A good read

A couple of posts ago I told you about a wonderful book called Bitter Chocolate by Sally Grindley. It was a very powerful story with a great ending that made me hold my breath several times as I read it. Not all books do that to me.

Today I was given the opportunity of reading another story. This has yet to be published and when it is I will remind you of it. But as a bit of a tantaliser it was as powerful and as beautifully written as Sally Grindley's book. It also made me hold my breath several times as I anticipated what was going to happen next.
There is nothing more satisfying than reading a story that is good enough to stay in your mind for hours, days, even months afterwards. Both of these achieved that.

The loss of an old friend

I have lost an old friend. It is not a human friend but a book. Excuse the 'look inside' I couldn't get rid of that. I bought a copy of this book in the first two weeks of my English degree. Back in 2002. I was very new, very unsure if I was doing the right thing and totally over whelmed by it all. Wasn't I bit old to be going to uni? Obviously not as I am still there!
I have no idea why I bought the book as at the time I had never thought of writing for children. Maybe it was the cover or the word 'write'. I had come to uni to follow the creative writing strand through the English degree. Then it wasn't until several weeks later that I had it pointed out to me that it was written by one of our lecturers. Someone who unbeknown to me at the time would also end up having a major influence on the direction my career would take.
I have read this book cover to cover several times. It got me through my final year project of my degree, then my MA in Writing for Children and nearly all the way through my PhD. It is old and tatty. It has notes all over it and if I have a question I know exactly where to look for it. I shall buy a new one but it won't be the same. It won't be my friend. A book that has moved fives times with me, been through numerous family crisis and several all-nighters when I have been trying to finish something.
I have searched my office and my home. Maybe it has had enough, packed its bags and left. Whoever finds it, I hope they treat well and find it as useful as I have. I know AM is about to write a new book which I am looking forward to and will no doubt fill the hole and be equally as useful. But I will still miss my friend.

Bitter Chocolate

I have just read Bitter Chocolate by Sally Grindley. It is a book I am planning on using in the Creativity and Children's Literature module I teach on the MA Writing for Children at Winchester. It is a beautifully written book and a prime example of how to deal with difficult issues in a sensitive yet elucidating way. There is no way the book can be accused of being didactic yet it is still educational.
The story is told from Pascal's point of view but this is split in two. Some of the chapters are based in the plantation where he splits cocoa pods with other boys who are treated like slaves. The chapters explain Pascal's journey to the plantation. They tell you about his family then his time as a boy soldier. It wasn't how he wanted it to be. The ending is sudden. It leaves you hanging there wondering. But the ending is perfect, it provides hope and a future.
Sally's research has obviously been extensive. It is not in your face but it is there in the story adding depth to it. I particularly enjoyed the fact she talks about Salif Keita, whose music I love and was introduced to earlier this year by a friend.
I loved Sally's Spilled Water which was used when I was doing the MA but this book is even better and if you want a treat go and read it.

Drugs and their representation

I watched a fascinating programme that Channel 4 aired on Monday night entitled 'Every one's At It'. It highlighted some of the issues of my PhD. Since the beginning of my research cannabis has been moved from a Class B drug to Class C and then back again. Various new drugs have come on the scene such as Methadrone, initially a legal high but now illegal, GHB which has also been classed as an illegal drug but has been replaced by users by GBL. The programme claims that one in six British citizens have used a Class A drug. Angus McQueen is exploring the drug situation by talking to users, parents of children who have died using drugs, the police and charities that provide support for drug users.
It had a powerful message that basically drug use is out of control in this country and McQueen suggests that perhaps we should consider legalising these drugs as we are not capable of stopping people using them. It is an argument that I think I agree with.
As a writer though it makes writing about drugs particularly difficult as the culture is moving all the time. As part of my PhD I am suggesting that a novel is a good resource for information - if it is not a novel that teenagers are being told to read, in which case they immediately switch off. What it needs is good gripping, well told stories that grab the teenagers mind. Bali Rai, Kevin Brooks, Keith Gray, Jenny Valentine and Melvin Burgess are names that come to mind immediately but before you all bombard me with other books about drugs I am aware just don't feel a list of authors or books is appropriate in this blog. If you want more information on them please contact me.
It is also interesting how the portrayal of drug has shifted over the last 14 years - but that is for my thesis. You'll have to wait for that to find out more.

Academic Brain

This photo is of me at graduation when I received my MA a few years ago and before you ask no I am not wee-ing against the tree as was suggested by somebody.
I have been focusing on the novel aspect of my PhD recently but hopefully once I return from Scotland a first draft will have been completed and be in a fit state to send to the DoS and I can move on to the critical. This concentration on the creative has had a bit of a detrimental effect on my academic brain. It appears to have shut down through lack of use.
I am hoping to wake it up by planning my lectures for next semester. One new module, one totally revamped module, two partially revamped module and one old module. All adds up to quite a bit of planning. I feel the need to be in control as on top of that I have a paper to write (possibly two) and will need to start on the critical part of my PhD as well. Hence the need to kick the academic brain into working order again.
I will exercise the brain tomorrow by reading some critical books. I wonder if a metaphoric light bulb will go on and the brain will go 'Oh yes, I know this stuff, I remember it.' I hope so!

Writing backwards - It worked!

Well it worked. And I am very happy about it. I ended up writing backwards and forwards but it all eventually came together in a very natural way. Once again it was very like the 'Push-me Pull-you' from Dr Dolittle. And I managed to break through the 50,000 word barrier. This is something I have never done before on a single project It was a very satisfying feeling. I am definitely on the downward slope to the end of the book. I worked out this morning that I have approximately 5 chapters to go and these are worked out in my head.
The retreat will be a perfect place to complete the final chapters. They are going to be quite tense chapters so will need a lot of thinking about to make sure the tension in my head is relayed to the reader.
Then once it is complete there will come the editing process...but that is another story!

Writing backwards

There is a wonderful illustration by Carla Sonheim and just entitled 'backwards'. That is how I am approaching my writing at the moment. It wasn't intentional but you may remember I had a chapter I had to write that was a bit further on in the story. Well that chapter is written and am now working backwards from that chapter to where the bulk of the story is.

This hadn't been my plan. I was going to go back to where I was and just write until I got there, but the words had a different idea. They kept coming up with snippets that needed to go into a chapter just before the random one. It is all topsy turvey but it seems to be working. (Ask me whether it is still working when I have completed the first draft!)

When I was at Torquay at the weekend I went to an art exhibition at Torre Abbey just across the road from my sister's house. There was Damien Hurst's 'cow and calf'. I have to be honest I didn't like them and I didn't get them as pieces of art they were more like a biological experiments to me but maybe I am just a philistine. However at the same exhibition were three full sized horses made of driftwood. They were very beautiful but they also summed up how my writing is working at the moment. Driftwood sentences are twisting together to form the story, just like Heather Jansch creates her wonderful horses. I am hoping my story is as beautiful and effective as her sculptures.(Sorry see above I couldn't get the photo to embed here).