Now is the time of year when the media publish ‘Best Of’ lists for a variety of categories, including books, television series, music albums and films, so I thought that I’d join in with a baker’s dozen of favourite reads from 2017. Some were published this year, and all came out recently, so should be … Continue reading My Favourite Reads of 2017
‘If Wishes Were Horses’ tends to float alone as a phrase these days, to describe something that we wish were true, though it derives from a 17th-century Scottish proverb-nursery rhyme: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If turnips were watches, I’d wear one by my side. If “if’s” and “and’s” were pots and pans, … Continue reading If Wishes Were Horses
I recently read a well-reviewed crime novel called American By Day, by Derek B. Miller, in which a Norwegian detective travels to America to track down her estranged brother, who’s implicated in the death of his girlfriend. He’s hiding in a forested wilderness beside a lake, and to get to him first, she sabotages the local … Continue reading Using Real People in Fiction
Hilary Mantel reckoned that: The most helpful quality a writer can cultivate is self-confidence—arrogance, if you can manage it. You write to impose yourself on the world, and you have to believe in your own ability when the world shows no sign of agreeing with you. Wise words indeed, after all, why the hell should … Continue reading Are Authors Arrogant?
It’s cynical of me to say so, but there’s money in misery. But, suffering is a part of life. As Woody Allen lamented: Life is full of misery, loneliness and suffering—and it’s all over much too soon. I’ll never be a fan of misery memoirs, though perhaps I should write one, as this genre is said … Continue reading Turning Suffering Into Writing
Most of us are still in the unpublished manuscript stage of being an author unless we’ve self-published an ebook online. I’m a member of The Colony, on the Litopia website, where we’re fortunate to be able to get our writing critiqued by fellow writers, including Agent Pete, in a calm, considerate and constructive way. But, nastier … Continue reading Dealing with Critics
It’s undeniable, that to get a book written, an author has to be selfish. We have to make the time to be alone in our creative space, to open the channels into the fictional world we command. That’s one of the joys of writing, for however confusing things become, we authors are at least able … Continue reading Are Writers Selfish?
In his autobiography, A Sort of Life, Graham Greene famously said that there was a ‘splinter of ice in the heart of a writer,’ which allowed them to contemplate tragedy in a dispassionate way and turn it into art. Such self-possession might well repulse people who don’t write. Ethical considerations must bother many writers: how can we … Continue reading The Ice in a Writer’s Heart
Even the most famous of artists have doubts about what they do, and when starting out as a writer it’s hard to generate self-belief. My attitude is, that if you’ve had an idea for a story and you’ve made a start at putting it down, then you’re a writer. You’ve already done loads more than … Continue reading Fake it till you Make it: Impostor Syndrome
There was an interesting article in The Guardian newspaper by Julian Baggini, about how sensitive writers are to criticism. http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/feb/25/writers-vain-egotism-julian-baggini ( some great stories on writing beneath this article, and do read the comments section ) One of the first pieces of advice that I’d give to anyone considering writing a book, is to develop … Continue reading Why all writers are vain