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Joan Aiken produced some beautiful pastel drawings while mulling over her plots, you can see some of them on the website, but this little doodle on the back of an envelope suggests a rather different, very un-fertile state of mind, brought about by the distractions and pressures of daily life (Gas in barn? […]
Yippee! More Aiken available to read, and not before time! Must do some catch-up…
Do so sympathise with her teeth-grinding over Eleanor’s swarmy condescension: we’ve all met that type, in different walks of life.
I love the juxtaposition of “Gas in barn/applesauce” – almost poetic, and then the invitation of “PAGE 1″. How does a writer balance the everyday demands on her time with the book that’s calling her to write?
This tension and Eleanor’s comment remind me of a New Yorker cartoon: at a cocktail party, one man says to another, “A writer? Fantastic! Wish I had time to write.”
In her writing life Joan alternated between adult’s and children’s books, so I am pleased to have a chance to redress the balance by bringing some of the adult ones out again. She said there wasn’t a huge difference between the two : “There is a strong connection between thrillers and children’s stories: a tight plot is essential, and somehow right prevails.” For me a lot of Joan comes out in her ‘Gothic’ heroines – I think you’ll enjoy meeting another side of her!
Much gnashing of teeth… but in a funny way he’s right! Writers really have to pack in twice as much as anyone else don’t they? If not three times – live it, re-imagine it, write it, it’s just that they have to have the discipline to make the time?
Here’s an Aiken competition – what is the third element missing or resulting from that list to make up the plot?
Gas in barn + applesauce + [wait for it] … hungry pyromaniac.
I dreamt I went to the barn again last night… Strangely the pyromaniac turns out to be Eleanor…must look at the date on that envelope.