Writing Once Upon a Time

birdboy-susan-lee-kerrFascinating. I asked in Facebook if I dare re-tell a fairy/folk tale in my new novel, and a whole bevy of friends from widely varied walks of life urged me:  Yes!  They are witness to the eternal appeal of fairytales (or more correctly folktales) and it was great encouragement to embarking on the writing journey. I’m delighted to discover #folklorethursday on Twitter, yet more witness.

Thing is, the novel is also a crime story, but with no gore, so really it’s more of a mystery… with some police procedure and the main character sucked in to being an amateur detective. She’s a story-telling therapist. This brings in archetypes, so I get to treat myself to my shelves of Jung, Joseph Campbell, hero’s journey… as well as Grimm, Jane Yolen, Marina Warner and more.

A Body of Knowledge is set in Chiswick. Great fun to see the place where I live through my character’s eyes and sensibilities. So now you are on the writing journey with me as I blog on about the everyday struggles of writing a novel. The fellow pictured here is Birdren Boy, one of my sculptural papiermache pieces. He’s on a quest. So am I. Are you?

 

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Writing tweets

Joined Twitter-world two weeks ago after years of resistance. Surprise, it’s really fun! And hones your writing/thinking skills. How best to hook interest when I’m trying to build excitement in the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Lissa (because it features in a chapter of my Dr Epstein book)? And do it in even less than the famed 140 characters, because the link to a url takes space if you want to feature your blogsite. [Thank you Sue of PageturnerPR for the tip on shortening urls using Bitly]

Nautilus Bird, Susan Lee Kerr

Nautilus Bird, Susan Lee Kerr

So the writing/thinking is one thing. And then as a recipient of tweets I’ve learned I can follow lots of history-minded, even military-minded tweeters, to say ‘look at this’. Probably you know about this already?? In theory I did, but in actuality when @thehistoryguy, Dan Snow no less, tweets back a like or someone even retweets it — ooo it feels like somebody is listening. Yes, yes, a lot like Facebook, but faster. Not that I’ll stick with militaries for long, as that’s not my personal thing. When this chapter is done I’ll ease up, maybe start tweeting haiku and creative writing thoughts.  And tweeting to the #amwriting people. And following fav authors. Publishers. Genres. And art. And I wonder if papiermache is there. And…

…of course, it’s a great time-user. But fast, fun and stimulating. Still learning. I will see if I can put a Twitter thingy on this site. Oh; seems to work the other way, YOU can share THIS via your  Twitter, but if you’ve read this far, you are not on Twitter yet. You might be able to peek if you click here but might be you have to actually join ’em to see ’em. See, I told you I was still learning. So tweet-tweet, here’s a bird I made earlier, just for fun. Looks more like squawking than tweeting?

 

Writing from Life

Fascinating ancestor? Fantastic life experience? In a convivial evening, two local authors in conversation reveal decision paths, sources and insights into weaving together fact, memories and imagination.

That’s me for fascinating family story into gripping novel. And buddy local author Diane Chandler for fantastic life experience, the journey of an overseas aid worker from idealism to realism. A friendly new bookshop is kindly hosting this evening next week, 15 March — a new angle, new double act. Now we are calculating how much wine to supply… click here for where and when

Aids to refreshing creativity? See my new page here on Sculptural Papiermache… I’m so glad to be a member of the wild and wonderful PapierMachistas.