Nii Ayikwei Parkes is Booktrust's second online writer in residence. Click here to visit the writer in residence page Click here for Nii's biography

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  • Don't write the x

    Posted Wednesday October 28th 2009
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    In my last blog I spoke about starting somewhere and I’ll just carry on from there since I haven’t had any questions to follow up on. One of the most common complaints I hear from poets is, ‘I’m struggling to write an x’ (where x is a poetic form that might equal sonnet, villanelle or some similar abstraction) – and I’m often tempted to say, you shouldn’t be writing an x, you should be writing a poem. However, what my real response tends to be is something along the lines of: try writing what you want to say first and worry about the form later. It goes back to what I said in my first blog about being a writer of no fixed format; I believe that writing should be of no pre-determined form either. Writing is expression; form is craft: conflating the two is a certain recipe for writer’s blocks and other such ailments. 

    One of the joys of writing for children is the use of the full range of senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch – which elevates the writing to a more interactive experience, an opportunity for exploration and learning, but this is also a…

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  • Oranges and parrots

    Posted Friday October 2nd 2009
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    Oh my, is that the time? I’ve had a hectic few weeks backpacking in America – well, my daughter was the backpack and we were in the city mainly, teaching in Belfast, and chasing buses in London. And then there’s beautiful Manchester where I am right now.

    So, to start … Well, poems usually come to me, but sometimes, especially if writing is your career, you have to pluck one from somewhere. I’ve always thought of writing as an act of conjuring – conjuring memory, images – to explore ideas. One of the ways in which I like to trigger a new poem is to give myself little writing tasks; a recent one was, write something with taste, touch and a tree (notice the ‘T’s? yeah, I like to stretch myself). The result was: 'The air tasted of salt, a cold distillate of long gone rains. She placed her hands on the tree root behind her and sat on them.' It went on for longer, but I usually discard most of what I write, take the idea I like best and use it as the seed of something bigger. From that, I took the first line and it’s currently waiting…

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  • A writer of no fixed format

    Posted Friday September 18th 2009
    by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    I have to start by saying that this is an odd residency for me – no fixed location, no need to leave home, yet I’m linked to an organisation. I have tried to think of what I can compare it to, and the best I could come up with is – it’s a bit like being the object of someone’s affections: you know that you’re present in the web of their imagination, you get occasional signs – a letter here, a kiss on the cheek, a phone call there – but you never quite KNOW what the impact of that affection is. In this case, I guess I may get blog comments instead of kisses…

    Anyway, introductions first: my name is Nii Ayikwei Parkes and I am a writer of no fixed format. I write mainly poetry, but I have also written non-fiction scripts for radio, a play, several short stories, reviews and a very recent novel. I have always said that expression comes first and form is secondary so I suppose my work reflects that. Having said that, poetry is my first love because I am much less talkative on a page than I am in person – it…

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  • Until we meet again

    Posted Wednesday September 16th 2009
    by Patrick Ness

    And so my period as writer in residence here at Booktrust have come to an end. And what a time. In the past six months, I’ve:

    Run a marathon

    Written 20 blogs

    10 sets of writers’ tips

    And a short story.

    Was interviewed but some extremely clever students.

    Did a couple interviews, including with Australian radio.

    And even had a lesson plan written for me. Which is oddly nice.

    And in that time, I’ve also finished writing my own book, which was the hardest thing of all, but the reason (I hope) that you all read this. 

    Because all along, this residency was meant first and foremost to de-mystify the writing process. All those nervous questions I constantly get asked here and at Festivals and on my own website seem to me to be rooted in the same anxiety:

    The fallacy that there’s one right way to write a book.

    There isn’t. There just isn’t. If you finish writing your book, you’ve done it right. I do it one day, others do it other ways, and you will find your own path. 

    The best (and final) advice I can ever give about writing is to know yourself. Write to…

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  • New (and final) writers' tips

    Posted Monday August 24th 2009
    by Patrick Ness

    I’ve put up the final three sets of writers’ tips.  These are by specific request.  I get asked over and over again how to find an agent and/or publisher, so that’s what these specifically are about.

    You might choose a different route, for which I wish you godspeed.  These tips, though, are again a specific request for those who want to pursue the agent route.  Which is how I did it, so it’s the route I know.

    As usual, brickbats and bravos to the usual comment spot.

    I’ll be back here in the blog in a little under two week’s time for my farewell to all you good people who’ve made this such a rewarding six months.

    Until then, the tips are yours, and I wish you all the luck in the world.

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