After last week’s flight into literary fancy, it’s back to basics with those ‘how-to-do-it’ books on my shelf. Ignoring John Mullan’s how novels work book, I still think James N Frey’s book How to Write a Damned Good Novel is, well, damned good. It was published in 1987 so I’ll just check if you can … Continue reading BACK TO REALITY
I'm going to cheat this week as I must polish two submissions for the Bridport Prize: one for the short story prize and the second for the novel. I've been searching for inspiration for my arresting first line for the novel. I remembered that Ian McEwen's On Chesil Beach started with three aspects of the … Continue reading BOOKS I MUST HAVE ON MY SHELF
I have no idea how a tattered book, with a picture on the front of a girl sitting cross-legged in a garden, called Your Diary, came into my possession. I still have this book and will never part with it. My sustained interest in this book is not that I keep a diary – I … Continue reading Reading to Write
If I say I’ve been reading all my life, you’ll know I’m exaggerating. If I say, I’ve been reading as far back as I can remember, I’d be closer to the truth. Let’s start with my tenth Christmas morning. I recall the dim light from the hall allowing me to make out the pillowcase, bulging … Continue reading A New Beginning
I’ve talked before about the kinds of assistance you can have with your writing: join a writers’ group, take a course or find a tutor to work with, either for mentoring or for an appraisal. Think carefully which method will be most useful. A writers’ group is a good start but you will receive other … Continue reading Writing with Help : A Dilemma
Still on holiday in Italy where, right now, it’s pouring with rain and the lavender is dancing. Since some of you will also soon be on holiday, if you are not already, you will be taking photos or videos of your happenings. In the dim and distance past, photos were called snaps. Black and white … Continue reading Places not People.
It’s a Sunday in a different form of lockdown – more of an ‘I could go home, but why should I?’ lockdown. We’re staying in a house surrounded by farmland, with narrow, unmade-up tracks leading to the few dwellings in ‘our’ part of Tuscany. We’re between two villages, small towns really as each village is … Continue reading The Upside of an Extended Lockdown
As I've told you all before, I'm re-writing my 1950s novel for the 3rd time. I wanted a fresh perspective, new ideas and masses of encouragment. I'd heard writer Emma Darwin (http://www.emmadarwin.com) speak more then once and met her for a chat at an event at Bell House, Dulwich. http://www.bellhouse.co.uk. The decision to work with … Continue reading Outlines and Timelines
For most of us the thing which keeps us going at whatever we do is the day-to-day stimulation of real life. Not a fake imitation of living, as this lock-down is. I understand that some kind of regulation which hopes to limit the damage and the death is essential. However, we must not forget that … Continue reading This Petty Pace
Well, I’m not doing a graph – yet. So far I’ve made cards for each scene I have print-outs for, which take me to the end of the first draft of the novel, but I've at least two new scenes to write. See featured image at the top of this blog. The first page gives: … Continue reading Writing the Outline
