Inkerman Writers
a showcase of our work
Book seeks to help emerging writers
A book written by best-selling novelist John Dean, in which he examines the craft behind fiction, has been published.
In On Writing, John, who is best known for his crime novels, 26 of which have been published, sets out to help emerging writers who are learning their craft and also to give readers an insight into the way writers approach fiction.
In the wide-ranging book, John, who has taught creative writing classes to student of all ages for more than twenty five years, examines everything from the creation of plots, characters and landscapes to writing with pace, beating writers’ block and editing.
John, who is a member of Inkerman Writers spin-off group The Inkers, also examines different genres, including crime fiction, fantasy, ghost stories and children’s books, and provides useful information which it comes to approaching publishers and agents as well as preparing manuscripts for self-publishing.
John, who has lived near Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, for more than eight years, also has strong connections with Darlington, south Durham, where he lived and worked for many years before moving to South West Scotland.
His crime novels are published by The Book Folks, a Joffe Books imprint, most of them in the best-selling DCI John Blizzard and the DCI Jack Harris series. John’s short fiction is published by newly-established Glasgow publisher Tantallon Tir, which aims to showcase the best of fiction written either by Scottish authors or writers living in Scotland.
John said: “I have learnt so much about the art of writing over the years and the more I learned, the more I realised there were so much more still to learn.
“Writers, however experienced or new to writing they may be, are constantly learning how immensely complex the storytelling process is. It may look simple when the final version hits the page but it is a very complicated process and I thought that it was time to share what I have learnt from years of working with publishers, editors and authors.
“My book examines the tools that authors need to master in order to do justice to their ideas.
‘Although much of the book focuses on technical considerations, it does not ignore the creative side of writing and much of it deals with the excitement that comes with new ideas.
“These are a time of great opportunity for authors. The publishing industry has been undergoing changes that are as dramatic as in the days of William Caxton and I have never seen such exciting times as those we are currently experiencing.
“The introduction of ebooks, print-on-demand and accessible audiobook technology, as well as online retail sites like Amazon, has acted as a catalyst, with the result that new publishing houses are springing up at an astonishing rate in many genres, small ones are growing rapidly to become significant players, big publishing houses are constantly innovating, and self-publishing is becoming more professional than ever before. And that’s before we even consider the huge number of books sold by the big high street bookstores like Waterstone’s and the resurgence of the independent bookshop.
“All this spells opportunity for emerging authors and I hope that my book will help writers to grasp those opportunities.”
On Writing includes expert contributions, including from award-winning short story specialist and children’s author Mike Watson, of Darlington, County Durham, award-winning short story specialist and crime writer Bud Craig, who lives near Darlington, both of whom are Inkers members, Irish crime writer David Pearson, crime writer Ian Robinson, from South West Scotland, author and co-founder of Glasgow publisher Tantallon Tir John Gerard Fagan, thriller writer Malcolm Beadle, from Darlington, a member of the Inkerman Writers, self-published author Carol Dean, from Darlington, Tina Hartas of the Trip Fiction website and book editor Laura Dean, from Bolton.
It can purchased in ebook and paperback format on Amazon.
More information on John Dean can be found at www.johndeancrimewriter.co.uk
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About
DfC
The Inkerman Writers are members of Darlington for Culture (DfC), which was set up in 2010 to help save Darlington Arts Centre from closure.
Its members include representatives of arts and community groups.
DfC was established after the centre’s owner, Darlington Borough Council, announced that budget cuts meant that it would have to withdraw its subsidy from the Arts Centre.
Although the centre closed, the organisation remains active - more at www.darlingtonforculture.org
Publications
Welcome to the site created by the Inkerman Writers to showcase our work.
Based in Darlington, North East England, and having celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2013, members have enjoyed success in a variety of arenas, including winning, and being shortlisted and highly commended, in short story competitions, having novels published and publishing the short story anthology A Strawberry in Winter, which can be obtained by visiting the website www.blurb.com
The group's second anthology of short stories, Christophe's Farewell and Other Stories, can be obtained, cost £4.95 plus postage and packing, from
The Inkerman Writers’ latest book, Out of the Shadows, which was launched as part of the 2013 Darlington Arts Festival, is on sale. The book can be ordered direct from
http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/4204019-out-of-the-shadows
The group also produced The Last Waltz, a double CD of short stories, available by contacting deangriss@btinternet.com, cost £5 plus p and p.
Several of our writers wrote original one-act plays in a collaboration with the Green Theatre company, which were performed at Darlington Arts Centre early in February, 2012.
Darlington-based Inkerman Writers have produced their latest anthology of short stories, Inkerman Street, based on the demolition of a fictional northern street and the stories of the people who lived in it.
The book, which features a variety of stories ranging from horror to comedy, was launched to a large audience at the Darlington Arts Festival Literary Day on Saturday May 26 and begins like this:
“Inkerman Street is still and graveyard-hushed tonight, the terraced houses cold behind boarded-up windows, silent sentinels among a sea of wasteland. No one lives here now and tomorrow the bulldozers will move in to flatten the houses to make way for the Council’s Grand Plan.
“Although the people are long gone, the houses still have life. Peek into one of the bedrooms and see on the wall a painting of a seaside scene, brightly-coloured boats bobbing in the harbour, fishermen pipe-smoking in the noonday sun and seagulls wheeling high above the choppy waters. In the roaring silence of the night, you can hear the screeching of the birds and taste the salt air, acrid and herring-sharp at the back of your throat. It is an illusion; the bedroom is empty and the blooms on the faded wallpaper have long since wilted.
“The air in the houses is musty with neglect yet but a few months before, these were bustling homes filled with frying bacon and steaming irons, whistling kettles and playing children. The houses witnessed all these scenes for more than 150 years. Behind their curtains were enacted a thousand stories but tomorrow they will be destroyed because Inkerman Street is the last of its ilk.
“Now, on the eve of the street’s death, the people who once lived here have returned, gathering solemn and silent in the mist, the ghosts of the past come to pay final tribute….”
The anthology can be purchased at http://www.blurb.co.uk/bookstore/invited/7524452/bae89c993c98ec8c8b37b12d6b9b37ecced5dec3
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