The trials. The tribulations. The blood, sweat and beers of fiction writing
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
THE ART OF DISTRACTION
This took about an hour to make. Much fun. Time much better spent writing.
7 comments:
Mark A
said...
Tom, you clearly have too much time on your hands! Tell me is the hair-washing excuse one that you have used or are you its recipient? The book is fantastic though; I would like to add my recommendation to any would-be readers.
Totally brilliant, Tom. I love it! And it's all I can do to stop myself from playing with this site now instead of researching about paedophilia -- don't ask :-)
An award-winning writer living in south-west England, my short story collection, The Method, won the inaugural Scott Prize in 2010 and, in 2011, the Edge Hill Readers' Prize. Debut novel, What Lies Within, published by Headline. Lectures in Creative Writing and represented by A.M. Heath. More here.
'As unsettling as it is minutely imagined, this striking debut novel will give serious pause for thought to anyone considering downsizing for a cosy life in the countryside.' Patrick Gale
'Taut and compelling, you won't just read this book, you'll devour it.' Alex Preston
'Much more than crime fiction, 'What Lies Within' is unique not just for its sharp psychological insights, but for the moral engine that drives the plot: a deep respect for, and anger on behalf of, women.' Melissa Harrison 'A finely achieved work, provocative and brave.' Graham Mort 'A powerful and unsettling book.' Jen Campbell
‘Gothic wit and cracking dialogue grounded in the author's genuine sympathy for his characters. A seriously gifted debut.' Mike McCormack
‘Talent is here.’ Gerard Donovan
‘These stories are sensational. Beautifully written, impeccably timed. Vowler’s characters live with heightened sensitivity, as if in the wake of some disaster. Then you realise that they are, but then that we all are. Where an object, a gesture, a memory, takes on painful, beautiful resonance, as it should be, all the time.’ Luke Kennard
'The Method is stunning. Writing doesn't get better.' Nicola Morgan
‘Vowler's characters hurtle merrily towards self-annihilation so that we don't have to. The kind of book you read in tongue-sticking-out tension, your patience rewarded as he takes turn after salacious turn.’ Wena Poon
‘You explore a difficult subject with considerable imagination. From the opening quotes it is intriguing and you have been clever in capturing and retaining the reader’s attention.’ Michael Barnard
'Emotionally powerful.' Susie Maguire
'I admired the sheer style of the writing, as well as the wryness and authority of the narrative voice. I kept reading out of admiration for the prose.' Will Atkins
'Some of the best comic writing I've read.' Patrick Holland
'A writer of extraordinary talent and perception.' Jane Smith
‘Vowler is not afraid to be new, to be dangerous with it and flaunt his talent. Composed beautifully and saturated with insight and compassion.’ The Short Review
Sagacity
Write a little each day, without hope and without despair.
'The first draft of anything is shit.' Hemingway
'Writing a book is like a long bout of painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if not driven by some demon.' Orwell
'The novelist’s job is to say what other people won’t say, and take the consequences.' Gerard Donovan
Thinking about writing is not writing. Talking about writing is not writing. Blogging about writing is not writing. Only writing is writing.
7 comments:
Tom, you clearly have too much time on your hands! Tell me is the hair-washing excuse one that you have used or are you its recipient? The book is fantastic though; I would like to add my recommendation to any would-be readers.
I'll email you my ironing.
Always the recipient, Mark. Can't think why.
Rachel, they say you should try everything once, except anal sex and country dancing. I'll add ironing to that.
Totally brilliant, Tom. I love it! And it's all I can do to stop myself from playing with this site now instead of researching about paedophilia -- don't ask :-)
Sue, I won't.
As displacement activities go, that was a good'un, Tom!
"Is that the time?" Love that line.
And I'm happy to report that I'm really enjoying your collection thus far. Worth the wait, my man.
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