Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting the writer, Caroline Smailes. I've read all of Caroline's books and use some of her texts in my Context 2 classes. Indeed, I'm writing about her work in my Readers & Writers Of Experimental Fiction book and see myself as an experimental/interdisciplinary writer too.
Caroline was talking about her work and giving a reading at MMU uni. Cheshire where I work as a Creative Writng tutor.
I introduced Caroline, to a writing room packed with Creative Writing and Gaming students, by reading a quote: 'There are no rules anymore for what's allowable or what's justified for a writer to do. We've never been in a more exciting time to be either a publisher or a reader or a writer. Whilst the digital transformation of our lives undeniable presents considerable challenges it also offers unprecedented opportunities. Competition for people's time means that writers have to be more experimental and more creative and to think of new ways in which they tell stories.' This was said by Jamie Byng, publisher and managing director of Canogate Books, speaking on The Culture Show (October, 2013)
From the onset Caroline won the audience over with warmth, humour and her love of the Beatles! She told how a chance remark on the Richard and Judy chat show in 2005 caused her to reconsider her life. She enrolled on an MA in Creative Writing and began writing! She was discovered by a Cyberscout as a direct result of her blog. 'The power of the internet can't be underestimated,' she explained, 'the Cyberscout is the next generation publishing executive, scouring the web for undiscovered talent.'
Her latest publication, The Drowning Of Arthur Braxton, is a modern fairy tale. Caroline spoke about her other novels too: Black Boxes, In Search Of Adam, Freaks, Like Bees To Honey, saying how she used different fonts in her writing to indicate altered voices and changing moods. The interplay of text with white space was to give expression.
The reading was from her e book: 99 Reasons Why, a book which represents a radical departure from literary tradition as it has a choice of 11 possible endings. The 3 reasons why Caroline read were sharp, witty and had the audience lol!
The audience lingered after the event to buy books, ask advice, to say how much they had enjoyed the occasion. Indeed, a good time was had by all. :-)
Thank you, Caroline.
www.carolinesmailes.co.uk
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