'Fate' accompli?

When my second daughter was sixteen, a gypsy told her she was going to marry a Yorkshireman. I laughed. Not because I had anything against Yorkshire, (or its men) but  she was still so young and, anyway, who could  predict such a thing?  What's more she would work in a big factory surrounded by lots of people - including her future husband.

That was more than twenty years ago, yet the gypsy's words were as clear as ever as her father and I embarked on our latest trip to York. This beautiful city is famous the world over but I wonder how many of its people appreciate how lucky they are to live there?  Or believe that my gypsy friend really knew what she was talking about? (Daughter Two,  a happily married mum,  is now a microbiologist in the city.)

Yes, the predictions came true. Yet I've always believed in the 'Sliding Doors' theory that we can, if we really want to, influence our own destiny. Otherwise, why are we here?  As a writer it is easy to be self-critical, to compare yourself unfavourably to those who are more prolific than you, or more successful, especially in these days of non-stop social media. So I've tried to live by the mantra: if you think you can, you can, and if you think you can't, you probably can't.

One of the things I promised myself earlier this year was to concentrate on what I really want to do (write novels) and spend less time interacting with those I believe make my goal achievable (everyone else.) So, after writing this  blog almost every week for the last seven years, I have decided to cut it down to once a month.  I have taken a break from my facebook account, leaving only my author page active. I still log on to twitter, but just for a few minutes each day, so that I can keep in touch with what's gong on around me.

Do I feel happier?  No, I feel quite bereft. I've taken away the crutches, hobbled out of my comfort zone and started to rely on myself again. But isn't that how it all started?

From cub reporter to freelance journalist, from mother to grandmother to novelist, I've tried to make things happen.  That's my story, anyway.  You don't have to believe it. Novelists, so I've heard, are good at making things up.

York Minster - the world at its feet?

The Day a Computer wrote a Novel

Would you read a novel that began like this?

'I squirmed with joy, which I experienced for the first time, and continued writing excitedly.'

Before you leave this blog ( squirming)  I deny all responsibility for the above sentence. It  was composed by... a computer!

Let me explain. Several works of robot-assisted fiction were amongst more than a thousand entrants for a Japanese novel competition recently. The Hoshi Shinichi Literary Award, named after one of Japan's most famous fiction writers,  decided to invite 'artificial intelligence programs' to submit their works.

The judges had no idea which authors were human and which were robots, but were given a strong hint by the one  above entitled 'The Day a Computer wrote a Novel.'

Another anonymous entry asked  'Are jobs being cut, as cheap, clever, humanoid robots  replace humans?'

One novel, using  'sentences from inputs by its human masters' actually made it through the first round of the competition. Asked to include the elements of time, weather and what the character was doing, it came up with the following:

'The clouds hung low that day in an overcast sky. Inside, though, the temperature and humidity were perfectly controlled.  Yoko was sitting lazily on the couch, passing the time playing pointless games.'

The judges commended the story, though found it's efforts were 'a bit thin on characterisation.'

Phew - that's a relief!

(First published March 2016)

Happy Easter everyone.

My word is my pond, sorry, bond...

A long-standing  friend of mine has just bought a house  more than sixty miles away from her job. She's thrilled about the new 'chez-moi' but worried about the commuting.

How will you make the transition? I texted  the other day, in between  emails and overdue edits.

'How will I make the train station?' she replied. 'I'm not quite decrepit yet...'.

We both laughed in an LOL kind way.  Such misunderstandings  happen every day. But I sometimes wonder how the mighty Shakespeare might have felt faced with the same situation. Or Graham Greene for that matter, or Ernest Hemingway ( who was known to have a difficult nature at the best of times.) Would their combined writerly genius have stood up to the test of text?  Or auto-correct. Or any of the myriad inventions these days that are aimed at 'improving' our spelling and grammar.

Computers could  write novels! screeched a newspaper heading the other day with enough resonance to make the publishing world take note.  Of course they could.  But could they write a good novel?
 
'It’s not hard to tell a story. It’s hard to tell good stories,'  Tom Meltzer re-quoted in The Guardian recently. 'How do you get a computer to understand what good means?'

But back to the auto-correct. Even those of us who don't while away our time at the keyboard all day must  have shouted No - that's not what I meant...'   to the smug-looking screen as it churns out gobbledegook in the name of progress.  Must we  be told how to write?

I think my five-year-old granddaughter has the right idea:before she speaks, or puts pen to paper, she listens to her teacher. I sent everyone an Easter card,' she told me recently. 'But Miss Jones says yours is an original, not a duplicate.'  Maybe she just likes big words. Or else she's been reading Hemingway.

I reproduce this with thanks to my friend and grammar expert Wendy Guilbert for bringing it to my attention.
 

 

How To Turn Into A Novelist...

Today I have a guest on my blog - novelist Linda Mitchelmore - who gives us a refreshing and honest account of her journey towards publication.  Linda is one of those people you can't help but like and this is reflected in the success of the hundreds of short stories she has had published  all over the world.  She also has romantic memories of her first trip to Guernsey when she and her partner drank rum and blackcurrant to the sound of the lapping waves...a girl after my own heart then!   So, over to you Linda...

It was a long time coming…not so much the gestation period of an elephant to get my novel, TO TURN FULL CIRCLE, into print…but more a herd of the things.

I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme and submitted six contemporary novels – most of which went to second reads but alas without an agent to take me on – before I changed genre and decided to write an historical romantic novel. The NWS suggested I send my manuscript to Choc Lit – for which you don’t need an agent but for which you do need a male point of view. My novel, at that stage, didn’t have a male point of view, but I took NWS advice and I wrote one in. I sent off the first three chapters and synopsis and sat back to wait for Choc Lit’s decision.

It wasn’t long before they got back to me asking to see the rest – and warned me there might be quite a wait before I heard if they were going to take me on, or not. I’d been in this position a few times with previous NWS entries so I wasn’t building up any hopes when I parcelled up my book.

But I liked my heroine, Emma Le Goff, and I didn’t want her story to end with this book. So I began a sequel, starting where TO TURN FULL CIRCLE ended.

I was eighteen chapters in with my sequel (working title NO TURNING BACK) when Choc Lit got back to me. It had been a longer wait then I’d been told to expect, but I’m a patient lady! And besides, I was going on the premise that no news is good news.

All the same, I was almost too afraid to open up that e.mail. I’d always thought I’d whoop and cheer and maybe shed a tear or six of joy, but I didn’t.

My husband came into my writing room with a cup of coffee as I sat staring at the screen reading over and over that Choc Lit were interested in offering me a contract and would I like to go to London to meet them.

“Oh,” I said, “Choc Lit are interested in offering me a contract.”

“You couldn’t inject just a bit more enthusiasm into that, could you?” he joked.

But he cracked open some champagne for me anyway, even though my signature wasn’t on the dotted line yet.

So….off I went to London. Lyn Vernham, of Choc Lit fame, came to The New Cavendish Club to meet me. I was a lot more enthusiastic this time – and also rather nervous. It could still all have gone pear-shaped for me. Choc Lit need to know that their authors can do the media stuff – booksignings, talks, interviews and so on. I’d been in charity anthologies before and had done about half a dozen booksignings so I was fine with that. I cringe now to think how I sold myself….in the nicest possible way, of course. And confession time had come because I hadn’t mentioned my profound deafness to Choc Lit before that meeting.

“I’ve planned Emma’s story as a trilogy,” I prattled on.

Lyn smiled at me and said, “Good.” And then she offered me a contract. And so began the start of the wonderful, exciting, and – at times – scary next part of my journey to publication.

It was decided to keep my own name for the novel as I’ve had 300+ short stories published worldwide now and readers will know my name. Linda Mitchelmore – novelist …it still seemed unbelievable to me that this was really happening after so many years of trying. But I was getting used to the idea!

I had a bit of a wait while the edits were done and sent back to me to work on. Did I say edits? For me that was a bit of a re-write and then another jiggle or two. My heart was in my mouth that my efforts wouldn’t be what Choc Lit wanted and that my lovely balloon of hope would deflate again.

But then book cover designs began to come my way. Which ones did I like? Hate? Think were suitable? A publication date – 7^th June 2012 - for TO TURN FULL CIRCLE was announced on Choc Lit’s website. So, it was really happening, then? I began to breathe a little more easily.

TO TURN FULL CIRLCE was entered for the RNA’s Joan Hessayon Award and I set off to London again for the awards ceremony. I didn’t win, but another Choc Lit writer – Evonne Wareham – did, so that was all right then!

I had another month to wait for my book to hit the shops …and what a day that was! My local, independent, bookshop – The Torbay Bookshop – hosted a launch evening for me. I was shameless in my PR for my own event! I had flyers printed and sent them to everyone I knew in my area – and to some out of it. I left bundles of the things in Paignton and Brixham libraries. I touted them around the neighbours. I kept a bundle of them in my bag and I took them with me everywhere I went in case I bumped into someone I knew who I’d left off my list. I even pinned one up on our local Sainsbury’s ‘local events’ noticeboard (I asked first in case anyone is wondering!). And it seemed to work – the bookshop was full to bursting for the launch despite it being the worst June evening for weather on record.

Must just add that the publication date for NO TURNING BACK is June 2013… so, I'd better get on…

LINDA MITCHELMORE – AUGUST 2012.