Sometimes calls for submissions, or competitions ask for work on a 'well worn' theme. It can be difficult to come up with something fresh, which stands out from the others, yet is still firmly on target. One idea is to try writing from a non obvious POV. Eg if you're writing about a wedding, your main character doesn't have to be one of the couple getting married. Romances don't have to be about a young woman meeting a young man for the first time and heading towards a happy ever after – there can be romance between couples who are older, or have been together for a long time, or who aren't going to stay together until death does them part.
The idea of writing from a less obvious viewpoint is just one of many in my book A Year Of Ideas; 365 sets of writing prompts and exercises, which is available as a paperback and ebook. You can request it at your local library, buy online, order through a bookshop or read it with kindle unlimited.
This tip was brought to you by Patsy Collins. If you'd like to contribute a tip to this blog, here's what to do
23 comments:
Good tip, Patsy. That's a clever way to make a tired trope fresh.
I bought Patsy's book of prompts when I was starting out submitting fiction to magazines. The very first prompt I used led to an accepted story, so the investment more than paid off. Regarding 'point of view' - The People's Friend includes stories from a child's POV, from time to time. I have written a number of these and find them an interesting challenge and a lot of fun. I remember that my first such acceptance featured a group of little girls launching a campaign to prevent their beloved teacher falling in love and getting married, as they feared she would quit teaching to start a family. There is a definite art to working with what the child in the story knows and what the adult reader can deduce, and I would say it's crucial to pick the 'right' type of child to begin with - one aged ten or eleven will probably put a decent vocabulary at the writer's disposal, but still retain a degree of innocence at variance with the adults' experience.
That's sound advice, Eirin. I am part way through one of the prompts but can't finish it satisfactorily. Maybe it will come to me. (It's been in stasis a while!) Wuthering Heights was good example of playing with the POV, it being a told story - but you didn;t feel as though it was. Goo suggestions in here, Patsy, to mix it up :)
Just ordered a copy Patsy. I've been thinking for a while I could do with thinking outside the box. Perhaps your book will prompt some fresh ideas.
Great tips Patsy, I have a copy of your book so I must get it out and have another look, I feel I need a bit of help to kick start another story, I have been working on factual pieces the last while and its so very different
This question is not related to today's post so I hope its OK. I've been meaning to ask for ages. A while ago one of the contributors (afraid I can't remember who) posted that she (I'm sure it was a she) had communicated with Andrew Shaw at Woman's Weekly and that it was OK to claim ALCS on stories he had published despite the all rights agreement. I made a note of the date of the post but now, of course, I can't find it. I wanted to revisit it. Can anyone help?
@ Alex - thanks! I've written a few stories this way, so I know it works.
@ Eirin – Thanks so much for the vote of confidence in the little purple book!
I totally agree about picking the 'right' child if you're going to write from a child's POV. I wonder if the author being a bit chilldish at times might help too - if so, maybe I should try these kinds of stories!
@ Marguerite – I've got a few stories in stasis (and one novel). Usually the answer does come and when it does I can no longer understand why I ever had a problem with it.
@ Sue – Thank you! I hope you find it useful. I find any kind of starter or prompt is much more helpful than staring at a blank page or screen.
@ Sheelagh – yes fiction and non-fiction are very different. When writing non-fiction I keep thinking of improvements and then remember I can't use those facts as I've made them up!
@ Sue – Yes, perfectly fine to ask questions on any post.
I don't write for WW now, due to the rights issue, so I'm not totally sure of the arrangements, but I believe it is somehow possible to claim ALCS on those stories.
Sue, I was under the impression that we could NOT claim through ALCS for stories published by the Future stable, including Woman's Weekly, but I would be delighted if someone knows otherwise!
I contacted Andrew Shaw a couple of years ago about ALCS. He forwarded my email to the rights department, and they sent me this message on 11/4/2023, so I have it in writing:
That is correct, an individual freelance writer can claim ALCS and there is no need for Future's consent, provided that the writer has the appropriate credits/UK ISSN. So yes, we are happy for our contributors to sign up for royalties through ALCS.
Thanks so much Maisie. I was convinced that I had seen the information on here. This time I'd better screenshot your reply. Thanks again.
While people are talking about ALCS, I was wondering if there's anyone else out there who lives outside the UK, is a member of their local collecting society, but is published by a UK magazine? When I first approached ALCS in 2020, they suggested I joined Australia's Copyright Agency, which I did. But the person I communicated with at ALCS said I should email through my list of works annually so that my money could then be sent to the Copyright Agency. I did this in 2021, 2022 and 2023, but in November last year was told that the person I'd originally corresponded with had left, that I shouldn't have been told I could send lists through, and that I would need to join ALCS.
I was happy enough to do this, until I looked into it, and saw that UK tax is deducted from non-UK residents' payments. This seemed an added complication. On their website, they encourage people to join their local collecting societies, so I'm a bit bewildered about how all this works. To date, my money's been sent from ALCS to Australia's Copyright Agency. If I no longer list my works with ALCS, does that mean I can no longer be sent money? Or is my name on my works enough, along with the fact they know the Copyright Agency can collect on my behalf? I find the whole thing so confusing, and really no-one seems to be able (or willing) to explain how this actually all works in terms of ALCS transferring money to local collecting societies. It would be great if another writer here had insight into this. Liz
@ Eirin – It's complicated! According to what's on the ALCS site we can't claim unless we hold copyright, and of course if we sell all rights we would no longer do that. However some people have asked and been told that if the copyright holder agrees then they can claim.
The magazines apparently can't claim, even if they do hold the copyright, so they have agreed in some cases (according to what I've seen - as I don't give up my own copyright I can't speak from experience).
My advice to anyone in this position is to ask ALCS in writing, and ask the magazine in writing, and if both agree to claim, keeping a copy of those replies in case there are any queries later. In particular I'd ask about the little box we have to check to say we hold copyright – I'm not sure what you do about that if you don't hold the rights.
@ Maisie – Thanks for the clarification. You're right to keep a written record of what you've been told.
I urge anyone else in this position to obtain their own written agreement. I don't doubt Maisie at all, but if there was ever a problem over this, the fact someone else had been told it was OK wouldn't be much help.
@ Sue – A screenshot will be useful to refer to, but please get your own permission in writing.
@ Liz – Sorry I don't know about overseas claims – hopefully someone else here can help.
One thing I do know is that we do have to claim for each piece of work (if it's something like a regular magazine column it can be done as a batch, but we still need to say how many articles). Nobody at ALCS looks at the magazines and credits us for writing we've not claimed for. Maybe an Australian organisation can claim on your behalf, but I'm sure you're going to have to give someone a list.
Sorry I can't help with ALCS enquiries but I've now withdrawn all of my reserved stories from WW (it was 7) as I was so fed up of waiting for them to be published. In some cases, it was 3 years. I doubt if I will send any material to WW again, because of this reason, unless it's a one off Xmas story.
@ Liz Sorry I don't have anything helpful to add, I know of no similar collecting organisation in the Republic of Ireland so I joined ALCS & though I don't have a huge output its still a nice little boost. It does mean that contributions to Irelands Own are not included anywhere. Now if anyone knows of anything different I should be doing I'd love to hear from them.
Liz, your situation sounds really frustrating. I wonder whether you might be able to get some advice from the Society of Authors? They seem to answer a lot of legal questions for members, so might at least be able to signpost you towards help, even if you are not a member. And Patsy - I, too, wonder how to deal with that little box that ALCS ask you to tick to confirm that you hold the copyright to your story - is Future's go-ahead email really enough? (Sorry to be negative.)
Now I'm worried! If anybody hears anything that contradicts what I was told, please can you post it on here. Many thanks!
@ Maisie - have you asked ALCS? If not, email, explain the situation and ask for clarification about how to claim. Hopefully it's exactly what you've been doing.
Don't go by what others were told - it's possible their situation is different, they've misunderstood, or something has changed.
Maisie, I did not wish to cause you any alarm! You have made your enquiries, got a response from the relevant people and acted in good faith, so you've made every effort to claim legitimately. I apologise from the heart if I have caused you to worry (I am a worrier), and I genuinely don't think there's cause for anxiety when you have clearly sought to do things correctly and can show this.
Thanks for the advice, Patsy. I've just emailed ALCS to check I've been doing the right thing. No need to apologise, Eirin... I'm just prone to panic about anything involving claiming money, tax etc !! 😀
I'm the same Maisie and have spent a few hours on this today and last night looking back. There is a post on this blog from way back whereby Emma Shacklock clarified Future's position, saying it is OK for us to claim. I had also forgotten that I emailed ALCS in June 2023. Their reply confirms that if the publisher agrees then it's OK with them.
I've also emailed Andrew Shaw, following on from advice from Patsy that we should seek our own permission. Not heard back fro him yet but will share when I do.
Thank you to everyone for their very helpful advice on ALCS and Future. I’ve sold a few stories to them myself and never thought about claiming, but I’ve now made a note to make my own enquiries as suggested.
Thanks for all the responses to my ALCS query. Since posting, I have heard back from ALCS, and it seems like I do have to join them in order to submit the necessary list. Then I'll have to work out how to avoid UK tax being taken out as that will complicate things with my tax here. It's all a bit annoying after being told by ALCS to join my local collecting society instead, back when I first queried - and they're still suggesting that route for overseas writers on their website. All a bit unhelpful when the overseas collecting societies can't actually collect anything for you unless you give ALCS a list. Anyway, while I don't expect to get very much money from this, every little helps. Liz
Thanks, Maisie. And, encouraged by your investigations and this blog, I will be joining you in pursuing ALCS payments for Woman's Weekly stories.
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