Aidan Trulove, "How to End Your Story"

Aidan Trulove is a writer from Austin, Texas, who specialises in experimental fiction, mostly fantasy and horror. She mainly writes for a Young Adult (YA) audience, though also enjoys horrifying her professors with her encyclopaedic knowledge of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a film she has incorporated into all of her academic work (without penalisation). She has been published by the Agave Review and the Skyline Literary Magazine, and currently works as a bookseller and story competition judge. 

Below, Aidan has written a letter addressed to future MA Creative Writing hopefuls, discussing her time writing her dissertation, The Unchosen One. 

How to End Your Story

To My Fellow Creative Writers,

When our dear lecturer and head of program, Jonathan Taylor, asked me to write about my process in crafting my dissertation, I was a bit surprised. Not because of anything about Jonathan, but due what he now knows about my own personal style. Even after earning my MA, I’m really not the formal academic-type. Here again, I probably won’t reference much of the theory that I’ve learned, or the articles (the many, many articles) I’ve read on the practice of writing. Instead, I’m going to tell you in the most unabashed way I can what it felt like to write my dissertation: The Unchosen One.  

Probably not the most dramatic title I could have chosen, but too late now. 

I came into this program having a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to finish my book, the first book in my Young Adult fiction series, which up until recently I’ve been calling The Unchosen One. (I’m changing this title because, now that I work in bookselling, I’ve realized there’s a Middle Grade book by the exact same name). I’ve been working on this project since the start of the COVID pandemic, when I had nothing else going on. The story of Gwen, my protagonist, and her misadventures in the magical world of Iaxos, have been my constant companion through two degrees, my entire relationship with my now-fianceé, and a series of moves from Texas to California, California to Texas, and Texas all the way to England. 

Still, even as I crept closer to the end of Gwen’s story, I found myself unable to part with it. I was terrified to let the story end - to face the beckoning crescendo at the culmination of the piece, one I didn’t feel skilled enough to write. I knew where I wanted Gwen’s story to go, but I didn’t know how to get there. Hence, deciding to get my MA. 

The single most important thing I learned during my time at Leicester is this: all stories have to end. They can have a concrete ending, an open-ending, an ending that falls somewhere in-between, but there comes a time where the words on the page must simply stop. Whether it’s a five-line poem or a twelve-thousand word dissertation, it’s not healthy to keep a story going indefinitely, for you or your writing. Especially since I plan on writing more books, I was encouraged in my dissertation to take this plunge, and to find out what an ending looked like, for me and for Gwen. 

At first, it felt like I was flying blind, because the research I wanted about the theory behind YA books just doesn’t exist yet, given that it’s a relatively new genre. This led me to switch to a more practical approach: reading YA books, mainly ones that were the first in their series, to look at how they ended and think about why. Given the timespan for the MA, I mainly focused on series I already loved: Suzanne Collins’ Hungergames, Tracey Deonn’s Legendborn, and Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orïsha. I looked at these series, observing a) how the protagonists changed from the start to the end of the first book, b) what questions the end of the stories did/didn’t answer, and c) the overall effect of the ending on me as a reader. 

Between these factors, I noticed something: none of these stories came to a polished end. As they approached their final pages, they opened the worlds of their protagonists even wider, while also, as Harry Whitehead would put it, "chasing their characters up a tree and continuing to throw rocks at them." I also realized, it isn’t enough to scare your readers into caring about your main character, by simply leaving them dangling over a cliff. Most of the authors I read took things a step further, by using the very final moments of the book to take something away that their protagonists could never get back, and then, after backing them into a corner, finally allowing these figures to reach their true potential. 

To end, here is a small excerpt from one of the final chapters of my book. I hope you enjoy, and if you happen to be a fellow YA/fantasy/horror writer, don’t hesitate to ask Jonathan for my contact information. Writing is a team sport, and I couldn’t have done any of this without the advice of my lecturers, and the support of my peers. 

From The Unchosen One

Once when I was around fifteen, my family left me alone at the house for a few days. I was given free reign of the kitchen, with instructions to throw out any food in the fridge that I didn’t eat before it went bad. I forgot, and on the morning they came home, we opened the fridge to find a very brown, very sour steak that had sat too long and gotten exposed to air. My mom nearly threw up on the spot, and I was tasked with throwing out the old meat, along with cleaning out and sanitizing the entire fridge. That was the smell that reached me as I curled my shield into my body, only to feel something new, and wet, soaking the edge of my clothing ...

Good luck with your own writing! Yours truly,

Aidan Trulove

Internal Windows: A Reflection on my Creative Writing MA

 By Anna Walsh

I started writing poems as a creative outlet when my children were small, and I occasionally performed them at spoken word events in Leicester.  When I became Word! Poetry Slam Champion 2022, part of my prize was a paid gig at the Attenborough Centre. One of my neighbours who came to the gig is an English lecturer at the University of Leicester and she encouraged me to consider the Creative Writing MA. 

It was intense but fun to return to studying as a mature student and the first modules, on climate change and poetry, suited my experience and interests. The second-semester course on fiction was a steep learning curve, but I was keen to challenge myself and I developed a good writing routine with excellent support from tutors and classmates.  

My final MA dissertation, Internal Windows: 42 Micro Memoirs, is a collection of memories from childhood, adulthood and parenthood which vary widely in form. It was inspired by Beth Ann Fennelly’s Heating and Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs, which includes memoirs of a single sentence, others which are lists or short paragraphs with joke-like punchlines, and the titular "Heating and Cooling" which is a five-page personal essay.

I was excited to discover a new genre which suited my writing style, as I discussed in my reflective commentary:

"I experience life in fragments. Each shard is glittering, and compelling. The inputs of my surrounding environment; sounds light and smells, images, words and textures, shine unfiltered into my brain. This feature of my neurodiversity can be an asset for Creative Writing. I notice detail and am fully immersed in every experience. I find interest in the ordinary. As each location is all-consuming, moving from one room to another is like travelling between different worlds. The recent past quickly becomes a distant memory and the future is unimaginable. Life is a set of disconnected segments rather than a connected continuum. This works well for writing poetry, dense and intense around a single metaphor. Longer-form writing and narrative structure is much more challenging for me. I found that micro-memoirs suited my ability to craft short pieces which are complete in themselves." 

I had no shortage of material. It was just a case of collecting up the scattered post-it notes, the unnamed documents from the corners of my computer, the "notes to self" on my phone and some older memories from the depths of my brain.  I spent a lot of time on editing and applying my new learning to craft these pieces into effective stories in a wide variety of forms. 

Arranging the forty-two pieces in the most compelling order was an important but potentially overwhelming process. I followed my supervisor’s advice and printed them all out. I then infiltrated the Engineering block and enjoyed several hours rearranging my pages on their large, tiled landing with windows overlooking the park.

I am delighted that I will be returning to the University of Leicester in September to start my PhD as part of the EM-SLAM programme focussed on sustainability, storytelling and mental health.

Below, you can read three of the micro-memoirs from my MA Creative Writing Dissertation. 

Cheating death

I have written poems for one wedding and three funerals. My relatives message me memories and I connect them with rhyme. My dad says he’ll be sorry to miss the funeral poem I write for him, so we agree that he can have it in advance. I send him instalments, a verse for every birthday. He gets to cheat death by hearing his own eulogy and I will never have to say, "I wish I’d told him while I had the chance." 

Saturday mornings 

"Can we have icing sugar on our breakfast?," we shout towards the mounds of our sleeping parents. One of them mumbles a muffled syllable and neither of them moves. I will take that as approval. My brother is already on his way to the kitchen, jumping down the last two stairs. 

He places the pink box on the kitchen table, the cardboard flaps flipped up, and the inner packet open. We climb onto the wooden stools, dangle our legs and wait for several seconds in respect of the ritual. My brother hits the packet and a white cloud rises.  We lean right in and inhale the sweetness, coating our throats and noses with the soft powder particles.  

Once the magic has settled on the surfaces, we abandon the sticky kitchen to eat our sugar topped Weetabix in front of far too much TV. 

Years later I come across a newspaper article: a health study into the benefits of glucose for respiratory illnesses. It suggests inhalation therapy as a treatment, but they have yet to address how sugar might be inhaled. 

We are the pioneers who have the answer. Those Saturday mornings spent in research will not have been in vain. I message by brother to congratulate him.

The Tidsoptimist

Sorry I’m late I was thinking about my cheese plant.

Sorry I’m late I was working out the meaning of life.

Sorry I’m late but I genuinely believed that if I cycled fast enough, I could catch up with time. 

All about the MA in Creative Writing Dissertation at the University of Leicester

Towards the end of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester, students concentrate on an individual extended writing project, the Dissertation in Creative Writing. The Dissertation is the students' opportunity to concentrate on a pet major project (e.g. a collection of stories, a poetry collection, a script, an extended extract from a novel, etc.), and develop it with the help of an individual supervisor. This is the students' chance to write what they always wanted to!

The Dissertation usually runs from May to mid-September, after the four taught MA modules have been completed. The Dissertation consists of three stages:

1. In May, students attend the annual Creative Writing Dissertation Day, where they get to share ideas with each other and tutors. Following this, student submit a short proposal about their intended project.

2. Students are then allotted an individual supervisor, who meets with them regularly over Summer, providing feedback and advice on the work in progress. 

3. Students submit their Creative Writing Dissertation in mid-September. 

Over the last few years, we've featured a number of our MA Creative Writing students who have written about their Dissertation experience, so to give a flavour of the (huge) range of different creative possibilities in this respect, we've collected some of these articles (below). There's lots of great writing and research advice here, and some fantastic projects. Do take a look!

If you're interested in either the part-time or full-time MA course in Creative Writing, and would like more information, please do email Jonathan Taylor on jt265@le.ac.uk. You can apply here.

Some Articles by Students about the MA Creative Writing Dissertation on Creative Writing at Leicester. 

Anna O'Sullivan, My MA Creative Dissertation

Mandy Jarvis, Moving on Up: My Creative Writing Dissertation

Tracey Foster, Deep Diving the YA Market: My Creative Writing Dissertation

Kate Durban, The Creative Writing Dissertation

Danni Devenney, Girls Who Play Sports 

Thilsana Gias, Researching and Writing a Historical Dissertation

Rosie Anderson, Managing a Creative Writing Dissertation

Millie Henson, The Call of the Wild in Children's Literature

Tionee Joseph, Mastering the Dissertation

"The Armour of Fiction Versus the Sword of Reality": My Creative Writing Dissertation

By Kimaya Tushar Patil

Hi! I'm Kimaya, I'm 22, and I've recently been awarded my MA in Creative Writing from the University of Leicester. I'm originally from the city of Pune, in India, and I graduated from Fergusson College with a BA in English Literature in 2024 (2:1).

My final dissertation for the MA was a prose-based Creative Writing project which highlighted the political turmoil we face in a society that manipulates information to control and divide its citizens, and how we, as recently inducted adults, learn to navigate this chaos on finding ourselves in such an uncertain environment. For my dissertation, I submitted the first six chapters of the first book of what I have planned to be a trilogy.

My undergraduate project had to be done in a group and was purely research based (we applied Allen Tate's "Theory of Tension" to Dante's Inferno), so I was glad to have free rein this time around, as my Master's dissertation allowed me to combine research with my original work. 

The themes of my work were inspired by the current world events unfolding in the previous and ongoing decade. We have been through so much as a society; battling precarious geo-political conflicts, global pandemics, and corrupt leaderships. And yet, in spite of all the chaos, we are trying to not only persevere, but to find ourselves as we enter a new stage of life. My submission focused on the themes of 1) individual morality vs. social indoctrination, 2) identity and belonging, and 3) the construction of a false reality through propaganda and class division. 

As for the genre, while never having worked with fantasy before, it was the only one that felt right to be able to bear the weight of the themes being explored. It gave me the chance to probe further into these issues. My book would be classified in terms of the newly popular "New Adult" category, in the genre of political-fantasy with a romantasy sub-plot. The "New Adult" category is fairly recent development, and usually falls between the "Young Adult" and "Adult" categories, aiming for audiences between 18-25 years of age. 

The first book follows 22-year-old Oriana Seravelle, as she navigates her life as a new adult. As the adoptive daughter of the decorated army General of Elydris, Oriana has big shoes to fill. Between training and honing her ability to wield shadows, and her ageing father retiring soon, she is trying her best to be worthy of his legacy. Just when her father agrees to let her take on some more serious responsibilities, she comes across a mysterious stranger who threatens to turn her world upside down. 

During my dissertation I found myself struggling with scene edits, as well as stylistic edits. With scenes, I often struggled to maintain the delicate balance between mystery and revelation. I also often spent too much time focusing on minute details of particular scenes. I have learned, though, that it is best to know just enough about a scene to make sure it can be converted into a rough draft. That way there is at least something to edit later. 

Here are a few general tips for writing at university I feel I've picked up along the way:

• Write whatever you can. It doesn't matter if it is 50 words or 500. It does not necessarily have to be a perfect draft.
• Perfect drafts are a MYTH. And imposter syndrome is real, although it is good to remind yourself that you have your own unique timeline to accomplish your goals!
• Go through your curriculum well before your classes begin and email your tutors in case of any queries. (They are always happy to help you!)
• While navigating the busy schedule of a post-graduate degree, organisation is key! (Don't be shy to use that note-taking app, and the scheduling calendar. They are lifesavers).

Below, you can read a short excerpt from my MA Creative Writing Dissertation.

 

From Chapter Two

The moon is high by the time I make my way across the town and to the outskirts near the cliffs. The Fortress is a daunting structure in the distance. Its security is second best, only to its geographical advantage, which makes it inescapable, by foot or by water. Hewn from stone, the structure is deeper than it is taller, overlooking the steep drop to the jagged shoreline and deep waters below. 

Shadows dance along the walls as I climb the steps to the entrance. The two stationed guards exchange skeptical looks, but let me pass after handing me the roster of the cells. The darkness seems to close in the deeper I go, the dampness of mildew coating my senses in an invisible cloak. The sound of my boots is the loud compared to the occasional groan or yell coming from a distance. It takes my eyes a minute to adjust to the light that flickers from the carved hollow quartz stones, placed upon unevenly distanced sconces. I make sure to double-check every name and locking mechanism on each of the holding cells as I move deeper into the fortress. 

About forty cells in, the Fortress goes quiet; too quiet. I move cautiously, drawing a blade from its sheath, and take a left at the upcoming junction. I see something move in the shadows out of the corner of my eye. I turn around to find hollow darkness, but I sense someone standing in the shadows. There is more than one person here. Not guards. 

My MA Creative Dissertation

By Anna O'Sullivan

Hello fellow creative writers! My name is Anna O’Sullivan and I’m a recent graduate from University of Leicester with a BA in English and MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing with Distinction and recipient of the Waddington MA Prize – which is a bit of a mouthful! Since graduating, I work full-time at a college, with plans to travel for several months around Central and South America, starting in May. I aspire to build a career in the publishing industry later down the line.  

As well as a passion for writing, I love arts and crafts. Recently, I created a Gavin and Stacey-themed Monopoly set, and that became my whole personality for the several months it took. Above all things, I love to read. My favourite genres include feminist, historical and dystopian fiction. I have recently joined "BookTok" and am enjoying speaking to people from around the world with a mutual love for books and similar tastes to me. It is welcoming and wholesome, and a great way to share your views and receive recommendations! 

University of Leicester’s MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature was incredibly appealing to me, as it explores a range of literary forms and genres from a period of history that interests me and addresses relevant social and political issues. The books I studied on this module were thought-provoking and helped me to find my niche and shape an understanding of the subjects. The combination of this degree alongside modules from the Creative Writing MA, plus the opportunity to pursue a creative dissertation, was too good an opportunity to miss. 

The Creative Writing Dissertation, weighted 70% for the creative piece and 30% for 3,000 words of a critical reflection, enables total freedom for writers to explore any forms they would like to. Initially, due to my interest in the genre, I had ideas of a dystopian short story that would cover the 12,000-word limit. Although I made in-depth plans for this, upon further reflection, more ideas began to trickle out and I found myself wanting to write a piece that felt much more meaningful. 

"Meaningfulness" was the key to landing on my big idea. I chose to write a collection of short stories entitled Girls about three young women in the genre of post-feminist fiction. Each story was 4,000 words and followed the female protagonist in close third-person perspective as they encountered similar themes of love, desire and sex. The stories were dispersed across three decades (2000s, 2010s and 2020s) but covered similar challenges in contemporary workplace and university settings. The piece, whilst mostly completely fictional, contained aspects of similar experiences that my friends or I have had, and therefore leant slightly towards being autobiographical. 

Whilst writing, if I hit a wall and found I had no idea how to proceed with the story, I read. The novels I know and love – the ones I would consume and think yes, I want to write something like this, they steered me onwards. Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, powerful but flawed in its own way, was a huge inspiration for my piece, as it takes readers on a journey through the lives of three real women and their relationship with sex and desire. I wanted to be a bit like Lisa Taddeo but comedic like Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary with flawed protagonists, like Ottessa’s Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation - my own take on my favourite aspects of these books. I took inspiration from the modules I had enjoyed during my degree. One in which I explored the relationship between work and identity led me down a path of interest in "work novels" and "bullshit jobs." And as meaningfulness wins over, I knew I wanted to write about women and their experiences at work and in other areas that they have historically been regarded as "second." Women. Work. Desire. 

As I had read and consumed so much whilst writing the creative piece, this made the reflective commentary so much more manageable. I had the primary and secondary material at hand, and as I had picked a subject that I was interested in, I was able to discuss it in great detail. I believe a bit of fire in the belly helps steer the work along. I have a lot to say about false ideas surrounding female desire, or modern women in workplace settings, so I channelled my frustration into something creative. I wanted to create a narrative that would resonate with other women.

My greatest piece of advice, therefore, is to write about something meaningful, and something that piques your interest. The creative dissertation is all yours. It’s your vision. With the kind guidance of your supervisor, this piece of work can be shaped into whatever you want it to become. I highly recommend using this opportunity to create something that resonates with your own experiences, interests or values. 

Below you can read three excerpts from the dissertation. 

A snippet from the first short story: Maeve’s Story, 2004 
Maeve Taylor blows out the candles on her twenty-third birthday cake and wishes for the one thing she wants most in the world – to have sex with her boss. 

To repeat the exact words as she says the wish to herself: to have dirty, steamy sex with Max Walters in his office, up against the locked door or on top of his desk, or anywhere he would prefer it really. 

Of course, she couldn’t say this out loud. Her parents and grandma sit on stools on the opposite side of the counter, their faces all filled with glee and adoration, still seeing the sweet, virginal girl Maeve once was. 

It’s lucky Maeve couldn’t say the wish out loud, because her grandma might have had a heart attack, and that would probably put an end to the party. Besides, it wouldn’t come true if she did. 

A snippet from the second short story: Olive’s Story, 2014
Olive Newman screams. STOP IT. PLEASE STOP. I’M BEGGING YOU.

She screams but she can barely hear her own voice over the ringing in her ears. She is thrown to the ground suddenly. Her back smacks against the concrete. She lays there, motionless, staring up at the black, starless sky. Her breaths are shaky and uneven, her heart hammering against her ribcage. 

She reaches her hand to touch the back of her head. When she brings it back to her eyeline, her hand is coated in dirt and mud. No blood.

A snippet from the third short story: Joanna’s Story, 2020
Joanna Weatherford is left on the steps of her accommodation on a muggy September day in 2020. She watches wistfully as her parent’s car signals out of the carpark and drives away without turning back. 

She gazes up at the tall, red brick building beside her. There’s something dingy and cold about it. As she walks through into her ground-floor flat, the pasty white walls and damp smell feels slightly akin to a prison. Her room is at the very end of the hallway, by the fire exit. The floor is covered entirely by various bags and boxes of her possessions. Everything she has collected over the last eighteen years folded and shoved into suitcases.

Mandy Jarvis, "Moving on Up: Writing a Creative Dissertation"

Since completing a BA in English and History from Leicester Polytechnic way back in 1986, I have worked in a number of different settings including journalism, teaching English in other countries, statutory and voluntary youth services, and more recently in the state education sector. The common thread through all of these careers has been in supporting children and young people from a range of different backgrounds and experiences. My love of reading and writing has remained constant throughout.  

At the end of 2022, I took a leap of faith to pursue my love of literature and left my job as a primary school teacher to embark on the MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Leicester University. My decision to write a creative piece for my final dissertation gave me the opportunity to combine what I had learnt from both the critical and creative aspects of the course, along with my own experiences in education. I was keen to write something that could potentially be of use to children when making the major transition from primary to secondary school.  

My experiences in working with year 6 children (aged 10-11), in particular, had demonstrated to me that this is a key pivotal moment in their lives. For my dissertation, I wrote a set of three middle-grade short stories, Moving on Up, in which I addressed some of the common themes I had identified from my own research and observations, as well as concerns children had shared with me. These included: friendships and fitting in, getting lost, homework, detention and bullying. Each story focuses on the experiences of a young person who has just started at the fictional Riverview Secondary Academy. My rationale was to write stories which could both entertain children as well as providing the opportunity for them to see themselves on the page - and to reassure them that they were not alone in what they might be feeling about moving up to secondary school.    

Advice for students

If you are on the MA in Modern and Contemporary Literature and are in any way considering choosing to do a creative piece for your dissertation, sign up for the Creative Writing modules that are available to you. They will allow you to become more familiar with how the writing process is taught, submitting pieces of work and how discussions are managed. The experience will also expose you to texts on the craft of writing as well as other texts that will help you to become more familiar with different genres and reading as a writer. The two MAs work together really well and it really felt like I got a lot more out of the year by combining both.

Get used to sharing your work with others, however scary it may be, as it is an integral part of the writing process. It is always managed in a very positive and supportive manner and really helped me to begin to get over my anxieties about how my writing would be received.  All feedback is useful.  

 

Ten tips for writing a creative dissertation

1. Write about something you really care about and are invested in. It will keep you going through the duration of the writing process.
2. Read as many primary texts as you can within the genre of your writing.
3. If you need to meet other people as part of your research, get in touch early. People are busy.  
4. Start writing as soon as possible.  Things will start to fall into place.  Even if you think it’s useless, it won’t be and there will definitely be a couple of nuggets in there that will dictate where you go next.
5. Try not to keep going back to re-writing and editing too early.  There’s a danger you’ll get rid of something really good.  Try and finish a chapter or a short story in a sequence so you can see the whole thing before you start to redraft. 
6. Make use of your supervisor. They’re not judging you. They’re really happy to help you. Be honest and take risks by saying what you’re really worried or thinking about.  
7. After a tutorial, write up your notes, actions and look up any texts/research that have been recommended to you. I found doing some re-writing straight after my tutorials really productive as it was fresh in my mind and I could see more clearly the changes I needed to make.  
8. Take down time. Go for a walk or talk to someone else about your idea. It’s in this time that I could see what was missing or didn’t work. Most of my ideas were formed and then reformulated during time away from the screen.  
9. If you’re struggling to write creatively, read something for your research or reflection. It’ll feel like you’re doing something.
10. Don’t worry too much about your reflective commentary until you get closer to the deadline. The feedback from your tutorials and the experience of writing your dissertation will already be formulating and dictating what will go into your reflection. 

Tracey Foster, "Deep Diving the YA Market: My Creative Writing Dissertation"

For my MA Creative Writing Dissertation last year I intended to write for the Young Adult market, classified as readers of twelve to eighteen years-old. This was a target market I knew a lot about after working as a secondary school teacher for over thirty years. This group of readers has seen an explosion in choice content over the last decade with a range of formats and new authors to choose from, names that now fill the shelves at Waterstones: Malorie Blackman, John Green, Suzanne Collins. This diverse content has covered a huge range of challenging and controversial issues, from genocide (Boy in the Striped Pyjamas), racism (Ghost Boys), teen pregnancy (Boys Don’t Cry), transgender (The Art of Being Normal), and bereavement (Holding Up the Universe). The bar was set high for me to write a novel to sit along these ranks.

My first mission was to read all the classics, novels that were not always written with this market in mind but have since become a go-to for adolescents. The current top 100 list compiled by TIME magazine (see here) features Lord of the Flies, Little Women and The Catcher in the Rye, novels that we were encouraged to turn to as children and that formed our early understanding of the adult world. As I reread all the classics, I began to feel undercurrent themes of loss, hardship, and inevitability. This was understandable as many of these authors wrote in a period either between or after the wars, when there was an uncertainty about our future and a pervading sadness about the human condition. William Golding witnessed the horrors of the D-Day landings before writing Lord of the Flies, George Orwell served in the Spanish Civil war before penning Animal Farm, J.R.R. Tolkien had served in the trenches in the First World War before starting on the idea that would become Lord of The Rings. A melancholy that pervades these books stems from the experiences of the writers, but when read by the young it seems to resound with their yearnings to find a place in the world. 

Modern stories have moved more directly to tackle issues that are current and all-consuming. Many authors today often choose to shift the narrative away from third-person description to a first-person perspective, and this gives the tone an immediacy and intimacy that appeals to modern readers - a confidential tone that appeals to younger readers and is a quick let-in to the action. Some authors have chosen to employ alternative voices to narrate each chapter, showing the scene from different viewpoint and allowing the reader to choose their favourite. The YA audience likes this approach as it works on a few levels, moving the action along and showing prejudice and preferences. This has led to a series of online formats pushing similar novels written in the multiperspectival style (see some examples here). 

One of the biggest outputs in the YA market in recent years has been the multicultural novel. Like buses, you wait several decades for one and then you get a whole shelf full. This has been one of the most successful areas of writing as the market seems to lap up these newcomers with open arms. Read avidly by all YA readers, the multicultural novel has explored all aspects of multiculturalism in society from many different viewpoints (see some examples here). 

The Carnegie Medal, first established in 1936, sought to identify and celebrate the best in British children’s literature. Its aim is to publicise and reward those authors whose works stay in the imagination long after closing the cover, and while the content may be challenging for the audience, the readers must leave with a sense of closure and pleasure. These books are sometimes not written for the YA market but become championed by it. They are often a good starting point when beginning to dip into the field of YA material and are usually available in most libraries. (See Carnegie Medal Winners here).

After spending a long summer reading as much YA material as I could get my hands on, I wanted to consult the experts and, having the target market close to hand, I thought I could survey my pupils on their reading habits. This required a few careful steps before starting. I needed to approach the Ethics Committee at the University of Leicester and also seek permission from the principal of my school. Secondary education is already protected by many safeguarding measures, and students' information is secured within an IT safe wall. I was able to use these systems to create a survey that asked my pupils about their literature preferences and dislikes. The online nature of this survey meant that I had complete control over the collection of the data and could interact with it as needed but always keep the student’s data anonymous. The Ethics Committee had to check my questions and the school’s safeguarding measures before giving me the green light to go ahead. Working with the head of English, we selected the students according to their English sets, choosing the ones most likely to be avid readers and asked the pupils to complete the survey over the summer break. (The school already had a cluster of students that took part in shadowing the Carnegie medal every year and who read and reviewed the short list together). The survey was very informal and used a Loom video to introduce and to personalise the task. All the students knew me well and the questions embedded this approach as I asked, ‘tell me,’ rather than ‘tell the school.’ From this lengthy questionnaire I sought to determine a few things.

• What they would recommend as their favourite reads, genre, format, author
• What they had a dislike for, authors, genres, particular novels
• What were the key themes, topics that they found engaging or a turnoff
• What topics were controversial to them, how easily were they shocked

I had no preconceptions about the survey results as these were discussions we had never had, and, more importantly, neither had the English department. Given that curriculum syllabi have spoon-fed a diet of classics for years without asking the audience what they really want to read, I found it fascinating that nobody had talked to the students before. What I found was an articulate, vocal, perceptive audience who most definitely had something to say about what they really wanted. Responses included the following:

‘I think that in today’s generation, there are very little topics that can be classified as extremely controversial due to progress for LGTBQ+, black and female rights. YA is arguably one of the most controversial genres due to the varied ages of the readers, but this is simply the nature of YA.’ 

‘I think things are controversial when they aren’t spoken about correctly. If they are talked about in a way that highlights issues people go through, then I think it is important to speak about them.’ 

‘I do not mind "disturbing" content as in the right context, it’s interesting. If I’m reading murder mystery, I would obviously want more gruesome descriptions. As long as the author isn’t being offensive themselves, they are allowed to make their characters antagonistic.’

‘Women are still considered inferior and instead of reading books with misogyny and about patriarchal societies we should read books about matriarchal societies and support female authors.’

The students identified their biggest pet-hates in novels as misogyny, animal cruelty and racism and instead recommended stories that had spoken to them. Clustered with the obvious best sellers was a surprising gem, Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar. The YA popularity of this novel about a young woman’s decent into mental breakdown, subsequent hospitalisation and suicide attempt has even sparked mimicry by other authors, like Meg Wolitzer’s Belzhar. The students also suggested a few other novels not originally intended for the YA audience, showing that that are happy to browse the shop shelves and be discerning buyers. All of these novels showed a similar use of an informal first-person narrator, a clear voice, quick pace and the use of good metaphors. 

One of the best of the bunch was The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge, winner of the Costa award. My original intention for my novel was to culminate with a horrendous accident in which the father is killed, so this book proved to be good research for both in technique and content. Teens are very adept at handling mortality and death is a topic often explored in YA fiction. The classics often set out with an orphan’s perspective to elicit empathy right from the start - e.g. Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations. This enables a confidential tone to the narration as we become their sole confidant in a lonely world.

I also set up a shadowing group at school and gave students the early drafts of my story to read. This process was invaluable, asking the readers what they think whist creating the plot. Hearing first-hand opinions on the scenario, pace and voice was really exciting. I can recommend this process to everyone as it was fascinating to hear what the readers inferred from my words and finding new perceptions that I hadn’t even intended. I was initially concerned about my opening paragraph as it stemmed from a real incident that had affected me as a child. The teenagers of my focus group were much less disturbed by the incident and even found the idea amusing. A viewing diet of TV and films means that the YA market is much more likely to have been exposed to death at a tender age. The survey had identified that young readers have a fast filter that enables them to quickly identify good and bad content and make their own decisions.

Concluding from this experience, I would recommend reading as much relevant material as you can get your hands on. Seek out your audience and, if possible, open a dialogue with them. Ask pertinent questions to determine what likes and dislikes your readers have and be open to criticism. Show them first drafts and allow them to find their own way through the plot you will be amazed what others perceive from your words. Listen to your readers to become a better writer.

Some useful links include:

• https://nybookeditors.com/2017/08/5-tips-for-marketing-your-ya-novel/
• https://www.penguinteen.com/2023-ya-book-preview/
• https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/index.html
• https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/the-8-habits-of-highly-successful-young-adult-fiction-authors/280722/

About the author
Tracey Foster started off in a long career as an Art and Design teacher but wanted to refocus her creative energies into writing poetry and prose. After helping others find inspiration in the world around us, she took an MA course in Creative Writing at Leicester University and has not looked back. She finds inspiration in the past and the events that shape us. Previous work has been published by Comma Press, Ayaskala, Alternateroute, Fish Barrel Review, Mausoleum Press, Bus Poetry Magazine, Wayward Literature and The Arts Council. 

Kate Durban, "The Creative Writing Dissertation"

If you’re reading this now perhaps you are seeking wisdom and advice about how to approach your upcoming dissertation. I can’t promise any magic solutions, but I can offer my own insights into facing the fear and finding a route to actually enjoying the opportunities that writing the dissertation can offer. So here is an account of my own writing journey, together with some tips I picked up along the way. 

My name is Kate Durban. I’m 54 and I’ve recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Leicester. As well as writing, I work part time as a Specialist Cancer Nurse and I am Mum to Rudi (25) and Tasha (23) and wife to Philip (60). I started writing in July 2015 when my first husband, Angus, was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of leukaemia. I wrote a blog to communicate what was happening to our friends and family. I quickly discovered that the act of writing itself became a means of self-expression, a therapeutic escape as well as a creative act in its own right. People started saying they thought my writing was good.  

Tragically Angus died in the December of that year and as I wrestled with grief, writing continued to be an outlet. I signed up for a course, and then another until eventually I found myself applying for the MA at Leicester. I did it partly for Angus: before he died, he encouraged me to keep writing. After his death I wrote about grief and hope and carrying on. 

Four years later, as I made my way to the university campus that first day, I was terrified. I’ve always wanted to write but, like many others, I’ve struggled to believe in myself. I love reading but the gap between the work of ‘real’ writers and my paltry efforts felt vast. Nevertheless, I was determined to improve and to see where the MA took me. I took heart from the generous encouragement of my tutor - and the fact that a life in nursing was a rich source of wonderful and inspiring stories. Meeting my fellow students, who came from a variety of personal and academic backgrounds and diverse writing experiences and interests, was a joy. We were in this together. 

There was an unexpected distraction in the Autumn and Winter of 2019. I met and fell in love with Philip, and I ended up juggling the first two terms of the MA with a whirlwind romance which culminated in a wedding in February 2020. And then came the pandemic. Nevertheless, I loved every moment of the course and I was determined to persevere. The first assignment, amidst wedding plans and Christmas, was so scary. I had no idea whether I would pass or fail. But I did pass, and more importantly I learned a lot in the process. As each semester sped by it was exciting to experiment with different genres whilst benefitting from the insights and feedback of all the tutors and fellow students, and at the same time learn about Creative Writing theory. In no time at all, it was time to start planning for the dissertation. Again, I was filled with trepidation. 15,000 words seemed daunting. So how did I tackle it? 

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses 

I think the key for me in writing the dissertation was in looking back at what I had learned throughout the MA, particularly knowledge about my strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge was essential in determining my approach. 

 

Strength: What to write 

From the very beginning I knew that I wanted to write memoir about my experiences when Angus became ill. I also knew I wanted to write about the conflict between my professional identity as a nurse and my identity as Angus’s wife as he was cared for in the hospital where I worked. I also wanted to write about my nursing career - the people I’ve met and their stories, entwined with my own, and to explore the concept of nursing and what I believe good nursing is. It’s something I’m passionate about. And so I had a lot to say. This was a strong source of motivation and helped me build and sustain momentum. 

Strength: Voice 

Throughout my MA, I received feedback to say I had a strong voice. I knew what I wanted to say and the impression I was striving to make on my readers. Creating the right tone - one of poignancy without clichéd sentimentality - was a fine balance, and took time to achieve. In order to do so I learned to challenge my tendency to over-write. 

Weakness: Over-writing 

This is a challenge for many new writers. The temptation to use five words where two will do is always strong. I love words - all of them - and paring down my prose feels like I’m losing meaning. But what I’ve learned is that a writer needs to trust their readers; let them fill in the gaps. A stripped-back narrative with the lightest peppering of imagery and a disciplined use of adjectives and adverbs is so much more effective in creating a memorable impact. Nevertheless, I love poetic and lyrical prose and that led me to think about form. 

Strength and Weakness: Form 

When considering form for my dissertation I made the decision, with guidance, not to be too experimental. This might sound like I was playing it safe but, in making that decision, I considered my aims. My first writing priority is to write a memoir that I can potentially publish. There are many other things I’d like to do too, but, in the end, I decided that the dissertation was an opportunity to develop the opening of my memoir: to give it wings. At first, I considered writing a mixture of prose and poems – but ultimately I decided that I was too inexperienced as a poet to risk experimentation. That is a journey for the future. Central to achieving my aim was mentorship. 

Strength: Supervision 

Having Jonathan as my supervisor was an extremely empowering experience. His guidance and experience were invaluable, not least having written his own memoir, Take Me Home, about caring for his father who had Parkinson’s disease. He was able to recommend many resources, and I felt that he really knew me and my strengths and weaknesses. He was always responsive and generous with his time and advice. By starting quite early I was able to get the maximum benefit from the relationship. One thing he helped me with specifically was my struggle with structure. 

Weakness: Structure 

Throughout the MA I found it a challenge to achieve balance in my writing: between scene and summary, and between description and moving the story forward. And so I read. With guidance from my tutors, I read what writers said about structure, and what teachers said about it. I read lots of other people’s memoirs - particularly those by medical professionals - to see how they did it. And I read about the art of memoir – its challenges both structurally and ethically in terms of the pursuit of truth - and its value. I was worried that I didn’t have a clear structure and plan from the beginning. Jonathan suggested writing scenes to start with - they could be knitted together later. This worked and felt so much less daunting than writing one long piece all at once. Gradually a structure emerged which interspersed the story of Angus’s diagnosis and illness with memories from our family life and my nursing career, providing a backdrop and a context for the story - my story and Angus’s story - that I wanted to tell. I learned that structure can evolve and to trust the creative process in allowing it to emerge, rather than having it all planned.  

Strength: Hard work and perseverance 

There’s no doubt it was hard work. But in the end the experience gave me great confidence, which grew as the piece developed. The critical reflection seemed to evolve as I read and wrote. I kept a record of resonant quotations and references around which to weave the reflection. In the end it almost seemed to write itself. 

What next 

You’ll be relieved to know that I passed. As was I. The challenge has been to keep going. I have to admit that I’ve hardly written anything over the last few months. But now that I’ve had the result and some very useful feedback, now Christmas has been and gone and we’re into a new year, I’m ready. I have ideas for new chapters and a way forward to the end. So, I hope to finish my memoir. And maybe, just maybe, it will be published one day. 

As you approach what seems perhaps a daunting task, try to think of the dissertation as an opportunity. Write something you feel passionate about, play to your strengths and work at your weaknesses, and get every bit of support you can from the supervision process. Read, read and read some more. Work hard and try to enjoy it. Good luck. This time next year it will all be over! 

Tionee Joseph, "Mastering the Dissertation"

 

Tionee Joseph recently completed the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. She has been published by The English and Media Centre and her poem ‘With the Passing of the First Generation’ was published in the Black History Month 2020 edition of Unite by Fly on the Wall Press. She has a YouTube channel where she vlogs about mental health here.

Below, Tionee writes about her experience of the MA Creative Writing Dissertation, and what advice she would give to future MA students undertaking it.

Mastering the Dissertation, by Tionee Joseph

Wow, you’ve finally made it to the Dissertation! Time flies, doesn’t it? On the downside this is the beginning of the end of your MA journey. On the upside, this is your big moment to shine (think talent-show-final with your supervisor as your mentor).

I discovered that the Dissertation at a Master's level is a different beast to the one of the undergraduate level. I wrote a play - a form I had never really written before - but something was telling me this was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. 

My Dissertation project was a full-length play about a couple who take in an acquaintance to stay with them during the beginning of the March 2020 lockdown. The play explores the relationship dynamics that develop between them over a couple of months. 

Anyway, no matter what you decide to write, below are some tips to make the experience easier:

1. Keep notes from the very beginning; you can track the changes in your process from start to end and it gives you material for your commentary rather than trying to do it retrospectively.
2. Take notes at each supervision and try to meet with your supervisor regularly. This gives you mini-deadlines to work towards.
3. If you are struggling to write, do some housekeeping. Write your bibliography and make sure it’s in the correct style, check your presentation is up to spec (using a suitable font and size, pages are numbered, line spacing). I used to do these things at the end but doing them sooner frees you up to concentrate on the writing when you do get back into the flow of it.
4. Use read aloud function on word for when you can’t spot your own mistakes.
5. Talk to someone about how it’s been going. Writing can be very solitary and unless you talk to yourself out loud you may not be aware of the issues that are blocking you until you verbalise them. The person you speak to doesn’t need to be a writer, but they could offer an opinion from a reader’s perspective which is just as valuable.  
6. Track your changes on word. You can see what you originally typed even if you delete it later on. This is useful for the commentary when talking about early drafts.

Good luck! 

"The Call of the Wild" in Children's Literature

By Millie Henson

I hope everyone reading this is doing well, even if the universe isn’t making it easy right now.

I’m Millie Henson, I’m 22, and I’ve recently finished my MA in Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. I returned home to Derbyshire to finish my dissertation, where long walks through overgrown paths and forests inspired some of the themes of nature in my story. I grew up learning the names of wild plants, like elderberries, sloes, and dandelions (and I was assured I could make wine out of all of them). I wanted to bring some of that natural childish wonder to my final project.

My dissertation was a 12,000-word middle-grade children’s story written from the perspective of a feral child in Suomi (Finland). The protagonist, Aria, was raised in the forest by a bear who became her adoptive mother. The key themes in this story include kindness and tolerance, which are developed through Aria’s connections with other children in the village as they try to help her understand the human world. Common tropes in children’s literature such as ‘The Call of the Wild’ are usually used to deter children from going into the forest, or other supposedly dangerous places, alone. I wanted to subvert these expectations by showing how, from Aria’s perspective, human society was a place of greed and malicious intent, whilst the forest was a peaceful place she wished to return to. She imagined the forest was calling to her: ‘Come home, where the trees will hum and sing for you.’

When I researched pre-existing children’s literature about children being raised by animals, I realised that most books involve a fantasy element. Either the children are transformed into animals or have some magical way to communicate with them, often caused by an enchantment. This is most likely for practical reasons; it’s harder to hold onto a child’s attention without the main characters being able to speak to each other. However, I wanted to maintain a sense of (magical) realism, which meant I had to research real-life cases of children living with animals.

What I found was the complex history of feral children, who were raised by wild animals or lived alone in the wilderness away from civilisation. Michael Newton’s A History of Feral Children (2011) discusses case studies of children being raised by bears, wolves, dogs, tigers, and monkeys. These animals took mercy on children who would otherwise have died of exposure or starvation, which shows how a maternal instinct can transcend species. For centuries scientists have explored the effects this has on children, who often never regain full powers of communication. Unfortunately, many academics dehumanise feral children by questioning their intelligence, emotional capacity, and whether they can be considered ‘human.’ Since I was basing some of Aria’s speech and behaviours on these real-life cases of feral children, I wanted to ensure that I did so respectfully, by showing the world from her perspective, including her instinctive thoughts and feelings, instead of making her a curiosity

Writing a children’s book allowed me to incorporate one of my other passions, art. I created watercolour illustrations, such as Aria and her bear mother surrounded by Finnish plants and leaves, and I added a border to make the pages more colourful. Children’s illustrations can be important not only for engaging the young reader, but also for helping to create a tone for the story. This is why I based my paintings on artwork I had seen alongside traditional fairy tales.

 

I found writing my dissertation very rewarding, as I could see the story come together from concept to completion. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of writing 15,000 words in three months was daunting at the beginning. I came up with a loose plan for the plot, which involved Aria’s relationship with her bear mother, missing rubies, and poisoned flowers, but I began writing before I knew exactly what was going to happen. I didn’t look out for grammar or repetition, or whether everything sounded how I imagined it. During my Master's, I’ve learned that it’s far easier to go back and edit a messy paragraph than to stare at a blank page hoping the perfect sentence will come to you. 

I’m always wary about giving writing advice as different processes will suit different people. What works for me is structuring my writing around lots of achievable deadlines. Writing 500 words seems much easier than writing 15,000. Then once you finish a task you can tick it off, and that rush of serotonin will motivate you to start the next one. If you feel like you’ve been staring at the screen for too long, your eyes have gone blurry, and your words don’t make any sense, it may be time to take a break. Never underestimate the power of a cup of tea. A few minutes away from your desk will clear your head and allow you to come back to your work in the best possible mindset.

Below, you can read an excerpt from my Dissertation.

Prologue from Mari and the Red Mist

Have you ever been alone in the forest, and felt the wind whisper in your ear? That’s Otso, the bear spirit, the invisible king of the forest. He lives in Finland, Suomi. The land of wild winters and sweltering summers.

No one knows exactly how Otso came to rule over the forests. Legends say that he was nursed by the goddess of the woodlands in a cradle of gold, suspended between the branches of a fir tree.

In the runes he has many names, maybe you’ve heard them? Golden Light-Foot, Honey-Paw of the Mountains.

Some believe that when a child disappears into the woods, Otso transforms them into a bear cub so they may survive. When they grow into a mighty bear the forest becomes their kingdom too. They have no boundaries; the only limit is how fast they can run or how high they can climb. Until, eventually, they forget they were ever human.

Of course, this is only a fairy-tale. 

"Girls Who Play Sports"

By Dani Devenney

Hi! I’m Dani Devenney, I’m 23, and I’ve recently finished my MA in Modern Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Leicester. I’m originally from Jersey, in the Channel Islands, and I attained a 2:1 in BA English at the University of Plymouth in 2018.

My dissertation was a Creative Writing project examining the representation of girls who play sports in children’s literature. I focused on women who play sport in literature for my undergraduate dissertation, but for Master’s level I chose to focus on children’s books as I felt there was a gap in the market. There are so few children's stories about young girls in sport. 

I wrote two stories, each dealing with hurdles young girls might face within team sports. One story focused on a girl who can’t play in the football final she’s always dreamed of because of an illness, and the other confronts bullying on a school netball team. Finally, the critical reflection examined the representation of girls in comparable primary texts, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to delve into contemporary children’s literature over the summer.

Having initially signed up for the MA in Modern Literature, I was unsure of whether I’d undertake a creative dissertation, although the option was available to me. Having the 70/30 balance between creative and critical writing in the creative dissertation was attractive as it meant I got to play to my strengths as a writer, whilst still giving myself room to critically explore the subject of young female athletes in children’s literature.

The best advice I read was to write 500 words a day. That way, I hit the word count within 30 days. I knew that would be a huge weight off my shoulders as reaching the word count is the most stressful thing for me, in any essay. The earlier I hit it, the more time I have to ask for feedback and edit accordingly. While I was unemployed at the beginning of lockdown, I managed the bulk of the dissertation by treating the MA like a 9-5 job (this was never going to be possible every single day, but I kept as close to it as I could) and working on those 500 words day in, day out, with evenings reserved for reading wider material that would help with the critical reflection. 

In mid-July, however, I began a job which took up four full days a week, and time management became a skill I had to master. Many of the words I’d written were jumbled notes: shreds of paragraphs splattered onto the page saved *just in case* they came in useful later – and they did. From this, I gradually (read: slowly, diligently, and with more tea breaks than I care to admit) glued the pieces together to create two stories and a critical reflection. I work very slowly, so having a document of random ideas and quotations I could refer back to was useful in case I forgot about any points I wanted to make. Eventually (one week before the deadline) I had completed two stories and a critical reflection. I put this down to setting aside big chunks of time where I could work at whatever pace suits me that day, and doing this as consistently as possible.

Here is a sample from one of the stories:

From 'Jasmine, Football, and the Grumbling Appendix'

Jasmine whipped the ball around her marker with an expert flick of her ankle. She had practised this move against her brother, Alex, a thousand times on their cul-de-sac, always relishing the confusion on his face. She darted around him, low and quick, like a fly you just can’t swat. The following summer, Alex’s confusion turned to frustration one day when she beat him five-nil. He didn’t come out to play after that, so their father suggested Jasmine sign up to play with the village team, Rose Bay Rovers. Today, she was in the starting 11, playing for a place in the local cup final. 

Researching and Writing a Historical Dissertation

By Thilsana Gias

My MA Creative Writing dissertation consisted of the first few chapters of a Young Adult novel set around 1990, during the Sri Lankan Civil War. My protagonist is a teenager who becomes displaced from her hometown (Jaffna).

Naturally, one of the greatest challenges about managing this project was trying to obtain the correct kinds of historical information to progress the writing process. At first I was worried about there not being enough factual information about the war itself to write something that was accurate; but I soon realised that actually names and dates were not really what I should have been focussing on. The facts that I needed were things like brands of drinks that were sold, the names of radio stations operating at the time, types of cultural food, popular hairstyles, the materials used to make garments .... Including this sort of information in the description would make the story more vivid and true to its era.

The best way to obtain these sorts of details is to talk to someone from that place/era or use materials and resources from the era (e.g. letters written into newspapers, diary extracts, accounts from explorers and journalists, etc.). If you can go to the place you are writing about or visit a museum, that might help you construct your descriptions a little better as the labels of artefacts often include things like material names. I also found that analysing photographs of Sri Lanka helped me build an effective picture of the place in my head. But one thing I bore in mind is that sometimes you can easily get misled by your own sources. Here are some examples I came across of this kind of 'betrayal' by my own sources:

• Using current maps to work out travel routes was difficult because the Tsunami and the war itself changed road layouts a lot (because of army checkpoints, etc.)
• When I visited Sri Lanka, I wrote down some village names from the main war-torn areas to use in my writing. I later found out that these places didn't exist in 1990 because they were refugee camps that got converted into villages or they used to be areas of jungle. 
• Environmental destruction changed the perception of things as well. Certain plants and creatures would not have been seen in 1990 because the forest was denser. Some species in present-day Sri Lanka also didn't arrive until a few years after my story was set so I couldn't include them.
• Some products from that era were not actually available during war time because of food shortages/blockades, etc.

The easiest way to avoid encountering these problems, I suppose, is just to invent your own fictitious food brands, plants, villages, etc., or to rely on common objects and things that definitely exist (like elephants!). Sometimes being too specific about certain elements will lead you into inaccuracy. 

Also, your audience might not be familiar with some of the things you are referring to, so providing a glossary of terms is one way of helping them understand the context better. If you're struggling to establish what might need to go in the glossary, ask someone to read through your draft and find words they don't wholly understand.

Writing historical fiction might seem like a daunting task but so long as you're organised and aware of the most obvious pitfalls and misconceptions about the era you're writing about, you should be fine. Actually, the experience of researching for a dissertation based on true events was useful because it gave me a proper insight into what things really bring a story to life. It's very easy to get caught up in the high-octane moments of history and spend ages working out how to depict a Hollywood-style chase scene or an air-raid attack, but sometimes the moments that speak the most are the details that are talked about the least ....

The lingering scent of smoke from a steadily diminishing candle in a power cut. 

The silence of a once-busy street. 

A closed door ....

Sometimes, these are all the specific details you need to make your writing memorable.

About the author
Thilsana Gias is an MA Creative Writing graduate from the University of Leicester. She will start a PGCE in September to teach English in Secondary Schools. She hopes to extend her dissertation into a longer body of work for publication, and is currently wondering when she last watered her houseplants.