Liesel Schwarz

The Centre for Contemporary Writing at Bath Spa University is holding a one-day interdisciplinary Symposium on Friday 29th June 2012 to explore the challenges of representing other worlds and I have been asked to present a paper on the challenges of writing historical fantasy. 

Do pop in if you are in the area. It should be a really nice day out. 

Tickets here

I’m going to be appearing at the Spread the Word workshop hosted by Danuta Kean on Saturday the 12th of May 2012. I will be talking about how to get published, queries and how to write a synopsis.
See you all there! Spread the Wordworkshop

I thought this TED talk was fantastic. Chipp is such an accomplished speaker. Enjoy!

http://www.ted.com/talks/chip_kidd_designing_books_is_no_laughing_matter_ok_it_is.html

You are most welcome.

Feel free to look about. Let me have your thoughts and suggestions about the site. Feel free to check back here for book reviews and all things that interest me.

I read a lot of books. Too many to ever successfully review on this blog. But every so often a book comes along which I simply cannot put down. When that happens, I have to tell everyone and hence the reason for this review.

There are many things I like about this book. Firstly, it’s a debut novel by Carrie Ryan – She has a lovely website. I love debut novels. There is such an energy about them.

Then there are the zombies. I love a good zombie apocalypse novel and this one doesn’t disappoint. The author calls them The Unconsecreated in the novel. Nowhere is the dreaded Z-word used. And it works.

I also love the author’s voice. Ryan writes with an intensity that sweeps you away from the first sentence. And remember, this is a YA novel, with zombies and yet, the tone and voice is so authoratative and literary that the fact that the story is a YA romance amongst the undead is almost incidental. That is the mark of a good voice.

Genre fiction CAN be written to a literary standard and this is a fantastic example of it.

So that’s the good stuff. I really couldn’t put this one down.

But -

The narrative is very myopic. We are very closely within the protagonist’s head. The story is told in very close first person narrative. We don’t get to see the bigger picture. We never fully understand the bigger picture. There are a number of subplots which are never resolved. The death  of most of the characters is almost random and inconsequential.

Then there is Mary. Unlike Bella Swan from the Twilight series, Mary is naive and unreliable. She is selfish and wilful. She spends most of her time in a fantasy world constructed from stories and ideas she has fashioned herself. We never get the full picture of the romantic dynamic between her and the two brothers because she is so completely wrapped up in herself.

And while the books starts off and draws the reader in at a cracking pace, it is not possible to maintain this level of intensity and  the book unravels rapidly somewhere in the middle.

The emotional hopscotch Mary plays goes round and round. It’s almost as if the author has run out of thoughts for her character to have and they are repeated over and over. Mary becomes more and more unsympathetic as she destroys everyone around her in her quest for the ocean. We are never really told how the village came to fall and in the end, I personally wanted to take this silly girl and shake her so hard that her teeth rattled. I could not wait to get out of this character’s head and the only reason I kept reading was to find out where the fences would take them.

This is a real pity, because the flaws in Mary diluted the emotional punch that the romantic tragedy should have delivered.

On the whole, a thoroughly enjoyable read though. Ryan is definitely a voice to watch in time to come.

LS

I have been neglecting my blog. I admit this. It’s no excuse, but between a million writerly things, a full-time job and all the other things that constitutes one’s life something has to go and in my case, it’s been this little corner  that has slipped through the cracks. It has to be said though that I did – once or twice – sit in front of the blank box to write something amazing and inspiring and then… nothing. Ever had that? That awful, bleak moment when the words just don’t come. It’s usually followed by a sinking feeling of panic.  The dreaded writers block.

Now writers block is a contentious issue. Some dismiss it out of hand as being a fallacy. Some writers are crippled by it. The fact remains that most writers suffer from it at some point or another – whether it’s the dreaded blank screen or somewhere in the middle if a body of work when all words and sentences disappear into gossamer mist. Admittedly, when time is in short supply and deadlines are tight, there is less opportunity to develop the block, but it still happens.

Writers block, as far as I can tell, springs forth from fear and lack of confidence. It’s when the inner editor or critic takes over. The writer starts to believe that all they can write is drivel and that all ideas a rubbish. This in turn sparks off anxiety and fear, which in turn amplifies the feelings of anxiety. It turns into a vicious circle that spirals until the writer falls to pieces for a little while.

There are many sources of advice and exercises one can do to beat the dreaded block. Many writers recommend going for a walk. Reading. Do research for ideas. Do freewriting exercises. Attend a writing class. Speak to a friend or fellow writer. The list in endless. But the best advice I’ve been given on this point is really quite simple: Be kind to yourself. It’s the only way you are going to silence the inner editor and critic that created the block in the first place. Take a moment and give yourself some space. Sometimes procrastination is the mind’s way of processing the problem.

Today I set aside specifically so I could spend it writing. Instead,  I bushed my cats, picked leaves off my tomato plants, spent about 20 minutes studying the patch of ground in my garden where I planted some carrot seeds for any sign of life, had a really long nap, watched about 4 episodes of the King of Queens, baked a banana loaf,  scrubbed my kitchen, did the laundry, brushed my cats again, spent ages faffing about on Twitter and Facebook and I’ve written about 35 words and this blog post in total.

So there you go. Confession out.

I suppose sometimes you just have to be kind to yourself and try again tomorrow.