How long have you been a writer?
I've been working on my writing for about 10 years. I write fiction, I guess you would call it literary fiction. The theme to which I keep returning is the effect that large political decisions have on individual people's lives and choices. The Soviet Prom is about the events of 21 August 1968, when the great Russian cellist Rostropovich was scheduled to perform the Dvorak (a Czech composer) Cello Concerto at the London Proms on the same day the world awoke to news that the Soviet army had invaded Czechoslovakia. I got a distinction for the story in my EMA.
How do you fit your writing in?
I work as the Business Development Manager for Regent's College London, the largest college of private higher education in the UK. Much of my time is currently taken up with studying AA100, but I use the months between the end of each OU module and the start of the next to write another section of my novel. I am also trying to fit in the writing of another short story at the moment between my TMAs. Most writers will tell you that writing is a compulsion – if you have a good idea, you just somehow find the necessary time to do it justice.
How have your OU Creative Writing courses helped?
Taking the two OU Creative Writing modules made a huge difference to the control I have over my writing; the results have been quite immediate. I wish I had started the courses 10 years ago!
Any tips for aspiring writers, especially those entering for competitions?
The debate about whether creative writing can be taught is as old (and boring!) as the debate about the death of the novel. The craft of writing can be taught, just as the craft of oil painting or acting can – it's the ideas and the compulsion to create that can't. So if you have some great ideas for stories and a burning desire to perfect them, I would recommend studying the craft. Writing is a solitary business and so studying creative writing with the OU is perfect preparation for when you go it alone.
To some extent, competitions are a numbers game. I've probably submitted stories to about 10 competitions, and now come third in one. Previous stories were autobiographically based – The Soviet Prom was a real leap into the unknown. I read two biographies, watched a 90-minute documentary and did a lot of research on YouTube about what Prague and its inhabitants looked like on 21 August 1968. So, although the mantra about writing from experience is useful advice, I would recommend sometimes taking a leap of the imagination (backed up by solid research!) in order to capture the world afresh from another time and place.
What are your ambitions for the future?
I am working on a novel entitled Imperialist Running Dogs, which is set in Shanghai at the time of the Iraq War. I have ideas for about the next five novels – I just wish I had the time to write and perfect them!
25 February 2013
The Soviet Prom will be published in the next but one issue of The London Magazine. Neil’s story A Good Service is free to download from the free Ether Books smartphone app; his story The Executors is available via Ether Books for 69p. A short report of the London Magazine competition is on the Thresholds forum.
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