Authors Electric

Comedy, we’re told, is the hardest thing to write.  Well it must be, because frankly there’s so darn little of it around nowadays. And while I await outrage from the Edinburgh Fringe and the innumerable standup comedians and their audiences up and down the country (all eager readers of this blog, obvs), I’ll try and explain what I mean.  Dark comedy there is. Self-deprecating individuals telling their difficult life stories on stage, one wise-crack after another at their own expense (because no one can have a go at them if it's their lives, after all)… legion. Witty, cleverly written TV ‘sitcoms’ centring on a tortured heroine’s hapless attempts to negotiate some way of living… yup, those too, ever since Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s groundbreaking Fleabag . Which, I maintain wasn’t a sitcom, as the Guardian dubbed it , at all, nor even a comedy-drama , but a novel. A novel released in 12 instalments, perhaps the modern equivalent of how Dickens’s works first found their readership....

L-R:Francesca Burgess, Barbara Cluff, Elaine Roberts, Maxine Burns, Ann Evans, Elaine Everest, Vivienne Hampshire.  The SWWJ stands for the Society of Women Writers and Journalists. Established in 1894 it's the oldest British society for professional women writers. And they actively welcome new members. Now before all you male writers and non-journalists tune out, you'll be interested to know that men are eligible to join as Associate Members and you don't have to be a journalist. You do have to be a writer however – a published writer, although the society will be launching a 'Writer's Début' for unpublished writers on 1st October this year.   While welcoming new members. the SWWJ does have high standards, their mission statement being: “The Society aims to encourage literary achievement, to uphold professional standards, to promote social contact with fellow writers and to defend the dignity and prestige of the writing profess...

Towards the end of the seventies I received a call from a publicity lady at the ICA , a small, artsy theatre venue in the Mall. “We’re putting on a play called ‘Talent’ by a young writer called Victoria Wood and we wondered if you would like to interview her. You may have seen her singing funny songs on ‘New Faces’ or ‘That’s Life’. She’s playing one of the lead roles as well. Believe me, she’s going to be a huge star.” Publicists always tell you that people who aren’t yet stars are going to be very soon, that’s their job, but it was a free ticket and seemed like a good contact, so I happily went along. Needless to say the play was a gentle revelation and although the young Miss Wood was painfully shy and modest she managed to be a joy to interview. Hearing or seeing someone who is genuinely honest and funny is always life-enhancing.  Playing back the interview afterwards, and then reading through her words once I had typed them up into an articl...

Founder of the SWWJ Joseph Snell Wood I'm wondering how many of Authors Electric authors are also members of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists (SWWJ). It's the UK's longest-established society for professional women writers and has members based all around the globe. I joined back in 1994. It actually comes as a bit of a surprise to think I've been a member for so long. But it must be because I remember going to their Centenary celebrations as a new member. The aims of the SWWJ include the encouragement of literary achievement (which I'm still striving towards!) to uphold professional standards, to promote social contact with fellow writers and to defend the dignity and prestige of the writing profession in all its aspects. The Society was founded in 1894 so last year celebrated its 120th anniversary. Oddly enough it wasn't founded by a woman. It was newspaper proprietor and entrepreneur Joseph Snell Wood who recognised the need...