Writers' Conference in Brighton

From the folder (Write By The Beach)

I did say I would be taking part in NaPoWriMo but I have just returned from a writer's conference and am days behind. I'm still letting all I learned filter through and am not really in the right place for poetry writing every day. I was caught up in the excitement at the time and realise that actually I'm not ready. I did write a poem earlier today which has nothing to do with prompts from poetry writing month - I'll come back to that in a moment.

Write By The Beach is run by The Beach Hut Writing Academy in Brighton. I went for their very first conference last year. It ran for a day and I came away with lots of information and a better idea of where I should be heading.

This year the conference was over a weekend. I asked a friend who has an apartment in Brighton if I could borrow it and she ended up coming with me, though not for the conference. She was my sounding board, she dropped me at the venue both mornings and picked me up. We had so many laughs and she kept me sane! Going to these events is motivational and a learning curve, but I come away exhausted from the bombardment of information, and this time, from the anxiety of pitching a novel!

The first agent I met made me rethink my novel - what is the main point. I was left wondering what I could do, but there were positives which I only realised later after I untangled everything. The next day I had a ten minute advice slot (in lieu of an agent who was no longer able to be present) with an author and mentor who is a member of the BH Team. This was the most enlightening ten minutes! She gave me feedback on my pitch and I had a light bulb moment. From the advice I am re-writing my pitch and taking other advice she gave me. She made my weekend.

Apart from pitching there were talks about writing for TV and radio, panels on alternative and innovative publishing, agents discussing stories of their most successful books, agents secrets along with special mini workshops. On the Saturday I chose 'On the Crime Beat' with P.D. Viner (writer) and Graham Bartlett (retired Chief Superintendent) who is an adviser to TV and authors. It was a great session.

One of the best presentations for me was on story structure with Julie Cohen, writer and creative writing teacher. She used clips from Pixar films to explain how these films work and how they work in novel writing. Absolutely riveting. I'd watched all the films she mentioned (some many times) with my kids. A very unique presentation.

The Three Act Structure as in 'Cars' (Pixar)

Another favourite presentation was on the Sunday and was all about editing and polishing your novel. Lots of note taking! Good stuff. Another highlight for me was meeting the author Cally Taylor whose book The Lie I had read. She talked about her route to becoming a Sunday Times Bestseller (lots of despair and crying - I can associate with that, the despair anyway). She shared a lot of herself including negative comments made on her short stories through an online writing group. I bought Cally's latest book and asked her to sign it for me. She was lovely to chat to.

The last thing I attended was about self publishing. All the sessions included time for questions and it was good to hear things from agents/publishers about the traditional route, what agents are looking for, the big no-nos in submitting, tips while hearing about the various other ways to publication - hybrid, crowdfunding, independent publishers and the full indie (self publishing) route. There are positive and negatives on all sides and I guess in the end you have to choose which works for you. I'd love to go the traditional way but as I get older I realise time is running out and it's so hard to get an agent. They have to know they can sell your novel and the cards seem stacked against authors. There are many good stories but it's the great and different they are after or the next Girl On The Train. Often what you hear is confusing and contradictory. The publishing world seems to play it safe. After all look at the trends. The market was once flooded with misery stories now it's psychological thrillers and crime. Crime sells and commands the biggest section of the market.

It was great meeting lots of people, chatting to authors as well as delegates who'd come from a long way away or who were local - everyone learning and longing to get published.

Having had brilliant sunshine over the weekend this is what we woke to yesterday.
Taken from Brighton Marina looking towards Rottingdean

Having just now received some feedback on a revised pitch through another source I am now totally confused as it says the opposite of what I was advised to do. It's times like these that you wonder whether to just give up. I think I will give up pitching or take a course on pitching, synopsis and cover letters because right now I feel I just don't have the knack. (Sorry this is raw from an email I just received and I should never write when I feel like this).

However, in the post today came Writing Magazine and Popshot. They should make me feel better.

The scary idea of pitching and a shortlisted story

It's taken me a couple of months but I decided to order a print copy of Gold Dust magazine in which a story of mine was published in December. I wanted time to read the rest of the magazine, and though it is freely available to read online I was struggling with the small print despite zooming in. Yesterday my copy arrived. I'm glad I spent money to get hold of it. It is concrete proof I was published there! I was that excited opening it.

I can also tell you that I was shortlisted for the Retreat West Prize (short story). I heard a while ago that I was longlisted and thought that would be the end of it. I was thrilled even so. I then got through to the next level - shortlisted. Unfortunately I heard the other day that I didn't get into the top three. I am disappointed but then again I got further than I ever thought possible and it has given me encouragement. My story will be published in the anthology due out in the summer and I believe there is a cash prize and an invite to the launch. So, when I have recovered from the disappointment I will see what a great run I've had with this story. I am proud of this achievement.

February has been a busy month for me. I've been going crazy with submissions - competitions and a few magazines. I seem to have reached a stop now. Maybe I'm out of steam. In April I am attending Write By the Beach run by The Beach House Academy. I went along last year for their first writers' conference on a Saturday (held in Brighton). This year is over a weekend and every delegate gets the chance to pitch to an agent/publisher (two if you are there for the weekend). So, I've been tearing my hair out over a sixty word document for a novel to pitch. It was hard to condense an 84,000 word novel down to 60 words and hope it sounds irresistible. I know pitching is a great opportunity and everyone suffers with nerves but I felt ill just preparing this. Sometimes I think I should opt out and just enjoy the weekend because I know I'll worry the whole time. But then again that would be stupid. It's at these moments I think my writing is rubbish and no will be interested, yet I've had great feedback from ladies from my book group on stories I've shared with them  - they are so supportive - my first fans! God bless them!

The Beach Hut Writing Academy Writers' Conference Day

Foggy platform - waiting for my local train into London

It was a six o'clock alarm that woke me yesterday, for I was off to Brighton to The Beach Hut Writing Academy one day conference. Armed with notebook and pen I set off in the fog to the station. As the near empty train from London sped into the countryside the fog looked magical. As we came into Brighton the sun shone and it didn't stop shining all day.

The venue for the conference was a Regency House (Angel House) on Brunswick Terrace, about twenty minutes walk from the station (the Hove end of Brighton). We were set over two floors and top floor apparently had a bridal suite! The house was beautiful, with views over the sea, but a little cramped at break times as people milled around the tables. However, the buffet lunch was wonderful and a veggie paradise for me. They even had soya milk for hot drinks. Bliss! At one point I escaped outside with my orange juice and sat on the steps in the sunshine - a few others had the same thoughts.

Angel House - venue for the day

The day began with a talk and presentation by Simon Toyne, author of a trilogy - Sanctus (the other Dan Brown!). He was informative, and a brilliant speaker. Everyone hung on his every word. I found him inspirational and down to earth as he gave us an insight to the business of writing and how to produce a great story. I learned a good deal from him, especially about 'tag lines', blurbs and selling your story to agents who then have to sell your idea on to a whole host of people in the publishing business.

Next came the options for a three quarters of an our workshop. I'd chosen the one on short story writing as one of my goals is to write more of them this year. Our expert was Bridget Whelen (author and creative writing tutor) whose blog I follow, and first learned about this great day, and Erinna Mettler, novelist and tutor. We had a go at coming up with ideas using a mind map (they never work for me but I tried!) and characterisation using a sheet with four animals. We wrote three positive traits and three negative ones for our chosen animal and then turned them into traits for a character. I quite enjoyed this one and I chose the wily fox! We were given guidance about short story competitions, length and what you can fit into that word count, how many characters to use. It was a short time to spend on such a big subject but the helpful advice would provide stuff to ponder on later.

After a break we settled down to a panel talk on Writing for a Living, writing together with Jo and and Emlyn Rees who have written as solo authors and together. It was a really interesting talk, learning their backgrounds, how they came to meet and work together, their books, both individual and as a partnership. Also interesting was the whole business world of writing, and this element struck me as the core feature of the conference. The word 'branding' came up so many times. It was an eye opener and made me think about what I write. As someone not yet settled on a genre the publishing world would not take me because they want more of the same. I shall need to decide at some point which genre I feel I can produce more than one book of. At present I'm thinking humorous, but I do like crime (though I know least about it). Lots of mull over here!

After the scrummy lunch with a chance to network (it was great to talk with others but I didn't exactly make any contacts) there was a talk about working with agents, led by agent Simon Trewin and Brighton domestic noir author, Julia Crouch. Another interesting talk. They posed questions for one another, including one on the pressure of the second novel. It was interesting to see the relationship between agent and author and what each does. Quite fascinating. Following this was another panel talking about the Perfect Pitch with David Headley (literary agent and book shop owner), Simon Trewin again and Sharon Bowers (partner in Miller Bowers Griffin from New York) and hosted by Kate Harrison (author). This talk covered things like pitch, synopsis and covering letter (ah the magic three!). I was heartened to hear that each person actually read the manuscripts themselves. While some big agents farm manuscripts out to 'readers', smaller agents and independent ones read themselves. That's not to say that 'readers' are not qualified - they are - but it was an insight to how the process works in different places.

My second option for workshop came after tea break. Much as I was tempted by option B (Finding Your Crime Voice) I chose the one on Crafting your book with the help of experts. Two of the experts were Dionne McCulloch and Alex Hammond from Cornerstones and Brighton author Laura Wilkinson. Cornerstones run mentoring programmes and help authors. It was very useful to see what you got for your money. I've often wondered about these programmes and this is as aspect I've considered, and still might one day. Very informative, leaving me much to mull over...again!

I think by the last session we were all getting a little restless. The panel talk was on getting into print. The experts here were Sarah Rayner (chair and author - and whose signed book I received in my goody bag - more on that soon!), Nick Yapp (who had self published as well gone through the traditional route) Vicky Blunden (senior Fiction editor from Myriad Editions - to whom I had just submitted my entry for the first drafts comp!!) and Catherine Quinn (fiction author). Now one of these people was a replacement for someone on the programme list but I missed which one - my mind was wandering to the train home at this point, but it was either someone else from Myriad or a different author! Sorry about that. Anyway, about half way through I felt we were covering the same ground and my mind was switching off, as well as feeling rather jaded by all the hoops one had to go through to get published. Mind overload. It was bound to happen.

I should say that throughout these sessions there was time for Q&A so it wasn't all one way. Everyone was so helpful with their time and I came away with much to think over and work with. At the end there was a raffle draw (didn't win, but hey there was...) and a goody bag with not only promotional material and chocolate but three books - a YA, a crime novel and women's fiction - all books written by members of Beach Hut Writing Academy, and I had a signed copy of Sarah Rayner's book. There was a small book stall running throughout the day and I bought Back to Creating Writing School by Bridget Whelan which had been on my 'list' for a while.

As well as the raffle and goody bags we were offered gin and tonic. The gin distillery is local one. I'm not a huge fan of alcohol but I tried it. However, I only drank half of mine - not quite my taste. I'm more a vodka person on the odd times I drink spirits.

My bought book and other papers

The goody bag

I headed home with a lot to carry and a lot on my mind. It was a brilliant day and full credit goes to the Beach Hut Writing Academy for putting this first ever conference together. Well done, I think you can count this as an overwhelming success. They are running more courses during the year. Do have a look at their website. I'd recommend them!

Old pier, Brighton (5.45pm when I left)