Ian Gouge's Blog, page 7

November’s highlights…

“when you see anything of mine that you don’t like remember that I’m sincere in doing it and that I’m working toward something.” – Ernest Hemingway  A selection of links to recent posts from my Substack site. And a link to my new book:

“Bluff”

The beginning of Danez Smith’s “anti poetica” in Bluff starts “who cares how long i’ve spent with my poems” – and frankly, I don’t. Many of these pieces are pure gimmickry; ‘anti poetica’ indeed. There is clearly a lot of rage and anger in Smith’s work – and quite justifiably so – but when poets … Continue reading “Bluff” →

“Baumgartner”

It strikes me that, were a creative writing tutor to use Paul Auster’s Baumgartner as a sample text, they might tell you that it was a good example of how not to write a novel. The reasons? Firstly, masses of ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’; and secondly, enormously long sentences – sometimes half a page – … Continue reading “Baumgartner” →

“The Keelie Hawk”

On one level, Kathleen Jamie’s The Keelie Hawk is impossible to read – that is unless you happen to be fluent in Scots. Luckily on every verso page is an English ‘translation’ of the Scots poem, all of which meant I could only read the translations and not the original poems. Given the musicality of … Continue reading “The Keelie Hawk” →

“North Woods”

I really like Daniel Mason’s work; The Winter Soldier is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long while. Consequently, I was looking forward to reading North Woods… But I’m afraid it wasn’t in the same league. This wasn’t down to the quality of the writing (far from it!) but rather the nature … Continue reading “North Woods” →

A new book – and highlights from October’s posts…

“when you see anything of mine that you don’t like remember that I’m sincere in doing it and that I’m working toward something.” – Ernest Hemingway  A link to my new book, plus a selection of links to recent posts from my Substack site.

New book out today!

My new book is based on decades of experience writing, running workshops, mentoring and conversations with other writers. Perhaps you don’t know if what you’re trying to write is the thing you should be writing; perhaps you’re feeling disheartened by years of competition and Agent rejections. Or maybe you’re simply struggling to finish ‘your novel’. Or even … Continue reading New book out today! →

“Petersburg Tales”

I suspect that, based on prevailing theory and practice, many would regard Nikolai Gogol’s Petersburg Tales (written nearly 200 years ago) as an example of how not to write short stories. And with some justification. There are four in the collection, each of them surreal and comic in equal measure, and – given modern sensibilities … Continue reading “Petersburg Tales” →

“The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman”

I was intrigued by the premise of Denis Thériault’s novel, The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman. There seemed so much you could do with such an idea. But in the end I was profoundly disappointed, and for two main reasons. The first is that there is some clumsiness in the writing here and there, … Continue reading “The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman” →

“Love, etc”

I must have read the precursor to Julian Barnes’ Love, etc – Talking it Over – some time before 2017 because I can’t find any review for it on this site. I was looking to see what I thought of the unfortunate Oliver back then given he is such an obnoxious and pompous dick in … Continue reading “Love, etc” →