Author: Emma

Hi my name is Emma! I am a writer and artist. I work for the NHS at Converge (www.yorksj.ac.uk/converge) and I am also an MA graduate in Creative writing and am currently studying for a PhD in Humanities. I have been leading a creative writing class at the beautiful St Nicks in York (www.stnicks.org.uk) for the last five years. When I am not at work I'm on my allotment or at Base Camp (my home) planning new adventures.

Wild Camping

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It was the sight of the tree canopy at night that most surprised me most when I went wild camping in the woods last Friday.

The camp had been booked with an instructor as a birthday treat for my 14 year old son and a couple of his friends. My husband was meant to be the ‘designated’ second adult to join the sleep over, but at the last minute fell ill with a stinking cold. So I got to go! Although of course – disappointed for my husband, I was delighted to have the opportunity to camp outdoors.

With no rain predicted we pitched our hammocks in a small clearing amongst Corsican Pine trees and decided not to bother with tarps over head.

The wood was eerily still at night, not creepy though, but quietly beautiful. I felt safe wrapped up in a sleeping bag cocoon and protected by the wood. The cool night breeze washed over my face and my body was warm and snug in thermals and eider down coziness.

It didn’t get pitch black, instead a white glow shone through the canopy, which looked like an ink blot painting against the sky.

I lay listening to sheep bleating in a distant field, the occasional ruffles of a startled pheasant and the shivering of the wind through the pine needles. At 4am the wood woke up with a cacophony of sound. The little chiff chaff merrily punctuating the air ‘wake up, wake up, wake up’ against an assortment of other bird calls.

When I say it was a ‘sleep over’ in the woods, not much sleep happened, but it was a wonderful experience to be immersed in the natural world overnight, to have the scent of woodsmoke on my skin and a warm mug of tea cupped in my hands at 6am.

For anyone interested in a wild camping experience we went with Forest Quest who I can not recommend highly enough.

Why Write? How and Where to find Inspiration…

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Writing is my passion; but sometimes, it is really difficult to know where to get started and it is also really difficult to stay disciplined to find time to write. One of my students recently asked me where to find inspiration, without a class, or a group, how do we motivate ourselves to feel inspired to sit down with pen and paper? Here are my thoughts:

Writing for the Pure Pleasure of Writing:

Writing for me didn’t start with fictional stories, it started at the age of six when I picked up a pen and started documenting the things that I found overwhelming or awe inspiring in the world. I also loved the physical act of making the letters and words on the page and found it soothing creating the loops and swirls of hand written text.

Nicole Wood Jouve (2001, p12) writes in her chapter: On Keeping a Diary, in The Creative Writing Course book, that ‘writing is a source of tactile and visual pleasure. I like the activity of writing, somewhat under threat in the computer age. I enjoy writing as a craft. Something material in which the whole body can be involved.’ I think this is something that we don’t talk about enough, as well as enjoying the act of writing I also love typing, the satisfying click of the keys and words forming on a blank screen. If I am struggling to find the words or time to write, then sometimes I create lists. I have a game with my children when we go on holiday – we try to find 100 words to describe where we are. These lists are a great way of writing quickly and also a great resource to return to and write in depth about a place. Also a useful warm up before starting prose. I also sketch a lot (also easier with children around and something they find easier to join in with). I have included a reference for my favourite learning to draw book (see bottom of this post), for anyone that might want to explore this further. My sketches often inform later pieces of writing.

Writing as a Way of Making Sense of the World:

Writing diaries and journals are a great way of reflecting and recording what is happening around us, as Jouve also discusses, writing diaries can be like talking something through with a friend, it can help a writer to find their voice. It might not be writing that we publish, but might act as a helpful reference point or memory to return to which we can then build into something else. Jouve also mentions diaries as a point of transformation, we can explore different perspectives and who we want to be in the world. If we have something which we are focused on, keeping a record and an inspirational journal of our progress can help us to stay focused. For me it helped me to feel free, to explore difficult things and to savour memories, to get things down and let them go. The challenge with diary keeping is that we can fall into the trap of just ‘telling’ what happened in our day: ‘Today it was cold, we went to….we saw….. etc’.

Here are some interesting ways in which you could journal instead:

  • Use a journal as a research tool. I keep a nature journal, if I find something interesting I often start with the facts about a species when nature writing and see where that leads me. Often as I build up information and what I like to call ‘sketches with words’ other more imaginative ideas start to form. I use my journals often as a reference point for poetry.
  • Try writing a record of your day as if you were showing someone your day without telling them about it. Imagine you are writing as if they are retracing your steps alongside you. We often think our lives are boring, but when we start to explore our day with a narrative voice it is often surprising the things that we can turn into an interesting story. Play with humour and drama through your writing.
  • ‘Found fiction and poetry’ – if you visit somewhere with information leaflets or hand outs – try using them as a source point of journalling. Take some ‘found words’ in the form of a leaflet and circle the words which stand out to you, or snip up the words and re-order them. See what arises from your subconscious. This is a great way of playing with words and vocabulary. We can all get stuck in language patterns and with our favourite words, this is a great way of shaking things up.

Writing as a way of Connection:

I think this is the main reason why most people write. We have something to say, or a story to share and we want to put our voice into the world. I often hear that writing is a solitary act and people comment that it must be lonely. I would disagree. Writing for me is like baking, when we have created something delicious there is nothing more rewarding than other people enjoying what we have created. Writing is my way of connecting with the world. I miss the days when everyone wrote physical letters, when the post would drop on the matt and I would carry a folded letter in my pocket for the day – a friend’s words close to me. The challenge is finding the right audience. We don’t want to over-saturate people with our voice and there is nothing more disheartening that entering lots of competitions or writing to publishers, only to be rejected and feel silenced. I think of it this way, publishing is the icing on the cake, but it’s not the only thing that my writing is riding on.

Ways to get started writing for connection:

  • Look for local writing groups, I struggled to find a long term group that met the level and depth of writing that I wanted to do, however there are now many more writing forums and groups happening online which offer much more variety. So I would encourage you to have a go. It’s great to meet with others interested in writing and sharing words. In particular, I love teaching nature writing not only for the work that is produced but also for the stories that are shared when we are discussing what we have written. Having a weekly group is a great way to carve out time to write and to keep the momentum going.
  • Explore education. I thought I had missed the boat in pursuing a writing career, until I discovered that you don’t have to have English degree to complete an MA in creative writing. Starting an MA in creative writing was the best thing that I have done. It gave me focus, inspiration, stretched me out of my comfort zone, but most importantly connected me with others who were as interested in creating writing as I was. I can not describe how inspiring and motivating this was and it was worth every penny.
  • Investigate publications, competitions and magazines that have writing prompts and inspiration. There are some great resources to help get you started. I have included a few ideas at the end of this blog. My word of caution would be that ‘comparison is the thief of joy’. Like great baking, enjoy other people’s writing for what it is. Beware of your inner critique who will tell you ‘You will never write like that, you will never get published etc etc’. This is just your inner self trying to protect you from upset, ignore it and keep going. If publication is the icing on the cake but not the end game focus, there is no harm in entering competitions and publication calls – but be sure to have other areas where you can share and receive feedback from your work. There is room for us all in the world and many other ways of connecting with people through words than just publication.
  • Finally and most importantly, read. Don’t be scared of losing your own voice. Reading is the best way to align yourself to the style and forms of writing that you enjoy. It helps us to understand what we do and don’t like, we need to taste other people’s work as a way of connection to inspire our own words. Reading with others and reviewing books is another great way of exploring the form and creating connections.

Writing with Purpose:

I’ve broken my own rule today, of only writing short blog posts. The reason I have this rule as I think many people make a habit of blogging just for the sake of writing and posting regularly without much thought about what they are sharing just for creating content. I try to write with purpose, when I have something important to share on my blog, but also try to keep it brief and easy to dip into.

A great way of getting inspired to write is to find a passion. For me it is the natural world. I will never get bored of exploring this incredible world. Writing helps us to examine things around us in more detail and properly observe what is happening. It’s a way of looking at the world with wonder and awe, remembering what it was like making new discoveries as a child.

Try examining Why you write. Complete a 5 – 10 minute free-writing exercise jotting down all the reasons that motivate you and what interests you in the world. This can be a great way of exploring what motivates you, whether it’s creating fiction, keeping a journal, poetry or a specific genre that interests you. For anyone struggling with allowing themselves creative time, The Artists Way by Julia Cameron is a lovely way to get started and to give yourself permission to nurture your inner creative self.

Some ideas for writing with purpose:

  • If you are interested in writing novels and fiction use the real world for inspiration. Take a notebook to a cafe or park, use your observations as start points for sketching out characters and ideas for storylines.
  • Look to the old stories (folklore, mythology and fairy tales) to inform your writing. Can you create a modern tale from old? Folklore can make a great foundational structure in which to build a modern tale.
  • Find a passion, look around your home, what things are you drawn to, what have you collected, what do you surround yourself with? Whether its particular art, plants, pets – explore this further through your writing.

Writing as a habit:

As Mary Oliver mentions in the Poetry Handbook, one of the first things we need to do is simply to show up! Being disciplined in writing time and pushing through the barriers, the inner critique and the why is one of the hardest steps. I like to start with one notebook and a commitment to fill it. I rely on timers to prompt me to write, I book writing time in my diary and set an alarm for a set amount of time to get me started. By making it a regular habit it will become easier to stay focused. If you choose a theme or purpose to your writing this will also help, so that you can build and re-visit different ideas as your writing journey grows.

Useful books and resources:

Creative Writing Books:

Magazines: (These are a few I have enjoyed, however a quick google search of ‘creative writing magazines’ will bring you a lot of options – so if you have a specific genre or interest such as poetry I would encourage you to delve a bit further as there are some great resources available)

  • The Literary Review a great way of delving into literature. I’ve made some great discoveries of texts I might not have come across through this magazine.
  • Mslexia a magazine (online and on paper) for women who write. Packed full of interesting articles, writing prompts and opportunities to enter your own work. I only discovered this recently but found it full of interesting ideas.
  • SpeltMagazine – this was recommended to me recently – A poetry and creative non-fiction magazine which celebrates the rural experience. A lovely resource for anyone interested in nature writing.

I hope that this blog post was useful!

Best wishes,

Emma

The art of ‘Showing not Telling’ in Creative Writing.

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The Art of Showing, not Telling, in Creative Writing

I’ve recently been teaching a new term of Exploring Nature Writing for the Field Studies Council (https://www.field-studies-council.org/?s=explore+nature+writing ).The aim of the course is to support participants to explore nature writing, as well as honing their skills as writers. My students asked for some more info on the technique of ‘Showing not Telling’, so I thought I would include it here, as it might be useful to others.

So – what is ‘showing not telling’ in writing, and how can we practice this technique?

Have you ever read a novel, that you just can’t put down and you feel like you are living in the world of the story when you are reading, and you a desperate to find out what happens next? You have probably experienced writing that focuses on ‘showing rather than telling’.

An engaging piece of writing stays one step ahead of the reader. The reader is an active participant in building imagery and piecing together the story as they read. This makes the journey far more interesting and intriguing.

When we simply ‘tell’ a reader what is happening, we are giving them the story on a plate, with no work necessary. ‘Telling’ something is getting straight to the point, in a factual, matter of fact way.

Here is a brief example of telling versus showing:

Telling:

This week I encountered a wild deer when I was exploring woodland along the coast of Fife.

Showing:

As I made my way along the track I left the sound of the waves behind me and climbed steadily through lines of silver birch and sycamore trees. The undergrowth snagged at my ankles and the breeze dropped as we left the open shoreline. Celandine flowers shone like a blanket of stars in the dim light. The shrill cry of a wren called out from a blanket of ivy that wove its way around the roots of an ash tree and covered the whole trunk in a carpet of green.

Stopping to breathe for a moment, I noticed something flicker with movement from the corner of my eye. There, ahead of me, a deer, as still as a statue, ears pricked, wide eyed, staring straight at me. It leapt into action, gone, as fast as it had entered my line of sight. I blinked, a second later and I would have missed it.

In this brief example, you will notice in the ‘showing’ section that I did not mention specifically that I had been walking along the coast. I indicated this with the ‘sound of the waves’. Instead of saying ‘I walked through woodland’ I tried to give the feeling of the woodland, showing that it was a broadleaf wood by naming the trees and the foliage and creatively painting the scene in the readers imagination ‘celandine flowers shone like a blanket of stars in the dim light’. I used details such as the wren singing to bring the woodland to life through the senses.

I tried to recreate the fast encounter with the deer by using short sharp descriptions, punctuated with commas which built the suspense and action.

I didn’t mention that I was in Scotland, but if I had been building this into the story, I could have shown the reader this through other means, perhaps talking about an encounter with a person and building in local dialect or showing the reader through the types of buildings or a mention of the history of the area.

Personally, I think there is a balance between showing and telling. As writers we need to find the sweet point between not dragging the description out so far that the reader becomes bored, but also not just telling everything so that there is nothing left for the reader to find out. I once saw an interview with Sarah Hall, discussing her brilliant book The Wolf Border. Sarah explained that she had completed extensive research into wolves as part of writing the book. One of the hardest parts of completing the story was deciding that she had to leave out a lot of the interesting information about wolves that she had discovered. Although it was fascinating for Sarah, she appreciated that an extreme level of detail about wolves wasn’t relevant to the story as a whole and would risk losing a reader’s interest.

Here are some top tips for ‘Showing not Telling’.

  1. Use the sensory world to bring your writing to life:

If you are struggling to show rather than tell, imagine that you are on the end of the phone describing something to someone who can’t be right there with you. Use your senses (sight, sound, smell, taste and touch) to accurately bring the scene to life. You are painting an image with words, so that your listener, or reader can also accurately see the scene in their minds eye and feel the world that they are in. Small details can show the reader a lot, such as the flowers in my example – which demonstrated what type of woodland I was walking in.

2. Be specific in your choice of descriptive words.

As Mary Oliver mentions in her book ‘A Poetry Handbook’, there is a difference between a ‘stone and a rock’. The word ‘stone’ sounds round and smooth, it draws on the vowel sounds of ‘o’ and ‘e’, whereas a ‘rock’ ends with the consonants ‘ck’ which give a hard, sharp sound. Rock. It sounds jagged. The words you use will paint a picture in your readers mind, being careful you can create very accurate imagery. Again, simplicity is key, use adjectives sparingly, too many will risk becoming overbearing for your reader.

3. Write then edit.

Don’t get hung up on getting it right the first time. The most important thing is to get words and ideas down on paper. You can go back and edit later. When you have completed a first draft of your work, read it back to yourself out loud. This may sound strange, but speaking the words help us to find snags and tripping points in the flow of the writing. They can also make us realise where we have skimmed over something by ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’.

4. Test out your work on an audience.

If you can, find a few friends, or even better – a local writing group, who are willing to read and comment on your work. I would recommend finding others who are interested in writing too. You don’t need to give thousands of words, a few hundred to a maximum of a 1000 will do (no more than a couple of sides of A4). This will be plenty to demonstrate tone and voice and to gain valuable feedback on how your writing is received.

5. Read, read, read.

The best way to learn more about ‘showing rather than telling’ is to read a lot. We can learn so much from other authors. Read as widely as you can. We can identify which work really speaks to us, as well as what doesn’t work for us. Having a go at writing in the style of different authors can also help us to understand technique in just the same way many art schools ask budding artists to practice in the styles of the great masters. This doesn’t mean we are going to plagiarise their work, or copy them in our final pieces, but it can help us to explore and understand the craft of writing in closer detail.

For anyone interested in finding out more – I have found the following books useful:

  • A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver (A dive into figurative language and the construction of poetry. I found this book a little heavy at first, but took my time, making notes as I went along and have found it to be one of the most useful books that I have read in considering language and sounds in constructing imagery.)
  • On Writing by Stephen King (I think this book is a must for every budding writer. Part memoir, part creative writing course book I really liked that Stephen King gives examples of exactly how he edits his work and also his long journey into writing. This book is a great starting point.)
  • The Creative Writing Course Book, Eds – Julia Bell and Paul Magrs (I just got this book out of the university library, each chapter has a contribution from a different author examining different aspects of writing. There is some excellent advice on ‘training the eye’ in observation and detail.)

On a final note – writing doesn’t have to be with the aim of publishing. It can also be done for the simple act of observing more closely, or for our own enjoyment, don’t get caught up in comparison with others, write for a love of language first. Everything else will follow.

And just for fun ….here is a pic of my lovely dachshund!

Easter break….

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A week on the Scottish Coast. Each day filled with sea air, beach combing and woodland walks. We were lucky enough to find some plant fossils in the shale rocks.

Much needed time for writing and creativity after a busy couple of months. Looking forward to delivering more nature based creative writing courses over the next few weeks including a nature writing poetry master class and a woodland inspired four week writing course which I am planning for June / July.

I always love returning to the home comforts of Base Camp and my gorgeous cats! I think they enjoyed having the house to themselves for a week, although we have been getting lots of cuddles .

Seahorse obsession…

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If you haven’t already – check out the Seahorse Trust website. Recently I attended a lecture on seahorses with the Field Studies Council. I had no idea they were all around the shores of the UK.

I’ve been trying to learn about them through drawing and observation of the divers footage online. Beautiful creatures!

This has also inspired my painting buddy… she sold the blue seahorse painting to a friend to raise funds for the Seahorse Trust, after I shared it online 💙💙💙

The best and most brilliant thing about the natural world is that every day there is ALWAYS something new to discover!

Exploring the work of Constantin Guys…

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Yesterday I picked up a book of sketches by Constantin Guys on a second hand shelf at the City of York Art Gallery.

I had never heard of Constantin Guys before, but the drawings and ink washes immediately caught my eye.

‘…born in a Kissinger, Holland, in 1802, the son of a chief commissioner in the French navy. In 1823 he joined Lord Byron’s and expedition to fight the Greek war for independence.’

His artistic career didn’t fully flourish until he was in his 40’s and in 1854 he was sent ‘to the Crimea to cover the movements of the English, French and Turkish troops in their fight against the Russians.’

He was famous for his illustrations of life in Paris, as well as his war drawings. I love the immediacy of the work and the way that simple mark making has created the energy and movement of the soldiers and horsemen on the page.

Although a very random book to find and purchase, I came home inspired, wanting to learn more and to practice capturing movement through simple lines and mark making.

All quotes taken from: Smith K, (1978) Constantin Guys, Crimean War Drawings 1854: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio.

The Iron Coast…

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‘For when the sea is calm [says Camden], the waters at Skengrave being spread as it were into a plain, a hideous groaning is often heard in these parts, on a sudden, and then the fishermen are afraid of the sea. They believe the ocean to be a huge monster which is then hungry and eager to glut itself with the bodies of men.’

Folklore attached to Skinningrove – taken from The Iron Coast by Jane Gardam

Bright skies greeted us driving over the North York Moors to go to the coast today. I met with my best friend on the beach at Skinningrove. A little known place with a huge stretch of sand. Steeped in history Skinningrove is a Viking name – which meant Skinners grove or pit.

At one time Skinningrove was home to a large iron works which opened in 1848. Today you can find remnants of the iron industry along the coast line.

I love the raw beauty of this coastline. The Cleveland Way coastal path runs through Skinningrove which is situated between Saltburn and Staithes, the cliffs above Skinningrove are breathtaking and pass by abandoned Alum Works where huge pits of land have been carved from the cliff. Now filled with bracken and heather they are both eery and beautiful at the same time.

I would take this coastline over any other, any day. For anyone interested in the North East Coast I highly recommend The Iron Coast by Jane Gardam which captures the visceral essence and history of the area, illustrated with black and white photographs taken by Peter Burton and Harland Waltham.

Mini Adventure: The Sumptuous Dyls Cafe in York

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I can not encourage you enough to visit the gorgeous Dyls Cafe in York. Saturated in beautiful colours and a range of art work and graphics it’s a visual feast.

Based in a small tower that held the motor for moving Skeldergate Bridge in York, the cafe now has a fairy tale quality. Plants trail from windows, you follow a tight winding staircase to each floor, the top floor is a tiny round room at the top of the tower, it feels like you have been transported to another time.

I love the quirky style and humour of the decor. It’s a little adventure just spending time soaking up the atmosphere. I don’t get to go that often, but I have to say it’s my favourite cafe in York based on the interior and setting – great coffee and food too!!