The Analects, Confucius, Reviewed

Disappointing. That's a bald statement and perhaps not the most expected, considering the reputation of this Chinese man of…wisdom? I didn't find that, to be honest. From several hundred short passages of supposed erudition I listed ten I thought worthy of spreading to the wider world.

All the Confucianists will, of course be screaming abuse and possibly foaming at the mouth, because Confucius, rather like other famed wise men, has taken a role close to that of a god for many.

I found him conservative, unimaginative, intolerant and a man who seemed to express a singular self-preservationist philosophy, no doubt intended to keep him alive in what was a very violent society. I gleaned this, by the way, from this book, not from a reading of history.

It's clear that his insistence on the 'Way' is a plea to men (he has no time for women, who were clearly no more than playthings and servants in his time) to be of good character. By which he appears to mean, obey those set above you socially and politically. That a man so revered could be such a supporter of the tyranny of his time and yet accrue disciples merely serves to underline my own impression that there are those in society who'll accept leadership and direction regardless of its merit or otherwise. Faith, in general, is an illustration of this.

It's likely that, in common with Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed, his actual words have been usurped and deliberately distorted to suit the ends of those who wished to make capital from his aura of celebrity. I found little to admire in the words I was offered here. Much, rather like the Qur'an, is banal, repetitive and uninspiring. There is a deal of meaningless, to the modern western mind, ceremonial and social reportage that would require a deep knowledge of Chinese history to appreciate. I felt disinclined to spend the time and effort necessary to extract any worthwhile meaning from these passages, since the rest of the supposed words of wisdom were, in fact, anything but.

So, it was, for me, a disappointing read. I can't recommend it. There are, however, a round ten short sayings that carry some resonance in the modern world and I'll happily spread those, in the hope that the reputation of the originator will, at least, lend some authority to these aphorisms for those who might otherwise discount them out of hand.

Review of Breaking Faith

Breaking Faith has been recently reviewed on another blog. Click this link to read the review.

The Writing Week

Weary. Been a long week. But, then, it probably has been for you, too.
So, what have I been doing?
A new blog post - 7 common grammatical errors - scheduled for 15th March.
The first of a proposed series of debates, with an invitation to join the discussion. and taking the form of a chat between two invented characters. This week was on the subject of honesty and is posted below, if you'd like to join in.
8000 words of a short story written. Short story? Well, that's how it started out. I reckon there's another 1500 to go before it's finished.
But, to my regret, only 2 chapters of the NaNoWriMo novel edited this week.
There have been mitigating circumstances, with which I will not bore you.
Oh, and I updated the Writing Contests page, see the tab above if interested. That's actually quite a time consuming process, due to the research involved.
So, now, at just after 9.0 o'clock on Sunday evening, I think I'm ready for a rest.

The Debate Begins: Are You Up For It?

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Allow me to introduce myself: Theo: I believe in honesty, truth, reason and equality. I'm rational, passionate, caring, neutral and considerative as well, I hope, as considerate. That's really all you need know about me.

Hi there, I'm Dave. Opinion's the only thing that counts on the web. Mine's as valid as anyone's. I don't really care about anything enough to get involved but I like to put my point of view out there. I'm not consistent and sometimes I fight for the other side just for the hell of it; know what I mean? For me, this debating lark's just that: a lark. So, listen up, join in and have a go at both, either or neither of us.

Today, by way of introduction to the idea, we're going to discuss the question:

Is Honesty Absolute or Can it be Measured in Degrees?

Dave: Easy. You're either honest or you're not. No discussion.

Theo: Not quite the spirit of the idea, Dave. But I understand why you might say that. The problem, I think, is that 'honesty' covers such a wide range, encompassing so much within its definition.

Dave: You'll get used to this with Theo. He's a great bloke but he loves his long words. If you mean there's a lot of stuff called honesty, why not just say so, Theo?

Theo: I thought I just did. But let's stick to the topic at hand, shall we? For instance, is stealing something you'd include under the umbrella title?

Dave: I guess so, but let's not include it here. That's got to make a topic all on its own, surely?

Theo: Excellent. So, we'll consider the idea of honesty as a quality, a way of approaching life, shall we?

Dave: Sure.

Theo: Then I'll ask, is honesty the best policy? Which, I suppose, is where we should have started.

Dave: Good thought, Theo. Best policy? Well, depends how you view life in general doesn't it? I mean, if you're honest, you're going to have to pass up on all those chances fate chucks at your feet, aren't you?

Theo: Give us an example, Dave.

Dave: Okay. You're walking down the street and you come across a small value note lying there. D'you pocket it or leave it, spend it or take it to the cops? If you're absolutely honest, you'd have to take it to the cops, wouldn't you?

Theo: Absolute honesty would demand that action, yes. But, let's consider the consequences. By taking this small note; we'll say a fiver if you're British or a $10 bill if you're from the States. The rest of you will, unfortunately, have to do the conversion to your own currency, if you don't mind. So, you have this small amount of currency and you take it to the police. They take your details and you fill in a form and sometime in the future (after 30 days in UK), you get the call to say it's not been claimed and it's therefore yours, legally.

Dave: Sounds okay to me. But I'd not bother to report something as small as a fiver.

Theo: You probably employ common sense in this decision, Dave. I know you're not a man who takes frivolous decisions. The question expands into the discussion and consideration of consequences. In reporting this small matter, you've used some of your own valuable time, caused the duty officer at the police station to use time he might otherwise have spent more usefully in preventing crime, and probably used fuel in the journeys. The latter, of course, means that you've added to the general pollution of the planet, risked lives by driving further miles, and put more mileage on the clock of your car, thus reducing its value and bringing the time for the service nearer.

So, was this act of honesty actually worth it?

Dave: Like I said, I wouldn't bother for just a fiver. And looks like you've decided you wouldn't, either.

Theo: So, would you do it for a tenner?

Dave: No.

Theo: Twenty?

Dave: Probably not. There's loads of them around.

Theo: Fifty?

Dave: Now you're talking. Yeah, I'd go to the bother for a fifty.

Theo: And your reasons?

Dave: Well, for a start, I've never had a fifty myself and I don't think many people have. Fifty's a lot to lose. You'd notice it, wouldn't you? The person who lost it might think it's worth bothering the cops to see if some honest person's reported it. So, yeah. Fifty's the starting point for me to record it. Anything from there up and I'd take it to the cops.

Theo: And you'd do this because you think it's the morally right thing to do, not because you think you might be in danger of being accused of theft if you failed to report it?

Dave: I don't think most people think like that. It's not mine, the cops won't be wasting their time, because someone's likely to report it lost. So, it just makes sense to give it in. If no one claims it, you're fifty to the good and you can spend it with a clear conscience, can't you?

Theo: And you've been honest, into the bargain. Do you think it was dishonest not to return the smaller notes?

Dave: Not exactly dishonest. It's about priorities and amounts, isn't it? I mean, we decided it wouldn't be worth if to anyone for under a fifty. So, it's just common sense, really.

Theo: So, not a question of honesty, but one of expediency, then?

Dave: If you say so. Are we done with this one?

Theo: In the way that I think we can say that honesty, in the sense it's used in everyday matters, isn't an absolute, but an attitude that encompasses such qualities as degree, common sense and personal priorities. Thank you, Dave. I look forward to our next debate.

Dave: Yeah, right. And you lot out there reading this, let's have your thoughts, eh? Have your say. That's what this is about after all.

Whether and When to Use The Definite Article?

The problem of 'the' is ever with us. The definite article, as opposed to the indefinite 'a' and 'an', tends to place a claim of specificity on the attached noun, rendering it a special item. So, 'an oak tree' is an entirely different proposition from 'the oak tree'. The former is just one member of the forest, without distinction and lacking the importance of that definite article. The latter, of course, is elevated into a position of superiority by its adjective, which identifies it as not just one of the crowd, but a particular tree. It may be that this specimen has some dubious history, perhaps once employed to suspend the bodies, if not the disbelief, of those who were hanged from one of its lower boughs. Or, it may bear the initials of passion-consumed lovers now long dead but in their time renowned for their displays of alfresco affection. Maybe it was the location chosen by furtive agents who secreted their folded and encrypted messages within that famous knot hole only five feet from the ground and thus almost brought the State to a state of collapse.

You get the drift.

The 'the' can, and often does, convey an idea of importance on the subject it describes.

But, what of those occasions when writers use it to describe the ordinary? 'Jonathan walked the length of the lake shore, skimming the flat stones over its surface.' Here we have a sentence with three instances of 'the' in just 15 words: 20% of the sentence consists of the definite article! Can we improve it without altering the sense?

'Jonathan walked the length of the lake shore, skimming flat stones over its surface.' Because, in this case, the 'the' is immaterial with regard to the stones, we can exclude it without detriment to the sentence and, thereby, improve pace. The other two 'the's, however, are necessary to the sentence in its current construction, as, without them, it wouldn't make sense.

'Jonathan skimmed stones over the lake surface, as he walked its (entire) shore.' Reduced wordage, cutting the definite article to one example, but saying the same thing. Whether it's a better sentence, I leave to your judgement.

Let's try another:

'The weary traveller wandered lost in the forest, surrounded by the trees; the leaves cutting out the light of the sun and making the experience frightening.'

This is a terrible sentence. Oh, it says everything the writer intended. But the pace is poor and there are far too many words, especially definite articles. Let's try to improve it.

'The weary traveller wandered lost in the forest, surrounded by trees; leaves cutting out sunlight and making the experience frightening.'

Better: the pace is better after removal of the unnecessary definite articles, but the sentence still lacks sparkle. It tells the reader what is happening, but fails to show it.

'Lost amongst endless trees, Aglydron trembled and longed for rest and an end to his difficult journey.'

I'm not suggesting this is by any means perfect. But, I think you'll agree it's an improvement. We've lost the subject's anonymity by naming him (he's a character from the epic fantasy I'm writing at present) and, in so doing, removed another 'the'. We've shown the reader how he feels, instead of telling him, giving the whole a greater emotional depth. And we've reduced the original 26 word sentence to 17 words, thereby increasing pace. The final sentence retains not a single definite article, but the original contained no fewer than seven 'the's.

Okay, you're turn next. Here's an excruciating sentence for you to work on and improve. Let me have your suggestions, if you wish, along with your comments.

'The sexy woman walked across the sand of the beach, conscious of the eyes of the men following the progress she made, as the bikini barely concealed the parts of the lovely body she moved quickly toward the sea, so the waves would hide the shyness she felt.'

Another silly question for you to ponder: Why, oh why, do we always press harder and harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are dying?

The Writing Week

A busy and relatively productive week, though not quite as good as I'd hoped.
The NaNoWriMo novel, An Unseen Avenger, continues well with the edit; up to Chapter 10 of the re-write now.
Another blog post completed and scheduled for a couple of week's time. This one on the dangers of distraction.
Managed to finish reading and to review three books this week. First was Tyler Brentmore's Dead Men's Fingers, a western novelette that's a good read. Second was Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well. And, finally, came Michael Frayne's Alphabetical Order, a humorous stage play script. All are reviewed below.
I started writing a short story, got to 2000 words, and realised it wasn't a short story at all, but something quite different. It gave me an idea for more regular posts on the blog. I intend to start this series next Saturday, so watch this space, and please feel free to comment, since I'm looking to start some serious and lively discussions with this item.
That was all this week. Had the final appointment with the dentist on Wednesday afternoon after work, so I'm now crowned and no longer have a gap in my teeth. Took a pleasant walk with Valerie on Thursday, when we visited the local canal at Pocklington; placed a few pics on my Facebook album, My Homeland. This series has attracted a lot of comment and many people have been inspired by the pics. Many are of the same county that inspired David Hockney's recent exhibition.
Felt a little under the weather Friday and Saturday (I have a long-standing condition that occasionally come up and bites me when I'm not looking. Tiring rather than seriously harming, but it makes concentration difficult).
This morning turned out so bright and clear that we decided on another walk, just our local saunter this time.
And, of course, Valerie's team was involved in the FA Cup competition, so I watched that with her.
Started reading Confucius, The Analects, which I suspect will take a little longer than a week to read, so probably no reviews for a little while. Still, I'm ahead of my reading target, so that's not bad.
I hope I find all of you well and active. Those who write, keep at it. Those who read, thank you and keep buying and reading those books, and reviewing them to encourage and inform others.

Alphabetical Order, a Play by Michael Frayn, Reviewed

Michael Frayn - Cambridge - 2011 (Photo credit: Chris Boland http://www.distantcloud.co.uk/ )

Plays are, of course, intended to be seen, experienced, rather than read. However, as a writer who has had a radio play broadcast by the redoubtable BBC, I have an interest in play scripts, and enjoy reading them as well.

Michael Frayn has a reputation as a playwright who understands comedy. And Alphabetical Order is a great example of his strength in creating humour. The stage setting remains unchanged throughout the 2 acts, except for some 'tidying' essential to the story. So, the whole action takes place within the library of a local newspaper and involves the librarians and some of the reporting and editorial staff.

Having worked on a local paper, as a photographer, I have some empathy with the characters portrayed and some understanding of their peculiar pressures and priorities. The characters are well drawn, using the playwright's only real tool; that of dialogue. It's possible to picture them on the stage from the script, because they are so well described by their chosen words and what they have to say or what is said about them by other characters; the essence of a stage play.

The action is minimal, as is the plot, but the play covers a great deal of ground in terms of character building and relationship development. There are plenty of jokes and many occasions given to laughter, both with and at the characters. But there is pathos too. The aura of gentle decay and the overriding sense of futility combine with the overall frivolity of the dialogue, which hides those secrets that lurk beneath the surface of the spoken text. So, there are some surprises but the drama plays out more or less as expected.

The denouement is slightly surprising in the way it happens, but the reader realises that the outcome was, in fact, inevitable, given the natures of the characters and their employment. Typical of the very English setting and characterisation, there is a lot more beneath the surface, unstated but alluded to, making the play a multi-layered experience.

I enjoyed this, and recommend it to those who enjoy their drama in thoughtful but gentle comedy form.

All's Well That Ends Well, by Will Shakespeare, Reviewed

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How do you go about reviewing a work that must have been described, analysed and generally pulled apart by thousands of readers, writers, scholars and professional reviewers? Well, as I see it, the only thing to do is give a very personal opinion.

Shakespeare is, of course, our national bard, our cultural hero, if we write in English. So, the reviewer better beware if he says anything untoward. But I set myself a target and I'm determined to hit it. The target? As a writer, to read and review at least 52 books this year, all taken from my 'to read' list'. So, you have my motivation.

I have yet to read most of the Bard's work. What I've so far managed has been very good. But I can't say that for All's Well That Ends Well. It reads like an apprentice piece, almost as if it was written by a different author, in fact.

In common with much of his work, Shakespeare took the original plot from Boccaccio's Decameron and embellished it with his own characters and additions. But, for me, he hasn't done his usual magic here. I found much of the text tedious. There was little that made me laugh and a great deal that felt like unnecessary complication. In fact, the play, for me, would have worked much better without a number of the scenes; some of which seemed to have no bearing on the story at all.

Of course, the language is brilliant most of the time, of course the characters are written with the usual sureness of style and genius. But the whole doesn't quite add up to the parts in this one. Naturally, there is the ever present problem for a modern reader that certain references no longer have the meaning they did for the contemporary audience and this means that some of the jokes fall flat. Some of the words used have not been included in the staggering total of new words that Will added to our language and context is then the only clue to their meaning.

I was able to follow the story, the plot, relatively easily. But some of the characters failed to display the qualities they were reported to carry by their fellows. So, I could see no evidence, until the scene where he is hooded and tricked, of Parolles' reported wickedness. He came across as no more a villain than others in the play. Even his diatribe against Lafeu seemed relatively justified in light of the Old Lord's treatment of him. And it was difficult to understand Helena's infatuation for the superficial, opportunist and selfish Bertram.

So, not a play I'm likely to go out of my way to watch, though it's my personal experience that Shakespeare always comes alive when performed, especially by a good ensemble cast. I'm sorry if I've offended or upset the lovers of our national poet, amongst which I count myself, but this one was a disappointment.

Faith Introduces Herself to Readers

Stuart's asked me to give you some insight into how I think, what matters to me, why I'm the person I am. Let me introduce myself. I'm Faith Heacham and I narrated the story of Breaking Faith along with Leigh. I hope that some of my rather strange background came through that narrative but there will be elements that you will either not know or be unfamiliar with, of course.

When I first started to work for Leigh, I was still imbued with my father's rather strange brand of Christianity and I was determined to develop Leigh's conscience and convert him into a devout follower of my religion. I don't tell you a lot about that aspect in the book, because I didn't want to come across as too evangelical. As it happened, I quickly learned that Heacham was in the wrong and that Leigh, for all his unusual and, dare I say, unconventional ways, was often in the right.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me set the scene. I was brought up for the first few years as part of a small family with my mother, and two younger sisters as well as Heacham. I'm sorry, I can't refer to him as my father knowing what I do now. He was, to me, relatively normal and although he was always a very strict parent, he seemed no more odd or different than any other parent, until Mother left him and took my youngest sister, Charity, with her. It was then that I certainly noticed changes in my life. I was very young but I was expected to take over most of the duties my mother had carried out.

Heacham was a man who gave the impression of being pious. It was only later I learned how truly awful he was, not only as a father but as a man. However, I was placed in a position where I was required to look after him domestically as well as nurse my severely disabled sister, Hope. She, of course, had no hope of ever becoming anything other than a baby in a woman's body. But I didn't know that until I was a lot older. My life was difficult and restricted, as I was no longer allowed to attend the local school but was taught by Heacham. His teaching took the form of indoctrination with his peculiar form of narrow-minded Christianity taken from the Bible and some books of sermons by a rather extreme clergyman. I was allowed an atlas, and a dictionary and two volume encyclopaedia, both of which he censored for all sexual matters apart from the purely biological aspects. We had no television, no radio and he would allow no magazines or newspapers in the house. Living in an isolated cottage well out of the small Dales village, I had virtually no contact with children or with other adults. This obviously left me with a very odd view of the world. But I was a quick learner and loved to read. As a result, I picked up a wide vocabulary and a knowledge of many things that most people never come across.

For exercise, I did the housework, kept Hope free of bedsores by massaging and manipulating her limbs and body, walked the local hills and swam in the isolated tarn up the hill from our cottage. I loved the freedom of those few hours, away from home and father's constant watchfulness. I would strip to my skin and plunge into the freezing clear water and splash about until I was thoroughly tired. By the time I returned home, my clothes had mostly dried on my body. Not that it mattered, since Heacham required me to work in the house wearing the bare minimum of cover. He told me it was to save my clothes from becoming stained and dirty. I know now that it was to afford him a sexual thrill of both watching me and controlling me in a state of more or less permanent exposure.

He indoctrinated me to believe that most men and women were inherently evil and would eventually spend eternity in the fires of Hell. If I erred, even slightly, he would beat me with his hand, a cane or his belt, always on my naked skin. He told me he was saving my soul and I believed him. We prayed together every morning and each evening before bed. He attended some old barn that he and a few other men with similar views had converted into their meeting place, which he called their chapel.

When I first started to work with Leigh and discovered his free-thinking ideas and his openness toward nudity and sex, I thought he must be the most wicked man alive. His models were all beautiful and showed no shame or shyness in displaying their entire bodies for his camera. I was initially incensed and later intrigued. But, though Leigh gave all the appearance to my uneducated mind of being a wicked heathen, I quickly learned that he was a kind, warm, generous and basically good man. I suppose it was inevitable that I would fall in love with him, as the only other mature male I had any contact with. Apart, that is, from his printing assistant, Mervin. He was the embodiment of true evil in my eyes. A crude, ugly, cruel and utterly selfish monster of a man.

If you've read the book, you'll know how I came to change and what those changes involved for me and those I came into contact with. If you haven't read it yet, I can only point you in the direction of this blog, where Stuart's posting the whole book for you to read, free of charge, a chapter at a time. I hope you get as much out of reading my story as I did from telling it from my point of view and learning Leigh's view of things along the journey.

Dead Men's Fingers, by Tyler Brentmore, Reviewed.

As a teenager, when our first TV arrived, I loved to watch Westerns. But I've never read one, until Tyler Brentmore's Dead Men's Fingers came my way. I downloaded this book to Kindle for PC, reading from the screen in a way I generally avoid. That's how involving a story it was. Against all the odds, I felt compelled to read it.

The author has a great facility with words and molds language into sentences and paragraphs that drive the story forward at a gallop. But, at the same time, the characters are graphically drawn in a way that brings them alive. The action is superbly presented and grips the reader as each challenge increases the tension. The hero and his female counterpart are fully rounded, both possessing hidden qualities, and pasts, that are only vaguely hinted at until the story demands revelation.

That the writer has researched extensively is evident by the period detail and the way that the reader is not merely talked through the landscape but actually experiences it with all its fierce and wide-open qualities. You taste the dust, feel the burning sun, drown in the swollen river, cower in the darkness of a starless sky in the centre of a continent peopled mostly by enemies, and wonder at the vast spaces to be crossed by the wagon train.

This is more than merely a traditional western tale, though the book can easily be read on that level. Multi-layered, the story examines prejudice, the mind-set of the mob, courage, honesty, evil versus good, and even love.

I would have read this at one sitting, had circumstances allowed. As it was, I had to take a break and read it in two sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and can happily recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories starring real heroes and heroines.

The Writing Week.

Another busy, if interrupted, week.
I had begun the read aloud edit session of the NaNoWriMo novel (provisionally titled An Avenger Unseen) and got as far as chapter 15 before I realised it needed some major surgery. I'm writing this as a comedy thriller, with the emphasis on the comedy. But I realised I'd gone too deeply into the thriller aspect, and my male protagonist had adapted a tone unsuitable to his narrative. So, I went back to the beginning and I've so far re-written the first 5 chapters.
I've written a short story, which will need editing next week. And I completely re-wrote a story I'd started some time ago and never submitted. This one has gone to the Writers & Artists Yearbook contest. Wish me luck! If you're interested in entering writing competitions, you might have a glance at the page tabbed 'Writing Contests' above. There are a great many links to such contests there.
And I finished reading and have therefore reviewed, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The review is just below this post if you're interested.
Kate was home for the weekend and she's just returned, her boyfriend driving her to the station for her train.
It's my brother, Steve's, birthday tomorrow, so we had he and his lovely wife, Alison, round for the evening last night. Great night, but too much wine meant I wasn't up to much writing this morning!
The car has now been serviced and is again safe and quieter for the replacement of the box on the exhaust.
And the drive is now clear of snow, which is slowly melting away anyway.
Those are the interruptions I mentioned. I like to think of them as reasons for not having done much, but I know they're really excuses.
That, however, is enough for now.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Reviewed.

It must all have been said, of course. So, this review is likely to say more about me than about the author or his tales. In common with most people, I've witnessed the transfer of the written words onto the small screen in many versions and for many of the stories held in this collection. That connection naturally informs the reader. I enjoyed the reading, but, unusually for me, found the TV programs more entertaining and even more credible.

There are passages of fairly wooden dialogue and some of the descriptions of events leave a lot to be desired. The plots are, of course, wonderfully intricate, surprising and satisfying, as you'd expect. But there is a lot that the reader's expected to accept on trust. I suspect that much of the 'deduction' is open to question if analysed in any depth. Holmes expresses certainty about matters than can often only really be conjecture. But none of this detracts from the experience, of course.

Conan Doyle is as much a part of the English psyche as Dickens and Shakespeare and it's a brave man who would criticise such genius.

It took me rather longer to read this anthology than I'd expected; all sorts of interruptions took me away from the reading, but I also found I wasn't as compelled to read as I have been with many other books.

Gentle and often quite homely, apart from the more violent stories, the style is definitely of its time. I suspect many young readers will find some of the references so obscure as to be meaningless, but that's part of the charm. Like most readers, I approached this book fully aware that my previous exposure to the characters and some of the stories was bound to influence the experience.

One small technical niggle: whoever formatted the book for the Kindle, on which I read this, made a poor job of work on the symbols and the foreign punctuation. There's hardly a story that doesn't contain an odd set of characters either representing the £ sign or some of the French accents.

This was an interesting read without being astounding or particularly instructive for a writer. Would I read more? Probably not. Did I enjoy what I read? By and large, yes.

Top 12 Reasons to Enter Writing Contests

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Much has been written about entering writing competitions, so I've decided to add to the topic only with a list of reasons why it might be a good idea for you. There's no priority in the list, for me; the headings are simply as they occurred when I sat down to do this piece. But, for you, there almost certainly will be reasons that are more important than others. Have a read and see what you think.

1.      Kudos:
Some contests are so well-respected by readers and the industry that becoming a prize-winner can truly alter the way you're perceived as a writer. Win the Bridport, the BBC International Short Story, the Aeon Award, for example and you'll gain a great deal of respect from readers and fellow writers.

2.      Cash:
In these hard economic times, a bit of extra income is surely worth considering, isn't it? I won't enter a contest that asks for payment unless the top prize is at least 20 times the value of the entry fee, as I don't consider it a worthwhile investment. But, win one of those contests and your income will definitely increase. For example, on 3 occasions I've won prizes in the Writers' Forum magazine short story contest, for which I paid entry fees of £6, and won 2 second prizes of £150 and a first of £300; pretty good returns, I think you'll agree. And, for those with even less to spend, there are plenty of contests that are free to enter - visit the Writing Contests tab above to find details and links.

3.      Reputation:
Gaining a good reputation amongst readers is paramount to success in the writing world. If you can claim to be a prize winner in any writing contest, it brings such a reputation closer.

4.      Exposure:
We all need to make ourselves known to both readers and the industry professionals. The way in which prize-winners of contests are publicised ensures them a wide audience and drives more people to their work.

5.      Discipline:
Some writers appear to need motivation to encourage them to actually write, rather than just talk about writing. I've never needed such motivation and actually believe that if you do need it then you shouldn't be writing: do something you actually want to do instead. However, for those who do need some specific aim for their writing, entering contests, with their deadlines, is a good way to increase personal discipline and actually get on with the writing.

6.      Experience:
Entering contests is a great way to gain more experience of the actual writing process. You have to produce your best possible work if you're to stand a chance in a contest and this is an excellent way of honing your skills and developing your story-telling faculties.

7.      Verification:
Writing is an isolated act and it's often difficult to know how you're doing. You can, of course, join a writing group (I recommend you to do this, if there's a good, supporting group available), or become involved with a peer group online. But entering contests, especially where the offer of a critique is included, will give you feedback. And, of course, should you win a prize, you have concrete evidence of your writing abilities. But, a word of warning: failing to win a prize doesn't necessarily mean you're writing is no good. It might simply be that the judge wasn't in tune with your story on the day he read it.

8.      Broaden horizons:
It's very easy for a writer to stick to what he knows, to write only for those genres he's comfortable with. Entering themed contests is a way of breaking out of this self-imposed straightjacket and may even show you that you do well in other areas. Certainly worth a try. Who knows? You might become a best-selling author or a world-renowned poet as a result!

9.      Bragging rights:
No matter how shy or modest we are, we all harbour a wish to tell the world how great we are. What better way than to shout out to the world that you're the winner of XXXX contest? Have a go and tell the world how good you are.

10.  Success:
Success, they say, breeds success. Get your entry out there and win a prize. Who knows what may result from that single success? It might just be the start you need or, if you're already established, it may be the success that lifts you from mid-range to best-seller.

11.  Attraction:
We all, well most of us, if we're honest, would love to attract the attention of an agent or publisher (I'm not going into the self-publishing v traditional publishing discussion here - another time, perhaps). Imagine it: you're sitting at your desk, in your bed, at the kitchen table and there's a phone call or a letter from an agent asking if she can represent you. Wow! That's a feeling we all want to experience. I know; I won a prize in a playwriting contest and gained an agent as a result (I'm no longer with him, but that's another story).

12.  Excitement:
The buzz we all get from being acknowledge for our skill, that elation we all experience from recognition, the simple excitement of opening that letter and having the cheque fall out. It's not just the money, is it? It's the fact that someone out there, someone with judgement and taste, has decided that your story, poem, play, essay or whatever is something that stands out from the crowd. Your work has risen above the rest and been selected as outstanding. That's something to be excited about, isn't it?

So, you've reached the end. Have you been inspired? Are you going to enter a contest? I'll repeat what I said at item 2: if you want to get on with it now, you could do worse than visit the page tab entitled 'Writing Contests' above. Basic details and a link to the relevant website should provide you with all you need to get started. Good luck, and let me know of your successes.

And, as always, let me have your views by commenting on the post.

A silly question for you to ponder: Why do toasters always have a setting that burns toast beyond the stage where any decent human being would eat it?

The Writing Week

It's been a busy and productive week, interrupted by a further visit to the dentist, but that job should be finished at the next visit.
The NaNoWriMo novel, titled, An Avenger Unseen, is now well into its next stage of editing. I've read aloud the first 10 chapters and marked these where changes are needed. Once I've completed that part, I shall go back and make all the necessary alterations.
Another blog post is finished and scheduled to appear later this month.
On a walk along the coast (see pic above) with my wife, our conversation inspired another book; that will take some time to compile and write. A philosophical treatise, I'm not yet sure how I'll present it.
This morning I started on a new short story, managing 1400 words in the hour before breakfast.
And I've finally entered a short story in a contest. A 570 word piece for a flash fiction competition listed under the Writing Contests tab above.
I'm continuing to read the current book from my 'to read' list; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, on my Kindle. And I've read this month's copy of Writers' Forum Magazine and sent a short letter for their reader's letters page. Time I entered their competition again, I think, having won 3 prizes with them over the years.
So, a reasonable week on the writing front. How did yours go?

Are All Writers Liars?

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All writers are liars, you know. They all construct their own fictional version of the world in which they exist. But honesty's actually essential for an author. Readers are clever folk and very quickly spot inconsistencies, inaccuracies and attempts to fool them into believing something that just isn't true, so trying is a bit daft.

But, how do authors grab the attention of readers and convince them that the world they're about to drag them into is something they can accept? How do they take them on a journey into whatever fantasy they've devised? For, except in the case of straightforward journalism (assuming such a thing exists), all writing contains an element of fantasy. Whether or not the reader perceives it that way often depends more on the reader's experiences of life than the writer's presentation of events. Some people are more gullible than others, that's all.

There are clear works of fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, 1984, Maia, where the story unfolds in a land or society that's clearly invented. And these are lumped together by publishers under the genre of Fantasy as a way of enticing readers who enjoy such imaginative works. But other works, both fictional and factual, contain elements of fantasy in that they're always the creation of the mind of another human being. None of us experiences the world in exactly the same way, after all. We overlay our view of events and people with our personal sets of values and judgements, which are based on the combination of those things we've experienced and those we've been taught to believe.

Even a simple situation seen through the eyes of different people will contain elements in common but will also be a different experience for each viewer. The man brought up a Roman Catholic will have an entirely different world view from the woman raised in a strict Muslim tradition. This is perhaps an obvious example, but even siblings of the same age and gender will view life differently, filtered through their individual experiences and their responses to those things they've been involved in. Every interaction, every influence, every event impacts on each of us in slightly different ways to make us into the people we are. Yet each of us, presented with a simple event, will be sure that what we see is what the others will also see, or, worse, that we're the only ones to perceive the reality; when, in fact, of course, none of us sees the reality, even the person creating it.

An example? How do you portray what's actually experienced by another human being in such a way as to provide something that's likely to be seen by most people in a similar way? Here's an apple. A simple enough statement. But what do you see in your mind's eye? Do you see a French Golden Delicious, an orchard apple plucked fresh from the branch, a bruised and worm-eaten windfall, a golden representation as presented by Paris, a whole red fruit, or a crisp green apple with a bite already taken from it? If you're imbued with Abrahamic fundamentalism, you may be incapable of separating the image of the apple from the representation of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man, blaming Eve for her consumption of the apple. Even though you know, because it's been said many times, that no apple is ever mentioned in your sacred texts and that the story is, in any case, simply a myth created to explain the inexplicable, you'll be plagued by that image and it will skew your world view. Another obvious and well-known example of how we're formed by our own worlds. But, hopefully, you get the point. None of us exists without outside influence on our view of the world, but for each of us that perspective is unique.

So, to return to the original question: how do authors grab the attention of readers, convince them that the world they're about to enter is something they can accept, and then take them on a journey into whatever fantasy they have devised?

First; they accept that there are limits to their ability. There will be whole cultures that will stumble at the first mention of electricity, having never experienced this energy. There will be groups that will have difficulty accepting equality of the sexes, others that will baulk at the mention of bare skin, some for whom the idea that money is the only worthwhile pursuit, others who will insist that ghosts exist, and yet others who are incapable of accepting that a man may love a man, a woman a woman in a sexual way.

Because of these varied and sometimes opposing viewpoints, authors are often driven into writing for certain portions only of the population, levered into expressing their ideas only to a limited few.

The writer of horror, accepting the conventions of that genre, takes the reader into places that seem superficially ordinary, even mundane, and then introduces elements designed to raise anxiety, fear, distress, disgust, loathing and many other emotions that can be described as negative. Often, it's the contrast between the everyday and the unusual that feeds these emotions, the partially anticipated crisis arising from a foundation of apparent normality. Because the reader is familiar with the method, a slow beginning is often accepted on the promise of the horror to come.

The crime writer either pins attention with the nature of the crime in the opening scenes, relying on curiosity and fellow-feeling to make the reader need to discover what's happened and why, or sets a puzzle the reader wishes to solve, persuading them into believing they can reach the right answer before the detective and therefore pandering to their ego. Again, convention allows the author to use a form of creative shorthand, since the reader knows what to expect, certain aspects of the story can be held as being self-explanatory and therefore not worthy of description.

In romance, that wide and much-sub-divided genre, the emphasis is on the emotional bond between the loving protagonists. The reader expects to find a happy, or at least, a satisfying ending, where the conclusion to the contest is driven by the perception that justice will inevitably be visited on those who love and are loved.

The one area where the genre is less likely to determine the readership is what is loosely called 'literary fiction'. It's a field of creation in which language is often the primary concern, sometimes to the detriment of story and character. Because of this cerebral emphasis, the emotional content is frequently less easily assimilated by the reader, though, of course, there are exceptions. Indeed, when the best of the other genres meets the best of the literary, it generally results in something that either is or will become a classic. The melding of story, character, language and emotion creating something which is greater than its component parts.

And, finally, the writer for whom the challenge of portraying real emotion to a diverse readership is seen as too difficult can always turn to the thriller. Yes, I know, there are thrillers which are full of emotional content, of course there are. I've written one myself. But, as a genre, it's generally accepted by its readership that the story is what matters. It's this basic simplicity that brings readers to authors such as Dan Brown and that most inexplicably successful of writers, Jeffrey Archer.

So, to conclude; if you're hoping to capture the hearts of most of your readers, you're going to have to decide which genre to use to convey your ideas. If you're exceptionally brilliant, you can risk the literary route, accepting that your readership may be smaller. If, on the other hand, you want numbers and uncritical acclaim, you can write something mostly devoid of emotional content and label it a thriller. Up to you.

A silly question for you to ponder: Why is 'bra' singular, but 'panties' plural?