Beth Underdown
@bethunderdown.bsky.social
Novelist with Penguin Viking, creative writing teacher with the University of Manchester and Faber Academy. Hiking, gardening, crochet, coeliac disease: old-person stuff.
Pinned
Beth Underdown
@bethunderdown.bsky.social
· Nov 21
Hello! I teach fiction, I write literary historical fiction, I sometimes try to write for screen, I read lots more kinds of fiction. I’m intending to use Bluesky for i) jokes, ii) spicy-hot takes, iii) curious thinking and talking about writing, iv) self-promotion (cf photograph of existing books)
Using this woodland goat I photographed today to let you know that the GOAT historical fiction writing course, taught by me for @faberacademy.bsky.social, has new dates available to book from today! Run don’t walk. Or do whatever goats do. Scamper?
More info here: faberacademy.com/product/writ...
More info here: faberacademy.com/product/writ...
February 12, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Using this woodland goat I photographed today to let you know that the GOAT historical fiction writing course, taught by me for @faberacademy.bsky.social, has new dates available to book from today! Run don’t walk. Or do whatever goats do. Scamper?
More info here: faberacademy.com/product/writ...
More info here: faberacademy.com/product/writ...
Reposted by Beth Underdown
@bethunderdown.bsky.social ‘s two historical novels really tick all the boxes for me. Her characters are particularly great—thorny, complex, believable to their time.
Who's THE historical writer that perfectly blends historical research and an engaging story and characters together most in your mind?
February 9, 2025 at 2:16 AM
@bethunderdown.bsky.social ‘s two historical novels really tick all the boxes for me. Her characters are particularly great—thorny, complex, believable to their time.
Reposted by Beth Underdown
NEW EVENT!
Join us in Stockport on Thurs 27th March for a deligtfully dark and macabre evening celebrating the release of two brilliant new horror novels - Susan Barker's OLD SOUL & @lucyrosecreates.bsky.social's THE LAMB! Susan & Lucy will be discussing their work with @bethunderdown.bsky.social
Join us in Stockport on Thurs 27th March for a deligtfully dark and macabre evening celebrating the release of two brilliant new horror novels - Susan Barker's OLD SOUL & @lucyrosecreates.bsky.social's THE LAMB! Susan & Lucy will be discussing their work with @bethunderdown.bsky.social
January 15, 2025 at 6:34 PM
NEW EVENT!
Join us in Stockport on Thurs 27th March for a deligtfully dark and macabre evening celebrating the release of two brilliant new horror novels - Susan Barker's OLD SOUL & @lucyrosecreates.bsky.social's THE LAMB! Susan & Lucy will be discussing their work with @bethunderdown.bsky.social
Join us in Stockport on Thurs 27th March for a deligtfully dark and macabre evening celebrating the release of two brilliant new horror novels - Susan Barker's OLD SOUL & @lucyrosecreates.bsky.social's THE LAMB! Susan & Lucy will be discussing their work with @bethunderdown.bsky.social
Reposted by Beth Underdown
you: from printers to POS terminals, you can shop for a versatile range of products from us
my brain, pleasantly, every time: from printers to piece of shit terminals, you can shop for a versatile r
my brain, pleasantly, every time: from printers to piece of shit terminals, you can shop for a versatile r
January 8, 2025 at 2:26 PM
you: from printers to POS terminals, you can shop for a versatile range of products from us
my brain, pleasantly, every time: from printers to piece of shit terminals, you can shop for a versatile r
my brain, pleasantly, every time: from printers to piece of shit terminals, you can shop for a versatile r
Die hard fan, but still snorted
A Ghost Story At Christmas
By M.R. Dickbit
A dusty old academic of my acquaintance once went to a remote place where he intended to indulge his passion for brass rubbings, on which topic I shall expound for 17 pages, and he returned to his lodgings where a hat fell off a wardrobe aaaaaargh the end.
By M.R. Dickbit
A dusty old academic of my acquaintance once went to a remote place where he intended to indulge his passion for brass rubbings, on which topic I shall expound for 17 pages, and he returned to his lodgings where a hat fell off a wardrobe aaaaaargh the end.
December 30, 2024 at 9:51 AM
Die hard fan, but still snorted
Joined @societyofauthors.bsky.social and rejoined @historia-hwa.bsky.social which had lapsed because I want to be more connected to other authors next year 💚
December 20, 2024 at 6:35 PM
Joined @societyofauthors.bsky.social and rejoined @historia-hwa.bsky.social which had lapsed because I want to be more connected to other authors next year 💚
Great post ⬇️
New on This Itch of Writing for everyone: Ten Things That Go Wrong With Historical Fiction:
"A tiny handful of not-good books annoyed me by their clichéd laziness, but there were armloads were that I felt sad about, because they could so easily have been so much better." https://buff.ly/4gqAGOC
"A tiny handful of not-good books annoyed me by their clichéd laziness, but there were armloads were that I felt sad about, because they could so easily have been so much better." https://buff.ly/4gqAGOC
December 20, 2024 at 2:25 PM
Great post ⬇️
Reposted by Beth Underdown
My friend and mentor @bethunderdown.bsky.social is teaching a historical fiction course for Faber in January 🤩 snap up these places!
If you like the flavour of this, there are still a few spots on the online historical fiction course I’ll be teaching in January! Could make a good Christmas present, or present-to-self? If you have questions about it, feel free to message me!
faberacademy.com/product/writ...
faberacademy.com/product/writ...
December 17, 2024 at 6:09 PM
My friend and mentor @bethunderdown.bsky.social is teaching a historical fiction course for Faber in January 🤩 snap up these places!
Hello! I wrote a little something for the @faberacademy.bsky.social site on how to go about writing historical fiction! If you’re a historical fiction writer, I’d love to hear which bits of this resonate for you:
faberacademy.com/how-to-write...
faberacademy.com/how-to-write...
December 16, 2024 at 11:10 AM
Hello! I wrote a little something for the @faberacademy.bsky.social site on how to go about writing historical fiction! If you’re a historical fiction writer, I’d love to hear which bits of this resonate for you:
faberacademy.com/how-to-write...
faberacademy.com/how-to-write...
AS IF you get to be taught by both these powerhouses at once
A few places remain on our Arvon historical fiction course in Devon beginning 16 December. It’s going to be fun. Come.
You know how, as an early Christmas present to yourself, you’ve always wanted to abscond to the moors and write historical fiction with two professional liars for a week? Well…
www.arvon.org/writing-cour...
December 3, 2024 at 8:14 PM
AS IF you get to be taught by both these powerhouses at once
Reposted by Beth Underdown
**Black UK PhD students**
This is the programme you want! It is all the bells and whistles, full fees and stipend, any subject, industrial experience offered, 50 other Black scholars already on board and administrated in an environment of care.
**Tell everyone**
This is the programme you want! It is all the bells and whistles, full fees and stipend, any subject, industrial experience offered, 50 other Black scholars already on board and administrated in an environment of care.
**Tell everyone**
Applications for our Scholarships are now open for October 2025 entry – apply by 31 January 2025. We’ll hold a number of information sessions, so keep an eye out! Until then, read up on things through our website.
December 2, 2024 at 5:35 PM
**Black UK PhD students**
This is the programme you want! It is all the bells and whistles, full fees and stipend, any subject, industrial experience offered, 50 other Black scholars already on board and administrated in an environment of care.
**Tell everyone**
This is the programme you want! It is all the bells and whistles, full fees and stipend, any subject, industrial experience offered, 50 other Black scholars already on board and administrated in an environment of care.
**Tell everyone**
Reposted by Beth Underdown
Writing tip: Kill your darlings. Bake them in a pie and serve it to your editor at a grand dinner. When she compliments the chef, say, "Oh, do you like it? Aren't you curious about what meat it is?" and empty a sack onto the table. It is your darlings' decapitated heads!
November 29, 2024 at 7:23 PM
Writing tip: Kill your darlings. Bake them in a pie and serve it to your editor at a grand dinner. When she compliments the chef, say, "Oh, do you like it? Aren't you curious about what meat it is?" and empty a sack onto the table. It is your darlings' decapitated heads!
Reposted by Beth Underdown
Hello, Bluesky! 👋
We’re thrilled to join this vibrant community and continue championing incredible stories, authors, and ideas in this exciting new space. 🎉
We’re thrilled to join this vibrant community and continue championing incredible stories, authors, and ideas in this exciting new space. 🎉
November 27, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Hello, Bluesky! 👋
We’re thrilled to join this vibrant community and continue championing incredible stories, authors, and ideas in this exciting new space. 🎉
We’re thrilled to join this vibrant community and continue championing incredible stories, authors, and ideas in this exciting new space. 🎉
Fiction readers, a little help?
What are books that switch POV, each POV telling the next bit of the same story/plot but none of the POVs recurring (except maybe one)?
I’m thinking like Mrs Dalloway, although even then really the different POVs are telling different stories…
Reposts appreciated!
What are books that switch POV, each POV telling the next bit of the same story/plot but none of the POVs recurring (except maybe one)?
I’m thinking like Mrs Dalloway, although even then really the different POVs are telling different stories…
Reposts appreciated!
November 25, 2024 at 9:42 AM
Fiction readers, a little help?
What are books that switch POV, each POV telling the next bit of the same story/plot but none of the POVs recurring (except maybe one)?
I’m thinking like Mrs Dalloway, although even then really the different POVs are telling different stories…
Reposts appreciated!
What are books that switch POV, each POV telling the next bit of the same story/plot but none of the POVs recurring (except maybe one)?
I’m thinking like Mrs Dalloway, although even then really the different POVs are telling different stories…
Reposts appreciated!
This is a great alternative to muting loud posters 😂
2. Feeds! You can subscribe to different algorithms for your feed, and feeds of specific groups of people.
My favourite one is 'Quiet posters', which shows you posts by people you follow who don't post very often.
My favourite one is 'Quiet posters', which shows you posts by people you follow who don't post very often.
November 22, 2024 at 9:05 AM
This is a great alternative to muting loud posters 😂
Reposted by Beth Underdown
Still reeling from this announcement yesterday: my debut short story collection Monstrous Longing has made the Edge Hill Prize shortlist!!
Huge congrats to the other shortlisted writers, and thanks as always to my powerhouse indie publisher Farhana Shaikh of Dahlia Books 🦍💚
Huge congrats to the other shortlisted writers, and thanks as always to my powerhouse indie publisher Farhana Shaikh of Dahlia Books 🦍💚
This really is a great shortlist that we’re so proud to announce! www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2024/11...
Congratulations to all the finalists!! @cdrose.bsky.social @davidfrankel.bsky.social Abi Hynes, Tessa Hadley, @malachimcintosh.bsky.social and Charlie Hill - well done all! #edgehillshortstoryprize
Congratulations to all the finalists!! @cdrose.bsky.social @davidfrankel.bsky.social Abi Hynes, Tessa Hadley, @malachimcintosh.bsky.social and Charlie Hill - well done all! #edgehillshortstoryprize
Edge Hill University Short Story Prize shortlisted writers announced
A shortlist of exceptionally gifted writers has been announced for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2024, including previous winner Tessa Hadley.
www.edgehill.ac.uk
November 22, 2024 at 8:09 AM
Still reeling from this announcement yesterday: my debut short story collection Monstrous Longing has made the Edge Hill Prize shortlist!!
Huge congrats to the other shortlisted writers, and thanks as always to my powerhouse indie publisher Farhana Shaikh of Dahlia Books 🦍💚
Huge congrats to the other shortlisted writers, and thanks as always to my powerhouse indie publisher Farhana Shaikh of Dahlia Books 🦍💚
Never been prouder of my friend @afahynes.bsky.social and her wonderful MONSTROUS LONGING 💚🩷💚
This really is a great shortlist that we’re so proud to announce! www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2024/11...
Congratulations to all the finalists!! @cdrose.bsky.social @davidfrankel.bsky.social Abi Hynes, Tessa Hadley, @malachimcintosh.bsky.social and Charlie Hill - well done all! #edgehillshortstoryprize
Congratulations to all the finalists!! @cdrose.bsky.social @davidfrankel.bsky.social Abi Hynes, Tessa Hadley, @malachimcintosh.bsky.social and Charlie Hill - well done all! #edgehillshortstoryprize
Edge Hill University Short Story Prize shortlisted writers announced
A shortlist of exceptionally gifted writers has been announced for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2024, including previous winner Tessa Hadley.
www.edgehill.ac.uk
November 21, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Never been prouder of my friend @afahynes.bsky.social and her wonderful MONSTROUS LONGING 💚🩷💚
Ok, my first spicy-hot Bluesky take is: I’m not LOVING The Mirror And The Light.
(I say this as somebody who highly respects the wonderful actors and makers involved in the show, and who’d have let Hilary Mantel drain all the blood out of my body and use it as ink if she’d fancied doing so)
(I say this as somebody who highly respects the wonderful actors and makers involved in the show, and who’d have let Hilary Mantel drain all the blood out of my body and use it as ink if she’d fancied doing so)
November 21, 2024 at 10:31 AM
Ok, my first spicy-hot Bluesky take is: I’m not LOVING The Mirror And The Light.
(I say this as somebody who highly respects the wonderful actors and makers involved in the show, and who’d have let Hilary Mantel drain all the blood out of my body and use it as ink if she’d fancied doing so)
(I say this as somebody who highly respects the wonderful actors and makers involved in the show, and who’d have let Hilary Mantel drain all the blood out of my body and use it as ink if she’d fancied doing so)
Hello! I teach fiction, I write literary historical fiction, I sometimes try to write for screen, I read lots more kinds of fiction. I’m intending to use Bluesky for i) jokes, ii) spicy-hot takes, iii) curious thinking and talking about writing, iv) self-promotion (cf photograph of existing books)
November 21, 2024 at 10:16 AM
Hello! I teach fiction, I write literary historical fiction, I sometimes try to write for screen, I read lots more kinds of fiction. I’m intending to use Bluesky for i) jokes, ii) spicy-hot takes, iii) curious thinking and talking about writing, iv) self-promotion (cf photograph of existing books)
Please be better than threads
November 20, 2024 at 10:30 AM
Please be better than threads
Do you have a very high waist to hip differential? Do you long for jeans that are comfy and will stay up without a belt? Then might I recommend these: www.newlook.com/uk/womens/cl...
October 10, 2023 at 8:37 AM
Do you have a very high waist to hip differential? Do you long for jeans that are comfy and will stay up without a belt? Then might I recommend these: www.newlook.com/uk/womens/cl...
Reposted by Beth Underdown
HEY. We need more journalists & news orgs on Bluesky. I'll be doing my bit w/ my contacts & at my journalism school, but here's the email to share for press invite codes. The Discourse thanks you 🙏
we've been reaching out to & been in contact with a bunch of newsrooms (including local news) but if you have personal contacts at news orgs, please have them email press@blueskyweb.xyz!
October 8, 2023 at 10:55 AM
HEY. We need more journalists & news orgs on Bluesky. I'll be doing my bit w/ my contacts & at my journalism school, but here's the email to share for press invite codes. The Discourse thanks you 🙏
So we can get a Manchester-Birmingham cycleway now, yeah?
October 2, 2023 at 4:51 PM
So we can get a Manchester-Birmingham cycleway now, yeah?
Did anybody else cry loads at the last episode of Derry Girls?
September 7, 2023 at 12:33 PM
Did anybody else cry loads at the last episode of Derry Girls?