And why come to our writers’ retreat in Herefordshire?
Some quick back-of-an-envelope calculations the other day yielded the rather extraordinary fact that I have written and had published more than five million
That includes journalism as well as books; writing for a whole host of newspapers including The Independent, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Financial Times, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph and the Sunday Times I have beavered away in busy offices and press rooms and media centres, on packed trains and in lively cafes. But the actual business of committing words to screen (or paper in those early days) has always been a solo pursuit. Writing is essentially a solitary exercise, which is precisely why it can be so helpful, liberating and inspiring to talk about the process with other people.
That’s one of the reasons Jane and I set up Writers Inc, and if we had to point to the most fulfilling aspect of the weekends we’ve hosted so far it would probably be the buzz that we’ve sensed from everyone as they share their experiences and aspirations. We truly feel as if we start those weekends as a group of strangers and end them as friends, and fundamentally what bonds us all is this: we all know, absolute beginners and seasoned pros alike, how daunting it can sometimes be to start with a blank page.
Anyway, the point of this newsletter is not, in fact, to extol the (many) virtues of Writers Inc. Rather, it’s to reflect on how, after the best part of 40 years writing on my own, I have finally written something with somebody else.
My friend Martin Chatterton is a writer of crime fiction who, under the pen name Ed Chatterton, has produced books with the wildly successful James Paterson. A few years ago, Martin read my book Tales of the Country, chronicling our first 12 months as a family following our move from a busy city life to a rural idyll. He saw elements of that book that he thought could lend themselves to a crime yarn and asked me if I fancied collaborating with him. I did.
The project started as a novel, was then sold to a production company as a potential six-part TV drama, and at the producers’ suggestion has now been re-worked again as a feature film. They are currently trying to attach a director.
As a full-time movie critic it would be a great thrill to see my name on the silver screen, a poacher become gamekeeper, thereby disproving a marvellous old Kenneth Williams line, that critics are like eunuchs in the harem: they see it done every night but can’t do it themselves.
Martin and I have a long way still to go on a journey fraught with many more obstacles. Lots of screenplays get shelved and it may well be that our film will never get made. But if nothing else I now know what it’s like to write with a partner, a reminder that a writing career can be almost four decades old and still yield enriching new experiences. Long may that continue!
Brian
