Authors Electric

Revision is an ugly word among writers. It means that what you’ve written is no good and you know it. It may mean that you’ll have to start fresh, over and over, the way J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings . Or maybe you need to dig a whole new tunnel to enter your story. Whatever form of revision you’re contemplating, you know this for sure. You're not going to be done any time soon. I’m in the process of revising my novel manuscript for Peace Court . For better or for worse, I revise the Tolkien way. It’s a page one rewrite, a step off a cliff, a fumbling toward a vision of a novel I can just barely see. The fact that I’ve started revision at all is a huge moral victory. You see, in order to revise, you first have to overcome rage and fear.   On Rage The rage comes from feeling misunderstood. You project that rage onto all those stupid readers who question your authorial authority or don’t get your cunning references. Rage is for arrogant writers like ...

What book (or books) would you like to see on film/TV? Do you have a favourite book you’ve thought, perhaps for years, that you’d love to see made into a film or TV drama/ series? Maybe something you loved as a child – or that new psychological thriller you read last week? Apart from the fact that you like it, can you say why your choice would make great cinema or TV? (Or a radio play or a theatre play, come to that. Or let’s cast the net wider – a musical? A game?) Don’t worry about the practicalities. It seems possible to film just about anything these days, with cgi and the like. Allow yourself to dream (go back to your earliest memories if you like. Andy Pandy – the Movie? Maybe there is one – I haven’t checked!). Some books, it’s pretty clear, were only ever meant to be books. There have been some disastrous dramatisations that probably should never even have been attempted. I’ll leave you to make your own list. Some books are improved by being put on screen. A num...