Different Incarnations – how writers can have several identities, by Elizabeth Kay

I started out as a radio writer, doing plays for Afternoon Theatre and a short series called Just Before Midnight, one of which I re-wrote for the stage. I also penned short stories for both radio and magazines. Writers sometimes feel that things have got a bit stale, so I did an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, which was terrific fun. After that I became a poet for a bit. The need to make some money (and on the suggestion of my agent) I started writing rather more racy stuff under a pseudonym, initially in short story anthologies and later in novels for – shall we say – the more adventurous female reader. Eventually I was told there was too much plot in my stories, and not enough of the other, so I did a complete about-turn to children’s books, which have been my most successful venture. I’ve also done a couple of straight adult novels.

This means that I have mixed in many different writing worlds, and they’re not the same by any means. They do, of course, change over the years as well, and the advent of digital books means that the writing community has also become virtual rather than face-to-face.

Radio in the seventies was great fun – experimental, full of social comment, full of variety. Playing safe wasn’t on the agenda. Producers would say things like, “I want a play that will put my job on the line.” Ten years later, and Thatcherism turned it into, “I want a play that will keep my job safe.” Radio writing wasn’t an isolated activity – you collaborated with the producer, the cast, the studio managers. A play was a joint effort, and everyone was out for the best result.

You rarely meet anyone in the short story world. It’s not particularly well-paid, and so face-to-face contact with the publisher is extremely unlikely. All a bit distant. However, I did have one money-spinner, which is probably part of the category below.

Nobody ever meets anyone else in the world of soft porn, because everyone is writing under a pseudonym. The short story I’m referring to above is a little story all of its own. When my agent told me to have a go at an erotic story for an anthology I wrote a literary one of which I was rather proud. When she told me the publishers would take another one, I felt I’d nothing left to say. So I made a list of everything you could possibly include, invented a scenario which utilised all of them, and wrote it more as a joke than anything else. They published it, and a month later my agent rang me and said I’d better sit down – she’d had an enquiry about the film rights from a Canadian company.
My literary story, I thought immediately, it would make a great film.
Of course it wasn’t that one, it was the other. The option was exercised, the money was paid, and despite requests we heard no more about it. A year later one of my students rang me up and told me it was on TV that night, on cable. I didn’t have cable, so I had to go next door with a cassette with no idea what horrors were about to unfold. Fortunately the neighbours thought it was a great laugh, and we settled down to watch. It was part of sci-fi TV series called The Hunger, which later became a bit of a cult. The first surprise was that it was introduced by Terence Stamp. The next was that the production values were unbelievably good. The third was that it was produced by Ridley Scott’s company!

The poetry world is far and away the bitchiest. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to all poets – many of them are absolutely lovely. But reputation is everything, as there’s so little money around, and poems are by their very nature short and to the point. Just try to make sure you’re not the object that the point penetrates, although there are so many hidden agendas it’s hard to know why you’ve been the target of someone’s elegant and concise vitriol. It may not be anything to do with you at all – you’re just collateral damage in someone else’s war.

This can happen with reviews, of course, which brings me to the world of children’s books. Here you will find the nicest, kindest, most supportive group of writers anywhere. Unlike the kids who review your books online – they may be having a battle with a classmate or sibling, and trashing your book because the other person likes it. You can usually tell, because they haven’t read it and get the plot wrong.

          And the other great thing about children’s writers is that they all get together every so often, and have fab weekends away. I’ve just created a Powerpoint presentation for the last get-together, which I’ve illustrated with vodkas from different lands… I’m sure you get the picture… Here’s a taste of one of the slides (the accompanying honey vodka was particularly pleasant).

I used a mixture of images and experiences from different countries in Eastern Europe - Poland,The Czech Republic and Ukraine.