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hailstorm's Blog on WriteWords

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Mike Interviews: Julian Barnes
Posted on 04/04/2008 by  hailstorm


Julian Barnes is the award winning author of over 10 novels, two of which have picked up Booker nominations. In the past he has been, amongst other things, the deputy literary editor for The Sunday Times, the London Correspondent for the New Yorker magazine and has appeared on Desert Island Discs . He currently lives in London.

He latest book is Nothing to be Frightened of.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Six foot two,

Eyes of blue -

Will that do?

Faulkner said a writer's obituary should consists of the line: 'He wrote books, then he died.' Not a bad anonymity to aim at, but nowadays impossible. So: born in Leicester, studied modern languages at school and university, became a lexicographer (so not afraid of words) then read for the bar (so not afraid of lawyers) then became a journalist and novelist. Supports Leicester City (so not afraid of defeat)



What's your ideal night out/in?

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Part 3 of my interview with YouWriteon.com
Posted on 03/04/2008 by  hailstorm


How has the site developed over time?


We have a lot more literary professionals involved now, including editors from Orion and Bloomsbury who provide free Arts Council funded critiques for the five highest rated writers each month. We also have a lot more leading affiliated literary agents. From the start of April The Random House Group will become involved with YouWriteOn.com and read our Top Ten Chart stories at the start of each month for a six month period.

I see that you recently started a joint venture with Legend Books. How did that come about?

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Behind the scenes Interview with YouWriteOn.com
Posted on 20/03/2008 by  hailstorm


Easter is here and with it a new feature at The View From Here. I'm adding a Behind The Scenes series, the first of which is with the site YouWriteOn.com.

YouWriteOn.com is a free website to help new writers develop, and to help talented writers get noticed and published. So let's kick back the virtual doors and see what lies behind the pages ....

Open up YouWriteOn.com!

And Hi to Edward Smith from the YouWriteOn.com team, thanks for giving us a backstage tour.


This looks like the the Simple Guide to getting started we're in front off, how long has YouWriteOn.com being going for Edward and who originally started it?

YouWriteOn.com began in late 2005. It was started by me, along with authors Martyn Bedford and Phil Whitaker who devised the ratings system, and the site was designed by Zarr.

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Interview with author Tom Mccarthy of Remainder & Men in Space
Posted on 06/03/2008 by  hailstorm


How did you feel about Metronome's response, "If people want it, they can go to the ICA." to Waterstones request to stock Remainder?

Metronome Press was an art project, run by two curators, launched firmly from within the art world and its networks. Having one foot in that world myself, I'd noticed that that was the environment in which people actually read proper literature rather than the latest Booker/Richard-and-Judy crap. So I was happy for them to take that stance. Perhaps at the time I wasn't, but in retrospect I thought it was pretty cool; and as it worked out, bigger publishers would bring out their own editions of Remainder later and put them in Waterstones and every other shop. The Metronome edition was just a limited run thing anyway.


The title of your first book "Remainder", is the same term used for books returned by retailers that are not sold. Was this an intentional joke on your behalf and how confident were you that the book would sell?

Read more ...

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Interview with Paul Torday of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Posted on 28/02/2008 by  hailstorm


Paul Torday is the award winning author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and now The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce.

Pull up a seat and listen to me chat to him about writing and his new book ...

In what way did writing your new book differ from your experience of writing Salmon Fishing in the Yemen?

When I wrote ‘Salmon’ I never for a moment thought it would be published so I wrote it without any consciousness of the difficulties of sustaining a multi-voice plot using e mails and letters. When I wrote the ‘Irresistible’ book I was far more aware, and more apprehensive, of the pitfalls of trying to write a novel.

Where you nervous after the huge success of Salmon Fishing, that the 'difficult' second book would be received well?

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Coming Soon: Paul Torday Interview
Posted on 14/02/2008 by  hailstorm


In November I reviewed Paul Torday's debut book, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

The hardback edition was No 1 in the spring of 2007, and the paperback was one of that year's Richard and Judy Summer reads. It has since sold in 19 countries and won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for Comic Fiction.

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Tom McCarthy's Men in Space
Posted on 02/02/2008 by  hailstorm


"There's no one left. Soon I will stop. Soon ..."

Tom McCarthy's second novel, Men In Space, is a masterpiece. A painting on the white wall of a gallery that opens itself layer upon layer as you inspect it.

And there lies its greatest weakness. For it is a novel that by the very nature of reading spans days, weeks, months depending on the speed of the reader.
For whilst a painting can be observed in one glance and then explored whilst remembering the image as a whole, Tom's book fragments into separate satellites that orbit around each other obscuring the overall image.
The reader becomes lost, disorientated.
And as each satellite moves majestically through space following perfectly formed trajectories, under Tom's masterly use of words, the story stays elusive.

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Continue the Story Competition
Posted on 22/01/2008 by  hailstorm


Okay bit of fun. Experiment if you like. Often in the blogosphere a story is started and then the challenge is to continue it in the comments.

Let's try it here, where I know a lot of writers hang out, and see what we end up with.
Word Limit per comment is 250.

Have a go, even if you don't consider yourself a writer.

Best contribution to the story wins themselves a £40 amazon voucher! (or $80)

Ready? Here we go ...

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