Julie Mayhew’s play Stopgap airs on Radio 4 tomorrow, 8 September. 2:15pm.

Oh, and the new VWC season starts at 8pm.

… said the shop girl to Ronald Tooke, World War Two RAF veteran

See more here

It’s official, my son’s far more entertaining than I am!

No surprise there.

Check out the full story at: Son of a Busker

British SCBWI is celebrating 10 years of supporting and encouraging Children’s book writers and illustrators with their third conference.

This year the conference is being held between the 13 -14 November 2010, at The Stripe complex, King Alfred Campus, University of Winchester, SO22 4NR. This is also the venue for the regular Winchester Writers Conference which has now been supporting writers for 30 years and the university offers degrees and MA’s in creative writing.

The SCBWI conference is for writers or illustrators focusing on children’s writing. There are opportunities to have work critiqued, talk to agents, and editors and attend workshops as well as networking with established authors and illustrators.

Not a member of SCBWI? Well that doesn’t matter, the conference is open to anyone working or wanting to develop their work in the children’s genre. Check out the official British SCBWI website for more details and how to book your place.

If you are serious about writing for children this is a brilliant place to start. If you become a member, not expensive, there are many benefits: professional series, networking parties, retreats and much, much more.

If you do go, why not drop us a line and let us know how you got on?

Winchester 2010 with Plenary Speaker Sir Terry Pratchett OBE

This year the Winchester Writers’ Conference was celebrating 30 years of inspiring, encouraging and educating aspiring authors. The conference ran over three days. During this time workshops, seminars, networking, midnight reads and the all-important one-to-one appointments with agents, editors and authors were held. Not forgetting the book shop where first time authors can see their books beside established writers.

The one-to-one sessions were once again very busy. These were held over two full days Friday and Saturday. Hundreds of delegates milled in and out passed my desk, stopping only to give their details and to be given their instructions. Most came away happy from their meetings, although there are always a few who weren’t quite ready to see an agent and therefore came away with less enthusiasm. However, we all need to take a good look at our work with a critical eye and from the feedback given at these events delegates should be able to look at their work with a clearer perspective.

The conference started proper at 9am with the plenary speaker, Sir Terry Pratchett OBE. A digital image of the great man himself with this phrase “Why are You Listening to Me When You Should Be at Home Writing?” were displayed. Terry Pratchett an amazing storyteller. His keynote speech was witty and fun, we wouldn’t expect anything less from the legend. Visit http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk/ to find out more about Terry Pratchett. And after the plenary speech delegates were invited to queue to have their copies of Terry Pratchett’s novels signed. That was a rather long queue.

If you are serious about your writing then you should seriously think about attending a writers’ conference. There are two others I can heartily recommend: VWC’s own Get Writing, held at the University of Hertfordshire in February – ( Get Writing 2010 ). The Festival of Writing at the university of York – ( Festival of Writing – York ).

One thing to remember when attending these events – be prepared. Know what you want to say and find out. Ensure you send the correct pieces of work in advance if it is requested – don’t send anything that hasn’t been asked for. Accept creative criticism with an open mind – it is given to move your writing forward. And network effectively – you never know who you might be standing next to in a crowded room, or who may be sitting across a dining table. Networking is the best way to let the right people know who you are – remember first impressions count.

Who needs Facebook to keep in touch, eh? Get you own site, and see what pops up from the past. Check out this.

I have been thinking about last week’s finale of Dr Who (or rather the last two weeks, it was a two parter). I know what you’re thinking: a) you sad git and b) what’s that got to do with crying?

Trust me. I am not a doctor.

The show has probably gone from iPlayer now, so if you still have not seen it then treat yourselves to the DVDs when they come out, because the last two episodes in particular are a story telling masterclass. “What?” I hear you cry, “SciFi giving a masterclass in anything. Don’t be an ass.” Let me explain. Hear be spoilers.

The crux of the story is that, for reasons too involved to get into here, The Doctor has been erased from history. His survival depends on feisty assistant Amy Pond being able to remember him at her wedding (The Doctor had already floated the notion that nothing is truly forgotten and that if you can remember someone you can bring them back). Let’s focus in three nifty elements of storytelling.

1. Near the end of each of the pair of episodes, Amy cries without comprehension, the first time because she is happy (her lost love is back, but she hasn’t quite worked it out yet) and the second because she is sad (someone is missing from her wedding). Framing and call-back.

2. As she cries, found-love Rory refers to “that old wedding saying”. Earlier, as the Doctor confronts his impending erasure, he tells the sleeping child Amy that when she wakes she will have parents (they too had been erased) and will remember him only as a story (“That’s OK, we’re all stories in the end.”). He says she will dream of the silly man who stole the magic box (“well, borrowed it really”), the box that is both big and small (a nice diversion, something every Who fan knows about the Tardis), that it is both ancient and modern and the most amazing blue.

At the wedding, as Amy’s memory begins to needle her she remembers, stands and yells  that The Doctor is late for her wedding (a nice callback to a running joke from the first episode of the season). The Tardis begins to materialise and Rory asks “What’s that?”. Cue the old wedding saying (with belting delivery from Karen Gillan), and the Doctor is back (if you haven’t worked it out, I can’t help you).

Think about the sheer craft that went into setting up that one line. And there was nothing in the last 15 minutes of the series that had not been properly set up in Stephen Moffat’s storytelling (in sharp contrast to Russell T Davies’s somewhat ‘woo something out of the air’ approach to problem solving). Set-up and craft.

3. The trouble with SciFi fans is that they have a terrible habit of focussing on the Sci at the expense of the Fi, in practical terms meaning an over-obsession with plotting and puzzle solving at the expense of character and theme. The thing is that this episode (and indeed the whole season) wasn’t really about the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, although that was a hoot. It was about people and what we mean to each other,  the ties that bind, what it is to miss somebody dreadfully, what it feels to have them back and how bloody marvellous it is when we absolutely refuse to give up on those we care about.

And then it ended with a wedding.

A storytelling masterclass.

But if you want further evidence that a vaguely daft kid-oriented SciFi show can explore deep things, then seek out Vincent and the Doctor (written by Richard Curtis) from earlier in the season. I challenge you to find a more sensitive, candid and exposition-free look at the absolute bastard that is depression in any genre, anywhere (with a a truly marvellous cameo by Bill Nighy). That it was also wholly appropriate for a young audience, once again shows the sheer craft of the story-telling.

I know writers who say they don’t like science fiction  – and so don’t read it (or don’t like poetry, or Shakespeare…or whatever – not just SciFi). To me this is beyond comprehension. If you are serious about writing, want to understand it and get better at it, if you wish to understand why we cry, then you simply cannot afford to make casual assumptions about where you might not find inspiration.

Sad git out.

The responsibility for holding the beer kitty money proves too much for Steve. It’s amazing what you can spend £17.50 on these days.

Find out exactly what in his Desperate Househusband blog.

We now haz mobile capabilities. Innit.

Check it out on your iPhone Droid-y thing.