Creative Writing Exercise/Tip 22: Staring at Hamsters

Isabel Ashdown — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:39:53 +0000

Over the summer holidays, my two children each saved for and bought a Syrian hamster, complete with spacious cage, tunnels and wheels. A boy hamster was chosen by my son, a girl hamster for my daughter, and a solemn promise was made that the hamsters would never come into contact with each other, for fear of unplanned hamster multiplication. All was happiness and excitement that day until approximately 11pm, when a pair of weary children appeared in the living room doorway complaining that these largely nocturnal creatures were driving them slowly insane as they raced frantically through the night on their squeaky wheels. I went to investigate, and sure enough, there they were, wide-eyed and stumpy tailed, ee-aw-ee-aw-ee-aw, round and round and round.

So, Pickles and Hazel were moved downstairs for the evening (and every night thereafter), and the puffy-eyed youngsters went to sleep. The two cages sat side by side on the kitchen table, just half an inch apart, and the feromone crazed hamsters, suddenly aware of each other, went bonkers. I paused in the doorway to watch. Pickles scaled the wire sides of his cage, and gripping the bars with wide-spread pink claws, he puffed out his chest and gazed in the direction of his longing. The she-hamster Hazel, more sedate, wandered along her platform and came to rest directly before him, and turning her back, presented her plump little rear for his approval. I swear, she looked coyly over her shoulder and gave him a come-hither bat of her lashes.

Pickles gulped, carried on up to the top of his cage and proceeded to crawl, upside down, across the ceiling bars with impressive ease. Hazel wriggled her nose against her own bars, clearly impressed, as Pickles let go with first one back leg, then the next, to dangle like an ape, displaying his soft white under-belly for all to admire. Hazel stood on her hind legs, and started to gnaw frantically. Pickles, swaying dangerously high above the floor of his cage, let go with one claw, so that he now hung by just one tiny arm. It was quite a feat and I gasped. Both hamsters turned to look at me – the shock of which caused Pickles to lose his grip, sending him hurtling to the floor with a soft thud. I paused a moment longer, to make sure he wasn’t mortally injured, moved the cages another inch apart and left them to it. Ee-aw-ee-aw-ee-aw . . .

The next day, I wrote it all down, to set aside as one of those funny little observations which bring narratives to life. It’s the everyday things which anchor characters – the events which occur when they’re not thinking too hard – the things that let us into the inner workings of their minds.

Find time to sit and stare awhile. Perhaps it’s from the kitchen window, when the birds descend into the garden for their morning feed. Or through the window of your car when you’re waiting for the kids to come out of school, to watch the mums and dads chatting at the school gates. Watch their bodies, their faces, the interaction between different characters, and capture it on paper. There might just be a little gem there, waiting to be developed into something new . . .

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To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.

Changing Voices: Writers’ Workshop with Isabel Ashdown @ Quay Arts

Isabel Ashdown — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:08:53 +0000

The wonderful Quay Arts in Newport, Isle of Wight is now taking bookings for a one-day creative writing workshop with Isabel Ashdown on Saturday 9th October 2010.

For full details visit: Quay Arts

Isabel Ashdown and Chichester Book Club on BBC Radio Sussex

Isabel Ashdown — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:33:25 +0000

Representing West Sussex on the BBC Radio challenge, Isabel Ashdown appeared on the morning show today, to talk about the Chichester Book Club and great fiction in our local area. To listen again for the next 7 days, please click on the logo below, and drag the listening time bar along to 3:40:

Chichester Author Isabel Ashdown at Waterstones this Saturday, 11am onwards

Isabel Ashdown — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:42:27 +0000

I’ll be in Waterstone’s Chichester this Saturday, meeting readers and signing books – it’ll be great to see some of you there!

Press Release: Gripping Autumn Reads for Local Book Groups

Isabel Ashdown — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:29:26 +0000

This August, Chichester author Isabel Ashdown launches an innovative new website called the Chichester Book Club, dedicated to introducing local readers to books and authors in their region.

Isabel created the site in response to the large number of enquiries she was receiving from book clubs and reading groups in the Chichester area. Many were looking for a comprehensive reading guide to her novel, Glasshopper, whilst others just wanted to make contact and ask a few questions.

She says, “Like all the best parties, we like to keep it small; all our authors have a local connection, either living in or having grown up in the area, and many have links to the University of Chichester and associated groups. It’s now easier than ever for inquisitive readers to access books, book club guides and event news from emerging and established authors in our region.”

The Chichester Book Club Autumn selection has something to suit every taste and mood, with page-turning novels from award-winning writers, ranging from gritty realism to suspense-filled crime, from intriguing historical fiction to exhilarating fantasy.

Isabel is joined by fellow writers Jane Borodale, Gabrielle Kimm, Peter Lovesey, Alison MacLeod, Bethan Roberts, Pauline Rowson, Jane Rusbridge and Tim Stretton, all authors with a local connection.

“We are very fortunate to have so many talented and interesting authors in the Chichester area,” says Isabel. “It’s exciting to be part of such a creative community.”

You can follow the Chichester Book Club at:

Official website: www.chichesterbookclub.com
Official Facebook page
Twitter: @ChiBookClub

Myriad Buy Rights to Ashdown’s Latest Novel

Isabel Ashdown — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:16:56 +0000

Trio of titles for Myriad

11.08.10 | Victoria Gallagher

“Myriad Editions commissioning editor for fiction Vicky Blunden has acquired a trio of new titles for the publisher’s spring list.

Blunden bought world rights to a “powerful” first novel by Ed Siegle, directly from the author. Invisibles will be published in March 2011 and tells of a quest to trace a missing man. Siegle won the 2004 V S Pritchett Memorial Prize for his short story “Nine Lives, One Life”.

Blunden also bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Isabel Ashdown’s novel Hurry Up And Wait from Adrian Weston of Raft. Ashdown won the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Competition and her debut, Glasshopper, was also published by Myriad. Her new book will tell of one woman’s teenage experience of “dangerous friendships and sexual awakening”. It will be published in late spring.

Finally Blunden acquired world rights to police intelligence analyst Elizabeth Haynes’ debut Into the Darkest Corner, also from Weston, plus two further titles. Into the Darkest Corner will be the first of Myriad’s spring releases when it is published on 14th February 2011.

Blunden said: “We signed Elizabeth’s first novel on the strength of a rough but absolutely compelling first draft, and the finished book has already attracted international rights interest—the German and French deals concluded after tense bidding wars. Elizabeth is a talented crime writer with an exciting career ahead of her.” “

Isabel Ashdown Book Signing, Waterstone’s Chichester, 21st August 2010

Isabel Ashdown — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:27:14 +0000

I’m delighted to be returning to Waterstone’s Chichester during their Local Author Week in August. Jonathon, Manager of Waterstone’s Chichester will be hosting a week of local author events to celebrate the growing numbers of writers in our area.

It’s been one of my favourite places for book signings so far, and I’m looking forward to another busy Saturday chatting to the great people of Chichester.

TV Book Club Summer Reads

Isabel Ashdown — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:25:44 +0000

The TV Book Club is back again on Sundays at 7:30pm on More4. Brought to the nation by creator and producer Amanda Ross, the woman behind the original Richard & Judy Book Club, the show will dramatically enhance the writing careers of both established and relatively unknown authors.

I’m pleased to say that Glasshopper has been recommended for book groups by Waterstone’s, and a full set of discussion prompts for Glasshopper can now be found on the Book Groups page of my website. If there’s anything else you’d like to see on there, or any questions you’d like answering, then please drop me a note using the contact form on that page.

The final 8 Summer titles chosen for The TV Book Club will be reviewed by Jo Brand, Dave Spikey, Peter Davison, Laila Rouass and Stephen Tompkinson. The 8 books are:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Man Who Disappeared by by Clare Morrall

The Legacy by Katherine Webb

The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse

Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears

Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan

The Devil’s Acre by Matthew Plampin

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

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To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.

Glasshopper Review: “brilliantly balanced . . .”

Isabel Ashdown — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:16:36 +0000

Book After Book Blogger Review:

“In 2009, Brighton-based Myriad Editions published Isabel Ashdown’s début novel, Glasshopper, an extract of which had won the 2008 Mail on Sunday Novel Competition. I can only agree with the competition judges who described the author’s writing as “magnificent”!

Set in Portsmouth in 1984, Glasshopper is the story of a troubled family. Thirteen-year-old Jake is an endearing main character, trying his best to live as normally as possible for the sake of his little brother, while his mother goes in and out of alcohol-induced depression bouts and his father, who moved out of the family home, makes an appearance only at weekends.

Initially, Mary, Jake’s mother, is easy to despise for letting herself go and not thinking of her two children. However, not wanting her to be merely considered as a “hopeless alcoholic”, Ashdown decided to give her a voice. Hence the brilliantly balanced book structure of alternating chapters written from the points of view of the two characters.

Mary’s life is told starting from May 1957 and readers can start to understand what hides behind her behaviour. The last entries of both narratives date to August 1985, which coincides with the first holiday after Jake’s parents reconcile. The newly reunited family visits Mary’s long-lost sister Rachel and her two children at their country farm in Dordogne, without suspecting what is waiting for them.

What secrets does this family hide? There is only one way to find out: follow Jake around the South-East of England, the Isle of Wight and all the way to France…”

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To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.

Isabel Ashdown Sails the Solent . . .

Isabel Ashdown — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:56:16 +0000

On Monday, together with my agent Adrian, I boarded the WightLink St Clare to cross the Solent no less than eight times, as I signed copies of Glasshopper and chatted to passengers between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

We met lots of new readers, many of whom will now be introducing Glasshopper to their book clubs and reading groups across the country. It was a delight to meet so many interesting people, and the captain and crew of the St Clare were wonderful hosts, keeping our strength up with drinks and sandwiches throughout the day.

Leon Jackson at Spirit FM interviewed me just before the book signing, and the interview will be available on listen again sometime towards the end of the week.

WightLink were delighted with the day, and I’m pleased to say that they’ve invited me back for a repeat session later in the year.

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To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.