My Novel in November

No, I'm not taking part in NaNoWriMo. But I do have about 50 000 words on my new novel project. If you've read my previous posts here and here you know that each month I'm aiming for 10 000 words that move the story forward and aren't just general rambling.

In December I'm going to take a break from the novel though and focus on poetry and performing. Mainly because the words need to rest. I have written the beginning and the middle, but I kind of wrote the middle first and am not sure how to link the beginning and the middle, if I should actually start with the middle or not. I do have an end in mind, but it's very sketchy and there are several ways to write the story.

I haven't yet decided how much back-story/back-flashes I'm going to use and if there's going to be more than one narrative. It could be quite a straightforward or quite an experimental story depending on which route I take, and I suspect that like my previous two novels this one will also fall somewhere between the Adult and Young Adult genre.

The voice is also something I need to think about. I know whose story it is, but am not sure to whom she's telling it and why.

I live 3 Miles from Love

Yesterday I went to the Catalyst Club at the Latest Bar in Brighton. One of the speakers was James Burt who did a brilliant talk on psychogeography and his experience of strange occurrences in Brighton.

Not far from where I live in Hove, about 3 miles from Brighton, I spotted this painted sign.

Starlings - A Star Read

A few weeks ago I went to the launch party for Erinna Mettler's debut novel Starlings. I started reading the book on the bus on my way home and missed two stops!

The writing is brilliant, full of quirky detail and a dark sense of humour (read the Snip-chapter and you'll see).

Starlings is quite an unusual novel as it is a novel made up of short stories where the same characters appear, disappear and reappear. Some of the chapters work as short stories in themselves while other chapters are dependent on the stories previously told.

A very good read and as a bonus the book is set in Brighton taking in the seedy seaside atmosphere.

I won the Hammer & Tongue Poetry Slam in Brighton!

It's been a potty autumn for me ... A potty poetry autumn!
Last night I won my second poetry slam: Hammer & Tongue at Komedia in Brighton,
hosted by Rosy Carrick and Mike Parker.

I wasn't going to go out due to November Rain, but I changed my mind
and jumped on my bike to town to do a poem about trains which you can read here.

Winning the slam means that I'll be in the grand slam final on the 1st of December
battling against all the slam winners of 2011.

(if you need the toilet the potty can be found in Queens Park)