Category: Writing

On Tuesday I read at Short Fuse Leicester. It was a fantastic night. I had an easy three hour train journey, allowing me lots of time to relax beforehand. I went for a curry with my friend Jen, who recommeded Kayal, saying its food was very different to what I'd find in Brighton. I ate an incredible mango-based dish which I'm still craving more of a couple of days later.

Leicester's Y Theatre is a lovely, plush venue with by far the biggest stage I've read on. The theme for the night was Sweetbread, Bitter Bread and Polly had chosen six interesting (if somewhat grim!) stories. I particularly enjoyed Bead Robert's story about clocks, which sparked some interesting discussions about pigs on our table, and Jo Cannon's story about grief. Headlining was Tara Gould with her story Little Birds, and Tara gave one of the best performances I've seen from her.

One of the things I love about reading my work out loud is that it can draw out aspects of the story that aren't obvious on the page. Particularly when reading a first-person piece, the line between writer and characters can become clouded. The night was particularly interesting for me because I was reading in front of my Mum for the first time. I'm not sure what she made of her son reading a story about bondage, but she said it was well-read.

Another great thing about nights like Short Fuse is getting to meet other people who are interested in writing. I knew a few of the people there from online such as Jo Cannon, who I workshop with,  Damien Walter who organises the Literature Network site I blog for and Lydia Towsey, one of the other bloggers.

It was a fantastic night and I hope to be there again before long. The next Short Fuse Leicester event is in May and features a short-story from poet Jean-Binta Breeze. Thank you to Polly and everyone else who made it such a lovely night.

• Dan Rhodes responds brilliantly to his critics (via Richard Blandford)
• Roger Ebert on telling jokes: "Like knife-throwing, joke-telling should never be practiced except by experts."  The essay includes a fascinating observation about stage height and ten rules for telling jokes.
• We need a break – a lovely article where Scott Pack suggests publishers take a break from releasing new content. 
• Plans.  Needs.  Blues. is a great story by Sara Crowley. It's less than 500 words, so don't tarry and click the link.
• Max Dunbar on some drawbacks to self-publishing.  Max's blog is well worth following.

I will be appearing at Short Fuse Leicester on April 21st at Leicester's Y Theatre.  It's a very exciting night for me as it will be the first time my parents have heard me read in public.

The theme for the night is "Sweetbread, Bitter Bread".  Headlining is Tara Gould, reading her story 'Little Birds'.  I'll be reading a story called 'meat'.  Also appearing are Kate Niland,  Jo Cannon, Bead Roberts and my friend Rosy Carrick.  Tickets cost £7, or £5 concessions, and can be ordered online or by calling 0116 255 7066.

Full details on the forthcoming event, as well as last month's, are available here.  Do come along if you can as this will be awesome!

I was recently invited to write some blog posts for literaturenetwork.org.  Over the next 12 months I'm going to be writing about the limitations and opportunities of creative writing.  The first post, How Many Readers Do You Need? is now up:

"Every creative writing course hints: it could be you. They
promise access to agents and the chance to break into the world of
publishing. After years of perseverance, of writing in coffee shops and
cold flats, your novel might be published and become huge. You too
could be as big as JK Rowling."

Please do visit the original post and leave a comment if you like it.  Ian Hocking posted an interesting response, raising the questions "What would motivate a person to contribute financially? How would the writer get in touch with these people to start with?"

Since writing the original post I've discussed the issues involved with a few people and the main question I'm left with is how many people am I a true fan of?  Is there anyone I've given 1/2000th of a living wage to in the last year?  How many people are ever likely to be supported by true fans?

Some of those questions might be answered in some later posts.  Meanwhile I'm drafting a post for May on why the novel is almost dead, and why that doesn't matter.

Last Sunday I read at Short Fuse's erotica night.  I was more nervous than normal since the material was very different – I don't often stand in front of large groups saying words like  'clitoris'.  It was less stressful than I expected and I was happier with the reading than usual.  In fact the only problem was the intro I wrote, which was evidently less amusing than I'd thought.

I really enjoyed the other readers too, but best of all was Catherine Smith.  Her reading of a filthy story called Telepathy was a revelation, one of the best readings I've seen.  All in all a lovely and inspiring evening.  I want to write some more erotica in the future.

The problem with this weblog is that I don't always have exciting things to talk about but when too many things are happening I don't have time to post.  Consequently the weblog documents the moderately exciting times in my life. 

Life has been pretty good lately, apart from a disastrous trip to the park this afternoon. First a bird used me for a toilet and then I feel over in the playground.  Somehow I avoided swearing and was very brave and didn't cry, but – MY KNEE HURTS!

I'm going to spend the rest of the evening sulking.

What did I do at the weekend?

Well, I spent Sunday revising a story, which involved reading a great deal of Anais Nin.  Reading industrial doses of erotica is a strange thing.  After the first hundred pages or so it all blurs together.  You turn the page, hoping for a surprise and…  Oh wow, people fucking again.  

Still, I persevered, finished the story, and sent it off.  I received an email this morning to say it's been accepted and I will be reading The Dirty Bits at Short Fuse's erotica night this Sunday.

The story is on it's 3rd title, having previously been called Dirty Books and Madrugada.  I originally wrote it back in 2007 and it's waited on my hard drive since then.  The revised version is much stronger, and features excerpts (samples?) from Anais Nin and Georges Bataille. It's going to be an interesting piece to read aloud, a little showier than my usual pieces. 

Short Fuse is on March 8th in the Komedia's Studio Bar and costs £4 entry.  The night also features short stories from Tom Rice, Afsaneh Gray, Naomi Foyle and the poet Catherine Smith. It should be quite a night.

I was very nervous about reading at Wordplay last night.  I was reading second, following the incredible Spliff Richards, which made me even more nervous.  As it was the audience seemed to enjoy themselves and I felt OK once I was reading (although onstage might not have been the best place for me to start improvising edits of one section).  Rachel afterwards described me as a ‘solid’ performer, which is, I think, a compliment.  It was a lovely evening, also featuring the charming Bristol poet, Nathan Filer, who reduced one woman in the audience to tears (of laughter,  fortunately).  Thank you to Rachel for inviting me to read.

Here’s a video of Mr. Filer with his poem Perfidious Albino:

The new issue of Incorporating Writing is now out (downloadable from here).  It was guest edited by the Tight Lip team, who asked me to contribute an interview with poet Gary Goodman.  I spoke to Gary towards the end of last year at the Royal Albion hotel. 

Editing the interview into an article was interesting work.  Some fascinating responses were cut to allow the article to flow.  Halfway through we were interrupted by an accident outside, a young woman knocked off her bicycle by a learner driver.  It was a disturbing thing to watch and seemed as if it ought to be recorded, but never fitted into the interview.

The magazine is a good read, featuring some provocative articles, an interview with China Mieville and photos from Sam Collins.

I meant to post this before Christmas, but somehow missed it in the excitement of Winterval.  As mentioned on Sparks blog, the video footage of my reading at Sparks 2 is now on youtube:

I've not actually watched this, as I can't bear hearing to my own voice (something I need to get over, particularly if I except other people to listen to it), so let me know what you think.  No comments so far which is probably a good thing as youtube commenters aren't known for their good manners and intelligence.

Also online is Vanessa Gebbie reading her story 'Gas Gangrene'.  Thanks to Jo Horsmann for putting these up. 

I recently found a cache of old school reports.  The most interesting one was from the village school form teacher I had at 11:

"His creative writings reveal a very vivid imagination.  His stories are full of good ideas and phrases but James lacks the self-discipline to develop and shape them for the reader's benefit.  His understanding of the main rules of punctuation is good but he does not always apply them to his own work."

Some people still claim my stories are self-indulgent and that shunning the word 'that' isn't a sign of talent.  It's weird to think: all the years of education since then and I haven't improved.  My goal for 2009 is simple: to summon the self-discipline to finish my novel.  I think the punctuation's good enough though.