Your Monday mote

Bye bye to MY GREAT LITERARY NOVEL

I love doing the Ten for The TEN’s because the insight from writers is so inspiring, often unearthing something I hadn’t thought of before.

Because of that, this week’s Monday mote comes from the combined wisdom of authors Clare Swatman, whose q&a was posted yesterday, and Fiona Gibson, who I interviewed a few weeks ago.

Clare, who has written nine novels, mentioned that while she loved literary works of fiction, she knew she could never be that kind of author.

Clare and Fiona have similar backgrounds in that they started their careers on magazines, both rising magnificently through the ranks. In yesterday’s interview, Clare talked candidly about having a different type of writing sensibility from that of a literary author.

It doesn’t mean that journalists can’t become authors of great literary works because many have succeeded; Charles Dickens, P.G. Wodehouse, Margaret Mitchell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carl Hiaasen, Geraldine Brooks, Stieg Larsson, and Mark Twain, to name but a few.

But magazine journos are a different breed. To have been at the helm of a successful women’s mag, demands a singular skill.

You need to be extraordinarily creative, detail-oriented, have your finger on the pulse, understand how to take any topic and make it accessible, be able to spot a gripping real life story and express it in a way that is fresh, new and entertaining. And you have to do that week after week, month after month, year after year.

It’s a uniquely ideas-driven world that requires imagination, stamina and curiosity (as well as a good sense of humour). And all of these attributes are hugely transferable, especially if you’re attempting to write popular fiction.

Fiona restacked Clare’s interview with this comment: “I love Clare’s attitude of loving literary fiction, but realising that would never be her thing. In the early days I tried to write a ‘literary’ novel - and gave a few chapters to my friend Ellie to read. ‘It feels like it has a big sigh over it,’ she said. ‘Why not write fun, light stuff, like you do for magazines?’ What - and be… myself? Instead of trying to be Margaret Atwood? Great advice for any writer.”

I too worked in magazines for years, writing, editing and commissioning, so this resonated, especially in light of the fact that I have just spent the last three months attempting to write MY GREAT LITERARY NOVEL.

My intention was steadfast and I threw everything at it.

Stylistically, though, no chance.

I just don’t write ‘literary’.

I will never be Isabel Allende. Fine. We already have her and she’s written two of my favourite books, Eva Luna and The House of the Spirits. I worship at her feet. I will also never write Possession, Little Women or To Kill a Mockingbird. You get the gist.

Every time I sat down to write MY GREAT LITERARY NOVEL I felt as if I was stuffing my Lisa-shaped sensibility in to an Allende-esque shaped hole.

Good luck with that, Marks!

To paraphrase Fiona’s friend Ellie (an infinitely wise woman, clearly), it felt as if there was a giant sigh hanging over it.

In fact, towards the end of the process - before the proverbial penny dropped - I would literally sigh. When I eventually decided to knock the idea on its head, I metaphorically exhaled (different from sighing mournfully) and felt instantly lighter.

So were those weeks of toil a waste of time?

Absolutely not.

I’m holding on to the world I spent the last few months creating in so many ways - the era especially - but the tone, theme and genre has changed.

As Maya Angelou, a former freelancer for The Ghanian Times, once said: “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”

And with those wise words in mind, I must crack on. I have some work to do.

I’m off to write MY OWN BOOK IN MY OWN WAY.

Lisa