Bristol's Clifton Suspension Bridge

There’s something special about Bristol. The hilly city has been home to some of the UK’s biggest thinkers. From Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel to the UK’s first female doctor Elizabeth Blackwell, 15th century explorer John Cabot to Don Cameron, the creator of Europe’s first modern hot air balloon, the Bristol Belle, the city residents seem universally to agree that no gorge is too wide, no sky too big, no goal too great.

In this can-do attitude it’s no wonder writers of all varieties flourish here. JK Rowling grew up in Yate, just outside the city, and there are a large number of independent book publishing houses, plus magazine and journal publishers. Creative writing groups gather in bars, cafes and libraries, and unconventional theatre groups like Show of Strength give budding playwrights the chance to see their work performed. And every September the Bristol Poetry Festival returns, with events taking place all over the city.

Modern Bristol

Future Inns Cabot Circus is an immense hotel directly opposite the city’s Cabot Circus shopping centre - an architectural masterpiece of sweeping glass and steel waves that create a space that is at once indoors and out. The shopping centre was completed in 2008 and was built on stories, with the traditional songs of its multicultural, multinational workforce captured by artist in residence Neville Gabie.

The hotel is a spacious, well thought out structure with a jazz bar on the lower ground floor that transforms into a breakfast room each morning. The rooms are comfortable and equipped with generous desk space and internet access, offering no excuses for slacking off on your writing, however much the emperor-sized bed might tempt you to.

If you prefer to stay somewhere with a more boutique feel, the 42-room ultra-stylish Berkeley Square Hotel should please you. There’s an emphasis on art throughout, from the ground floor and basement exhibition spaces to the Art is Alive parties that take place once a month, inviting the city’s creatives to meet and mingle and share ideas.

In the hotel itself each floor showcases a different artist - currently the first floor displays abstract drawings by Julian Cox that provide a sense of modernity in the Georgian corridors. In the bedrooms, luxurious details such as complimentary bowls of fruits, fresh coffee and loose leaf tea, plus a comfortably broad desk to write at mean you don’t need to leave the room should inspiration strike.

Many of the rooms overlook the peaceful gardens of the Georgian square the hotel is named after, and just beyond these Brandon Hill, one of the UK’s oldest municipal open spaces, offers more greenery and spectacular views.

Green spaces

Queen Square, an elegant green space close to the town centre, is just a few moments walk from the harbour where boats bob and the bright yellow ferryboat carries commuters and tourists to key points along the waterfront. I caught the ferry to the SS Great Britain, the iron propeller-driven boat designed by Brunel and launched in 1843.

The SS Great Britain

There Captain Bob Evans greeted me and took me on a grand tour of the ship, explaining how the renovation of the great ship has culminated in the creation of an imaginative, comprehensive museum. ”It was the Concorde of the 19th Century,” Bob says, “The fastest way of getting round the world in its day!”

Wandering through the corridors of ship, refurbished to their original condition, you catch glimpses of eerily life-like models representing scenes recorded in passengers’ diaries and letters.

On the deck recordings of farmyard sounds give an idea of the animals who journeyed on the great vessel, while in the stables below deck I found myself inhaling the smell of horses, piped in to ensure a multi-sensory tour.

Bristol bus tours

From the SS GB it’s an easy walk to the Bristol City Sightseeing bus stop, we take a ride through the various areas of Bristol from the waterside up to Hotwells, Clifton and back down to the city centre. The guide was full of tales about the sites we passed, and I was intrigued to learn, as we passed the Clifton parish church of Emmanuel, that this was where Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller married and became Agatha Christie.

As we drove down Park Street the guide pointed out a piece of street art by legendary local graffiti artist Banksy, showing a naked man hanging from a window ledge by one hand as a man with a scantily clad woman stares out in rage, suggesting a wonderful scandalous tale.

Ship of stories

The Glassboat Restaurant

After disembarking the bus close to Queen Square I walked to the Glassboat Restaurant to have a chat with Magnus MacDonald, who explained how he and his business partner Arne Ringner bought the boat from £350 way back in 1970 and trawled it up the Severn River to its current spot close to Bristol Bridge.

Inside, almost everything you see has been salvaged and restored, from the Burmese teak toilet doors taken from a derelict hotel to the former boardroom chairs that ensure you enjoy your meal in comfort.

Magnus’ also owns the Spyglass, a more laidback dining option a little further down the bank, and the Lido, a wonderful open-air swimming pool and restaurant, ensure the water and feast elements remain constant.

Bristol’s past and future

M-Shed windows

The following morning I had a chance to visit the site of M-Shed, a museum being built on the site of the city’s former industrial museum. Gail Boyle, Senior Collections Officer, showed me around the building-in-progress, pointing out the central cantilevered staircase nicknamed ‘the Harry Potter stairs’ due to the way it seems to float.

She explained how the museum is intended to show Bristol to the world, using three thematic exhibition spaces: People, Places and Living Bristol. Together these cover every aspect of the city’s history, with layers of memories added to the mix with recordings and text of interviews with local people telling their stories. This process will continue after the museum opens in Spring 2011, inviting visitors to submit their own recollections on everything from childhood street games to festivals such as the Balloon Fiesta.

The building itself contributes to the experiences, with vast windows offering a backdrop of views of Bristol’s harbourside, including the Arnolfini arts centre, where many of the Bristol Poetry Festival events will occur.

Ten years of learning

Little over ten years ago Bristol’s Millennium Square was a derelict wasteland of derelict warehouses, but today it’s an attractive space where many of the city’s festivals are held. Purpose-built walls catch the light as sheets of water cascades down them, man-made waterfalls that enthral children and adults alike.

Overlooking all this is At-Bristol, an imaginative science centre where families can get thoroughly hands-on. Inside is mayhem as dozens of experiments take place every moment. Upstairs is slightly quieter with a dedicated animation area populated by the likes of Morph and Bristol’s very own Wallace and Gromit, created by another Bristol resident with big ideas, four-time Oscar winner Nick Park. His animation company Aardman is still situated in the city, not far from the SS Great Britain.

Nick has recently collaborated on Green Poems for a Blue Planet, a collection of eco-focused poetry for children written by Martin Kiszko with illustrations by Nick, which was published by local publishing house Redcliffe Press in August 2010. It provides a unique link between literature and science, with a generous dash of humour.

Pirates and sharks

On leaving the museum I met another man with a penchant for humour - Pirate Pete, who took me on whirlwind tour of the waterfront’s rich history, crossing Pero’s Bridge, named for a former slave, and past the Llandoger Trow where author Daniel DeFoe reputedly met shipwreck survivor Alexander Selkirk who inspired him to write Robinson Crusoe.

Blue Reef Aquarium

Then it was time to enter the glimmering world of the Blue Reef Aquarium, where fish enthusiast Tom Hird introduced his favourite underwater beasties, including the many rays. He explained that rays are closely related to sharks - something I hadn’t realised previously. As the rays skimmed closer, I found myself infected by Tom’s enthusiasm for these curious creatures, trying to imagine their perception of our dry world as they stuck their noses above water.

“We have no idea how their senses really work. They could be experiencing all kinds of wonderful sensations when they do that!” Tom commented, setting my imagination whirring.

The aquarium has had an influx of baby sharks in the last few weeks, with many new borns plus others that are still squirming around in the egg-cases I used to know as mermaids purses.

The breadth of Bristol

If you fancy a break from all the sightseeing, the Lido is a great spot to retreat to. Despite being solar heated, the renovated Victorian swimming pool is chilly, which is great encouragement for a brisk swim! It’s invigorating and peaceful - as I breast-stroked my way up and down it was wonderfully easy to pretend I was swimming in a lake.

At the far end of the pool a hot tub bubbles quietly, ready to reward you post-workout. The saunas and steam room are just as rewarding. It’s the perfect place for thinking out thorny plotlines, with the advantage that you emerge thoroughly relaxed.

From the Lido it’s short stroll uphill to Clifton Village, where independent boutiques and coffee shops abound in buildings built on slave trade wealth. Just up the hill from here, beyond the Avon Gorge Hotel, you’ll spy the sweeping structure of Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge straddling the breadth of the Avon Gorge.

It’s an inspiring sight. On windy days the bridge sways gently, yet it’s been standing strong since its completion in 1864. Brunel won the commission to build the bridge when he was just 24 years old, but the bridge wasn’t completed until after his death. The extremes of human emotion have been expressed here, from suicide attempts to wedding proposals.

To me, this bridge represents the spirit of Bristol: big thinking, imaginative and undaunted by any obstacle. I hope it continues to be reflected in the writing produced here for years to come.

The Bristol Poetry Festival runs from September 13th-19th 2010. For further information visit www.poetrycan.co.uk

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Alayne Fiore

Alayne Fiore is the founder of Rozlyn Press, an independent small press based in Massachusetts, USA. She is currently accepting submissions by female fiction authors, particularly in the contemporary, literary fiction and magical realism genres. Here she explains her urge to publish work that makes pulses quicken.

How did you come to found Rozlyn Press?

The full answer is long. It involves many changes of major in college, a rejection letter, a book review blog, another rejection letter, and a Certificate of Achievement in Literary Publishing.

Add a deep determination and love of literature and you get the seed of Rozlyn Press. When I pick up a book, dive in to and become consumed, I feel my heart beat faster and my stomach drop. I love that feeling. I am determined to bring forth a product that will give others that same quickening of the pulse.

What’s your professional background?

I don’t have any industry work-experience, but that’s what makes me a gem. I founded Rozlyn out of my on-again, off-again, history with publishing education and writing. I’m here because I love books and want to make something out that passion.

Writers know that feeling… instead of turning back the first time they’re told no, they look for the next opportunity. Rozlyn was my open door; I just had to make it myself.

Did you receive any formal training in publishing?

Yes, my latest training resulted in a Certificate of Achievement in Literary Publishing. I’ve enhanced my education further with formal courses in Graphic Design, Copyediting, and Fiction Writing and Workshop.

What makes Rozlyn Press different to other publishing houses?

For starters, we only publish female fiction authors. I decided on the exclusivity based on the characteristics of my favourite books, which have historically been by women writers.

This is not to say men don’t have their place in the book-world, it’s simply that I wanted a niche for my press: a tailored identity.

Working with female authors was the place from which I chose to start.

What kind of books does Rozlyn Press publish?

We seek to release unpublished manuscripts by women writers in contemporary, literary, and magical realism genres. We search for meaty, flavourful books full of detail and life.

What happens to a submission once it reaches your office?

During our submission period (August through September) it goes to one of two places: either my email inbox with a little star, or a corner of my desk. It will sit in either place until October 1st, when my reading period begins, at which point I’ll kick up my feet and dive in.

What do you look for in a submission?

First impressions are important for me when it comes to a book. If the plot description is muddled or overwhelming, I’m going to wonder if the rest of the book is as difficult.

Conversely, if it’s too simplistic and generic, I’m going to wonder if the plot is as developed as it could be. After that it’s a general sense: how do I feel while I read this? Do the words come together in such a way that I’m intrigued? Would I like to know more?

Most importantly I go with my gut. If something speaks to me, I listen to what I’m hearing.

How can a new author ensure their submission stands out from the pile?

Market your book from a third-party perspective. I know you’re close to your characters and writing, so shortening your work to 300 words for a description is tough. But cut it down to the basics so that I understand the most important parts that you want me to know.

After that, I don’t care whether you’ve been published before or not. I’m not going to give you any more or less credit just because you’ve had something published. I’m going to see if what you’ve got makes my heart beat faster.

Once you have accepted a manuscript, how do you prepare it for publication?

By December 1st I’ll have chosen the manuscript I want to work, with and the author and I will sign a contract. After that comes a two-month editorial period. The writer will send me a file of their manuscript and I’ll spend the next several weeks running through it with a fine-tooth editorial comb.

First run-throughs are important as initial ideas and feelings will make themselves known. After that you start becoming familiar with the words and that initial gut-check on something isn’t as strong. At the end of the editorial period the mark-ups will be sent to the author to approve or reject, and we’ll discuss any questions or concerns about the proposed changes.

Then the design period will start. I’ll play around, design sample covers, upload the text into designing software and make some magic. After the design, I’ll upload the whole baby to our printer, Lightning Source. They’ll overnight me a proof for last minute changes, and after that we’ll spend time marketing and getting review copies out to bloggers and the media. A couple months after all that business, say May or June of 2011, the book will be released!

What is your favourite part of this process?

This is the first time I’ve gone through everything, so right now it’s all new and exciting. Ask me this question next year when I’ve released two books and gone through a full-cycle. I’ll have a better answer then.

What is the most challenging part of it?

Convincing people I’m legitimate and really know what I’m doing. Urging them to spread the word and finding people to send me their life’s work, all while reassuring them I will take great care with the words they’ve put on the page. I’m a book lover, just like them. I wish only the best things for the gift they’re sending me.

Whose writing has excited you recently?

Alice Hoffman. She spoke in a class I took a few years ago, before I’d discovered how incredibly wonderful her writing is. Had I known then what I know now, had I admired her as much then as now, I might have gushed like a tween in front of her favorite celebrity.

I also loved Cathy Lamb’s most recent book, Such A Pretty Face. And Aimee Bender, I wish I could have written her latest, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Talk about magical realism at its best.

What would you say the main challenges are for an aspiring author?

Writing. No, I’m not being cavalier; I’m also working on a novel. I have the whole thing in my head, beginning to end; but putting it down on paper, connecting the pieces and words into a whole book-length creation, well… it’s exhausting and daunting.

What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?

Just do it. Sit down, plan it out, map it, write directions, and see how far you get. And don’t stop when you get rejected. I’ve been rejected too, and I wouldn’t be here, publishing books, if I hadn’t gotten those rejection letters.

What comes next for Rozlyn Press?

Right now I’m working on getting manuscripts. Following that, I’ll be publishing two books a year, so stay tuned for all the excitement!

For full information on how to submit your writing, please visit www.rozlynpress.com

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Magic becomes real for Alice

Jacques Tati is a magician of the cinema. In a career lasting four decades he enchanted audiences with his delightful slapstick tales, his visual gags rivalling and in some cases eclipsing the earlier works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

The Illusionist, Sylvain Chomet’s follow-up to Belleville Rendezvous, is adapted from an old script by Tati, who sadly passed away in 1982. The script, given to Chomet by Tati’s daughter, Sophie, therefore has a familiar backdrop - a magician (named Tatischeff; Tati’s full name) in the early ’60s is struggling to compete with the birth of rock ‘n’ roll music.

The world is moving on - Tatischeff’s audiences have been replaced by girls cheering after Billy Boy And The Britoons (whose lead singer is halfway between Elvis Presley and David Bowie), the band that keep upstaging him.

Tatischeff, while performing in Scotland, meets a young girl by the name of Alice (a very direct and intentional reference to her of Wonderland fame) who believes magic to be real. From here she follows him through Edinburgh as they develop a silent relationship – she looks after him while he lavishes her with the dream gifts that will ultimately lead to their separation.

The film’s crucial theme is time; specifically the loss of it. Tatischeff and his fellow performers (their hotel is packed with the sort - a suicidal clown and alcoholic ventriloquist among them) are being left behind while the world becomes greyer and drabber.

Chomet's artwork brings The Illusionist to life

There are images of heart-stopping beauty in The Illusionist and the animated vistas are wonderfully detailed and evocative. But there is also an emphasis on darkness - literal and metaphorical. Amid the memorably beautiful images (feathers fooling themselves into snow, a fierce wind shaping the shadow of a book into a free bird) there is an overbearing sadness.

Chomet draws Tatischeff with a permanent frown, as he does with the aforementioned entertainers. The shattering climax (which shall not be revealed here) relays the sad truth that, one day, the lights go out on everything. The people you love won’t be around forever and often you won’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

If the central theme of the film is time, the message is of place - finding it in the world and holding onto it with all you have.

As with his previous feature, Chomet makes reference to great works of fantasy (with gladly less cynicism), recalling The Wizard Of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939) and Alice In Wonderland (Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, 1951) in the arcs and designs of his characters.

But what’s wonderful is how unique, fresh and complete The Illusionist feels in its own right. The delightful original score, emphasis on physical characterisation and attention to enrapturing landscapes are welcome in a world of flash-bang filmmaking. By the time the devastating finale comes (the final 10 minutes had me in tears) you’ll have already laughed and rejoiced enough times to fill ten screenings.

Alice explores the world of The Illusionist

Not only is The Illusionist an absolute joy from beginning to end, it’s a masterpiece. And the best film of the year so far.

Director Sylvain Chomet

Writers Sylvain Chomet (adaptation), Jacques Tati (original screenplay)

Starring Jean-Claude Donda, Edith Rankin

Images provided courtesy of www.picturehouses.co.uk and www.watershed.co.uk

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An anthology of summer

There have been a million songs written about it, we spend all year looking forward to it and when it’s gone we mourn its loss - so it stands to reason that when editors Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling sent a call out for contributions to this book about summer, they received hundreds of poetry and prose submissions from around the world.

This neat little volume contains a carefully selected batch of memories and musings, although the editors chose not to list their countries of origin - deciding instead to leave readers to judge the texts on their own merits.

Although not a fan of poetry, I enjoy a bit of nostalgia as much as the next person, and this collection has that in imaginative spades. It’s almost like peeping into the summers past of all the contributors, allowing you to get lost in their beachside reveries.

This was particularly vivid in Chair-o-planes, in which Jean Atkinson writes of the seaside fairground ride that made “a cubby child a weightless bird.”

Of the individual texts, I quite liked One Peachy Day by Dianne Borsenik - a rather naughty poem that made me smile!

Other highlights include Aimee Wilkinson’s bittersweet Crab Sticks, Eileen Carney Hulme’s Our Beach, describing a space “of free-falling clouds”, and EssentialWriter.com editor Judy Darley’s First Glimpse of Summer.

One thing this book would have benefited from would be more distinctive theme. At times the texts feel thrown together when in fact many of them would lend themselves to be grouped into thematic chapters. It’s a small quibble, however, in an otherwise pleasurable summer read.

Crab Lines Off The Pier edited by Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling (Indigo Dreams Publishing £7) is available from Amazon

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© Fellipe Silva

Do you love the glitz and glamour of Hollywood? Can you meet your greatest celeb heroes without turning to mush? And can you transform those meetings into scintillating copy that will have others riveted with intrigue?

Bella is looking for a talented and experienced celebrity writer to join its small, friendly and madly busy celebrity desk.

Experience required for this editorial role

The successful candidate will ideally have two years experience on a celebrity desk or magazine.

Bella magazine aims to be the best written, most entertaining and best value for money of the classic women’s weekly set, so you will be expected to bring your skill and passion to the role with this goal in mind.

Responsibilities of this editorial role

• Interviewing celebrities, writing attention-grabbing news stories and entertaining features in sparkling Bella style and to tight deadlines.

• Sourcing stories and ideas from newspapers, magazines, the internet, freelancers and candidate’s own crammed contacts book. Coming up with original ideas for all celeb content.

• Keeping on top of all the celebrity gossip, interview opportunities and events.

How to apply for this editorial role

If you think you have what it takes, please send your CV and five celebrity feature ideas that you think would work for Bella, along with a covering letter to Emma Robertson, Celebrity Editor, at emma.robertson@bauer.co.uk

The closing date for applications is Wednesday September 8th 2010

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© Constantin Jurcut

At EssentialWriters.com, we always find it something of a challenge to let summer go. After so many days of sunshine and warmth (okay, not so many in the past couple of weeks!), we don’t feel ready to welcome in a chillier, soggier season.That said, at least it will give us an excuse to cosy up indoors and write.

To distract ourselves from the it all, we’ve been busy gathering content for you, so this week, we’ll be celebrating celebrity, soaking up the remains of summer, considering heading to Canada, getting to know a new publisher and exploring the creative city of Bristol.

The week begins with news of a celebrity writer role on a popular women’s weekly magazine.

On Tuesday Gina Dyer will be reviewing Indigo Publishing’s summer themed anthology Crab Lines off the Pier - the perfect read to banish autumnal blues.

On Wednesday Michael Ewins will review Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, while on Thursday we’ll be chatting with Alayne Fiore, the founder of Rozlyn Press, a brand new US-based publishing house.

Return on Friday for my travel piece about Bristol, looking at what this river-crossed city has to offer writers attending the Bristol Poetry Festival this September.

Our Saturday interview will be with Paddy Kempshall, a journalist and scriptwriter specialising in writing for children’s magazines and television.

If you fancy being interviewed for our Essential Words section and telling the world what you do, or would prefer to show us by pitching a feature for the Friday Feature slot, or writing us a review of a book, lit mag, writing course, or website, get in touch. We’re always eager to showcase new talent! Likewise, if you have any writing news you’d like to let us know about, send an email to me at judy@essentialwriters.com. This is also the email address you’ll need if you want to become a member, free of charge.

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Tony Bayliss

After working as a teacher, a school inspector and in property, Tony Bayliss was able to realise his life-long dream to work as a writer, without worrying whether it would pay the mortgage. In addition to various trade magazines, he founded Zeus, a student poetry magazine, while at Loughborough University, and Masque, an arts magazine. His latest novel, Past Continuous, a sci-fi love story inspired by his son’s suicide, will be published by Sparkling Books on August 23rd 2010. Here he tells us how he found the strength to tackle such a sensitive subject.

What inspired you to become a writer?

I suppose it was a teacher. I was completely disengaged from everything at school except sport - I just couldn’t see the point, and always got bottom marks - and then I wrote a poem for homework that won public praise from a teacher. I suddenly realised that this was something I could do.

At about the same time I was given a large desk diary, so I decided to write a diary of my tenth year. When I’d finished it I resolved that one day I would write a complete book, but I didn’t leave the diary there. Twenty-five years later, I wrote a diary again, and then repeated it in my sixtieth year. If I make it to eighty-five, I will write part four: the diary of four years in a life, with twenty-five year gaps!

Did you find an agent or publisher first?

Before submitting Past Continuous for publication I sent it to The Writers’ Workshop, and paid for a professional critique. I then followed the standard advice of sending a synopsis and sample pages to agents listed in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, and when that didn’t work, I’d sent it directly to publishers listed there.

I also uploaded it onto the authors’ website, Authonomy, where writers read and ‘back’ one another’s books. In the space of six months, it rose to the top of the all time rankings.

That got me noticed, and an offer from Sparkling Books followed.

Did you face much rejection initially?

Yes, I have drawers full of rejection slips. Rejection is never easy. I have no problem with fair, constructive criticism thath actually helps me to become a better writer, but when a book is rejected out of hand, it’s frustrating and annoying.

So many agents and publishers aren’t taking on new work. How does the writer deal with it? I often wonder how many great books are lying in dusty drawers, unpublished.

In my case, I suppose I have great reserves of self-confidence, and unwavering determination, so the day after a rejection, I’m back on my feet, trying again.

Do you still run the literary magazines you founded?

No, that was back in my student days. I wrote a lot of poetry in my teens, and when I arrived at university I went to an English lecturer and asked whether there was a student poetry magazine. He suggested I start one, so I did.

That led on to the establishment of the Poetry Circle - a discussion group of students and lecturers who met regularly and ran poetry competitions. A year later I co-funded a campus Arts magazine. Since then, I’ve set up several in-house educational magazines in different parts of the country.

How did you go about transforming such a painful fact into fiction for Past Continuous?

I’ve always found writing to be very therapeutic, and have used it to help me through many ‘bad’ moments in my life (you should see some of the unrequited love poetry I churned out as a teenager!), so I knew almost from the day my son died that I would eventually have to purge myself by getting thoughts on to paper.

But it took a long time. My son Michael died in 1994 and I didn’t start writing about it until 1999. Then I kept leaving it and coming back, and didn’t finish it until 2008, by which time computer technology, which is crucial to the story, had changed so much that I had to re-write much of it anyway.

What do you feel are the responsibilities of a writer when tackling a subject such as suicide?

Obviously in the case of Past Continuous, which was inspired by the suicide of my son, I had to be careful not to upset those who were close to him, so his is the only character in the book based on a real person.

As it is, all of my family, including my ex wife, are very supportive of what I have done, and will be attending the book’s launch. I’m also working with organisations which support victims of suicide and bereavement, and list some of them on the book’s website.

In October, I’m making presentation at the AGM of Papyrus, the group which supports parents of youth suicide.

What inspired the fictional elements of the novel?

Unlike other books I didn’t actually plan out a story. I started at the beginning with the prologue, which is the discovery of the body.

My son hanged himself in Spain, so we never found out much about how the body was discovered, except that it was hanging from a tree over a stream. From that point, the story evolved.

I didn’t intend it to be sci fi, but neither did I want it to be morbid, so the idea of giving him back his life, albeit in a different format, just grew from there. I was reading a lot of stuff about latest scientific developments, particularly DNA technology, and it occurred to me that dead people leave quite a lot of themselves behind, even if it’s only the words they write.

So I had the idea that my main character might leave something behind, something so fundamental to his essence, that it might be possible to communicate with him, or even to restore him. The main character, Sophie, seemed to be writing it for me. I’ve always loved and admired strong women, so I let her take control. She did a damned good job!

What do you find the most challenging aspects of writing?

Discipline. I’m the World’s worst. I find excuses NOT to write - answer emails, make another cup of coffee, do anything rather than get down to writing. Yet once I’m into it, I really love it, and wonder why I agonise so much over making the effort.

What do you enjoy most about it?

Re-writing and editing. One of my hobbies is restoring antique furniture. I’d be hopeless at constructing a piece of furniture from scratch, but give me a beautiful but decrepit old chair or dresser and I will spend all the hours it takes to repair, scrape and polish back to its former glories.

So it is with writing. I find writing the first draft difficult and painful, and sometimes I feel I have no creativity in me. But once that first draft is down, no matter how bad it is, I then love working on it, shaping into something better and better. I’m happy re-writing a book a hundred times over, and never feel I’ve finished.

Whose writing do you admire?

I read both fiction and non-fiction and my tastes change with the seasons. Orwell and Lawrence are lasting favourites, as is Anne Hughes’ The Diary of a Farmer’s Wife 1796 -1797, which was found under floorboards.

I also love Dostoevsky, and the plays of Dennis Potter. I admire Richard Dawkins for his clarity and common sense, and Christopher Hitchens for his blinding intelligence. I owe a lot to Audrey Niffenegger, whose The Time Traveler’s Wife showed me how romance and sci-fi could be blended. Ask me next week and I’ll give you a completely different list.

What inspires you?

Other writers, good drama (which makes me laugh and cry in equal measure), and daily walks, when I think out scenes and plot. I also travel a lot, and enjoy writing irreverent travelogues. This year I’ve written them from Burma, Cambodia and Krakow, and they’re all published on www.speakwithoutinteruption.com.

What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?

Find a mentor. Writing can be lonely, and you need a friend. At university, a lecturer took me under his wing and allowed me to go to him every lunchtime and read my latest poem. He was immensely patient, boosted my ego with his praise, but also offered good advice. He gave me the confidence to believe I could write, and to stick at it.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m writing a futuristic novel in which I’m trying to do to religion what Orwell did to politics in Nineteen Eighty-four and Animal Farm.

Despite the wisdom of people like Dawkins, Harris, Dennet, and Hitchens, who argue convincingly against the dangers of religion, we actually have a situation where fundamentalist religion is gaining ground, particularly in America, where ‘Creationism’ is taught as a compulsory science in many schools, and politicians dare not admit that they are non-believers. I find that horrifying.

So I’ve set my story in 2090 when fundamentalist Christianity has taken over here in England, and the bishops run the Country. Women are not having a good time.

For more on Tony and Past Continuous, please visit www.pastcontinuous.co.uk

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Mads Mikkelsen and Anna Mouglalis as Igor and Coco

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, based on the 2003 novel by Chris Greenhalgh, is a film of two styles - half period drama and half avant-garde character study.

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel has already been depicted in cinema, with 1981’s Chanel Solitaire (George Kaczender) and 2009’s autobiographical Coco Before Chanel (Anne Fontaine) presenting an incomplete but insightful presentation of the iconic fashionista. Kaczender’s outing is a little staggered and romanticised, more a bullet point tour than a biopic, whereas Fontaine’s tale (primarily about Coco’s affairs with textiles heir Étienne Balsan and English polo player Boy Capel) is rooted in realism and detail.

This particular contender focuses on the rumoured affair between Chanel and the Russian composer and pianist Igor Stravinsky (’Rite Of Spring’), whom she took into her home in the 1920s.

The film opens in 1913 with an epic, thunderous performance of Rite of Spring, composed by Stravinsky (Mads Mikkelsen). Chanel (Anna Mouglalis), midway through her affair with Capel, sits in the audience. Kounen’s camera swoops, tracks and glides through the backstage and audience - a tumultuous juxtaposition of haunted mime and jugular-grabbing strings, the music assaults the viewer into a state of horrified wonder.

It’s beautiful, scary, confusing and, quite frankly, breathtaking - the atmosphere as entrancing and otherworldly as the denouement to Luca Guadagnino’s 2009 masterpiece Io sono L’amore (I Am Love).

Sadly the film can’t quite live up to its opening but music, the language of desire, is as expertly used throughout.

The score by Gabriel Yared underpins all of the action and emotion, never manipulative or instructive, simply ambient and organic. It’s well judged and keeps the pace going, although credit must be given to editor Anny Danché who does well with Kounen’s interesting, ambitious yet flawed direction.

One gets the feeling that Kounen wanted to make a personal epic - the emotions are quiet, the camera often focusing on the space between spaces, allowing suspicion and desire to reverberate around Chanel’s elegant property. But there is also the aforementioned surrealism, sharp, startling images and scenes of epic ambition - think of Fellini’s 8½ (1963) with less style, substance, or sadly assurance.

This sounds like a blow to Kounen, but being compared to Fellini is a tough task for any filmmaker. He has a keen eye for the material, and shows a definite step up from the clumsy but thrilling surrealist Western Blueberry, but the arthouse doesn’t yet feel like a comfortable home for the genre hopping director.

Coco and Igor play on

Mads Mikkelsen (last seen in Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2009 masterpiece Valhalla Rising) is perfect as Stravisnky, showing a mastery of uptight professionalism, pent up desire and skillful piano playing. He’s an actor of considerable skill and it’s a shame to see him without a sparring partner.

Anna Mouglalis may be the best resemblance of Coco yet, but her performance is oddly distancing. Watching her playing Chanel like an ice cold consumer queen (looking down her nose at employees and feeling no guilt for wrecking Stravinsky’s marriage), makes it hard to warm to her.

Indeed, early in the film a side character declares (at a party in 1920, months after her lover of nine years, Boy Capel, has died): “She makes even grief seem chic.”

This detachment detracts from the graphic, sensual love scenes. A shame, seeing how Audrey Tatou brought a gravity and grace to the role so recently. This wonderfully photographed film may complete the story that Coco Before Chanel left open but sadly we’re still awaiting a definitive screen Chanel…

Director Jan Kounen

Writers Chris Greenhalgh (novel and screenplay),Carlo De Boutiny (adaptation), Jan Kounen (adaptation)

Starring Anna Mouglalis, Mads Mikkelsen

Image provided courtesy of www.picturehouses.co.uk

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky will continue to be shown at the Picture House, Cambridge, until September 2nd 2010.

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Non-fiction success stories

Tony Bayliss is the author of two successful non-fiction books: Providing Equal Opportunities for Girls and Boys in Physical Education, published by ILEA in 1984, and How to Profit from Student Property, published by The Tax Café in 2006. His latest novel, Past Continuous, is due out shortly from Sparkling Books. Here Tony shares his tips for getting your non-fiction book ready for publication.

There is no doubt that getting non-fiction published is a LOT easier than fiction. Most fiction publishers only want established authors or new authors who come with very strong recommendations from agents. Of the nine thousand fiction authors on the Harper Collins website Authonomy.com only a tiny handful have been offered contracts since the site opened three years ago.

But publishers of non-fiction are actively looking for new authors and, provided you’re an expert in your field, or have something highly original to say, then you’re in with a good chance.

I have drawers full of rejection slips from publishers of fiction, yet both of the non-fiction books I have written were snapped up by publishers.

Choose something topical

I wrote my first non-fiction book back in the 1980s, when I headed a working group which was looking at equal opportunity issues in physical education. At the time, women’s groups were protesting at Greenham Common, feminism was on the rise, London was appointing its first equal opportunities schools’ inspector, and every school in the country was being asked to write an equal opportunities policy. So the time was ripe for any published guidance and advice, and that is what the working group produced.

I wrote the main findings up into an article, and sent it to the Times Educational Supplement. They ran it as a double page spread, and within hours, I was being interviewed on national radio. Book offers quickly followed.

Write what you know

My second non-fiction book was published in 2006. I’d moved from education into property, and been a successful landlord of student properties for ten years.

On the point of selling up, I found myself being asked for advice by potential buyers, and some were so impressed by what I’d learnt over the years that they suggested I wrote a book about it.

So I put together a proposal, and sent it to The Tax Cafe. They replied immediately, saying how keen they were, because there were very few books around on property management written by practising landlords, and none by one who had specialised in student properties.

Again, my timing was right: universities had been expanding since the war, so every university town was crying out for more student accommodation, and the constantly changing housing legislation was proving a minefield for the ‘amateur’ landlord.

The publisher asked me to write it as a ‘How To‘ guide, with lots of real stories from my own experience to illustrate the hard facts. I wrote it in two months, and it was on sale in three. Despite the subsequent recession, it still continues to sell well.

Embrace your subject - however obscure

So what’s the secret? First, it helps to be an expert, or fronting a group of experts, no matter how obscure your subject might be. I know a guy who is writing a book on the evolution of the Codd bottle, and another who is writing about load-bearing on the ankles during the Triple Jump. Both are obscure subjects, original, and highly-specific.

Choose your publisher with care

Next, find a publisher who specialises in your subject. You’re wasting your time and money sending it to those who don’t.

It goes without saying that the quality of the writing needs to be good, but more than that, it needs to be concise, precise, well-organised, and logical. Divide up the book into sections and chapters, make it progressive, DON’T have a huge appendix, but DO have an index.

Provide a full package

When submitting, send both a synopsis and a plan of the book, showing how it will be organised  - you don’t need to stick religiously to the plan once you start writing, but publishers need to have an idea of how it will look. If you haven’t yet written it, send some samples of your writing from elsewhere so that the publisher can see the quality of your work.

Put the effort in

Recruit friends and family to do proof-reading for you. Save your publisher some effort by doing what you can to like to make sure that the book is as error-free. When you send in the MS, make sure it conforms to the publisher’s house rules. And be aware that some will also expect you to get heavily involved in the marketing.

And finally, don’t give up! Have confidence in yourself, because no one else will. Do not be disheartened by rejection slips, but if any publishers take the trouble to give advice on a re-write, take it.

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