Arts4Every1 Writers' Workshop: 12th December 2015

Words4Every1 Writers’ Group:December 12th

Introduction

Words4Every1 Writers’ Group: DECEMBER 12th

TIMINGS:

- 3:00 PM: Dane’s Writing Journey

- 3:30 PM: Writing Activity

- 4:00 PM: Editing Workshops

- 4:30 PM: Guest Speaker: Dave Ford

Introduction

Words4Every1 Writers’ Group: DECEMBER 12th

TIMINGS:

- 5:15 PM: Break/Networking

- 5:30 PM: Readings/Performances

- 6:00 PM: Pub!

Introduction

Your Host

Hi, I’m Dane

- Social media marketing specialist of four years

- Author, poet and musician

- Debut novella – No Rest for the Wicked – available now

- Industry speaker/commentator

- General Arts4Every1 busybody

Last Time

Last Time- Writing Challenge: Childhood

- Author Elaine Will talked graphic novels and Look Straight Ahead

- Live-writing in the church

- Writing activities from Dane and Lorraine

- Awesome performances

Dane’s Writing Journey

Dane’s Writing Journey

The Early Years- I was born in June 1989, with jaundice!

- Grew up in Tamworth, Staffordshire

- We once ranked #3 on ChavTowns.co.uk!

- Dad’s an accountant, mom’s a nurse

- That’s me on the right – more awkward photos are coming…

Dane’s Writing Journey

First Forays into songwriting- I always loved music

- When I was five, I started writing ‘songs’

- These were just lyrics and melodies, often based on existing songs

- There are some recordings, but I’m not going to play them

- Lyrical gems include: “Well my gran’s 54, she sits on the floor.” She’s now 72.

Dane’s Writing Journey

Learning to play guitar- Started at about thirteen

- My dad taught me to read guitar tab and I went from there

- This renewed my interest in music and allowed me to add music to my lyrics and melodies

- The first song I ever learned: Where Did You Sleep Last Night?

- The first song I wrote on guitar: Tonight

Dane’s Writing Journey

The Results- Released ‘Nocturne’ in 2010

- All home recorded, exactly 72 minutes long

- A follow up, ‘Sketches’, is pretty much ready to go

- Approx. 200 songs written

- Also covered over 100 songs as part of my ‘One Man Band’ series

Dane’s Writing Journey

Moving into Poetry- Poems came as a natural evolution from

lyrics

- Started writing cliché stuff – rhyming stuff about how much I hated life

- Continued writing them and got slowly better, and then I developed anxiety disorder

- ‘Anxious Words’ was born – I started writing a poem every day on my cigarette breaks, and memorising them

Dane’s Writing Journey

The Results- Still writing poems every day

- Work almost complete on Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home

- Approximately 7,000 words memorised and counting

- Aiming to have memorised the whole book in time for the launch

Dane’s Writing Journey

Getting into Fiction- The next natural step!

- First major project was ‘Annie’, a novel that I wrote whilst at college

- Hand wrote the whole thing – 100,000 words

- At the time, I was studying computing; this made me reconsider and apply for writing courses at university

Dane’s Writing Journey

University- I wanted to study in London, and

Roehampton University was the only London uni offering single honours creative writing

- We were taught techniques in the lectures, and then left to get on with them

- I had my uni notes and assignments printed into books, but they’re not generally available

- This is where I started being a proper writer!

Dane’s Writing Journey

Virtual Festivals- In my third year, I did an unpaid internship at

VirtualFestivals.com

- I maintained their website listings and got to interview some (fairly) well-known musicians, including Jamie Woon, Ghostpoet, Dan Le Sac and some others

- Also got a free press pass (worth £200) to go to Hop Farm Festival and report live from the site, as well as a few other gig tickets

- Kick-started a career in content marketing

Dane’s Writing Journey

Nobull- That’s why I’m here!

- A PR agency – my first ever job interview, and they offered it to me

- I learned a trade, but hated it

- This is when I started blogging etc.

- Worked on my writing in the evenings, but kept it sharp through writing for work projects

Dane’s Writing Journey

fst- This is where I work now, in Marlow

- Basically, I do digital marketing – pretty good job for a writer to be in, because all writers need to be good at digital marketing, these days

- Being able to write is the number one skill for digital marketers

Dane’s Writing Journey

Where that led me- They say you should write what you know, so my career has led to two

books:

- SOCIAL PARANOIA:

- Non-fiction book about how social networking makes you paranoid, and how to protect yourself. Coming mid 2016.

- FORMER.LY:

- Literary fiction about a social networking site for the dead, with a sinister twist. Coming early 2016.

Dane’s Writing Journey

Blogging / Publication- My book blog, which I created and

maintain purely because I love books, led to my book deal

- I got to know Jesse James Freeman, the VP of Community Management at Booktrope, through my blog

- It’s also helped me to make numerous contacts within the international independent writing community through interviews etc.

Dane’s Writing Journey

No Rest for the Wicked- Supernatural thriller

- Released through Booktrope in June 2015

- Over 20 reviews on Amazon (average 4.5/5)

- Available today, £7.50

- Launched it here at Arts4Every1

- Feedback so far has been awesome

Dane’s Writing Journey

The Projects That Never Made It- Annie- Come On Up to the House- Inverted Commas- Oceanus- Revolution- Scarlet Sins- The Lexicologist’s Handbook- The First Year- The Second Year- The Third Year

Dane’s Writing Journey

Plans for 2016Lots of new releases:

- Former.ly: Spring 2016

- Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home: Spring 2016

- Social Paranoia: Summer 2016

Some potential projects:

- Tammityville: Memoirs of growing up in the Midlands- Robots V.S. Zombies: A trilogy, does exactly what it says on the tin

Dane’s Writing Journey

Top Ten Tips1. Write, write, write!

2. Read, read, read!

3. Edit, edit, edit!

4. Learn from everywhere – random Wikipedia pages!

5. Make friends

Dane’s Writing Journey

Top Ten Tips6. Go outside your comfort zone

7. Don’t be scared to submit your work

8. Attend events (of course!)

9. Support everyone else

10.Don’t expect to be an overnight success

QUESTIONS?

Slam Night

Slam Night:- Guess what? We’re organising a slam night!

- Friday 22nd January: Get it in the diary

- Details coming soon, but let me know if you’d like to participate

- This is to remind me to tell you what a slam is

- Let’s do it!

Activity

Writing Challenge:- Find yourself a buddy – we need groups of two

- Brainstorm ideas together to create a simple story line

- Write your story, but…

- …you have to take it in turns to write each sentence!

EDITING WORKSHOPS

GUEST SPEAKER:Dave Ford

Couldn’t be bothered to write or ask for a bio. It’s Dave – he

doesn’t need one!

BREAK:Please speak to Dane if you’d like to do a reading!

This Month’s Theme

This Month’s Theme- Love

- All interpretations welcome

- No particular word count – as many or as few as you need

- All genres and formats welcome!

- E-mail your work to dane.cobain@booktrope.com before the next session to be considered for the anthology

READINGS:Next Workshop:

3 PM – 6 PM On Saturday 9th January

Guest Speaker:Oli Jacobs

THANKS FOR

COMING