Guy Mankowski's Blog, page 2
September 21, 2016
An evening of celebration to mark the release of new novel 'An Honest Deceit'
I just wanted to invite you all to an evening of entertainment to celebrate the launch of my new novel ‘AN HONEST DECEIT’ (Urbane Publications). REBECCA REED, one of the founders of art collective THE CANDY VORTEX, will be be transforming Ampersand Studios in Newcastle-upon-Tyne into the world of the novel for a one-off event, using site-specific installation art. There will be DJing from LADY ANNABELLA MARCZEWSKA OF JESMOND (who 'combines esoteric dress with boutique sets to enthral') and SLEEPING SHIPS, a 'blend of nylon strings and laid back electronica' featuring KITES frontman Matthew Phillips.
Add yourself to the guestlist-
https://www.facebook.com/events/68774...
Tickets-
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-o...
Add yourself to the guestlist-
https://www.facebook.com/events/68774...
Tickets-
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-o...
March 1, 2015
Guy Mankowski on Writing How I Left The National Grid (in Novel Kicks magazine)
The writing process for How I Left The National was so distinct from that of my two previous novels, that it was almost like learning to play the keyboard after you’ve been playing guitar. This seems an apt, if somewhat pretentious description, given that this novel follows the story of an eighties post-punk musician, Robert Wardner. Wardner vanishes after a particularly controversial appearance on Top Of The Pops. During this performance he commits a shocking act which, during the more buttoned-up era of 80s Britain, causes enough of an impact that he never recovers.
My first novel, The Intimates, was mostly written over an intense eight-week period when I was 21. I lived and breathed the novel every single day almost in a hallucinogenic way. My second novel, Letters from Yelena, was written over a year and a half, and its writing coincided with a research trip to Russia in which a great deal of information about the world of Russian ballet was absorbed. This novel was set mainly in 80s Manchester, only a few hours away from me.
Somehow, it took over three years.
For my first two books ‘the voice’ of the protagonist was the starting point. But finding Wardner’s voice took a long time. At first his voice was rather rich, descriptive and even romantic. He described stealing away on trains, without a ticket, to spend nights in seedy underground clubs in Brighton. He partied the night away with other struggling musicians, painters, and drag acts.
But then I started to research what a post-punk singer would really be like. I listened compulsively to post-punk records, such as Magazine’s Real Life and Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. I took to social networking to learn more, and tweeted a question to Jehnny Beth, singer from the Mercury Music Prize shortlisted band Savages. I was surprised when she invited me to interview her. This led to further interviews, with contemporary artists like Gazelle Twin and LoneLady. I drank pints with them in empty pubs, and talked of how the urban environment had shaped the sound of their music. I learnt what a struggle it was to make music in an age of austerity. When you are competing with all those endless identikit X Factor contestants, with the weight of Simon Cowell (sometimes literally) upon them.
I spent a lot of time getting familiar with Manchester, dancing in its nightclubs and undertaking inner city walks. I wanted to get to know the setting that Wardner would have come from in intimate detail, so I could call upon it at will. I even created a fictional address for him, in a rather grim sink estate in Manchester. I wandered around there for long enough to be deemed suspicious.
I watched interviews with musicians such as Mark E. Smith, who I had been conscious of when conceiving Wardner. I realized that Wardner would have carried a ferocious, if cerebral, anger. He would not be as melancholy as he had been in early drafts and, like Mark E. Smith, he would live in the moment. He would be direct in his action, if opaque in his reasoning. Wardner was re-written to be more uncompromising. His voice began to emerge strongly: succinct, brittle, passionate.
Other characters were inspired by more mysterious means. I am loathe to give too much away, but characters were variously inspired by intriguing people in rock biographies, and by intriguing people I met in fleeting encounters. As I redrafted the novel my focus was on putting these characters in situations that allowed them to be portrayed at their most colourful. At this point the project came alive for me. I had at my disposal a cast of damaged, brilliant, eccentric and sometimes downright frightening characters. From there on, it was a pleasure to be in their company.
Getting the book published, though, was another story.
My first novel, The Intimates, was mostly written over an intense eight-week period when I was 21. I lived and breathed the novel every single day almost in a hallucinogenic way. My second novel, Letters from Yelena, was written over a year and a half, and its writing coincided with a research trip to Russia in which a great deal of information about the world of Russian ballet was absorbed. This novel was set mainly in 80s Manchester, only a few hours away from me.
Somehow, it took over three years.
For my first two books ‘the voice’ of the protagonist was the starting point. But finding Wardner’s voice took a long time. At first his voice was rather rich, descriptive and even romantic. He described stealing away on trains, without a ticket, to spend nights in seedy underground clubs in Brighton. He partied the night away with other struggling musicians, painters, and drag acts.
But then I started to research what a post-punk singer would really be like. I listened compulsively to post-punk records, such as Magazine’s Real Life and Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. I took to social networking to learn more, and tweeted a question to Jehnny Beth, singer from the Mercury Music Prize shortlisted band Savages. I was surprised when she invited me to interview her. This led to further interviews, with contemporary artists like Gazelle Twin and LoneLady. I drank pints with them in empty pubs, and talked of how the urban environment had shaped the sound of their music. I learnt what a struggle it was to make music in an age of austerity. When you are competing with all those endless identikit X Factor contestants, with the weight of Simon Cowell (sometimes literally) upon them.
I spent a lot of time getting familiar with Manchester, dancing in its nightclubs and undertaking inner city walks. I wanted to get to know the setting that Wardner would have come from in intimate detail, so I could call upon it at will. I even created a fictional address for him, in a rather grim sink estate in Manchester. I wandered around there for long enough to be deemed suspicious.
I watched interviews with musicians such as Mark E. Smith, who I had been conscious of when conceiving Wardner. I realized that Wardner would have carried a ferocious, if cerebral, anger. He would not be as melancholy as he had been in early drafts and, like Mark E. Smith, he would live in the moment. He would be direct in his action, if opaque in his reasoning. Wardner was re-written to be more uncompromising. His voice began to emerge strongly: succinct, brittle, passionate.
Other characters were inspired by more mysterious means. I am loathe to give too much away, but characters were variously inspired by intriguing people in rock biographies, and by intriguing people I met in fleeting encounters. As I redrafted the novel my focus was on putting these characters in situations that allowed them to be portrayed at their most colourful. At this point the project came alive for me. I had at my disposal a cast of damaged, brilliant, eccentric and sometimes downright frightening characters. From there on, it was a pleasure to be in their company.
Getting the book published, though, was another story.
October 13, 2014
Making A Novel Exist
It is always strange being asked to chair discussions about a book you wrote. I have never failed to be surprised by the questions the audience most want answered. I suppose it is intriguing- how did a book come from nothing, a mere idea, to ending up in the shops? At what point does an idea become a valid, existing entity? To research my novel Letters from Yelena I conducted years of research, and travelled to Russia to gain insights into the carefully guarded lives of the ballerinas there. I was one of the first English people to be allowed complete access to the world's most famous ballet school, The Vaganova. At times it felt like the novel would not be finished, and I simply would never get the information I needed. In this discussion group I discuss how I wrote a novel which, to my surprise, ended up adapted as a play, reaching a Bestseller in Fiction List, and used as GCSE training material. I hope it will be helpful for anyone who is writing, or planning to write a book.
http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/leg...
http://www.legendtimesgroup.co.uk/leg...
November 28, 2012
The Next Big Thing
I was honoured to be tagged by Ruth Dugdall, one of my favourite authors, for the 'Next Big Thing' blog-hop. Here are my answers to the questions asked-
What is the working title of your book?
How I Left The National Grid
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I have always been fascinated by unsolved disappearances. This book was first inspired by the disappearance of Richey Edwards, the androgynous and fiercely intelligent lyricist of the Manic Street Preachers who one day vanished into thin air. A fascination for individuals like him made me want to write a book in which someone tracks down a musician who has purposely retreated into the cracks of society. I have long had a passion for post-punk music and it struck me early on that undertaking this book for a Creative Writing PhD would give me the chance to explore this interest. It also gave me the opportunity though to explore the nature of the modern age and what hiding places, if any, it still affords us. As I have begun the book in the course of my research a passion for psycho-geography and an interest in performativity has also informed its development.
What genre does your book fall under?
There is still a bit of a question mark around this. At present the book would class as literary fiction about music (because the novel is about a man hunting down the reclusive singer of a post-punk band called The National Grid- who never existed). However, as the book is being undertaken as a PhD the quality and realization of its research component is key. So far the research has concerned how musicians impart personal meaning through the ways their songs are performed. I have also been looking into modern architecture to gain an understanding of how the modern age was constructed, and therefore how one can vanish into the ether it generates. I suspect these interests may make the book harder to classify in time.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Someone who does not come with any baggage. When I see Martin Freeman playing a hobbit it just makes me think ‘why is Tim from The Office hunting for a mystical ring? Shouldn’t he be at his desk?’ I would want to give someone a chance to make an impact on the public consciousness by playing the main role. That is why films such as ‘Control’ and ‘This Is England’ are such a success. They allow us to suspend disbelief.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A man tries to rectify his failed career by tracking down a reclusive and eccentric post-punk rock star, without realizing what he is getting himself in to.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I haven’t written the first draft. I am about two thirds of the way into it.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Ben Myers’ ‘Richard’ and Paul Auster’s ‘The Locked Room’ from ‘The New York Trilogy’. Any books which are about how essentially unknowable people are.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Firstly Richey Edwards but after that the writing of Simon Reynolds, who in ‘Rip It Up And Start Again’ showed me how many exciting and ambitious ideas were disseminated during the post-punk era. This led me to create a fictional band for the purposes of the book, who were allegedly active in the Factory Records music scene of late eighties Manchester. The main character however was very much influenced by Lee Mavers from The La’s, Mark E Smith from The Fall and Gary Numan, whose dystopian visions inform the novel. I was also influenced by authors who’ve invented artistic back catalogues for their characters in the course of their novels. People like Siri Hustvedt in ‘What I Loved’.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The book is not a simple quest novel. It will hopefully interest people with a passion for post-punk music, Factory Records era Manchester, psycho geography and modern architecture. That is if it ever gets finished.
With thanks to @RuthDugdall- who sent The Next Big Thing Questions to me.
What is the working title of your book?
How I Left The National Grid
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I have always been fascinated by unsolved disappearances. This book was first inspired by the disappearance of Richey Edwards, the androgynous and fiercely intelligent lyricist of the Manic Street Preachers who one day vanished into thin air. A fascination for individuals like him made me want to write a book in which someone tracks down a musician who has purposely retreated into the cracks of society. I have long had a passion for post-punk music and it struck me early on that undertaking this book for a Creative Writing PhD would give me the chance to explore this interest. It also gave me the opportunity though to explore the nature of the modern age and what hiding places, if any, it still affords us. As I have begun the book in the course of my research a passion for psycho-geography and an interest in performativity has also informed its development.
What genre does your book fall under?
There is still a bit of a question mark around this. At present the book would class as literary fiction about music (because the novel is about a man hunting down the reclusive singer of a post-punk band called The National Grid- who never existed). However, as the book is being undertaken as a PhD the quality and realization of its research component is key. So far the research has concerned how musicians impart personal meaning through the ways their songs are performed. I have also been looking into modern architecture to gain an understanding of how the modern age was constructed, and therefore how one can vanish into the ether it generates. I suspect these interests may make the book harder to classify in time.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Someone who does not come with any baggage. When I see Martin Freeman playing a hobbit it just makes me think ‘why is Tim from The Office hunting for a mystical ring? Shouldn’t he be at his desk?’ I would want to give someone a chance to make an impact on the public consciousness by playing the main role. That is why films such as ‘Control’ and ‘This Is England’ are such a success. They allow us to suspend disbelief.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A man tries to rectify his failed career by tracking down a reclusive and eccentric post-punk rock star, without realizing what he is getting himself in to.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I haven’t written the first draft. I am about two thirds of the way into it.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Ben Myers’ ‘Richard’ and Paul Auster’s ‘The Locked Room’ from ‘The New York Trilogy’. Any books which are about how essentially unknowable people are.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Firstly Richey Edwards but after that the writing of Simon Reynolds, who in ‘Rip It Up And Start Again’ showed me how many exciting and ambitious ideas were disseminated during the post-punk era. This led me to create a fictional band for the purposes of the book, who were allegedly active in the Factory Records music scene of late eighties Manchester. The main character however was very much influenced by Lee Mavers from The La’s, Mark E Smith from The Fall and Gary Numan, whose dystopian visions inform the novel. I was also influenced by authors who’ve invented artistic back catalogues for their characters in the course of their novels. People like Siri Hustvedt in ‘What I Loved’.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
The book is not a simple quest novel. It will hopefully interest people with a passion for post-punk music, Factory Records era Manchester, psycho geography and modern architecture. That is if it ever gets finished.
With thanks to @RuthDugdall- who sent The Next Big Thing Questions to me.
September 1, 2012
Second novel 'Letters from Yelena' published on Amazon Kindle today
'Yelena, a brilliant but flawed Ukrainian ballerina, comes to the UK to fulfil her dreams and dance in one of ballet's most prestigious roles: Giselle. While researching content for his new book, Yelena meets Noah, and here begins a journey of discovery.Life takes an unexpected turn, and the two write letters in which they try to provide a blueprint of their lives and find their way back to each other. But during this process, Yelena visits the darkest corners of her life and, before she knows it, her past begins to catch up with her in ways she can't control. A dark, intricate labyrinth, Letters from Yelena explores the depths of one woman's own inner torment, the extremes to which we can be taken, and whether or not there is a way out.'
Available on Kindle from today- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-From-...
'Yelena' has more emotional and intellectual depth in a chapter than the entirety of The Black Swan. Instead it harks back to something like the visual masterpiece of The Red Shoes; romantic, dark, uncompromising, and beautiful' Hanna Jameson- author of 'Something You Are'
‘It’s unusual to find a young male writer who can write with such sensitivity and maturity. This is clearly a writer of great talent.’ Andrew Crumey, Booker Prize longlisted author.
Available on Kindle from today- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-From-...
'Yelena' has more emotional and intellectual depth in a chapter than the entirety of The Black Swan. Instead it harks back to something like the visual masterpiece of The Red Shoes; romantic, dark, uncompromising, and beautiful' Hanna Jameson- author of 'Something You Are'
‘It’s unusual to find a young male writer who can write with such sensitivity and maturity. This is clearly a writer of great talent.’ Andrew Crumey, Booker Prize longlisted author.
April 25, 2012
Publication of 'Letters from Yelena'
I’m very pleased to announce that the publication and acquisition of world rights for my second novel ‘Letters from Yelena’ has just been announced by Legend Press. It is due for release on 01/10/12.
Although in many ways the journey with this book is clearly only beginning, it hasn’t been at all an easy ride to get to this point. The book has taken me on many twists and turns, and each twist and turn has only taken it into an even darker place.
The idea for the book first came to me during a coffee break whilst at work- on an A4 pad I scratched out an idea for a ballerina who, during her whole lifetime, was only able to open up in the letters she wrote to one reclusive author. Soon many questions about her came flooding thick and fast to me. Why exactly was she writing to him? Why did she struggle to open up to anyone? How had the two of them got to know of each other in the first place? And these questions soon opened up entirely new areas of possibility. I decided she had to have come from somewhere remote in Eastern Europe- probably the Ukraine- before for some reason moving to England. As the grandson of a Polish immigrant I wanted to bring in some of the issues surrounding immigration that I had been told about as a child. But first I had to get to the heart of why Yelena had felt so removed, so isolated, in a way that transcended even cultural boundaries and time.
I firmly believe that art at its most functional becomes so much more than an accessory, and it can become the actual furniture of one’s life, around which we navigate our existence. And with no one is this truer than with Yelena. Ballet is her way of finally entering into communion with the world- of expressing all of her frustrated beliefs in a better life, as well as all her most potent, intoxicating fears. She doesn’t just fight to express what has happened to her in the past- she also fights to express what she fears will happen to her in the future. The darkness of her childhood, and her constant struggle to open herself up despite her incredible gifts only makes her eventual expression all the more dramatic. But the story is not that simple- fortunately and unfortunately there is far more too it than that. This book is intended to ask questions about exactly how we live, how we open ourselves up, how we struggle to develop a consistent perception of ourselves as we move through such an unpredictable world. How we help ourselves by connecting with people, but how we can also hurt ourselves if we’re not careful too.
Writing this novel I was admittedly taken to limits that I had never been near before. It was all very well deciding to write a book about a dancer who trained in Russia, but finding a way to go there and meet the necessary people in a meaningful way was something else entirely. In so doing I met some of the most interesting and talented people I have ever encountered. I was extremely fortunate enough to be able to interview Isabella McGuire Mayes, who's the only British ballerina to ever be accepted into the Vaganova Academy- probably the most prestigious ballet school in the world. At every stage I was trying to track down my main character who I knew only existed in the recesses of my mind. I’d meet one ballerina who had aspects of Yelena about her, but then she’d contradict an aspect I was looking for and so I’d be off again, searching for her somewhere else. Pretentious as it might sound even now, with the book completed, I feel she is in some ways just as mysterious to me as she ever was. I feel just as enamoured, admiring and unsettled by her as I have ever been. Having told her story the next stage is to work out how to present her to the world- even though she is probably less able to compromise than any character I have written before. Although at the point the book is published she’ll no longer be under my complete control hopefully she’ll take on another existence when people begin to read about her life. I’ll be interested to see how.
Please please pre-order the book from Amazon from the link below if you think it sounds interesting
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-Yelen...
Although in many ways the journey with this book is clearly only beginning, it hasn’t been at all an easy ride to get to this point. The book has taken me on many twists and turns, and each twist and turn has only taken it into an even darker place.
The idea for the book first came to me during a coffee break whilst at work- on an A4 pad I scratched out an idea for a ballerina who, during her whole lifetime, was only able to open up in the letters she wrote to one reclusive author. Soon many questions about her came flooding thick and fast to me. Why exactly was she writing to him? Why did she struggle to open up to anyone? How had the two of them got to know of each other in the first place? And these questions soon opened up entirely new areas of possibility. I decided she had to have come from somewhere remote in Eastern Europe- probably the Ukraine- before for some reason moving to England. As the grandson of a Polish immigrant I wanted to bring in some of the issues surrounding immigration that I had been told about as a child. But first I had to get to the heart of why Yelena had felt so removed, so isolated, in a way that transcended even cultural boundaries and time.
I firmly believe that art at its most functional becomes so much more than an accessory, and it can become the actual furniture of one’s life, around which we navigate our existence. And with no one is this truer than with Yelena. Ballet is her way of finally entering into communion with the world- of expressing all of her frustrated beliefs in a better life, as well as all her most potent, intoxicating fears. She doesn’t just fight to express what has happened to her in the past- she also fights to express what she fears will happen to her in the future. The darkness of her childhood, and her constant struggle to open herself up despite her incredible gifts only makes her eventual expression all the more dramatic. But the story is not that simple- fortunately and unfortunately there is far more too it than that. This book is intended to ask questions about exactly how we live, how we open ourselves up, how we struggle to develop a consistent perception of ourselves as we move through such an unpredictable world. How we help ourselves by connecting with people, but how we can also hurt ourselves if we’re not careful too.
Writing this novel I was admittedly taken to limits that I had never been near before. It was all very well deciding to write a book about a dancer who trained in Russia, but finding a way to go there and meet the necessary people in a meaningful way was something else entirely. In so doing I met some of the most interesting and talented people I have ever encountered. I was extremely fortunate enough to be able to interview Isabella McGuire Mayes, who's the only British ballerina to ever be accepted into the Vaganova Academy- probably the most prestigious ballet school in the world. At every stage I was trying to track down my main character who I knew only existed in the recesses of my mind. I’d meet one ballerina who had aspects of Yelena about her, but then she’d contradict an aspect I was looking for and so I’d be off again, searching for her somewhere else. Pretentious as it might sound even now, with the book completed, I feel she is in some ways just as mysterious to me as she ever was. I feel just as enamoured, admiring and unsettled by her as I have ever been. Having told her story the next stage is to work out how to present her to the world- even though she is probably less able to compromise than any character I have written before. Although at the point the book is published she’ll no longer be under my complete control hopefully she’ll take on another existence when people begin to read about her life. I’ll be interested to see how.
Please please pre-order the book from Amazon from the link below if you think it sounds interesting
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-Yelen...
September 28, 2011
Inspiration in the strangest places
I often feel like a bit of a fraud when people ask me who my favourite writers are. They seem to be a small, insular crowd which people don’t particularly associate with literary prowess. It seems slightly disingenuous to say that my greatest influences have been records. I’m always attracted to works in which the listener can be drawn in by three or four rich threads. For instance, in Siri Hustvedt’s wonderful novel What I Loved, I found myself enraptured by four or five circling themes that rose recurrently like distant riffs. The idea of faded romance, the way art reveals the psyche of its creator, the vertigo in trying to reign in someone who always remains unknowable, even to themselves.
Giving the audience that room is something that in my own writing I’m always trying to achieve. Paul Auster has written eloquently about how he intends his books to ultimately give the reader room to find themselves in. It is perhaps just something I have just found it easier to do with records.
The Cures Disintegration is one example. It was Robert Smiths last attempt to create a masterpiece before he turned thirty. It’s a textured album full of washing synths and chattering drum patterns, stately and textured. Various songs concern broken bonds, missed opportunities, belated realisations. This world of regret, and to some degree indulgence, must not be to everyone’s taste. But I suspect such works are given potency because those unexpressed emotions can never find a place in the real world. But if captured on a record or on the page, they find a home where we can revisit them at will.
PJ Harvey’s often overlooked album ‘Is This Desire?’ was the first work which did this for me. She was the first person I’d known who didn’t sing about love in a saccharine, clichéd way. She sang about love as a complex, liberating, and often painful experience. The album is rich with elusive female characters, objects of desire living in exile, irrevocably tarnished by their obsessive love. The Angelene of the title track is ‘the prettiest mess you’ve ever seen’. One Catherine de Barra is ‘the patron saint of nothing’. The backdrop depicts nature at its most beautiful and bleak; a place where biblical characters persist in seeking redemption. That album taught me that through a character it was possible not only to make mouthpieces for your own emotions, but that you could also find yourself within their enclosed worlds. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that after hearing that album I tend to depict women empowered by the rules they have adopted in their life, wherever it takes them. Such albums remind me that like, life art, does not follow a linear narrative. It persists as a complex pool of interlinked themes that rise and fall like waves.
Giving the audience that room is something that in my own writing I’m always trying to achieve. Paul Auster has written eloquently about how he intends his books to ultimately give the reader room to find themselves in. It is perhaps just something I have just found it easier to do with records.
The Cures Disintegration is one example. It was Robert Smiths last attempt to create a masterpiece before he turned thirty. It’s a textured album full of washing synths and chattering drum patterns, stately and textured. Various songs concern broken bonds, missed opportunities, belated realisations. This world of regret, and to some degree indulgence, must not be to everyone’s taste. But I suspect such works are given potency because those unexpressed emotions can never find a place in the real world. But if captured on a record or on the page, they find a home where we can revisit them at will.
PJ Harvey’s often overlooked album ‘Is This Desire?’ was the first work which did this for me. She was the first person I’d known who didn’t sing about love in a saccharine, clichéd way. She sang about love as a complex, liberating, and often painful experience. The album is rich with elusive female characters, objects of desire living in exile, irrevocably tarnished by their obsessive love. The Angelene of the title track is ‘the prettiest mess you’ve ever seen’. One Catherine de Barra is ‘the patron saint of nothing’. The backdrop depicts nature at its most beautiful and bleak; a place where biblical characters persist in seeking redemption. That album taught me that through a character it was possible not only to make mouthpieces for your own emotions, but that you could also find yourself within their enclosed worlds. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that after hearing that album I tend to depict women empowered by the rules they have adopted in their life, wherever it takes them. Such albums remind me that like, life art, does not follow a linear narrative. It persists as a complex pool of interlinked themes that rise and fall like waves.
