If any of you read my January Wish List post, you'll notice that one of the books I mentioned was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Today, I was lucky enough to be able to listen to the former data modeller and now award-winning author
as he spoke at Warwick University to aspiring
writers and publishers.
Graeme was charming and witty as he explained his career progression.
Starting out in database design, he went on to establish his own IT consultancy business. Already boasting a talent for effective writing, Graeme published the textbook Data Modelling Essentials in 2004 which is now in its third edition.
In a rather abrupt career change, he then tried his hand at screen-play writing and had minor successes
with a few short productions. Meanwhile, he was constantly evolving the concept of what would become The Rosie Project. He describes the
pinnacle of his career as being shortlisted for Victorian Premier’s Unpublished
Manuscript Award (2012) which he won, leading to him becoming a published author with
Penguin Books in the UK (and now also a screen-writer for the Sony adaptation of his
novel).
From listening to Graeme speak, it's no surprise that The Rosie Project
is hailed for its hilarious and exuberant entertainment value as it captures
human interaction:
The plot follows geneticist Don Tilman who has Asperger's
syndrome and who, at thirty
nine years old, has never had a second date . He thus devises The Wife Project, a
scientific test designed to find him the perfect partner. What follows is a
charming, funny tale of romance as Rosie enters Don's world.
Graeme explained the relationship between the initial plot concept written as
a screen-play, and the consequent book form of The Rosie Project as he advised writers to consider the different medium through which their ideas might best be portrayed.
For me, as an aspiring editor it was interesting to understand the process
of writing - one that is meticulous and progressive - from an author's perspective (The Rosie Project took five years to reach the print form it’s in
now.)
Asked how much of an effect the editing and publishing process had on the
final product that is The Rosie Project, Graeme explained that it was
a matter of tweaking length and emphasis on particular plot sections rather
than totally altering the shape of the novel. It seems that the editor-author
relationship was one of perfecting the novel without stealing its integrity.
As a writer, Graeme represents the epitome of perseverance. He advocates
the necessity of accepting criticism and advice from others while also
demanding more from yourself.
Look out for the sequel to The Rosie Project, which Graeme
says he's just submitted and which promises to be just as much of a success!
This morning Atria Books announced via twitter that they are going to publish in print form Colleen Hoover's Finding Cinderella. This short novella, which is part of Hoover's Hopeless series (but also stands alone as a short story) was originally published for free as an e-book in October 2013. However, the praise and admiration by Hoover's fans for the novella has prompted Atria's decision to print the book. The readers made their voice heard specifically through the social medium of Twitter with the hashtag #findingcinderella
Clearly, the publishing industry, like so many other industries, is being touched by digital and social media advances in more ways than one. Twitter, obviously, has many advantages for businesses wishing to achieve mass-scale advertising and publicity. Hashtags can go global in a matter of hours and the exposure Twitter creates is immense.
However, it is not just a one-way street where users are bombarded with advertisements and product launches - though some days it might seem the case. Instead, where Twitter's brilliance lies is in the exchange of dialogue and information. From pop stars to sports stars, heads of state to heads of companies, Twitter allows the 'ordinary' person to contact people otherwise considered to live in some other-worldly-more-powerful-than-me place. Celebrities interact with their fans and - crucial to this discussion - businesses interact with their customers. After all, what are readers if they aren't customers of the author? They equally have the right to praise or condemn the quality of the product they receive, and apparently, they also work in the line of supply vs. demand. For Finding Cinderella, Atria Books saw the demand, hence the supply.
With this kind of publisher-author-editor-reader interaction unfolding publicly before everyones eyes, its no wonder that new books are increasingly being printed with a book title hashtag on the front of their jackets. Suddenly, book clubs have become viral - no longer are we restricted to a weekly meeting to discuss how we responded to a book. Instead, Twitter gives the platform for global discussion and reviews.
This event not only teaches us about the way in which Twitter has reconfigured the client-provider relationship, but also teaches us a little something about the e-book revolution.
What lesson is that exactly? Well, it seems that for many readers, for all its positives (practical, simple, cheap - or free in this case!), an e-book is not quite enough. Among readers, there is still the demand for having something that can be put on a book shelf, or piled up on the bedside table. Evidently, tangibility is still something that readers value - certainly when they love the book! For publishers, this event seems to showcase that while e-books may allow for pre-print publication marketing campaigns, printed books still have a viable, and seemingly vocal, market demand.
So I guess all that's left to do now, is see what all the fuss is about!
*download of Finding Cinderella complete*
University life is one long reading list at the moment and so, unfortunately, I don't anticipate having much time to cosy up to a book over the next five months that isn't about global disasters/contemporary France or written by Zadie Smith.
I'm not complaining - studying Literature at Warwick is the best decision I've made yet. However, I really am eager to graduate to get back to reading some crime/thriller/chick-lit wonders (especially if I could do it for a career)! So, I've decided as a little New Years Resolution that each month I'll compile a short list of a few books which have been published and which I plan on reading - one day!
January
1. The Amber Fury - Nathalie Haynes (Corvus)
2. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (Crown)
3. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty (Penguin Books)
4. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (Penguin Books)
5. Barracuda - Christos Tsiolkas (Atlantic Books) - a must considering I proof read the jacket during my internship!
And I just have to get on to And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini which has been waiting patiently on my kindle for far too long!!
I think that's a good start to my 2014 reading list - I can't wait 'til I find the time to dabble in it.
Who's your go-to author?
That one author that you keep going back to, time and time again?
If you don't have one, why don't you give mine a try?
Jodi Picoult.
I was first introduced to Picoult's work by a friend over five years ago, and I've never looked back. Keeping Faith, My Sister's Keeper, Handle With Care, The Pact, The Story Teller - just a few of Picoult's novels that I call to mind as having deeply moved me upon reading.
The success of Picoult's novels comes from her ability to create a beautiful, emotive work of fiction from a provocative, contentious topic. Brittle-bones disease, euthanasia, suicide and - most recently - war crimes - Picoult's characters are faced with extraordinary trials, yet at the same time, are just ordinary people. Each story, in one way or another, tackles these issues from a legal, and also an ethical ,perspective. Always meticulously informed, Picoult asks a question of the reader while, it must be said, still managing to entertain them (even if said entertainment leaves you in tears).
If you are to read any of Picoult's work - I urge you to read The Pact. From my brother to my Dad, my Mum to my Grandma - no one to whom I recommended this book could dispute the greatness of this novel:
The Pact, published in 1998, is a haunting love story. When Emily is found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, in the arms of Chris her best friend and boyfriend, no one knows what to think. What follows is a tormenting tale of family tribulation as Chris and Emily's parents try to come to turns with the notion that their children had made a suicide pact. The families, once so close, are torn apart as Chris finds himself on trial for Emily's murder.
What's so engaging about Picoult's work, and what resonates from The Pact, as it does from the others, is the feeling within the novel.
Picoult's worlds are not far-fetched, fantastical, imaginary worlds. They are real, they are current, they are relatable, or at least, possible. Picoult asks you to think about that.
I can sometimes be quite critical of the internet, I suppose in some ways I am an old soul, wanting to preserve human aspects of life that seem to be being replaced with technology. Like children painting on iPads/tablets instead of on paper with paint...sure, it diminishes mess, and probably the cost in the long run, but what about the experience of painting? The same goes for communicating of course, although we cannot deny the benefits it brings to our way of living - we don't yet know the costs social networks etc. will have on our future notion of self - when this generation of selfie-takers and snap-chatters grow into adults, parents and leaders.
But what about reading? I used to think reading had to be a book, printed pages - just look at my "the kindle temptation" post to see how I felt conflicted over the notion of e-books. But then I came across some children's reading material in which books are now available online - stories are like flip charts - and children are encouraged to read aloud with the voice over.
This is clearly a sign of the times and crucially meets the needs and desires of these generations. Zadie Smith recently discussed how she considers books to now have to compete with an abundance of images in our lives, and this is so true, not least with children's literature. Characters who talk to you, who engage you, who allow you to be a part of the story, interactively, whilst all the time making you read - this is the future of children's literature. This is where it has to go. For a book to compete with video games and TV to capture a child's attention, it has to now be more than pop up pictures or sound-buttons. It has to enter into a child's world, which is now one of the internet and apps. Life is now lived on-screen and reading needs to respond to this.
The primary goal has to be literacy. We have a generation of people who will surpass the adult generation in digital literacy - there are schools across the globe already teaching it as a language. However, we must not forget the importance of English literacy. It doesn't matter how we get children reading, as long as that's what we do; we need to encourage literacy in the UK whereby text language and abbreviations do not become part of children's formal reading and therefore day-to-day vocabulary.
As for the second goal of reading - inspiring a child's imagination - if we can use technology to help children develop their creativity by combining the usual words, colour and images of a child's story with sounds, voices and movement, then we should.
The subject of Michael Gove's education reforms is rightly a hot topic of debate at the moment. I remember proof-reading my friend's dissertation on such reforms last summer (she did theatre studies), and it seems to me that despite the obvious opposition posed to the government's plans, it seems nothing will affect them.
Yes, something does have to change. You only have to glance at the latest report from Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment), to see that our education system is severely lacking in comparison to those of other countries (South Korea and Finland raking 1st + 2nd for reading, maths and science - we rank 17th, 24th, and 14th respectively).
However, as many have already voiced - much more effectively and insightfully as I ever could - there are serious contentious issues with Gove's reforms.
What concerns me most, is the way in which the Department for Education seems so intent on forming the English educative system on those of Eastern Asian countries, and, in doing so, eliminating all subjects deemed non-academic. The new English Baccalaureate will see students studying one Shakespeare play, alongside other literary texts. Yet this 'drama' section within the English qualification is supposed to replace (and therefore account for) drama within the education framework as a whole. Drama, it seems, no longer holds importance. While to some degree I can relate to the suggestion that Drama in school is not taken seriously, in my opinion, to withdraw it from the curriculum as an entity in itself, is to destroy our culture.
As an humanities student, I am of course biased. But, as many authors, artists and performers would agree, the arts contribute such a great deal to our sense of culture. Not to mention the ways in which drama, as a subject, enables students to develop - to address fears of public-speaking, to develop social skills, as well as analytic and interpretative capabilities.
It's all well and good to base our educational system on other countries, but in my opinion, that shouldn't be the point. Yes, our education system is flawed. Yet the government's plans seem to be withdrawing the only good thing about it - its endeavour to give students a rounded, varied, and thought-provoking education. What the government seems to forget, is that children need to be engaged by school, as much as they are taught. School, in my opinion, is about preparing a child for their future - whatever that may be. By focusing solely on the 'academic' aspect of schooling, the new regime fails students.
Having spent time working within the French education system as a language assistant for the British Council, I wholeheartedly believe that a turning away from creativity within the educational sphere, is a regression of the greatest kind. I frequently speak with French students who are amazed to learn that the English school system offers classes in cookery, textiles and technologies through which the learning experience is more well-rounded one. It is these features of the UK school system which need to be bettered and encouraged, not eliminated.
The technological boom of the 90s has seen so many incredible, once inconceivable, inventions become available to us - ones that we would find it so difficult to live without in the post-modern age. The Internet, of course, is the primary catalyst for the complete upheaval of the way in which we communicate, connect, and, indeed, learn.
But with all the wonders that it brings: instant chat, instant knowledge, instant...everything, there is an underlying fear that lurks in the social implications of the Internet boom.
Social networking has taken a battering of late, as sociologists consider and critique the ways in which we now communicate and convey ourselves via social networking sites such as Facebook - check out this video for an interesting interpretation of the way in which we are supposedly now all so "connected". http://elitedaily.com/news/world/this-video-will-have-you-completely-rethink-how-you-conduct-yourself-online-and-in-person-video/
But what worries me, is not so much the frailty and falsity of our "relationships", or "friends", but rather what the Internet is doing to our perception of learning, to our desire for knowledge.
The Internet is a student's dream - Google anything these days and, somewhere, you'll find an answer. Certainly, it is far easier to search in wordreference.com for a French definition, than to trawl through a dictionary. But is this instant availability of knowledge detrimental to our development as people? I mean, as thinking people?
I see two flaws with the Internet as a source of knowledge:
1. In the quality - how do you know that the first link that you click on is truth, and fact? If anyone can contribute to Wikipedia, how are we sure of any of the claims it makes? The abundance of information now available on the World Wide Web, though it may be tantalizing interesting, precise, and clear, is not monitored by anyone. Sure, you'd think you can trust sites such as The Guardian, and The Telegraph, but where is the quality control?
2. In the ease and speed - this might seem bizarre, for surely one of the main positives of the Internet is the speed at which we can access things. Yet, the speed, the not-needing-to-learn-the-skills of patience, to dissect and to search for the answer, this is something which is concerning as it means that we no longer ask questions. We are prepared to take the first answer that comes, and if we stop asking questions, we stop learning how to learn. We simply appropriate knowledge, we consume it, we do not discover it.
The internet, although on the one hand enabling innovation and communication, will, on the other hand, lead to a serious reduction in the attention span of young people, as they grow up in a world where answers are handed to them on a plate. Diminishing our attention span as a society, it will incite laziness. Our patience as readers, learners, and also with each other will suffer (who hasn't unknowingly been distracted from a face-to-face conversation to check their email on their phone?)
This applies to sciences, economics, politics - whatever field of study or interest. If we lose the ability or the desire to learn, because we are handed the answers by those who have already figured them out, what do we become?
The effect this will have on the younger generations of readers is what concerns me the most. How will a three hundred page novel, now, hold the attention of a fourteen year old? How does an author retain our interest when we are so prone to clicking on the next thing after two minutes of concentrating?
This is a problem that contemporary authors of today will have to tackle. Zadie Smith is already doing it, others will follow suit.
How do you engage a reader, without taking up too much of their time?
