Dear Diary

I speak to a lot of people who confess to destroying teenage diaries because they are embarrassed by the content or don't want a new spouse to read them. I never speak to anyone who has collected their diaries and has a substantial stash of them in the attic. It's a shame but life is busy enough without recording it. 

Using a diary to construct a novel is useful. It can enable a merge with the past and the present and can move action around.



Write a first person diary entry for yesterday and the day before. (I washed the car. I went to a club) No more than 250 words.

Now change it into the third person - (Jack washed the car.Jack went to a club)

Then add the voice of someone who finds and reads the diary and is affected by what they read.

Italicise the diary entries and date them. Try to formulate a story with the diary entries and the reader.

Try searching for book titles - fiction - based around diary entries, for example The Vampire Diaries. Have a look at some of them and see what people have achieved with this device.   

secret diary adrian mole

Characters and motive

I have been looking at characters this week. Characters can be protagonists or antagonists but in order for them to be interesting they have to want something. This provides the motive for them to act and drive their story forwards.

I asked people in my group to think of the most distinct person they knew, describe them and determine what their motive was in life. What fabulous characters emerged. And what motives.

My own addition was a friend of mine who is super clean and tidy. If she gave you a biscuit she would vacuum you while you ate it. Why? maybe she needs to be in control, maybe cleanliness is of the highest importance to her because of something that happened to her. Maybe she'd rather not have her life filled in with messiness because she'd rather be doing something else. I must ask her.

Think of three people you know who are distinct or memorable in some way.

Write down who they are, what their characteristic is and what you think motivates them.

Put two of them together in a story. Add a location such as a meeting where they find themselves side by side or a sporting match on the same or opposite teams. Make their motives distinct so that the work comes alive.  Try writing a story about them or a page of dialogue.

We watched a film in which the protagonists motive is clear in every scene. If you have time you might try it. It's an Italian film called la Vita e Bella. In English it's called Life is Beautiful and it is dubbed. The writer and lead actor is called Roberto Benigni roberto benigni life is beautiful

Crime Novels

I have two crime novels on the go at the moment. One is hard edged, urban, violent and centres around the Manchester drugs and crime scene. It's not my usual cup of tea but it's for research and I like it.The other is what might be described as cosy. No sex, drugs or rock and roll and there's a cat in it.

At the moment the crime genre is one of the most popular genres amongst readers, particularly women. From the perspective of a writer this is interesting as the scope is large and the possibilities intriguing.

Carry out an investigation of your own and find out how many sub genres of the crime genre there are. (there are many)There's everything from the bloody to the downright fluffy with lots of variety in-between. My tastes lie somewhere in the middle of these extremes. 

What are your preferences?

Your reading tastes might not be the same as your writing tastes.

Select two or three of the sub-genres and create an appropriate crime solving character to suit each. The sub-genre should suggest the characteristics of a person who might solve crimes in a particular world. For example a Miss Marple character is unlikely to be solving crimes in the prostitute and pimps, burning streets novel at the side of my bed. Nor is a revenge hungry, super-fit bouncer likely to be looking for lost cats. This doesn't mean to say incongruous pairings can't work, but give it some thought.


Next, think of the crimes your fledgling gum-shoe might solve.

You may unearth some fascinating clues.

spaces at oldham writing group

A new course has started at Oldham Library for creative writing. Five fab people turned up but a few more needed to get a solid creative writing group going again in the area. 

Friday mornings, 10-12, upstairs in the main library building.

The class I was teaching last term has enrolled 21 people. 

The well thumbed cliche famine or feast comes to mind.

Buried treasure

                               The site soon to be known as The Rock Garden.

I was digging my garden at the weekend. It was a family affair, a mass digging, each of us throwing muck around and making a right old mess. I have a confession to make about digging....I always wonder if there is anything in my garden worth digging up. People in my classes might remember a piece of pottery I found with a beautiful face on it. Possibly an Edwardian commemorative cup.
My house is built on the site of an old single track railway whose trains took workers to and from the mills in the area. According to local myths the passengers were notoriously bad at paying their fares. I'd like to find something that belonged to one of them, tossed from a window or lost in a scuffle. 
As a child, fond of digging then too, I found a jaw bone with teeth in it. It probably belonged to a dog - that house was built on farmland. But what if, as in my fantasies, my digging revealed something more sinister/worrying/dark/frightening.


There's something to write about in this idea. In fact I have a story on this theme now that I come to think of it.

Write a story of any length about a person revealing an item buried somewhere. It can be a story for anyone and it can be funny, sad, serious or magical.

Think about why people bury things and what they bury. Make it a physical rather than metaphorical dig. You can write freely and see where the idea takes you or you can plan.

writing fiction for women's magazines

Don't forget if you want to spend a day looking at this niche market I will be running a workshop. Booking essential but all levels welcome.

Love Triangles

The statue in the picture and the commemorative plaque are dedications to the Russian poet Maria Tsvetkova. They are positioned overlooking the bay in St.Giles de la Croix in the Vendee region.

She seems to me to be as well known for her passionate affairs as she does for her poetry which is loaded with emotional references.

Every Child is a Verse of Love

Every child is a verse of love

A destitute bastard slip,

A firstling - the winds above -

Left by the road asleep.

Heart has a gulf, and a bridge,

Heart has a bless, and a grief.

Who is his Father? A leige?

Maybe a liege or a thief.

Just a small example of her work, translated by Yevgeny Bonver.


Try these exercises inspired by this revered Russian poet.

1) Select one of the lines from the above poem and use it to begin a poem of your own. The content of the poem should come from what the line suggests to you, it doesn't have to follow the above theme. If you write a poem take not of the rhyming sequence above and the poetic devices. Try to follow the rhyming sequence.

2) Write about a love triangle. It can be a triangle containing lovers or it can be a situation where three people are friends and tensions arise. Write from the point of view of a narrator who can see what each character is thinking and so can give a broad view of the situation.