The Lovely Bones

An article by Gillian E Hamer

"Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them." - Susie Salmon, The Lovely Bones.

As a fan of the paranormal, I was delighted to learn that this month sees the release of the next predicted ‘big thing’ from director Peter Jackson, following his huge successes with Lord of the Rings and King Kong. This time, the story lucky enough to receive his magic touch is the 2002 novel by Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones.

Film critics are already citing the film as the new Sixth Sense, and reviews describe the acting of Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon and Rachel Weiss as outstanding in bringing to life the story of a young girl following her death ...

But the author’s inspiration to write The Lovely Bones is equally as chilling and moving as the novel. So, what drove Alice Sebold to write in a genre that is dismissed by many publishers as out-dated and unsaleable? Did she have any choice in the matter?

Read the full article in the February 2010 issue of Words with JAM

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year

Here at Words with JAM, we would just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to and read the mag, hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and wish you all the best for 2010 - there's a fantastic year ahead ...

Erotic Fiction: The DOs and DON'Ts

So you want to write erotica?

You've browsed the magazines, read some anthologies and you're ready to have a go yourself. But what are the rules about writing erotica: are there any? Indeed there are. I will be outlining some points you must keep in mind if you hope to have your stories published.

Barbara Scott-Emmett writes women’s erotica under the name of Barbie Scott. In the second issue of Words with JAM she offers some tips on writing erotic short stories for publication.

Submissions

REVIEW COPIES
Publishers are free to submit review copies for consideration. Please email [email protected] for a UK postal address. 


SHORT STORIES AND POETRY
We feature one or two short stories and poems in each issue. Due to the magazine being free, we are unable to offer payment at this time. We are however more than happy to consider previously published material, and include a short bio and links back to your own site.


Word count for short stories should be no more than around 2200 words and poetry no more than 45 lines ish - this is purely because we are tight on space and in February only managed to squeeze in one story and one poem, and not because we can't be arsed reading longer submissions.

Due to the number of submissions we receive (and because it's rather messy and confusing) can you please include on the actual Word document, at the top, your full name and email address. We don't mind what font you use, or colour, or size, or alignment, so long as you don't take the piss - white is very difficult to read.

This is so we can contact you back and you don't think we're ignorant when your email gets buried and all we have a file and we've no idea who it's off.

The email address is [email protected]


ARTICLES
We are always on the lookout for new articles by aspiring columnists. 


Due to the magazine being free, we are unable to offer payment at this time. We are however more than happy to consider previously published material, and include a short bio and links back to your own site. That said, please don't send us articles about how wonderful you are or how brilliant a site/service you can provide for the writing community (see 'advertising' for that). Generally useful and/or funny is what we go for.


So, if you have a distinct voice, with an edge, and something to say, put a proposal together and send it to [email protected]. Don't forget, flattery gets you everywhere. We'll consider it and get back to you (we aim at less time than your average agent ...). 

Paul Auster's Invisible

Roland Denning reviews Paul Auster's latest novel, Invisible in the next issue of Words with JAM.

Experiencing Synopsis Hell?

In the next issue of Words with JAM, Sheila Bugler will pull on her white coat and work together with one of our readers to help improve their synopsis. She will be giving in-depth comments, as well as line edits, and we'll show you a before and after version to help you understand how you can implement her suggestions in your own synopsis.

Sheila's first novel, Ready to Fall, won her a place on the 2008 Apprenticeships in Fiction programme. The novel was also short-listed for the Wannabe a Writer novel-writing competition and the Youwriteon.com Book of the Year. The book is currently with a publisher who may or may not decide to publish it. In the meantime, she's working on her second novel and spending way too much time indulging her unhealthy interest in synopsis-writing.

To read the full article, please make sure you are subscribed to Words with JAM, and we'll send you the next issue directly to your inbox.

Rights and What You Need to Know

An article by Lorraine Mace

For many writers, and not just newcomers to the world of freelancing, it is hard to understand exactly what we are signing away when we accept a contract. Can we sell the same piece of work again? If yes, where and how often can it be sold? If no, why not, and have we been paid fairly for losing out on all the other rights we could have offered elsewhere? The following sections should help clarify exactly what is meant by each Right offered, because, as writers, we need to make sure we are Getting it Right.

Read about Serial Rights, First Rights, Second Serial Rights, All Rights, Subsidiary Rights, Electronic Rights, Exclusive Rights and more in the next issue of Words with JAM (due out January 2010).

Testing Feeburner

Just testing a new widget. Please excuse us.

What Makes a Reader Choose YOUR Book?

Did you know that only 25% of readers come into a library knowing what they are looking for? The other 75% come in to browse, and will choose something on impulse. The proportions are similar if you look at people’s behaviour in high street bookshops.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the average length of a visit to the library is a mere FIVE MINUTES. Taking into account the fact that a number of people will come into the library for longer periods, to study or to use the internet, this means that many library visits may be no more than two minutes long. You only have a very short time to grab your reader’s attention.

So how do people make that snap decision to buy/borrow a book?

Read the full article by Catriona Troth in the next issue of Words with JAM

60 Second Interview with Peter Ho Davies

We're definitely working on pulling out the stops for you. The first of two interviews in the next issue of Words with JAM is with Peter Ho Davies ...

Born to Chinese/Welsh parents, Peter Ho Davies’ first published collection of short stories was The Ugliest House in the World (1998), which contains tales set in Malaysia, South Africa and Patagonia. This collection won the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award and the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. His second collection, Equal Love, was published in 2000. In 2003, he was named by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'.

His first novel, The Welsh Girl, published in 2007 was ‘long-listed’ for the Man Booker Prize 2007, and short-listed for The Galaxy British Book Awards ‘Richard and Judy’ Best Read in 2008.

Peter Ho Davies lives in the United States and directs the MFA Programme in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan.

www.peterhodavies.com

Popular or What?

Well, it looks like Words with JAM's subscriber rate has just doubled since we sent out the first issue.

Please do keep forwarding your copies and asking anyone you know, who you think would like to read it, to subscribe.

We have a date!

Well, the first issue is out there (you can still get hold of a copy by subscribing), and we are pleased to announce the second issue will be released on January 27th.

If you are subscribed you will automatically receive a copy direct to you inbox (or in some unlucky cases, your spam folder, so don't forget to check).

Remember that all subscribers are automatically entered into our free prize draw held every issue!

Eclectic, Intelligent and Accessible ...

Not entirely convinced by the intelligent, but hey, we're not complaining:

"Words with Jam' is an eclectic, intelligently written and accessible resource for those who want to read about books worth writing but above all those who want to write books worth reading. A cheerful companion on a very lonely journey."

Richard Jay Parker - author of Stop Me

www.richardjayparker.com

It's Free-e-Day

The world's biggest celebration of Indie Culture.

Find out more, spread the word, enjoy the downloads, and join in a range of debates and webchats and workshops for independent creatives at

http://www.facebook.com/l/43fc4;freeeday.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/l/43fc4;freeeday.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/free-e-day-webchats-how-they-work/

plus download the fantastic free eprogramme for the event with 100 contributors and some amazing creativity in its own right as well as complete listings
http://www.facebook.com/l/43fc4;freeeday.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/its-free-e-day/

The hard work's over - have some fun!
And if you're in Oxford, come to Free-e-day live!

http://www.facebook.com/l/43fc4;freeeday.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/free-e-day-live/

And keep spreading the news for December 1st 2010!!

What the agents say about Words with JAM?

"The new e-magazine gives inspirational and entertaining stories as well as including lots of helpful hints and information for new writers. Writing is very solitary and this can only encourage and aid our novice writers to become the novelists of the future. It's also great for established authors, too."

Betty Schwartz - freelance agent for Christopher Little

Wigtown Poetry Competition

The 2010 Wigtown Poetry Competition is now open for entries.

Please click here to view full details and to download an application form.

The Wigtown Poetry Competition is the largest in Scotland with a first prize of £2,500, runner up prize of £750, eight additional prizes of £50 each and a Gaelic prize of £500. The winning poem and runner up will also be published in the Scotsman, or its sister paper Scotland on Sunday and the winner will be invited to appear at the Stena Line Wigtown Book Festival 2010.

To download an application form click above, or alternatively email [email protected] or send an SAE to:

Wigtown Poetry Competition
County Buildings,
Wigtown,
DG8 9HL.

If you know anyone who would like to be added to this mailing list please send their full email and address to [email protected].

Don't have a copy?

Just subscribe [box to your right]. You will be sent an email with a link to confirm your subscription, then once you've confirmed you will be automatically emailed a copy of the mag.

That's it, Folks!

The first issue of Words with JAM has now been sent out to all subscribers. If you don't receive your copy in the next couple of hours, please email [email protected] and I'll email it to you (whilst also hitting my head on the desk trying to figure out why you didn't get it to start with).

I hope you enjoy it! Please do leave comments here or email me.

JD Smith

Editor

Ta Much, Everyone!

The Words with JAM team would just like to says thanks to everyone who subscribed, and particularly all those who asked people they know to subscribe, too.

We will be sending the first test issue out shortly and would love your feedback. If you have any comments at all, please wiz an email over to [email protected] with NOVEMBER ISSUE COMMENTS in the subject bar. We will be publishing some of your comments and feedback in the next issue.

Hope you all enjoy it!

The Man Behind Sherlock Holmes …

An article by Gillian Hamer

When the latest incarnation of Holmes hits the screen on 25th December 2009, with Robert Downey Jr taking the lead against Jude Law’s Dr Watson - Guy Ritchie as director will be hoping to do for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, what Peter Jackson did for JRR Tolkien.

A look at the man behind Sherlock Holmes in the first issue of Words with JAM ...

We have a WINNER!

The winner of the Christmas prize draw, for a copy of Bits, Bobs and Baubles, has been drawn at random and will be announced in the first issue of Words with JAM. The copy will be posted out at the beginning of December to arrive before Christmas.

We will be having another prize draw for the next issue, so please do keep subscribing, as you are all eligible.

Best of luck!

Christmas Prize Draw Closes Tonight!

We would like to remind everyone that to qualify for the Christmas Prize Draw, to win a copy of Bits, Bobs and Baubles (a compendium of Christmas tales, recipes, stories and more) you need to be subscribed to Words with JAM by midnight tonight.

If you miss the cut-off, don't worry. We will be having another prize draw for the second issue, to which all subscribers are automatically entered.

New Address

We would just like to let everyone know that you can also visit our blog using the following address: http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk - don't worry, the old one still works, too.

On Meeting an Agent

This is becoming huge on the net - Roland Denning's promotional video: On Meeting an Agent ...

Writing for Children - Successfully!

An Article by Anne Stormont

In over thirty years as a teacher, I’ve read, discussed and recommended many children’s books.

I admire children’s writers. Everything that applies to writing for adults applies even more so when children are the intended readership.

With children you have to get it right first time, every time and there are many wonderful authors who do that. But there are particular pitfalls for children’s writers. For the unpublished, lack of awareness of those traps can mean failure to get a contract. For published authors it can mean poor sales.

The full article in the first issue of Words with JAM!

Douglas Jackson - History in the Making

Doug Jackson, author of Caligula and Claudius, talks about what inspired him to write about ancient Rome, and getting a six figure deal with Transworld:

I suppose you could say my new career as a writer began thirty-odd years ago in a large hole in the ground.

I’d left school in Jedburgh a few weeks before my sixteenth birthday, and, like a lot of kids that age I had no idea where my future lay and no immediate prospects. Luckily a friend worked in the local employment office and found me a place on a Youth Opportunities Scheme.

It was just pure luck it turned out to be restoring a Roman marching camp vandalised by the Forestry Commission, who then had a remit to tear up any part of Scotland they liked - a bit like the people who build wind farms today, but with evergreens.

Along with a bunch of hard-bitten labourers, I was transported each morning out into the bleak but beautiful Cheviot Hills, given a large shovel and put to work replacing the long avenues of peat the commission ploughs had churned up. It didn’t take me too long to work out that I was more or less doing what the Roman legionaries had done 2,000 years earlier, but in reverse ...

Full article in the first issue of Words with JAM.

What Not to Tweet

An article by Dan Holloway

Becoming a self-publishing pariah, virtual or otherwise, is very simple if you remember the prime directive, and let everything you do flow from it. Self-publishing is about writing a book and selling as many copies of it as you can. The poor deluded fools who tell you it’s about engaging with your readers, about a long-term strategy, about building a base of loyal fans over several years, and selling progressively more copies of each of several books, are just that. Poor deluded fools. It’s about this book. The one on your hard drive. The “book you had in you”. And flogging it. To as many people as you can persuade to part with their cash. After all, tomorrow takes care of itself. Right?

Social Media and the self-publisher

We’re in the heart of a technological revolution. We have more gadgets and widgets at our disposal for Flogging Our Book (fobing) than ever before. The key to becoming a virtual pariah is to use them all. As much as possible. After all, you want to fob as many people as possible, so you’d better use as many tools as possible, and spend as much time as possible doing so, because that way you will have the widest audience possible and the most people possible will buy your book ...

Full article in the first issue of Words with JAM!

Flash Fiction Competition

Writelink's Tinsel Tales is calling for flash fiction stories of no more than 250 words (including the title!)

Christmas blessings, Christmas nightmares or just Christmas Grumbles, the theme is wide open, but you must set your story against a Yule tide backdrop.

Tinsel Tales is open to ALL WRITERS irrespective of where they live!

You can register on the website now and then submit your entry before the closing date, 31st December.

A Father Worries

A Quite Small Story by Derek Duggan

Joseph swept the floor. It didn’t need to be swept but he was trying to delay going home. The workshop was as clean as it could be. The table and chairs for Julius sat by the door ready for delivery the following morning, and they had turned out very well, even if he did think so himself. Things had been good lately, in general. He had just finished a big fencing job that had paid a tidy sum and once the Roman had paid the balance on the furniture he would be set up for the next six months or so.

But none of this could take the edge off. None of this changed the fact that his son, his only son, had decided to leave the family business ...

To read the rest of the story, sign up to the to the first issue of Words with JAM, due out on the 28th November 2009.

FREE Christmas Prize Draw - 10 days left!

Quinn Publications' first venture into the world of literature, was to produce a collection of work, compiled from writers all over the world, to be given to their loved ones this Christmas. Whatever that indefinable something is that makes Christmas special, you’ll find within Bits, Bobs and Baubles. From an unforgettable chilli experience to recipes of times gone by, from grannies getting revenge to heart-warming traditional tales, from daft odes to moving poems, from grown-up stories to those created especially for children, there is something for every member of the family.

Words with JAM are pleased to announce they've got their hands on a copy of the book (which is pretty good going, considering only 125 copies are being produced).

To celebrate the first issue being out for December, we are going to get the compiler to autograph, gift wrap, and stick a bow on it, and post it out to one lucky subscriber in time for Christmas. The winner will be announced in the first issue, and contacted by email for their postal address.

To be eligible, you simply need to subscribe to Words with JAM.

Closing date: Saturday 21st November.

Feeble Excuses, Procrastination and Displacement Activities

(Things I do when I should be writing.)

An article by Perry Iles

This autumn I will be mostly thinking about Cheryl Cole. Not with any sense of prurience - a man has to know his limitations, as Clint Eastwood once said, and I’m reliably informed that I’m hung like a hummingbird and have the sexual imagination of a fencepost, without any trace of its attendant rigidity. But dear little Cheryl has achieved a kind of asexual, robotic perfection, which was aptly, if unconsciously, parodied on last week’s X-Factor when she did that military dance routine as she mimed to her appalling new song. What I mean is, is she actually human any more? Time was, long ago, when the combination of attractive womanhood and a Geordie accent used to flick my lust-nipple for some totally inexplicable reason, but it now no longer does, and it’s all her fault. Soon you’ll be able to buy your own Cheryl Cole on the internet, and she’ll be everywhere, and familiarity will breed contempt so you’ll need a puncture repair kit so you can make her better every time you batter her senseless for not getting your dinner on the table by five o’clock.

The X-Factor, which I’m watching every week instead of writing ...

Read the full article in the first issue of Words with JAM, due out 28th November 2009

UPPERCASE Nightmare!

I have, for many years, sworn ferociously as time and again people have sent me documents typed with the caps lock on. IT'S VERY ANNOYING WHEN YOU NEED TO USE IT ON SOMETHING IN LOWERCASE - PLUS IT'S QUITE DIFFICULT TO READ!

Anyway, I came across this a while ago and thought I'd share: http://www.convertcase.net/

It's a lifesaver!

JD Smith

Three Days in Syrupville

An article by Danny Gillan.

Not for me your package holidays, with the sunshine and the beer and the food and the dysentery. Not interested. Nor do I entertain the notion of a couple of weeks travelling this or any other country in search of new cultures and experiences. Pah.

I’m a writer you see, and that means, above all else, that I have no money.

Normally the closest I get to a summer holiday is avoiding incompetent suicide bombers as I drop various members of my family off at Glasgow Airport then pick them up again two weeks later, pretending not to be bothered about their tans, stories of adventure and stress free state of mind as I break the news that I’ve forgotten to re-stock their fridge, water their plants, record CSI Miami or feed their pets (or children, in some cases).

This year was different though. I actually left the city for more than an hour. I took it upon myself to suggest to a dear friend and fellow writer that we might venture forth on a trip to the fine hamlet (I should point out at this time that I have no idea what a ‘hamlet’ is) of Wigtown, which is somewhere in Scotland but quite far away from Glasgow and therefore counts as ‘travel’.

Wigtown is known as ‘Scotland’s Book Town' ...

Read the full article in the first issue of Words with JAM. Sign up now!

"I hurt ... to know they yearned for freedom, fought for one last flight ... And when I draw them, I too, am free."

The pale avians show clear against the early clouds. They whirl and spiral on vagrant thermals, wing tips almost touching. They own the sky, strong winged and fearless while smaller fliers roost in the terran pines or cower in cliff scrapes envious of the giants’ claim. I watch from my hide in the pines, high above the dugouts where my fellow troopers wait, and I long for such freedom.

I follow their silent swooping, rejoicing in their no-sound dance, using my sighter to bring them close. Another day, I’d attempt a sketch, but not today. Today I wait, my trigger finger poised. Another survey of the terrain shows no movement. Perhaps the info was wrong, perhaps the rebels will not come this way. But if not here, where will they cross? They must break through, ford the river, escape the closing net ...

Extract from Watching, by JW Hicks

Full story in the first issue of Words with JAM. Sign up now!

FREE Christmas Prize Draw

Quinn Publications' first venture into the world of literature, was to produce a collection of work, compiled from writers all over the world, to be given to their loved ones this Christmas. Whatever that indefinable something is that makes Christmas special, you’ll find within Bits, Bobs and Baubles. From an unforgettable chilli experience to recipes of times gone by, from grannies getting revenge to heart-warming traditional tales, from daft odes to moving poems, from grown-up stories to those created especially for children, there is something for every member of the family.

Words with JAM are pleased to announce they've got their hands on a copy of the book (which is pretty good going, considering only 125 copies are being produced).

To celebrate the first issue being out for December, we are going to get the compiler to autograph, gift wrap, and stick a bow on it, and post it out to one lucky subscriber in time for Christmas. The winner will be announced in the first issue, and contacted by email for their postal address.

To be eligible, you simply need to subscribe to Words with JAM.

Closing date: Saturday 21st November.

Ask Away ...

Co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist, and author of The Greatest Moving Abroad Tips in the World, Lorraine Mace will be answering your questions on writing ...

To save us dreaming a few up for the first issue, if you have a question, please post or email to [email protected]

Sitting on Offence

An article by Derek Duggan

Words. That’s what we think we deal with. They’re just words. But it’s what they stand for that can often cause the problems. A word that means nothing to one person can deeply offend another.

Initially we’ve got the difficulties involved with localisation. The bonnet of your car is a bonnet, unless you travel across the Atlantic in which case it becomes a hood. A cupboard in most of the world is just that, but in Ireland it’s a press. And so on.

Then there are words that sound and are spelled the same but the meaning changes. Americans are quite happy to mention their fannies but travel back to Europe and although the word remains the same, the geographical location of the object slips forward a few centimetres. And one thing you don’t want to do is confuse your fannies. There’s a chance I’ll receive a letter from Irate from Chester for just mentioning it ...

Full article in the first issue of Words with JAM. Sign up now.

Libraries: What's in it for me?

An article by Catriona Troth

For all the concern expressed about the decline of libraries in recent years, there are still more than 4500 public libraries in the UK, lending out over three million books per year to thirty five million library card holders. So how can you, as a newly published writer, make the most of the library system to access that readership? And how can you use that readership to generate an income? ...

Read more in the first issue of Words with JAM. Sign up now to receive your copy (due out end of November 2009).

Short Story & Poetry Submissions

We are looking for short stories and poetry to publish in upcoming editions of Words with JAM. Stories should be no more than 5,000 (we accept flash fiction) and poems are unlimited in line length.

As the magazine is very new, we are unable to pay for stories and poems we accept at the present time. Due to this, we are more than happy to consider works that have already been published either online or in print (please state where and when they were published on your submission if this is the case).

You first need to subscribe (right) and then send your submission as a Word attachment to editor@quinnpublications with 'FICTION SUBMISSION' in the subject bar.

We aim to respond to all submissions within 2 weeks.

FREE Prize Draw

Every issue we will be having a free bi-monthly prize draw. In December we gave away a copy of Bits, Bobs and Baubles and in February we will be giving away a copy of the Writers' ABC Checklist.

To enter, you need do nothing but subscribe. The competition is open to all subscribers (except contributors), and we will announce the winner in each issue. The prizes will be posted out via standard post within 28 days of announcement.

Advertising

We are now offering the following advertising spaces:

1/4 page
1/2 page
Full page
Double page spread
Inside cover (adjacent to contents page)
Back page

If you would like further information, please contact [email protected]