Writing As Resistance
Making waves with words
What’s new with you?
Hi!
It’s Mat here. I hope all’s well with you and yours.
Eeeeek. What happened to June? Feels like I blinked, missed a whole month (including my newsletter), then woke up most of the way through July.
I’m not going to beat myself up about it though. Life happens, right?
Speaking of happenings, last month I was lucky enough to attend the National Flash Fiction Day anthology launch. I didn’t have a story in the collection, but the event was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with lots of people who did. It was a real treat to meet so many new folks, including a bunch of people I sort-of-internet-knew from Twitter or Writers’ HQ. And every single one of them was absolutely lovely. If any of you are reading this, then yes, I mean you. You, specifically, are lovely. Oh, and there were some great talks and workshops, as well as a whole heap of stunning story readings. The whole event was brilliant.
The actual anthology — ‘Tiny Sparks Everywhere’ — is great too, packed full of brilliant writing. If you read flash fiction, you should pick it up.
What else?
Well, I’ve been asked to take part in something incredible later this year — something I’m really excited about. The mighty Writers’ HQ (forum, secret writing clubhouse, powerhouse creative community), is organising a month-long series of online events — many of which are free! The “Writing As Resistance Festival” will highlight the potential for stories to change the world — exploring the subversive, rebellious, revolutionary power of creative writing.
From the website:
“We’re going to wade deep into the transformative possibilities of fiction and how stories can open portals, sow seeds of change, or lob a well-timed literary Molotov in the jaws of the machine. Fuck yeah!”
And the festival isn’t just about talking the talk. Oh no. I’ve been asked to host one of the final free-to-attend workshops, where we will coordinate a mass-submission of radical writing to a selection of top-flight literary journals. Stories composed throughout the month of write-alongs and inspiring sessions will be sent out en-masse, aiming to create tangible waves in the collective consciousness.
You want to be part of that, don’t you? Of course you do! Add your voice to a roaring, radical, revolutionary ripple of writing righting wrongs…
Yes already! Where do I sign-up?
Well… it’s funny you should ask. Just click the image below to find out more.
Top tip: Meet writers IRL
As I said above, I spent an entire day last month in a room full of actual, living, breathing, human writers — with legs and feet and everything! We drank coffee and took part in inspiring workshops. We heard incredible readings, compared notes on the lit mags we love, and shared experiences from the writing trenches. It was fun. Really fun. It was also a brilliant way to reset, absorb inspiration, and re-ignite the fires of my own creative furnace. You, my friend, should try it.
But you don’t need to wait for the next National Flash Fiction Day anthology launch. No! If you search online, I bet you can find a writers group near you. Why not join? Share some words, make some friends. Close your laptop for an hour or two and do a bit of I-R-Ling. It’s a great way to reconnect with your own creative practice.
What am I writing?
This month I’ve not had much writing time. Boo! But, a year since my first book was released, I have begun to pull together a second collection of short stories. This process has allowed me to revisit some of the pieces I’m most proud of from the past 12 months. So, I’m going to say that re-reading past stories and compiling them in a sensible order counts as writing. Yep! It counts.
The working title for this new collection is “The Ill-Stitched Menagerie” — which feels a fitting moniker for a collection of freakish, unpleasant, and bizarre tales. I’m planning to start hawking it around publishers over the coming weeks. I’m also considering the possibility of self-publishing. So if anyone has experience of that, please reach out. On the one hand, self-pub seems more accessible than it has ever been. But on the other, it feels fraught with unseen pitfalls and peril. So yeah — any tips would be welcome. Find me on Twitter or contact me by email if you have experiences or advice to share.
What am I reading?
I’ve been delving deep into the incredible first issue of Trash Cat Lit, of course.
Literally every piece in this inaugural ish smashes the proverbial writing ball out of the metaphorical park of stories. But if you were to put a gun to my head and ask me to pick just three favourites (why? why are you doing that? what’s wrong with you? where did you even get that gun from?), these would be my selections:
Cockling by Mairead Robinson - delivering devastating human tragedy in the most poetic, musical language you could imagine.
I vomited every hour… by SJ. Townend - a twisty, intensely weird narrative, thick with obsession and vengeance.
Light the fire by Gavin Turner - drawing you into the distinctly foggy inner world of its narrator, this is a slice of dark fiction that will haunt you long after you finish reading.
Aside from TCL, I also really enjoyed both issues of Carmen Et Error that came out this month — 9.0 and 9.5, guest-edited by the very brilliant Sarah Royston. All of the writing Sarah picked was gorgeous, but I especially enjoyed the tumbling flow of Perhaps my feet like roots by Sarah Lewis.
Open calls
This brand new magazine is seeking stories that don’t quite fit elsewhere. Perhaps they’re too genre-y for lit mags but too literary for genre calls. Or maybe they’re too funny. Or not funny enough. Or just a bit wonky.
Their first call is themed around 'what scares you'. But NFNF don’t want your standard Halloween tropes like vampires, zombies and ghosts. They’re hungry for “those weird things that shouldn't scare you but somehow do”. Open now. Get on it!
Another shiny new magazine, this one opens its doors for submissions on 28th July and they’re hankering for your freshest, zingiest poetry and prose.
“We want the most creative and resonant pieces of writing you have, the pieces that fizz on the page, the ones that you can’t stop thinking about … We love stories that hum with life. Fiction that resonates with relatable content. We want real experiences with the honesty and the truth that only you can write.”
The wonderful Trashies are at it again. This time they’re running a special pop-up call, throughout August. The incredible JP Relph has constructed an elaborate Rube Goldberg-style prompt-generating machine out of things that she found in the dumpsters out back.
Step 1: Make a series of arbitrary choices to generate a unique story prompt.
Step 2: Write a flash of no more than 500 words using the setting, character and object you received
Step 3: Submit your work.
The fun kicks off on August 1st. Don’t miss out!
Writing Prompt
For those of us who lack the skills to construct our own complicated prompt machines from clock parts, string, and hamster wheels … Did you know there’s a web page that will list words added to the dictionary in any year you care to mention?
<Extremely Rik Mayall voice> Well, there bloody, ruddy-well is!
And here’s where you’ll find it: at this link.
So why not put in the momentous year of your own birth? Or the year you turned 18? Or the year your eldest child was born? Then you just need to pluck some choice words from the pool, smoosh them together like He-Man dolls, make them kiss, and see where that leads.
Signing off
That’s probably enough from me for now. Next month, I’ll be back with more thoughts, tips, prompts and other groovy things.
Until then, take care and enjoy your writing.
Best wishes,
Mat