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
We’re back in 1962 in an English lesson about Jane Austen. To be precise, we’ve been reading Mansfield Park, preparing for what then were called ‘O’ level exams. We’ve been given two questions to choose from for prep but the teacher has asked if anyone has a third suggestion. I put up my hand and … Continue reading Women Writers writing about Women for Women.
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
The non-fiction book how novels work evolved from a series of weekly articles 'Elements of Fiction', written by John Mullan, Professor of English at University College London and published in the Saturday Guardian. I had not come across such articles in a newspaper before and they ensured I bought the Guardian faithfully each week until … Continue reading The One Book to Have
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
One of my all-time favourite novels is Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. (more about that book later). The story concludes with the words ‘…she wrote, Coming home. But, after a moment she thought that this was not entirely accurate and crossing out the words Coming home wrote simply Returning.’ Perhaps many of us, slowly … Continue reading RETURNING – Talking Animals
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
We all need to close down in someway to get ready for Xmas. Many of us will not be able to be with the entire family on the 25th December. Or even at all. I imagine we are forming our bubbles and then see how we can blend them. In the New Year we'll be … Continue reading Working Towards Christmas
You sit alone. Too late for hope. Forget The food to send: The shoebox full of sweets and cheese. Forget that kiss At parting. You stare at space. Forget the dreams Ignore the empty cradle, Turn your head and do not see The babies which will never be. The loving. He lies in wood. White … Continue reading REMEMBER HIM
Tales of Dusty Death, a new collection of short stories, takes you travelling: France, Norway, Greece, Russia; as far away as South America and back at home. They illustrate the dilemmas of contemporary death and lead you into the realms of murder and magic realism. The new arrival ‘Jane Hayward's distinctive stories step unafraid into … Continue reading A New Publication
