Post by Cagla Kuru

Seeing David Nath for a second time was just as refreshing as the first. As an overwhelmed, panicked and stressed out second year, I can honestly say that listening to David speak about his experiences as a producer and director reminded me of why I was studying English with Creative Writing in the first place. It can be very easy to become unmotivated and often a little lost, sometimes even questioning your ability to write or follow your dreams. But there is something about the way the BAFTA-winning writer talked which was both reassuring and inspiring.

‘Unspeakable’ Channel 4

Perhaps that’s because he gave such useful advice, as well as brilliant insights into his experiences and the lessons he has learned along the way. One of my favourite parts of his talk was when he discussed the importance of making contacts and looking at companies to work with, while all the time working to put ourselves out there! Standing out is key and this goes for all areas of life. Another thing that really stuck with me was, “If you have a problem, don’t stop – keep on going”. Having inspiration in your life is important as it can influence your work ethic, and I know many writers can relate to the difficulties of being unmotivated some of the time. When I started University, I often felt bad about having ‘writers block’ and assumed that it was something made up in my head. Of course, it can be real for some and non-existent for others, but David dropped some tips for how to deal with it when it strikes. For example, taking some time away and appreciating other things a little more, as well as talking to other writers on how to deal with it.

It was definitely a good experience to have David Nath with us once again – he’s truly inspiring to up-and coming writers and directors who may want to take the independent route in life. He currently has his own independent documentary and drama production company, which goes by the name of ‘storyfilms.tv’. If you’re ever looking for someone to encourage those ideas for that ground-breaking documentary, or brilliant drama idea, that you have, I can promise that visiting his webpage will start you off…

Cagla Kuru,  18 December 2017

Post by Marta Sobczak

For a successful crime writer, Phil Viner turns out to be surprisingly amusing in person. His sense of humor made us burst into laughter more than once when he came to visit the University of Westminster in November, even though the subject of his talk included a recipe for describing the perfect crime. Not a typical Friday as we know it.

One of the greatest things about meeting a successful writer is that we get to learn about the publishing world and its rules first hand.  Phil talked us through the realities and responsibilities of being an author, the tough work, and tight deadlines. And since writing seems, to most of us, a long process,  full of ups and downs, I’ll admit that I was shocked to hear that some writers have contracts for two or even more books a year. When I spoke later with my colleagues, everyone (including me) seemed to be asking themselves the same question: Could I ever be that writer?

Phil’s story is material for a good novel in itself. Almost twenty years after he wrote his first unsuccessful novel, and following the financial crash which forced him to look for a new job, he took a risk and asked his wife if he could take two years to write a new book. Luckily for all of us, she said yes, and the incredible adventure began.

During our creative writing studies here at Westminster we debate what inspires us and what it take to be a writer. In Phil’s case, it was his two year-old daughter and the terrible vision of what would happen if she got hurt. He asked himself the question that we all do at some point in our life: what would we do for love? How far are we able to go, how dark can we become in the name of revenge for our loved ones, and lost ones? Phil created characters who are driven by these questions, and prepared to sacrifice their lives to find a killer. In doing so, he takes us into mysterious corners of human nature, where love can mend or break one’s heart and change a person forever.

Robert Frost once said ‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader’. You must be the first person to love your story, to feel attached to it to the point when you can’t stop thinking about it. When your characters are alive, and their fate is in your hands, you must be the first one who cares about them. The emotions we put into the stories we tell are the most powerful way of reaching others’ hearts and minds. This is the passion I saw when Phil Viner introduced us to the worlds he has created in his books. It was empowering, honest and fascinating.

By his example, we can also learn that finding the one perfect story that others will fall in love with can take a while. But we should never stop trying. Stories live within us. When there is one that moves you to your bones, all you have to do, as Ernest Hemingway once said, is to ‘sit down at a typewriter and bleed’.

Marta Sobczak,  5 December 2017

Post by Maddie Kalta

For the majority of people, Friday 13^th is a dark and dreaded day. It happens often enough to cause mass panic in the hearts of our nation, but not quite often enough for anyone to realise that the threat is an empty one. On Friday 13^th October 2017, however, I was lucky enough to be in a lecture hall to hear guest speaker, Amy Alward, tell us about her career as an author and editor.

I’ll be honest with you. Over the last year, I have spent far too much time dwelling on those lies that we all experience. The little ones that seem to pop into your head at the most inconvenient time and niggle away at you – endlessly. I have experienced the “you’re not creative enough for a creative writing degree” lie. The “this writers block will never end” lie. And of course, the ever-present “this piece of work is awful, don’t read it out in class” lie.

I would go out on a limb and say that we all experience these types of lie at different points in our lives. The lies change as we change, but they always seem to have the same effect – overwhelming paranoia.

One of the things I found most inspiring about hearing Amy Alward’s story first-hand, was her ability to address many of the ‘lies’ that creative writing students experience. She talked about her late arrival to the reading-game and admitted that, that even though she wasn’t a natural reader at a young age, once she found the right genre she couldn’t help but be inspired to write her own novels.

(“I don’t read enough to be a writer” lie = sorted.)

Amy then talked us through her career in publishing – the extreme competition, her lack of experience, the way that she finally got an editing job, but still not in the right genre. The ups and downs of her story gradually began to affirm, but also quell, the fears we students face: the “after graduation” unknown.

Amy’s ability to overcome countless rejections and persevere with jobs that weren’t quite what she had dreamed of, eventually led her to an excellent opportunity – to “marry her writing career with her publishing career”.

Walking away from Amy’s talk left me with something different niggling at my brain, not a lie, but a simple sentence: “I always start writing from the characters and the build the world around them, it creates heart.”

There are lots of things we don’t know. We don’t know what will happen after we graduate, we don’t know how long it will take to get that dream job. We don’t know which lie will take hold of us next. But what we do know, is that writing is an opportunity for each of us to create heart. I think that’s something to hold on to.

Amy Alward’s The Potion Diaries is a truly gripping series, written by a truly inspirational author and editor.

Not a bad Friday the 13^th if you ask me.

Maddie Kalta, 9 November 2017

Post by Shivani J. K. Rayat

Film is one of the most popular forms of art in this day and age, from fanatical franchises featuring morally challenged superheroes in worlds that always seem to be ending, to political and socially educational films such as The Big Short and Blackfish, as well as more artistically orientated independents like The Lobster and Under the Skin. And then there are those films which bring into question just how far we can stretch the limits of genre; Babak Anvari’s psychological drama Under the Shadow is one of the very few ‘scary’ films I’ve enjoyed for the simple reason that it does not constrain itself to the rules of a mainstream genre film.

Anvari’s film deals with complex issues around ‘restrictions of freedom’ and ‘not being able to look after your child’ (as Anvari himself alluded to in the Q&A section of his talk at the University of Westminster). But perhaps most importantly it is also concerned with character ‘realism’. This is particularly true in a scene near the beginning which focuses on the family enjoying a meal. The film as a whole is extremely tense, but it was these little moments that created an intimate, and almost intrusive atmosphere.

An idea of invasion is also something that Anvari’s film explores, most notably through the Djinn, the ghostly presence which threatens the mother’s relationship with her daughter. This mythological creature seemed to ‘travel on the wind’, thereby finding its way into the home of the protagonists, which is also being threatened by war, missiles and solitude. At the same time, the female lead is struggling with the oppressive nature of her country and society and the looming fear that she is an unfit mother.

Such themes have also occurred in other psychological dramas. The Babadook, for example, is an Australian film which features a woman whose grief for the death of her husband becomes personified through her son’s book. Another film that features a grieving mother who turns on her children is The Others, which has an M. Night Shyamalan style ending, that I will say no more about.

In his talk, Anvari also spoke very interestingly about ‘world building’ and how more recent films, particularly action/adventure stories, do not take any time to establish the environment that they are set in. A film like Godzilla, for instance, jumps straight into the action and doesn’t give the audience time to catch up. On the other hand, as Anvari pointed out, in an older film like Jurassic Park, ‘you don’t see a dinosaur until about forty minutes in, and it’s not even trying to kill you!’ Under the Shadow builds its world very successfully, while also trying to keep us guessing as to what obstacles the protagonists are going to face next.

When you watch this film (it’s on Netflix by the way), do not expect jump scares or cheap shots to make you fear something around every corner. Consider instead the detailed world, the realistic characters and the terrifying way a safe space turns into something that is no longer a sanctuary. Overall, Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow is an excellent example of a psychological drama that is really worth getting scared over.

 Shivani J. K. Rayat,  20 March 2017