tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63968438820355597942024-03-13T10:56:45.904-07:00WriteRunRisotto by Andrew KellsThey're all things I do, and the more effort I put into them, the more I get out of them.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-1632244340745074032015-03-02T14:56:00.003-08:002015-03-02T14:56:46.877-08:00London reading: 21 March 2015, Courtyard Theatre London N1We’re off to London! <a href="http://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/">Nottingham Writers’ Studio</a> are showcasing work from their first three journals – Crime, Secrets, and A Sense of Place- in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/650590118401450">Free Event</a> at <a href="http://www.thecourtyard.org.uk/">The Courtyard Theatre</a> in London on Saturday 21 March.<br />
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I’ll be reading my YA short story, ‘Didn’t See Nothing’, alongside Booker nominated author Alison Moore, award winning screenwriter Michael Eaton, and other members of the studio who have contributed stories, poems and articles.<br />
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It’s a great chance for NWS to showcase some of the brilliant writing being created in Nottingham right now, and I’m really pleased my story is one of them.<br />
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If you’re around, it would be great to see you there!<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-POJPvrqhbiE/VPTlLlFqzUI/AAAAAAAAA4g/QiniN59EgSE/s1600-h/11013484_957676117576551_33442919349%25255B1%25255D.jpg"><img alt="11013484_957676117576551_3344291934913582557_n" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-TN64ZZnYVng/VPTlMNClxSI/AAAAAAAAA4k/FC6jrHtkGOw/11013484_957676117576551_33442919349%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="291" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="11013484_957676117576551_3344291934913582557_n" width="400" /></a>Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0Bowling Green Walk, London N1, UK51.5279992 -0.08297609999999622251.5273817 -0.08423659999999622 51.528616699999994 -0.081715599999996225tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-8703636135110587362014-08-20T07:12:00.000-07:002014-08-20T07:12:42.838-07:00Half way up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a curious relationship with heights. I can easily lean out over a parapet on a castle and enjoy the view – but put me on a stepladder to paint the ceiling and I’m in a cold sweat.<br />
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So I faced my fears at <a href="http://clipnclimbmaryport.co.uk/">Clip’n Climb in Maryport</a>, and lived to tell the tale – because I bottled it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxstItLYVd0SUfSvFHoftlsZeZ57wJaaOYnQCU_t4-E6xPDosK8JOOSxI5AvVpayCoMHhk_SNdV-wmM0hGO-3D_CojZb4BhWRCx4BT5N0pv7fmAq0xlNRfyP-AqsXzZrqnW2UoVCj5fYea/s1600/SAM_3027+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxstItLYVd0SUfSvFHoftlsZeZ57wJaaOYnQCU_t4-E6xPDosK8JOOSxI5AvVpayCoMHhk_SNdV-wmM0hGO-3D_CojZb4BhWRCx4BT5N0pv7fmAq0xlNRfyP-AqsXzZrqnW2UoVCj5fYea/s1600/SAM_3027+(2).JPG" height="640" width="201" /></a>The setup is fantastic (perfect if you’re looking for something to do on a <a href="http://www.worldweatheronline.com/Lake-District-weather-averages/Cumbria/GB.aspx">rainy Cumbrian day</a>), with a load of individual climbing walls you get to use without fear of bumping into another climber. The waist harness is rigged to an industrial safety rope, which lets you down very slowly if you fall away from the climbing wall. I could see it working brilliantly for all ages and sizes, who scrambled up, hit the button at the top of their wall, then slid gracefully down, ready for the next climbing challenge. Then it was my turn.<br />
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I gave every wall a go – the simple ones, the tricky ones, the ones where you use ‘ice pick’ pegs to haul yourself up the side of a fake glacier- and each time the furthest I got was half way up. <br />
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Because I looked down, and focused on how far I had to fall.<br />
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And even after testing out the harness and the safety rope time and time again, I still had to climb back down.<br />
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Because I looked down and focused on how far I had to fall.<br />
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I had lots of fun while I was there, but I learned something about myself that I need to sort. I realise I have the same struggle with my writing every day. In the safety of a blank page, I can take risks, push my luck, and fall as many times as I like without a scratch – but I feel sometimes I only achieve half of what I could be doing, because I look at how far I have gone, and worry about how far away the bottom is. <br />
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Or worse still, how far I could go.<br />
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Fear holds us back from doing daft, dangerous things for very good reason. But when you’re in a situation where there is next to nothing to fear, where you are encouraged to take a chance in safety, and you still don’t, you need to sort it. And the only way to do that is to face that fear, again and again, until it gets bored of seeing you and goes away.<br /><br />So I’m thinking about how annoyed I was with myself as I struggled back down instead of letting go at <a href="http://www.clipnclimb.co.uk/">Clip’n Climb</a> – and putting that energy into my writing. To push harder, climb higher, and learn to fall and fail with style. And stop looking down.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-51451971602540075782014-07-29T12:48:00.001-07:002014-07-29T12:48:32.268-07:00Nottingham Festival of Words Blog Hop<br />
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Nottingham Festival of Words</h2>
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NwBQstG39Pw/U9f01YSeXcI/AAAAAAAAAig/BTKIYOCiMfY/s1600-h/logo12.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="logo1" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2twbaXv8fMY/U9f02CXXhTI/AAAAAAAAAio/yXyjJfjj9mI/logo1_thumb.png?imgmax=800" height="244" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="logo1" width="244" /></a>Nottingham is holding its second <a href="http://nottinghamwordfest.wordpress.com/">Festival of Words</a> in October this year. It will be a celebration of the spoken and written word, as well as a key <a href="http://www.nottinghampost.com/City-bids-open-new-chapter/story-21230723-detail/story.html" target="_blank">part of the city’s bid to become a UNESCO City of Literature</a>. After reading <a href="http://www.creatingfocus.org/nottingham-festival-words-blog-hop/" target="_blank">Sarah Dale’s great opening blogpost</a>, it's my turn to pick up the baton and tell you a little bit about my connection to the festival and hopes for what it can bring to Nottingham. Then I’ll be passing the blog baton on to two great writers that embody a lot of what I’ve talked about in this blogpost - <a href="http://rusticwriter.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">Emily Cooper</a> and <a href="http://battypip.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Pippa Hennessy</a>. <h4>
What’s your connection with Nottingham and its written and spoken words?</h4>
Words have welded me to Nottingham since I arrived here in my old red Peugeot in 1997. I came to Nottingham after getting a copywriter job in advertising, so it’s likely you might have heard some of my writing without knowing it! After a few years of doing that, I had a story that kept coming back to haunt me, so I took a deep breath, left my old job and began writing fiction. Shortly after that, I heard about <a href="http://nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nottingham Writers Studio</a>, and sent off my application – one of my smarter decisions. Through meeting other writers at the Studio and events members were involved in, I’ve met, talked to and been inspired by brilliant Nottingham writers who’ve been kind enough to support and encourage me to keep doing the work of telling my story. Without them, I’d still be trying to get chapter one right of that first book, rather than working to finish my third. <h4>
What do you love about Nottingham and its creative scene right now?</h4>
I love the sheer variety of talent and passion for supporting creativity we have in Nottingham at the moment. Wherever you look in the city there are people sharing that enthusiasm week in week out, from The Mouthy Poets, to Broadway Book Club, to emerging comic, music and book stores like Five Leaves, to the programmes celebrating Nottingham’s creativity on Notts TV – I can only see it growing. I joined over a hundred readers in the <a href="http://dawnoftheunread.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Dawn of the Unread</a> mass read recently – it was fantastic to see how many people were willing to say how important stories were to them and how important it is to share that passion. I was involved in promoting last year’s Nottingham Festival of Words, and was amazed by how much talent is here in the city, working away to bring amazing new things for Nottingham audiences to experience. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that when the festival launches later this year. <h4>
How would you describe Nottingham to a visitor coming to the Festival of Words?</h4>
Nottingham is born from stories of rebellion, beginning with Robin Hood’s literary legacy, and continuing through rebel writers, rebel printers, rebel booksellers, and since Dawn of the Unread’s flashmob event, rebel readers! If you want more from your words, so do we - we’re a city made of stories. All you have to do is come, look, listen and get involved- you won’t regret it.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-38654971033960576592014-06-02T05:32:00.001-07:002014-06-02T05:32:55.068-07:00Great Writing Starts Here<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5BIMQmew1bn95U0pjNt4jip9kOvFGOkN9IVdgb47SGp9ZDpE9wwEa4grB97pQo4APyIAvKQbKmlUfHz9YkFdywQgBA-wAG4izxG9hMToZusj2rZFesB_qK0AXkUE8FfO_-coUpqHI-ur/s1600/WP_20140516_12_03_57_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5BIMQmew1bn95U0pjNt4jip9kOvFGOkN9IVdgb47SGp9ZDpE9wwEa4grB97pQo4APyIAvKQbKmlUfHz9YkFdywQgBA-wAG4izxG9hMToZusj2rZFesB_qK0AXkUE8FfO_-coUpqHI-ur/s1600/WP_20140516_12_03_57_Pro.jpg" height="177" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Write Club, downstairs at Nottingham Writers' Studio</td></tr>
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If you've followed my <a href="https://twitter.com/Andrew_Kells" target="_blank">@Andrew_Kells</a> tweets and Facebook updates recently, you'll know my start to 2014 has been dominated by the launch of <a href="http://nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nottingham Writers Studio</a>. Based in Nottingham's Creative Quarter, I've been working hard with a dedicated team of other writer volunteers to create a real home for writing in Nottingham. And it looks ace!<br />
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If you want to know more, here's a link to my guest blog post for <a href="http://www.creativenottingham.com/2014/05/22/great-stories-start-here-2/" target="_blank">Creative Nottingham</a> - and if you'd like to see it for yourself, you're more than welcome to pop in and say hello - I should be the one writing on the pink chair. Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-14092483106357508362014-05-12T07:02:00.004-07:002014-05-12T13:02:43.318-07:00The Black Glass at Derby Quad<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGZwW-ACrfJaG68gQGwcdzWfYOoFZ-LDcX3WTcJp0d6NRj__yj8SR1xWr69vIUEEk8CV1isAux3bxErjxTewwo1lL8P-HfmxMDMbiIvfCPLN9FDCsVUHK6TYshyG1U9tEhnyMBo6FubVN/s1600/WP_20140510_14_46_18_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGZwW-ACrfJaG68gQGwcdzWfYOoFZ-LDcX3WTcJp0d6NRj__yj8SR1xWr69vIUEEk8CV1isAux3bxErjxTewwo1lL8P-HfmxMDMbiIvfCPLN9FDCsVUHK6TYshyG1U9tEhnyMBo6FubVN/s1600/WP_20140510_14_46_18_Pro.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a>Had a great afternoon meeting readers and writers at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/207987692719933/" target="_blank">Leicester Sci-Fi Festival</a> this weekend - I joined Alex Davis of Boo Books and fellow writers Gary Budgen and Mike Chinn to launch <a href="http://boobooks.net/bookshop/" target="_blank">After the Fall</a>, our collection of short stories around the end of technology.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIKkrzb5GHwvmbNRZcg_rsxaHvyUExi-vrQRyZ-nMh1D8z7MOsuIOweSfI0NQrWO6fckNbPjJNPc4i1Mh16kuSQDmECaMcEiJ764scsGJVtGC56HiLApRI1UBaDYWynC8TATL8NExr8yT/s1600/WP_20140510_16_16_54_Pro+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIKkrzb5GHwvmbNRZcg_rsxaHvyUExi-vrQRyZ-nMh1D8z7MOsuIOweSfI0NQrWO6fckNbPjJNPc4i1Mh16kuSQDmECaMcEiJ764scsGJVtGC56HiLApRI1UBaDYWynC8TATL8NExr8yT/s1600/WP_20140510_16_16_54_Pro+(1).jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a><br />
I really enjoyed reading The Black Glass, and it was interesting to see how other people received our ideas on a world where the technology we take for granted was no longer something you could rely on. Stories shared, books signed, friends made - a good day. Big thanks to <a href="http://www.starbaseleicester.co.uk/alpha/splash.html" target="_blank">Starbase Leicester</a> and the festival goers for making us feel so welcome.<br />
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If you missed us at Leicester, you can catch up with us at Derby Quad cinema on Thursday 15th May - <a href="http://www.derbyfilmfestival.co.uk/programme/35/thursday-15th-may/#After_The_Fall_Book_Launch" target="_blank">we'll be reading and discussing our work from 7pm as part of the Derby Film Festival</a>, with the genre defining Mad Max to follow. <br />
I'm really pleased to be reading at Quad, it's a fantastic venue for Derby, and a key location in The Black Glass, my short story in After the Fall - if you want to find out more, come and say hello!<br />
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If you can't make it but you'd like a copy of After the Fall, it's available now - <a href="http://boobooks.net/bookshop/" target="_blank">visit the Boo Books website</a> now.<br />
<img height="53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIKkrzb5GHwvmbNRZcg_rsxaHvyUExi-vrQRyZ-nMh1D8z7MOsuIOweSfI0NQrWO6fckNbPjJNPc4i1Mh16kuSQDmECaMcEiJ764scsGJVtGC56HiLApRI1UBaDYWynC8TATL8NExr8yT/s1600/WP_20140510_16_16_54_Pro+(1).jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" style="left: 538px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 322px;" width="96" />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJd3iby2Q4SFtihL3q9bbPWWmyueSew1rafyHwYsgnl-bA4bpQU0NetMtJsEjP6UOvxQOQ7uACRxy-LBjK2eLcRJaXUcFUOoU0rX3AOKaBs8Kas89Tym1uSjtTFyiRBS_ZiWGGKDXXeYYL/s1600/WP_20140502_14_07_10_Pro+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJd3iby2Q4SFtihL3q9bbPWWmyueSew1rafyHwYsgnl-bA4bpQU0NetMtJsEjP6UOvxQOQ7uACRxy-LBjK2eLcRJaXUcFUOoU0rX3AOKaBs8Kas89Tym1uSjtTFyiRBS_ZiWGGKDXXeYYL/s1600/WP_20140502_14_07_10_Pro+%25281%2529.jpg" height="400" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sillitoe Workspace at<br />
Nottingham Writers Studio</td></tr>
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I’ve been knee deep in allen keys and instruction booklets this week while helping to build the writing workspace in the <a href="http://nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/" target="_blank">new Nottingham Writers’ Studio</a> – transforming a derelict pram shop into a new focal point for writers in the city is a lot of work and dedication, but it’s worth the effort, and coming together brilliantly. <br /><br />It’s been fantastic to see the reaction of people as they come to visit the space for the first time (thank you for calling in, Paula Rawsthorne) and it’s exciting to see new people see the potential of the space as we get closer to our launch event later this month.<br />
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Which is why I’ve only just managed to blog about next week’s <a href="http://phoenix.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=615" target="_blank">reading at Leicester SF Festival</a> – and why I’ve only just started to get nervous about it…<br />
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I’ll be reading <em>The Black Glass, </em>my short story in the new <a href="http://boobooks.net/bookshop/pre-orders/" target="_blank">Boo Books Anthology of post-technology tales, <em>After The Fall</em>. </a>I’ve read work at the festival before, and the crowd are always really friendly and receptive to writers they may not have heard before, so I’m really looking forward to it. I just hope they won’t ask me a tricky question in the Q&A session.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://boohoobooks.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/after-the-fall-cover-final-page-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://boohoobooks.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/after-the-fall-cover-final-page-001.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>After the Fall</em> from Boo Books, featuring <em>The Black Glass</em></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-copbYQVmC2Vb0WM0X4blfPM7BC90n08Ih_lujIN5ou8rbPb4INQ3mJ17oXbmX9ZJ387TbOrcYqPbbAeUsIq0SSyfl-ARl60I3uMakegkDR5UZNzntYr9Y5itshyphenhyphens9TDSAwREc1M2Kztn/s1600/WP_20140428_12_23_55_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-copbYQVmC2Vb0WM0X4blfPM7BC90n08Ih_lujIN5ou8rbPb4INQ3mJ17oXbmX9ZJ387TbOrcYqPbbAeUsIq0SSyfl-ARl60I3uMakegkDR5UZNzntYr9Y5itshyphenhyphens9TDSAwREc1M2Kztn/s1600/WP_20140428_12_23_55_Pro.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sarah Dale, author of <em>Bolder and Wiser</em></td></tr>
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Being interviewed about your work is tricky, but interviewing someone about their work can be even trickier – so I’m choosing my questions for Sarah Dale very carefully when I head back to <a href="http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayDetailEvent.do?searchType=1&author=Sarah|Dale" target="_blank">Waterstones Nottingham</a> and talk to Sarah about Bolder and Wiser, her collection of interviews with women aged sixty and older.<br />
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So… if I plan to be kind to Sarah in the evening, will the festival goers at Leicester be kind to me earlier in the day? Should I be thinking about timeslippery shenanigans like this, or should I get on with writing? I think we all know the answer to the last one…<br />
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Tickets are still available for both events!<br />
<a href="http://phoenix.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=615" target="_blank">If you’d like to join us at Leicester SF Festival, click here.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.creatingfocus.org/waterstones-nottingham-evening/" target="_blank">If you’d like to join us at Waterstones Nottingham, click here.</a><br />
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Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-80222342699112052962014-02-11T03:07:00.000-08:002014-02-12T04:41:37.577-08:00Boo! New short story to appear in 'After the Fall' from Boo BooksAlthough it's February, I've just seen the result of a great start to my writing year - my YA short story 'The Black Glass' has been accepted for <a href="http://boobooks.net/about/">Boo Book's</a> forthcoming anthology, <a href="http://boobooks.net/upcoming-titles/">'After the Fall'</a> - it's a real honour to have your work read and commended by your peers, especially when they like it enough to share it with others in their book.<br />
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The theme of 'After the Fall' explores a world where the technology I'm using to write this blog, and that you're using to read it, is gone. After a lot of scribbling off-grid with a crayon in January (as low tech as I dared to go), the first line of the story appeared out of nowhere, challenging me to write the rest.<br />
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It's one of the first 'longer' short stories I've written (about three and a half thousand words), and I'm really pleased I stuck with it to make it work. Big thanks to everyone who listened very patiently to me talk about The Black Glass while I was trying to get my head around telling the story of Mad Alice.<br />
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'After the Fall' launches in May 2014 - looking forward to reading the other contributors and seeing their vision of a very different future appear through the pages.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-75621243325152611342014-01-21T07:40:00.001-08:002014-01-21T07:40:45.305-08:00Write. Finish things. Keep writing.Write. Finish things. Keep writing.<br />
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That's what I've been trying to keep up across 2013, which has been backed up by the brilliant Neil Gaiman (<a href="http://www.wofford.edu/sharedworlds/handinhand.aspx">or rather, Neil Gaiman's brilliant hand</a>), and the results are pretty good - I've done a <a href="http://andrewkells.blogspot.co.uk/p/2013-highlights.html">quick rundown</a> of the milestones I've left for myself in the past year as I launch myself into 2014.<br />
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I'm working on finishing Red, my contemporary fairytale very soon, and am really looking forward to the <a href="http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/pressreleases/show/west-bridgford-library-host-costa-book-awards-shortlist-event">Costa Book Award event at West Bridgford Library</a> this week after winning a pair of tickets with my winning Letter story in a Tweet:<br />
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<div class="tweet-text js-tweet-text" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For 40 years, it waited in a locked drawer to be sent. But it did not worry. It knew unspoken words said enough 40 years ago. </span><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nccletters&src=hash"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><s><span style="color: #66c1c1;">#</span></s><b><span style="color: #009999;">nccletters</span></b></span></a></div>
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If you've not had a quick look back, do it now - you'll be surprised what ground you've covered. And the stuff you didn't do - that's 2014 planned.<br />
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Write. Finish things. Keep Writing.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-81502579935308003692014-01-21T06:17:00.004-08:002014-01-21T06:19:44.780-08:00Didn't See Nothing at Word of Mouth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/WoM-sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/WoM-sm.jpg" height="90" width="320" /></a></div>
It's all been a bit full on since my last blogpost (buy me a coffee and I'll talk you through it - all good, but blimey), but a quick thank you to Pippa Hennessy for her support in bringing the Word of Mouth Event to Antenna at the end of 2013. <br />
I had a great night listening to a world of crime-related tales, and a terrifying but worthwhile five minutes performing 'Didn't See Nothing'. <a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/it-s-a-crime-/id/6375#.Ut6AxdhFC00">Thanks also to Leftlion for the review of the event.</a><br />
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If you'd like to read Didn't See Nothing, it'll cost you precisely nothing - take a look below:
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<script async="true" src="//e.issuu.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script><br />Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-44470800570339404442013-11-21T03:23:00.004-08:002013-11-21T03:23:59.434-08:00Performance! Word of Mouth, 7.30pm 3rd DecemberAfter finding out it's going to be published in the NWS Crime Sampler Journal, I'll be performing 'Didn't See Nothing' as part of Word of Mouth at <a href="http://www.antenna.uk.com/">Antenna</a> next month.<br />
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I've already had some brilliant comments about the story before I knew it was going to be included in the journal, but reading it and hearing it are two very different things - It's going to be really interesting to see how the audience will react to my performance of the story.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-57060447846266545332013-11-11T03:57:00.003-08:002013-11-11T03:57:43.452-08:00Inspiration, collaboration, publication<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNumtf8uwUFl-wlZgVdNK-0urGAeIAFnuuHzxER_oMIbSPP2xKK_oGOG9VcEjuSCnga4N1bew0B0lpf1eR37f0D9a_Jb1cJyq9H1Lg68fnhb6Ij9vVxf5xq8PCltZ9JlCTs0Pk-GSNFHXa/s1600/5280c38fe4b04d02d43a4646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNumtf8uwUFl-wlZgVdNK-0urGAeIAFnuuHzxER_oMIbSPP2xKK_oGOG9VcEjuSCnga4N1bew0B0lpf1eR37f0D9a_Jb1cJyq9H1Lg68fnhb6Ij9vVxf5xq8PCltZ9JlCTs0Pk-GSNFHXa/s320/5280c38fe4b04d02d43a4646.jpg" width="208" /></a>I’ve started this week with a team meeting, which is easy when you’re a team of one. Sorting the diaries is a doddle, as is remembering who ordered the coffee (even remembered the cinnamon this time). The challenge of being a team of one is that no-one else asks you what you’re doing about the Good Ideas you had the week before – so this is a meeting to look at what went well last week, and what I'm doing about it this week. I guess these are the minutes of the meeting…<br />
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I started last week wearing my scriptwriting hat, with a fantastic meeting to discuss ways to support the participants of the new <a href="http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/news/shine-light-project-needs-you">Shine a Light</a> project at Quad in Derby – it’s a fantastic opportunity for people aged over sixty to get involved with filmmaking, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of the project on the big screen.<br />
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Wednesday brought another great meeting with a new writer contact I met through<a href="http://derbyshirescriptwriters.co.uk/"> Derbyshire Scriptwriters</a> – we shared an interest in developing a story which was outlined at a recent meeting, so we caught up for a coffee to discuss it (I can see a pattern emerging…) After writing alone, it’s nervewracking to work your way through a story with someone else, but the experience is invaluable, as are the results – even at the first treatment stage, I think we’ve got a cracking story to show you.<br />
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Thursday took me to <a href="http://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/creative-brews-every-thursday-at-nottingham-writers-studio/">Creative Brews at Nottingham Writers Studio</a>, where I finished my short film treatment in between talking about the mythology of animals, followed by a great email – my short story, ‘Didn’t See Nothing’ will be featured in the next Nottingham Writers Studio journal (I ordered another coffee to celebrate). It’s a piece I’m really proud of, and really pleased I submitted it after discussing it with the Young Adult and Children writing group at NWS. Some of the work will be showcased at a Word of Mouth in December, fingers crossed one of them will be mine…<br />
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So that was last week, what about this week?<br />
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All of a sudden, after sharing work and ideas with other inspirational writers, I’m working on multiple projects. As well as my Middle Grade WIP, Red – I’ve a couple of short stories to prepare for submission, a short film to develop, a tricky synopsis to wrangle into submission, and copy edits on ‘Didn’t See Nothing’ following it’s successful submission. And I’ll be updating the <a href="http://writingatrosys.wordpress.com/">Writing at Rosys</a> team with my progress on a short story they helped to inspire, along with a creative workshop with the YAC group this Friday.<br />And, of course, writing, writing, writing.<br />
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Any other business? How about another coffee…?Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-26215539930877756642013-10-15T05:13:00.001-07:002013-10-15T05:14:54.237-07:00Epic steps at Lady BayWords are pretty amazing things- whether they're blobs on paper, or lights on a screen, or vibrations in the air, they can mean different things to different people all at once (especially in the brilliant, confounding, inspiring craziness that is English), and stand out for all sorts of brilliant reasons…<br />
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I’ve just read a lovely group email from Mary Small and the team behind the <a href="http://talesfromtheriverbank.org/">Nottingham Children’s Book Festival</a> to say a big thank you to everyone who played a part in their very first festival on Saturday – hundreds of families joined us in the rain to get stuck into stories, poems, illustrations – and Epics!<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rKnuQyePTXM/Ul0YMYr57SI/AAAAAAAAAao/pU3wdT_YFIc/s1600-h/WP_20131012_009%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="WP_20131012_009" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Nql6hNbwgIQ/Ul0YNeAIraI/AAAAAAAAAaw/jmzRrM9djBo/WP_20131012_009_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20131012_009" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-HFb0nFtBA2I/Ul0YREYa_DI/AAAAAAAAAbI/ML1nJjJLEbw/s1600-h/WP_20131012_005%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="WP_20131012_005" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-oyb8cGLydMs/Ul0YSdaFwyI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/iL_SxKO6sK4/WP_20131012_005_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20131012_005" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-p2XsPLv8O_A/Ul0YO1lQoqI/AAAAAAAAAa4/wsh9qNXQXq0/s1600-h/WP_20131012_006%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="WP_20131012_006" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-SiszpTOGRLs/Ul0YP_KQraI/AAAAAAAAAbA/E3FygzokGSs/WP_20131012_006_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20131012_006" width="139" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epic preparation!</td></tr>
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The young (and not quite so young) writers who joined us for <a href="http://andrewkells.blogspot.co.uk/p/your-epic-starts-here.html">'Your Epic Starts Here!'</a> on the day were superb as always – and I was amazed again just how creative we can all be – all it takes is a little inspiration and encouragement. I saw princes in swamps (a bad place for a prince to be, so a good place to start a story!), soldiers resting between battles, and worlds you could only reach in a way that was simple and amazing all at once. Even the volunteers joined in (to the lady who shared her epic hero – write that epic, or I will!)<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YIJoQ4VOiMA/Ul0YTmFMi4I/AAAAAAAAAbY/CeqWgGmxZ9s/s1600-h/Your%252520Epic%252520Starts%252520Here%252521%252520%252528Portrait%252520Printout%252529%252520Oct2013_001%25255B2%25255D.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" alt="Your Epic Starts Here! " border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-C0JOf82xB14/Ul0YVF7vQOI/AAAAAAAAAbg/2I27wFOze-k/Your%252520Epic%252520Starts%252520Here%252521%252520%252528Portrait%252520Printout%252529%252520Oct2013_001_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; float: right; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Your Epic Starts Here! " width="184" /></a>But once the pens are collected in and the room goes quiet before the next workshop, you wonder what will happen next to those stories… then I read Mary’s email and saw one word from the great feedback the festival had collected on that day-<br />
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‘Epic’<br />
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Something tells me that for at least one of those Epics, it's only just the beginning – and I’m honoured to play a part in inspiring people to create their own Epic tales. <br />
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If you'd like to know a bit more about what 'Your Epic Starts Here!' is all about, <a href="http://andrewkells.blogspot.co.uk/p/your-epic-starts-here.html">take a look here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/---WeF2zSFI0/Ul0YJgRktDI/AAAAAAAAAaY/BO49Ow8RJtk/s1600-h/WP_20131012_013%25255B3%25255D.jpg"></a><br />
<img height="96" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-oyb8cGLydMs/Ul0YSdaFwyI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/iL_SxKO6sK4/WP_20131012_005_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="left: 243px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 169px;" width="54" />Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-46116082504308926282013-06-17T06:18:00.000-07:002013-07-02T07:13:54.110-07:001001A great week last week, where one of my short stories, The Middle Room, was commended as part of <span id="goog_1638034034"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Derby Museum’s</a> <span id="goog_1638034035"></span><a href="http://www.derbymuseums.org/1001-words-writing-competition-winners/#.UdLfs8twa00">1001 objects writing competition</a>.<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8Z_i-3MGqWM/Ub8Ks-obVII/AAAAAAAAAV0/hMvI5Nwx_hI/s1600-h/WP_20130328_011%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_011" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-V0HgOgD5I8U/Ub8KtgR7uRI/AAAAAAAAAV8/sAxCeyVV4eo/WP_20130328_011_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_011" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-G5nwpTY7tLg/Ub8KuWCMKiI/AAAAAAAAAWE/jlMHEzpWMNI/s1600-h/WP_20130328_015%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_015" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-WPXWJQ31FLE/Ub8KvH7NXCI/AAAAAAAAAWI/aSjtUwoQTD8/WP_20130328_015_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_015" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-gAiBQqPVrwQ/Ub8KwAUY2tI/AAAAAAAAAWU/ifKKTR41fiE/s1600-h/WP_20130328_019%252520%2525281%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_019 (1)" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-chRd8U57NOU/Ub8Kwrh-1gI/AAAAAAAAAWc/kz_MBDKk6RU/WP_20130328_019%252520%2525281%252529_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_019 (1)" width="139" /></a><br />
It was great to hear the winning entries, and get another chance to look around the exhibit again (with added tea and cake – felt a bit weird, but the mugs were nice so I went with it).<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-O3-46hcZOPc/Ub8KyGIof-I/AAAAAAAAAWk/PCBey18y41w/s1600-h/WP_20130328_005%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_005" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-k2Bt5Z8bDKI/Ub8Ky-ZMKmI/AAAAAAAAAWs/UnjYWPHVycI/WP_20130328_005_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_005" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-JyCufk8RMMQ/Ub8K0OhOtEI/AAAAAAAAAW0/BNBwd_zqox8/s1600-h/WP_20130328_034%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_034" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-slRbNOd8FYU/Ub8K1O6hW5I/AAAAAAAAAW8/afZWsCXOT-Y/WP_20130328_034_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_034" width="139" /></a><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-S88kgINYAVI/Ub8K2KjqcsI/AAAAAAAAAXE/10JqdiXL2CU/s1600-h/WP_20130328_028%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_028" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-b3DnmGGRHlQ/Ub8K2go0q8I/AAAAAAAAAXM/Ccu-PORtUD4/WP_20130328_028_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_028" width="139" /></a><br />
The items are arranged in collections of what they’re made of, rather than their historical or social setting which means you get an interesting mix of momentous and everyday items rubbing shoulders with one another.<br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NGmEx6Ga2P4/Ub8K3wtYe0I/AAAAAAAAAXU/hJNjvuZMx00/s1600-h/WP_20130328_023%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_023" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rjXhFNDqkUE/Ub8K4R2fm-I/AAAAAAAAAXc/7trQnda18xI/WP_20130328_023_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_023" width="244" /></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6O4zeHgMOJ8/Ub8K5jYaCvI/AAAAAAAAAXk/aKnXltIO6P4/s1600-h/WP_20130328_032%252520%2525281%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_032 (1)" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Pp2vxoa4fHI/Ub8K6chZlmI/AAAAAAAAAXs/XNt8pWiZUQU/WP_20130328_032%252520%2525281%252529_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_032 (1)" width="244" /></a><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-v0hyPmi0gwY/Ub8K7e8qiII/AAAAAAAAAX0/Tsf1Hf-n4Gc/s1600-h/WP_20130328_025%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_025" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-i60Pa6WpGPU/Ub8K8POquaI/AAAAAAAAAX8/xIFik2RR8kk/WP_20130328_025_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_025" width="244" /></a><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zRG7YzpEZ0c/Ub8K8-3da1I/AAAAAAAAAYE/lz8q9LU-nJE/s1600-h/WP_20130328_030%252520%2525281%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WP_20130328_030 (1)" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VsvSLjzrmOo/Ub8K9u0f8CI/AAAAAAAAAYM/yoL6akttnys/WP_20130328_030%252520%2525281%252529_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130328_030 (1)" width="244" /></a> <br />
The contest was to write 1001 words based on one of the items – choosing from this amount of inspirational material was not easy (I’d started writing something about the bottles for Derby businesses in my head before I got halfway around the exhibit), but after a long time of looking back at my snapshots, this was the item that stuck.<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3LIMO0BKdKQ/Ub8K-cDNCOI/AAAAAAAAAYU/Eku33NPLC9g/s1600-h/WP_20130611_007%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="WP_20130611_007" border="0" height="139" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kZPOJuMsYjI/Ub8K_KjyjDI/AAAAAAAAAYc/9CJtdUHPmK4/WP_20130611_007_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; float: right; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130611_007" width="244" /></a><br />
It’s a Congolese antelope horn, highly valued, and given as a gift. I wondered about who would normally get such a stunning thing, and who would be least likely to receive it, to get it almost by accident. About two hours later, The Middle Room was there on the page.<br />
I’m really pleased I took up the challenge, and I’m really pleased Derby Museums has taken such an interesting approach to showing us the things we collect in the ongoing story of who we are.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-71040361518465271402013-06-04T07:15:00.000-07:002013-07-02T06:33:54.297-07:00HarboursThis week, <a href="http://appletreewriters.co.uk/harbour/">Appletree Writers</a> are getting ready to publish an anthology to raise funds for the Dunbar RNLI, with stories based around the theme of ‘The Harbour’ – and one of them is mine. <br />
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‘Captain’ began life as <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Sp8vWTSqc7c/Ua32Du2mhsI/AAAAAAAAAUk/e4qzwkptpQA/s1600-h/SAM_1580%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img align="right" alt="SAM_1580" border="0" height="184" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Deb5AJXP9OM/Ua32FnOrEPI/AAAAAAAAAUs/WzumBJ3qEIw/SAM_1580_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; float: right; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="SAM_1580" width="244" /></a>a family story (one of the legends re-told and re-argued at Christmas), which began to change as I began to retell it. I don’t know how – the true story is vivid, and funny, but the story I had to tell took another direction.<br />
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By the time I’d edited it, I was somewhere else entirely. Off the map, in open water. I had no idea whether anyone else would connect with it, but I knew the only way to find out was to submit it – and I’m really pleased they did. <br />
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I’ve learned a valuable lesson from writing this little story – begin writing what you know, and when your story begins to have other plans, follow them. Leave the harbour, and see where the story takes you. <br />
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If you'd like to read it for yourself, <a href="http://appletreewriters.co.uk/shop/books/the-harbour/">The Harbour is available to order</a> from the <a href="http://appletreewriters.co.uk/">Appletree Writers</a> website.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-52414685871565182952013-05-15T02:33:00.000-07:002013-05-15T02:33:12.187-07:005k, 29’ and change<div align="left">
I’ve been running on and off for over three years now, and I finally got organised enough to enter my first race last weekend - a five kilometer race around the park - and I feel great for finally making it happen!</div>
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ZTlLgj5_dGI/UZNTuQ2sx7I/AAAAAAAAAUM/I4xkloahTiw/s1600-h/WP_20130511_002%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" alt="WP_20130511_002" border="0" height="216" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-N81GZZWYYNI/UZNTveTic3I/AAAAAAAAAUU/oV7f6536QC8/WP_20130511_002_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px currentColor; display: inline; float: right; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="WP_20130511_002" width="320" /></a>The distance is pretty much what I run when I manage to get out and hit the road, but the real achievement was to stand alongside fellow runners and say ‘I can do this.’ I had no idea how long it would take me to run the route, and I underestimated my finish time by about five minutes. I crossed the finish line just after the average time for the race – should have fired up the Van Halen soundtrack a little earlier…<br />
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But that’s the point of standing up and showing the world what you’ve got – on Friday, I had no idea how good a runner I was. Now I do, with a benchmark time that shows I can run competitively, and a goal to beat.<br />
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And a medal. Don’t forget the medal.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-20862803777512293332013-04-30T07:20:00.000-07:002013-04-30T07:35:28.214-07:00In Pursuit of InspirationIdeas come from everywhere. Some good, some bad, some only worth a shrug before they go in the bin, some worth pursuing.<br />
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The trick is to work out which are the ones worth pursuing. And then, pursue them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRy0CwrYO213yHIEuvZtV36dqJ8GbE-7A2ldP09VE9oTbyE75Izim65AvKfKImUEuJpiraYecfuh3hfCAw1LWRXTkPWT3O3ITeccl_h8NKbTxvo3l_fc2XpPLcfgRiIeRXSRFjRnYjIip/s1600/WP_20130411_023+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRy0CwrYO213yHIEuvZtV36dqJ8GbE-7A2ldP09VE9oTbyE75Izim65AvKfKImUEuJpiraYecfuh3hfCAw1LWRXTkPWT3O3ITeccl_h8NKbTxvo3l_fc2XpPLcfgRiIeRXSRFjRnYjIip/s200/WP_20130411_023+(3).jpg" width="110" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELz61D2q2ZdgKkSRknK8vGpYZjPLMFy91shn3w0-t6e-GAKTcbf2SCpx503HC-EuDUfWC8dsb4GyaZl_D1ILg_yIXxHcoWpQX_8rrg_zR7wm4NYfoziOjv7F_1uYTgTD3QkeuXqxBXivk/s1600/WP_20130411_028+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiELz61D2q2ZdgKkSRknK8vGpYZjPLMFy91shn3w0-t6e-GAKTcbf2SCpx503HC-EuDUfWC8dsb4GyaZl_D1ILg_yIXxHcoWpQX_8rrg_zR7wm4NYfoziOjv7F_1uYTgTD3QkeuXqxBXivk/s200/WP_20130411_028+(3).jpg" width="111" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyA1VuqEg6Wx9M9miGSueMqBmB_DWakvHRGpFnXsAdzKzZj7O0d7ZO811WQRi49aO1_8PUowEjfPvs3SqfchAdyg0obIzD_wGPjz-OP3NpuXGWP5qA2XQ460D9Yj0rQq51tIgbeOH5HI4/s1600/WP_20130411_033+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyA1VuqEg6Wx9M9miGSueMqBmB_DWakvHRGpFnXsAdzKzZj7O0d7ZO811WQRi49aO1_8PUowEjfPvs3SqfchAdyg0obIzD_wGPjz-OP3NpuXGWP5qA2XQ460D9Yj0rQq51tIgbeOH5HI4/s200/WP_20130411_033+(4).jpg" width="111" /></a></div>
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After a week on a mountain in Wales, this was the last stop before home: <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/penrhyn-castle/">Penrhyn Castle</a>, a 19th century palace with all mod cons, paid for with the vast income from coal and sugar sales (the equivalent of investing in Microsoft and Apple way back when). Wealth like that and land like that means you can build what you want (it's enormous!) and keep what you want, like steam engines: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxnas5uVYvFT4S22JJSykwettdraxzuTIdQEAQzcXrCeM8SOMmDo6VTE6FJsK3UryI8iFDB3SgcKLKqGrWI3at6xwOuMgnXhp8IimW64nPnOaW-2jlxbILj9sl5VBmcLcxJgDCBJId6_o7/s1600/WP_20130411_047+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxnas5uVYvFT4S22JJSykwettdraxzuTIdQEAQzcXrCeM8SOMmDo6VTE6FJsK3UryI8iFDB3SgcKLKqGrWI3at6xwOuMgnXhp8IimW64nPnOaW-2jlxbILj9sl5VBmcLcxJgDCBJId6_o7/s200/WP_20130411_047+(3).jpg" width="111" /></a>The railway museum lets you get up close to the engines, some narrow gauge from the Welsh highland railways that cross the country, some standard gauge that could still feasibly run on the rail network we inherited from the Victorians.<br />
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Our classic idea of steam comes from the 'Golden Age' between the wars; Agatha Christie, Brief Encounter, even the Hogwart's Express tips its hat to the Golden Age. There's a couple of engines at Penrhyn that reflect that era.<br />
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There's a utilitarian beauty to those engines - dependable and sturdy, tastefully painted, a respectable machine for a more genteel age of travel.<br />
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But I'm more interested in this one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0OwoRACCnu0er_xCTz0q5mC-Cj6FjndkfGz25UArxoD_qstFTkvmow_0hvAOS6MV2SEUfUwR_Kx7DAIgbg4PrgNUQXjUX1EirhGiy9gHdY5G2Z_y_DHaKsVu-ywYCR3HrbRqxXYKj63D/s1600/WP_20130411_014+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0OwoRACCnu0er_xCTz0q5mC-Cj6FjndkfGz25UArxoD_qstFTkvmow_0hvAOS6MV2SEUfUwR_Kx7DAIgbg4PrgNUQXjUX1EirhGiy9gHdY5G2Z_y_DHaKsVu-ywYCR3HrbRqxXYKj63D/s320/WP_20130411_014+(3).jpg" width="179" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO6Jwijz_2TXhsExT0gjyezls9Q6aZguell8Er-ICnhDs98dJEJdKs4PDFAfLKv7yYMbUZX4527Xz9hRvyXmPrk7vPFDfrDK2dHk2LOzEYIW3A7qO2hbvfMo_N6fAAcrmEGRaQ9vKj3Wz/s1600/WP_20130411_012+(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmO6Jwijz_2TXhsExT0gjyezls9Q6aZguell8Er-ICnhDs98dJEJdKs4PDFAfLKv7yYMbUZX4527Xz9hRvyXmPrk7vPFDfrDK2dHk2LOzEYIW3A7qO2hbvfMo_N6fAAcrmEGRaQ9vKj3Wz/s320/WP_20130411_012+(3).jpg" width="177" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCa-CT6uymL7rZgCCt_AIS0fNrjv8WXixuy_VH9ICfdjSrVquRl444WzM5iavJn_jsZcJFIZS_nDHBOC9N-zDJCDIkuHOCEhv2wC0zdVrwffMlqc5sFklnskSx41mJeMhPDkZYIy4qadPu/s1600/WP_20130411_010+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCa-CT6uymL7rZgCCt_AIS0fNrjv8WXixuy_VH9ICfdjSrVquRl444WzM5iavJn_jsZcJFIZS_nDHBOC9N-zDJCDIkuHOCEhv2wC0zdVrwffMlqc5sFklnskSx41mJeMhPDkZYIy4qadPu/s320/WP_20130411_010+(1).jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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She's called Fire Queen (great name), built in 1848 to work in a quarry in Llanberis. In comparison to the kind of engines you see on heritage railways in the UK, she's old school. She'll have been replaced because she won't pull as much as the 'newer' engines. And she probably won't forgive a driver who isn't watching what they are doing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDRzQopUJPilDk3Fdy_3NQrbw37jvS0vYv9rFL5IA60sil6i8wffYKVKHf3mSc-RmVVgYLSSZBQTk0ZQuNCRZSZVxP-lfqyjFvEBXcnogQCR77ATuQqmqYSCyoffRnGrylX-Aeor7oMZY/s1600/WP_20130411_022+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiDRzQopUJPilDk3Fdy_3NQrbw37jvS0vYv9rFL5IA60sil6i8wffYKVKHf3mSc-RmVVgYLSSZBQTk0ZQuNCRZSZVxP-lfqyjFvEBXcnogQCR77ATuQqmqYSCyoffRnGrylX-Aeor7oMZY/s320/WP_20130411_022+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
But the in-your-face boldness of the colours, the bling of polished brass sticking out anywhere and everywhere, the oversized wheels and smokestack, Fire Queen looks thrilling.<br />
Glamourous. Primal. And fast. <br />
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That's the idea I've pursued in <em>Cole: King of the Rails</em>, behind a story which follows my young hero's friendships, secrets and quest for revenge. <br />
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Where the glamour and thrill of those brightly coloured engines takes on a life of it's own... and changes history as we know it.<br />
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I'm hoping to share more of my world with you in the near future. Until then, enjoy the pics.Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-49281504791971739282013-04-30T05:40:00.001-07:002013-04-30T05:40:20.367-07:00Epic updateI had the chance to take a quick look at some of the epic stories created by the young writers I worked with during 'Your Epic Starts Here' last week, and was really impressed by their creativity and effort.<br />
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It's been a while since we talked about what we wanted to put into our epic stories, and there they were - a whole wall of words. I scanned across the neatly written pages (their writing's a lot neater than mine) and saw words and phrases I remembered from the workshop - not my words, theirs.<br />
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It's great to see words you've created appear on a page, but it's something else when the words exist because you've told someone their story is worth telling. Great day.<br />
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ps. They asked me what I was writing at the moment, so I told them. Unwise move. I have to write the rest of Red now, or they'll be asking me where my words are...Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-71839990459678039972013-02-28T04:28:00.004-08:002013-02-28T04:28:59.015-08:00Epics starting here!I had an Epic time at <a href="http://www.nottwords.org.uk/">Nottingham Festival of Words</a> this month, especially when I hosted my workshop, <a href="http://nottwords.org.uk/events/epic/index.html">'Your Epic Starts Here!'</a> on Saturday. The idea for a workshop came from a discussion at the YA and Children's writers group at <a href="http://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/">Nottingham Writers Studio</a> - how can you encourage creativity in younger writers? Being inspiring during the workshop is just the start - the challenge is to keep it going afterwards...<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zWPozoEUfSODSSykecQ90_TmRD414uGrWKuresoHuSVoCwWo5Wfc6uz_PXyWHsdHNoAHkIDqgVhmgPB9HPiSvsjdaoNPHvVQ7XE9UUPjRJ2_iJubq1yhLqkSltNCMEgp5fxk1faXkwxM/s1600/Epics+in+Waiting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zWPozoEUfSODSSykecQ90_TmRD414uGrWKuresoHuSVoCwWo5Wfc6uz_PXyWHsdHNoAHkIDqgVhmgPB9HPiSvsjdaoNPHvVQ7XE9UUPjRJ2_iJubq1yhLqkSltNCMEgp5fxk1faXkwxM/s320/Epics+in+Waiting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Epics in waiting before 'Your Epic Starts Here!' begins.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Here's what I came up with - an Epic you can take away with you at the end of the workshop- well, the start of one, anyway...<br />
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After I talked for a short while about what I thought made an epic story, the writers in the group got on with creating their own ideas. <br />
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Then it was time for the sharing bit...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VreI5P1hebKxYaEtUQZnxUQx83Z_feQNfchhyphenhyphenscrZEUC870dXwcGSpaeaeBuZ8eo0ss0IUUFTdd-hrC3jeCvzYa6T9ngUSU0amrzuezmOpRXz-ydQgQGIm0znxDfpObnY0-B4VtUa-BU/s1600/WP_20130228_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VreI5P1hebKxYaEtUQZnxUQx83Z_feQNfchhyphenhyphenscrZEUC870dXwcGSpaeaeBuZ8eo0ss0IUUFTdd-hrC3jeCvzYa6T9ngUSU0amrzuezmOpRXz-ydQgQGIm0znxDfpObnY0-B4VtUa-BU/s320/WP_20130228_001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and here's the result! <br />
Note the change from 'In' to 'On' - love it!</td></tr>
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Even with advance warning at the beginning (I didn't want anyone to give something away that was super-precious), the sharing part was a tricky bit - how many times have we guarded a character or a storyline like it was the crown jewels? There was a very nervous two minutes where I thought it wouldn't happen - then one young writer shared (thank you!), and told us what the results were. It was a lightbulb moment for everyone, which was fantastic to see - everyone wanted to share to make their Epic even more Epic! <br />
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In one short hour, we'd made a clutch of Epics that simply did not exist anywhere before the workshop started - story magic! The young writers seemed to really enjoy being able to take ownership of their own Epics, and change them to make them something that was theirs to take away, keep safe and develop into a bigger, longer story.<br />
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Will I see these Epics on the shelves in Waterstones Nottingham and beyond? I hope so. I saw whales being saved over lunchtime, disco kingdoms and exploding ice-cream - imagine what will appear in draft two...Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-64886865724161688452012-11-26T02:20:00.001-08:002012-11-26T13:31:54.165-08:00Starting, Growing and Mo'ingI really enjoyed Word of Mouth: Journeys last week - as did a lot of other people who were kind enough to listen to my story 'Four Minute Warning'. I was still editing the story as our excellent host Megan Taylor was calling me up to read - just a few words taken out or changed can make a world of difference to something you're reading aloud. I felt a little bit like a preacher when I stood up on the lectern, then my story's character pushed down on his Raleigh Tomahawk's pedals. The lectern became chopper-style handlebars and we were away on our race against time. If you couldn't make it, <a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/review--word-of-mouth/id/5375">Oliver Clarke's written a great review of the evening here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmLW7-7kRaMRjt8JpIV3tEAQ5VNI_XzyHO27_YdpzgHVaoPv7oMQeW8uqEsnGgdiSBkN81A5e_ryPtixH_vfF7o1uhRFTD9k67mZBtk_YLTKLg-yFkFq3PE3mVJWrfpzK_WZw44k5rHb-c/s1600/DSC09222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmLW7-7kRaMRjt8JpIV3tEAQ5VNI_XzyHO27_YdpzgHVaoPv7oMQeW8uqEsnGgdiSBkN81A5e_ryPtixH_vfF7o1uhRFTD9k67mZBtk_YLTKLg-yFkFq3PE3mVJWrfpzK_WZw44k5rHb-c/s320/DSC09222.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a mo' for sho' - if you like, donate!</td></tr>
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I got a lot of interest in my facial hair, too - I'm growing a <a href="http://uk.movember.com/mospace/6387461">mo' for Movember</a>, and I've finally got my page up and running after my marathon edits. It's raising awareness (and a little bit of money) for Men's health issues, particularly prostrate and testicular cancer) - it's been fun to see how I would look with a Victorian-esque mo', but it's not sticking around - although it is good to stroke when I'm thinking up new plotlines...</div>
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Now the YA novel's current draft is complete, it's time to start on something new. I wrote three hundred words on one of the stories during a fit of editor's block about a month ago - rather than looking to the past, it's set in the here and now, in a city where green comes through the cracks in the pavement, and our unlikely hero makes a discovery, and a decision that changes his life forever...</div>
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Here's to growing things (and shaving some things off) in December.</div>
Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-35056554922972435282012-11-21T06:23:00.000-08:002012-11-22T02:28:34.691-08:00Journeys and The Next Big Thing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jiDiqwNG-M-N67xmcgcPd7SlAlh8wEbd71F_OBEBK_7rQ50Qu65HsF8xlLpoMgm9HgFU69XEToMPjNIR1RPow5pSq606ccXSi4aSE7H7CasT8224gT09GUJVbVitjDCoAwIUDZpZPgm1/s1600/DSC09209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jiDiqwNG-M-N67xmcgcPd7SlAlh8wEbd71F_OBEBK_7rQ50Qu65HsF8xlLpoMgm9HgFU69XEToMPjNIR1RPow5pSq606ccXSi4aSE7H7CasT8224gT09GUJVbVitjDCoAwIUDZpZPgm1/s320/DSC09209.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Busy doing final copy checks and A5 printouts of 'Four Minute Warning'; the short story I'm reading tonight as part of Word of Mouth: Journeys. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's been a while since I looked at the story because I've been working through the newest edit of my YA novel. It's been a brilliant and all-consuming journey of discovery as I follow Cole on his journey of revenge for the death of his father.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And it's not what Cole, or I, expected when I first wrote about the accident all those months ago. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to know what it is, watch this space. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the meantime, t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he scriptwriting powerhouse that is <a href="http://www.writebyyourside.net/">Adrian Reynolds</a> very kindly included me in his 'Next Big Thing' blogpost a couple of weeks ago - now I've completed rewrites and edits on my YA story, it's the perfect time for me to answer the same questions he did, and pass the blog baton on to another great writer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if we're all ready, here we go...</span><br />
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<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the working title of
your book?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It started life as Coalface, but now I’ve finished rewrites and editing, a new title has
come up...<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Where did the idea come from
for the book?</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lots of different places – I’m
a bit of a magpie, constantly jotting stuff down wherever I go. I’m usually looking at stuff like door
handles in a stately home while everyone else is looking at the pictures on the
wall.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What genre does your book fall
under?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">It’s YA fiction, in a historical setting, with a whoosh of the fantastic.</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Which actors would you choose
to play your characters in a movie rendition?</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d be more interested to see who my readers
would pick.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the one-sentence
synopsis of your book?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">A boy seeks revenge for the death of his father after a train accident,
because he secretly saw what happened, and knows it was sabotage…</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will your book be
self-published or represented by an agency?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">I’m working with someone at the moment, and I’m looking forward to seeing
where that takes us.</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How long did it take you to
write the first draft of your manuscript?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">About eight months.</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What other books would you
compare this story to within your genre?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;">Chris Wooding’s ‘The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray’ – it’s a completely
different story world, but mixes up the past and his own take on urban fantasy
really well.</span></strong><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">Who</span></b></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">or</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span></b></span><em><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">What</span></b></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"> </span></b></span><strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;">inspired you to write this book?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The characters inside the book. And
the world they live in. Because their
story needs to be told.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What else about your book might
pique the reader’s interest?<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-weight: normal; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s Victorian England, but faster. A lot faster.<o:p></o:p></span></span></strong></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right, that's enough about me, here's someone else with a story to tell about the story they're telling:</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #003399; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 14.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.iandouglas-writer.co.uk/index.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Ian Douglas</span></a></span></div>
<div class="style3" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ian writes for both children and adults. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His first non-fiction book,</span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A Children’s History of Nottinghamshire</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, was launched at Waterstones and sold over 1500 copies in the first month. The book proved popular with local schools and libraries and Ian now visits schools with his History Roadshow, a lively mix of pictures, quizzes, storytelling, and classroom activities. </span></div>
<div class="style3" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ian recently won second place in the Meridian writing competition and his work is currently to be seen at the Museum of Childhood. </span><a href="http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/title/a-children-s-history-of-nottinghamshire/id/4068" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span id="goog_1831376763" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span id="goog_1831376764" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to read more about Ian’s journey through the centuries </span><a href="http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Double-local-tales-brings-history-life-kids/story-14068523-detail/story.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;">and here</span></a><a href="http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Double-local-tales-brings-history-life-kids/story-14068523-detail/story.html" style="color: #9900ff; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: initial;"> </a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for an interview with the Nottingham Evening Post.</span></div>
<br />Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-74820142295965934242012-11-01T03:50:00.003-07:002012-11-01T03:50:40.630-07:00Morning After Mayhem<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBSui6o4ljOyIzm90wxz1iHdYrvrvRRN1M0IAHjCe4RspKP3ALusZMK8brB86tMumZK38dllDUpUoxff44_s4Jmx8A7CzMGKNTV5MxPB57rM6krxG9WmEB9aF_doKgOoMSNvUL04rQR5e/s1600/Mayhem+2012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWBSui6o4ljOyIzm90wxz1iHdYrvrvRRN1M0IAHjCe4RspKP3ALusZMK8brB86tMumZK38dllDUpUoxff44_s4Jmx8A7CzMGKNTV5MxPB57rM6krxG9WmEB9aF_doKgOoMSNvUL04rQR5e/s320/Mayhem+2012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nottingham, Festival of Words team prepare to launch <br />@wordsnovel as part of Word of Mouth at Mayhem</td></tr>
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What a great night! <br />
I met a load of really interesting people at <a href="http://mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk/">Mayhem</a> last night - a great combination of Mayhem fans (including a chap whose horror make up was eye-wateringly good) and Broadway cinemagoers who had just come out of seeing Skyfall (all very impressed with Mr Bond).<br />
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The lineup was great - classic takes on old stories, archive chillers from the seventies and early eighties projected on the wall, and me.<br />
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It's my second time I've had work showcased in Word of Mouth at Mayhem, but my first where I did the reading. I wrote The Good Books specifically for Mayhem - taking all my memories of watching Hammer House of Horror behind a cushion on a Friday night, and rolls them up into a tale that creeps up on you like an odd smell...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmWGQraWwZ0ATb_c-Fx0RRwp1blSjmdHyQVbt628mNVCWbGaclHjWPiQ0ixNaFxT7_eHgituwpVg5HUmGz7tJw4XCPgNdsReEA13Zjf0u8tAY9MSguDXl516ad3Fh9-0KTjhfUOq8dOch/s1600/AK+Mayhem+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQmWGQraWwZ0ATb_c-Fx0RRwp1blSjmdHyQVbt628mNVCWbGaclHjWPiQ0ixNaFxT7_eHgituwpVg5HUmGz7tJw4XCPgNdsReEA13Zjf0u8tAY9MSguDXl516ad3Fh9-0KTjhfUOq8dOch/s320/AK+Mayhem+2012.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two (A5) pages in to The Good Books at <br />Mayhem (pic: Robin Vaughan-Williams)</td></tr>
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It's a nerve racking thing, standing up in front of an audience and reading your work, but when you don't have Tom Baker's telephone number, you've got to do it. It's part of being a writer, talking through your work, and getting immediate feedback from people during and after the performance. It was lovely to chat about how I wrote the story, what parts people enjoyed, and watch other writers perform their work.<br />
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If you're thinking about doing it yourself, there's loads of advice on the interweb telling you how to do it, but here's my one tip-top tip:<br />
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A5 printouts. No, really.<br />
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When you've finished writing, change the document page size to A5 on your word processor, and print it two pages at a time on your A4 printer. Cut in half, staple into paperpack-sized notes, and never worry about your story wilting over half way through - you've got enough to concentrate on when you're presenting a chunk of your soul.<br />
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Hope that makes sense: if it doesn't, I'll show you what I mean when I perform at the next Word of Mouth in November - more details later...<br />
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If you're still in need of a chill, Mayhem runs until the 4th November - for more info, <a href="http://mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk/">take a look here</a>.<br />
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Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-591797051929135902012-10-16T03:55:00.003-07:002012-10-16T08:33:22.250-07:00Word of Mouth, Mayhem, and Me<div>
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So I've been quiet because I'm working on the next (final?) draft of my YA Victorian Adventure novel - a lot of thinking, a lot of writing, a lot of excitement. It seems like certain things have popped up at just the right time to help me write it, which I'm really grateful for. I'm not sure how they'll all fit in just yet, but there's only one way to find out, and that's to get to the finish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk/wp-content/themes/skeletonresponsive/images/mayhemlogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mayhem Logo" border="0" src="http://mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk/wp-content/themes/skeletonresponsive/images/mayhemlogo.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic: Mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk</td></tr>
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Meanwhile... after the fun we had presenting <a href="http://andrewkells.blogspot.co.uk/p/sentreceived-text-message-play.html">Sent/Received</a> last year at <a href="http://mayhemhorrorfest.co.uk/?p=44">Nottingham Writers Studio's Word of Mouth night at Mayhem</a>, I'm coming back for a second bite on the 31st October at <a href="http://www.broadway.org.uk/">Broadway Nottingham</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nx2gA2z6oCStLrbtircmJwQqEZ-MHf1bfSnVkXBfAU0n8leZoeX6Z_okJ3vA-Yg7wUP56k7cwibomtgHrjmIUGCWeewcs2uJ6Hee1fzNh7fNSW5fF9wBlOZ31dPMm0S-H9hqhl0Zofmr/s1600/DSC09200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nx2gA2z6oCStLrbtircmJwQqEZ-MHf1bfSnVkXBfAU0n8leZoeX6Z_okJ3vA-Yg7wUP56k7cwibomtgHrjmIUGCWeewcs2uJ6Hee1fzNh7fNSW5fF9wBlOZ31dPMm0S-H9hqhl0Zofmr/s320/DSC09200.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horror Writing Essentials #23: Spooky Pretzels</td></tr>
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Broadway is a great venue for writers of all kinds, and this time there'll be no hiding behind great acting talent - I'll be reading my own short story alongside <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Niki-Valentine/e/B0057NKLDG">Niki Valentine</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Megan-Taylor/e/B004XIOAQU/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1350384617&sr=8-2-ent">Megan Taylor</a> and a coven of other eerie storytellers. If you're not stuffing yourself with sweets and hiding behind the curtains on Halloween, come down and I'll tell you all about The Good Books...</div>
Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-57904990317155720372012-07-26T04:36:00.000-07:002012-07-26T04:36:14.774-07:00Messing<br />
<h4>
<span style="background-color: white;">Some days, you've got to get outside... Six quid, well spent at the U</span><span style="background-color: white;">niversity of Nottingham. Hope you're enjoying the sunshine - don't forget the sunscreen.</span></h4>
<div style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">
`This has been a wonderful day!' said he, as the Rat shoved off and took to the sculls again. `Do you know, I`ve never been in a boat before in all my life.'</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcIIJaTSzQX_T_fLXG6Anrpz3_aQAkE_SMDSzI77fhAzvPFTKxiyTRewr9Hlz6beImDqPmJmVfp9958CzQGTGmbJYcl7SowvN5eOMzLa212rMI0VMBcCT8XgGo4E7E7Yd5oZnfnFu-N_9b/s1600/Nottm+Uni+Rowing+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcIIJaTSzQX_T_fLXG6Anrpz3_aQAkE_SMDSzI77fhAzvPFTKxiyTRewr9Hlz6beImDqPmJmVfp9958CzQGTGmbJYcl7SowvN5eOMzLa212rMI0VMBcCT8XgGo4E7E7Yd5oZnfnFu-N_9b/s320/Nottm+Uni+Rowing+2.jpg" width="320" /></a>`What?' cried the Rat, open-mouthed: `Never been in a--you never--well I--what have you been doing, then?'</div>
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`Is it so nice as all that?' asked the Mole shyly, though he was quite prepared to believe it as he leant back in his seat and surveyed the cushions, the oars, the rowlocks, and all the fascinating fittings, and felt the boat sway lightly under him.</div>
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`Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----'</div>
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extract from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame</div>
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<br /></div>Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-16749662155041173272012-07-09T08:27:00.000-07:002012-07-09T08:28:26.064-07:00TimingAnother trip which came at just the right time.<br />
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I've just finished a major edit on my YA novel Coalface - a big challenge, but one that's made the story stronger and shorter at the same time. So it's time to look at new stories - and old ones...</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I found this recreation of a bedsit in </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/workhouse/">Southwell Workhouse</a>. In the seventies, it became a refuge for people waiting for a council house. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The kitchenette they've set up got me thinking about the scruffy flat above the costumiers where Hidden Daughter's anti-heroine Penny repairs clothes, tries to do right by her Catherine with soup and fish fingers, and occasionally time-travels.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you think this is scruffy for the seventies (it was, deliberately so), there's no surprises for guessing what turbulent teenager Cate thinks of coming home to something like this in 1987...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Lots of thoughts, lots of ideas... and a new challenge. Time to get stuck in again.</span></div>Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396843882035559794.post-48198866038167953952012-06-26T02:37:00.003-07:002013-02-09T14:50:40.018-08:00Editing and Tailoring<div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">Edits of Coalface continue this week - the great thing of rewrites is I take a fresh look at elements of the story I thought were great, and get the chance to make them even better.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The downside is, when you've resolved one plot point, another three unresolved plot points pop up...</span><br />
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It's tricky work, then something lands in your laptop that keeps you going.<br />
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I'm a scribbler when it comes to illustrating the alternative Victorian England of Coalface - drawings with a lot of passion, but not much accuracy. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Stirling_No._1_on_the_NRM_turntable_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1684419.jpg/300px-Stirling_No._1_on_the_NRM_turntable_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1684419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Stirling_No._1_on_the_NRM_turntable_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1684419.jpg/300px-Stirling_No._1_on_the_NRM_turntable_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1684419.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stirling Single at NRM pic: wikipedia</td></tr>
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I'm always on the lookout for things that reflect what I'm trying to bring to the page, and<span style="background-color: white;"> I have to give a</span><span style="background-color: white;"> big thankyou to Tor.com for posting some fantastic David Sims pics of <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/06/sci-fi-actors-wearing-steampunk-clothes-designed-by-prada">Prada's forthcoming range of menswear</a>. The choice of actors to model the outfits is inspired, turning the shoot into something that crackles with potential for me as a writer.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you want an idea of what Coalface looks like in my head as I'm writing and editing it, (and what I'm saving up to add to my wardrobe as of today) - this is a good place to start - just add one of these in the background...</span>Andrew Kellshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11818032752619753645noreply@blogger.com0