Evie Wyld is Booktrust's third online writer in residence.
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Down the Line
Posted Wednesday May 12th 2010
by Evie WyldThere are lots of weird things that happen when you have a book published but one of the weirdest of all has to be radio interviews.
I did quite a few when my book was first published and some more last November with the John Llewellyn Rhys prize, so when I was asked to do one recently, I thought I’d be a seasoned pro. I wasn’t.
Firstly, not only does everyone assume you’ve done this a million times before, they also think you should know what kind of shows the different stations in the building broadcast, how many there are and who they are hosted by. You should then know which corridors to go down, and which doors to go through, and which ones will cause a major broadcasting problem. On top of all of this you are to understand that everything needs to run like clockwork. Unfortunately, even if you arrive 15 minutes early for your interview, you run the risk of arriving at the same time as a box of milk shakes being delivered to Simon Mayo, causing you to end up being almost 6 minutes late.
Secondly this was a ‘down the line’ interview (basically means…
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Awful Writing
Posted Tuesday April 27th 2010
by Evie WyldI scared myself trying to write something this week. It’s been a little while since I’ve started something completely new and I’d forgotten how much bad writing has to come before I can write anything useful. As a tutor of mine once said: editing is getting rid of the run up.
I was thinking this recently when I was reading from a folder containing most of the things I tried to write in the ten years before my novel. These are nothing but run ups. I never tried to write at novel length before After the Fire, a Still Small Voice and from what I read, it’s easy to see why. They’re clearly written by someone desperate to have written a novel, but who loses interest and energy after only a few paces. As a result, these pages are, whilst utterly dreadful, incredibly fun to read. They are full of bolshiness, and unfounded arrogance. I can remember having it in my head that I would be a writer who shocked people, and so what was needed was a really wild plot. I was annoyed about what I felt at the time was the view that most female authors wrote about…
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Rude Writing
Posted Monday April 19th 2010
by Evie WyldI was working in the shop earlier this year when a cheerful looking man with white hair man walked up to the counter waving my book at me. Even though this happens quite a lot –we have a sign with an arrow saying 'she wrote this' –it’s always a bit of an odd moment and I’m never quite sure what to say. But this time he didn’t want to ask me if it was actually any good, or whether I’d written all of it myself, or whether I might like to help him get his book published. This time, he looked at the book’s cover, looked at me and asked me if there were any sex scenes in it. I had to think for a moment, but when I replied that yes, I supposed there were one or two moments of that sort, he put the book face down, giving it and me a pained look. He gestured to the rest of the shop with a sudden weariness. 'And all of these,' he asked 'would you say they’ve all got sex in them too?'
I said that yes, I imagined a lot of them did.
'Why do you think that…
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Distractions
Posted Wednesday April 7th 2010
by Evie WyldAnyone who’s ever tried to write anything knows how easy it can be to get distracted. Phones ring, emails need replying to, and socks arranging in colour and then size order. Obviously, I’m now far too professional for this to be an issue when I write, but I thought I’d take you through some hypothetical situations in case they’re useful.
So what if, for example, you’re trying to write your second novel, while looking after your parents’ dogs?
It’s important that you get enough rest so that you don’t feel downtrodden when writing, but if you decide to go to bed early to read a book, the dogs may feel like their allotted amount of tv time has been clipped. Perhaps they are supposed to sleep downstairs in the kitchen, but maybe the smooth haired one makes noises like when the smoke alarm’s batteries are low. High pitched yips that are so small and sharp you’re not quite sure if you heard them, but they go every thirty seconds. You can angrily go into the kitchen and demand they return to their beds, and they will scuttle away, shaking and squealing like you’ve come at them with a hammer, and…
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Evie Wyld's Facebook Writing Clinic
Posted Tuesday April 6th 2010
by Nikesh ShuklaClick on to our Facebook page for your opportunity to ask Evie Wyld, our writer in residence and award-winning author of 'After the Fire, A Still Small Voice', anything you want about writing, be it short stories or novels or articles or your first novel. Please bear in mind she will not be able to critique individual manuscripts or short stories so if you have any general questions about style, structure, writing, getting published or her own writing journey, feel free to ask!
