 | When I retired from full-time paid work a few years ago, as well as writing, I took up the cello as an adult beginner and now play regularly in an ‘oldies’ orchestra and a local amateur quartet, though we don’t look quite as ugly as the pottery quartet pictured. Music making and pottery have things in common with writing, in that you are going to make mistakes, have another try, practise and keep on trying to improve. The difference with music is you are usually playing the notes someone else has written and there is generally a ‘right’ way to do it. Hand-built pots, however, are by definition unique, like this little group. So writers aim to develop their own style and hope there are readers out there who will enjoy it, or be moved by it, or laugh…and keep coming back for more. On the other hand is there a risk that we become formulaic and cease to surprise either ourselves or the reader? Does that matter? Listening to a favourite piece of music is like wearing a comfortable old pair of slippers or enjoying the predictability of known authors. That certainly applies when I re-read old favourites. Wishing you a creative and fulfilling 2016. |
|
0 Comments
Where does an author get ideas from? Mine generally come from some snippet of history that I adapt and use as a theme for a novel. But sometimes it comes closer than that. My mother was 17 at the outbreak of World War 2 and had just started work. Her office base was moved to a Lancashire seaside town and there she stayed for 7 years, miles from family and friends. Then there was me, at 18, travelling to America to spend a summer as a nanny. Passing through New York, I lost my luggage. You’ll spot these influences if you read “The Girl Back Home”, due to be e-published by MuseItUp in the New Year, about a girl sent to safety in America on the outbreak of war. It’s a coming-of-age story and a romance.
|
Archives
May 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed
