It was a great pleasure last week to start this series on What Books Mean to Me. Now I write, I have realised how important reading well is for developing my imagination.
Books are also lovely things in and of themselves. I treasure the classic Penguin paperbacks as well as the leather bound Dickens set I inherited from my mother.
So I thought I’d quiz writer friends about what books have meant to them. I’ve also asked the one question most writers don’t want to answer – what is the one book you must save in the event of a disaster? Frankly, we’d want to save every book we love but there you go. It has been interesting to see the mix of books saved so far.
Do send in your suggestions for the one book you would save too.
Now over to writer friends from the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and local authors, Anne Wan and Richard Hardie.
First up, Patricia M Osborne.
Patricia M Osborne
1. What is your favourite book and why?
I think it has to be Little Women because it was the first grown up book I read in junior school. It was a little red book, a library edition. I loved the small print on the beautiful thin pages. I can still see it today.
It was a joy to read about the March sisters, seeing their different traits and hearing their voices. My favourite character was Beth, and how I willed for her to get better. She was such a gentle girl and the opposite to her younger sibling Amy, who was spoilt and vain. And pretty Meg, the eldest, who liked to tell her sisters stories and of course Jo the tomboy who let Laurie go.
The book influenced me not only to read more but also gave me the love of family sagas which I not only adore reading but like writing too. Family sagas offer the reader the opportunity to follow through generations. It gives them the chance to cling to characters they love as they await the next instalment. As in Little Women, it was followed by Good Wives, Little Men and Jo’s Boys.
It’s the same for me as a writer. When I finished House of Grace I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Grace and my other characters. I needed to spend more time with them so I wrote The Coal Miner’s Son which will be released before Christmas. In this book, the reader gets a chance to find out more about George, Grace’s nine-year-old son, along with his aunt, Grace’s estranged sister, Elizabeth. The timeline is set from 1962 to 1979. The third book in the series, which is currently a work in progress, moves back to Grace and she is joined by George, as an adult, who is the second narrator. It begins in 1980.
With family sagas the writer can go on indefinitely as the families in the original novel series have children, offering the potential to write about the new generation and their stories. They also offer the opportunity to write individual novellas about the lesser characters in the book. I plan to do this with characters, Alice, Charlotte, and Nancy from House of Grace.
2. What does reading mean to you?
Reading means everything to me. Imagine a world without books. Books are a chance to step into another world, to fantasise, to learn new things, to discover history. Do you remember the first encyclopaedia you opened?
I remember mine. It was huge and in the local public library. As I opened it, it was like opening Pandora’s Box, not knowing what I would find inside. From that day I longed to own one like the Britannica Encyclopaedias they advertised on television. Alas, they were too expensive for my parents to buy, particularly as I was one of five children in a working class family so I spent most of my time after school in the local library.
Books are better than television because a reader can use their own imagination to see the characters and places. Have you ever been disappointed watching a film after reading the book? I have. I loved the Twilight series and fell in love with vampire, Edward Cullen. When I watched the film, the actor who played the character was nothing like how I saw him in my mind’s eye. I was really disappointed. For this reason if I’ve read the book first I try not to watch the film, whereas if I’ve watched a film or series, I’m happy to read the book later.
3. How has reading helped you develop as a writer?
Reading is a must for all writers. It has helped me to see how sentence structure, character development, creating individual voices, getting into the characters heads using interior monologue, plot, and creating another world have all been incorporated.
Allison
I still have my childhood copy of Little Women. See the photo! (Each book still has 15p written in pencil on the inside. Now that’s going back a while…!). I always identified with Jo March, the writer. I wonder why.
The book -v- TV/film adaptation debate is interesting. So much depends on how faithful the adaptation is to the book. For me, The Lord of the Rings movies worked wonderfully, because they were faithful to the book. (Yes, the devotee including me could and did spot the cuts but the narrative flow wasn’t spoiled).
Now over to Jennifer C Wilson, author of the Kindred Spirits series.
Jennifer C Wilson
1. What is your favourite book and why?
This is still The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory, and I would save it in case of disaster, as I have a signed first edition! I hadn’t really been interested in the Tudors, preferring older periods to read about, when a colleague gave me her copy to read, assuming I would love it. She was right.
However many times I read it, I still find myself lost in the story, and almost, almost believing Anne is going to be released, that it’s all going to be alright in the end. That certainly shows skill by the author, given Anne Boleyn’s tale is one of the most famous in our history.
Other than being a great read though, it was the book which inspired me to start writing again, after leaving university. I hadn’t touched any fiction to read whilst I was away, let alone write, but it boosted me again, and all I wanted to do was research and get my ideas down on paper. It took another little while to happen, but when it did, I was so happy.
2. What does reading mean to you?
It’s a fantasy, taking me away to another world, and that’s true of fact or fiction. Reading a good history book can be as engaging as any novel and I love that. For me, learning is always the most fun thing, and I enjoy being swept away to different worlds, different times, and picking up interesting facts along the way.
I’ve read about witchcraft, the textile industry, renovated railways, all sorts, and they all feed into my own ideas and imagination. I cannot get into the mindset of people who say they don’t enjoy reading; to me, it just proves they haven’t found the right genre or style yet, and they should keep trying.
Reading also helps me separate work and home. I commute on the Metro and having that time on the train to chill out with a book on my Kindle, before getting into whatever plans I have for the evening, helps me forget about work issues or worries I might have. I’m terrible for ‘bringing work home’, even if only in my mind, and reading helps stop that happening so much.
3. How has reading helped you develop as a writer?
It’s helped so much. Recently, I’ve been reading a lot of historical romances, including many Mills and Boons. I know M&B have had a hard time in the past, but honestly, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them, and they’ve helped me a lot with my structuring. I’ve always wanted to write a M&B historical romance, and although they aren’t formulaic as such, it is possible to see a pattern emerge when you read a lot of them.
This is mainly to do with how quickly they get the scene set (being relatively short novels, they cannot afford to ‘waste’ words here), and dive straight into the conflicts and problems our hero and heroine are facing. I think in the past, I’ve been guilty of too much scene-setting, so that’s something I’ve learned to change.
You hear it said time and time again, that to be a good writer, you must be an avid reader, and I definitely think it’s true. Reading The Other Boleyn Girl, and similar books, showed me how best to capture historical characters in fiction, and how really, everyone is the same whenever they lived. Showing those emotions makes the book a much better read for people.
Reading as much as possible also helps with sentence structure, spotting things that work better than how you attempted them, and of course, what sort of thing is most popular with readers. All of these things help us develop and keep improving.
Allison
Reading is indeed wonderful for taking you to other worlds and back/forward in time. The very best non-fiction books use a lot of fictional techniques to keep readers informed and entertained.
Now for local authors, Anne Wan and Richard Hardie.
Anne Wan
1. What is your favourite book and why?
Phoenix the boy with the power of the star is without a doubt my favourite book. It’s poetic, beautifully illustrated, and completely gripping from the very first page. S.F. Said takes you on a rollercoaster emotional journey through a rich sci-fi imaginative world. It is also the favourite book of one of my sons!
2. What does reading mean to you?
Reading is knowledge and enrichment for everyday life. It plays a huge part in my family. I frequently visit the library with my 3 boys and spend time every day reading and sharing books with them. Although I don’t read so much with my older son now, he is an avid reader and we often chat about the books he is reading. Reading is also ‘me time’ at the end of the day. It’s a chance to escape the busyness of work and family life and to be transported to another world. I love being caught up with an exciting plot or engaging character. As a writer I also I see reading fiction as research and purposely read to develop my own writing.
3. How has reading helped you develop as a writer?
Nowadays, I find that I analyse everything that I read in order to learn as a writer. I look at how other authors have plotted and paced their stories. How they weave threads through their story and pull them together to create a gripping ending (I particularly love how J.K.Rowling achieves this in The Prisoner of Azkaban).
I look at how authors use different writing styles to create impact. For example, I recently read The Turnaway Girls by Hayley Chewins. The book is breathtakingly lyrical. It is an astonishing example of how poetic artistry can be used to tell a story. Reading it was like watching a dance! This inspires me to be adventurous with sentence structure and word choice.
Finally, if I am stuck with an aspect of my own writing e.g. how to introduce a new character, I will often refer to a book where this has been handled really well so I can use similar techniques in my work. Reading also stirs the enthusiasm within me to create my own stories.
Allison
Learning from how other authors write is key to any would-be writer. You literally get to see how dialogue is laid out, the ratio of dialogue to narrative etc and it gives you good feel for what would be right for your book. Azkaban remains my favourite Harry Potter story.
And now over to Richard Hardie, author of the YA Temporal Detective Series.
Richard Hardie
1. What is your favourite book and why?
I thought I knew the answer until I looked at the bookshelves in my study and I realised every one of the titles had a special meaning for me. I love them all, but if I have to choose one it would have to be The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I had it as a Christmas present in the early 1960’s and have read it multiple times.
2. What does reading mean to you?
Communication by word of mouth enables us to talk to each other and hopefully learn and gain experience from our friends. However that’s always immediate, and without the written word and the ability to read we’d be still in the days of travelling story tellers and troubadours. We’d be dependent on them for news, views, stories, and knowledge. The written word evolved into books, thanks to printing presses and mass communication became possible. Reading means everything to me for entertainment, learning, sharing experiences, and communication.
3. How has reading helped you develop as a writer?
As an author, reading is most important to me. Even when writing a fantasy novel, background reading is vital to getting facts right, and as my books involve travelling anywhere in the world and in any era, I have to do considerable research.
When reading for pleasure I try not to have more than one book on the go at a time and just as I set aside a dedicated time for writing, I tend to do the same for recreational reading. I also find that I subconsciously pick up important hints on how to write, and sometimes how not to write from other authors. It’s always interesting finding out how another author establishes their characters and plotlines.
Allison
The Lord of the Rings is fantastic in every sense – its size and its scope. The films produced by Peter Jackson brought Tolkein’s world to life wonderfully.
And next week, I’ll wrap up the series with contributions from Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit writers and two Scottish crime authors. I’ll also answer the questions.
Related Posts:
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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‘Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man’ was a watershed book for me. Set for GCSE Eng Lit, I expected it to be stuffy and as boring as Shakespeare to an adolescent. My father, who only ever read Zane Grey – The Hanging at Dead Man’s Gulch and similar, picked it up and declared it good.
I read it properly and seriously and I began to understand the world that some of my elders hankered after; the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate. But they came together as equals on the cricket pitch. Then World War I changed everything and Seigfried Sassoon went on to become a war poet.
Many thanks, Mike. I think some of the appeal of the boarding school stories is the longing for an idealised world. Wodehouse said similar about his works.
Thank you for featuring me, Allison. I really enjoyed reading about what books mean to the other authors too.
You’re very welcome, Patricia. This series has been so much fun to put together.
Another group of interesting interviews, Allison. I really enjoy your commnts, too. Well done!!
Many thanks, Jim. It has been great to read such a wide range of comments on what books mean to people.