Authors Electric

  It’s funny where ideas come from, and how they can take hold of you. Just before Christmas, I was listening to a broadcast of Verdi’s Rigoletto, from New York’s Met Opera. It’s an opera that never fails to intrigue me, and every time I hear it I’m struck by just how dark it is thematically (and I learned something new, namely that the opera was based on a story by Victor Hugo). Anyway, there I was sitting with my headphones on and enjoying the performance when that ‘what if?’ moment struck me. What, I wondered, might have happened after the opera finishes. If you’re not familiar with the story, Rigoletto is a court jester, serving the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a serial womaniser (and possibly guilty of multiple cases of sexual assault). Despite Rigoletto trying to protect his daughter, Gilda, from the Duke (and the world in general, really), she falls for the Duke, for whom she is merely another conquest. Other courtiers, jealous of Rigoletto’s position, kidna...

It’s been a week of firsts for me. Well, not really, but it feels like it, after the last couple of years. Firstly, I went to my local pub for a quiet drink with my wife and in-laws; I worked out whilst there that it was two years to the day since the last time I’d set foot in a pub. It was a pleasant afternoon, and the conversation ranged back and forth over various topics but as we are all avid readers, we spent some time discussing books and comparing the recent titles we’ve read. What was interesting was the way all of us had read outside our usual genres; myself, I’ve dabbled with the classics in addition to my usual diet of crime, science fiction, and horror. Some of them I liked; some...not so much. What did become clear was what I really wanted, regardless of genre, was story: I wanted something to happen to the characters, good or bad, and for them to change during the course of the story. I’ll not name the books I didn’t get on with. (My policy is to either give a positi...

  As usual, I had not a thought in my head as the Day of the Blog came round. Then there was a quote on Facebook – something like ‘be nice to writers or they’ll put you in a book and kill you.’ Then there was Bill Kirton’s last delightful blog. Some threads from both began to knit, albeit loosely and with knots. Something about whether what we write reflects our true feelings and beliefs or not – and more to the point, what do readers make of US and attribute to us when they read what we’ve written? Once, in the long-ago-now days of school visits, I read Nobody, Him and Me to a class of primary school children. It features an evil moggie called Biter the Fighter, who is defeated by a trio of ingenious mice.   At the break, I was approached by a teacher with a look in her eye that made me glad she wasn’t holding a knife. ‘So,’ she growled, ‘you don’t like cats.’ I protested, of course, and referred her to my other cat stories, The Hob and Miss Minkin, which feature –or rather...

 Probably the most common question a writer of fiction gets asked is where do you get your ideas from. It's not something I usually think about too much, but I thought I'd explore it a little in this post.   Firstly, let me say that ideas are not something I struggle with. If anything, I struggle with the opposite, having too many ideas. I rarely write them down, though (I know, very bad, goes against all the advice), preferring to let my subconscious do the sorting. The bad ideas usually disappear; the good ones tend to be those that won't leave me alone, and keep popping up reminding me that they're still there, and hello, am I going to start writing them soon?   See, almost all writers seem to be avid people watchers. We can't help it (I know I can't). Out having a coffee (I vaguely remember doing things like this prior to lockdown…) with your partner, and you spot a couple at a nearby table. Before you know it, you've started to develop a narrati...