On being a Late Bloomer

I've never discussed bloomers online before, but I suppose there's a first time for everything. An article in praise of 'late bloomers' set me thinking, being a 'late bloomer' myself. Here's the link http://flavorwire.com/497311/in-praise-of-late-bloomers

Our age is obsessed with the concept of age. Just about everyone in the public eye seems determined to resist or conceal the ageing process. Why? What are a few wrinkles weighed against life experience, maturity and the understanding that hopefully accompanies 'old age'. 

Shakespeare wrote of 'that which should accompany old age' which he described as 'honour, love, obedience, troops of friends'. Instead, our society regards the elderly with disgust and derision. Our young people show an unprecedented lack of deference or respect to their elders, and we are all expected to emulate youth. It is part of a wider issue. We no longer want to use obsolete technology. Youngsters insist on having the latest model of everything. Kids using last year's phone are ridiculed. Who ever tries to get a broken toaster fixed any more? Chuck it out and replace it. As Neil LaBute wrote, 'We live in a disposable society. It's easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name - we call it recycling.' And of course he goes on to say that we apply the same principle to our relationships. As soon as they stop 'working' for us, we quit. Separation, estrangement, divorce... what has happened to loyalty and commitment, seeing things through 'for better or worse'?

Because there always will be 'worse', along with the 'better'. Yes, it's better to be young and fit and healthy than old and physically weak. It's better for us as individuals, but why do we judge others for ageing? Because we do. Why does it matter? Why do we all have to meet some image of youthful perfection? Our teeth must be perfectly straight. Our hair can't go grey. We must strive to be popular and rich. What's wrong with crooked teeth? What's wrong with being shy? Why is it despicable to be ugly? Who makes up these rules and decides whose face is ugly anyway? 

I couldn't have written my books when I was younger. I hadn't lived enough or read enough. We all come to writing at different times in our lives. It doesn't matter. Unlike almost everything else in life, creative endeavour in any artistic field is a great leveller. When we read a book, we often don't know anything about the writer. We might gain an impression from the prose, but we could be wrong. It doesn't matter. When we write a book for others to read, or read a book someone else has written, we are human beings engaged in significant communication. That is all. And that is everything. 

I would have been proud to be a 'wunderkind', publishing great books before the age of 25, but I'm equally proud to be a 'late bloomer.' Age is immaterial. How we live, and what we do with our time is what counts. 

Girl Online

There has been what we might call a little literary scandal over the publication of a new book for teenagers, Girl Online. To many of us - all right, us oldies - it seems fairly missable, dismissed in the Telegraph as a book that "even Winnie the Pooh might regard as a bit twee". But hang on - a young author's fluffy debut novel published by Penguin and reviewed in a national newspaper? 

To preempt any accusation of sour grapes, I should point out that I've had my fair share of media reviews. My latest book was number 1 in The Times crime review last month. So I am not griping about the success of Girl Online out of any sense of personal entitlement, or jealousy. As it happens, I am thrilled by the huge success my own books have enjoyed. I'm certainly not jealous of the public humiliation Zoe Suggs has suffered. 

I'm just slightly bothered about the issues it raises.

Girl Online has attracted attention from the media that many hard working genuine authors can never hope to receive. I use the work 'genuine' advisedly, because of course we all know that Zoe Suggs did not write Girl Online herself. When Penguin decided to put her name on the cover, they also decided not to disclose the fact that the book had been ghost written by a 'real' author. Their duplicity backfired, angering a lot of people. 

What on earth prompted Penguin to behave in such a cavalier and disrespectful fashion towards authors, books and readers? 

The truth is, Penguin probably don't care about the criticism, because Zoe Suggs has 6 million followers on her vlog, where she chats about fashion and girly issues. Enough of these young girls are buying Girl Online for it to be number 1 on the bestseller list on amazon, admittedly only in hardcover. Penguin expect it to be the number 1 bestseller for Christmas, and I daresay it will be. Teenage girls don't care if Zoe Suggs wrote the book or just put her picture on the cover of a book someone else wrote. They are fans, devoted in the way that only teenage girls can be. Penguin know what they are doing, and it's all about sales. They have come a long way from their original raison d'etre in the 1930s, publishing cheap paperbacks to ensure literature would be accessible to everyone, regardless of income. These days they are running a business, struggling to survive in the competitive world of publishing. Regardless of any rights or wrongs, Girl Online is a profitable project.

The cult of celebrity meets the cult of youth. It's a winning formula. It's nothing new. Shakespeare complained in 1601 about unskilled child actors taking work from experienced professionals. For "there is, sir, an eyrie of children, little eyases, that cry out on the top of question and are most tyrannically clapped for ’t. These are now the fashion." Fashion, by definition, is ephemeral. Does anyone today know who those child actors were?

Instead of putting their efforts into promoting a transient fad, for a short term financial gain, Penguin would be better off supporting their many genuinely talented authors. Is Zoe Suggs (who isn't actually Zoe Suggs at all) really the best they can pull out of the bag as their Number 1 book for Christmas? They should be embarrassed. Publishers need to be working hard to introduce readers to talented new authors. If they don't, what is their role other than to make a quick buck?

If publishers simply try to cash in on current fads, they risk hastening their own demise. That is the real issue.

Pathetic Fallacy

When I was a student (a very long time ago) I remember learning about the Pathetic Fallacy in literature, where natural events reflect human experience: Lear, a former king, naked in the tempest; storms at times of emotional turmoil in Thomas Hardy, and so on. I was thinking about the pathetic fallacy while driving into work this morning in ominous weather. I don’t enjoy driving in the best of conditions and at this time of year I always start to feel a little nervous. What if the roads are icy and my car skids...?
This kind of anxiety may be pathetic in itself, but being a worrier frequently feeds into my writing and I wonder if being subject to Shakespeare’s “horrible imaginings” goes with the territory of being a crime writer. Readers often ask how I think up plots for my crime novels and the answer is simple; I start with a ‘What if...?’ question, imagining a worst case scenario. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you have a job in an office. One evening you are the last person to leave. Going to bed you remember that you left your mobile phone on your desk at work, so you go in early next morning to arrive before any of your colleagues. Entering the office you discover a dead woman sprawled on the floor. Only a few people have keys to your office, and no one admits to knowing the murder victim.
This raises a number of questions. Who is the unknown victim? Why was she killed? You were last out at the end of the day and first in next morning - does suspicion fall on you? How do the police find the killer? If you write answers to the many questions raised by the body in the office, a basic crime thriller will virtually write itself.
Of course it’s not that simple. It takes a certain type of imagination to develop a starting point like this into a plausible novel with intriguing plot twists and convincing characters, and requires a lot of thought. So life as an author can be hard work, and success has imposed increasing demands on my time until there are times when I watch my life slipping out of control, like my car on an icy road...
As for the road ahead, if anyone had told me eighteen months ago that I would have two bestsellers to my name now, I would’ve laughed. But here I am. So I’m taking my journey as an author one day at a time with no idea what the future might bring. At least my car didn’t skid this morning - although if there was any ice on the road I wouldn’t have seen it through the dense fog up ahead...


http://www.noexit.co.uk/authorpages/leigh_russell.php