F is for Forster

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Edward Morgan Forster was born in 1879 in London and at the age of 8 inherited a large sum of money (nearly £700,000 at todays rates) from an aunt. This enabled him to attend University and pursue his dream of being a writer.

The first of the 5 novels he completed (Where Angels Fear To Tread; The Longest Journey; A Room With A View; Howards End; A Passage to India; Maurice) was published when he was 26, but he was still working up until his death at the age of 91, leaving an unfinished manuscript (Arctic Summer). His biggest success was with the novel “A Passage To India” which stemmed from his love of the country, which he first visited after he left University. He returned again to India in the early 1920’s and in the 30’s and 40’s he was a well-known broadcaster on BBC Radio.

His novels and numerous short stories remain popular today and generally deal with class differences but also with elements of sexuality and symbolism.

My favourite E M Forster quotes:

“One always seems to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.”

“Only a writer who has the sense of evil can make goodness readable.”

“I have only got down onto paper, really, three types of people: the person I think I am, the people who irritate me, and the people I’d like to be.”

“The king died then the queen died is a story. The king died, then the queen died of grief, is a plot.”

Forster was a “pantster” and liked his writing to happen, rather than approach it planned. “How do I know what I think unless I see what I say?”

I am again, ashamed to say that this is yet another author, who’s work I haven’t read (although I do have a copy of Maurice on my huge pile of books in the bedroom), but I have at least seen the film adaptation of A Room With A View lol. I found it interesting what Forster says about a large book. I personally just tend to avoid anything that has over 350 pages!

Are you a fan of huge tomes? Or do you avoid them like I do? 😉

Story vs. Plot vs. Action (thelivingnotebook.com)
E.M. Forster: The Difference Between Story and Plot (aerogrammestudio.com)
E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India (fibercompulsion.wordpress.com)

E is for Eco

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Umberto Eco was born in 1932 in Alessandria in Northern Italy. He is the first of the writers I’ve looked into who is actually still alive! Lol. Urged by his father to become a Lawyer, Umberto instead chose to go to University to study medieval philosophy and literature and subsequently became a University Professor. Now, he divides his time between studying semiotics, writing essays, philosophy, literary criticism and writing fiction.

He has written books for children, dozens of non fiction books and 6 novels. But his most famous work was his first fictional novel “In The Name Of The Rose” which was published when he was 48 years old. A historical murder mystery set in a monastery it encapsulates everything that Eco had studied and taught about in the previous years and has sold approximately 50 million copies.

The intricate plots of his fiction are full of references to literature and history. He sites Jorge Luis Borges and James Joyce as his influences. He currently lives in Italy, dividing his time between two homes. In one he has a library of 30,000 books and in the other, 20,000 (and I thought I was bad!!!!).

My Favourite Eco Quotes:

“The real hero is always the hero by mistake; he dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.”

“It is a myth of publishers that people want to read easy things.”

“Every time I write a novel I am convinced for at least 2 years that it is the last one, because a novel is like a child. It takes 2 years after its birth. You have to take care of it. It starts walking and then speaking.”

“I love the smell of book ink in the morning.”

“Thus I rediscovered what writers have always known (and have told us again and again): books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told.”

Check out Umberto Eco’s Rules Of Writing and this rather wonderful interview about his most recent novel.

Ive never read any of Eco’s work (although The Hubster has) and I don’t tend to read books that have an intricate plot structure. So does that mean I choose books that are easy to read? I probably do you know *blush*

What do you think? Do readers want to read easy things? Do you?

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (inilliterati.wordpress.com)
Umberto Eco_The lost art of handwriting (nathama.wordpress.com)

D is for Dickens

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth England and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the 19th Century. During his lifetime he wrote 16 novels (one remained unfinished) and numerous collections of short stories. He suffered from severe insomnia and is widely regarded as a genius, his novels remaining popular today.

Dickens first found success with “Sketches by Boz”, which were weekly pieces published when he was just 24 years old. From there he was approached by a publisher and the rest, as they say is history.

Often described as the greatest creator of characters since Shakespeare, they were often based on people he met as he walked the streets of London. The settings for his novels were also based on real places, and many still exist today (especially in Rochester where I live…lucky me!).

He wrote extensively about London, appalled at the conditions the lower classes were subjected to and campaigned for social reforms. He died of a stroke in 1870 (just up the road from me) at the age of 58.

My favourite Dickens Quotes:

“An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little before t will explain itself.”

“Be natural my children. For the writer that is natural has fulfilled all the rules of art.”

“My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.”

“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”

“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.”

Here’s a great video from a fellow Wrimo who went to visit the churchyard that inspired Great Expectations….one day I will do something like this 🙂

Dickens used his fiction as a springboard to highlight social abuse and deprivation in Victorian society, bringing the subject to the attention of the reading public. It’s generally believed that many of the reforms that were made during that period are down to Dickens influence. This got me thinking about how, as authors, it is easy to sound off about what we think is right and wrong about our societies, in a work of fiction. Personally, its not something I’ve ever done, consciously….yet, but an interesting concept that i’d like to explore…. Have you ever based one of your stories on a social problem you’d like highlighted?

‘Nicholas Nickleby’ by Charles Dickens (camlind73.wordpress.com)
Can you spot a Charles Dickens sentence? (guardian.co.uk)
Charles Dickens¿ or the world’s worst writer? Blind reading test found 48% couldn’t tell difference between literature great and ridiculed novelist (dailymail.co.uk)
Charles Dickens (tellingtrails.wordpress.com)

C is for Capote

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924 and is best known for his novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s and “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood.

He taught himself how to read and write and having discovered his passion for writing when he was 11, spent the rest of his childhood honing his craft. He started by writing short stories, the first of which was published when he was 21.

A close friend of Harper Lee’s, both Capote and Lee have characters based on each other feature in their work and Lee worked along side Capote as he researched In Cold Blood.

Capote embraced being a celebrity and would seek out the company of authors, critics, business tycoons and Hollywood A listers. But, after years of drug and alcohol dependency, rehab clinics and break downs he died of liver cancer at the age of 59.

My Favourite Truman Capote Quotes:

“I write my first version in longhand (pencil). Then I do a complete revision, also in longhand.”

“Everything a writer writes is in some way autobiographical.”

“Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it.”

“All literature is gossip.”

“Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as a painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.”

I love this whole idea of literature being gossip. The stories we tell each other, going right back to the days round the campfire. I picture two women in their back yards, hanging their washing and discussing the recent events of the street where they live. I think we’ve kinda lost that nowadays, probably because, here in the UK, I think we’ve lost a sense of community. People are too busy now to stop and chat in the street don’t you think?

When was the last time you sat down to have a chat? (Or as we say here, a natter lol)

Theatre Bosses Wanted Truman Capote’s Ashes For Breakfast At Tiffany’s Opening (contactmusic.com)
Review Roundup: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S Opens on Broadway – Updating LIVE! (broadwayworld.com)
New doubts over facts in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood (telegraph.co.uk)
‘God, Let Me Be Loved’: The Tragedy of Truman Capote (themillions.com)
What Capote Looks Like to Capote: Famous Authors’ Self-Portraits (theatlantic.com)
Breakast at Tiffany’s Seeks Broadway Redeption in 2013 (vividseats.com)
Book of the Week: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote #amreading (jayfingers.com)

B is for Bronte

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Emily Bronte was born in 1818 in Yorkshire, England and is best known for writing my favourite novel of all time, Wuthering Heights. Although published in 1847, it wasn’t until 1850 that her name appeared on it.

With her siblings Anne, Charlotte and Bramwell, she spent her childhood writing stories and creating fantasy worlds, inspired by Bramwell’s toy soldiers.

Wuthering Heights is a classic piece of English Literature, but when it was initially published it was controversial because of its subject matter (mental and physical cruelty) and hence received mixed reviews at the time.

Just like Austen, Emily died young, at the age of 30 and it was rumoured that she was working on a second novel. Unfortunately, no trace of it has ever been found.

My favourite Emily Bronte quotes:

“If I could, I would always work in silence and obscurity, and let my efforts be known by their results.”

“I have dreamed in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water and altered the colour of my mind.”

“A person who has not done one half of his days work by 10 o’clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.”

Because I’m a true romantic, I love Emily Bronte’s passion for her characters and her setting. The Yorkshire moors became a character itself under her touch. It wouldn’t surprise me if there had been a part of Emily that was in love with Heathcliff herself, I know I am 🙂 *sighs* How I would so love to write like that!

My Favourite film adaptation of Wuthering Heights with Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff (PHWOA!)

So do you think it helps to be a tiny bit in love with your hero?

Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (representativebritishwriters.wordpress.com)
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte (pageturnerblog.wordpress.com)
The characters of “Wuthering Heights” (gjungle.wordpress.com)
Review: Wuthering Heights (theliteraryomnivore.wordpress.com)
From Wuthering Heights (writewelldaily.wordpress.com)

A is for Austen

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

It’s the start of the A-Z Challenge today. If you’re not quite sure what that is click the link above 🙂

I thought id start off with a great writer who everyone knows…. Jane Austen

Born in 1775 in Hampshire England, she is the earliest of the writers I’ll be looking at over the course of April. With no real formal education, Austen started to write poems and short stories when she was 12 and published her first piece of work at the age of 19.

Its incredible to think that at the age of 36 she would have had no idea that by publishing Sense and Sensibility she was about to become one of the most well known and widely read writers of English Literature, ever!

Her observation on social behaviour features heavily in her work and has meant that she has become an important writer amongst critics and historians. Her novels are witty observations of the lives of the middle and upper classes of Georgian Britain.

Sadly, she died at the age of 42, but fortunately for the world with 6 timeless novels for us to enjoy.

My Favourite Jane Austen Quotes:

“An artist cannot be slovenly.”

“The person, whether it be a gentleman or a lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” OUCH!

“Life is a quick succession of busy nothings.”

“Nothing ever fatigues me, but doing what I do not like.”

“For my own part, if a book is well written, I always find it too short.”

In my opinion, Jane Austen was, is, the mother of chick lit, so I find myself asking…why the hell have I never read any of her work? The problem is that I feel I know it so well already, from the numerous TV adaptations and films that already exist. There have even been books and films written about people reading Austen! 😉