Tag Archives: On writing

Last week Dan Holloway asked me about the research I had carried out for my novel, An Unchoreographed Life, which tells the story of a ballerina who turns to prostitution when she becomes a single mother. In truth, it was very easy to find historical accounts of prostitution. There was no shortage of reference books for…
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Writing a novel about a ballerina who turns to prostitution seems a strange choice for a writer who normally goes out of her way to avoid writing sex scenes. And, no, it’s not simply out of fear of ending up alongside Manil Suri on the podium clutching a bad sex award, or the thought that my mother might read it….
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Perhaps my favourite description of writing is ‘arranging words in a pleasing order.’ (This comes courtesy of Sir Terry Pratchett. Again.) Even at last week’s book reading at Waterstone’s, I realised that if I were editing ‘Half-truths and White Lies’ now, I would have kept the language simpler. During my reading, I skipped over words that I thought…
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My favourite television programme of the moment (shunting Luther and The Good Wife from joint top position) is the BBC1 series, Imagine presented by Alan Yentob. Where it wins is that, without interrupting the flow, Yentob allows his interviewees to speak for themselves. He has brought us many wonderful stories of artists, photographers and sculptors, but this week’s…
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For aspiring writers in need of inspiration, look no further. I was thrilled to read about the story of grandmother, Myrrha Stanford-Smith, who has just signed a deal with publishers, Honno, at the age of 82. Scanning down the page, it was not surprising to learn that Myrrha’s credentials are not limited to matriarch: she is an actress…
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This week, attending a book club meeting, I was asked the question, ‘Where are tomorrow’s writers going to come from?’ It was spoken with frustration by a primary school teacher who told me that parents don’t read to their children any more, that children don’t grow up seeing their parents reading at home, that living rooms are no longer lined…
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