Miss Write – Blog

The friendships between women cohabiting have long been fodder for novelists and scriptwriters. Have you considered adding this element to your short story or novel?

This week I’m paying tribute to fictional my favourite fictional female flat share: the twins in “Her Fearful Symmetry” (Audrey Niffenegger). Female twins are the protagonists in this novel. The majority of the novel is set in and around their flat, located close to Highgate Cemetery in north London, and it works very well. I admire their relationship in the very least; my sister and I would certainly not survive if we had to live in a little London flat together!

Everyone who has ever shared a house or a flat with someone other than family or a partner knows there’s ups and downs to sharing where you live with others. Friends or ‘randoms’ thrown together, it can be an interesting mix.

There’ll be someone in the possibly ‘unnaturally’ thrown together household who winds you up, no doubt. My friend Alicja has constructed a whole (hilarious and shocking) blog on this subject alone. For instance, one of your housemates might watch TV on a loud setting into the night. There’ll be someone who doesn’t pull their weight with the cleaning or restocking of the toilet roll. And you know each tenant will have a different standard of what is deemed to be clean! However, you might also enjoy the company and find a new friend, make life a little cheaper by sharing the rent and bills, and cooking together can be fun. 

There’s positives and negatives to having a female (or indeed male/mixed) houseshare, and literature reflects this. Many of your readers will be able to relate to this situation, either having shared a place with someone before or having had kids who are doing it at the moment. Setting the domestic scene as a houseshare is a perfect example of a way to bring real life, real problems, and real relationships into your writing.   

You know, I can’t think of any fictional male flatshares in literature… Maybe men just aren’t so interesting to read about in a domestic or friendship context! Sure, there’s several famous ones on TV and in movies, but in books, I’m trying to think of one. Let me know if any spring to mind for you…

Lou x

Image from Learn Vest

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I’m a reader. I’m a writer. But what do titles of books mean to me? What’s in them which pique my interest and make me buy, read, or borrow that novel?

A discussion evolved a month or two ago between myself and a friend. We both decided that the words in a fiction title will influence how keen we are to buy said volume. However, if we were shopping for non-fiction, the content and writer may carry a higher weighting than how the title is phrased. 

I’m a book geek, I admit. I have kept a personal ‘reading record’, as I was taught in primary school, since January 1998. I have written the author’s name, the title, and a score out of ten for every book I have read between then and now. It would be one of the first things I’d grab if my house caught fire! Looking through my notebook, I started wondering, which books have I read where it was purely the title which encouraged me to delve into the pages?

The Beach – Alex Garland
I’m a real beach bum (take a look at my travel blog for proof!), and the title sparked something in the part of my which contains all things desire and dreams. I stole a copy from my art teacher. Sorry, Miss. I did return it, though, after I’d read it!

The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
This was my first Iain Banks novel. My mum recommended I try him out, and this title intrigued me. What would a wasp factory be like? How would you keep the wasps inside??? Of course, it’s not that kind of novel in reality, but the title worked for me. 

Millennium – John Varley
I read this only because it was the end of the millennium and I felt the need to read on the subject. The title couldn’t be more obvious and perfect. 

How to be a Canadian – Will and Ian Ferguson
In 2006 I went to live in Canada for a year. This was a present from a fellow foreigner on Canadian soil; a humourous take at the odd and endearing behaviour of our temporarily adopted nation. There can’t be a better reason to read a book named this way!

Egg Dancing – Liz Jensen
An amusing title, if nothing else! I gave this one 9/10 though, back in 2004, so it must have been more than just a well-named book. 

I didn’t read these books due to how well the novel was known or regarded. It wasn’t the cover design. It wasn’t the reputation of the writer, or the fact I’d never read anything by them before. It was the fact their novel had a fab title. I prefer short, snappy titles, but it’s not essential. 

Writers: Now consider the blog, short story, novel you’re working on, or even the poem. What does the title say to you? Does it give you a clue as to what the piece is about? Do you think it would intrigue the reader enough to open the cover or click the link?

If you really get stuck (or bored!), take a look at Lulu’s online title scorer. It’s a quick test which analyses the words in your title and gives you a ‘likelihood of success’ score at the end. Statisticians have studied the bestselling novels of the last 50 years and come up with this equation…. It’s just a bit of fun, really, but it’s worth considering to help play around with your title configuration. 

This post was inspired by a conversation I had with Northampton’s newest hair blogger, Sarah Becker. Take a look at her new blog, Get The Look You Want. 

See you next week,

Lou x

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This fell onto the page this week, so I thought I’d share. I do not hate Twitter and I do not love it – it’s a just a great tool I use to promote my blog, to network, inspire and be inspired. 

LOVE – HATE

Sometimes it’s a very fine line between the two!

Tweeting is a thing I do not need
To Tweet all day and tweet all night
Is obsession beyond reprieve

Yet tweet I do and tweets I write
Carefully constructed on a creative bent
But you can be sure it never keeps me up at night

Lou x

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Image courtesy of Leading Women

And at the going down of the sun
We will remember them

~ Lest We Forget ~

Last month saw Make a Difference Day (26th October), and this is a cause close to my heart (see my post on Volunteering Abroad: Valuable and Rewarding). Sooooo, here are 10 things you can ‘do good with’ in just 10 minutes of your time. 

1. Find a charity you’re keen on and set up a direct debit. You won’t even notice a couple of quid leaving your account each month, most likely, so find one which resonates with you and go for it. If you’re worried about where the money’s going, check out these tips on Monday Supermarket. 

2. Give a colleague 10 minutes of your day if they look like they need to chat or off-load. In these austere times and days of increased chances of redundancy, moral can be low. However, showing a friendly face and giving someone a chance to rant can help. Be careful to not take their worries onto your shoulders though – just be an outlet and someone to talk to. Angry rants, done privately, are great, according to the guys at Real Life Law of Attraction. I tend to agree!

3. Donate your unwanted books, CDs and furniture to a charity shop. More and more people are selling online nowadays and I imagine the charity shops are losing out. You’ll feel so much better for doing it than making a couple of pounds on ebay and there’s no postage to pay!

4. Bake a cake for someone sick. You know they’ll appreciate the thought, even if it’s a questionable bake!). If you google easy cake recipes, there are lots to start you off with – BBC Food is particularly good, and some really do only take 10 minutes to whip up. 

5. Call your local Council to report that unsightly flytip you pass every morning. They might not know it exists and may even clear it up, improving your local area. 

6. A grandparent is for life, not just for Christmas. Call them. 

7. Hunger affects every community. Find your local food bank and donate a few cans of something non-perishable. 

8. If you’ve got a bumper crop this year on your allotment, why not take your spare veg round to a neighbour or give to a friend? Waste not, want not! #lovefoodhatewaste

9. Test your kids. Give them a quiz to do between main course and dessert round the dinner table. Something will stick and they’ll win a pub quiz in the future (or pass their GCSEs more easily…)! 

10. Got a stressed out nightshift worker for a housemate? Why not help her out by doing her washing up which is building up on the side. The house will look cleaner for it too!

Feeling inspired?

Check out 67 things to do in 67 minutes, and action for Mandela Day (18/7/13). Let me know what you get up to in the comments below!

It’s International Volunteer Day in less than a month (5th December) so why not get involved? Check out Do It, the volunteer opportunity website. There are many roles to look at, and so many benefits from lending a hand, so take a look!

Lou x

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Born to be a Tourist – my travel blog, which I post to on Mondays

Image courtesy of The Future Melting Pot

It’s Halloween – some folks are scared by thunderstorms, so this is a poem I’ve written about a huge thunderstorm. It hit my previous home town of Towcester (“Toe-ster”) with a strong fist and I felt inspired. Yep, I’m a proud hippy. #NatureInspires 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Humbled and Rumbled

First a rumble
A flash, a pause
I’ve seen heavier rain
But these drops sound weighted 

It’s a wonder
How rain eases
In anticipation
Of foreboding anger

Stuck in a bowl
Towcester’s storms hang
Over grey cloudy skies
Loudly voicing their thoughts

Rain falls harder
Hail storms partner
Celestial thunder
Follows a splitting sky

Photographic
Blinding lightening
Catch it in the corner
Of your eye – instant light

Flashes light rooms
Excitement builds
Electricity’s loose
On a regional scale

Lou x

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Image courtesy of Wunderground

I’m back from Costa Rica and blogging about writing again! If you missed me, take a look at my travel blog, Born To Be A Tourist and see what inspiration came to me from a week in Central America…

So, dear reader, let’s get to the point. How exactly can a visit to the Doctor’s surgery help your writing? 

You might find ideas for characters in your book amongst your fellow patients and pill-heads sitting in the waiting room. Physical descriptions you hadn’t thought of. Ailments you hadn’t considered. Let your mind wander!

Eavesdrop – some local gossip might inspire a short story or a poem.

Something interesting might come up in conversation in the consultation room. I found this myself when I went for my Hep B jab last year. Good Doctors will try to distract you with conversation if you’re going under the needle, I find!

Look around you. Take in your surroundings. There will probably be medical certificates on the walls; what would a story about a Doctor who had fake medical certificates look like? Who is the Receptionist whispering on the phone to? And what do you think the window cleaner might see by accident?

There are always magazines to browse while waiting for your appointment – use them! You might find a competition you could enter, or discover a new market for your short stories.

So next time you have the unpleasant or tedious task of visiting The Quack’s, take a moment to work your creative brain. You might discover something more worth holding onto than what ever has put you in the waiting room in the first place!

Lou x

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I normally share my holiday reads with you, so here’s the next installment. 

I’m jetting off to Costa Rica again tomorrow for 12 days. I have, however,  been told by my boyfriend in no uncertain terms there won’t be much time for reading. I’m currently working my way through William Boyd’s ‘Restless‘, but I imagine I’ll finish that before it’s time to board the plane.  

I read ‘Any Human Heart’ by Boyd last summer and really enjoyed it, so no surprises, this volume is working out very nicely for me and my reading tastes… unlike when I read Tom Jones… A spy novel I can actually get on with! *shock*

I’m also going to sneak ‘East of Eden‘ (1952) by American writer John Steinbeck into my luggage. Just one extra book. I don’t intend onto finish this while I’m away, but it would be a tragedy to be without a novel on my return journey!

I’ve been recommended this book by a former colleague and borrowed a copy off my mum (who also enjoyed it), so it looks promising for what Steinbeck called his ‘magnum opus – his greatest novel.  Steinbeck stated “it has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years.” I look forward to it!

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning, hence my weekly blog post is on a Thursday instead of a Friday. I’ll see you in two Fridays time!

If you get bored in my absence, why not visit my travel blog? This blog is published every Monday, including while I’m away, so take a look! 

Recent posts include:

My Travel Life Story – in 150 words!
11 British Tourist Spots You Should Not Mispronounce 
How to find a Novel Set in the Country You’re Visiting

Happy reading, writing and traveling, whatever you’re doing in the next week or two – see you on the other side!

Lou x

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I’ve baked again… successfully! These are some chocolate beetroot muffins I whizzed up this afternoon. I’d send you one, if they’d post!

Note: Do not wear white clothing while baking these. I managed to get all the way through the bake without getting beetroot on me (other than my face), but dropped a muffin as I slid it out of a case and got raspberry coloured dots all over my top. 

IngredientsPreparation method

Lou x

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I admit it, I’ve cheated. I’ve given up and cheated on reading Tom Jones ~ Henry Fielding. It’s one of the top 5 books of all time, according to the Guardian, and therefore it was given a *coveted* spot on my 30 Before 30 list.

However, I have struggled with it so much, I have given up. I tried so very hard to read it – gave it a good 100 pages out of 400 odd – but it was just too much of a challenge. The text was hard-going. The characters were too numerous to keep up with. I felt no empathy for the characters, and to be honest, I don’t really care how the story of the poor orphan bastard ends. 

If it wasn’t for the challenge I would have given up way before 25% of the way through. Probably by page 10 ish; that or two chapters in is my normal (but rarely used) cut-off point. However, I persevered and wasted a lot of time. 

I felt kind of bad for my 30 Before 30 list.  How did I get over this? I jumped onto Amazon and bought myself a copy of the Tom Jones BBC series on DVD. It’s 312 minutes long (a double DVD set), but for £3, it’ll be worth it. And Max Beasley is playing Mr. Jones. Fab. I’ll know the story in many fewer weeks than it will have taken me to read it. 

Yes, the challenge was to read the book, but at least I will know the story now – enough to answer a pub quiz question, maybe! 

From reading one quarter of Tom Jones, I have learned the following:

I was relieved of Tom Jones by Iain Bank’s novel, ‘The Quarry’ for a couple of days. Banks saved me from going off reading good and proper, but Tom Jones is well on his way to a charity shop book shelf. 

Just Don Quixote and Pilgrim’s Progress to go on the 30 Before 30 list, then… More classics – what fun!

Lou x

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