News & Blog by Jenny Downham
Read the latest news and bulletins, essays, features, opinions from our bestselling authors. Find out what's being said, debated, and discussed in the world of books and ideas.
Planning takes a back seat, due to the flu bug sweeping Britain. One of my children succumbs and so we make a bed up in the lounge, light the fire and quietly read together. I’ve always encouraged my children to believe that they are readers – whatever kind of reader they choose to be. It’s tempting if your kids read comics and nothing else to hassle them to read ‘proper’ books. But the danger...
Thursday is writing group day! Hurrah! Since I joined my group ten years ago, it’s been invaluable to me. Writing is a lonely occupation and I really look forward to our meetings. The group is a place to talk, swap work and offer support and constructive criticism. Today we look at someone’s work (it’s first draft, so there’s lots to say) and discuss NaNoWriMo. http://www.nanowrimo.org/ This...
I carry a notebook everywhere. I use it to write down ideas, overheard conversations, random things that pop into my head. If I had any advice for an aspiring writer it would be: Do NOT leave the house without paper and a pen!! Today, I’m going to write several stories away from the house. Sometimes the desk is a lonely place to sit and it’s important not to stagnate. I start with the café...
Pinter once said that the writer’s job is to ‘arrange and listen,’ as if following clues. He believed that characters arrive at their destination through their own impulses, rather than being manipulated to suit a preordained plot. When I wrote You Against Me, Mikey took over the narrative very quickly. In fact he ran with it. He was determined to avenge his sister and all I had to do was follow...
Christmas is over, my kids are back at school and there are really no more excuses to procrastinate – I have to get back to ‘being a writer,’ and this blog is going to help me! I don’t know what this third novel will be about because I never plan in advance. The only ideas I have are abstract, theoretical, as if I know the tone of the piece, but nothing else. The nearest thing I have to character...
