Ask the Author: Paul Burman
Answered Questions (9)
Paul Burman
I've always been a fan of Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe' and that whole idea of starting from scratch on a desert island - so much so that my characters had a brief argument about it in 'The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore'. What I think I'd like to do there is learn to survive and discover how resourceful I could be, but the idea of not being ultimately rescued would probably drive me mad. I like to think I'd have a much more equitable relationship with Friday than Robinson Crusoe did at times. Would it ultimately be paradise or hell? Hmm.
Paul Burman
More a winter reading list, being in the southern hemisphere, and while I'm largely an opportunistic reader and tend to choose what I'm going to read next as I come to the end of one book, I do have a couple of books lined up:
'Burial Rites' by Hannah Kent, 'The Birdman's Wife' by Melissa Ashley and maybe 'The Last Painting of Sara de Vos' by Dominic Smith. However, I do have a few other unread books on one side at the moment, so the list might go out the window and I might end up reading a different set of books altogether :-)
'Burial Rites' by Hannah Kent, 'The Birdman's Wife' by Melissa Ashley and maybe 'The Last Painting of Sara de Vos' by Dominic Smith. However, I do have a few other unread books on one side at the moment, so the list might go out the window and I might end up reading a different set of books altogether :-)
Paul Burman
While the tempestous relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' puts them in my top list of favourite fictional couples, along with the wonderfully redemptive relationship between Eppie and Silas Marner in George Eliot's classic of that name, it seems only fair to give the gong to a couple from more recent fiction. But there are so many great couples to choose from! For example, I particularly enjoy the ways in which Audrey Niffenegger explores the (necessarily) ever-changing relationship between Clare and Henry in 'The Time Traveler's Wife' (first meeting when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, but married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry was thirty). However, my favourite fictional couple (today!) can be found in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy ('The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' etc). Lisbeth Sander and Mikael Blomkvist are strong and superbly drawn-characters, who grow into a dynamic, feisty and often unpredictable relationship that generates momentum and drives the various stories forward.
Paul Burman
To read widely and wildly and critically (as well as for the sheer pleasure of it). To spend some time thinking like a writer when you're reading and to spend a lot of time thinking like a publisher (who is considering a reader's preferences) when you're writing. Understand as much as you can about the publishing industry (I recently attended a small press network conference where I learned things about writing which I wish I'd known many years ago) and also understand why you want to write. If it's for money and/or fame, think again.
Paul Burman
It depends what's meant writer's block.
I've abandoned a couple of novels recently after 50,000 + words because I no longer felt that the idea was worth pursuing - as if, in pursuing an idea, I'd outgrown my interest in it. I wasn't 'blocked', but no longer felt the idea was worth investing the time and energy in, so quickly moved on to the next project to see if it would work.
Of course, almost every project throws up an occasional problem or difficulty - surely this is true for everybody and not just writers - which halts progress. If this is what's meant by writer's block, then I have a variety of strategies from brain-storming, to temporarily by-passing that issue, to rethinking everything that led up to that point, but usually find that a solution presents itself either in the middle of the night or when I'm standing in the shower. The shower is an amazing place for solving writerly problems.
If by writer's block, we're talking about a negative psychological force that stops a writer from believing they can write, paralysing them into inaction, a bit like stage fright, then I suppose it's a matter of knowing how to handle self-doubt. There's barely a day of writing that isn't accompanied by doubt of some sort, either in my ability to write the way I want to, or in the value of what I'm doing from a publisher or reader's point of view (which might have nothing in common anyway), but I carry on writing because I enjoy it... knowing that when I stop enjoying it I'll stop writing.
I'm not sure I've fully answered the question, but it might be a more complex one than it at first appears to be.
I've abandoned a couple of novels recently after 50,000 + words because I no longer felt that the idea was worth pursuing - as if, in pursuing an idea, I'd outgrown my interest in it. I wasn't 'blocked', but no longer felt the idea was worth investing the time and energy in, so quickly moved on to the next project to see if it would work.
Of course, almost every project throws up an occasional problem or difficulty - surely this is true for everybody and not just writers - which halts progress. If this is what's meant by writer's block, then I have a variety of strategies from brain-storming, to temporarily by-passing that issue, to rethinking everything that led up to that point, but usually find that a solution presents itself either in the middle of the night or when I'm standing in the shower. The shower is an amazing place for solving writerly problems.
If by writer's block, we're talking about a negative psychological force that stops a writer from believing they can write, paralysing them into inaction, a bit like stage fright, then I suppose it's a matter of knowing how to handle self-doubt. There's barely a day of writing that isn't accompanied by doubt of some sort, either in my ability to write the way I want to, or in the value of what I'm doing from a publisher or reader's point of view (which might have nothing in common anyway), but I carry on writing because I enjoy it... knowing that when I stop enjoying it I'll stop writing.
I'm not sure I've fully answered the question, but it might be a more complex one than it at first appears to be.
Paul Burman
When readers let me know that they've read something I've written and have enjoyed it. A large part of writing, for me, is about entertaining and engaging with an audience, so it always gives me a boost to hear that what I've written has worked for someone.
Paul Burman
Currently I'm spending a few hours pitching my two latest works to publishers - a psychological thriller and a ghost story.
Having mapped out my next novel, which may be a little more surreal (or touching on magic realism), akin to Snowing and Greening in some respects, I am deliberately not writing for a couple of months to let the ideas mature. By the start of 2017, I will be raring to get on with it.
Having mapped out my next novel, which may be a little more surreal (or touching on magic realism), akin to Snowing and Greening in some respects, I am deliberately not writing for a couple of months to let the ideas mature. By the start of 2017, I will be raring to get on with it.
Paul Burman
Sometimes a word or phrase will inspire. Sometimes an idea floats by that's too attractive not to spend time with; it might seem quite a random idea at the time or might grow out of a conversation, but it'll be something that I might envisage growing into a story and that I want to explore further. Sometimes I'm inspired by a piece of music, although quite often a visit to an exhibition of paintings leaves me bouncing with ideas and the urge to write.
For me, writing is all about telling a good story, entertaining people, and saying something about the world in which I live; so whatever inspires that works for me.
For me, writing is all about telling a good story, entertaining people, and saying something about the world in which I live; so whatever inspires that works for me.
Paul Burman
It's a ghost story, even though I'm a bit of a ghost sceptic. It grew out of a conviction from my son that, when he was three years old and first visiting the cottage I still live in, there was an old woman sitting in a chair in the kitchen when my wife (with the children) first inspected the house... even though no one else saw her. He was adamant about this for years. This piece of family history was coupled with an experience my wife and I had when inspecting an old terraced house in Barry, Wales, and sensed at exactly the same moment that there was something malevolent about the place and that we had to get out quick .
Recently finished, I hope this book will be published in 2017.
Recently finished, I hope this book will be published in 2017.
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