Hand on heart, I know for absolute certain that this is a quote: “it’s only a story, a story, a fanciful tale.” And I know for nearly absolute certain that it’s a line from an Alan Plater script. But which one, I do not know. I can even hear how it should be said, how it was said in whatever it was, I can read that line and hear the intended rhythms of it. But then you usually can with Alan because his writing is him and the only difference if you happened to know him was that you’d see the same patterns in real-life speech as across his hundreds of written work.<\/p>\n
I think we all have these rhythms, I think it’s called a voice, and I know that none of this is what I set out to talk to you about. But a story, a story, a fanciful tale, that line has been in my head at times for about a month now. Because I was commissioned to go visit a book group, learn what they like and don’t like in a story, and then write one for them. I delivered that story at the end of last week and this week I’ve been praised for it by the company that did the commissioning. By the time you read this, the story may have been sent to the book group. And if not, it will be with them soon.<\/p>\n
Since it’s their story, possibly in more ways that then expected, I can’t tell you anything. They have to read it first. And it’s due to be published some time early next year so I can’t pre-empt that either. Which leaves me with nothing to tell you of the story, the story, the fanciful tale, and instead of enjoying telling you, instead of having that great feeling after you think you’ve written something good, I can just fret at you.<\/p>\n
I tell you, when I opened the email from the commissioning company and specifically the woman who hired me, I crossed my fingers as I read what she wrote. She praised my dialogue which means so much to me that I’d practically surrender the fee to hear that said. Practically.<\/p>\n
But now the fret is not that she won’t like it or that she won’t accept it. The fret isn’t even really whether the book group will, as I’d classify that as less a fret, more a strong worry.<\/p>\n
The fret is over this. I’ve done that thing of being hired to visit a book group before. I think it was a shockingly time ago as the calendar flies and no time at all in my head, but there were more similarities than the commission. Last time, something like 12 years ago now, I ended up writing a story about the book group or a thinly disguised version of it, and how they were at war with a rival book group in the same village. I made it up about the war, but there were true groups there. <\/p>\n
Sudden memory. The only time my mother saw me performing was when I read the start of that story at an event.<\/p>\n
Anyway.<\/p>\n
Jump forward a dozen years and I hope I’m a better writer, but I have to question it because this new story is about this new book group. it’s honestly totally different, although I think the word “honestly” has been contaminated by how many times you see headlines such as “honest review” or “my honest opinion” or some such bollocks. This time the book group is the vehicle for a story that goes on around them. That’s different enough, surely.<\/p>\n
But it’s also a story that ultimately you come to realise is about time. Because every bleedin’ thing I ever write is about time. I need to switch obsessions and write stories about chocolate.<\/p>\n
Now I’m wondering if there’s a story about time and chocolate. Or at least one that isn’t about how confectionary companies shrink the size of their chocolate bars while raising the price and doing some fantastic work with the packaging to fool you into not noticing at least one of these two things. That is truly some remarkable packaging and it’s only a shame that you can be fooled by it a maximum of one time.<\/p>\n
Anyway.<\/p>\n
I think the thing is that I want to be back in a story instead of as much non-fiction as I’m doing these days. Writing something where I have a deadline facing me and a tale that is wriggling out of my fingers, I want to be back in that way I have been since I visited the group. Since I left them that evening and had the first little wisps of a tale joining me in the car.<\/p>\n
I hope I can show you the story some time and I hope that you’ll like it. But I also hope that by that time, I’ll have written more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hand on heart, I know for absolute certain that this is a quote: “it’s only a story, a story, a … Continue reading