The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
This is a tale told by the author of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith, both of which were published as dramas on the TV sometime ago. The Little Stranger couldn't be any more different in terms of theme, pace and it has to be said, sex. The title really intrigued me and continued to do so throughout the book - more of which later.
The Little Stranger, which is essentially a gothic, ghostly story, is set just after the Second World War. It takes place in Warwickshire, in the decaying country spoils of an upper class family. Hundreds House in fact, could be a character all in its own right, Waters managed to create a place which was so atmospheric that if I closed my eye I could believe I was there, watching the story as it unfolds.
The main character is Dr Faraday and the theme evolves around his developing relationship with the Ayres family, Hundreds House and its' other 'inhabitant'. Dr Faraday narrates the tale in the first person, which is not an easy task, however, Waters pulls it off admirably and not once did I feel that is was choppy or inconsistent. It flowed well albeit if a little slowly, a criticism I have seen in other reviews. But for me, some stories are meant to be savoured slowly, rather like sucking a toffee until it's small enough to swallow. There is a sense of satisfaction as the delicate flavours are released, bit by bit, until they fill your taste buds, tempting yet just enough. I liked the pace of this book, it suited the unfolding mystery of the fears, misunderstandings and the secrets of a family seen from the outside as rather eccentric and behind the times. The Little Stranger shows the struggles that a nation suffered post war, how it touched not just those with nothing, it affected those who had everything - or so it seemed.
My only criticism is that the ending is purported to be 'a revelation' by pundits on the cover. For me it wasn't and that was a little disappointing but I would suggest that you make your own mind up as many would disagree.
Overall a good read with a hint of sinister, enough to make you look behind you every now and again and maybe startle at the odd, unexpected noise.
Don't Think Just Write
The First of the Year
I've decided to write a regular rant. I'm not sure why, I just think it might do some good to get these things of my chest. Keeping things bottled up inside surely can't be good for you and I for one am more inclined to let it all out!
As many of you may know, I'm a writer(sounds like a confession but bear with me) but I'm also an ex-pat writer. I along with some other folk in similar positions am a member of a writing community where we write and amongst other things, enter competitions. Now there comes the rub. I am amazed at the number of competitions which exclude writers on two counts.
Firstly if it is a UK competition (it could be another country but I don't come across others so much) and only UK residents can apply. So without telling some porky pies about my whereabouts I can't submit. I don't understand the reasoning for excluding writers who might not live on this tiny island, thought still are British. Surely it reduces the number of competitors and if a paying competition then also impacts on the profit made or the available prize?
My second niggle concerns those competitions wherever in the world, which only allow postal entries and which usually mean payment by cheque or postal order. These are more common, believe it or not, from my first observation and we are a decade into a new millennieum! All the writing press are talking about the advancement of technology and the impact of e books and here are competitions still working with snails and tablets of stone. Now I'm a Luddite as you know, I like the old pen and paper approach to writing but this is alongside the technology, not instead of it. I don't live in a distant corner of the world, hundreds of miles from civilisation. I don't have a cheque book and neither do I want one. I know the arguments about costs of printing stories and all that blarney but with the increasing costs of postal and bank services I think that excuse is old and invalid.
So if you are going to run a competition, make it via email (using a Google account where the threat of spam and bulging in-box is eradicated), allow on-line payments (Pay Pal is by far the most secure and easiest) and extend the invite to include us struggling ex-pat writers who are looking (and will pay) for the opportunity to enter writing competitions.
Don't Think Just Write
Or Writing Strategy?
It's that time of year when many of us are thinking of the days and months ahead. For a writer this is a crucial time. Writing doesn't just happen as we all know, often at a cost, and a little time spent thinking about what you want to achieve in the next 12 months is time well spent. Many of you may have been caught up in the notion of making 'resolutions' only to let yourself down by the end of January. I've been reading a lot these past few days about why that just doesn't work. I used to be a resolution maker, thinking that the dreams I had on New Years Day were there for the taking. But the trouble was as with all dreams, is they don't just happen. A little like writing. There is nothing wrong with dreaming and if you're just happy with the thoughts then dream away. But if you want things to work, if you want writing success then there's a little bit of work to do and not just this week, for the other 51 weeks too.
A couple of suggestions struck me when I was thinking about my writing plan this week. The first was about having a strategy, so having a means to an end, rather than thinking about the end. This of course means goals, some small chunks of action that will get you the big dream. I don't know why I'm surprised by this revelation, it's a method I used in my previous life, before I was a writer and it seemed to work then. The trouble is with us writers, we do tend to be a bit dreamy, sucking at the end of our pen, waiting for the muse... and if you're like me and a Pisces, then it's double trouble.
The second thing was about making the goals personal. So putting 'I will' in front of an action is much more active and personal to you that it makes it more obligatory. I know, I know. A lot of this is probably psycho-babble but if it works for you why not? Simon Whaley blogged this week on a similar subject of just getting on with the task in hand, for if you don't 'just do it' - it won't happen. And the results could be quite surprising.
So whichever way you want to play it, repeat after me...
Don't Think Just Write!
Merry Christmas to you all and A Happy New Year. Taking a week off next week so see you all in 2011!
Don't Think Just Write
Muse On the Run
My muse has up and left this week. Maybe it' the cold weather, maybe she's just in need of a rest. I know we all get down times and I guess this is mine. I'm determined not to let it get to me so I've been sorting all my writing projects out, updating submissions and re-looking at all my 'works in progress' especially my Monday Muses at Writers Abroad. So sometimes it's good that the Muse goes missing as it gives us time to reflect on what we have done and what we can maybe do. So after a very frustrating three days I'm beginning to smile again even though she hasn't returned. She will, it's just part of a writers life. No point in complaining to you lot anyway, because you all know what its like. Just wanted to tell you, it's OK, I'm OK and I will be back writing. Why? Because I know I want to and therefore I will and I'll take a piece of my own advice which I share on each blog...
Don't Think Just Write!
Emma by Jane Austen
I noted that in the latest edition of Writers News, a first edition of Jane Austen's novel 'Emma' is going up for auction at Sotheby's this month with an estimated £100,000 price tag. By nature, I'm a bit of a researcher so I thought I'd dig around a little on first editions. After all, it's a lot of money for one book, one very old book but one of great standing nevertheless. When I typed my query into Google, the first hit was a link to the Mail on-line dating back to June 2008. A first edition of this novel had then been sold at auction for a staggering £180,000.
I continued to dig and discovered that although there is no record of how many first editions there would have been, it was probably no more than a thousand copies. 'Emma' has been heralded as one of Austen's finest works so it's no wonder that fans of her work would pay a princely sum to get their hands on a copy, even if they could source one at a fifth of the price they go for at auction. It made me wonder who would be paying that kind of money and what did they expect in return? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps if you have that kind of resource available for a book which probably needs some kind of ongoing protection to preserve it, then you don't need to explain your motives.
Why am I pondering the unponderable I hear you asking? Well as Writers Abroad has just published its first edition of short stories, it made me wonder if, in years to come, Sotheby's would be clambering to get hold of a prized copy. After all, to date, only 30 have been published, making them rarer than hens teeth. No? You don't agree? Perhaps not, but one can have dreams you know...
It's good to be back, by the way and I'm looking forward to celebrating the highs of 2010 and planning the future for 2011.
Don't Think Just Write
Writers Abroad Anthology in Print
Yes, that's right. The Writers Abroad Anthology of Short Stories can be purchased in hard copy (that's a real book to most of us) from Lulu. Although the Anthology is available for free download as an E book from the Writers Abroad Home Page, we couldn't resist the temptation to produce our very precious production in print. The exercise itself has been very interesting and despite some hair pulling moments a very pleasurable experience and one I wouldn't mind doing again. Lulu offers a 'print on demand' service and therefore doesn't have thousands of copies sat in some warehouse. This can make the end product a little more expensive than normal purchases but not much and we were also provided with a free ISBN number so can put it up on Amazon and other related sites. Lulu allows you to set a profit too, so you can make money out of your publications if you wish to.
This isn't something we wanted to do as our Anthology was produced in support of National Short Story Week but that is food for thought. However, publishing through Lulu does have other issues you need to bear in mind, the biggest being that you have to also be the marketing department as well as the editor, designer and publisher. So if you want to make some return on your efforts (there is no other cost involved and of course Lulu takes a cut from all sales anyway) then you really need to consider this carefully.
So if you want to purchase a copy follow this link to Lulu and please, tell me what you think!
Don't Think Just Write
