'Tis Pity She's a Whore

I went to see Cheek by Jowl's sensational production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the Bristol Old Vic on Monday. Declan Donellan re-imagines John Ford's Jacobean tragedy for the 21st Century and the macabre and incestuous behaviour of the protagonists Annabella and Giovanni fits uncomfortably well with the hedonistic, decadent contemporary society that he conjures for us.

Nick Ormerod's set is a feverish red and the play opens feverishly with a song and dance number. Music and movement inform the action throughout. The drama is visceral, to the extent that the heroine's heart is brought on by her bloodied brother after he has cut it from her chest. It was inventive, funny and horrifying by turn.

One of the things I liked most about it was the tension between the modern setting and the Jacobean text, a provocative clash that raises questions about human nature and what we have learned or not during the centuries since it was written. I think there's a creative writing lesson here too. You can add different dimensions to your work by exploring areas of tension within it: Donellan counterpointed language and setting, but you can do the same thing with aspiration and actual achievement, appearance and reality, thought and deed. There are any number of opposing forces or ideas that you can bring together and if you're very, very skilful, you'll achieve the same combustible excitement that we witnessed at the theatre  earlier this week.

Writing Fiction – Keeping a Sense of Proportion

When you're writing and the white heat of creativity is upon you, it is easy to get so caught up in what you are doing that you start to lose a sense of overall proportion in your work. Just as visual artists step back from their canvases to take in the bigger picture, so you should find a way of stepping back from what you're writing in order to make sure that your work retains a proper sense of proportion. If you don't disengage from time to time and take a critical look at what you've done, you may find that a particular character is becoming dominant, or that you are concentrating on one strand of the plot at the expense of another. Equally, you might discover that you are overwriting and that how you are telling the tale is becoming more attention grabbing than the tale itself.
Reviewing the whole narrative every three chapters or so is a great way of making sure that the emphasis of your story is where you want it to be. If you don't keep a proprietorial eye on things, the proportions may become skewed and you'll end up with something looking a bit like this...

Free Critique of Your Creative Writing

All of us tell tales. We share our triumphs and tribulations with each other, we pass on gossip, we search for meaning and significance in our own experience and in each other's. Sometimes this involves reading fiction, which at its best universalizes the particular, thus offering us understanding, catharsis and a sense of being healed.

If you have time on your hands over the weekend, you might like to have a go at a writing exercise. Think about the narratives which people create for themselves, try and explore the need for that narrative and then look at what happens if it is breached or subverted. There's a whole short story right there, waiting to be written.

I'd be interested to see what you come up with, so if you'd like to send me five hundred words or so of what you have written, I'd happily critique the first ten that I receive for free.

Have a great weekend...

Making a Commitment to Your Writing

When you're sitting in front of your computer, staring at the blank screen *what shall I blog about today* and you can see a big, fat, writers block out of the corner of your eye, making some kind of external commitment about your work may help you to get off the starting blocks.

Writing can be such a cussed, solitary thing to do, that I would heartily recommend you to find yourself a writing buddy at the earliest opportunity. Your buddy could be a partner, a parent, a friend or a fellow writer. Because the relationship is often reciprocal,  it has the potential to develop into something constructive, critical, supportive and empathetic, all in a wonderful one-er.


Most writers write because they can't not, so motivation isn't usually a problem, but some kinds of writing are more fun to do than others, so if you're struggling with something and running out of steam (and inspiration), making some kind of literary commitment to your writing buddy might be the answer. Promise them that you will show them your draft synopsis/final chapter/article pitch by Friday week, and you will find yourself extraordinarily motivated to make good on that promise.


Saying something, makes it so. We write in order to make the magical world inside our head seem real. In the same way, promising to deliver a piece of work will help to make it happen.

Fiction Writing - The Unwritten Rules

 Somerset Maugham sums it up pretty neatly,

 There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are.

I think my three guiding principles would be something like this:

1. Don't write for effect – always serve the story.
2. Edit with obsessive stringency.
3. Read other writers. 

What are your unwritten writing rules?

Writing Fiction – How to Structure a Story

I rather like this ramshackle old window, snapped in some mediaeval village in France. I like all the different textures: the painted tongue and groove planking, the peeling frame, the cracked, occluded glass and the partial sight of a brick wall beyond that.

Think of it as a metaphor for the structure of a book. The planking is the setting or background, the frame is the concept - the single, illuminating idea - on which your narrative is based, the broken glass is the way in which you subvert your original idea with a change of perspective or an unforeseen plot twist, while the brick wall could be the kernel of truth at the centre of your story, or  the glimpsed heart of darkness, or the end of the road for one of your characters, or the suggestion of the existence of another world beyond the one you are currently exploring.

What I think the picture illustrates is the fact that writing a novel is not an entirely linear process, although most plots need a beginning, middle and an end. The task for the writer is to build up layers – you don't establish the background, then introduce a character, then set the plot in motion – the challenge is to do all of them at the same time, rather than sequentially.

If you want a writing work-out for the weekend, try writing a scene with this in mind. Approach it as if you were painting a picture. While you are filling in some of the background, think how the figures relate to the fictional landscape you are creating - are they central to the composition, or are they doing something intriguing in the margins; do they blend in or stand out; do they attract or repel? Your lit pic might allude to some action taking place just beyond what is currently visible, to give a sense of onward momentum. Perhaps you could frame your scene, setting it in a context that counterpoints or highlights the picture you have drawn. None of this is easy to do, but if you can pull it off it is a way to synthesize what you have written and it should lend a satisfying depth and texture to your work.

The Wo - Man Booker Prize

I'm giving three resounding cheers for Hilary Mantel, throwing my  cap in the air and cheering to the rafters.
The first cheer is because Bring up the Bodies is skeined like silk and woven into a literary tapestry as fine and detailed as any 16th century needlecraft could ever be. I adored Wolf Hall and opened its sequel with some trepidation, believing that it could never live up to the first volume, but it did and it's sublime.
The second cheer is because Hilary Mantel is fighting a rearguard action to make genre fiction respectable. It's fantastic to see historical novels take their place beside so-called literary tomes and it reaffirms the fact that it's not what you write, but how you write it which matters.
The third cheer is because the divine Ms M is the only woman ever to have won the Man Booker prize twice, which means that all her literary sisters can walk a little taller today...