The Write to Know, #15
Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads
A lovely thing happened recently.
I was wandering around Leigh-on-Sea with a friend who was visiting for the day. We’d done the usual - lunch, clothes shopping, putting the world to rights - when we walked by one of the many charity shops.
Proudly displayed in the window was a sturdy pile of Enid Blyton books, with a sticker that said: ‘£5 job lot’.
Now, I was a huge Famous Five fan as a child (there were too many for me to keep up with in the Secret Seven and I was never as enamoured). But I had the entire 21-strong Famous Five series and was completely invested in the intrepid tales of George, Julian, Dick, Anne and Timmy the dog.
I loved their adventures on Kirrin Island, where tomboy George lived with her mum and dad, aka Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin, a bullish scientist who became extraordinarily angry when he was disturbed (red flag!).
George was obviously the star of the show, Anne did a lot of tidying up, Julian was a bit of a prig, Dick had no real personality and Timmy the dog yapped in all the right places, and sometimes wore a cardboard collar.
Nevertheless, young me loved them all!
Macaroons, ginger beer, mysterious coves, strangers on trains, pirates, secret passageways, hidden treasure, kidnappings, odd characters lurking hither and thither, fishermen in knitted caps and splashing around in rock pools were the order of the day.
You can imagine then how delighted I was back in 1979, aged just ten, my dad drove me and my brother all the way from the south of England to the Isle of Mull, in Scotland, to visit his best friend and family.
I vividly remember Voulez-Vous, by Abba, being played relentlessly on the radio as we snaked up the M1 motorway and beyond, and if it wasn’t Radio 2, then we were singing along to Dad’s well-worn copy of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The two week stay was a Famous Five fever dream.
Aside from us two kids, they had four children around the same ages as us. And a dog! (Yes that makes seven but let’s not dwell).
The Isle of Mull was, and I imagine still is, essentially Kirrin Island. As was the way back then, us kids were allowed to roam unsupervised all day, which only heightened the sense of excitement.
You could only reach Mull via ferry from the town of Oban, on the west coast of Scotland on the Firth of Lorn. That in itself was an adventure but the best was yet to come.
One of the island’s most beautiful beaches was called Knockvologan - the fact I can easily recall that name after four decades tells you how important this holiday was to young me. We would hang out there en masse, climbing rocks, skimming rocks, swimming by the rocks and generally getting up to no good in proximity of rocks. It was heaven.
The weather was amazing, we drank Panda Pops, ate ice cream, camped out in the garden, played board games, hopscotch and marbles. Sadly, I can’t find any photos as they’re packed away in boxes but trust me, this was the Famous Five writ large.
It pains me to say that most of my childhood books were lost to the four winds when my parents moved, so you can imagine the thrill of seeing this pile of dusty goodness in the shop window.
“I’m going to buy them for you!” my friend exclaimed, in a Blyton-esque declaration of enduring friendship.
“What! Why?”
Well, she wanted to and so she did.
We lugged them home in a couple of shopping bags and now here they sit, on the mantlepiece in my living room. There are some real gems too; 14 Famous Fives, A Faraway Tree, a doubled-billed Wishing Chair, a Mistletoe Farm, some Secret Sevens, a couple of St Clares’, and a book called The Ring O’Bells Mystery, featuring Roger, Diana and Snubby, who apparently make friends with a hitch-hiker called Barney and his monkey Miranda. Just that detail alone is worth a fiver.
They make me smile. At some point, I’ll probably donate them but not just yet. For the time being, I want to enjoy this little slice of childhood that turned up unexpectedly, like a pirate ship on Knockvologan beach.
This week’s newsletter could also be described as a daring escapade (“I’m not sure by who.” - Ed), so we’d better get on with it…
CHEEKBONES A-GO-GO!
In Vogue: The 90s documentary on Disney + is a riveting watch.
Offering a deep dive into the fashion industry of the 1990s, we see this polished world through the lens of Vogue magazine editors including the one and only Anna Wintour, former UK editor Edward Enninful and contributing editor/fop Hamish Bowles.
The six-parter highlights key moments in Nineties fashion, from the rise of grunge and the Met Gala, to the globalisation of American fashion and the influence of hip-hop. It’s all there, and I have to say that their grunge fashion spread, styled by the wonderful Grace Coddington, is a sight to behold. Bless Vogue for having to navigate that particular trend.
Kate Moss, Naomi, Nicole Kidman, Stella McCartney, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, VB and Gwyneth Paltrow, all throw in their tuppence.
If you enjoyed 2009’s The September Issue doc, you’ll love it. I was hooked because at its heart is the story of a magazine - a monolith of a brand - that has remained relevant and compelling through the many whimsies of publishing, fashion and technology.
One story stayed with me, and that’s how Anna Wintour helped to establish designer John Galliano early in his career after recognising his extraordinary talent.
Despite his brilliance, Galliano faced massive financial struggles and didn’t have enough money for his second show. Wintour, seeing his potential, introduced him to a handful of influential people in the biz and thus, he was able raise the funds he needed. The success of that show put him on the map and eventually led to his appointment as the head designer for Givenchy, and later Dior.
It was fascinating to discover more about the mysterious, and sometimes seemingly icy, woman behind those giant sunglasses.
A REAL MANTEL PIECE
Author Katie Ward, who has just published her latest book Pathways, has written a marvellous article about the wisdom her mentor passed on to her over the years.
That’s great because we all want to learn more but it gets better when you find out that her mentor was none other than Wolf Hall author, Dame Hilary Mantel.
Here’s a snippet: “A good third way is to know your ending. Hilary wrote the end of the final Thomas Cromwell installment, The Mirror and the Light, “well ahead of time”. This is a simple method that creative writers can apply to their own work. Knowing how your story ends will serve as a compass, while leaving you with enough latitude to explore your imaginary world. And a crafted, impactful ending is ultimately more satisfying for the reader, too.”
I’ve never really started a piece of writing anything with other than a vague idea of an ending, or sometimes no idea at all, but I might from now on.
WET WET WET
This is about Bath, hence the subhead. (Bath. Water. Geddit?).
The Bath Novel Award to be precise. This is a slow time of year for writing comps but some have very long leads, and this one of them, as next May as the deadline.
Yes, it’s a long way off but £10,000 is a lot of moolah and you’ll need the time to get your book polished.
Previous winners include Abi Daré for the manuscript of the bestseller The Girl with the Louding Voice, new James Bond author Kim Sherwood and children’s author Struan Murray for Orphans of the Tide.
Here’s an interview with AP Firdus, who won it in 2021, with his novel, Ghost Time, set in Nineties Delhi.
Good luck!
ABI DAYS
Got a hot manuscript?
Then stop slouching and get in touch with literary agent Abi Fellows, at DHH, who has once again opened her submissions.
She’s looking for amongst other things, pacy romcoms, dark literary novels, historical stories uncovering forgotten perspectives, as well as a variety of non-fiction.
YOU JUST CAN’T GET THE STAFF
Long read klaxon!
Our Nazi: An American Suburb’s Encounter with Evil, by Michael Soffer, tells the story of what happens you discover that your high school custodian used to be a member of the SS in the Second World War.
He explores the uncomfortable truths of how and why erstwhile Nazis found allies in American communities after their more than questionable pasts were uncovered. It’s a fascinating read. Something you think should be cut and dried becomes far more complicated.
The book will be published on October 2 but you can read a juicy excerpt from Chicago Magazine here.
READ AND REVIEW
The American Literary Review is about to close submissions for its Spring issue awards.
The Review has been published since 1990 through the Creative Writing Programme of the Department of English, at the University of North Texas
It is looking for a poem, a short story and an essay. You don’t have to write all of them but three prizes of $1,000 will be given to each, plus publication in the Spring online issue.
There’s a $15 reading fee which isn’t too steep and you have until October 1
TOTALLY NORMAL
Fans of Normal People - and I hear there are a couple - will be eagerly anticipating Sally Rooney’s new novel, Intermezzo, about two grieving brothers, which is out tomorrow.
She’s only 33 and already produced such an incredible body of work, with critics hailing this new book as a masterpiece of storytelling. The Times call it ‘an engrossing study of the male psyche’.
Meanwhile, Sally has been talking about how overwhelming she found the attention that came with the success of Normal People. She wrote a handful of episodes of the 2020 series, starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, but says that she has absolutely no desire to write any more scripts.
She says, “I’m a novelist. I just want to write novels.”
Intermezzo, published by Faber & Faber, is out tomorrow, and - sidenote - I can’t wait to hear what
thinks about it. I hope it makes her ‘52 books in 52 weeks’ reading list!THE JUICE IS ON THE LOOSE!
INT: LYDIA'S ROOM -- DAY
It's not LYDIA's room yet, of course, because it still has the
MAITLAND's furniture in it -- it's merely an old-fashioned and
little-used guest bedroom.
DELIA
What do you think?
OTHO
Viridian?
DELIA
Call it Graveyard Green
and she'll love it.After 36 years, we have a sequel to Beetlejuice called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (hopefully not a third as that would cause havoc), directed once again, by Tim Burton.
Also returning is Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, and introducing Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega, as Lydia's daughter.
The movie continues the darkly comedic adventures of the eccentric ghost, Beetlejuice, as he returns to the mortal world. Featuring a series of bizarre supernatural hijinks and quirky characters, the film seems to be getting the all-important thumbs up from old fans and winning a legion of new ones.
I thought it would be fun to take a look at one of the early drafts of the original movie, which was written, and co-created, by the late Michael McDowell, who also wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas.
I picked out the excerpt above as it made me laugh but what’s interesting about the script, which I was always told needed to be sparse, is just how detailed it is. There are a lot of words on those pages!
AND FINALLY…
My book, Ryan is Ready For You Now, turned four earlier this month. Awww.
I wrote about it in last week’s Monday Mote, so check that out if you haven’t already, but after I published the newsletter, I unearthed this little gem of a photo.
On most press junkets you’re explicitly asked not to take photos with the talent and this was no different, so the only proof I have of my interview with Ryan is this grainy shot of the door to the interview suite (taken using an early iPhone).
Behind said door, was the man himself, wearing a broad smile and a Christmas sweater. A cut of the interview remains on the Guardian website.
Aside from meeting Ryan, what stands out from this particular LA junket is not realising that I’d also be interviewing Emma Stone and literally having to pull questions out of the air as she sat down opposite me. I can still feel the clammy sweat of fear. Happy days!
Want more? Check out the Ten for The TEN archive with authors including Clare Swatman, Peter Berry, Fiona Gibson, Lizzie Page, Eleni Kyriakou and Claire Douglas.
For something completely different The Third Shoebox examines where the youngest version of the older me is heading, and looks at how we can continue to find joy and purpose at this challenging stage of life.
Your friend sounds like a lovely person. I've never read any of the Famous Five books: I used to love the Noddy books. That Nazi book sounds interesting, I'll have a read of that extract.
Haha I shall have to add this Sally Rooney book to my tbr then!