Hello and welcome! I am Mel Parks and I run creative writing workshops in Sussex, UK. I began this Substack, Awen, in 2022 as a gathering place for my thoughts about the writing process and to share some stories and creative inspiration along the way. Awen is free to read and share.
I run a weekly Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm UK time) guided creative writing session on live on Zoom for paid members. If you’d like to join, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year. The next workshop is on Monday 10 June (then subsequent Tuesdays until 16 July).
Dear all
Dear all
Last night, I was reading The Clearing by
and I had the opening sentence of an essay pop into my head. I haven't had this for a while. It was as if my (subconscious) mind knew that today would be the last day of GCSE exams and I could breathe again. I could return to my own writing. It is time. The Clearing is brilliant and mirrors the style of work I'd like to do, interweaving memory with research and other observations about life, art, mental health.When I come across a book like this, I try to make a map of it. I look closer at chapter and paragraph level to see how the author moves from one thought to another as if it is seamless. Often when I am writing a connection happens that I hadn't seen before, so while starting with a plan or a map can be helpful, it needs to be loose enough to allow other things to enter. For me, the writing process goes something like this:
Freewriting and research.
Mind map, then linear plan.
Write a full draft.
Rework the plan. Make a list of things to address.
Revise and edit.
Of course, these stages can overlap and many times I stall at stage three. But I guess I'd like to say that while it's helpful to look at a published book and notice how an author achieved a seamless narrative, it's also helpful to remember that it didn't start off like this and that there have been many stages in getting a book to the version you hold in your hands to read.
We are about halfway through my UNFURL series of workshops now and have climbed to a high place for the view. As well as appreciating the sense of wonder and achievement (if you walked or climbed there) that you get with a view from the top of a mountain or skyscraper, it was a good opportunity to share some ideas about point of view and narrative distance in writing.
In a story as well as a memoir or even a poem, the author (you - the person writing) is different to the person telling the story (narrator or speaker in a poem). And this narrator can have different viewpoints on what is happening to the characters in the story.
To begin with, when writing, you choose between:
First person - uses the pronoun 'I' and the character is telling the story from their own perspective. They only know what they can see or experience.
Third person subjective - uses the pronouns she/he/they but the narrator stays quite close to the characters. They can tell what's happening in the character's head and will write about thoughts and feelings of the characters.
Third person objective - also uses she/he/they but the story will be told as if the narrator has a camera following the characters around and won't know what's going on in their head. This is good to practice 'show don't tell' but it can feel distant and so can be blended with third person subjective.
Omniscient - this is when the narrator knows everything that is happening everywhere and is like a higher power observing what happens in the story world. This is now considered a more old-fashioned way of storytelling.
Then, your writing will probably naturally choose a level of distance from the characters that you're comfortable with or that the story demands. This distance is known as psychic or narrative distance. It's helpful to bear this in mind when reading and notice the different emotional effects it can have on the reader. As Emma Darwin explains using John Gardner's theory in The Art of Fiction, there are different levels beginning with the narrator being emotionally distant from the characters to stream of consciousness, which is being completely in the mind of the main character.
When we did this exercise in workshops this week, I invited everyone to choose a point of view or narrative distance they didn't usually write in to try it out. And then Lyn (in 10 minutes!) wrote out a brilliant example of each different level, and she has kindly let me publish this here:
**
I brought a small collection of objects with me which I invited everyone to describe first at a distance, then closer, then touching and holding the objects. I also invited them to write about them as if they were in a junk shop and then as if they were in an art gallery.
Lyn focussed on The Thunder God book for this piece of writing.
It was 1928, her great grandfather's first novel was published. She had a treasured first edition which had disappeared after their fifth house move.
Nancy Cornwall decided that this was the very last time, ever, that she would be moving house. It was exhausting.
Moving house Nancy thought for the umpteenth time that day was the pits amongst life traumas.
Nancy was tired and fed up with moving house. This had been the fifth time in as many years and she vowed never again or it’s divorce time; their solicitor was, apparently, a divorce specialist as well as a conveyancing solicitor.
If I have to do this one more time, she thought, then I’m staying put and he can go by himself. Where had she put the box with her treasures in? She needed to comfort herself with holding her great grandfather’s book. It soothed and relaxed, spoke to her about place and time, family and the familiar.
**
Each level has its own merits and you don't have to stay in one for the whole of a story. For example, you might want to pan out to give some context and go closer to level 5 at a particularly emotional moment so the reader feels this. Though level 5 can be intense and too much for a whole story.
These techniques are useful to know if your story feels a bit flat or you've had reader feedback which shows they don't really understand your intention. But don't get caught up in them when you are starting to write. Write first, then when editing, be aware of your choices and ask yourself - what does the story need?
If you’d like to read more about narrative distance, Emma Darwin’s Substack is the place to go.
Creative Writing Workshops with me (Mel Parks)
Haiku to Haibun: The Japanese Way of Nature Writing
A nature-based creative writing workshop at Sussex Prairie Garden (in-person) on 1 August 2024. 10-1.30pm.
Book a place by clicking this link.
Tuesday afternoons on Zoom (2-3pm UK time)
£8 per month or £80 per year with a paid Awen Substack subscription.
Next session: Monday 10 June (then subsequent Tuesdays)
Last session: 16 July.
You can come to as many as you are able to.
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.
Becoming a Writer
Monthly Tuesday evenings in East Grinstead (7-9pm)
A monthly creative writing workshop for beginners. Plenty of fun writing prompts, games and activities to get your creative juices flowing.
The Writer’s Notebook
Thursday mornings in East Grinstead (10-12noon)
Series of five weeks beginning on 19 September (19 Sept; 26 Sept; 3 Oct; 10 Oct; 17 Oct)
If you attend my face-to-face groups regularly, you can also attend the Zoom group for no extra charge.
Until next time…
This newsletter was created by Mel Parks, a writer, researcher and workshop facilitator based in Sussex, UK. Mel runs writing workshops locally and on Zoom and researches creativity in midlife as well as her personal connection to nature. She has been widely published and is currently working on a series of moon and plant-inspired essays.
It is free to read and share, but if you value my work, please do stop by my virtual honesty box and leave a handful of loose change.