The Write to Know, Issue 14
Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads
Hello from the August Bank Holiday weekend!
This is the last official hurrah of the season, although here in the UK we always live in hope of an Indian summer. Kid you not, I actually had to put the heating on for an hour or so last week.
So what’s been happening?
Last Thursday, I posted the final installment of my summer writing series, Summer Breeze. The goal was to find a way to keep writing - slowly but surely - over the course of 12 weeks (more of a waft than a sprint!).
Apart from a dip in week nine, it’s been pretty productive. During that time I managed to outline the plot of novel, flesh out my characters, write five chapters and then share some of that work with my in real life writers group.
Ultimately, I have decided not to continue to write that particular story but use certain elements for a different book. It’s been quite the process, which can be caught up with here.
In other news, I was delighted to read that one of the greatest singers the world has ever seen, Liza Minnelli, is writing her memoir (seen above, with her mum, Judy Garland).
She wants to set the record straight on a few things, according to the Guardian, because she’s fed up with reading nonsense about her life story. Fair enough. But her life has been extraordinary and colourful so I’m hoping for a captivating yarn that Ryan Murphy will want to adapt, a la Feud, Bette and Joan.
I was lucky enough to see Liza perform at the Hollywood Bowl no less, a few years ago now and she was fantastic, despite being nowhere near the height of her powers. Her wasn’t as strong but her charisma was captivating. There was a technical issue before the show so she jumped on the mic from backstage and riffed until they managed to sort it out. It was a wonderful, old school, show-must-go-on moment.
And the show goes on here too. This week’s newsletter is a bit of a mish-mash as befits the end of summer but it’s still as packed as the arrivals hall at Tenerife South airport (I’m on the Facebook page, it’s carnage there apparently). So let’s go…
IT’S THE WAY THEY TELL ‘EM
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been in full swing this last month. In 2008, they added the Best Joke of the Fringe award. Here’s a list of the 100 funniest. If you’re a fan of the punnery and wit of Milton Jones, these will be right up your street.
My favourite is: “Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That’s not a miracle. That’s tapas.” - comedian Mark Nelson.
Find them here. Thanks to Mark Tungate for the heads up on this!
RISE AND SCRIBE
Just a quick note that the Scriptapalooza screenwriting competition is now open to early bird entries. You’ve got until December to pay the $45 entry fee. It goes up to $65 by April.
This comp is one of the better ones with decent judges, a useful script appraisal service and a good chance at getting meetings with solid agents, managers and producers, if you place well. I know because I was a semi-finalist with a script called Best Woman (find me in this list) and it opened a few doors.
KEEP THE LUYTENS
Terrible pun - apologies to you all (and Milton Jones).
But Alice Luytens at Curtis Brown is open to submissions.
From her: “I am currently especially on the look-out for thrillers (fast & clever), horror (everything! Stephen King to Point Horror series to dark scary academia – nothing is off-limits) and really moving love stories (Talking at Night is a great example). I’d also love to find something steamy… think Fourth Wing, The Idea of You, Mills & Boon!”
HUNGRY FOR MORE
My lovely writers group friend Charlie Grace Wahl - aka Wonderwahl - wrote a brilliant Substack about her love of gastronomical memoirs. I was ravenous after reading it!
I now have A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal, by Anthony Bourdain, on my to-read list as weirdly, I’ve never consumed it, even though I love Kitchen Confidential.
Her Substack is just marvellous but over on Instagram, Charlie’s also attempting to read a book a week. Check her out there too because she has some really great recommendations.
HOUSE OF HORRORS
It’s always weird when two worlds collide.
I was curious to see that The New Yorker had recently covered the Whitehouse Farm murders, looking at it from the angle that it was a potential miscarriage of justice.
The murders occurred in Essex - my neck of the woods - in August 1985, and it was a case that rumbled on while I was working at the local paper there.
Five members of the Bamber family were shot dead in their farmhouse. Initially, it was believed that Sheila Caffell, who suffered from schizophrenia, had killed her adoptive parents, Nevill and June Bamber, her twin sons, and herself in a murder-suicide.
However, suspicions soon turned towards her adoptive brother, Jeremy Bamber, who stood to inherit the family estate. Evidence, including a silencer found on the gun and witness testimonies, pointed to Jeremy as the perpetrator.
In 1986, he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment, where he remains, despite maintaining his innocence.
The case remains one of the most notorious in British criminal history and has been re-examined time and again, most notably in 2020 when ITV produced a six-part drama, White House Farm, based on the case. It starred Freddy Fox as Bamber, with Stephen Graham as DCI Taff Jones and Mark Addy as DS Stan Jones.
You can find the New Yorker piece here and make up your own mind. As far as I can tell, his 25 year sentence was upped to full life but there is another appeal pending. It’s a very sad case, and senseless in all ways but it does seem unlikely he will ever get out.
A STORIED EVENT
The Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize is now open to submissions and is looking to find the best unpublished short story of the year.
You have until September 13 to enter. The fee is £8 but they have 50 waivers for those on low income (that offer closes August 30).
Last year’s winning story, Voyagers, by Tom Vowler, was published in Prospects magazine. I don’t know if it’s because I’m attempting to write a novel but suddenly short stories and short films seem very attractive!
V.S. Pritchett, was a British writer and literary critic, renowned for his short stories, including The Sailor, The Saint and The Camberwell Beauty. He died aged 97 in 1997 and was also known for his numerous essay collections on literary biography and criticism.
Here’s a really great interview with him from the Paris Review.
THE HOLY GRAIL?
So, you’re writing a novel that’s going to sweep the globe and become a movie franchise? (( don’t know why but I read that back to myself in the style of Shania Twain). At least that’s what you hope.
Well, for the odd few, the dream really does become a reality.
Richard Osman is the author of The Thursday Murder Club, about a group of crime-solving pensioners who live in a retirement village. The book was such a runaway hit that it’s now being made into a movie and being produced by none other than Stephen Spielberg.
The photo above shows the author with some of the cast. From left to right: Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren and Celia Imrie. Not too shabby.
Chris Columbus has written the script and is also directing (his other credits include Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Home Alone 1 & 2 and one of my all time favourite movies, Adventures in Babysitting).
I, like many others, look forward to seeing it.
Holy Grail mode…activated!
AND FINALLY…
What’s your Dystopian YA author name and book series?
I saw this on Twitter (before the great Threads migration of 2024), and found it hugely amusing.
Mine is The Beige Pouffe, by M L Birch. Watch out The Hunger Games, my bland footstool is about to take over the world…
EXTRA! EXTRA!
I collated a banging playlist to accompany my Summer Breeze writing series. It’s now available on Spotify. Enjoy!
Thank you so much for the mention! 🥰 So glad to have inspired gastronomically and literary!