Fire escapes and a haunted honeymoon

So, I went to Niki and Rod’s two-hour session on Tuesday because of the title, "So you want to write a novel." Yes, I want to write a novel and so, I imagine, did everyone else in the room.

 Simon Perril introduced the session and he had to point out the fire exits; one was out of a window and onto a walkway so Simon added, helpfully, “obviously not out of the other windows, otherwise you’d fall,” much to the amusement of the audience.

Niki Valentine and Rod Duncan were talking about their experiences as writers and how they came to be published. Rod talked about his new book, The Custodian of Marvels, published by Nottingham-based Angry Robot. The sesion gave me a good insight into traditional publishing as well as the inspirations for their books. I couldn’t believe that the inspiration for Niki’s book, The Haunted, was her honeymoon!

There were a lot of good questions asked by us, the audience and it was a genuinely insightful event, so if you do want to write a novel, and you didn’t show up, you missed a great event. I shall now attempt to write a novel, and see if I can…

Lauren Raybould

"I lost my laptop ... and 30,000 words"

The sun was shining and I had a good feeling about the event for aspiring novelists. I wanted to know how authors went through the process of publication and Niki Valentine (who is also Nicola Monaghan) and Rod Duncan were there to share their experience with us.

 Each had a different way into publication. Nicola had the opportunity to submit her dissertation to her tutor's agent (although she did lie about her word count!), which meant that she was already represented by a literary agent as she finished her M.A. Rod on the other hand, wrote five novels without being published. It's a scary number but he said it wasn't a waste of time - and it certainly worked out in the end.

When Nicola was 40000 words into her second novel, she left her laptop in a taxi. She had backed up her manuscript once, but had written 30,000 words since then. 75% of her work was gone and she wasn't worried. For her it meant she could rewrite, learning from the work she had already done and aiming to improve. The thought of 30000 words just gone is horrifying for the author of this post.

 Most of the questions from the audience revolved around how to write and how to edit. Nicola and Rod talked about their methods, which were very different, Nicola had a fixed ending whilst Rod started with the skeleton of the story and fleshed it out. The one thing they did agree on though is that each writer has their own way of writing.

In my opinion, the most important thing that was said was to just keep writing, keep developing and to remember that even a rejection helps you learn what you need to improve. It was definitely a brilliant talk by two (or three) amazing authors.

The Custodian of Marvels
by Rod Duncan

The Killing Jar
by Nicola Monaghan

Andre Cowen

Inspired by dark times

There were some dark times this morning as I went to the Demon Crew reading. I sat and listened to beautiful and captivating monologues, short stories and poetry created by staff and students alike. Rape, drinking, self-harm and mental health were just a few of the topics.

This was my first visit to a reading of creative work, so I wasn’t sure what to do – should I take notes or just listen? At first I looked around to see what everyone else was doing – some had their eyes closed, appreciating each spoken word like in blissful ecstasy.

The first reader, Paige, had a few poems to read. My personal favourite was “Feeble Ties”. Some lines still stick in my head, such as “faces Hades and his sea of souls”. Afterwards, I had a chance to tell Paige how much I like that poem of hers – it was great.

Kathleen Bell read ”Skulls and Roses,” a short story with a Gothic twist on the fairy tale “Sleeping Beauty”, whilst Niki Valentine read “Babysitting”, a story from her book The Night Lingers while Simon closed the event with a reading from his book, Archilochus on the Moon, which is about Greek’s first lyrical poet.

Needless to say, with the amount of talent in that room, I walked out of there feeling inspired to write something, anything, on the spot - and that's exactly what I did!

Lauren Raybould

It's back ... but have YOU booked?

That's right, here at DMU we are holding the Cultural Exchanges Festival! Featuring famous guest speakers and unmissable events- quite literally since we get reminded in every lecture.

There will be a Fine Art Auction for you artsy types, a concrete poetry workshop, 'So You Want to Write A Novel' (did anyone else sing that?) led by DMU lecturers (and novelists) Rod Duncan and Niki Valentine, Educating Yorkshire star Musharaf Asghar with Mr Burton, and talents including Willy Russell, Paris Lees and many, many more. This is only a small snippet of what's to come, so get your butts to booking before it's too late!

If you haven't booked, then prepare for the Hunger Games between the public and students as more and more tickets vanish into thin air. This popular event is going to be one crazy week for those not going home- I mean studying in their accommodations like the hard-working students they are.

Music Festivals? Pfftt, nah. This is where YOU need to be!

Copyright image by Express Mail, article published by Ben Jefferson

 

 

Kayla Dutton