4 December 2016
Two ways to novel success
As anyone who has ever tried well knows, the first rule for writing a successful novel is that there are no rules. Or, if you like, there are dozens of rules and innumerable variations upon them. In recent days there has been further proof of this in newspaper interview revelations about their writing days with two highly… Continue Reading
As anyone who has ever tried well knows, the first rule for writing a successful novel is that there are no rules. Or, if you like, there are dozens of rules and innumerable variations upon them. In recent days there has been further proof of this in newspaper interview revelations about their writing days with two highly… Continue Reading
28 November 2016
Fifty Shades or War and Peace … makes no difference
One of the more misleading headlines of recent times was the one that suggested, for readers, there was no difference between the trashy romance porn of Fifty Shades of Grey and such established classics as Ulysses, War and Peace or Metamorphosis. This led into a report of a research study that found that all novels… Continue Reading
6 September 2016
Lessons in writing from George Orwell
21 August 2016
Superb Mo Farah … surely not the greatest British runner
There can be no argument. Lean, likeable and voluble Mo “I’ve got four children I miss so much” Farah is sheer poetry in motion. For once, the use of the word “awesome” is fully justified. So graceful, so strong and seemingly so effortless in his ability to shift up a gear and find the extra… Continue Reading
Excitement! There’s a package awaiting me in the mailroom. What can it be? Such a substantial object yet so light. Couldn’t recall any online orders of recent date and of such a size. Then memory clicks in; there was a purchase of a small item a couple of days back. From Amazon – where else?… Continue Reading
“I’m assuming that if she buys a £1000 dress, she’ll probably want a butterfly marbled armchair to sit on and some parrots on her wall,” says Manchester designer Matthew Williamson of his typical customer. Fair assumption, I suppose, if you inhabit a world of freaks, cranks and show ponies. Continue Reading
It seems I was right on the money when, a few weeks ago, I adversely commented on the work of the theatre world’s would-be wunderkind, Emma Rice. Since then there has been a steady flow of mostly adverse comments about the work of La Rice, especially her treatment of one of the stagings of A… Continue Reading
Among the more puzzling posts to my Facebook page was the recent clearly admonitory “Why is it all about you?” My immediate reaction was a Simpsoneque “Doh!” Was it really necessary to explain that the millions of FB users worldwide are there to let others know what they are thinking, doing, feeling, planning and even… Continue Reading
19 January 2016
Mothers – they’re your kids, not the shop’s
What is happening to parental responsibility? Indeed, what is happening to taking responsibility for one’s own actions? A mother found her 19-month-old daughter ripping open a packet of Ibuprofen tablets while they were waiting in a queue in a branch of WH Smith. Does she upbraid the child – teach her that such behaviour is not… Continue Reading
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