Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 81
March 16, 2014
On Who Fears Death
Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death - Fate is fixed like brittle crystal in the dark. - - You need to learn to be quiet sometimes. - - As it happened, my mother's mind cracked and the stories she carried spilled out. - - I forgot my purpose in coming. - - My mother once said that fear is like a man who, once burned, is afraid of a glow worm. - - A tool always begs to be used. The trick is to learn how to use it. - - To be something abnormal meant that you were to serve...
March 12, 2014
On editing
An editor’s role is to help to make a book as good as it can be through close work with the author when – or if – this is necessary. I know what I value in a good novel, possibly because I have read fiction all my life. I also believe that fiction is a form of truth-telling, as situations unfold from a variety of perspectives and from the inside out. Good fiction touches something profound within us, and helps us to grow as human beings. - Irene Saunton, Pambazuka: 'Meeting Legendary editor Irene Saunton'
March 10, 2014
On inspiration
Originally posted on Books Live ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ It is the question that makes a writer groan. Moments in life spark the neurons here, there – a song, a phrase – which spin themselves into the writer’s day dreams until at last the writer is compelled to write. But when writers are forced to work as a team, things work slightly differently. Short Story Day Africa may only be run by two people, but there are various elves working in the background feeding the initiative. So when it came to creating the theme for Feast, Famine &...
On The Keepers
I blame one of the contributors to Feast, Famine & Potluck for the latest obsession:
March 9, 2014
On NOS4A2
Joe Hill, NOs4A2 - It is your dream, Bin. But it is still my ride. - - She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history and forgotten verse. - - Everyone lives in two worlds...In a world made of thought...every idea is a fact. Emotions are as real as gravity. Dreams are as powerful as history. - - She hated that she'd had the baby. Now she was fucked. She loved [the baby]too much to press the pedal to the floor and go flying into the darkness. - - When she wasn't painting, when she didn't have...
March 6, 2014
March 4, 2014
On writing & reading
It's hard for me to believe that people who read very little (or not at all in some cases) should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written. - Stephen King
March 3, 2014
On Dust
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Dust - You sing as if you know water. - - Music and painting bandaged soul-holes. - - Soon the wise chose cowardice, a way of life: not hearing, not seeing, never asking, because sound, like dreams, could cause death. - - In dust, an outline, a grooved, leaf-shaped scar. 'Every crevice contains a story. Every story points north. - - Never trade a name. Trade in everything else, but not a name. - - He can no longer see the small things. - - They had turned old stories into songs without words. - - This...
February 28, 2014
On Rare Disease Day
The Hypermobility Syndrom Association is asking for people who suffer from a rare condition to spread the world that today is Rare Disease Day. Through out the day HMSA will be putting stories up on their website. Today I'm reposting an old blog post on living and writing with Hypermobility Syndrome, fibromyalgia both of which have impacted my autonomic nervous response. On Better I have found myself in an unusual place: am I too happy to write anything decent? Maybe to dig into the soul of the characters requires me to be on the brink. Each sentence I type looks...
February 26, 2014
On women writers having a voice in the press
"I think women find it difficult to do their jobs, look after their children, cook dinner and write pieces. They just can't get it all done. And men can. Because they have fewer, quite different responsibilities. And they're not so newly arrived in the country. They're not so frightened of asserting themselves. And they're not so anxious to please. They're going to write their pieces and to hell with the rest. And I don't think women think that way." - Why the LRB should stop cooking up excuses over lack of women reviewers
