is our weekly prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: An envelope gets put through your door. There is no indication as to who it is from. The only thing inside is one small piece of paper. Written on it are the words, ‘You should go where you swing high to see the world from a different perspective.’
You are invited onto a mysterious treasure hunt. What happens next after you find this clue?
by 
A Moment With…Victoria Fox
Day seven of National Novel Writing Month and Victoria Fox talks to us about finding the discipline to write.
One of the questions I’m most often asked is how I find the discipline to write. Well, the answer is simple. Writing is my job, and, like any job, I have to get up every day, sit down and get on with it. Sure, sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes I feel like doing just about anything if it means getting away from my desk. But if I worked in an office, say, I couldn’t just not turn up one morning because I’d decided I’d really rather stay in bed and watch re-runs of Frasier. I’m a firm believer that if you sit down with your book for long enough, the words will come. They might not be the right words first time, but they’ll move your story forward and keep your plot turning over.
When you’re on a roll, everything is brilliant. When you’re feeling creatively sapped, it’s an effort. And if you don’t have a book contract in place, that’s the hardest bit. Will it be worth it? Will anyone read it? Is it any good? These are questions the vast majority of unpublished writers, including me, have asked ourselves. Discipline, then, becomes something different. It comes from deep inside. You have to believe, in your core, that you’re going to finish this book. You’re not going to do it for anyone else except you – because you want a completed novel and you can’t let your characters float in uncertainty for the rest of time. The publishing contract is the golden prize but it’s not a given. Discipline stems from your own personal desire to write.
by November’s Book Club – Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding
Jonathan Cape, October 2013.
Book Corner is our monthly online book club.
How it works…
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
This month, our pick is Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding.
About the book:
Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?
Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?
by A Moment With…Jill Mansell
We are now on our fifth day into National Novel Writing Month. How is everyone doing?
All throughout November, to coincide with National Novel Writing Month, we will be bringing you advice on aspects of writing from a variety of authors including Ali McNamara, Jane Fallon and Nicci Gerrard.
Today, we catch up with best-selling author, Jill Mansell who is talking about planning that novel. She says:
The trouble with planning out a whole novel’s worth of plot in advance is that you are bound to get much better ideas during the course of the book that knock the initial careful plans completely off course and render them useless. Since it’s so important to have the best plot possible, I now only plan it out in the very vaguest of ways, with Post-It notes stuck to a huge length of paper.
by Events: Write By The Shore
Being held at the Cockenzie House and Gardens, the Write by the Shore Festival is taking place next weekend (1st and 2nd November 2014.)
Over the two days, there will be a variety of events including sessions like, Meeting the authors, historical authors and there is also a session for Crime fiction authors.
There will also be events looking at children’s books and there is also an open mic session for local authors so plenty going on for both writer and reader alike.
Authors appearing over the weekend include Sara Sheridan, Ed James and Michael Pederson.
Tickets are £35 for the weekend, £20 for a day ticket or £10 per session.
For more information on the programme and tickets, click here.
We had a chat with Sara Sheridan, one of the authors attending Write by the Shore.
Hi Sara, thank you for joining us. How important are events like Write By The Shore? Are they both for writers and readers?
I think one of the wonderful things about the growth of book festivals all over the UK is that it lets readers meet writers and vice versa. I find that fascinating – you never can tell what the audience are going to ask, come question time… It’s also great that books are made more accessible by virtue of these kinds of festivals. I’m a big supporter.
by Book Club
