Trevor's Writing

The Art of Puppeteering

No Comments »21st April, 2006; Category: Articles, Puppets

I’ve done quite a bit of puppeteering over the years. I began by helping out our puppet troupe at church by being a puppeteer. I thoroughly let myself go and loved putting on different voices and really acting out the part. I ended up taking over the leadership of the group. This involved writing most of the scripts, directing and producing as well as being a puppeteer.

One of the joys of being in puppeteering is the laughter and happiness one hears in the audience response. The children have always been my target audience and their delight is obvious. The best laughter, however, often comes from the adults – those who let themselves be children at heart again.

An interesting article on the joys and art of puppeteering can be found here.

How to Write a Novel

No Comments »20th April, 2006; Category: Authors, General, Quotes, The Writer's Life

I have read quite a number of interesting books and magazine articles about writing. Some of them have dealt with writing for children, some have dealt with writing short stories and articles and others are about writing novels.

There is a growing flood of articles on the Internet about how to write. I just did a quick Google search. I typed in “How to write a novel”. The result was staggering. Over 76 million references!There is no shortage of writers wanting to write about how to write. Or sell you software to do it. One even promised that it was “the ultimate bookwriting tool. Start writing your bestseller today.”

The Truth about Publishing

Many people want to write a novel or a book one day.
Very few even start.
Of those that start, very few ever finish.
Of those that finish, very few actually send the manuscript to a publisher
And of those that send their manuscript to a publisher, less than one percent ever get to see their work in print.
Of those that do get their writing published only a handful ever become bestsellers.

Many of these books and articles list methods or rules for successful writing. Follow these and you, too, will be successful, they claim. The authors of these how to books and articles ignore the three rules of Somerset Maugham:

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

Postscript:

Yes – I’ve always wanted to write a book.
Yes – I have finished twelve books.
Yes – I have sent them to publishers.
Yes – I have had six books published (plus many poems and stories)
Yes – it is possible – but very hard work, lots of persistence and a never give up attitude.

Another Literary Magazine

6 Comments »19th April, 2006; Category: General, Magazines, Poetry, Short Stories

Another literary magazine I subscribe to is Freexpression. I’ve been getting this little publication for at least six or seven years now, and try to read each issue cover to cover. I look forward to receiving this periodical each month. It has been my delight to have several of my poems and stories published in it over recent years.
Contents
Freexpression includes plenty of poetry, a few short stories and articles and occasionally articles on writing. There is always a section listing upcoming writing competition details and a page advertising contact details for buying subscribers’ books. I always find that this magazine is very readable with a wide range of writing styles and topics included in each issue. Some issues are thematic but stories and poems on other themes are included in the themed issues.

Contact details

The magazine does not have a web site but the editor Peter Pike can be contacted at frexprsn@tpg.com.au or by post at PO Box 4 West Hoxton, NSW Australia 2171

Waiting for Inspiration

No Comments »18th April, 2006; Category: Quotes, The Writer's Life

Sometimes you might look back over something you’ve written and think, “That was an inspired piece of writing.”

Yes – it can happen. Inspiration can come and the writing just flows – and it’s beautiful – and it stands the test of time. It can amaze you years after it is written. Did I really write that?

One thing you learn early if you are a serious writer is that most times you cannot sit around waiting for inspiration. Most times it just won’t come. You just have to start writing. That is one of the things I have learnt quickly as a serious blogger over the last few months.

Don’t wait for inspiration to arrive – go out and meet it.

Grab it by the throat. Get writing. Anything. Get into the habit of writing every day – whether you feel like it or not, whether feeling inspired or not.

The following quote says it well:

“Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time…The wait is simply too long.”

Leonard Bernstein (1918 -1990)

LibraryThing

No Comments »17th April, 2006; Category: Blogs, General, Libraries

It’s amazing what you find on the internet.

I was reading a blog about good blog design. As you do.

This led me to a series of blogs that seemed to be really well designed – naturally.

Clear. Easy to read. Interesting. Informative.

As they should be.

Then one had a listing of books the author had recently added to his Library Catalogue. This linked to another page called LibraryThing. It’s a library cataloguing system. Brilliant in concept, simple to use and so useful.

In another life I was a school librarian for eight years. I love books. I read every day. No day is complete without reading. I have a BIG and GROWING collection of books. So does my wife.

Every so often I have to make another bookshelf to hold all the books. We have books about birds, travel, gardening, plants, flowers, Christianity, reference, novels, picture books, humour, history and the list goes on.

Now I could very easily get hooked on cataloguing all our books. I’ve been threatening to do that for about 25 years. Now – where do I get all that time that would be necessary to achieve this worthwhile task?

Until then – I’ll just use shelve them like they’ve always been shelved – non-fiction in approximately subject order, fiction alphabetically by author.

And I’ll find them using the Biblical System – “Seek And Ye Shall Find.”