Writer's Block and Super Heros

Writer's block is when I sit staring at a blank sheet of paper and, an hour later, the page is still, pristine, crisp, empty.

When this happens I often turn to my husband, Comedy Boy and my daughter, Magnet. I realise I've made us sound like a family straight out of a Marvel comic and perhaps we are. Indeed Comedy Boy reminded me of his many super powers the other day, "[I'm your] saviour from spiders, believer of 'they were in a sale' stories, the first person you called when you broke your finger, collaborator of great ideas, the person who attends several holidays a year with you, the bag packer while you stand there looking gorgeous at the supermarket till, the guy who picks you up, drops you off and often both, protector and investigator of noises during the night, the only person who re-charges the toothbrushes and puts the ironing board away." Now you might be thinking these super powers are a bit poor but, in my opinion, they are better than being able to fly or become invisible.

Comedy Boy does more than just provide ideas he provides invaluable support and he believes in me. In fact that is my first rule of writing: find someone whose super power is, amongst others, that they believe in you, preferably more than you believe in yourself, that way you won't flounder for too long when your brain simply won't cooperate.

Magnet's super power is also her unwavering belief in herself and in me. She would say things like, "Mum have you written anymore because I want to read it." or "mum I had a dream about a book I want to write and now I realise it is exactly like yours, well not exactly like yours but very close." Surely this is the best accolade of all. I haven't even finished my novel and my daughter already wants to steal the idea. I told her to get writing immediately.

Reading this back I wonder if my super power is finding new ways to procrastinate. I hope not but I think I should be writing my novel and not my blog so night, night.

P.S. It has been a slow week but I've written 3000 more words so far.

P.P.S I realise the super powers I've mentioned would not be exciting to read about in an actual Marvel comic.

Writing for displeasure

When I read a review for a film or book that carries the word 'devastating' I wonder when the awards will start flowing. It seems that narratives of displeasure are just what the public are looking for. Or are they?

The Oscar/ Booker/ Bafta judges seem oblivious to their repetitive choice of winning narrative formula. Perhaps because they are so dosed up on anti-depressants, a minor side effect of having to watch and read miserable narrative after miserable narrative each with their own brand of, and this is a vital award winning ingredient, unhappiness at the end. A few examples are; Million Dollar Baby, The English Patient, The God of Small Things, Atonement. Although I'm sure you can think of many more.

Of course there are exceptions. Take Slumdog Millionaire (the novel was called Q & A, you can see why they changed it. The original title does not have a whiff of Oscar winner about it) with its happy ending. The evil Shaksperean brother dies in a hail of redemptive bullets and the princess finds her prince. Of course this happy ending was preceded by enough misery to allow it to compete with its predecessors in the misery genre. Think homeless children, eye gouging, limb cutting, rape.

I was relieved when I read that Daisy Goodwin, one of the Orange Prize judges, had complained about the amount of misery memoirs she encountered in her role as judge, "There's not been much wit and not much joy, there's a lot of grimness out there," she said of the 129 books that were submitted by publishers to be considered for the prize. I don't necessarily think there has been an increase in dark novels and memoirs, instead publishers choose to submit them to prizes such as the Orange Prize because they believe that a panel of judges is more likely to choose a 'devastating' novel as the winner than a lighter, funnier one. Indeed this does seem to be the case so publishers, in turn, think that the public must want to read this type of story. Of course this is a circular arguement: A novel with more marketing spend behind it sells well and publishers will spend more marketing budget on a book that has won a prize.

Goodwin continued '"I think the misery memoir has had its day, but there are an awful lot of books out there which had not a shred of redemption in them. I'm more of a light and shade person and there does need to be some joy, not just misery." A good story illicits feelings in the audience and keeps us captivated however one story is not nessesarily better than another simply because it offers us a dark ending. For instance I do not think Million Dollar Baby would have won an oscar without the ending it had and I don't actaully think it should have won Best Film. Obviously this is my opinion however my point is that a story is a good story and one that is bleaker than another does not always equal better.

The dark side of life exists but must we always applaud it? Would it not be nice to award novel/ memoir/ film that makes its reader/ viewer laugh, more than cry, that makes the sky seem bluer rather than cloudier, that makes our smiles brighter? No I'm not suggesting we all take the anti-depressants the awards judges have no doubt driven to after endless miserable story telling.

So should there be no light in sight? Ever? Doesn't life deliver enough grit on its own? I say bring back the Hollywood ending please. It might just lift my spirits.