About this site
My name's Jonathan Pinnock. I lead a dual life. In one half of this, I run a software development company called Jonathan Pinnock and Associates. If you've come here looking for that, here's where you need to go.However, if you've come here to find out about the other half of my life, as a writer of fiction and non-fiction, you've come to the right place.
If, on the other hand, you've arrived here by accident whilst searching for Japanese Tentacle Porn, I suggest you try using a different search engine.
If you'd like to contact me, my e-mail address is jon AT jpassoc DOT co DOT uk.
Oct
18
the3six5.com
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Who said Twitter was a waste of time? I picked up on this one after my VWC chum Julie Mayhew tweeted about it and I was immediately attracted to it. The concept is very simple: 365 different people sign up to write a 250-word piece on a pre-specified day in 2010. Whatever they write will be blogged and then turned into a book. And that’s it. I love this kind of thing, because you tend to get a wonderfully diverse range of responses, and I’m really pleased that my application to join has just been accepted. So that’s me on May 5th. I picked that day because it’s not too early on, it’s in the middle of the week and it’s not a special day in my life. If you fancy having a go yourself, there are still spaces left, although they’re going fast.
Jul
14
The Whittaker Prize 2009
Filed Under Competitions, Placings, Stunts | 2 Comments
… and in fact I came second in the fiction and fourth in the poetry. As far as the fiction is concerned, the excellent Cathy Edmunds grabbed the lead back in Round 3 and clearly wasn’t going to let go of it, so it was always going to be a race for second place in the end. And as for the poetry, well let’s just say that I think I eventually got found out. But I’m still quite chuffed that I managed to fool them for the first five rounds …
So what next? Well, I’ve got rather a lot of stories that could do with a good edit, and there’s also that full-length project that really needs a bit of attention. So it’s not as if I’m going to be idle 
[EDITED TO ADD: Ooh, and I've just noticed that I get a free copy of the anthology for coming second. Yay!]
Jul
11
It’s Over!
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The 2009 Whittaker Prize, that is. And what a long, strange journey it’s been these last eighteen weeks. I now have nine new stories, some of which I think are amongst my best, although time will tell once they’ve been sent out in the world to seek their fortune. Having said that, two of them have already made their mark – “Farewell Symphony” at Tales of the Decongested, and “Nature’s Banquet” at Earlyworks Press.
I also have nine new poems, which (in conjunction with the STIRRED POeTS competition earlier on this year) has roughly doubled my poetry portfolio. Still some way to go, then, before that first slim volume is ready …
And the final results come out next week. I’m quite pleased with the couple of pieces that I’ve submitted for Task 9, but on past form that means that they’re going to bomb. In any case, the current leaders are too far ahead in both categories, but it would be nice to get as close to them as I can. I’ll let you know.
May
10
Whittaker Prize at the Halfway Stage
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Gosh, is it that long since I last blogged? Hmmm. Real life is obviously taking up far too much of my time. However, I have – just about – managed to keep up with the schedule for both sections of the Whittaker Prize which, given that we’re at the end of the first week of Round Five, is now roughly at the halfway stage. It’s been an interesting ride so far, I can tell you.
As far as the short story section is concerned, the first two rounds went very nicely, and I was actually in the lead at the end of Round Two. Then for some reason I hit the self-destruct button and entered my first-ever piece written in the second person for Round Three and garnered a truly horrible score for my pains. (I actually still quite like the piece, but it’s probably one of those Marmite things – you either love it or hate it. I think it’s got an afterlife, though, so watch this space.) I followed this up with a pretty wretched piece for Round Four, written in a single draft late on the night of the Friday before submission, with no time for editing. Fortunately, the judge was in a relatively generous mood, and didn’t mark it quite as harshly as I’d feared. But I’m going to have to pull some spectacular stuff out of the bag to get back in contention.
In the meantime, the poetry section is behaving very strangely. For a start, I won Round One. This should not have happened. I was also joint winner of Round Two. This should not have happened either. I didn’t win Round Three, but I did somehow manage to increase my lead. My Round Four score was respectable, but my lead has now been cut to one point, and the real poets in the field are snapping at my heels. So I’m trying very hard to come up with something really good to try and pull ahead again. The trouble is that I know so little about poetry that I don’t know what I am doing right, so I strongly suspect that it’s all down hill from now on. Still, it’s been nice whilst it’s lasted, if a bit weird.
So like I said, it’s been an interesting ride so far, and I think there will be a few twists and turns still to come. And the most important thing, of course, is that I’ve got some quite promising material out of it already.
Mar
6
Quiet here, innit?
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So anyway, what have I been doing lately? Here’s a brief snapshot of my writing life over the last few days:
I have written the first chapter of my first grown-up novel. This has taken the total word count (including the prologue) to around 4000, which (as those who know me will appreciate) is completely uncharted territory. The good news is that I even know what happens next, and it seems to be flowing reasonably easily so far. It is, however, rather silly.
Eurofiction has come to an end. I had high hopes for my Task 10 piece, which was unbelievably massively clever and intricate, but it picked up a very average 6. Needs more contextualization, apparently. Although the lack of context was part of its charm. I can guess that it’s going to be one of those stories that I really like, but is going to hang around the house taking up space and asking me to do its washing for the next five years.
The Whittaker starts on Saturday. I am doing both fiction and poetry this year and I really wonder what I was thinking of when I signed up. However, Geoff Nelder will be an interesting judge for the fiction, so I’ll try to stick with it for a round or two at least.
The STIRRED POeT continues, increasing my poetry portfolio at a rapid pace. Whilst my ranking could not in any way be described as stellar, I’m actually picking up a few votes from some of the real poets on TWI, which pleases me no end.
And I’ve got a few things coming out later this month – specifically in Litro, Every Day Poets and Aphelion (and possibly FlashScribe).
Finally, if you’ve nothing to do for a few minutes, take a look at this piece from my mate Oscar. It’s ace.
Feb
19
Eurofiction Over for Another Year
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Well, Task 10 has gone in, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the scores. Actually, it’s not worth waiting at all, because I’m way off the pace. Part of this is due to missing a round just before Christmas for reasons too boring to go into, but most of it is due to unbelievably poor time management. I have no idea what went wrong this time around, but I seemed to be continually finding myself with nothing written with less than 24 hours to go. Now of course if I were presented with a series of prompts and told to write something in the next hour, I might possibly come up with something. But if you’ve got two weeks, you like to think you can take a more leisured approach and come up with something really good. And that can be fatal.
Jan
19
Greyling Bay
Filed Under Acceptances, Publications, Stunts | 4 Comments
This is an interesting one. Jane Smith, who writes the excellent How Publishing Really Works blog (which I’ve had as a link here for some time now, and is essential reading), has set up a collaborative work of fiction entitled Greyling Bay. The idea is that contributors write short, self-contained fragments, all based around the fictional town of Greyling Bay, that knit together into a patchwork whole (if that isn’t mixing too many metaphors). There are some quite big hitters amongst the contributors already.
Oh, and I’m in there too, with this piece, which grew out of something I’d done as part of a flash fiction exercise last year. I liked it, but I couldn’t work out what the hell to do with it, until I realised that it might work well as part of Greyling Bay. So there it is.
Oct
4
All Change
Filed Under Charity, Stunts | 2 Comments
First thing this morning I sent in my entry for the final round in the Whittaker competition. It’s been a lot of fun, this one, with some quite challenging prompts to work with. For the record, here are the ones that I went for (out of a choice of three for each round):
the phone rang at 4 a.m.
stained ground beside Forsbury Chapel
orange wellies
going down an angle so sharp it makes Pythagoras puke
the middle of nowhere sings
nicotine-stained walls and a broken air conditioner
Do you take American Express?
he was always such a quiet boy
on Friday, a duck fell from the sky
See what I mean? That’s the sort of stuff that’s guaranteed to send you off into all sorts of odd directions. Anyway, one piece (”Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions”) has already been published, and one other is currently in competition. The rest will be out there just as soon as I’ve hacked them around a bit. Oh, and I’m currently in fifth place. Can’t see much chance of getting any higher, as I had a couple of duff rounds. You can sit one round out, because only your best eight count, but two’s gonna bring you down. Still, like I said way back when this started (before this blog had even got going) the most important function of a comp like the Whittaker is to force you to generate stuff, and winning it is a secondary issue. (Of course, if I was leading the comp at this point, it is possible that I might have a different opinion.)
And speaking of comps like the Whittaker, its spritual parent, Eurofiction, has just started up again on the SlingInk site. The first prompts went up on Wednesday. So off we go again.
BTW, I spent the rest of today writing stuff for the Grail charity writeathon. Great fun, and lots of interesting ideas bubbling around. I eventually came up with eleven pieces altogether: 8 stories, 2 poems and 1 piece of non-fiction. I’m fairly happy with this, although one of the people there managed to do 35 pieces altogether. I suspect that she is actually an alien with more than one brain. And, of course, the donation page is still open here.
Oct
1
Should have posted about this ages ago, but never mind. This Saturday I’m taking part in a charity writeathon, which will involve writing as many stories as I can to prompts between 11AM and 11PM. It’s being run by a writers’ group called The Grail and this year it’s in aid of Volunteer Reading Help, which is a cause that should be dear to anyone with a love of reading and writing. So (hands up who saw this coming) I’m asking for your hard-earned cash. I know, I know, times are hard, but it is a really good cause, isn’t it? And, trust me, you’ll feel so much better for it.
As for the event itself, I’ll be fascinated to see what happens. The pressure often disengages the left brain and throws up some interesting stuff, such as this one that emerged during last year’s Children in Need event. I’ll let you know how it goes …
Sep
4
Eurofiction’s Back! (or the Masochism Tango continues)
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Has a year really gone by since the last Eurofiction started? Well, I guess it must have. Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself, eh? So it all kicks off again at SlingInk on October 1st, nicely dovetailing with the last round of the Whittaker.
The only question is whether or not I really want to commit myself to another rolling competition (ten prompted pieces over twenty weeks). Y’see, it’s about time that I sat down and wrote a proper, full-length (I can hardly dare to say the word) novel. It’s all very well having these one-night stands with story ideas that you pick up in some sleazy internet forum, but it’s really about time that I grew up and showed some, y’know, commitment.