tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post7405900080720572336..comments2023-05-21T14:46:54.138+01:00Comments on FictionBitch: Now and ThenElizabeth Baineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-33564565373298142802011-06-30T10:44:32.494+01:002011-06-30T10:44:32.494+01:00Synchronicity! I agree with your comments about In...Synchronicity! I agree with your comments about Ingenious Pain too. Enjoyed it very much, but can't remember a thing about it beyond it's central idea. (Mind you, that's true of a lot of what I read these days ...)Mark Illishttp://markillis.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-71191972621394126922011-06-29T16:25:32.265+01:002011-06-29T16:25:32.265+01:00Interestingly enough, Mark, I just had a reading g...Interestingly enough, Mark, I just had a reading group discussion of Andrew Miller's Ingenious Pain in which someone objected to historical novels:<br />http://elizabethbaines.blogspot.com/2011/06/reading-group-ingenious-pain-by-andrew.htmlElizabeth Baineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-88110748599744952262011-06-29T16:07:41.474+01:002011-06-29T16:07:41.474+01:00Andrew Miller's been writing about the same th...Andrew Miller's been writing about the same thing. He says history is a 'rattle-bag of wonderful stories' and that historical fiction inevitably suggests contemporary parallels. I agree. There's a snobbishness about historical fiction I think - as there is about all genre fiction - which makes it too easy for some people to dismiss.Mark Illishttp://w-in-w.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-28176105216273336492011-06-11T11:13:09.225+01:002011-06-11T11:13:09.225+01:00I agree about the "passing of time". I t...I agree about the "passing of time". I think its why my generation (I'm 44) hasn't really written many defining books about the generation - life happens slower in some ways (people get married later, taking longer in their careers etc.) than they did in the past (except we now have Cameron, Clegg and Ed Milliband! Maybe we should write a book about their rise...) However I'm always puzzled about the reluctance about writing about the "now", it seems, particularly given how fast technology changes, that its about observing the now, and writing it down honestly. The "meaning" if you like, will come out afterwards. Better that than the anachronisms that seem to be so present in alot of nearly-now novels and in recent-past TV series. And perhaps the "fleetingness and shallowness" of contemporary life is in itself a subject? That said, books that try too hard in that direction often read very dated very quickly - so its definitely a balance. Time gives perspective after all - and we don't think of "Middlemarch" as the historical novel that it was at the time!Adrian Slatcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13946068316432524571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-14801662307019097042011-06-05T17:55:15.082+01:002011-06-05T17:55:15.082+01:00Strongly agree, V, a great danger.Strongly agree, V, a great danger.Elizabeth Baineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-29313929317621379422011-06-05T16:08:15.490+01:002011-06-05T16:08:15.490+01:00It's beyond me - how does a writer let the pre...It's beyond me - how does a writer let the present work on them enough for a meaningful theme to emerge, sink in, and rise up later as fiction - all of which takes time? Danger is surely that rushing at telling a contemporary story might mirror (maybe unwittingly) the fleetingness and shallowness of 'contemporary' life?Vanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09088301040602803489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-59802624678140604342011-06-05T15:47:09.799+01:002011-06-05T15:47:09.799+01:00I certainly do, Sue.I certainly do, Sue.Elizabeth Baineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-86865439615523415692011-06-05T13:46:39.212+01:002011-06-05T13:46:39.212+01:00I do agree with Swift, and have long believed that...I do agree with Swift, and have long believed that "time" is always the core essence of a novel. Now that I'm onto my 3rd one, it is still true for me. Although this wip is firmly set in a recent "now" it unveils whatever it does unveil of its characters over a sense of time, an extended now, if you will. Know what I mean?Sue Guineyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13556228394020314560noreply@blogger.com