Collected: August 2024
"All my writing life, I had been an observer. Now, I was creating something tangible." This month's essays and podcasts from our writers
One Thing at a Time: How Becoming a Photographer (Almost) Stopped Me Being a Novelist
by RLF Fellow Elanor Dymott on how research for her second novel, Silver and Salt, nearly derailed her writing process.
“As the process began and my hands moved on the dials, I felt as though I was standing at the helm of a ship. An actual shiver passed up my spine, and a kind of current rushed down my arms and through my fingertips.”
The rest of the essay is available here.
Finding the North Star: Fantasy Writing
RLF Fellow Zoë Marriot on the North Star of fantasy writing.
“There’s an idea that fantasy is exemplified by Tolkien, or George R. R. Martin – by dragons, chilly European castles, knights in plate armour and – let’s face it – white men on quests of derring do. That it’s all about ‘world-building’.
This, to put it mildly, is not the case. It’s rather like saying that all crime fiction is about little old ladies solving murders in cosy village settings, or that all novels with a romance element are about haughty rich men and spirited heroines in the Regency era. Fantasy is as diverse as any other genre. In fact, it is perhaps the most diverse genre. World-building is a very important part of that, but it is not the North Star by which all fantasy authors must navigate.”
Zoe’s essay is available to read here.
History is Other People
RLF Fellow John Keay on how Gandhi inspired him to decide who is best-placed to write history and why the best historical books are written by non-historians.
“The English have a habit of writing history: they pretend to study the manners and customs of all peoples. God has given us a limited mental capacity but they usurp the function of the Godhead and indulge in novel experiments. They write about their own researches in the most laudatory terms and hypnotise us into believing them. We, in our ignorance, then fall at their feet.” Mahatma Gandhi
The full essay is available here.
Projects that Don’t Make It
Episode 465 (Duration 16.24 min)
We’ve all heard the stories. The Harry Potter manuscript turned down by multiple publishers. George Orwell’s Animal Farm spurned by several presses before it found a home. Rejection comes with the territory, as far as writing is concerned. But knowing this often doesn’t make it easier when it happens to you. In this episode, RLF Fellows Sheena Wilkinson, Kim Curran, David Mark and Vitali Vitaliev share their experiences of producing projects that haven’t worked out.
My True Genre, part 2
Episode 466 (Duration 20.55 min)
According to Nielsen Book Data, crime-fiction and thrillers is the most popular genre world wide closely followed by children’s picture books, with several genres growing rapidly this year (2024), including romance, auto/biographies and self-help.
But what happens if you’re a writer who would prefer not to work in a popular genre, or even continue to write in a genre for which you’re well known?
RLF Fellows Alyson Hallett, David Kennedy1, Amanda Dalton and Martina Evans discuss their true genre.
You can listen and subscribe to RLF Collected wherever you get your podcasts.
Sadly David Kennedy passed away in 2017.