At a conference on indie publishing that Trish and I attended earlier this year, one of the speakers declared that what readers sought in the books they read were "adrenaline hits" - moments of deep emotional or dramatic satisfaction. She argued that if your story offered the reader 30 to 40 such "hits," then almost inevitably, it would succeed in the marketplace. This week on the water I instinctively agreed with her and have recently been thinking in more depth about the points she raised....
8 days ago • 3 min read
I’ve spoken before about how the forms of address that different characters in different contexts employ can tell us a great deal about a number of other issues. This week on the water A man who addresses another as “Colonel Jones” is of course identifying his military rank, but also his respect and the fact that he is, in all probability, subordinate in status to the colonel. Another who calls a woman, “darling,”* is probably suggesting a certain level of intimacy, a relationship that could...
15 days ago • 3 min read
Hello Reader, It was not my intention to write about this. As I sat down to compose a newsletter, it was just all I could think of; the only issue that floated relentlessly to the surface as I contemplated my life at present, and what I could tell you of it. This week under the water The first friend I ever had is gravely ill. I hate to think of her pain as she suffers under the side-effects of devastating treatment. Instead, my mind insists on carrying me back to our first play-date. We were...
20 days ago • 4 min read
We’ve just watched a television series that brought to mind that old phrase – in danger, it should be said, of disappearing completely – “the curate’s egg”*. In short, it has both good and bad elements. Some of the characters were strong and vivid and convincing; others were two-dimensional and lacking in life. This week on the water The question I asked myself as the series unfolded was: What made some of the characters work, and others not? After all, the scriptwriters were responsible for...
22 days ago • 3 min read
Early this year, during a visit to South Africa, I found myself inspired to write a series of short stories. I’m not sure what it was, but a series of experiences each in turn suggested itself as a platform for a little work of fiction. Story after story floated off my pen – I wrote them in long-hand. And then, quite suddenly, the gusher died. I started the seventh, wrote a few paragraphs and – ran out of juice. Oh, well, I told myself: six stories on the trot is not at all bad. So I turned...
29 days ago • 5 min read
Life and writing offer so many lessons that it suggests that one is no more than a reflection of the other – and like so many of the photographs we take of the river bank (sky above, water below) it’s difficult to tell which is real and which the reflection (and anyway, isn’t a reflection real, too?). This week on the water Let me use a very simple example to show you what I mean. Trish and I spent yesterday morning at our allotment. I haven’t kept you up-to-date on developments there, but...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
For the last eight weeks I’ve been feeding you a steady dose of writing advice. But that’s not really what these pieces are for. If you want writing tips, there are a hundred – hey, who am I kidding – there are probably tens of thousands of writing tips online. No, what I originally set out to do every Monday was to conjure out of my experience – either cruising canals and rivers on our narrowboat, Patience, or more latterly from the deck of our houseboat on Priory Lake – vignettes or...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hello Reader, I just had chilblains on my toes. I think. I’ve never experienced chilblains before, growing up, as I did, on the warm Eastern Cape coast. And, when we visited the wintry Karoo, it was always in gloves and scarves. I had to Google the symptoms: redness and swelling; itching and burning. My partner says it serves me right and he has no sympathy. Apparently, they occur when the small blood vessels are damaged by extreme cold. And, yes, I exposed my toes to extreme cold, and I did...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
This is the seventh of eight pieces I prepared for a writing weekend we held in Stow-on-the-Wold. I set out to explore the ways in which we can make readers care. It’s not a course but it is a guide that I hope you’ll find useful. This week I’m discussing what is arguably the whole point of creative writing… This week on the water I want to begin with a fundamental truth about creative writing that many writers forget in their eagerness to tell their stories: books are not finished products....
about 2 months ago • 5 min read