WHY WRITING A BOOK IS LIKE READING PIRANESI
Over the past few days I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Piranesi. If you’ve not read it and you like audio, I highly recommend it. They brought out the big guns and got Chiwetel Ejiofor to read it.
I won’t say too much about the book itself, to avoid giving away its precious secrets, but it struck me how closely the experience of reading it - beginning in baffled but curious ignorance and gradually piecing together a new reality - is like writing a book. Reading Piranesi, you see through the eyes of someone who doesn’t fully understand the world he’s living in, although he desperately wants to.
Writing a book feels much like that, to me.
Every time I start writing a new book, or even pick up writing an ongoing book after a pause, I feel like my brain is entirely blank and I have to learn all the rules of writing all over again. I don’t know how common that is for writers, but I suspect a few people have similar experiences. It means the beginning is always the hardest.
All of which is to say I’m currently thinking about a new book, and experiencing Tabula Rasa of the brain. I know I’ll make sense of this non-existent world eventually, but I can’t yet see how to get there from here.
I won’t say anything about the new book, either. Books in their earliest stages are wispy and spook easily. It’s not one in contract, nor anything like Loki. But the process is every bit as mysterious to me as these annoyingly vague references to a theoretical-but-not-yet-written book probably are to you.
WRITING TIP OF THE DAY
Try reading or watching something that isn’t “your sort of thing”. I know I can get into ruts of consuming the same types of stories, and I always feel a bit creatively under-nourished as a result. What I read, watch, listen to and even do in my life has a big impact on my writing. So I find it helpful to stop and think from time to time…am I just reading the same types of books, or listening to the same types of songs? I may end up going back to “my sort of thing” a lot of the time. But still. Giving your brain a jolt like it’s Frankenstein’s monster on the slab, that’s good.
LAST MINUTE HALLOWEEN COSTUME IDEA
If your child has a sudden desire for a trick or treating session today, might I suggest Zombie!Loki? Simply put on shorts and a t shirt (perhaps with leggings and a long sleeved shirt underneath for warmth), pin a paper L to the chest, apply hair gel (or, if you're feeling fancy, make hair out of paper). Then, to turn Loki into a zombie, add some dark face paints or makeup around the eyes. And go round with arms out demanding brains. It’s what Loki would want.
(If going to an indoors halloween party you could remove one shoe for full chaotic zombie effect)
SPEAKING OF LOKI…
I’m currently drawing the cover for book 4 and getting ready to edit it. The World Book Day has gone off to be printed. This is the phase of making that has no external signs, but be assured, I am hard at it. I can’t wait to introduce you to the new characters you’ll meet in book four. They will NOT make Loki’s life easier, shall we say.
Also, I’ve just realised I’m writing this month’s newsletter in an oddly formal style because my head is full of Piranesi. Books are CATCHING like the plague I tell you. They crawl inside your brain and lay eggs. I wonder what will hatch?
TEACHERS AND LIBRARIANS!
Yes, you!
And you!
There are lots of Loki resources here, including posters you can print out for your library.
And finally…
MY BOOK OF THE DAY
This deeply humane book came out recently and I highly recommend it. It has some of my favourite child characters out there. Dassu knows how to make kids utterly believable, full of flaws and contradictions.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Louie x
Happy Halloween to you too, Louie! I read Piranesi 2 years ago, and I'm still thinking about it. A great novel: The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.