Authors Electric

Well, this is one for a start. Writing a blog post instead of knuckling down to chapter twenty-three. What excuses do you find for not getting on with that book you’re writing? There are all the usual ones, of course. Cleaning, cooking, gardening, exercising – and ironing, if you’re really desperate. The more specialised ones, like re-decorating and car maintenance and keeping up with your social life. The once a year ones, like… no, we won’t go there in case once a year translates in your house as squalor.             And then there’s wildlife.             For me, this is the killer. The frogs in the pond, the bird table, the nest boxes, the walks on the common. Two years ago we had great tits nesting a few yards from the house. Breakfast could be taken in the conservatory, watching the action. First of all there was the survey. This was extremely thorough, and invol...

I think it was Alec Guinness who said that when he wanted a new approach to a character he was playing he often went for a walk around the zoo, until he came across an animal that he felt fitted the bill. I've written poems about birds as birds such as the questzal, in  The Spirit Collection , but taking an animal as a template for a human character is a good idea for writers as well as actors. I’ve found most of my inspiration has come from birds. I’m not a proper twitcher, but I do love watching them, particularly in my garden. This year we’ve had great tits nesting, and watching the devoted behaviour of the parents, from the initial viewing of the nestbox to the fledging of the babies, has been an education. They didn’t rush their purchase. After the first visit we didn’t see them for another three weeks, during which time I imagine they were out and about, viewing other properties. Once they’d settled on our box they did a very thorough survey. This took at least fiftee...