Writing Class
by Neville Conway
Narcissus Books
ISBN: 978-0-9543848-4-5
First Published July 2009
R.R.P £7.99
On line price: £6.25
(plus post & packing)
The Book
A book of many genres and none. In it the author describes his often painful personal apprenticeship to the business of creative writing, his journey of self-discovery, and his successes and failures. Outspoken and honest, it gives no false encouragement to those contemplating authorship, and yet conveys the satisfactions and fulfilment pursuing such an ambition can bring. He illustrates his odyssey with examples of his own work – short stories, class exercises, poetry, essays, press articles, memoirs – but inevitably cannot, for reasons of length, include extracts from the novels he ranks as the principal reason which led him to write in the first place (all available from Narcissus).
Inevitably then, a miscellany, which features, among others, comedy, satire,
tragedy, romance, science fiction, literary theory, philosophy, and
experiment, some of it published, some not, and it is this unstructured
mixture which explains the derisive description he has coined – ‘a
self-indulgence’. Nevertheless, readers contemplating a writing career will
benefit from a friendly, fascinating and above all entertaining insight into
its problems and rewards, as well as a yardstick against which novices may
measure their talents. They are not lectured, or overtly instructed, but are
able to gather invaluable information in the best way possible, by
comparison and reflection, arriving at the only assessment of their
abilities they can – or ought to – trust: their own. A unique book.
The Author
Neville Conway was formerly consultant
cardiologist at the Wessex Regional Cardiac Centre, Southampton.
He published two medical books, and fifty scientific papers and leaders. For
five years he was associate editor of the British Heart Journal, and was an
invited English language editor to the proceedings of two world congresses.
He writes novels, non-fiction and poetry. A short story won First Prize some
years ago at the Southampton Writers' Conference.
