If you are writing about people in any shape or form, and you must be if fiction is your main concern, then you should have a little pile of books by Adam Phillips within arm's reach pretty much all of the time. Top of my pile I have Monogamy and On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored. Not only does he write beautifully, making psychology accessible in the way that nobody since RD Laing has managed to, he has a knack for shedding a completely different light on relationships that can seem humdrum and it is this that makes him such a fantastic resource for writers.
This is Mr Phillips on the effects of separation on children: What are children if we stay together for them? What are we asking them to be? Brilliant! Straight away I'm in a situation, with a viewpoint, and before I know it I'll be teasing out a plot and characters as well.
Here's another starter for ten : If you've got nothing to hide you've got nowhere to go. Which is one of the reasons why couples sometimes want to be totally honest with each other. Thoughts like this can be incredibly helpful in informing how you handle a particular scene; they make you dig deep for motivation, they help you to reach beyond the obvious.
Rush out and buy....
No comments:
Post a Comment