Today has been full of passion. Passion for books (cataloguing and shelving my new purchases) and seeking passion for the novel.
Let’s start with the new books and today’s pick from Paris is LNDN by Jens Masmann. Even without the pictures, I was always going to like this book. It’s one of thos
e intriguing artist’s books with different types of different sizes of different coloured papers. But, of course, it is the images that make this book what it is. Masmann examines the concept of utopian planning in London and how the ‘yearning’ and the ‘realness’ meet, or more often do not meet, resulting in unused public spaces that become ‘abstract’ and ultimately ‘fictional’. Masmann’s work will resonate with any urban photographer, but particularly with those of us who chased the urban dream as part of the BL project (based on Geoff Nicholson’s book, Bleeding London, where we photographed every street in London, following in the footsteps of the book’s protagonist).
LNDN is available from million books. The link will take you straight to the slider of the book.
I’ve reached a funny old stage with the novel. I’ve uploaded more than 32,000 words now and have certainly not run out of steam in terms of producing them, but I do feel as though things are becoming a bit repetitive: the protagonists go to the same places, do the same things and have recurring thoughts. So today, I’ve been thinking about how to get some more passion in there – both the plot and the writing. I’ve already written the dénouement and the ending (so several thousand words tucked away for the end of the month), but I’ve got to get from where we’re at (in a pie and mash shop in the East End) to the dénouement (a museum in Vienna). With the best will in the world, I can’t spin the journey to the airport, the flight and arrival into 10,000 words – well, I could, but I suspect it might be somewhat tedious, which means it’s time to introduce a new character, another sub-plot or something else. So inspired by Nick’s album and Somerset Maugham’s advice, I’m looking for passion. ‘If you can tell your stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.’ (Somerset Maugham) I take my hat off to you, Mr Nicholson, this book-writing is not as straightforward as one might imagine!
Passion from Passion by Pendragon
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