My Conflict with Conflict

So I saw one of these "Be a better writer..." ads pop up on my newsfeed recently. Maybe I was tired and my mental defences were low, but I read the first paragraph. The key thing, this short story expert was telling me, was that a story HAD to have conflict. It's just a journal entry if it doesn't have conflict, it says in absolute tones. You cannot have a good story without conflict. Your protagonist has to face an opponent, be it another person, nature, god or circumstances... Sounds great. I love a good dust up. I love stories about overcoming adversity. I love them in the traditional and the unusual sense. Some of my favourite writers are masters of devising and setting up conflict... Then there is Angela Carter... 

Child Writers Beware!

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“You are turning me into a sceptic” my wife said waving a mock accusation finger at me. As a mobile nail technician my wife comes back with a whole of host stories from her various colour clients and I just knew this was the start of just such an anecdote. Without elaborating I understood what sort of episode had occurred. A naïve person had just been told the truth about something they had invested a large degree of belief in and my wife now wondered whether or not it had been worth commenting in the first place. In the sceptical world this is called debunking. It is more popularly known as “pissing on someone’s strawberries”.

The woman looked at my wife with a beaming smile on her face. Being a mother, my wife knew that look all too well. It’s that smile that says pride like no other. A pride reserved for one’s child. “My daughter is having her short story published!” the woman announced. “Congratulations” my wife commented, as you would, and waited to hear how this came about. Apparently the young girl, aged 11, had entered a competition through her school to have her short story published in a book of collected stories. It would appear this woman’s daughter was a young girl of rare talent. But before we assign her to the ranks of child author stardom alongside Dorothy Straight, Anne Frank, David Klein and Susan Eloise Hinton, there is more to the story. My wife does not mince her words. “Are they are asking you and other parents to buy this book?” she said. Wishing to demonstrate the proof of her offspring’s literary success the woman pulled out the letter that revealed this exciting news. It was a letter she hadn’t read very well.

It all seemed good. Too good! My wife is the long suffering spouse to a writer, so she has had to read the type of letters writers receive from people who agree to publish. Rarely are prospective publishers who have agreed to take a gamble on paying for the printing and production of your unproven work reveal their joy in the acceptance letter. The letter is usually business-like and straight to the point. This wasn’t one of those letters. This was a letter that began with the great news that her daughter had been “chosen” to appear in the book and then ended with an order form. This was a letter that now wanted this woman to pay almost £15 per copy of a book that contained all the “chosen” children’s stories. My wife put the obvious rhetorical question, “I don’t mean to rain on your parade but don’t you think that this has gone out to all the parents of all the children who entered this ‘competition’”.

The initial reaction to this new development was anger. It is a typical response to anyone who has invested belief in something they so desperately want to believe and then been shown a convincing argument that throws serious doubt over said belief. Involve a person’s child and that belief can be strong. Denial is an also a common defence mechanism especially if the argument reveals that the believer has been duped in some way. My wife didn’t push the issue, being a mother herself she could empathize with the raw maternal feelings present at the time.

Vanity publishing comes in many forms. It can prey on the desperate new writer and in this time where fame has become a type of currency, the temptation to pay in order to get your name on the front of a dust jacket is more alluring than ever. There is a very legitimate way to pay for your work to get into print and some very reputable publish on demand (POD) services provide this. I know a good number of great authors, such as Geoff Thompson and Heather Vallance, who have found self-publishing to be a much more profitable avenue for their books than the traditional method. It is also worth noting that even the great epic poet, John Milton, self-published. It is debated that the lines between vanity publishing and other self-publishing services have blurred since digital media and the emergence of the internet. However, the distinction remains that vanity press derive all their profits from having writers pay for their work to be printed and have no real vested or direct interest in the authors being able to sell.

What is particularly disreputable about the type of vanity publishing described in this article is that not only is it targeted at parents via their children, but that it is not really very honest. It doesn’t seem to present much of a competition in the first place and worse still the “prize” is for the parent to pay for a book that includes their child’s work alongside countless others. Actually it probably would have cost far less to have the short story self-published by a reputable POD like Lulu.com. Unfortunately I do not have the name of this particular group, although “Young Writers” appear to offer a similar service and charge the same amount for their poetry competition books. There is a strong rebuttal offered in a comment to a reviewer on Dooyoo.com http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/services-misc/young-writers/1320735/

The next time my wife saw her client a rational cooling off period had done the woman some good. Rather than going deep into denial she saw reason. She went to her daughter’s school to investigate a little further. She spoke to her daughter’s teacher about this “competition”. The teacher was delighted to announce that all of her students had got their work into the book. Hey, what are the chances! Now who do you think might have been on a commission there?

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

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My Favourite Podcasts

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I would be very interested to read a decent argument against the concept of podcasts. Free entertainment and free education readily accessible to anyone who has a computer and internet access has got to be a good thing. I grew up on a travelling circus, so we were often on the move and my wonderful mother could not always read to me, so audio books became a substitute. As a writer, I take on reading like a type of training. Unfortunately my hectic, time-consuming and demanding schedule can make getting the volume I need to get in very difficult at times. However, taking Stephen King's advice I use the audio book, which I can listen to on my lengthy car journeys and when my eyes are too tired at night to make up the extra hours. The podcast can be a recording of a radio programme or an audio book or can be uniquely created for the purposes of being downloaded. Some are even visual as well as audio, but this doesn't suit me. If I can watch it I might as well read it. You simply get a free account with iTunes or another "proprietary digital media player application" and search and download your chosen podcasts from there.

I have varied interests and I subscribe to numerous podcasts, too many to justify listing in this review. Below is a list of my absolute favourites, but there are many other very good ones. I admit to having a bias for a lot of BBC work, but this is only because Radio 4 provides such well produced programmes.

History Podcasts

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

You don't get nor do you need a better produced programme than this. Dan Carlin and his team take a lot of time and care with these podcasts that focus on a wide range of historical subjects, sometimes forming a series. The research is great and it is good solid history not sensationalism, in fact, Carlin even addressed pseudohistory in an early episode. However, the real appeal is Carlin's own reflections and idiosyncrasy, something I liked in the great crime historian, Martin Fido. Carlin speaks with a theatrical intensity, which marks him out as a storyteller and there are understated sound effects in the background that adds to the experience. At present there are three different formats. The main ones are lengthy pieces on particular subjects in history such as the Punic Wars or the Battle of the Eastern Front. Then there are the Blitz editions, shorter more general pieces, which Carlin created in response to listeners moaning about there being too long a wait between podcasts. And then from time to time Carlin interviews his favourite historians. This is a great podcast that is always worth the wait and is understandably one of the most popular of its kind in the world.

In Our Time

This is Melvyn Bragg's academic weekly series on history. The series accepts at least a peripheral understanding of the subject matter, as Bragg interviews a board of very erudite academics. It's still a great listen and brings up fascinating details, as well as debates on certain areas of history. Bragg is a highly experienced chair on such discussions and does a great job of keeping everything together as passionate academics are often wont to tangent off on their favourite area of study. Like all Radio 4 podcasts the programme has superb sound quality and does not contain any musical accompaniment.

BBC History Magazine

This is BBC History Magazine's twice weekly podcast and a great promotional tool for the UK's most popular history magazine. However, it is far more than a marketing gimmick or at least it has evolved from that status. Now it clearly has a life of its own and the style takes its lead from TV programmes. Reporters visit various locations and interview all writers to each issue. I can't tell you how many great books I have bought because of this great podcast. This podcast uses Mozart as its signature tune.

The History of Rome

Mike Duncan is sometimes considered to be up there with Dan Carlin as far as quality history broadcasting is concerned. His podcast is also a very professional and fascinating programme. From the earliest records of the Roman Empire, Duncan takes us throughout its fascinating history. He does bring up various theories on certain eras and, like Carlin, he follows empirical evidence in his account of historical events, however, I would like to see a bit more scepticism from him. For example, there is some compelling and not to mention commonsensical arguments in the mainstream concerning whether the emperor Caligula really was a complete raving lunatic. Tony Robinson brought this interesting idea up in his series on the Romans. Having said this, Duncan is much fairer with Domitian an emperor loathed by the senate who tried to paint him in the same light as Caligula and Nero, but actually probably did a reasonable job. This podcast is generally weekly and has its own short gentle signature tune.

Historyzine

Since its start this podcast seems to be preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession, which it has serialized now for over a year. However, there are other areas also covered in every episode that seem to promise other subjects being possibly on the agenda. Every episode has a bit of trivia on the history and origin of a word used in the English language. Also, every episode contains a very balanced review of another history podcast, which has been very helpful. Each episode contains a different introduction tune, which is always a piece of classical music.


Literature

Librivox

Librivox gives you the opportunity to download a huge and fast-growing library of classic titles. Anything that has fallen into the public domain is fair game to this impressive group. This means you have free access to a vast range of titles in the English language. You can either download the full unabridged book in its entirety in one go or get an episode every time you go onto iTunes like any other podcast. I have downloaded works by Mark Twain, Ayn Rand, Rudyard Kipling, Mary Shelley, George Orwell,
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edward Gibbon, Hans Christian Anderson, Oscar Wilde, Aesop, Bram Stoker and many others. There is, of course, a drawback. Librivox is supported solely by volunteers, amateurs who read and record chapters of the books. This means that every single chapter begins with a short introduction advertising Librivox and the person reading the piece. The sound quality is generally quite good, but the reader's abilities to read out loud vary tremendously. Some do a fine a job, but there are others who are not so clear or have difficulty putting much energy or personality into the task. Also, some books seem to have been read by a voice synthesizer for some very strange reason and are best avoided. As you can expect production values are pretty basic, but this hasn't stopped me from enjoying listening to some of the greatest books and stories ever written.

Pseudopod

This is a superbly produced weekly horror podcast. After an informative introduction, detailing background information on this week's author, the reader for the week reads a professional short story from the horror genre. The stories are always adult in content and it is a real treat to get access to so many different works not in the public domain. Each episode is then finished with an entertaining sign-off, discussing the subject of the story or other related works. Occasionally, but rarely there is a review Pseudopod has its own creepy industrial sounding signature tune, which is pretty cool.

World Book Club

I am not quite sure how regular this podcast is as it seems to download as and when. However, it is a very professional programme focusing on one author each episode. The author is invited to read excerpts from his or her most famous or latest book and then to answer questions from the studio audience or from emails and telephone calls from around the world. It is a great premise and a huge variety of authors have been on the show, covering a very broad range of genres from Michael Bond (creator of Paddington) to Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose) to Lionel Shriver. If you love literature then this programme is a must for you.

Scepticism

Skeptoid

Brian Dunning's no frills but extremely informative programme on single sceptical issues. This is a very consistent weekly science podcast, focusing on debunking myths, urban legends, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience and other weird phenomena. Dunning sees himself as the Al Gore of sceptics, but I think he does himself a disservice. He has a very frank and direct approach to public speaking, not without warmth and certainly not without humour. He is also clearly very interested in education and dedicates special episodes to answering questions posted specifically by students. He also has his own live educational show, designed to promote science and his website is extremely interactive with a forum and places to post up comments on individual shows. No stranger to controversy Dunning dedicates regular shows to addressing his critics too. Another divergent type of episode is also one where he addresses any mistakes he may have made, promoting the importance of critical thinking. However, the main shows are all about single extraordinary topics where scepticism can be applied. I subscribe to all the main sceptic programmes, but Skeptoid is nearly always the one I listen to first. This is mainly due to its short and sharp approach, giving the facts in an entertaining way and generally focusing on a single issue.

Little Atoms

Little Atoms is a British sceptical podcast. It takes its lead from the Enlightenment, focusing on science and rationalism. The format is solely interviews and is comparable to the American "broadsheet" type podcast, Point of Inquiry, which is also worth listening to. What I like mainly about Little Atoms is the focus on ideas. It is not scared to move away from the negative side of scepticism and look at the exciting ideas that are coming out of the ever progressing world of science. Furthermore, it expands its field in history, my main area of interest, and social studies. Conspiracy theories also get a regular debunking too. Interviewees have included Alan Moore (graphic novel author of "From Hell", "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Watchmen" and so on) and Michael Shermer ("Why People Believe Weird Things").

The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (SGU)

This is the New England Skeptic Society's rather lengthy yet regular podcast containing a panel of scientific sceptics. The show includes guest interviewees and focuses mainly on current topics in the media. On a scale of seriousness in the sceptical world I would put Point of Inquiry at the top (it's a bit like "The Times" of sceptical podcasts) and The Good Atheist at the bottom (this is a much more fun orientated sceptical podcast), and the SGU comes somewhere in the middle. It has the right balance of humour and serious science. It also takes account of the length of its programmes and has addressed this by producing a great companion podcast called the SGU 5 x 5. This is a five minute podcast with a panel of five sceptics addressing a single subject such as homeopathy or logical fallacies.

Martial Arts

I couldn't write a review on my favourite podcasts without mentioning podcasts on my very dear friends Geoff Thompson and Iain Abernethy.

Geoff Thompson

Richard Barnes interview Geoff Thompson every week on his weekly article. Geoff made his name through promoting realistic self defence concepts and was quite a controversial and inspirational figure in the martial arts. He certainly inspired me to change my training methods. However, after writing many books on this topic Geoff moved more into motivational work, screenplay and stage play writing. His movie "Clubbed" came out in 2009 and his short film "Brown Paper Bag" won a BAFTA. His articles nowadays are generally self-reflective philosophical works, what he calls "journey notes", and provide the general focus of his discussions with Richard Barnes. However, since the podcasts inception a lot more has been added to the show. Emails and letters are answered and discussed all with a lot of anarchic humour. Richard Barnes, a former radio DJ, adds in a lot of regular running gags, making the whole show a peculiar yet entertaining hybrid.

Iain Abernethy

Iain Abernethy is at the forefront of the UK's pragmatic traditional martial arts revolution. A keen and thorough knowledge of history along with a determined practical attitude have helped Iain become one of Europe's most sought after martial arts coaches. Iain's podcasts also focus on articles he has written for his blog and as time has gone on have become more controversial. His podcast is always well plotted out with a strong and thorough argument made.

Comedy

Ricky Gervais

This is a bit of a shameless promotion of Ricky Gervais's audio books. I say audio books, when really they are "discussion" Ricky and his fellow writer, Stephen Merchant, have with Karl Pilkinton. I say discussions they are more like bullying sessions. I have been a fan of Ricky Gervais's work since The Office and I nearly always find him entertaining. So, yes, these are generally just promotional excerpts and Ricky telling us, with intended post-irony, how free the podcast is wears a little thin after a while, but they are still very funny.

BBC Friday Night Comedy

This is the Friday series of comedy programmes on Radio 4. Sometimes it is the "News Quiz" with Sandi Toksvig and sometimes it is the "Now Show" with Punt and Dennis. Both are satirical and both contain some great comedians. So, if you like "Mock the Week" and "Have I Got News for You" then you will probably enjoy this weekly podcast.


Miscellaneous

Thinking Allowed

Sociology professor Laurie Taylor presents this weekly Radio programme. There are often two topics per show although special shows have completely focused on a single topic over multiple episodes. Taylor has a wonderful gentle style, often introducing a topic with reflections from his own life. Subjects almost always centre on a new academic book or a new social science paper, where Taylor interviews the book or paper's writer. Letters and emails are also read out to regarding an issue covered in the previous episode, usually providing additional information or corrections. Subjects go across the whole spectrum of sociology, stretching into criminology (a personal interest of mine) and sometimes even neurology.

Start of the Week

Andrew Marr's Monday morning programme for Radio 4, where he leads an overlapping series of interviews-cum-discussions on a newly released book, film or TV series. Marr attempts a tenuous theme, interviewing each author/creator in turn, but allowing questions and comments from the other interviewees. It makes for an interesting listening experience, as interesting links are found between otherwise quite different pieces of work or media.

Stephen Fry's Podgrams

I don't whether Stephen Fry is choosing to continue with his podcasts, but it is a shame if he has finished. Still available for subscription or downloads, Stephen decided on an interesting format. One episode would be a carefully considered and plotted out topic of his choice and the next one would be a more off-cuff style ramble. It worked for a while with the hugely intelligent and interesting celebrity providing a lot of fascinating information before launching into a truly hilarious tirade against some pet hate or another. Definitely worth a listen.

If you enjoyed this review please show your appreciation by voting for it on the below link:

Dooyoo

Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

Follow the Black Swan

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First of all let me apologize to the gentle reader who was misled by my title. This is not going to be an enlightening piece of literature, where the black swan is a metaphorical representation of some philosophical idea I am trying to convey to you. The black swan does have a symbolic meaning to me that I might divulge at a later time, but it has little to do with this post. This post is about one thing and one thing only: money!

Start any credible writing course or read any decent book about writing as a profession and you are more than likely to be reminded of the immortal words of Dr Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money". Most courses that are serious about getting you paid for your written work will encourage you to write letters for newspapers that pay, enter competitions for cash prizes - you will note that the vast majority of small writing competitions award cash prizes for a good reason - and indeed chase anything that means a monetary return. There is little place for pride in the early life of a writer trying to turn profeessional. In fact, the story of the struggling writer who prostitutes himself in anyway to make his talent pay is a virtual modern proverb these days. Check out the very funny Ed Reardon's Week for a great caricature of the overeducated writer desperate for work or, indeed, the Ricky Gervais's series, Extras for examples of an artist tortured by the continued loss of his credibility. And yet ask many non-writers their opinion on writing for a living and they will think it is a simple case of writing a book and sending it off the lucky publisher keen to get their hands on your gold. You then receive nice fat advance payments for every subsequent book, as you laze back in your expensive surroundings just waiting for the inspiration to grab you before writing your next bestseller. J.K. Rowling is cited as the supreme example of this and it is perhaps why many a struggling writer see daggers at this phenomenally successful writer. The truth for most, however, is a very different story.

When I was at school I remember a special room being set up where students, in their free time, could investigate career opportunities. You would enter your career of choice and then be given a list of the qualifications that best suited this job and the places in further and higher education that offered them. Then it would tell you what the general job prospects were. I remember going into the room with the same writing myth in my head I have previously described. The qualifications came up, English and History. I was overjoyed. My two favourite subjects! Then job prospects followed: very poor.

As the years have past I have got work in print. I even sold my first two not very good short stories quite easily, but this did far from open the floodgates of opportunity for me. I wrote for martial arts publications, using the vehicle of my twin passion to get some leverage up the professional ladder of opportunity. Unfortunately the ladder was sort of propped against the wrong wall, as the industry rarely pays hard cash for any work. It is a business based on the fact that a highly competitive world of clubs and retail businesses are falling over themselves to get publicized, meaning that some people virtually pay to get their work in print! I do know at least one person who got paid to write for a magazine, but from his account it was a severely unbalanced Faustian deal. Luckily I was published with Martial Arts Illustrated who although didn't pay me hard cash gave me free advertising space. So, I worked out a way to promote seminars off the back of articles I wrote on good martial artists.

Eventually I did succeed in getting a book into print and significantly it wasn't a martial arts book. However, no serious businessman would have been impressed with the niche market returns I received versus time and effort put into researching and writing this book. Mind you, this is the general nature of the writing business. The general path most professional writers take is qualify as a journalist and then to start writing their books in their spare time. This is not the route for all of us, much less those of us who weren't qualified to become journalists when we left school, however, the principle is a very sound one. Get paid for perfecting your craft in order to support the projects you love. Of course, journalism is an art unto itself and many journalists only write books as sideline and incidental projects. Their real love is their actual job. If you are a writer like me, however, you want to write books for a living. You want to write about your intererests and passions and receive a serious income for it. I am on my way and I have found some useful new tools at my and your disposal.

Writing has always been an accessible art to most people. That's why you get the J.K. taunts. Most people could write a book. Most people can also make money from it and some recognition. This blog is proof of the latter point. The internet has proven to be an incredible tool for today's generation of writers. It certainly has some big dangers varying from being dragged into listless or empty self indulgent writing, where your work is never going to generate any indirect let alone direct monetary returns, to the new problems with copyrighting http://web.me.com/penandspindle/heathervallance/The_Goblin_Market/Entries/2009/7 /31_Why_My_Copyright.html However, if you can steer your good ship, Discipline with strong awareness light on well across the internet then there is plenty that can be used to your advantage.

According to Don Tapscott's Grown Up Digital the era of the critic may be at an end. Few consumers trust the words of the distanced academic "expert" over someone they can relate to. The internet provides a collaborative community, a global one at that, which forms groups and trades information. Savvy internet companies realize this. They understand that Tapscott's Net Generation like to read reviews from people like themselves before they decide to buy a product. They also understand that this community will reward and recommend good reviews. Many sites, such as Amazon, have done this. I am actually a member of Amazon Vine, a special group that receives any early releases they list whenever I want free of charge in order to review them. This is hardly payment for my services, but it was quite nice to receive that recognition for a bunch of reviews I wrote years ago as an exercise to see how my work reviewing non-martial arts items might be received by the general public.

However, what prompted me to write what has become a rather lengthy ramble is a price comparison website called Dooyoo. This is where I appear as the BlackSwan featured in my title, writing reviews and actually getting paid to do it. How do I find the time? Those who know me will understand that time is not a plentiful commodity at hand. I try to restrict myself to writing stuff that is directly related to my own work - be it teaching martial arts/self defence or promoting my book. However, like most writers I am also constantly feeding off inspiration. This mainly comes in the form of books and entertainment. I love to discuss these things and there are plenty of people who enjoy reading my opinions and recommendations. Therefore, I thought why not use the time I would normally use to reply to an email to make some money?

Dooyoo was recommended to me through the famed "money saving expert" Martin Lewis. Here's the page I read: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money-surveys#review I am not interested in wasting my time on paid surveys. That's not what I like doing. The point is I like writing about works that either inspired me and also ones that didn't. If you are a reading this you are more than likely to be a person who enjoys writing and enjoys sharing their views on different media. This a great exercise to get your views out there and to see if they people find them useful. Better that than to write a big explanation on Facebook, Myspace, a forum or the like whether or not you thought the latest episode of Big Brother was any good.

When I first registered with the site I was expecting - rather pompously - to see a huge slew of badly written reviews and plagerized work. Although there is a lot of dross on the site, which is only to be expected, I was astounded to see a large number of good writers, many like me who have their own professional website and blogs. The community was very much the embodiment of what Tapscott described in his book with members policing and rewarding one another. If you do decide to join up, here are a few pointers I have learnt early on:

1. Obviously don't plagerize. Any new review is immediately registered and the community are onto it like white on rice. You will get a rating - Very Useful, Useful, Somewhat Useful or Not Useful - pretty quickly. There are a lot of serious users on this site, and a good number probably relying on it for a decent secondary income. However, there is nothing wrong with recycling an old review you may have written on your blog or another website that encourages customer feedback. My advice would be to preface the review with a small disclaimer that the review has been previously posted elsewhere - if it is on your blog then that's more advertising!

2. Make sure your reviews are for products only listed by Dooyoo. Remember it serves as a price comparison website, so many of the products are from other retailers. There is a function that allows you to only see products in the Dooyoo catalogue. You won't get points for reviews written for any other products. It might add to your profile, but the money is way too small and time is far too precious to bother with that sort of thing. Also, if I know many of you like I know myself you will get snared into producing more and more work without any instant rewards.

3. There are two types of review, an express review and a premium review. The premium review is the one that pays the money 50p per review. These immediately get advertized once you have written them. You have to get £50 before you can request a cheque. Express reviews are any reviews under 150 words. They don't get advertized and I guess are a way for to save an incomplete reviwe online, a review you can later add to in order to make the 150 word count. You can edit any of your online reviews at any time. You get points for good ratings on your reviews by other members, points that help get you to your money mark, therefore you are given an incentive to produce both quality and quantity.

4. Join me. Let's get our Circle of Friends going. That way we can build up plenty of points and our work better recognized, which means more money! Also don't forget to give me ratings when on get on there. Follow the BlackSwan! http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/member/BlackSwan/



Don't forget to check out Jamie Clubb's main blog www.jamieclubb.blogspot.com

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