Notes from the Cavendish: Endings

My six-week Writing for Children course seems to have passed in the blink of an eye - and I am bereft! I don't like endings. I'm useless at goodbyes. I struggle to hang up the phone and even at the end of a casual get-together with friends or family, I'm never the the one who ups and leaves first and simply says, 'See you later.'

I know, I know - I have 'abandonment issues' - and I know too that endings are what make space for new beginnings, but the knowledge doesn't help.

As a children's writer, reaching the end of a story can be hugely satisfying, but there are challenges too. Children hate to be patronised so the ending doesn't necessarily have to be 'happy'. It might be thought-provoking, bitter-sweet, twist-in-the tale, hopeful, redemptive or whatever. But I think young people, like most adult readers - me included - want a resolution to the problem posed at the beginning of the story. I may struggle with goodbyes, but I still don't like cliffhanger book endings.  

Whether the protagonist 'wins' or 'loses' in the final do or die confrontation, when the stakes are at their highest, what's important is how the main character has changed. What have they learned - about life, about themselves? How have they grown?

And after it's all over? Well, I don't want to be overly-dramatic (OK, I do!) but for me - as a reader, a writer or a course tutor - then comes the let-down, the anti-climax, the sense of being cast adrift, the headlong plunge into limbo and having no idea what comes next... that's where I am now.

I'd love to hear how other people feel about endings... what are the best last lines you've ever read? How do you say goodbye - in writing or in life?

Notes from the Cavendish: Beginnings

The New Cavendish Club

The New Cavendish Club is a private members' club near Marble Arch. As a venue for a writing class, it was perfect - a bright, airy, spacious, quiet room in an elegant Georgian building with friendly, welcoming staff - and a world away from most adult education classrooms I've worked in.

I have just started teaching Writing for Children for The Complete Creative Writing Course on a temporary basis and as usual, before I actually arrived and met the group for the first time, I suffered my usual bout of apprehension and 'stage fright'. I've been teaching all my adult life, but the sense of nervous anticipation before I begin a new course never fades. Of course, I always tell myself it's the surge of adrenaline I need to deliver a 'good performance', but until I've looked the students in the eye, learned their names and established that they aren't likely to fall asleep or walk out - or bite! - the fear remains. And at least it means I never underestimate how scary it might be for some participants to read their work in front of a group for the first time.

Naturally enough in this first session, we looked at how to begin stories and engage readers from the very first line - with questions, strong emotions, tension - and writing what you know or love and/or for the market - with its different genres, age-ranges, word counts. Oh yes, and not forgetting the seemingly contradictory demands of literary and commercial fiction, and balancing original, high concept ideas with the latest trends...

I couldn't help dropping in one of my favourite quotes:

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. (Madeleine L'Engle)

We interrupt this service to...

... go on holiday... celebrate the publication of Spike in Space... edit and re-write (no, not *tweak*) sections of my next book, Dance Dreams... make several routine hospital visits... and most exciting of all, to finish the young adult book I've been writing with my son!

Here's the summer in pictures:

La Bolli, Radicondoli, Tuscany

                                                                                                                                                                          

                

I learned - or acknowledged -  two seemingly contradictory things about myself during this time. Since my sons flew the nest and I've become a full-time writer, mainly working alone at home, I am no longer as gregarious as I once was. I like my own company and I sometimes find large groups overwhelming. On the other hand, collaborating and co-writing a book with my son was a truly wonderful experience, so it's obvious - and something of a relief - that I'm a long way off becoming a recluse. Lucky too, because I have Black History Month school events coming up soon and I start teaching a short Writing for Children course next month.

I hope you enjoyed your summer too.        

                 

Vocare & Pascho

A couple of months into my RLF Fellowship at the London College of Fashion, I mentioned to a friend how much I was enjoying it. It reminded me of how much I love teaching – the chance to make a difference in a pupil or student’s life, to share in their learning and help them reach their full potential. Teaching, I declared, was my vocation. She was surprised. To be honest, I surprised myself. Where does my writing fit into this? Is it just a job; another career I’ve moved into or is it something else entirely? I’ve been thinking about read more