Got a call today to notify me that I have made the short list and that I shall be required to attend the Award Ceremony on 5th March in London. Now what would be really nice is to get a call from an agent to say"I HAVE fallen in love with Sweeping up the Village". So many steps along this road of becomming a published novelist(but maybe, just maybe, I am one more step farther along than I was yesterday)
Bren Gosling
Monday, 30 January 2012
Monday, 16 January 2012
About - Sweeping up the Village- by Bren Gosling
At 14 in Kosovo his dreams of becoming a professional basket ball player were shattered by war.
Fast forward to 2002; Almir is 21, newly arrived in London and working as a Walthamstow street sweeper. One day his broom strikes a pair of discarded women’s sandals, triggering a series of crippling flashbacks which threaten his sanity. When he is moved onto a quieter beat – sweeping up Walthamstow’s village – Almir finds himself attracted to an older man with issues of his own.
In the weeks surrounding the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, Almir struggles to rebuild his life. Can he conceal the guilty secret tormenting him?
Sweeping up the Village is a compelling debut novel about lost identity, love and the need to belong. Short listed for the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize for new writers.
If you are an agent or publisher who would like to see more of this novel or the full manuscript email nicke17@clara.co.uk
Bren Gosling
Fast forward to 2002; Almir is 21, newly arrived in London and working as a Walthamstow street sweeper. One day his broom strikes a pair of discarded women’s sandals, triggering a series of crippling flashbacks which threaten his sanity. When he is moved onto a quieter beat – sweeping up Walthamstow’s village – Almir finds himself attracted to an older man with issues of his own.
In the weeks surrounding the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, Almir struggles to rebuild his life. Can he conceal the guilty secret tormenting him?
Sweeping up the Village is a compelling debut novel about lost identity, love and the need to belong. Short listed for the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize for new writers.
If you are an agent or publisher who would like to see more of this novel or the full manuscript email nicke17@clara.co.uk
Bren Gosling
Thursday, 22 December 2011
A taster...
Sweeping Up the Village
By Bren Gosling
In time of daffodils (who know the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,
remember how.
E.E.Cummings
Prologue
Kosovo, 24th September 2001.
Outside the compound it is dark. Even the blanket of snow covering the ground exudes only a neutered glow. The night smells of cold. Beyond the electrified perimeter fence, on the far side of a ring of birch trees, the city lights glimmer like dampened embers. From inside the compound, the occupant of Room 31 can see nothing of this. Room 31 forms part of an inner complex. It has no windows – for “security reasons”, they say. Yet the young man holds this vision of the night outside firmly within his imagination.
Ten long weeks have passed since he’s been brought to the centre – for his personal protection – and his stay is beginning to feel like an incarceration. He opens his eyes, stares through the half-light at the wall beside his bed, and then scans the room’s interior. Its spartan furnishing gives him a flimsy reassurance: a cast-iron radiator sitting in the middle of the wall facing the door; a wardrobe and small table and chair are snugged against the long wall opposite his bed. This place was once used as a prison by the old regime. An overzealous heating system, which he cannot control, pumps the room almost to the point of ignition. He lays on top of the bed, stripped down to his boxer shorts, but there is no respite from the suffocating heat. As the moment of his departure grows closer, he turns listlessly back and forth.
He looks at his watch: 1.45am. He sits up and reaches over to his jacket, slung over the back of the chair, and fumbles through one of the pockets, then switches on the bedside lamp and removes a cigarette from the blue and white packet. He lights it and inhales. Insomnia has dogged him, on and off, for months; ever since he’d made the decision to leave. The stillness of the hours bring an acute awareness that this is his final night here, his last in Kosovo. Soon he will leave for ever; there can be no turning back. This twilight time marks an ending, but also a beginning.
He takes another draw on his cigarette, savouring its familiar taste and recalling the ritualistic manner in which he has packed the few essentials for the journey ahead.
• one shirt
• one T-shirt
• one change of underwear
• one pair of socks
• the hand knitted sweater given to him by his aunt
• a small bag of toiletries
• one hand towel
All are folded neatly and packed into a green plastic holdall. Packed, unpacked and re-packed. Unpacked, then packed again.
He stands up, his body heavy with the burden of restless days and nights without sleep, then walks over to the table and sits down, banging his knee against the sharp edge of its top.
There is still something he needs to do.
He looks at the holdall on the floor and, like he is in a trance, gets up and moves towards it. He kneels down in front of the bag, as if in homage. He unzips the top and begins to unpack its contents, placing everything into a tidy pile.
Then, there it is: cupped in the palm of his hand, the badge severed from the sleeve of his battledress uniform. There is no hesitation in what he does next – he cuts and rips the fabric with a razor. The black two-headed eagle on its blood-red background is decapitated; its’ wings clipped. The letters U C K, embroidered large across the badge’s base, fall in torn fragments into his lap. He gathers up these remnants, carries them over to the desk and places them inside the waste-paper bin. He places them; he does not throw or cast them. He places the remnants of his badge as one might place a dead chick. Without further thought, he returns to the holdall and repacks it. Exhausted, he falls back onto the bed.
By Bren Gosling
In time of daffodils (who know the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,
remember how.
E.E.Cummings
Prologue
Kosovo, 24th September 2001.
Outside the compound it is dark. Even the blanket of snow covering the ground exudes only a neutered glow. The night smells of cold. Beyond the electrified perimeter fence, on the far side of a ring of birch trees, the city lights glimmer like dampened embers. From inside the compound, the occupant of Room 31 can see nothing of this. Room 31 forms part of an inner complex. It has no windows – for “security reasons”, they say. Yet the young man holds this vision of the night outside firmly within his imagination.
Ten long weeks have passed since he’s been brought to the centre – for his personal protection – and his stay is beginning to feel like an incarceration. He opens his eyes, stares through the half-light at the wall beside his bed, and then scans the room’s interior. Its spartan furnishing gives him a flimsy reassurance: a cast-iron radiator sitting in the middle of the wall facing the door; a wardrobe and small table and chair are snugged against the long wall opposite his bed. This place was once used as a prison by the old regime. An overzealous heating system, which he cannot control, pumps the room almost to the point of ignition. He lays on top of the bed, stripped down to his boxer shorts, but there is no respite from the suffocating heat. As the moment of his departure grows closer, he turns listlessly back and forth.
He looks at his watch: 1.45am. He sits up and reaches over to his jacket, slung over the back of the chair, and fumbles through one of the pockets, then switches on the bedside lamp and removes a cigarette from the blue and white packet. He lights it and inhales. Insomnia has dogged him, on and off, for months; ever since he’d made the decision to leave. The stillness of the hours bring an acute awareness that this is his final night here, his last in Kosovo. Soon he will leave for ever; there can be no turning back. This twilight time marks an ending, but also a beginning.
He takes another draw on his cigarette, savouring its familiar taste and recalling the ritualistic manner in which he has packed the few essentials for the journey ahead.
• one shirt
• one T-shirt
• one change of underwear
• one pair of socks
• the hand knitted sweater given to him by his aunt
• a small bag of toiletries
• one hand towel
All are folded neatly and packed into a green plastic holdall. Packed, unpacked and re-packed. Unpacked, then packed again.
He stands up, his body heavy with the burden of restless days and nights without sleep, then walks over to the table and sits down, banging his knee against the sharp edge of its top.
There is still something he needs to do.
He looks at the holdall on the floor and, like he is in a trance, gets up and moves towards it. He kneels down in front of the bag, as if in homage. He unzips the top and begins to unpack its contents, placing everything into a tidy pile.
Then, there it is: cupped in the palm of his hand, the badge severed from the sleeve of his battledress uniform. There is no hesitation in what he does next – he cuts and rips the fabric with a razor. The black two-headed eagle on its blood-red background is decapitated; its’ wings clipped. The letters U C K, embroidered large across the badge’s base, fall in torn fragments into his lap. He gathers up these remnants, carries them over to the desk and places them inside the waste-paper bin. He places them; he does not throw or cast them. He places the remnants of his badge as one might place a dead chick. Without further thought, he returns to the holdall and repacks it. Exhausted, he falls back onto the bed.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
This waiting game is horrible !
My manuscript is sitting out there somewhere in an agent's office,or on their laptop and I have no idea if it's been looked at yet;or, if it has been looked at how has it gone down? Etc, etc etc...I have let my child go off alone into the world and am waiting for their first call home. The characters,the novel plot are very much alive and in my head all of the time. I care about them/the story as though they are close family. At our City Writers reunion last Saturday ,one of my peers told me how he is still waiting on an agent to commit or not to his novel after almost four months from them recieving it! I should really begin something new as I've not written for over 3 weeks now.The other evenning I did critique a friend's poetry, which she wants to translate into English from the original Icelandic.That was interesting to do.
Oh well, la,la,la,la... Off to a Panto tonight and on Friday up to lovely Aldeburgh for a long weekend.
Bren Gosling
Oh well, la,la,la,la... Off to a Panto tonight and on Friday up to lovely Aldeburgh for a long weekend.
Bren Gosling
Saturday, 26 November 2011
This waiting game
...is a doldrum time. I sent my manuscript off to two of the four agents who've expresed an interest in seeing it. After one week I heard from one of them to say that the subject of my novel is a worthy one on which to write but that the novel itself wasn't to her particular taste. Not alot to be gleaned from this !She did encourage me to continue to send it out. I haven't heard back from the other agent- who shall for the moment remain nameless,but I would be very excited if I would be offered representation with them.
Meantime...yesterday I got an email informing me that 'Sweeping up the Village' has made the long list for the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize for new writing.The shortlist will be announced in January.
I've done no writing since submitting my novel to agents and it feels odd, like something is missing from my life.I am going to start up again next week, with the reworking of some short stories.I have missed writing short fiction. I've been treating myself though -went to Gothenburg to stay with my friend Mikeal for loads of tango and been to the opera, theatre and cinema. Shortly off for a reunion lunch with the City writers crowd,to share and hear everyones news.
Bren Gosling
Meantime...yesterday I got an email informing me that 'Sweeping up the Village' has made the long list for the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize for new writing.The shortlist will be announced in January.
I've done no writing since submitting my novel to agents and it feels odd, like something is missing from my life.I am going to start up again next week, with the reworking of some short stories.I have missed writing short fiction. I've been treating myself though -went to Gothenburg to stay with my friend Mikeal for loads of tango and been to the opera, theatre and cinema. Shortly off for a reunion lunch with the City writers crowd,to share and hear everyones news.
Bren Gosling
Friday, 21 October 2011
FINISHED THE COMPLETED MANUSCRIPT !!!!
After two weeks of more or less round the clock close editing I have finished the redraft and just sent my manuscript off to be copy edited. Nail biting 2 weeks! Tomorrow I am going to Jordan for a weeks holiday. My completed novel comes in at 75 k words. I am knackered!
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Sitting here distracted
...havent written for a while as no time because of work and, last weekend - TANGO!
Am sitting here distracted from the looming task of beginning again. I always feel this way after a break of a few days. It's like the feeling you get when you open an e mail from someone you know, aware there is something important within but you are not sure if it's good or bad.
I was thinking about the detail of my climactic scene following the skype session with my University of London source - I didnt feel it was quite right, factually, though am happy that the writing itself is strong. So I arranged a short follow up skype with the source last Friday and my hunch was correct - the geographical location for the scene needs to change - I now have it - also the detail of the action to make it more plausible in that place and time/historical context.
So now I am going to rewrite this climactic scene and then start again at the begiining of the novel and work in the more minor re writes. Up in Aldeburgh at the w/e and have today and tomorrow to write so ---- here we go!
But the new short novel " The Auschwitz Violin" BY Maria Angel Anglada I purchased two days ago on impulse whilst waiting for a friend to buy clothes in Walthmstow's Selbourne Walk shopping mall is vying for my attention. It may win if I am not careful.
Bren Gosling
Am sitting here distracted from the looming task of beginning again. I always feel this way after a break of a few days. It's like the feeling you get when you open an e mail from someone you know, aware there is something important within but you are not sure if it's good or bad.
I was thinking about the detail of my climactic scene following the skype session with my University of London source - I didnt feel it was quite right, factually, though am happy that the writing itself is strong. So I arranged a short follow up skype with the source last Friday and my hunch was correct - the geographical location for the scene needs to change - I now have it - also the detail of the action to make it more plausible in that place and time/historical context.
So now I am going to rewrite this climactic scene and then start again at the begiining of the novel and work in the more minor re writes. Up in Aldeburgh at the w/e and have today and tomorrow to write so ---- here we go!
But the new short novel " The Auschwitz Violin" BY Maria Angel Anglada I purchased two days ago on impulse whilst waiting for a friend to buy clothes in Walthmstow's Selbourne Walk shopping mall is vying for my attention. It may win if I am not careful.
Bren Gosling
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Poised...for 'write bytes'
I am poised to begin another redraft...though I know ( AND HAVE HAD FEEDBACK) that's I 'm nearly there it still seems daunting. The only way is to look at what I now have to do in terms of 'write bytes ' - discrete sessions where I focus on one or two tasks. I will now - after I've downed another cup of tea, get on with the redrafting of the latest chapter I tutorialed with Emma last week and integrate it into the manuscript.
On Sunday I interviewd a PhD student at London University SEES to check again the detail of the back story of my novel and make sure I have accurately portrayed every thing according to the cultural norms and chronology of the time period. The interviewee was immensely helpful - also with language issues - so I now have a template for Almir's speech pattern, but will probably leave this aspect until I have done everything else as I will have to go through the entire novel from start to finish with only this in mind.
Bren Gosling
On Sunday I interviewd a PhD student at London University SEES to check again the detail of the back story of my novel and make sure I have accurately portrayed every thing according to the cultural norms and chronology of the time period. The interviewee was immensely helpful - also with language issues - so I now have a template for Almir's speech pattern, but will probably leave this aspect until I have done everything else as I will have to go through the entire novel from start to finish with only this in mind.
Bren Gosling
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Letting it brew !
Have now recieved all four sets of feedback from my trusted guniea pig readers - overall very positive but I do need to make some changes and complete another redraft. Had a 2 hour tutorial with Emma Sweeney my mentor yesterday which was really helpful as usual. I have distilled what I need to do , what I don't need to do and what I can do optionally. But it seems an endless task, this writing a novel business! I completed a re working of my synospsis (last tackled well over 12 months ago) which was a very helpful excersize at this point in focussing on plot again. I took the best part of 7 hours - split over an evenning and an afternoon - to get it shaped into a tight 500 words. It reads much more 'immediate' now. I am having a day off from writing today. After yoga in my hotel room then breakfast I went for a long walk along the Altoner Balkon (I am in Hamburg for Queer Tango) in the warm autumn sunshine(such lovely weather, it would have been a crime not to be out enjoying it) then had something to eat and now I am back, need to rest before going out later to dance tango. Even though I know having a day off from writing IS the right thing to do I still miss it and still feel guilty I am not at the page with a pen poised.
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Waiting in the wings and doing the right thing.
I have had feed back from two of my four readers - and both are really positive, although I'll need to make a few more tweaks and probably need to add one more scene/chapter. Waiting for the other two sets of feedback is a bit like waiting in the wings to go on stage. I am plagued with angst about the impression my "performance" will give to my audience.
I was a little miffed when I had dinner with one of the four readers on Friday, expecting a full feedback only to discover the reader had only got as far as page 35 and, contrary to my specific requests, had embarked upon a close read and mark up. This particular reader is the only one of the four who knows my characters to any real degree. He was my original mentor, though is not specifically a creative writer - more an academic one. That explains his habitual inability to refrain from marking up I guess. I did feel rather flat after seeing him though as he said to me he felt he knew what was comming in the novel, because he already knew the story . This is partly true but not really. He did know alot about the story as it stood when it was a short piece more than 2 years ago but it has changed almost beyond recognition. It has made me think that probably it's not a good idea to give your manuscript to people who already know (or think they know) too much about your plot and characters. This reinforces what I thought about holding off from showing anything more to agents who've asked to see more - other than the completed finished manuscript in it's enitity when it's ready. How else can one gauge what impression someone will have of the novel as a whole. If they 've seen substantial bits, in my view, the overall impact is lessened as they can half guess what they think will follow.This may or (in my case) maynot be accurate. So I think have done the right thing in holding off from submitting anything more to agents until I have the whole manuscript ready.
And this is now only a few weeks off.
Ben Gosling
I was a little miffed when I had dinner with one of the four readers on Friday, expecting a full feedback only to discover the reader had only got as far as page 35 and, contrary to my specific requests, had embarked upon a close read and mark up. This particular reader is the only one of the four who knows my characters to any real degree. He was my original mentor, though is not specifically a creative writer - more an academic one. That explains his habitual inability to refrain from marking up I guess. I did feel rather flat after seeing him though as he said to me he felt he knew what was comming in the novel, because he already knew the story . This is partly true but not really. He did know alot about the story as it stood when it was a short piece more than 2 years ago but it has changed almost beyond recognition. It has made me think that probably it's not a good idea to give your manuscript to people who already know (or think they know) too much about your plot and characters. This reinforces what I thought about holding off from showing anything more to agents who've asked to see more - other than the completed finished manuscript in it's enitity when it's ready. How else can one gauge what impression someone will have of the novel as a whole. If they 've seen substantial bits, in my view, the overall impact is lessened as they can half guess what they think will follow.This may or (in my case) maynot be accurate. So I think have done the right thing in holding off from submitting anything more to agents until I have the whole manuscript ready.
And this is now only a few weeks off.
Ben Gosling
Friday, 26 August 2011
A question of chronology
Today's editing has revealed that there are a few markers in the plot in the middle of my novel that don't fit. It's a detail that might easily be missed by readers but I think its important.It' about total believability, so everything has got to be historically accurate. I have a scene with one of the main characters being stood up by the protagonist(his lover)...and put in this scene what is on TV that night - a popular programme that was on at that time(May 2002). I had to get this spot on because what comes immediately before on the plot timeline, and what comes after are crucial to the overall plot. I picked Big Brother series three - first episode but when I got to the subsequent scene this didnt work as chronologically I was somehow a week short! So I had to go back and find something else, something from the previous Friday to make everything fit.It needed to be a programme that was also popular and one readers might remember..as luck would have it , I found something but I cant seem to get the TV schedule for that night to find out what time this programme started. Oh well! I will have to' ask a friend'.
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
Enforced seclusion brings rich rewards
I have a fithly cold. I should now be dancing tango in Oslo but I had to cancel and as H is in Berlin, here I am alone in our big Walthamstow pile. This misery has become an opportunity . I am hard copy reading my completed manuscript for the very first time, along side my four ginuea pig readers who recieved their copies yesterday(ohh, er...!!!). It's a chance to hone the text even further aswell as see how the characters and plot develop in one uninterupted weekend. So far I 'm at Chapter 19(of 42). I am also taking a close look at chronology especially the time line of the novel. My story takes place primarily in London between February and July 2002 and so it's intersting now to check details of those few months - the weather - if Ive given a date then is this the correct day of the week in my telling of certain sequence of events. What was on the tele then?What was major in the news (I already hvae researched this some time ago) and how would such news filter through my characters eyes into my novel and how can I make this not seem like a broadcast. When were there full moons(yes, you heard me correct- read the novel!).
I am finding this whole process totally absorbing. I may have a stinker but I 'm totally immersed in another world - events that played out almost 10 years ago in my neighboorhood - it seems real to me - yet of course it's all made up in my head. This is the buzz writing fiction gives me.It's real but infact it's all made up!
Bren Gosling
I am finding this whole process totally absorbing. I may have a stinker but I 'm totally immersed in another world - events that played out almost 10 years ago in my neighboorhood - it seems real to me - yet of course it's all made up in my head. This is the buzz writing fiction gives me.It's real but infact it's all made up!
Bren Gosling
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Another milestone passed.
Last night at just before 10 I completed the draft manuscript of my novel Sweeping up the Village. I say finished. I am expecting more edits but the back has been broken. This draft I will send to my four carefully selected guniea pig readers today. When I get comments back I'll incorporate these into the further draft that then goes out to agents.
Bren Goslings
Bren Goslings
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Back from a week in the wilds of Northumberland ...
where I managed to get some writng/editing done and also some walking(despite the almost constant rainfall). Now I am so close to the point of no return(sending the completed manuscrpit out to my four guniea pig readers and then the agents) I'm getting seriuosly nervous and thinking it's just crap. If you are a writer reading this you will recognise my angst no doubt. I had a good tutorial with Emma my mentor just before going away so shouldn't be disheartened but it's a scary psychological ride, writing a novel.
Hi RUTH MIDDLETON and thanks for becomming a follower of my ramblings.
regards
Bren Gosling
Hi RUTH MIDDLETON and thanks for becomming a follower of my ramblings.
regards
Bren Gosling
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Welcome Lyng !
Thanks for taking an interest in my blog and becomming a follower.
regards
Bren Gosling
regards
Bren Gosling
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Berlin, immer Berlin but have kept on writing !
Have been here since last Tuesday enjoying the Queer Tango Festival. Inspite of 3 and 4am milonga finishes Ive managed to maintain my daily writing routine - and enjoyed it...perched on my stool infront of my tiny desk in the Motel One (Mitte) bedroom. I've completely edited almost 6k words of one important section ...incorporating all the critique feedback from first draft readings.Today I sacrificed a trip to the Reichstag to get it finished and off to Emma my writing mentor in prep for our next tutorial on Friday.So, am well pleased as I log off(at an early - for Berlin ) 5 minutes to one a.m.
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
reply to Mike's last comment
Hi Mike - sorry not to have replied sooner but I have been (still am until tomorrow) in Berlin at the QUEER TANGO FESTIVAL. In answer to your question - no - since I am so immersed in each part of the rewrite(and am actually enjoying it). That time will come no doubt in a few weeks time though - but I am not thinking or worrying about it until I have finished and done as good a job as I can. Deadlines are useful. I understand where you are comming from. I think it's necessary at some point to frame it all and aim for a deadline( and then usually another and maybe even another - but atleast that way the project doesn't remain open ended. Besides , for me personally, I 've other stuff I want to write that's currently on the back burner until this novel is finished.
regards
Bren Gosling
regards
Bren Gosling
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Another writing orientated weekend
H left for his 10 day buddhist retreat on Friday afternoon so Ive had no distractions and have knuckled down well, averaging 4 -5 hours daily. Today I completed a 'from scratch' re write of a scene that wasn't working but now I think is.It'll need an edit once I have it returned from typing though. I have put last Thursdays research to good use! I went to visit a friend who is in Chelsea and Westminster hospital...and on the way home went to the BFI and saw Last Year in Marienbad - which was weird yet wonderful. I found it oddly rather inspirational with regard to my writing.I can't quite explain why.
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
got started again
yesterday completed rewrite of another three chapters. After that I find I've used up most of the creative energy I have so it's best to stop and resume the next day. I cut an enire section from the end of one chapter yesterday, rewrote it from a more major character's point of view and inserted it earlier in the novel. Not sure if I'll have much available today to do more although this evenning am meeting a friend whom Ive briefed about my problem re French langauage ability of a 12 year old with two terms of learning that language. So I'll hopefully get feedback when I see her and can attribute today to research!
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Letting it mull !
Had planned to keep editing all weekend ..Saturday went well with 3 more chapters out of the way but today...urgh...ground to a halt. I was intending to re write the scene with Jade and Roland having lunch out but realised I need to do research on the french level of a 12 year old at a good Comp. who's completed 2 terms! so put that aside...phoned a friend for help and left a detailed message about it. Moved onto Roland and Al..the chapter where Roland asks Al to leave the flat after a row. But as I re read what I'd already written it was apparant this whole section of scenes needs to be redrawn as chronologically they're slightly out of sync. So I just masde a few notes and went for a walk around Walthamstow Village - guided by the local history soc. which is all good in the name of "Sweeping up the Village". Never the less I feel edgey not to yet be on top of it again, quite. Rather irritable actually. I must be a sod for H to have to put up with at the moment.
Bren Gosling
Bren Gosling
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