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Who's in May 08's magazines due out 3rd April?
Who's in May 2008's magazines (due out 3rd April)?
If you spot yourself, please let us know which magazine and which page. And the name the article appears under if it differs from your Talkback name.
Comments
Haven't looked at the rest yet, but congratulations to everyone who gets a mention.
And congrats to everyone.
Also had the book launch for Eight Hours at Cardiff on Friday night, photos on my website and very short manic video at www.youtube.com/castingpods
Will be going to the Foyles Short Story event in London this Saturday - http://foyles.co.uk/events.asp?#shor Also videoing a bit of that and podcasting. Im on at 3.30 but hoping to be there for most of the day to see the other writers. V exciting. Anyone in London pop in and say hello!
dorothy - I subscribed to WN for a few years ago then let it lapse for all the reasons you state. Since coming on TalkBack, I decided to re - subscribe, but haven't had the magazine yet (though the DD has come out of the bank !) I am wondering now if I should un -subscribe again ! Are we just cynical or what?
Well done to Viv, Rebecca and Verica too.
Saturday 5 April
Short Short Story Festival
In association with Tales of the Decongested
Join us to celebrate Get London Reading with a free Short Short Story Festival a full day of events examining and celebrating the short story from every possible angle. Involving almost 40 writers including Toby Litt, Tom McCarthy and Andrew Holmes the day of readings and discussions includes a lunchtime writing workshop and culminates with a special Tales of the Decongested with the opportunity to submit your short short story (no longer than 1000 words) for a special flash fiction reading.
Attendance is free for all sessions, but due to the casual nature of the event, reservations are not being taken and seating will be allocated on a first come, first served basis on the day.
Bookings are being taken for the lunchtime short story workshop where places are strictly limited, please email [email protected] to reserve your place.
For a full line up of the days events please click here <http://www.decongested.com/new/SSFestivalProgramme.doc>
The Gallery
10am 8.30pm
I agree with Dorothy to some extent. I don't bother to read the DSJT column, and I've given up trying to read Clive Davies- perhaps it's just their style I can't get on with.
I wonder if WM has not got as much stuff to fill the pages each month, so are bulking it out with author profiles as they will cover a number of full pages.
I'd be happy to have less profiles and more shorter filler items.
Did you all fill in the questionnaire that was in April's WM?
I'd just like to say that I enjoy the Clive Davies' articles. On several occasions I've gone on to read the authors he mentions. This month's was also relevant to me as I've just bought the new War and Peace mentioned (going through a big Russian thing at the mo.)
Re the winning story in WN - I enjoyed it, although the ending was a bit predictable, but I would just like to say a word for poodles who are constantly having the p* taken out of them, including (in passing) in that story.
We used to have a poodle and they are very intelligent dogs. It's not their fault that some people give them daft haircuts!
By the way, congrats to Rebecca (v. funny), Verica (good point), and Viv - good show! :)
I keep putting my postcode into the search box on the site, but just get a map saying I am here, which I know. I was hoping for a list of local events. What am I doing wrong?
I think it's a fair point. There do sometimes seem to be a lot of author interviews in the magazine. But I seem to remember many threads on Talkback complaining about the column inches given to celebrities and wishing for interesting stories from "real" people. One of the things I get from reading about the up-and-coming writers is that a lot of them actually ARE real people: struggling with the same things I do (exhausting day jobs, demoralisation, how to be a productive writer and have a life too, etc.). None of them have yet shown me a magic formula for how to balance my life and be successful, but all of them offer that little bit extra encouragement.
I also have to keep asking myself how I'd feel if the situation was reversed - if I was the new author, struggling to make a ripple in the literary pond, only to be beset with cries of "I'm not interested because I've never heard of him". I actually think that part of WM's commitment to helping aspiring authors includes showcasing the achievements of new, up-and-coming writers once they achieve their first successes. It's much-needed publicity and encouragement for the writers themselves. I know how much I'll value that, in the far-off day when I'm hawking my first poetry collection around :)
For those who want the "celebrity" author interviews there are always a fair few of them too. We've had Joanne Harris, Ken Follett, Tracy Chevalier, even (*shudders*) Gyles Brandreth in the last few months. These are hardly people that nobody has heard of.
Dorothy, different people need different things from the magazine. You've had a lifetime in writing and publishing, and we can all bear testament to your wisdom and willingness to share it. It may be that you're simply at the point where the "how-to" articles and the top tips from the interviewed authors are things you learned years ago. That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of us who still need to learn those things. Also, your genre interests now are quite specific. The poetry articles may be of no relevance to you but they're probably the most important part of the magazine for me. Others need the articles on the women's-magazine stories, the writing for children, the TV writing, even Clive Davies (whom I personally find fascinating, although I can see he may not be to everybody's taste). In a magazine that's trying to be all things to all people, maybe the problem isn't so much that other interests are OVER-represented, but that yours are UNDER-represented. That's certainly an issue that could be worked on.
My complaint is the LACK of how to articles, not that I don't want them! I don't want FIVE or SIX profiles from people I have never heard of. Their books should be their publicity, not them in a writing magazine. In a newspaper, their books get the review, not them. See the difference? I judge a book by the cover and blurb, I might well find these people in a bookshop (second hand preferably until I know if they are any good - being published does not mean good, as I keep finding out - my daughter is reading a book by an eminent historian and equally eminent writer and it is riddled, literally, riddled with errors and confused writing) and decide to give them a try. I do not want them plastered all over my writing magazine. Of the latest batch of people, only our MW deserves the publicity, he's worked damn hard for his success, IMO.
I offered WN a set of nuts and bolts articles on how to write. They are under represented. I don't need them, perhaps, but others do and that is where I think the magazine should slant itself, toward offering a wide range of writing articles, not 'look I made it' articles and smiling people who are clutching copies of their published books. My Writing Day is another wasted page, do we really care???? Does anyone care that I write in a room covered in moons and stacked with books on medieval life? any chick lit or thriller or crime writer could not care less!
My interests cannot now be represented in a writing magazine. After 30 years of writing and 13 of editing no magazine will hold my interest for very long. But I would like a half hour read, not a fifteen minute one. This morning I had a lovely feedback letter on my own magazine. I work on the layout extensively, changing, getting the balance right. Two profiles in 4 pages is NOT getting the balance right, IMO and I told her so, in some very long emails yesterday.
The magazine needs: script writing, TV writing, novel writing, article writing, children's writing, poetry, short stories, possibly the Helpline (if someone else did it!) Stuart Palmer and Greta with her computer clinic. If yo can't fill 70 pages with that, you're not doing the job properly. Am I about right here? Clive Davies has no real place in a writing magazine. He reviews, he doesn't tell you how to write. Grumpy Old Bookman is funny but - having the contents page spread over 2 pages is cheating. Having your own advertisement spread over 2 pages is cheating. Overlarge graphics are cheating. We do not need profiles! Using my layout, Amboline, would that not appeal to everyone? Forget my interests, if there aren't lengthy articles on how to cope with medieval dialect, strange armour, complicated politics and death and destruction, there is nothing there for me!!!!
It would be nice to have specific writing exercises to do, which I've seen occasionally but a regular slot would be better. Or other 'how to' articles that aren't quite so broad brush as a lot of them seem to me.
I agree that just because I can't get into Clive Davies' articles, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be there- though strangely enough when he first started contributing his articles I enjoyed them. But much of his stuff recently just doesn't appeal.
I'd prefer to cut the profiles by one and fill those pages with something else.
As said the magazine has to appeal to all levels, and that is the hard balancing act.
:)