tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post3286567344288306873..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Letting Go by Dennis HamleyKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-20340957620715103722012-10-16T11:43:44.367+01:002012-10-16T11:43:44.367+01:00Lee, I've only just noticed the infinitive in ...Lee, I've only just noticed the infinitive in your last sentence. Nice one!Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-85201346037467660202012-10-15T10:54:00.417+01:002012-10-15T10:54:00.417+01:00Dennis, I wish I could think of a better word than...Dennis, I wish I could think of a better word than 'closure' myself, since as you were too polite to point out, I used it myself! I certainly don't mean to harp on this issue.<br /><br />;-)Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-58837521064871252052012-10-15T09:59:45.117+01:002012-10-15T09:59:45.117+01:00Congratulations, Dennis - it's my favourite of...Congratulations, Dennis - it's my favourite of your books (the ones I've read) and it must have been great to revisit it. Linda Newberynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-86027019709560523292012-10-14T22:38:15.927+01:002012-10-14T22:38:15.927+01:00I spent the summer re-reading and re-editing my Sp...I spent the summer re-reading and re-editing my Sprite Sister books and it was lovely to connect with them again. I share your feelings on this experience, Dennis!Sheridan Winnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920819693284278166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-61567499054989853352012-10-14T21:20:55.299+01:002012-10-14T21:20:55.299+01:00SPIRIT OF THE PLACE UPLOADED WITHOUT THE USUAL MIS...SPIRIT OF THE PLACE UPLOADED WITHOUT THE USUAL MISHAPS AND NOW IN REVIEW.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-20108417777436487792012-10-14T19:31:18.440+01:002012-10-14T19:31:18.440+01:00next time we meet, dennis, we'll duet - tin wh...next time we meet, dennis, we'll duet - tin whistle and harp. maybe as we sail the solent?<br />love n kisses to bothJan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-4789779670643396162012-10-14T18:34:08.321+01:002012-10-14T18:34:08.321+01:00Thank you so much, you fabulous four, for such lov...Thank you so much, you fabulous four, for such lovely comments. Lee, I don't like the buzzword nature of 'closure' either. Sadly though, it's the only word I can think of which adequately expresses what it means, which is more than you can say of most other buzzwords. If you think of a better, please let me know and I'll use it all the time. And I'm finding that tuning even a little harp like mine is not only hard but has to be done about twice an hour. What you say about characters not having lives of their own is of course true. But I often think that it's good - and a help in creating them - to think of them as if they have. Yes, they are aspects of me and yes, I owe myself the closure (sorry!) as well. But I can't help thinking the two are the same thing.<br /><br />Bill, you hit a lot of nails on the head. The best book I ever wrote, Hare's Choice, was a children's book but also a sort of meditation on the nature of truth. A few years ago I was hunting for a quotation and found a Dictionary of Quotations on the internet. In the list of authors quoted, I found the usual Shakespeare, Dickens and Wilde - and then, incredibly, my name. 'Shurely shome mishtake' I said. But no. And the remark attributed to me was 'Things aren't untrue just because they never happened.''I never said that,' I muttered. But then I remembered. It's a statement buried deep in Hare's Choice. What a great reader/compiler that was, to read such a little book so attentively. The statement fires the whole narrative of HC. And it's a truth I've never stopped believing. I'm inclined, like you, to believe that a story's inherent structure is itself a sort of truth, more so than the chaotic unstructure of life.<br /><br />Jan, that's two extra lives you have of which I'm jealous - sailing and music. Yes, Irish is the keyword - or one keyword among many if that's not a contradiction in terms. But Irish slow airs are so magnificently plangent, eating away at the emotions: the necessary cry of a tragic nation.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy S of the P, Julia. Only my incompetence now lies between it and its publication.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74384088996799607202012-10-14T15:04:08.872+01:002012-10-14T15:04:08.872+01:00The idea of you strumming at the Irish harp is won...The idea of you strumming at the Irish harp is wonderfully evocative, Dennis. The places where I write are festooned with music and instruments, and I very frequently drop my quill(an anagram for keyboard, did you notice?) to pluck, or blow, or squeeze. Irish is the key word, of course. Of all the music I've thrown myself into over the years, Irish slow airs are far and away the most impossible to escape from. One of the loveliest tunes Handel is credited with was noted by him in Dublin in 1742, presumably from a street player, as he entitled it The Poor Irish Boy, and - now reminded - I'll be playing it at the Sunday evening session in the Cross Keys tonight, along with Ardaigh Cuain, which you might know as The Quiet Land of Erin. One day I hope I might be able to give up writing. But music - never! Fabulous post. Thanks.Jan Needlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15823078224282953782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-74890920618926336792012-10-14T14:41:18.973+01:002012-10-14T14:41:18.973+01:00That's really interesting and I look forward t...That's really interesting and I look forward to reading Spirit of the Placejulia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-77159586103209242502012-10-14T11:44:01.978+01:002012-10-14T11:44:01.978+01:00A fascinating read Denis, and a tantalising sectio...A fascinating read Denis, and a tantalising section about the 'failure' at the centre of Spirit of the Place. As I was reading, my reaction to the 'it's only true because the author says it is' remark mirrored yours, but your subsequent analysis and discovery of the 'flaw' stresses how complex our relationship with our fictional truths is. OK, we create them but we're also responsible for keeping them consistent. In other words fictional truths have to be more true than real ones. Nobody monitors reality for consistency. It wavers and changes according to who's observing or perceiving it; it's defined and given 'meaning' by the structures we impose on it, structures which are unreliable because they're conditioned by faiths, beliefs, personal predilections or even just good or bad moods. The truth of a story, though, has its own inherent structure. It can still be misinterpreted but its inner consistency makes arbitrary distortions more difficult to sustain. Thanks for a thought-provoking read.Bill Kirtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16345949773423764808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-6414875647402034472012-10-14T10:02:55.726+01:002012-10-14T10:02:55.726+01:00When to let something go: undoubtedly more difficu...When to let something go: undoubtedly more difficult for the epublisher to decide when control is in her hands. I know that I still imagine new or reworked scenes from my second novel, though I've no intention of rewriting it, so perhaps one day I'll have to do something about it (whereas my other novels, including the one I deleted in its entirety, are basically forgotten). <br /><br />I don't really subscribe to the view that characters take on a life of their own and that I therefore owe them something. And yet ...<br /><br />In a sense, they are me (or parts of me), and I owe <i>myself</i> some sort of closure. (Ugh, I do hate that and other such buzzwords!)<br /><br />(P.S. I've got a very similar handcrafted harp in my study, but no one tunes it since my elder daughter turned to other occupations.)Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13770069472552779217noreply@blogger.com