When was the last time you were truthful with yourself ? In a world of social media where everyone seems keen to impress, I think we may have forgotten how to be really honest about our feelings.
Which is why two articles written by authors for authors have made a big impact on me this week. The first was written by the highly successful and enormously likeable novelist Freya North. In this summer's edition of The Author magazine, the journal of the Society of Authors, Freya talks candidly about facing her doubts and fears, something we all have in our lives but often prefer to dismiss.
With a dozen best-selling novels over a twenty-year career, the contemporary fiction writer admits
'until recently I had never known the feeling of not being able to write and so, when it struck, I was floored.'
'I had the book whirring around in the ether, close enough that I could sense every scene, yet too far away for me to hear what the characters were saying. They were talking behind my back but every time I turned they were gone.'
Her mind, she admits was bursting, but the screen remained blank. It was months before her latest novel, aptly named The Turning Point, was finally finished.
Freya's story of how she suffered from, and dealt with, writer's block, will no doubt bring comfort to anyone who believes it is not fashionable to admit to any kind of failing.
Meanwhile, it is six years since Annie Barrows took on the authorship of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, when her aunt Mary Ann Schafer became ill. Sadly her aunt died without witnessing the book's worldwide success (more than six million copies sold in 37 countries) but not without leaving a very important legacy.
Annie who was already well-known in the States as a prolific writer of children's books, most notably the Ivy and Bean series, says writing for adult readers was a very big learning curve.
Interviewed in this month's Writing Magazine, she explains how the change affected her.
'As a children's book writer, you have to write so tight, you have to keep it spare, you have to know everything that's going to happen before you write a word, you have to have everything planned - so I lost my mind when I got to write for grown-ups.' '
Her new book had so many drafts it resulted in a 57 inch high mountain of paper that took a very long time to edit. 'When I started with The Truth According to Us....I was enjoying myself, as my editor said, far too much. I was playing with my characters......and I hadn't really got the story.
Set in America in the 1930s the book is described as an engrossing tale of small time secrets and family tragedy.
'This is a novel,' she says, about the stories families tell, not to outsiders but to themselves.' She goes on ' I don't really think there's any such thing as a fact. There's what people believe about themselves and their pasts and the stories they tell themselves and how they create a narrative out of their lives.
Which brings me back to my reason for writing this post. Authors or not, we all have a story to tell. Without stories life would be very dull.
But instead of trying to impress the world, should we try now and then to face our failings? It might make a whole lot of people sigh with relief after all.
Which is why two articles written by authors for authors have made a big impact on me this week. The first was written by the highly successful and enormously likeable novelist Freya North. In this summer's edition of The Author magazine, the journal of the Society of Authors, Freya talks candidly about facing her doubts and fears, something we all have in our lives but often prefer to dismiss.
With a dozen best-selling novels over a twenty-year career, the contemporary fiction writer admits
'until recently I had never known the feeling of not being able to write and so, when it struck, I was floored.'
'I had the book whirring around in the ether, close enough that I could sense every scene, yet too far away for me to hear what the characters were saying. They were talking behind my back but every time I turned they were gone.'
Her mind, she admits was bursting, but the screen remained blank. It was months before her latest novel, aptly named The Turning Point, was finally finished.
Freya's story of how she suffered from, and dealt with, writer's block, will no doubt bring comfort to anyone who believes it is not fashionable to admit to any kind of failing.
Meanwhile, it is six years since Annie Barrows took on the authorship of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, when her aunt Mary Ann Schafer became ill. Sadly her aunt died without witnessing the book's worldwide success (more than six million copies sold in 37 countries) but not without leaving a very important legacy.
Annie who was already well-known in the States as a prolific writer of children's books, most notably the Ivy and Bean series, says writing for adult readers was a very big learning curve.
Interviewed in this month's Writing Magazine, she explains how the change affected her.
'As a children's book writer, you have to write so tight, you have to keep it spare, you have to know everything that's going to happen before you write a word, you have to have everything planned - so I lost my mind when I got to write for grown-ups.' '
Her new book had so many drafts it resulted in a 57 inch high mountain of paper that took a very long time to edit. 'When I started with The Truth According to Us....I was enjoying myself, as my editor said, far too much. I was playing with my characters......and I hadn't really got the story.
Set in America in the 1930s the book is described as an engrossing tale of small time secrets and family tragedy.
'This is a novel,' she says, about the stories families tell, not to outsiders but to themselves.' She goes on ' I don't really think there's any such thing as a fact. There's what people believe about themselves and their pasts and the stories they tell themselves and how they create a narrative out of their lives.
Which brings me back to my reason for writing this post. Authors or not, we all have a story to tell. Without stories life would be very dull.
But instead of trying to impress the world, should we try now and then to face our failings? It might make a whole lot of people sigh with relief after all.
5 comments:
A great post Marilyn. It's a comfort for fledgling writers to know that even such prolific and successful authors struggle from time to time. :)
That's what I thought, Heather. And I love the honesty, too - it can't have been easy!
Icould not agree more Marilyn-i do think when people we look up to talk about their failings we can relate to them far more and feel better about ourselves.
Here's to feeling better about ourselves! Thanks, Diane :)
Goodness, I think everyone may attempt something and not get it right the first time. Or maybe even the second or third. One of my friends and I were talking about how we would make something and then go back over it again and again because we just didn't feel it was right or finished. No one is perfect but sometimes we can be imperfectly perfect !
And I'm just waiting for the sequel to Baggy Pants and Booties !
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