Showing posts tagged writers

Appreciation

Why do we writers do it – why do we agonise over thoughts on a page, getting the words right? There’s surely one answer: to make an impact on someone else.

The French Canadian author Yann Martel won the Booker Prize for his novel The Life of Pi. The book tells the story of a boy who is shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean. He survives 227 days stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Martel’s riveting tale has two possible conclusions: one real and one fanciful. I once heard him giving a talk in which he was asked which outcome he preferred.

Now someone else has joined the discussion. Out of the blue Martel received a letter from President Obama (see below). This must be the ultimate accolade when thinking about what effect one’s work has on others.

(By the way, the novel was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf in Canada. It’s also about to be realeased as a spectacular film.)

If you want to read Martel’s own thoughts, go to http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html where he speaks of the influences and inspiration behind his work.

Doris Lessing on writing “Writers are often asked, ‘How do you write? With a wordprocessor? an electric typewriter? a quill? longhand?’ But the essential question is, ‘Have you found a space, that empty space, which should surround you when you write?’ Into that space, which is like a form of listening, of attention, will come the words, the words your characters will speak, ideas - inspiration. If a writer cannot find this space, then poems and stories may be stillborn. When writers talk to each other, what they discuss is always to do with this imaginative space, this other time. ‘Have you found it? Are you holding it fast?’ “ (This quote comes from Doris Lessing On Not Winning the Nobel Prize (via wood s lot and wordpainting. The photo is a ‘space’ in Shetland, one of the Scottish islands). View high resolution

Doris Lessing on writing

“Writers are often asked, ‘How do you write? With a wordprocessor? an electric typewriter? a quill? longhand?’ But the essential question is, ‘Have you found a space, that empty space, which should surround you when you write?’ Into that space, which is like a form of listening, of attention, will come the words, the words your characters will speak, ideas - inspiration.

If a writer cannot find this space, then poems and stories may be stillborn.

When writers talk to each other, what they discuss is always to do with this imaginative space, this other time. ‘Have you found it? Are you holding it fast?’ “

(This quote comes from Doris Lessing On Not Winning the Nobel Prize (via wood s lot and wordpainting. The photo is a ‘space’ in Shetland, one of the Scottish islands).

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” These words are by Orson Scott Card (via peninhandwordsinheart)                     The sculpture is outside the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. View high resolution

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”

These words are by Orson Scott Card (via peninhandwordsinheart)                    

The sculpture is outside the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Getting into books This bookshelf is by architect Edgar Papazian, born in St. Etienne France. This is a new concept of ‘getting into books’. Here is a list of some books I just couldn’t ‘get into’: Spellbound - by Jane Green Good Harbour - by Anita Diamant Three Junes - by Julia Glass And by contrast, some authors I would really recommend: Kazuo Ishiguro M.J. Hyland Melanie Phillips Lionel Shriver and Margaret Forster View high resolution

Getting into books

This bookshelf is by architect Edgar Papazian, born in St. Etienne France. This is a new concept of ‘getting into books’. Here is a list of some books I just couldn’t ‘get into’:

Spellbound - by Jane Green

Good Harbour - by Anita Diamant

Three Junes - by Julia Glass

And by contrast, some authors I would really recommend:

Kazuo Ishiguro

M.J. Hyland

Melanie Phillips

Lionel Shriver

and

Margaret Forster

(Reblogged from tobeshelved)
A boy’s view of 9/11 In ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ Jonathan Safran-Foer takes himself into the mind of a 9 year old boy, Oskar, whose father has been killed in 9/11.  He discovers a key and believes that if he finds the matching lock, it will provide the answers to unsettling questions in his mind.  Oskar’s story is told in a similar way to the boy in Mark Haddon’s book ‘The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Night time’ but he talks with great maturity and has no difficulty communicating with strangers. He seems to have no fear - of being alone, of the night, of dark places or people. The tragedy of his father’s death is dealt with in an unusual way; the gradual unravelling of clues draws us into Oskar’s quest.  The style of the book is bizarre - there are blank pages, pictures, flip-the-page moving images, crossed out words and red marks.  But it works, because Oskar is a child, and because it matches the way it’s written. The ending is Extremely Clever and Incredibly Original.  Altogether quite an achievement for a 28-year old author.  View high resolution

A boy’s view of 9/11

In ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ Jonathan Safran-Foer takes himself into the mind of a 9 year old boy, Oskar, whose father has been killed in 9/11.  He discovers a key and believes that if he finds the matching lock, it will provide the answers to unsettling questions in his mind. 

Oskar’s story is told in a similar way to the boy in Mark Haddon’s book ‘The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Night time’ but he talks with great maturity and has no difficulty communicating with strangers. He seems to have no fear - of being alone, of the night, of dark places or people.

The tragedy of his father’s death is dealt with in an unusual way; the gradual unravelling of clues draws us into Oskar’s quest.  The style of the book is bizarre - there are blank pages, pictures, flip-the-page moving images, crossed out words and red marks.  But it works, because Oskar is a child, and because it matches the way it’s written.

The ending is Extremely Clever and Incredibly Original.  Altogether quite an achievement for a 28-year old author.