A Literary Life

One Day (2009) David Nicholls David Nicholls first came to my attention through the film adaptation of his first novel, Starter for Ten. I always meant to read that novel, when memories of the film had faded a little. Then I heard, in early 2010, about his new novel, One Day. It seemed everybody was talking about it: book groups, TV shows, bloggers, journalists. I read the blurb. Not for me, I thought: chick-lit, too soapy most likely. I think I was partly envious as well – might I not want to write this sort of thing? I dismissed it as something I would never read. Skip forward to March 2011 and I was sitting in a writing group, talking with a young woman about books we loved. She declared One Day the “best novel I’ve ever read.” I’d been hearing this praise from women a lot. What was it about this novel that hooked readers so quickly and profoundly? I fired it up on my Kindle and set out to discover its secrets. One Day tells the story of Emma M...

I haven’t forgotten about you, dear blog. I’ve just been very busy. So, updates. The Story Engine in Newcastle went swimmingly – very interesting Q&A sessions with David Peace, Denise Mina, Tony Grisoni and the wonderfully self-deprecating Mike Hodges (who signed his novel for me and lamented the state of modern British publishing, agreeing with so much I have already said – can’t break in unless you’re Oxbridge, they won’t market you when you do, and they won’t pay for a proof reader). I met a few lovely people up there whom I spent the conference sitting with – students both, but who knows, they could be the next big things – and then had a far too long coach ride back home. I did read Little Dorrit though, which has jumped to the top of my Dickens’s best of list (with Nicholas Nickleby and Dombey and Son.) The script writing then: The Story Engine left me with a few ideas for a crime series that I came back to Oxfordshire with buzzing around my head. I st...

Tomorrow is the day of long journeys. First a 50 minute train ride into London, then across the city to a bus station, where I begin an 8 hour coach ride to Newcastle, and then finally, if that wasn’t enough, another 50 minute bus ride out to my hotel. A hotel that is six miles outside the city centre – despite being advertised as only three miles. Named and shamed: the Travelodge at Silverlink. So almost ten hours sitting down: I’ll need a good book. Or five. Consequently I’ve uploaded Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit to read, along with a collection of Keats’ poetry and a modern novel, Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone. As I have an equal length journey back from Newcastle, I’ve Balzac’s epic cycle of novels and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to keep me going. I think the ten hours will go quicker than they otherwise would. And if I get bored of reading, I’ve a couple of audio plays from Big Finish on my MP3 player to keep me going. I was supposed to read last...

On Thursday I travel northward. I am going to spend the weekend in the beautiful city of Newcastle Upon Tyne where I will be attending The Story Engine: The Scene of the Crime . A two day conference dedicated to screenwriting – with an emphasis on crime, as you’ll note by this year’s subtitle. The opening event, on Friday night, is a screening of Mike Hodges seminal gangster flick Get Carter. One of my favourite films of all time; I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it. The bonus of this screening is Mike Hodges is in attendance and will be speaking about the film. The second day of events promises even more excitement. We’ll be hearing from Denise Mina about writing crime fiction, Mike Hodges and David Peace exploring the importance of place in genre fiction. Then Tony Grisoni outlines writing the superb Red Riding quarter for Channel 4. Then the BBC’s John Yorke talks about crime on television. Then Script editor Eva Svenstedt Ward and writer Antonia Pyk discu...

First up: I’m back from my boozy weekend in Cardiff. I had a great time, in which I learned a great deal and stole an awful lot of stories that will one day worm their way into my fiction. I saw a woman I was crazy about for a long time, and about whom I’ve already placed in a novel, and seeing her bought that stagnant novel back to the forefront of my mind, and gave me the ending I so desperately lacked. So thanks for that. On the train back, and during the rest of Sunday evening, I finished Patrick Rothfuss’s epic new novel, The Wise Man’s Fear, which I review spoiler-free below. I took a brief visit to Blackwell’s in Oxford where I picked up the Elizabeth Taylor novel my friend enthused about, and new book of essays from Orhan Pamuk. Nothing like a Nobel Laureate to get the brain stimulated. Oh, and I finished the teenage science-fiction pilot I’ve been working on, and that was posted off to the BBC’s Writersroom this afternoon. Now I face an agonising fe...