St Albans Festival of Words

There are no literature festivals in or around my home town of St Albans, which is a shame, but on 18th February, a collaberation between Verulam Writers' Circle, Ver Poets and St Albans Arts (STARTS) held a Festival of Words at the Old Town Hall.

I gave a short talk on getting your novel published, and also a short workshop on 'cracking story openings'.

I also gave some one on one appointments with unpublished novelists. It was quite difficult to give advice with the sum total of 15 minutes per person, but I followed most of the appointments up the next day with an email which gave me a proper chance to have a look at the sample chapters people had brought along. My advice for most people was the same though. There is craft to be learned to write a novel, and would-be novelists need help from somewhere. I found a critique partner on the internet but you could also attend a class or join a good writers' circle such as ours in St Albans.

In existance from the day is an amusing video clip. Luckily no one has figured out how to post it on blogger, so I think I'm safe. :)