Tonight the Westcountry Hall of Fame programme series starts on ITV Westcountry (ITV1) at 1930 (that’s 7.30pm to the likes of me).
I have to say here that the fame in the programme title refers, sadly, not to my participation but to those featured - i.e. famous writers. Of which I am not one YET.
Tonight's programme will feature writers, music and painters. The second one on 13th December looks at entrepreneurs, politicians, campaigners. Programme 3 looks at sailor/adventurers, inventors, visionaries on 20th Dec, and the last programme on Thursday 27th December is all about saving lives, soldiers, sporting heroes.
As Dermot, the producer, says,
“In addition – and to facilitate viewers’ votes – we will have a strong presence on the new, dedicated ITV Westcountry web page: http://www.itvlocal.com/westcountry which will go "live" for each programme immediately after transmission. This will guide online visitors through the voting process, and will allow them to view either the entire programme or – to refresh memories for those who will already have seen it – the background films on the nominees. Do please log on to vote yourself and, perhaps more importantly, ask all of your friends, colleagues and neighbours to do the same!! The results of the viewer voting for each programme will be posted on the website on the Monday following the programme, and will be announced soon thereafter on “Westcountry Live” (weekday evenings 1800-1830 on ITV1).
We are sure you understand that we have had to edit the discussions (which averaged about 25 minutes) down to a fraction of that. Sadly, to squeeze 3 categories into a programme that runs for 23 minutes in total, each discussion runs for less than 4 minutes or so. Rest assured, though, that we have chosen the very best of the discussions, that every panel member contributes, and that all five nominees get a mention. This means that some material that we had hoped to include has had to be dropped, but the end result has much better pace and rhythm without hesitation, repetition etc.
We hope you enjoy watching.”
It will be interesting to see whether my bit about Mary Wesley and sex will remain in. I’ll just have to wait till this evening to see my 30 seconds of fame..
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Filming in the Library
Apologies to RT for her reading meme which I am looking forward to tackling, but felt I should give an account of last night first.
Filming got off to a dodgy start yesterday evening as two out of four of us on the panel didn’t turn up – they thought it was today. So a passing poet was roped in plus one of the librarians, neither of whom had done any research, of course.
Looking back, I wish I’d re-read some Hardy as I was sitting next to a retired Know It All (ex-teacher I would guess, though no offence to any ex-teachers who might be reading). She was convinced that whatever she said was right, when she was frequently off topic. I shot her down on several occasions, notably to say that I’d never read Hardy since school as I found him too depressing. Being a Hardy Zealot, this enraged her. She was the sort you could imagine on Mastermind, taking Hardy as her Specialist Subject.
Dermot the producer was good at throwing questions at us and one was, ‘how would you interest a 17 year old in any of these writers?’
For once, my brain worked on time. ‘Sex,’ I said, before my neighbour could give Hardy another blast. She merely looked horrified. ‘Get them to read Mary Wesley. They might pick up a few tips.’
I don’t expect that bit will make it to the final edit, but it will be interesting to see. It’s to be shown on Westcountry at the beginning of December – I’ll let you know details as soon as I find out.
However, Himself came and watched and Dermot seemed happy with it overall, despite all of us drying up at some time or other. I managed to give Daphne du Maurier and Mary Wesley a good plug, although to my horror Hardy won the vote for Westcountry Writer. Pah!
Himself says that autographs are available by post. He's organising that side of it, having appointed himself my agent. Knowing his business skills, I think I’ll sack him before he starts, but he’s Very Proud and told everyone this morning on our dog walk, ‘I’m with a Star, you know.’
Filming got off to a dodgy start yesterday evening as two out of four of us on the panel didn’t turn up – they thought it was today. So a passing poet was roped in plus one of the librarians, neither of whom had done any research, of course.
Looking back, I wish I’d re-read some Hardy as I was sitting next to a retired Know It All (ex-teacher I would guess, though no offence to any ex-teachers who might be reading). She was convinced that whatever she said was right, when she was frequently off topic. I shot her down on several occasions, notably to say that I’d never read Hardy since school as I found him too depressing. Being a Hardy Zealot, this enraged her. She was the sort you could imagine on Mastermind, taking Hardy as her Specialist Subject.
Dermot the producer was good at throwing questions at us and one was, ‘how would you interest a 17 year old in any of these writers?’
For once, my brain worked on time. ‘Sex,’ I said, before my neighbour could give Hardy another blast. She merely looked horrified. ‘Get them to read Mary Wesley. They might pick up a few tips.’
I don’t expect that bit will make it to the final edit, but it will be interesting to see. It’s to be shown on Westcountry at the beginning of December – I’ll let you know details as soon as I find out.
However, Himself came and watched and Dermot seemed happy with it overall, despite all of us drying up at some time or other. I managed to give Daphne du Maurier and Mary Wesley a good plug, although to my horror Hardy won the vote for Westcountry Writer. Pah!
Himself says that autographs are available by post. He's organising that side of it, having appointed himself my agent. Knowing his business skills, I think I’ll sack him before he starts, but he’s Very Proud and told everyone this morning on our dog walk, ‘I’m with a Star, you know.’
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Novel News
When I opened the door, the postman stood there with a Big Parcel. It was a jiffy bag which meant this was my novel back from the New Writers Scheme. The fact that it had been returned meant it wasn’t good enough for a second reading. My stomach plummeted as if I was in a very fast lift, along with my confidence. Bugger.
With trembling hands I ripped the package open, desperate to know what the report said. Well, I had an idea – “ this is well written but xxxxx needs looking at and I wasn’t happy with xxxx and your plot needs working on and you could improve it by xxxx and good luck and keep writing.”
I stood in the kitchen, shaking while I scanned through the compliments (those are always first) waiting for the BUTs. A few very minor ones – like missing pages, a briefly mentioned character who never reappears again – she could be got rid of as she doesn’t add anything to the story. I could perhaps sharpen it up by cutting down on the description but don’t get rid of too much because it’s lovely.
Then at the end, a warning that there is no guarantee that an agent or publisher will take this on. If they don’t, I might need to tighten up a certain passage of the book, but it reads well as it is. Next page, a list of agents to send it to.
So this is a good report? Where’s the list of things that are wrong? If the writer thought it was good, why didn’t it get a second reading?
Brain went into complete overdrive and I couldn’t concentrate for the next hour.
Thankfully I was due to meet a friend in town so I had a long walk, a good chat and came home and sent the first few chapters off to Piatkus.
I’ve now re-read the report several times and while I’m delighted, there’s no guarantee that this will succeed with an agent or a publisher. If it did – well, we won’t go there. I’ve been disappointed too many times.
But – and this is the tricky bit about being a writer - I know this is the best thing I’ve written. Can I do it again? Already I’m thinking that the next novel, which I’m plotting, is weaker. The characters aren’t as strong or as quirky. Or are they?
Oh hell, who’d be a writer? Why, a friend of mine asked, do I do something that continually tests my flailing confidence? Why do I work in a business that means I’m continually up against rejection?
That I can’t answer. I inherited the writing gene – no idea from whom - and I have to go with it.
With trembling hands I ripped the package open, desperate to know what the report said. Well, I had an idea – “ this is well written but xxxxx needs looking at and I wasn’t happy with xxxx and your plot needs working on and you could improve it by xxxx and good luck and keep writing.”
I stood in the kitchen, shaking while I scanned through the compliments (those are always first) waiting for the BUTs. A few very minor ones – like missing pages, a briefly mentioned character who never reappears again – she could be got rid of as she doesn’t add anything to the story. I could perhaps sharpen it up by cutting down on the description but don’t get rid of too much because it’s lovely.
Then at the end, a warning that there is no guarantee that an agent or publisher will take this on. If they don’t, I might need to tighten up a certain passage of the book, but it reads well as it is. Next page, a list of agents to send it to.
So this is a good report? Where’s the list of things that are wrong? If the writer thought it was good, why didn’t it get a second reading?
Brain went into complete overdrive and I couldn’t concentrate for the next hour.
Thankfully I was due to meet a friend in town so I had a long walk, a good chat and came home and sent the first few chapters off to Piatkus.
I’ve now re-read the report several times and while I’m delighted, there’s no guarantee that this will succeed with an agent or a publisher. If it did – well, we won’t go there. I’ve been disappointed too many times.
But – and this is the tricky bit about being a writer - I know this is the best thing I’ve written. Can I do it again? Already I’m thinking that the next novel, which I’m plotting, is weaker. The characters aren’t as strong or as quirky. Or are they?
Oh hell, who’d be a writer? Why, a friend of mine asked, do I do something that continually tests my flailing confidence? Why do I work in a business that means I’m continually up against rejection?
That I can’t answer. I inherited the writing gene – no idea from whom - and I have to go with it.
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