I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE TITLE OF THIS SHOULD BE by Val Tyler

Just like everyone else, I’ve been through disagreeable, maybe even dramatic, life-changing moments. Some of these moments have been unique and people say, ‘You should write about it.’ They are probably correct, but I struggle with the timing. At what point should I write my disasters down?

If I begin while I am still entangled in my personal drama, and there have been times when I have tried, my narrative becomes an achingly boring diatribe of self-pity and/or resentment. If I wait until my emotions have calmed down, I tend to lose intensity.

People often ask me what inspires me to write and I come back with all sorts of answers that are true, but the single most important truth is this. I write books I want to read.

I don’t read as much as I would like because it takes an age for me to find a book that holds me. A Town Like Alice, The 39 Steps, The Gathering Storm are all books that interested me from the very first page. I have to work a little harder with Austen and Bronte, but they are worth the effort. But I struggle when it comes to reading and that makes me want to create the sort of book I would want to read.

It’s not necessarily action that holds me. I was enthralled by Alan Bennett’s encounter of visiting his mother in a care home. Nothing happened. I mean literally nothing, but I was totally captivated and so you could say that good writing holds me, but you would be wrong. Thomas Hardy, for instance, leaves me cold. I find Mr Hardy very gloomy and interminably long-winded. After two pages describing Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd, he succinctly finishes with “In short he was 27.” I’m happier reading the short version. But I know I must be wrong about him because he is enduringly popular with people whose opinion I respect.

Things really happen in Agatha Christie. Intrigue is usually there from the very beginning, but I don’t get on with her either. That’s nothing against Ms Christie. It’s me. Whatever it is that takes my imagination is not found among her pages, although I enjoy watching her stories brought to life on the television. I can’t put my finger on what catches me, but I enjoy the stories I write.

I’ve written for Infants, for 8-12 year-olds and YA. Now I’m writing a book for adults to read. My current manuscript is about something that has happened to me. I’ve only edited it a couple of times so far – there is a very long way to go – but think I have a handle on how to make it interesting by using invented characters within the true events.

It seems to me that successful writers settle on one age-group and stick to it. We can all think of exceptions, and they are usually very, very talented. I’d never put myself in that category, but, unlike most writers, I cannot keep to one age-group.

What is wrong with me? I long to read, but struggle to find a book that captivates me. I long to write, but cannot settle on one age-group. I can’t even settle on one genre.

I suppose I’m more creative than business-like and will continue to meander through my writing career for the joy of it rather than commercial success. The money is always welcome, of course, but, for me, the greatest reward is the excitement of writing something I know I can enjoy reading.

It’s a wonderful bonus if others enjoy it too.

A Bevy of B's by Lynne Benton

As I mentioned in my previous blog, on thinking of writers whose surnames began with successive letters, I realised how very many of them there were beginning with B!  So, rather than make this an extremely long blog, I’ve decided to share them between two blogs – so if your favourite doesn’t appear this time, it may well feature next month.

I have to start with the late, great MICHAEL BOND, who, sadly, has just died.  His Paddington Bear books have entertained children for years, as books, as a television series and more recently as a film.  Who doesn’t recognise the bear in a floppy hat and blue duffel coat carrying a suitcase?  Or know of his penchant for marmalade sandwiches and getting into mischief?  Truly this bear is something of a national treasure – and so is his author.

Next comes ENID BLYTON.  During the forties and fifties, as well as the early sixties, she too was counted as a national treasure, so prolific an author was she, and so well-loved by children.  But later in the sixties the powers-that-be decided she was not a good writer, and furthermore her books were sexist and racist, so for many years they were banned from schools and libraries, and she was much reviled.  Children, however, begged to differ, and continued to enjoy reading about the Famous Five, Noddy, The Faraway Tree and so on.  Now she is once again (almost) back in favour, and her Famous Five books are so well-known that there are many spoof versions on the market, (eg “Five go to Brexit Island”) though these are not for children.  Few authors have come close to her enormous output, and children still love her books.

J. M. Barrie invented Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up.  His story of Peter, who visited the Darling children one night and flew with them to Neverland, where they met the jealous fairy Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and the villainous Captain Hook has enthralled many children since it was first written.  He first wrote it as a play in 1904 (which is still performed) and then in 1911 as a book, and now the name of Peter Pan is famous all over the world, through the books, the play and various different films, not least the Disney version from 1953.

Bringing us up-to-date again is Malorie Blackman, who writes for teenagers and whose books are extremely popular.  Her first book, “Pig-Heart Boy” deals with the problems as well as the wonders of heart transplants, and her ground-breaking “Noughts and Crosses” series deals with racial prejudice from a different perspective.  She was Children’s Laureate from 2013-15.

Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote many books in the early 1900’s, her three most famous being “Little Lord Fauntleroy” (now rarely read, though his name is legendary), “A Little Princess” and “The Secret Garden”.  In the latter the heroine, a lonely and rather unlikeable girl, discovers a wonderful secret garden and two new friends.

Anthony Buckeridge is perhaps not so well-known these days, but his very funny “Jennings” series first appeared on radio Children’s Hour in the fifties and became instantly popular.  Set in a boys’ preparatory school, despite being a world unfamiliar to most children listening the stories dealt with universal themes of school and friendship, and the often unintentional havoc wrought by Jennings and his friend Darbishire.  Anthony Buckeridge subsequently wrote several more books about the pair. 

Another classic – Charlotte Bronte, although not specifically a children’s author, is nevertheless often introduced to children in their early teens via her most famous book, “Jane Eyre”.  The orphaned Jane’s childhood is miserable, but she grows up to become a governess to the young niece of Mr Rochester at Thornfield Hall, and for a while her future looks more promising.  However, there are many bumps in the road before Jane finds her destiny.

Nina Bawden’s most famous book is probably “Carrie’s War”, set during WW2 when Carrie and her young brother are evacuated to Wales.  This book has been dramatized several times for television and theatre and is perennially popular.

Frank Baum is the author of the unforgettable “Wizard of Oz”.  Although it is the film which is best-known, Baum wrote 14 books in all in the Oz series.  He was born in America in 1856, where the books are rather more famous than they are in the UK, but the film, and the story, will never be forgotten.

The last of my Bevy of B's for this blog is Raymond Briggs, author/illustrator of “The Snowman,”  “Father Christmas”, “Fungus the Bogeyman” and many others.  The film of “The Snowman”, with music by Howard Blake, is now a part of every Christmas television viewing, and is a deceptively simple tale of a small boy who builds a snowman which comes to life and takes him on a magical journey.

However, before I close, since my surname also begins with B, I’d just like to add a small puff for my latest book, “The Centurion’s Son”, which is now available on Amazon.  In Roman Britain a boy’s search for his missing father reveals corruption and murder affecting the whole Legion. 

More B’s next time…

What Charlotte Did - Joan Lennon

I've just finished reading a wonderful blog by Penny Dolan over on The History Girls, about a series of connections that lead her from a randomly-chosen book from her shelves, right through a whole string of 19th century names, fictional characters and relationships, all linked by a wooden-legged chap called W.E. Henley.  Which made me think of Charlotte Bronte.  Recently, she's been my W.E. Henley. 

It started with a Facebook post - which sent me to the Harvard Library online site where they have been working on restoring the tiny books Charlotte and Branwell Bronte made when they were children - which led to my own History Girl post Tiny Bronte Books.  (Please, if you go to have a look, scroll down to the bottom and watch the Brontesaurus video - you won't regret it.)

I'm in the midst of editing an anthology of East Perthshire writers called Place Settings and was delighted to read in one of the entries the author's interest in the Brontes, and how "... every night, the sisters paraded round the table reading aloud from their day's writings."

Then I got involved in a project run by 26, the writers' collective, in which writers were paired with design studios taking part in this year's London Design Show, and asked to write a response to one of their objects.  I was given Dare Studio who were putting forward, among other lovely things, a new design - the Bronte Alcove.

The alcove is meant to be a private space within public places, blocking out the surrounding bustle and noise.  Which made me think of bonnets.  Which led me back to the internet, which led me, by way of images of hats, to the passage below, written by Elizabeth Gaskell on her visit to Charlotte at the parsonage:

I asked her whether she had ever taken opium, as the description given of its effects in Villette was so exactly like what I had experienced, - vivid and exaggerated presence of objects, of which the outlines were indistinct, or lost in golden mist, etc. She replied, that she had never, to her knowledge, taken a grain of it in any shape, but that she had followed the process she always adopted when she had to describe anything which had not fallen within her own experience; she had thought intently on it for many and many a night before falling to sleep, - wondering what it was like, or how it would be, - till at length, sometimes after the progress of her story had been arrested at this one point for weeks, she wakened up in the morning with all clear before her, as if she had in reality gone through the experience, and then could describe it, word for word, as it had happened. I cannot account for this psychologically; I only am sure that it was so, because she said it.

Which led me to wonder ... my own practice has always been to try not to think about work when I'm courting sleep.  And I have rarely, if ever, walked round my table of an evening, reading aloud from my day's work.  But have I been losing out here?  Do you do as Charlotte did?  I would be most interested to know.

Meantime, I wait for the next popping up of my very own W.E. Henley.


Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.