David Ayres' Blog

[Bernadette]

‘One of the things a writer can do is to present a character defect as a positive advantage in his craft.’

David made some very canny comments about being a writer on his blog Paradox.

I’d love to hear your feedback.

[Arnold]

‘So what’s the choice? Live life to the full and have no imagination at all or live mainly through recall, be a party pooper and create an alternative world,’ David wrote.

I can’t do this either, David, I mean living life to the full. Recently a well-known Dutch authoress explained on TV that she found it difficult to talk to friends and acquaintances about the death of her husband, but she could write a book about it. She could also, in her role as writer, discuss the book at chat shows, yet not in her private life.

After my father died and when he lay dead in the house, I wrote a poem at his desk in the middle of the night. At that moment I realized I was a writer; this was my way of expressing myself.

Writers are spectators. They appeal to that part of the population who are also part-time spectators: the readers. People who just take part are often confined to a small part of society. The advantage of literature is that you get introduced to many characters you wouldn’t have met otherwise.