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Live Event with Stuart Ayris - 18th of October 2012 at 7.30pm
Stuart wrote: "I firmly believe that we are all heaven and therefore we are all angels. Absolutely. "If we are, why are there angel angels in TBTNS?
Steve wrote: "Hi Stu!I hope you're having a great evening.
If you had to pick a book you wished you'd written, what would it be?"
Hi Steve!
Great question. I think it would have to be either Ask The Dust by John Fante or Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac. Both are harrowingly honest, beautifully and originally written and make me look at the world in a different way. I shall always aspire to write such books!
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Stuart wrote: "I firmly believe that we are all heaven and therefore we are all angels. Absolutely. "If we are, why are there angel angels in TBTNS?"
But are they angel angels??? The truth about the angels comes clear about two thirds of the way in...
Stuart wrote: "Steve wrote: "Hi Stu!I hope you're having a great evening.
If you had to pick a book you wished you'd written, what would it be?"
Hi Steve!
Great question. I think it would have to be either A..."
Thanks Stu. I might have known it would be something I'd never heard of. I'm off to Amazon to look them up now. :o)
Steve wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Steve wrote: "Hi Stu!I hope you're having a great evening.
If you had to pick a book you wished you'd written, what would it be?"
Hi Steve!
Great question. I think it would have..."
Good man!
Stuart wrote: "The truth about the angels comes clear about two thirds of the way in... "Poo, haven't got far enough yet obviously ! So I have to expect a twist in the plot then?
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Stuart wrote: "The truth about the angels comes clear about two thirds of the way in... "Poo, haven't got far enough yet obviously ! So I have to expect a twist in the plot then?"
Indeed!!
Hi Stu! How much do you think your present life and work and who you know now affects your writing? Or has everything really just been building up layers on layers since you started...
Here's another one from Mago :)Are you or have you ever been a Buddhist?
Rosemary wrote: "Hi Stu! How much do you think your present life and work and who you know now affects your writing? Or has everything really just been building up layers on layers since you started..."Excellent question (not that I'm rating them!)
I think A Cleansing of Souls was very much affected by my early twenties life. Tollesbury Time Forever I wrote after receiving a final written warning at work very much as a way of exploring my beliefs and values (obviously having written it I realised I had been right all along!) The Bird that Nobody Sees is I think me at the moment. Whilst writing it I felt content, confident and willing to experiment. You have to bear in mind it was the first thing I wrote that I knew at least one person might read. The next book (the final one of the Trilogy) will be different still I think - more confident, more experimental and entirely me!
Do you already know what book 3 is going to be about?
Rosemary wrote: "Hi Stu! How much do you think your present life and work and who you know now affects your writing? Or has everything really just been building up layers on layers since you started..."I would also say that my views on others are exactly the same now as when I was a road sweeper in Romford Town Centre. 15 years of being a psychiatric nurse haven't changed that at all.
Katy wrote: "Who is your biggest 'fan'? (:"I can answer this one ! IGNITE !
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Here's another one from Mago :)Are you or have you ever been a Buddhist?"
I wouldn't profess to having any single set of beliefs. I certainly don't practice a religion (not that I consider Buddhism to be a religion) but I have a huge respect for those that treat others with unconditional love, kindness and forgiveness. I guess in the books I have read on Buddhism these views have been corroborated. And I'm not shaving my head for anyone! ; )
Stu, when I started writing in earnest, I set up a hammock in my garden and ate Mars ice creams while I wrote. It didn't last of course because writing is serious stuff and that was all just romantic notion, but I look back on that time with great fondness.Anyway... I was wondering where you do most of your writing, and whether you have, or have had, a special place to write - and if so what made it special?
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Katy wrote: "Who is your biggest 'fan'? (:"I can answer this one ! IGNITE !"
I should say my wife but she hasn't finished any of my books. Then I don't eat what she cooks...
I bumped into a bloke in The King's Head in Tollesbury last night who claimed he was my biggest fan. He bought me two pints so I reckon he's proved it!
Stuart wrote: "I bumped into a bloke in The King's Head in Tollesbury last night who claimed he was my biggest fan. He bought me two pints so I reckon he's proved it! "That was your brother, wasn't it? :o))
Steve wrote: "Stu, when I started writing in earnest, I set up a hammock in my garden and ate Mars ice creams while I wrote. It didn't last of course because writing is serious stuff and that was all just roman..."I write in the spare bedroom. We're a little pushed for space so the monitor and the keyboard are basically on separate shelves on the book case. Rightly or wrongly I always write with a glass of something handy. I'm still in the romantic notion phase and hope ever to be there. What makes it special? Well I have a little statuette beside the monitor of Leela from Futurama. She's gorgeous!
How did you come to get Mrs Ayris to do the covers? Was it something you'd planned all along, like "I'm writing the book you're doing the cover" or was it just a eureka moment and it happened?
Steve wrote: "Stuart wrote: "Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Katy wrote: "Who is your biggest 'fan'? (:"I can answer this one ! IGNITE !"
I should say my wife but she hasn't finished any of my books. T..."
Nope - some bloke called Bill. Top man!
Your surroundings seem to have a great influence on you. The village of Tollesbury was simply infused through TTF. What is it about that place that has affected you so? If you'd been living somewhere else would the book have been very different, do you think?
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "How did you come to get Mrs Ayris to do the covers? Was it something you'd planned all along, like "I'm writing the book you're doing the cover" or was it just a eureka moment and it happened?"The cover for Tollesbury Time Forever is actually part of a larger painting that Rebecca did several years ago. I photographed it, scanned it into the computer, cut a piece out of it and stretched it - hence the distorted view. When I showed her the cover she was eager to be involved! The cover of The Bird That Nobody Sees - the legs part - was painted from a photo I took of her legs when she wasn't looking (well she rarely wears short skirts so you can't blame a man for taking an opportunity!)
Hi Stu!I happen to know you've been dabbling in short stories this year, alongside your novel work. Can you tell us how you approach writing a short story, in comparison to writing a novel?
Rosemary wrote: "Your surroundings seem to have a great influence on you. The village of Tollesbury was simply infused through TTF. What is it about that place that has affected you so? If you'd been living somewhe..."I just can't tell you how wonderful Tollesbury is. We moved there by accident eight years ago when we needed somewhere to live in a hurry (now that's another story!) and I fell in love with it immediately. I felt I'd come home, like I'd been here forever. On the sign at the head of the village that says Welcome to Tollesbury there is some writing that you have to get real close to see that says: Please turn your watch back 200 years. And that sign was put up by the council! If I'd been living somewhere else I would never have written the book. If I'd been somewhere else I really dread what would have become of me. I was pretty messed up before coming here!
Firing another of Mago's question, but beforehand, please don't forget to answer Steve's question - message 67 :) You're doing great at keeping up though :)Mago: Why is Oscar Wilde Mild so tasty and yet only 3.8%?
If you could make a living from writing would you give up the 'day job'?
Luca wrote: "Hi Stu!I happen to know you've been dabbling in short stories this year, alongside your novel work. Can you tell us how you approach writing a short story, in comparison to writing a novel?"
Hi Luca you fine fellow! To be honest I approach them in identical ways the only difference being I know how the novel is going to end. I always write the ending first. With short stories I begin with a line that takes my fancy, maybe a paragraph, and see what happens. The ones I have written have taken about half an hour to write. I write and sip and write and gulp and it's done!
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Firing another of Mago's question, but beforehand, please don't forget to answer Steve's question - message 67 :) You're doing great at keeping up though :)Mago: Why is Oscar Wilde Mild so tasty ..."
Steve's question was answered, Lorraine (: message 70 x
Stuart wrote: "I write and sip and write and gulp and it's done! "You make writing sound so easy !
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Firing another of Mago's question, but beforehand, please don't forget to answer Steve's question - message 67 :) You're doing great at keeping up though :)Mago: Why is Oscar Wilde Mild so tasty ..."
A wonderful question. Whenever I have drunk it it has very much been as a pallet cleanser. I will typically order a pint of mild every third or fourth pint to slow me down. It's an art I tell you!
Oh yeah thanks Katy ! You're obviously more on the ball than I am ! Should have opted for coffee instead of green tea !
Philip (sarah) wrote: "If you could make a living from writing would you give up the 'day job'?"Absolutely I would. It doesn't feel right to get paid for what I do. I'd rather earn enough money off the writing to live a frugal life and help people for nothing.
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Oh yeah thanks Katy ! You're obviously more on the ball than I am ! Should have opted for coffee instead of green tea !"You're doing a great job, Lorraine! I may be keeping up tonight, but I never would have been able to put it all together!
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Stuart wrote: "I write and sip and write and gulp and it's done! "You make writing sound so easy !"
But then you would probably make walking look easy. I struggle with that!
Lol, when I read the question about the Oscar Wilde Mild I thought Mago was talking about some kind of cheese with 3.8% fat !
Thanks Katy, it's no big deal you know !
Stuart wrote: "I write and sip and write and gulp and it's done! ""Believe me I have problems with that too !
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Thanks Katy, it's no big deal you know !"It is, Lorraine! The group loves you for taking time out to set up these live events! (:
Stu - Have you always like writing? or is it something you did when you were unemployed?
Next question from Mago:Why did you change the name of the main character in TTF?
And one from me: Why do you write? To express yourself, to escape... I guess the job is stressful (although I don't think I've ever seen anyone seeming as laid back as you are - talking about the job because I don't know much about your life)... is it a way of coping, or is it just something you've wanted to do?
PS: Thanks Katy mwah x
Katy wrote: "Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Thanks Katy, it's no big deal you know !"It is, Lorraine! The group loves you for taking time out to set up these live events! (:
Stu - Have you always lik..."
It was the only thing I ever felt comfortable doing. My school attendance was pretty wayward as I worked at Romford Market from the age of about 13. The English O level course was mainly just stories - I'd get the theme, do the story give it in and that was it. I ended up with a grade A to go along with a C in French Literature and.....nothing else!
I have always adored reading so I guess it was inevitable that I would seek to address the weirdness of my life by writing!
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "Next question from Mago:Why did you change the name of the main character in TTF?"
The original name of the main character was Simon Gregory. Completely made up. The novel came out in January 2012 then, in March 2012 I got a knock on the door. A rather distraught man came in claiming that he would have to move out of the village because everyone thought he was an alcoholic with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. His name was Simon Gregory - a thousand people in this village - what are the chances!!! So I told him I would change the name!
Do you and your brother have competitions when it comes to writing? (:
What's your favourite part of the writing process, Stu?
Lorraine - Lover of Jellybeans wrote: "And one from me: Why do you write? To express yourself, to escape... I guess the job is stressful (although I don't think I've ever seen anyone seeming as laid back as you are - talking about the..."
To be honest I write because I think I'm good at it. I have no idea about grammar or comprehension. I make up my own words and I love the musicality that certain words put together make. It's like a wonderful outlet of my own devising. It's such fun!!! I don't see the job as stressful. Where is the stress in having the opportunity to help others? I would say though that linesmen and referees cause me no end of stress at the football. It's a different level entirely!
Hi Stu.Hope you're keeping well, mate. Just popping my head out of the chaos of my life to ask you a little question. I know you love all that brilliant Victorian literature stuff, and just wondered, if any of that great stuff influences your writing. Also, if you could compare yourself to one of the nineteenth century literati, who would it be :)
Have a great night, Stu. Off to bath the kids.
Speak to you soon,
Ian :)
Katy wrote: "Do you and your brother have competitions when it comes to writing? (:"Not at all. We are very peaceful people who are genuinely pleased that each of us has found some form of expression (very different though it is!)
Steve wrote: "What's your favourite part of the writing process, Stu?"When you read back the next morning what you've drunken scrawled the night before and realise it has merit. That is wonderful!
I hope you're having a great evening.
If you had to pick a book you wished you'd written, what would it be?