Non Fiction: Burnt out Doctor?

Occasionally I write non-fiction, often of a medical variety or about a health service topic. I had a short piece published recently in Pulse Magazine, a weekly publication for doctors. The topic was Burnout. The question I had to answer, in 200 words, was this:

One of my salaried GPs seems to be suffering from burnout. How should I approach the issue, what advice should I give and what are my duties as his/her employer?

Clichés

Do you speak in clichés and, worse still, do you use them in your writing?

A cliché is a well-worn phrase that has become meaningless through overuse. Clichés are all around us. They may slip by unnoticed – in our speech, in our reading or in our writing. But once you tune-in to clichés, you find them everywhere. And the more you notice them, the more irritating they become.

In my everyday language, here are the clichés I find myself using:

• “I must say…” – Why? Why must I say it?

The Cement Delivery

When I visit the Six Minute Story site, I always choose a random prompt. This is like a dice game. I have no idea what Lady Luck will throw my way.

Once the prompt appears, I have six minutes exactly of frantic typing until I am locked out of the text box and can write no more.

Erotic Fiction (for aliens)

I have had two little pieces published on the Eggplant Literary Productions site in the section they call Miscellanea: The Transdimensional Library.

A transdimensional library? This idea seems totally bonkers to me too, but let me try to explain.

Imagine a library with its shelves filled with books – books that have never existed and have yet to be written. If it helps, think of Terry Pratchett’s library in the Unseen University, or Dr Who’s library that is destined to be built in the 50th Century. Well, on the Miscellanea site you will find excerpts from books that would be and should be held in such a fantastical library.

The excerpts you can read

The Swing – again.

I am proud to report that my 6 Minute Story, The Swing, was selected as one of the 6 Minute Story site’s featured stories.

Dorothea Brande and Morning Pages

Once upon a time, a writing tutor called Dorothea Brande sat down and wrote a book to help people become writers. She did this because she believed there was a ‘sort of writer’s magic’ and that it was teachable. The book she wrote was called Becoming a Writer and was short and conversational in style. It became a must-have classic.

Becoming a Writer is not designed to be a comprehensive how-to-write manual. Dorothea doesn’t talk about style, or grammar, or structure, or plotting, or dialogue, or how to create great characters. No. This book is intended for those ‘who hope to write’.

Dorothea believes you have to get certain things right first. The technical instruction of writing must come later.

So what does she talk about?

The Swing

I really love the 6 Minute Story site.

Every time I visit, I wonder why I don’t do this more often. In fact, I was disappointed to see I’ve only written six stories on the 6 Minute Story site! I should be able to manage a story a day.

Today I chose, as I usually do, the random prompt.

As soon as the prompt is revealed, you have six minutes to enter your story in the text box. There is a timer that counts you down. After six minutes, the box freezes and you can type no more.

The random prompt today was ‘Swing’. I started with a mental image of a little girl on a swing and the story just flowed from there. Of course it would benefit from further editing, but I was quite pleased with my 6 minute story.

You can read it here: The Swing

Plot threads

Watch an average episode of an average TV soap opera. How many plot strands do you see? Do they run alongside each other or are they consecutive? Are they linked together – and if so, how?

I am doing a course in Scriptwriting as part of my Birkbeck BA in creative writing and that is the homework question for this week.

I have already noticed that some TV series consistently present two story lines, often with very little apparent connection between the two. Here are three examples:

Tried it. Read it. Done it. Survived

Yesterday evening I joined an enthusiastic group of student poets in Cambridge House, Camberwell. This was a reading-aloud poetry evening, part of Birkbeck University’s ‘Try It!’ programme. The theme for the evening was ‘Journeys’.

I am not sure if any actual members of the public were there – the audience seemed to consist mainly of poets and their friends. But it was a great evening with a wide range of fantastic poems, and

Try It! (Reading poetry out loud)

At the moment I feel like I am standing on the tracks and waiting for a train crash to happen.

I don’t consider myself to be a poet. But I did write some poems last term as part of my BA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University. And, in a moment of madness, I volunteered to read one of my poems at an evening poetry session.

Why? Well, the theme of the session is ‘Journeys’ and I had a poem that was about a journey. And I have set myself the challenge of always trying to respond to a new writing challenge. And, to be honest, I thought there would be numerous volunteers and I could happily stand down. But, no, I was the only one from my poetry group who responded with “Yes, I can read one of my poems out”.

Then it turns out we need to bring two poems to read. Not just one.

So, on Saturday, I will be reading a couple of my not-very-good poems out loud in front of a (hopefully) small audience at Cambridge House in Camberwell. If you are passing by and fancy a free glass of wine and nibbles, do drop in. The other poets are much better than me and you will enjoy it. We kick off at 6pm.

(Further information can be found on the Birkbeck Web site.)