Ask the Author: Amanda Brookfield
Answered Questions (15)
Amanda Brookfield
An earring, lost for years, appeared on a table out of nowhere. Different house. Different country! It is not a plot, but one of those starting points that could take you anywhere...
Amanda Brookfield
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for your question - great to meet a fellow Pym fan!
My two other favourites are ‘Excellent Women’ and ‘Crampton Hodnet’.
Both books made me laugh out loud while being packed with the usual
powerful truths.
All my best,
Amanda
Thank you for your question - great to meet a fellow Pym fan!
My two other favourites are ‘Excellent Women’ and ‘Crampton Hodnet’.
Both books made me laugh out loud while being packed with the usual
powerful truths.
All my best,
Amanda
Amanda Brookfield
And thank you, for your appreciation and for your letter. I truly think the best thing about reading - and writing - is the way it allows us to connect with each other, finding expression for our experiences and through that being able to share the pleasure, the pain, and often the sheer confusion of being alive. I am very glad to hear that you are back to your old self. Me too.
Amanda Brookfield
I'd go to Lilliput in Daniel Defoe's 'Gulliver's Travels' because to see the teeny-ness of that world would be like stepping inside the real life cuteness of a doll's house! I would make sure they knew I was their friend and I would tread very carefully and quietly to prove it. I wouldn't stay long and I'd ask their permission before taking pictures.
Amanda Brookfield
Too many books, too little time...!
Top of my summer reading pile are:
'The Outrun' by Amy Liptrot
'Dadland' by Keggie Carew
'Officers and Gentlemen' by Evelyn Waugh
'The Barchester Chronicles' by Anthony Trollope
Top of my summer reading pile are:
'The Outrun' by Amy Liptrot
'Dadland' by Keggie Carew
'Officers and Gentlemen' by Evelyn Waugh
'The Barchester Chronicles' by Anthony Trollope
Amanda Brookfield
The way it works for me is that someone I know, or something that happens to me can become the seed of an idea. From there the fun of making stuff up completely takes over! And even if I did have a really good go at putting a real life person into one of my novels the chances are they wouldn't recognise themselves (obvious physical descriptions aside), because we all see ourselves differently from how we are perceived.
Amanda Brookfield
The obvious answer from a Romantic like me is Elizabeth and Darcy from Pride and Prejudice.... I love them, of course! Chalk and Cheese who complement each other perfectly!
In recent reading however, I have some new favourites from a based-on-a-true-story book called 'Just Send Me Word' by Orlando Figes. Svetlana and Lev fall in love as young Russian students but are separated for fourteen agonising years by the Gulag and the Second World War. Somehow they smuggle letters to each other throughout this separation, at the most deadly risk to themselves, keeping their feelings safe until they can be together. It is an incredible tale of the triumph of the human heart, all the more impressive for being based on absolute truth.
In recent reading however, I have some new favourites from a based-on-a-true-story book called 'Just Send Me Word' by Orlando Figes. Svetlana and Lev fall in love as young Russian students but are separated for fourteen agonising years by the Gulag and the Second World War. Somehow they smuggle letters to each other throughout this separation, at the most deadly risk to themselves, keeping their feelings safe until they can be together. It is an incredible tale of the triumph of the human heart, all the more impressive for being based on absolute truth.
Amanda Brookfield
Your best bet is to look in the Artists and Writers' Yearbook - that offers a comprehensive list for all types of writing, along with contact details.
Amanda Brookfield
Dear Emma,
If you are new to writing then the fear of what might come out if you start is completely understandable. Writing, by its nature, can be self-exposing, because at heart we have only our own experiences as our starting points, though in the best novels those experiences are transformed into new and separate truths by the creative power of the imagination.
My suggestion to you would be to plan in as much detail as you can your character(s) and your story-line before you start, so as to create a sense of control and distance. Then when you begin to write always remember that you are the Story-Teller with a job to do, and that job is to keep the narrative moving along and to entertain and enthrall your reader as you go. In other words you are in control of your material rather than the other way round. Moments of revelation and inspiration may strike along the way, but they will be good and exciting, helping you to see that you have nothing to fear.
Good luck,
Amanda
If you are new to writing then the fear of what might come out if you start is completely understandable. Writing, by its nature, can be self-exposing, because at heart we have only our own experiences as our starting points, though in the best novels those experiences are transformed into new and separate truths by the creative power of the imagination.
My suggestion to you would be to plan in as much detail as you can your character(s) and your story-line before you start, so as to create a sense of control and distance. Then when you begin to write always remember that you are the Story-Teller with a job to do, and that job is to keep the narrative moving along and to entertain and enthrall your reader as you go. In other words you are in control of your material rather than the other way round. Moments of revelation and inspiration may strike along the way, but they will be good and exciting, helping you to see that you have nothing to fear.
Good luck,
Amanda
Amanda Brookfield
I try and write something.....anything! Then, when you sit down the next day, you can make it better. If each sentence can be improved upon then, one day, those sentences will have become a finished manuscript.
Amanda Brookfield
Being in control of your story is such a buzz. No one can tell you that what you are making happen is 'right' or 'wrong'. It's YOUR story!
Amanda Brookfield
Be your own, brutal 'editor'. Never stop imagining how a reader will react to what you are writing ie be as demanding on yourself as you are when you open the pages of a book you have paid for in the expectation of being intrigued and entertained.
Amanda Brookfield
A short story. My starting point was imagining a woman treated with such kid gloves by her husband that he has ceased actually to touch her. There are reasons for this - tragic ones - but for the woman it is starting to feel as if she is only half alive.
Amanda Brookfield
I am endlessly interested in what makes people tick...I don't have to try at this - I just am! Even when I don't know the answers I love to 'theorise' ie make up stories to explain how/why people behave. I know humans are all different, but I am also fascinated by the many ways in which we are all the same.
Amanda Brookfield
My most recent (soon-to-be-published) book is about Love (I am a Romantic) and Identity. Who are we really, in terms of how we project ourselves? The starting point was thinking about the dangers and advantages of online interactions. We can get to know each other, but how much are we keeping hidden...?
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