Posts Tagged ‘Non-fiction’
Toby Young – A Master of nothing?
Toby Young, author of How To Lose Friends and Alienate People
To celebrate the DVD and Blu-Ray release of ‘How To Lose Friends and Alienate People’, The Scribbler talks to the author of the book that became one of the funniest movies of last year.
In an exclusive interview Toby Young talks about how he got into writing, what nurtured his talent and how the transformation from book to film transpired.
Enjoy our little chat with one of the most sought after writers of the twenty-first century below and leave a comment:
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THE SCRIBBLER: When, where and how did you first discover your flair for writing, and how was it nurtured early on?
TOBY YOUNG: Both my parents were published authors so, for me, writing a book wasn’t a particularly huge leap. Growing up, it was always something I thought I’d do. In addition, my father was always quite encouraging. From a very early age he used to tell me that I was a natural writer.
TS: What was it about working on The Danube that drove you to follow a career in journalism when you were, at the time, studying very different subjects?
TY: I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics as a student — a subject known as PPE — and that is considered a typical degree for a journalist to take. I think a more pertinent question is why I didn’t go into current affairs journalism, why I tend to do the softer, more personal stuff, and that was something I fell into by accident. It was just easier to get published on the features page than the op ed page and, having come up that route, that’s the path I’m still on. But as I get older I find myself drifting more towards news and current affairs.
TS: You mentioned that as you get older you feel drawn to current affairs, how has that transition in writing styles and subjects been for you?
TY: I just mean that I enjoy appearing on programmes like Newsnight and Question Time – not that it happens very often!
'The Sound of No Hands Clapping'
TS: Can you describe the move you made from journalism to fiction writing? What differences exist between the two disciplines in terms of having to change your methods? Did you come across any difficulties and how did you overcome them?
TY: I’ve published very little fiction. My two books – ‘How To Lose Friends and Alienate
People’ and ‘The Sound of No Hands Clapping’ – are both non-fiction.
TS: While your two books are non-fiction some creativity must have gone into them, even if it was just finding ways of making scenes sound as colourful as possible. How did you approach writing books like that? Are they not just mammoth features?
TY: I’ve read quite a few books on screenwriting and done Robert McKee’s screenwriting course a couple of times. I found that very helpful when it came to writing books. I think the principals of storytelling are universal, regardless of whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction.
'How To Lose Friends and Alienate People'
TS: How did ‘How To Lose Friends and Alienate People’ come about? Can you briefly describe the writing process of such an auto-biographical book. Was it as much fun writing it as it is reading it?
TY: I worked on the proposal for ‘How To Lose Friends’ for a couple of years, but, after I’d sold the book on the back of that, it only took me about six months to write. I’m not sure “fun” is the right word to use. Hunter S Thompson said, “I suspect writing is a bit like fucking, which is only fun for amateurs. Old whores don’t do much giggling.”
TS: To the majority of readers it would appear you’ve led quite the lifestyle. How do you intent to follow your two books? Do you think you’ll have to turn to fiction to convey the same messages and humour?
TY: Well, my life is certainly less exciting now that I’m married and have four children. I want to write more fiction, but it’s hard finding the time between all my other commitments.
TS: During the film making process of HTLF&AP was it difficult to let some of the book go in the production reasons? How much input did you have in the process?
TY: No, I didn’t find that at all difficult. William Goldman, the novelist and screenwriter, once told me that a writer has to learn how to murder his babies, but that came naturally to me. The producers of the film were initially a little wary of me because they thought I’d fight to preserve every last scene in the book, but when they realized I wasn’t going to do that they were much more open to my suggestions. I knew that if the book was going to be turned into a film it would have to be very different.
TS: Are you happy with the finished piece? Has is inspired you to do a bit of screenwriting?
TY: Yes, very happy. It’s a very entertaining film. On the screenwriting front, I caught that bug about twenty-five years ago and I’m still plugging away. Being involved in the making of a film hasn’t put me off in the slightest.
TS: As the hype over HTLF&AP the movie pipes up again with the release of the DVD what are your plans for the future?
TY: I’d like to keep writing books, plays, movie scripts, etc, but be paid a lot more for doing it.
TS: You’re a bit of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to writing. Which discipline do you enjoy dabbling in the most and why?
TY: I like comedy writing the best, particularly devising comic scenes. If you can pull that off, it’s very satisfying, particularly when you hear people laughing in the theatre or the cinema.
TS: I was able to contact you quite freely without having to go through publicists or PR. Do you usually work with them? For the budding writers out there, what are the pros and cons of working with such professionals?
TY: I worked with a PR company on How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, but generally speaking I don’t. As far as I can tell, the only advantage of forcing people who want to interview you to go through a PR company is that they take you more seriously.
TS: The Scribbler is dedicated to inspiring and advising would-be writers to get their material published. What is the best piece of advice you could give them, or you have ever been given concerning your work?
TY: When I was about 19 I bumped into Clive James at an airport and told him what a big fan I was of ‘Unreliable Memoirs’. He reciprocated by giving me a piece of advice that I’ve found very useful: Keep it personal. The important thing is to find your own voice, to write in a style that is unique to you. Once you can do that, the rest is easy.
TS: Just how personal are you prepared to go in your writing? How much of yourself do you dare put into your work?
TY: I like to think I’m pretty open and honest, but it is easy to delude yourself about just how open and honest you’re being. That is to say, many people who write about themselves and their reactions to things claim to feel what they think they ought to feel, but which, in reality, they don’t. I don’t think they’re being straightforwardly deceptive – it’s more that the lies they tell themselves spill out on to the page — but it still has the smell of dishonesty about it. The really hard thing about personal writing is to be completely faithful to who you really are and not pretend to be the person you think you ought to be.
TS: What you up to at the moment?
TY: I have a few irons in the fire, but experience has taught me not to talk about anything until you’re ready to unveil it before the public because, so often, these projects come to nothing.
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Find Toby Young in cyberspace:
Watch Toby Young interview Simon Pegg (and vice versa) for The Culture Show below:
Discussion:
Are you a fan of Toby Young’s writing? Does the movie do HTLF&AP justice? Post your views, comments and start discussions in the comments box below.
Words: Dean Samways
Economic downturn makes for unhappy reading
Not even the boy wizard could help Waterstones' profits last year (Waterstones)
Waterstones today announced figures that suggest the book market has been effected by reduced customer spending during the current economic climate.
The retailer’s parent company HMV saw Waterstone’s like-for-like sales drop 3.1% in the 26 weeks between April and 25 October. The comparison showed a 1.4% fall when adjusted for the phenomenal impact of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on 2007’s result.
The report also shows HMV has suffered market deterioration since the end of October which is in line with the well-documented downturn in consumer confidence. It is quoted in saying the book market has seen a ‘marked deterioration’ in the five weeks to 29 November.
Waterstone’s operating loss before exceptional items increased in the first half year to £9.3m from £8.9m in 2007.
According to HMV the book market as a whole shrunk 5% during the period and had been particularly hit by poor performances by non-fiction publications.
What is perhaps more worrying is the continued work with year-on-year losses. Before tax losses for the group were £27.5m, against £28.7m a year earlier.
Of course this doesn’t mean that novel writing has to be unprofitable. Self-publication can be a fantastic way of getting your work read by a wider audience and earning money on the side.
The Scribbler will be looking to publish advice and guidance on the best means of self-publication in early 2009.
Keep it here for all the best news, reviews, features and interviews on the literary industry.
Take a look at a book launch that really should have peaked Waterstones’ profits last year. The irrepressible Russell Brand and his Booky Wook in Waterstone’s Piccadilly:
Discussion:
Has the credit crunch stopped you buying the number of books you would normally like to? Have you resorted to library loans? Aspiring writer? Would you consider self-publication if publishers begin a campaign of turning authors away due to the economic climate? Let us know below.
Words: Dean Samways
Classic literature on a Nintendo?
Is this the new book? The Nintendo DS
Books no longer need be read in the traditional stinging paper-cut inducing way.
We already have e-book readers to turn the electronic pages of our favourite book but now Nintendo are furthering the technological revolution reshaping the publishing industry.
The so-called ‘touch generation’ of Nintendo DS users are pioneering a new concept in videogaming, using the groundbreaking hardware to read classic literature.
A collection of popular novels will be released on 26 December. The DS release will be entitled 100 Classic Book Collection.
Developed in partnership with publishing heavyweight HarperCollins the collection will include classics like Jules Vern’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days as well as tales from legendary detective Sherlock Holmes.
The software also features a brief synopsis of each book and recommends reads based on what mood you are in.
It has been well documented that more books will be available via the DS’ Wi-Fi function. The initial package will set you back the modest fee of £20.
100 Classic Book Collection available on the Nintendo DS on 26 December
Discussion:
The Nintendo Wii has managed to redefine gaming for many users but the question still remains will the 100 classic books collection redefine reading DS users across the globe?
Words: Seamus Swords & Dean Samways
…and the Guardian first book award goes to…
Alex Ross, winner of this years Guardian first book award (Guardian)
The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross was named this year’s Guardian first book at a ceremony in central London last night.
The overwhelmingly in-depth history of 20th century music, embracing classical through to contemporary, was the undisputed winner of the £10 000 first prize.
Chair of the judging panel, Guardian literary editor Claire Armitstead, said: “In some quarters this book has been seen as not having a popular appeal. Our prize – which, uniquely, relies on readers’ groups in the early stages of judging – proves that, on the contrary, there is a huge appetite among readers for clear, serious but accessible books.”
Another judge said: “Where Ross lifts his book above the ‘expert’ and impressive to the ‘good read’ category is in the way he wears his learning lightly, never clutches for false or contrived ways of explaining music, and never dumbs down in order to explain.”
Waterstone’s reading groups up and down the country also helped with the judging process. One member said: “Every time I felt overwhelmed by the technicalities, along came a sublime metaphor or simile that would light up the prose.”
The Guardian’s website describes Ross’ book as ‘a lifetime’s enthusiasm and learning distilled into a rich narrative of musical history, setting the works of Mahler, Schoenberg, John Cage and the rest into their cultural and political contexts – but also giving a vivid sense of what the music he describes actually sounds and feels like’.
It goes on to say: “Of all the artforms, modern and contemporary classical music is often seen as the most rebarbative. Ross brushes aside the mythology of 20th-century music’s “inaccessibility” as he charts its meandering histories. Along the way, fascinating connections are made: hip-hop has more in common with Janacek than you might think; Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin were tennis partners; Gershwin, in turn, was an ardent fan of Alban Berg and kept an autographed photo of the composer of Lulu in his apartment. If there is an overarching idea to the book, it is perhaps contained in Berg’s pronouncement to Gershwin: “Mr Gershwin, music is music”.”
The current music critic of The New Yorker Ross, 40, was born in Washington DC. He was an enthusiastic teenage musician but it wasn’t until studied English and history at Harvard when he became interested in journalism and became a student broadcaster. Ross began writing music criticism after university and was appointed to his current role at The New Yorker in 1996. He also has a blog which he uses to great effect in transmitting his work around the globe.
The media reception of for The Rest is Noise has been phenomenal. The New York Review of Books said: “by far the liveliest and smartest popular introduction yet written to a century of diverse music”. The Economist noted: “No other critic writing in English can so effectively explain why you like a piece, or beguile you to reconsider it, or prompt you to hurry online and buy a recording.”
Former Observer music writer Nicholas Kenyon said: “At a time when people are still talking about 20th-century music as if it were a problem, here is a lucid and entertaining book about what I regard as some of the greatest music ever written. It’s a wonderful way to advance the cause of 20th-century music to an ordinary, intelligent general reader. It’s the ideal mix of enthusiasm and information.”
The judging panel for this year’s Guardian first book award was made up of novelist Roddy Doyle; broadcaster and novelist Francine Stock; poet Daljit Nagra; the historian David Kynaston; novelist Kate Mosse and Guardian deputy editor, Katharine Viner. Stuart Broom of Waterstones‘ spoke as the representative of the retailer’s reading groups.
The other books shortlisted for the award were Mohammed Hanif‘s A Case of Exploding Mangoes; Ross Raisin‘s God’s Own Country; Steve Toltz‘s A Fraction of the Whole (also put forward for the Man Booker prize) and Owen Matthews’s Stalin’s Children.
Previous winners of the prize have most notably included Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters (2005) and Zadie Smith‘s White Teeth (2000).
See Ales Ross talk about The Rest is Noise in an interview below:
Words: Dean Samways
Popular figures on books they just couldn’t put down this year
The Guardian website yesterday published a very interesting article about the favourite books of some of Britain’s top public figures and literature critics.
To celebrate the final month of the year the piece talks to journalists, politicians, broadcasters, military types and many more who, collectively, make a very diverse and colourful cross-section of society. The chosen novels also throw up some intriguing results.
We’ve selected the best celebrity top books for your reading pleasure. To see the entire list click here.
Richard Curtis with fellow bookworm Stephen Fry (BBC)
Richard Curtis – Film director
“Now that Kurt Vonnegut has smoked his last cigarette, John le Carré is my favourite living author. A Most Wanted Man (Hodder & Stoughton) is full of classic le Carré delights – the plots that sneak up on you, the wonderful, compromised Englishmen, the richness of the writing, strangely allied to the feeling that he is just recording documentary fact. When I first started reading le Carré, his middle-aged British men reminded me of my schoolmasters and my father’s friends – now they’ve turned into me.”
Alistair Darling – Chancellor of the Exchequer
“The book I’ve enjoyed most this year is Ian McEwan‘s On Chesil Beach (Vintage). It’s a thoroughly evocative novel from one of the best writers of his generation. Reading it was a great escape from the Treasury.”
General Sir Mike Jackson – Soldier
“The British armed forces are much in the news and it is important that we understand what is being asked of our military. Lieutenant General Sir Hew Pike, one of my oldest comrades-in-arms, knows as much about the human dimension of soldiering as anyone I know, and in From the Front Line (Pen and Sword) he has put together a wonderful description of this human dimension as seen through the letters and diaries of the soldiers of his family over four generations.”
Andrew Marr chews the fat with PM Gordon Brown (BBC)
Andrew Marr – Political journalist
“No question – the non-fiction book of the year is Richard Holmes‘s Age of Wonder (HarperCollins), not only beautifully written, but also kicking open a new perspective on the Romantic age, as scientific and artistic thinking began to diverge. But please let me also mention The Legend of Colton H Bryant (Simon & Schuster) by Alexandra Fuller, which is brilliant, moving and almost a new form – factually true fiction. And for fiction, a newcomer, Andrew Nicholl’s The Good Mayor (Black &White), a story of love, dreaming and loss, magical realism from Scotland. You will not be disappointed.”
David Miliband – Foreign Secretary
“Counselor (HarperCollins) by the late Ted Sorensen, Kennedy‘s long-term adviser and speechwriter, is a reminder of the best instinct of American liberalism. Self-deprecating (which is touching), and in awe of everything JFK (which is less so), it shows how small-town America (in this case Lincoln, Nebraska) can produce people more like Michael Palin than Sarah Palin. Equality, hard graft and the frontier combine to produce something special. Barack Obama inherits its optimism.”
Michael Palin – Actor
“The surprise of the year was a modest gem of a book by Raja Shehadeh, called Palestinian Walks (Profile). Ostensibly a celebration of a lifetime spent walking the hills around Ramallah, Shehadeh’s book is also an elegy for a lost land, and an inventory of a natural environment that has been slowly whittled away by an ever-expanding Israeli state. Shehadeh’s love of his homeland and his naturalist’s eye make for a poetic little book that has big things to say.”
Jeremy Paxman with one of his larger books, we hope (BBC)
Jeremy Paxman – Television presenter
“I’d not expected to like Sebastian Barry‘s The Secret Scripture (Faber), of which I imagine the talkSPORT synopsis might be ‘an old woman inside an Irish loony bin tells her life story’. In fact, I found it mesmerising. It is a simultaneous narrative, in which a doctor attempts to discover why an elderly woman was committed to a Sligo asylum, while she confides her life story to a secret memoir, in which she tells, in intimate and moving detail, how the tides of modern Irish history washed against her life. Climate, countryside and a malignant Catholic priest are all brilliantly rendered. Barry’s prose is brisk and vivid and at times terribly moving.”
John Prescott (blog) – Politician
“What Does China Think? (Fourth Estate) by Mark Leonard is an excellent analysis of the current debate under way in China regarding its future development. An especially important read for all of us concerned about finding global solutions to global problems.”
Kirsty Wark – Television presenter
“Kate Summerscale‘s non-fiction whodunnit The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Bloomsbury) reads like a thriller. She researched a famous murder in 1860, of a three-year-old boy in a country house whose inhabitants were siblings, parents, a governess and servants. But what gave this book such an edge was the author’s meticulous detailing, down to the weather on the day of the murder. Toni Morrison‘s latest novel A Mercy (Chatto) goes back to the 1680s and the chaotic beginnings of slavery. In her vivid story centring on one young slave, Florens, Morrison reveals the tragedy of slavery and how it also involved Native Americans and even whites.”
Vivienne Westwood – Fashion designer
“In The Road (Picador) by Cormac McCarthy – actually published last year – a man and his son are ‘on the road’ in a world where nothing lives except for a few human beings. The two must keep going to find food and to avoid groups of cannibals. This is a story of love so total that it shines like a beacon on our human resources for good. Though harrowing, it’s great literature.”
Toni Morrison also gets a special mention from President-elect Barack Obama as he and John McCain talk about their favourite books in a CBS interview below:
Discussion:
Later on today we will be posting a topic whereby you will be able to discuss your favourite reads of 2008 so be sure to come back for that, but right now let’s have some fun. What famous people would you like to think read what books? For example, the editor would like to think George W. Bush’s favourite book was Where The Wild Things Are (an easy one we know). Post your suggestions below and let’s all have a giggle.
Words: Dean Samways
Guardian First Book Award shortlist announced
The Guardian First Book Award
The shortlist for the Guardian’s First Book Award has been published with an extremely varied bunch of first time authors making the short list.
The award which has a £10 000 cash prize is seen in many literary circles as being unique, not only because it recognises first time writers but also the lengths it goes to to involve reading groups all over the country.
Taking in fiction, non-fiction and poetryu the books range from a 20th century history of music, a memoir of a soviet era romance and a dark story of obsession and violence based in Yorkshire. Others making up the shortlist include a political novel set in Pakistan and a carnivalesque Australian saga.
The shortlist was determined by Waterstones reading groups up-and-down the country who helped narrow down the selection from ten books to just five.
Chairwoman of the award and Guardian Literary Editor Claire Armitstead commended the shortlist saying “these are sophisticated books that require a big investment from the reader – an investment for which they are richly rewarded,” she also commended the books for there “generic inventiveness” and “defiance of easy marketing packagability.”
Previous winners of the award have included Zadie Smith for her novel White Teeth (2003) and Dinaw Mengestu for the Children of The Revolution (2007).
Here’s the five books in contention for this year’s prize:
- The Rest Is Noise – Alex Ross
- Stalin’s Children – Owen Matthews
- God’s Own Country – Ross Raisin
- A Fraction Of The Whole – Steve Toltz
- A Case Of Exploding Mangoes – Mohammed Hanif
The Scribbler will announce the winner of The Guardian Book Award before anyone else right here…although probably not before The Guardian.
Have a look at Ross Raisin’s interview with Olive TV below where he talks about his book Out Backward and answers questions from fans:
If you have the patience to watch Alex Ross talks about his shortlisted book The Rest Is Noise the amazing Google video feature is below:
Doubleday presents a reading of Steve Toltz’s A Fraction Of The Whole set to moving pictures:
Discussion:
Has anyone read any of the shortlisted books? If so, what’s your opinion of them? Does it deserve this accolade?
Words: Seamus Swords
The Scribbler Blog – Post one of many…
Welcome to the newest, freshest blog for exciting, contemporary writers
Hello enthusiastic writer and welcome to the first post of the new Scribbler Blog.
This weblog is designed as a precursor for the eventual release of The Scribbler magazine and official website.
In the long term The Scribbler will be a monthly magazine concerned with new and exciting literature from contemporary authors, poets, screen/playwrights and journalists. With the purest of intentions, the magazine will inspire and advise amateur writers in penning their first masterpiece.
This blog, and later the magazine, will include tips and guidance from established authors and industry representatives on how to get published. On top of this all the news, reviews, features and interviews on exciting industry developments will also be featured.
What’s it all about?
Here’s the profound bit. The mission of The Scribbler to showcase and nurture exciting new contemporary writers, novelists, poets, journalists and screenwriters alike. The objective of the publication is to inspire and engage amateur writers by providing features and interviews with their favourite writers as well as tips and guides on succeeding in the publishing industry.
The idea behind The Scribbler was first born while I was at university studying journalism. My project partner, Seamus Swords, and myself, wanted to inject some life into the stagnate literary sector of the magazine industry. We felt the perfect remedy for this would be to interview, report and analyse some of the most exciting, controversial and contemporary writers around.
So please enter:
Bangs, Bukowski, Burroughs, Cave, Cohen, Coupland, Ellis, Fiske, Greene, Kerouac, Murakami, Palahniuk, Salinger, Self, Thompson, Welsh, Young
…and many, many more.
For a little taster of what multimedia treats The Scribbler Blog has in store, cast your eyes below:
Post by: Dean Samways
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO USE THE COMMENT BOX AREA TO LEAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT EXCITING CONTENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE ON THE SCRIBBLER BLOG. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU…
