I heard the baby's heart beating today at the hospital. The perfect sound of life growing inside me. Now I sit at my computer watching the clock to the right of this post. It ticks relentlessly, counting down to the baby due date and the date which my novel should be complete. The ticking reminds me of the heartbeat and for the first time I smile at it. Time is my friend not my enemy. There is no need to panic. Of course I will finish the book before my beautiful baby is born.
I've written 1000 words today already. Over the bank holiday weekend I will finish another 5000 and I hope to visit the setting for my story and conduct even more research.
My head already feels full with research, indeed facts and figures are seeping from every pore, yet I know I have only touched the surface. The waters below are deep so I must continue to dive.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Literary Girl in Oxford
I sit on a hard chair in a marquee beside my friend Little Miss Fetish (not her birth name in case you were wondering) waiting for Belle De Jour and India Knight, the journalist who will be interviewing Belle, to arrive. I am at The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival on a sunny Sunday afternoon. As I sit waiting I look around at the 30o strong crowd and I'm surprised that the average age must be mid-sixties. Indeed the front row is filled with septuagenarians. Perhaps they want some sex tips.
I ask members of the audience if they have read Belle's book or blog. A frail looking lady wearing a brightly coloured knitted jumper tells me she has not. A few others tell me they are not familiar with her work either. It seems they are here because of Belle's minor celebrity status rather than her literary talents. I wonder whether they would have come if they'd read her frank memoir Belle De Jour, Diary of a London Call Girl.
A lone man sitting on my left tells me he has not read the book but saw Belle in the paper. I ask why he is here and he answers he thinks "it's an interesting situation, someone with that sort of background going into that. Some people think it is distasteful but distasteful is not the same as being criminal." Randomly Anneka Rice is also in the audience at the back. She makes a quick escape when the interview finishes.
For those of you who have been in a hole for the past year and half Brooke Magnanti outed herself in The Sunday Times as author of the blog and subsequent book Belle De Jour, Diary of a London Call Girl. She started writing her blog in 2003, by 2004 she had 15000 readers. She is a research scientist and she maintains that she became a prostitute to pay her way through university so she could complete her PHD. She now works full time as a research scientist and is no longer a call girl.
Brooke is petite and wears a low cut floral top and long earrings. She tells the audience she would often sit on the tube, look up and down the carriage, and wonder how long it would take someone to pick her out as the prostitute in the crowd. She thinks people would go for the stereotype of the beautiful or slutty looking girl not the normal looking blonde girl wearing the designer suit.
It seems this is Brooke's first public appearance. India asks why she thinks so many people are present and Brooke, seeming genuinely baffled, says she does not know. It could be a testament to our celebrity culture that people will attend a talk by someone they have only read about fleetingly in the news or perhaps we are simply 300 voyeurs. When asked about her writing and the constant speculation, prior to her outing herself, that she must be a man Brooke says 'It's funny when people said I must be a man by the way I write I thought no, by the way I write I must be a scientist.'
Brooke is funny and witty throughout the interview and laughs when India suggests that she 'slipped into [prostitution] with ease'. In answer she says 'I was 27 slept around a bit, was a bit of a slag''.
We hear that her most embarrassing incident was when she saw a client at a friend's wedding but could not place him. In the end he came up to her and simply said 'hi' before walking off. The next morning she had to sit at an intimate breakfast with him and six others including her then boyfriend. It was, she concedes, the longest breakfast of her life.
When India opens questions to the floor Little Miss Fetish wants to know how to write good sex scenes. Belle tells her to "strip it down to its bare bones." I take down notes before realising that I won't exactly be using the advice in my novel, a book for children aged 8 - 12. Still it could be useful in the future.
A man in the audience asks, "How would you feel if your boyfriend had slept with prostitutes?", Brooke answers "I'd be alright with it." He persists, "Would you ask him about it." Brooke pauses for a moment, "only if it were hot."
Brooke tells us that she has been working on a novel for four years and that her favourite piece of her own writing is a short story called Malted.
In response to a question about whether she became a prostitute just to write about it Brooke says "14 months. That's a lot of people to have sex with just for a laugh."
That question is followed by someone wanting to know whether she orchestrated the media furore. She says something that accurately sums up public perceptions of people in the media "we've gotten used to being cynical and we're not used to people saying this is what happened and this is how it happened."
At one point Brooke has to defend herself when a lecturer says she has PHD students who have not got into prostitution to pay for their funding and fees. Brooke answers that she went into it for a specific reason and came out of it, that the funding in this country for oversees students is a joke and that she would not have made enough working in a bar or shop.
When pressed about whether she has become a mouthpiece for prostitutes Brooke explains that "the experiences are as different as the people in them."
After the interview Little Miss Fetish and I stand in the marquee looking at books and watch as Brooke has her photo taken. A young couple walk past and the man says to his girlfriend "I don't know why she left it so long to come out. It's obvious she wanted to be famous. Look at her she loves it." Can't win them all I guess.
So would I recommend her memoir? It is certainly gripping however I would not say it were erotic, in fact at times I found it quite the opposite. I did not feel it glamorised prostitution in the way that has been suggested in the press although it is eye opening. So yes I would recommend it but be warned this is a book to be read at home not on the commute to work unless you want everyone to see you blushing.
I ask members of the audience if they have read Belle's book or blog. A frail looking lady wearing a brightly coloured knitted jumper tells me she has not. A few others tell me they are not familiar with her work either. It seems they are here because of Belle's minor celebrity status rather than her literary talents. I wonder whether they would have come if they'd read her frank memoir Belle De Jour, Diary of a London Call Girl.
A lone man sitting on my left tells me he has not read the book but saw Belle in the paper. I ask why he is here and he answers he thinks "it's an interesting situation, someone with that sort of background going into that. Some people think it is distasteful but distasteful is not the same as being criminal." Randomly Anneka Rice is also in the audience at the back. She makes a quick escape when the interview finishes.
For those of you who have been in a hole for the past year and half Brooke Magnanti outed herself in The Sunday Times as author of the blog and subsequent book Belle De Jour, Diary of a London Call Girl. She started writing her blog in 2003, by 2004 she had 15000 readers. She is a research scientist and she maintains that she became a prostitute to pay her way through university so she could complete her PHD. She now works full time as a research scientist and is no longer a call girl.
Brooke is petite and wears a low cut floral top and long earrings. She tells the audience she would often sit on the tube, look up and down the carriage, and wonder how long it would take someone to pick her out as the prostitute in the crowd. She thinks people would go for the stereotype of the beautiful or slutty looking girl not the normal looking blonde girl wearing the designer suit.
It seems this is Brooke's first public appearance. India asks why she thinks so many people are present and Brooke, seeming genuinely baffled, says she does not know. It could be a testament to our celebrity culture that people will attend a talk by someone they have only read about fleetingly in the news or perhaps we are simply 300 voyeurs. When asked about her writing and the constant speculation, prior to her outing herself, that she must be a man Brooke says 'It's funny when people said I must be a man by the way I write I thought no, by the way I write I must be a scientist.'
Brooke is funny and witty throughout the interview and laughs when India suggests that she 'slipped into [prostitution] with ease'. In answer she says 'I was 27 slept around a bit, was a bit of a slag''.
We hear that her most embarrassing incident was when she saw a client at a friend's wedding but could not place him. In the end he came up to her and simply said 'hi' before walking off. The next morning she had to sit at an intimate breakfast with him and six others including her then boyfriend. It was, she concedes, the longest breakfast of her life.
When India opens questions to the floor Little Miss Fetish wants to know how to write good sex scenes. Belle tells her to "strip it down to its bare bones." I take down notes before realising that I won't exactly be using the advice in my novel, a book for children aged 8 - 12. Still it could be useful in the future.
A man in the audience asks, "How would you feel if your boyfriend had slept with prostitutes?", Brooke answers "I'd be alright with it." He persists, "Would you ask him about it." Brooke pauses for a moment, "only if it were hot."
Brooke tells us that she has been working on a novel for four years and that her favourite piece of her own writing is a short story called Malted.
In response to a question about whether she became a prostitute just to write about it Brooke says "14 months. That's a lot of people to have sex with just for a laugh."
That question is followed by someone wanting to know whether she orchestrated the media furore. She says something that accurately sums up public perceptions of people in the media "we've gotten used to being cynical and we're not used to people saying this is what happened and this is how it happened."
At one point Brooke has to defend herself when a lecturer says she has PHD students who have not got into prostitution to pay for their funding and fees. Brooke answers that she went into it for a specific reason and came out of it, that the funding in this country for oversees students is a joke and that she would not have made enough working in a bar or shop.
When pressed about whether she has become a mouthpiece for prostitutes Brooke explains that "the experiences are as different as the people in them."
After the interview Little Miss Fetish and I stand in the marquee looking at books and watch as Brooke has her photo taken. A young couple walk past and the man says to his girlfriend "I don't know why she left it so long to come out. It's obvious she wanted to be famous. Look at her she loves it." Can't win them all I guess.
So would I recommend her memoir? It is certainly gripping however I would not say it were erotic, in fact at times I found it quite the opposite. I did not feel it glamorised prostitution in the way that has been suggested in the press although it is eye opening. So yes I would recommend it but be warned this is a book to be read at home not on the commute to work unless you want everyone to see you blushing.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Absent and the countdown
I've been absent. I can't think of a good enough excuse. Sure I was on holiday but they have internet in florida, I have been working but I was always working. I wish I could say that I was too busy finishing my novel to write this blog, alas, that too would be an excuse and, worse still, an outright lie.
I do however have news that may explain my absense. If it doesn't then it serves as news that this blog is changing....
I have found out that there is going to be a literary baby in October..... This blog is not about babies so I will not dwell on my baby news too much, suffice it to say however that I now have a deadline for the completion of my novel.
I have added a countdown clock to this blog. The clock is ticking down to my baby due date and now my novel completion date.
I'll update this blog every time I have written some more of my novel and I will continue to bring literary news from around London, the web and inside my head.
So no more procrastination, no more twiddling my thumbs and no more social life, well within reason. Instead I will simply be writing, writing, writing.....
I do however have news that may explain my absense. If it doesn't then it serves as news that this blog is changing....
I have found out that there is going to be a literary baby in October..... This blog is not about babies so I will not dwell on my baby news too much, suffice it to say however that I now have a deadline for the completion of my novel.
I have added a countdown clock to this blog. The clock is ticking down to my baby due date and now my novel completion date.
I'll update this blog every time I have written some more of my novel and I will continue to bring literary news from around London, the web and inside my head.
So no more procrastination, no more twiddling my thumbs and no more social life, well within reason. Instead I will simply be writing, writing, writing.....
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Graduation
Eight months after the tears, sweat and anguish that is dissertation hand-in I finally graduated with a Masters in Creative and Professional Writing today.
My 11 year old daughter was at the ceremony waving continually from her place in the crowd. Afterwards she told me she felt tearful when the speaker thanked family members for helping graduates along the way. She said "Mummy I feel really proud of you".
I had my daughter when I was still a teenager and I remember how surprised people were when I applied to university to take my undergraduate degree. People do not expect much of a teenage mum although those that know me would have expected nothing less.
Graduation was made all the more special because I saw five of my very dear friends. We initially became friends through our shared love of writing and reading, later we found we loved each other outside of those confines. Now I would be lost without them. I would not write as much and I certainly would not laugh or smile as much. If nothing else had come from my course meeting the girls would have been worth the fees alone.
So, as we stood with our families in the freezing cold March wind and threw our hats high into the air I felt nothing but thanks for all I've achieved, for my friends and for my family. Simply put, I felt happy.
My 11 year old daughter was at the ceremony waving continually from her place in the crowd. Afterwards she told me she felt tearful when the speaker thanked family members for helping graduates along the way. She said "Mummy I feel really proud of you".
I had my daughter when I was still a teenager and I remember how surprised people were when I applied to university to take my undergraduate degree. People do not expect much of a teenage mum although those that know me would have expected nothing less.
Graduation was made all the more special because I saw five of my very dear friends. We initially became friends through our shared love of writing and reading, later we found we loved each other outside of those confines. Now I would be lost without them. I would not write as much and I certainly would not laugh or smile as much. If nothing else had come from my course meeting the girls would have been worth the fees alone.
So, as we stood with our families in the freezing cold March wind and threw our hats high into the air I felt nothing but thanks for all I've achieved, for my friends and for my family. Simply put, I felt happy.
My novel
I've kept something from you. I haven't talked about my writing. I've talked around it, discussed events, authors etc however I have yet to touch upon my own work. Perhaps I feel shy because it's new. Although the idea had been whirring in my head for some time before I put pen to paper or, more accurately, fingers to keyboard.
So here goes. The novel I am working on is a childrens novel aimed at eight to twelve year olds. It's a fantasy and it's set in a famous London landmark. I've been researching it for some months now although if I counted all my visits to the place I would say I've been researching it since I was two. I'm not going to divulge the place yet because the work is not finished and I still may change it. So for now all I'll say is I'll keep you posted.
Literary Girl
So here goes. The novel I am working on is a childrens novel aimed at eight to twelve year olds. It's a fantasy and it's set in a famous London landmark. I've been researching it for some months now although if I counted all my visits to the place I would say I've been researching it since I was two. I'm not going to divulge the place yet because the work is not finished and I still may change it. So for now all I'll say is I'll keep you posted.
Literary Girl
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
February Book Slam
I went to Book Slam last week. For those of you who don't know it Book Slam is 'London's Best Literary Nightclub' according to the blurb. Its moved to the Tabernacle in Notting Hill and whilst I'm still debating if I prefer the cleaner, more theatrical and grand looking venue to its dark, dirty predecessor there's no doubt that Book Slam still rocks.
Thursday saw readings from poet Robin Robertson and author Joshua Ferris. Music came from the talented Tawiah.
Robin Robertson's Scottish drawl and dry wit had me captivated. He started with "Most of my poems are about drink, sex and death. It's vital they're kept in that order." Beat. "For legal reasons." Robin lived up to his word with a poem about an artichoke which was a barely disguised euphemism for, well a "stub root" as he affectionately called it.
Patrick Neate, the brainchild behind the night and occasional, host took to the stage in his usual non-style. Clutching at a can of beer he barely concealed his discomfort at having to stand in the spotlight. This familiar style is endearing (he'd probably hate that) and was particularly so when he mentioned that he was doing a book signing. He cringed and muttered and finished by saying "I hate myself a little now." Still I don't think anyone else felt the same way. I for one miss him when he gets a professional to take to the stage.
Anyway after Robin came Joshua Ferris reading from his new novel, The Unnamed, a novel about a man, Tim Farnsworth, with a psychological disorder that causes him to walk. This compulsion to walk can strike at any time and he has no power to stop it. Joshua read from the start of the novel in which Tim has been to see another doctor who has suggested a new cure.
Certainly the premise was interesting and I came away wondering whether Tim was ever going to be cured of his malady however I'm not sure I'm going to buy it... I'll keep you posted.
Thursday saw readings from poet Robin Robertson and author Joshua Ferris. Music came from the talented Tawiah.
Robin Robertson's Scottish drawl and dry wit had me captivated. He started with "Most of my poems are about drink, sex and death. It's vital they're kept in that order." Beat. "For legal reasons." Robin lived up to his word with a poem about an artichoke which was a barely disguised euphemism for, well a "stub root" as he affectionately called it.
Patrick Neate, the brainchild behind the night and occasional, host took to the stage in his usual non-style. Clutching at a can of beer he barely concealed his discomfort at having to stand in the spotlight. This familiar style is endearing (he'd probably hate that) and was particularly so when he mentioned that he was doing a book signing. He cringed and muttered and finished by saying "I hate myself a little now." Still I don't think anyone else felt the same way. I for one miss him when he gets a professional to take to the stage.
Anyway after Robin came Joshua Ferris reading from his new novel, The Unnamed, a novel about a man, Tim Farnsworth, with a psychological disorder that causes him to walk. This compulsion to walk can strike at any time and he has no power to stop it. Joshua read from the start of the novel in which Tim has been to see another doctor who has suggested a new cure.
Certainly the premise was interesting and I came away wondering whether Tim was ever going to be cured of his malady however I'm not sure I'm going to buy it... I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
10 rules for writing fiction
I've just finished reading the Guardian's article Ten Rules for Writing fiction in which famous writers such as Roddy Doyle, Margaret Atwood, Philip Pullman and many more share their personal rules for writing fiction.
Some took a more tongue in cheek approach to the exercise such as Doyle who wrote "do not place a photograph of your favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide." Colm Tóibín conveyed the importance of reading about ones peers, "If you have to read, to cheer yourself up read biographies of writers who went insane." Elmore Leonard took a more serious approach and focused on form and the pitfalls of using adverbs, exclamation marks and regional dialogue.
Some of the rules seemed more like rules for life than writing. 'Don't take any shit if you can possibly help it' and the more arbitrary 'don't have children'.
Some took a more tongue in cheek approach to the exercise such as Doyle who wrote "do not place a photograph of your favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide." Colm Tóibín conveyed the importance of reading about ones peers, "If you have to read, to cheer yourself up read biographies of writers who went insane." Elmore Leonard took a more serious approach and focused on form and the pitfalls of using adverbs, exclamation marks and regional dialogue.
Some of the rules seemed more like rules for life than writing. 'Don't take any shit if you can possibly help it' and the more arbitrary 'don't have children'.
To save you trawling through I've picked out my top 10 and added the authors who suggested them in brackets.
1) Read, read everything you can lay your hands on (Michael Moorcock, Ian Rankin, Will Self (he actually says you should stop reading but only because you have read enough already), Zadie Smith (although she says you should read when still a child so this might mean inventing a time machine), PD James)
2) Don't just plan to write – write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style. (PD James)
3) Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones. I was working on a novel about a band called the Partitions. Then I decided to call them the Commitments. (Roddy Doyle)
4) Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer's a good idea. (Richard Ford) N.B. This one assumes that you want to get married at all. If not ignore completely.
5) Keep a diary. The biggest regret of my writing life is that I have never kept a journal or a diary. (Geoff Dyer)
6) Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something. (Geoff Dyer)
7)The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page. (Anne Enright) This is similar to rule number 1 but written in slightly different way so I don't think it's cheating.
8) You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up. (Margaret Atwood)
9) Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted. (PD James)
10) Read all of Neil Gaiman's rules because that man is a genius. See his list below. (Literary girl)
1 Write.
2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3 Finish what you're writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you've never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
5 Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
6 Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7 Laugh at your own jokes.
8 The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
So what did I learn from an article about rules? Write as you wish, just make sure you turn off the Internet.
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