annethology
  • Home
    • About Annethology
    • About me >
      • A little more about me
    • About my books
    • Author talks
    • Contact me
    • Forthcoming events
    • World Mental Health Day
    • Privacy
    • Sign up for my newsletter
  • First two novels
    • Sugar and Snails >
      • Acknowledgements
      • Blog tour, Q&A's and feature articles >
        • Birthday blog tour
        • S&S on tour 2022
      • Early endorsements
      • Events >
        • Launch photos
        • Launch party videos
      • in pictures
      • Media
      • If you've read the book
      • Polari
      • Reading group questions
      • Reviews
      • In the media
    • Underneath >
      • Endorsements and reviews
      • Launch party and events
      • Pictures
      • Questions for book groups
      • The stories underneath the novel
  • Matilda Windsor series
    • The accidental series
    • Matilda Windsor >
      • What readers say
      • For book groups
      • Interviews, articles and features
      • Matty on the move
      • Who were you in 1990?
      • Asylum lit
      • Matilda Windsor media
    • Stolen Summers >
      • Stolen Summers reviews
    • Lyrics for the Loved Ones
  • Short stories
    • Somebody’s Daughter
    • Becoming Someone (anthology) >
      • Becoming Someone (video readings)
      • Becoming Someone reviews
      • Becoming Someone online book chat
    • Print and downloads
    • Read it online
    • Quick reads
  • Free ebook
  • Annecdotal
    • Annecdotal blog
    • Annecdotal Press
    • Articles >
      • Print journalism
      • Where psychology meets fiction
    • Fictional therapists
    • Reading and reviews >
      • Reviews A to H
      • Reviews I to M
      • Reviews N to Z
      • Nonfiction
      • Themed quotes
      • Reading around the world
  • Shop
    • Inspired Quill (my publisher)
    • Bookshop.org (affiliate link)
    • Amazon UK
    • Amazon US
    • books2read
  • Main site

Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Disorientation: literally and literary

3/2/2015

13 Comments

 
Picture
As some of my reviews will testify (e.g. My Real Children; Indigo; Hidden Knowledge), I can feel disorientated when a novel fails to unfold according to my expectations. But isn’t that often the case initially when we come to read fiction? Unless it’s ploddingly formulaic there’s an interval, before we settle into both story and style, when we don’t know where we are. Part of the pleasure of opening a new book is that sense that, despite the clues from title, cover and blurb, it could lead us somewhere new. But, as I’ve intimated time and again in my reviews, there needs to be balance between novelty and familiarity, and each of us have our own preferences for where we position ourselves between them.

Completing the initial round of my publisher’s edits for my forthcoming novel, Sugar and Snails, I’m reminded of the potential for disorientation I’ve built into the story. My narrator, Diana, has a secret she is unable to share with the reader initially; when you get it, you might look back on what she’s previously told you in a new light. I have to hope I’ve hit a reasonable balance between surprise and security, but I know it won’t work for all.

While it’s still early days for my current WIP, Closure risks being even more disorientating. At the moment, there are three point of view characters, and I’m toying with opening with Matilda, a long-term psychiatric patient with a shaky hold on reality. It’s going to need an awful lot more thought and work, but I’m inspired by others, such as Costa first novel award winning Emma Healey who has written an entire in the voice of an elderly woman with dementia. I also remind myself that readers love an unreliable narrator.

When Charli set her latest flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story about disorientation, I had almost too many ideas. I could’ve based my response around almost any other novels for the recent review challenge, from the fakery of F, through the mystery of Milly’s missing mother and Rachel’s alcoholic absences, to the enigma of Alice’s imaginary friend. Yet, perhaps perversely, I’ve taken my inspiration from a novel I’ve yet to share on the blog:

Some put their faith in gold, God and governments; I thanked gravity for my anchor in this turbulent world. Friends and lovers might desert me, but Mother Earth was always there. April to October I went barefoot: pounding on asphalt, shuffling through sand or squelching mud between my toes, corporeally connected to solid ground.

I thought I’d gone mad when I heard the rumbling in her bowels. I never imagined the earth would betray me, let her surface crack like an egg. Soil in my mouth, grass in my hair, feet touching only air, I never dreamt I’d survive.

You’ll find a better description of the mental and physical disorientation of living through an earthquake in the novel God Loves Haiti and (big fanfare) one lucky reader will receive a free copy courtesy of the publisher when I post my review in a few days’ time.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with links to some more of my attempts to explore disorientation through fiction: The Neck features a young woman who wakes up on the morning of her wedding to find that her neck has grown as long as her arm; Habeas Corpus is about a man struggling to adapt to ordinary life after a terrifying kidnapping; Telling the Parents is about a couple’s attempt to comprehend their son’s shocking news; A Place of Safety concerns a woman unable to adapt to the modern world and No Milk or Sugar is an amusing take on dementia. If I haven’t already exhausted you, you might also be interested in my posts Where’s my mind gone? and Ideas that blow your mind on similar themes.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
13 Comments
Sarah
3/2/2015 02:16:38 pm

I love this. Yes, part of the pleasure of reading is, indeed, knowing it might take you somewhere you didn't expect but you nailed it with this: "there needs to be balance between novelty and familiarity..." Exactly. You want to be hooked and maybe a tiny bit surprised but not hit over the head with a twist that is ludicrous in the context of the book or its characters. Great flash!

Reply
Sarah
3/2/2015 02:20:13 pm

Thanks for adding your Twitter handle to the "tweet" button. :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
5/2/2015 09:01:25 am

Or given nightmares, as was almost the case for me with Indigo.
Likewise, I was pleased to find a way of adding @Annecdotist to the tweet – now I'm more aware of others' acts of generosity as the tweets are flagged up

Reply
Charli Mills link
3/2/2015 02:22:10 pm

It occurs to me that you are a wealth of marketing research on current literary fiction -- what established authors are writing; what debut authors are succeeding with; what new processes are being explored or exploited; and what readers are reacting to favorably (or not). I believe that anyone who is writing with an eye on the publishing prize needs to be reading your reviews. I can certainly be reading current books, too, but it is your depth of analysis, your "quick read" of the effectiveness and passion for modern literature that is invaluable. Thank you for all these thoughtful and timely reviews. Not only do I add to my "to read list" I also feel inspired to try to push myself in my writing such as taking on more POVs.

And, speaking of "to read" Amazon Kindle finally released "A History of Loneliness" to my ebook account yesterday! That's a book you reviewed and linked up other related discussions and I've waited months to get my own copy here in the states.

And your flash! Wow! What rich writing -- the connection to the earth through the pad of the foot and then the line about feet touching only air is a brilliant way to show how fast disorientation can come upon a person in a cataclysmic event. Reading all those books and writing about them sharpens the edge of your own creative fountain pen. An impressive post, Anne!

Reply
Annecdotist
5/2/2015 09:08:09 am

Thanks, Charli, it's great to have feedback and I'm delighted my reviews work. It's also teaching me that I'm a little out of step with what's popular (apart from Booker prize winners, of course) which is useful feedback my own writing, or rather my expectations thereof. I'm grateful to the publishers that I'm able to read so much that's hot off the press. While we can learn an awful lot about writing from reading the classics, it's good to know what publishers are saying yes to today.
I'm very excited about you reading A History of Loneliness and hope it lives up to your expectations. Obviously, I'd love to hear about it.
Regarding the flash, I didn't think about it at the time, but I was probably influenced by what you said about gardening barefoot in the summer, although I composed it in my head while stomping over frozen fields in my walking boots.

Reply
geoff link
3/2/2015 03:18:30 pm

I was happy with the post, delighting in the flash and the transition within it when I tried a short story - the Neck. Now that is a gem. I'm very envious (in a nice way) of you talent as a short story writer. I preferred it for its completeness and absurdity to Habeas Corpus which I tried next but, once again, here you captured the essence brilliantly - the couplings: 'They treated him well, they treated him badly...' were perfect to show the confusion that rained down on him. And little touches like cleaning himself before setting off for the town - easily avoided but making it stand out so much more.

Reply
Annecdotist
5/2/2015 09:12:13 am

Thanks for reading those longer stories, Geoff, and your generous and helpful feedback. I did enjoy writing The Neck – going round the house with one arm above my head trying to test out where Tamsin's head should be – and would like to have more absurdist ideas, which seems to be more your territory. And poor Dougie, I was totally with him when he had to clean himself up. Mmm, perhaps I should write more about shit?

Reply
Jeanne Lombardo
4/2/2015 11:27:51 am

I admit I neglect to come to your site as often as I would like. So much to read and learn here! This weeks flash is gold: love the alliteration you start with, the relentless pacing, the sensory details. Coming back to read The Neck (what a scenario!) later today. Won't get away without reading more of your work. How do I register for the book giveaway :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
5/2/2015 09:14:32 am

Thank you, Jeanne, and I do agree, there's so much good stuff around it can be hard to keep up.
I'm planning to post the giveaway invitation on Saturday and give people five days to respond. Good luck!

Reply
Norah Colvin link
5/2/2015 11:36:55 pm

There's always so much to explore in your posts, Anne, and your interesting points of view on what you are reading, which reveal so much of you, which is delightful.
I really enjoyed your flash. How could Mother Earth 'unground' you? That's just not right. The grounded-ness and sensory images of the first paragraph is in great contrast to the instability of the next.
I'll have to come back for more of your stories. I know I have read some of them, but I'm not sure if all. They always made for a good read.
Thanks for sharing. :)
PS Is the prize a "real" or ebook? I won a competition recently which required postage of the prize from the US. The prize giver had not taken into consideration the cost of postage when offering it internationally. Just a thought if you have not considered this. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
7/2/2015 03:57:48 am

Thanks for exploring, Norah, and for thinking of me regarding the giveaway. Don't worry, it goes out at the publisher's expense. While it often makes sense to limit these things to one's own country – and it would be rather strange if the book heads back to where it was originally published – but for my first ever giveaway I didn't want my regular supporters (most of you being from outside the UK) to be excluded. Depending on how it goes, I might accept others in the future which are limited to the UK, but this first one's special!

Reply
Irene Waters link
10/2/2015 01:18:42 pm

Wonderful post Anne with so many facets. It is an interesting dilemma that the author faces at the start of a book and I think possibly the hardest chapter to write. It has to hook and entice and immediately make you want to continue reading to find out what it was all about.
Your flash was wonderful. I am presenting a paper on writing body, embodiment and disembodiment so have been researching this and have concluded that writing the body makes writing both compelling and powerful. This you have done well.
I'm off to follow one of your links.

Reply
Annecdotist
12/2/2015 04:47:59 am

Thank you, Irene. I'm sure this issue of beginnings has been discussed somewhere quite recently; sometimes we put so much work into them, they don't really fit with the rest of the novel. However, since writing this, I've been reading a novel with a much more disorientating opening, The Chimes, but I'm loving it and Way to write my review.
I think the body is an interesting thing for writers as so many of us live within our heads, but a lot of emotion is registered physically, for me at least. Your paper sounds interesting, will some version of it be appearing on your blog?

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Free ebook: click the image to claim yours.
    Picture
    Available now
    Picture
    The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home
    Picture
    Find a review
    Picture
    Fictional therapists
    Picture
    Picture
    About Anne Goodwin
    Picture
    My published books
    entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice
    Picture
    My third novel, published May 2021
    Picture
    My debut novel shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize
    Picture
    Picture
    My second novel published May 2017.
    Picture
    Short stories on the theme of identity published 2018
    Anne Goodwin's books on Goodreads
    Sugar and Snails Sugar and Snails
    reviews: 32
    ratings: 52 (avg rating 4.21)

    Underneath Underneath
    reviews: 24
    ratings: 60 (avg rating 3.17)

    Becoming Someone Becoming Someone
    reviews: 8
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.56)

    GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4 GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominator, Issue 4
    reviews: 4
    ratings: 9 (avg rating 4.44)

    The Best of Fiction on the Web The Best of Fiction on the Web
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 3 (avg rating 4.67)

    2022 Reading Challenge

    2022 Reading Challenge
    Anne has read 2 books toward their goal of 100 books.
    hide
    2 of 100 (2%)
    view books
    Picture
    Annecdotal is where real life brushes up against the fictional.  
    Picture
    Annecdotist is the blogging persona of Anne Goodwin: 
    reader, writer,

    slug-slayer, tramper of moors, 
    recovering psychologist, 
    struggling soprano, 
    author of three fiction books.

    LATEST POSTS HERE
    I don't post to a schedule, but average  around ten reviews a month (see here for an alphabetical list), 
    some linked to a weekly flash fiction, plus posts on my WIPs and published books.  

    Your comments are welcome any time any where.

    Get new posts direct to your inbox ...

    Enter your email address:

    or click here …

    RSS Feed


    Picture

    Tweets by @Annecdotist
    Picture
    New short story, “My Dirty Weekend”
    Picture
    Let’s keep in touch – subscribe to my newsletter
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Popular posts

    • Compassion: something we all need
    • Do spoilers spoil?
    • How to create a convincing fictional therapist
    • Instructions for a novel
    • Looking at difference, embracing diversity
    • Never let me go: the dilemma of lending books
    • On loving, hating and writers’ block
      On Pop, Pirates and Plagiarism
    • READIN' for HER reviews
    • Relishing the cuts
    • The fast first draft
    • The tragedy of obedience
    • Writers and therapy: a love-hate relationship?

    Categories/Tags

    All
    Animals
    Annecdotist Hosts
    Annecdotist On Tour
    Articles
    Attachment Theory
    Author Interviews
    Becoming Someone
    Being A Writer
    Blogging
    Bodies
    Body
    Bookbirthday
    Books For Writers
    Bookshops
    CB Book Group
    Character
    Childhood
    Christmas
    Classics
    Climate Crisis
    Coming Of Age
    Counsellors Cafe
    Creative Writing Industry
    Creativity
    Cumbria
    Debut Novels
    Disability
    Editing
    Emotion
    Ethics
    Ethis
    Family
    Feedback And Critiques
    Fictional Psychologists & Therapists
    Food
    Friendship
    Futuristic
    Gender
    Genre
    Getting Published
    Giveaways
    Good Enough
    Grammar
    Gratitude
    Group/organisational Dynamics
    Hero’s Journey
    History
    Humour
    Identity
    Illness
    Independent Presses
    Institutions
    International Commemorative Day
    Jane Eyre
    Kidney Disease
    Language
    LGBTQ
    Libraries
    Live Events
    Lyrics For The Loved Ones
    Marketing
    Matilda Windsor
    Memoir
    Memory
    Mental Health
    Microfiction
    Motivation
    Music
    MW Prequel
    Names
    Narrative Voice
    Nature / Gardening
    Networking
    Newcastle
    Nonfiction
    Nottingham
    Novels
    Pandemic
    Peak District
    Perfect Match
    Poetry
    Point Of View
    Politics
    Politics Current Affairs
    Presentation
    Privacy
    Prizes
    Psychoanalytic Theory
    Psychology
    Psycholoists Write
    Psychotherapy
    Race
    Racism
    Rants
    Reading
    Real Vs Imaginary
    Religion
    Repetitive Strain Injury
    Research
    Reviewing
    Romance
    Satire
    Second Novels
    Settings
    Sex
    Shakespeare
    Short Stories General
    Short Stories My Published
    Short Stories Others'
    Siblings
    Snowflake
    Somebody's Daughter
    Stolen Summers
    Storytelling
    Structure
    Sugar And Snails
    Technology
    The
    The Guestlist
    Therapy
    TikTok
    TNTB
    Toiletday
    Tourism
    Toxic Positivity
    Transfiction
    Translation
    Trauma
    Unconscious
    Unconscious, The
    Underneath
    Voice Recognition Software
    War
    WaSBihC
    Weather
    Work
    Writing Process
    Writing Technique

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Picture
    BLOGGING COMMUNITIES
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from havens.michael34, romana klee, mrsdkrebs, Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It., adam & lucy, dluders, Joybot, Hammer51012, jorgempf, Sherif Salama, eyspahn, raniel diaz, E. E. Piphanies, scaredofbabies, Nomadic Lass, paulternate, Tony Fischer Photography, archer10 (Dennis), slightly everything, impbox, jonwick04, country_boy_shane, dok1, Out.of.Focus, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Elvert Barnes, guillenperez, Richard Perry, jamesnaruke, Juan Carlos Arniz Sanz, El Tuerto, kona99, maveric2003, !anaughty!, Patrick Denker, David Davies, hamilcar_south, idleformat, Dave Goodman, Sharon Mollerus, photosteve101, La Citta Vita, A Girl With Tea, striatic, carlosfpardo, Damork, Elvert Barnes, UNE Photos, jurvetson, quinn.anya, BChristensen93, Joelk75, ashesmonroe, albertogp123, >littleyiye<, mudgalbharat, Swami Stream, Dicemanic, lovelihood, anyjazz65, Tjeerd, albastrica mititica, jimmiehomeschoolmom, joshtasman, tedeytan, striatic, goforchris, torbakhopper, maggibautista, andreboeni, snigl3t, rainy city, frankieleon