‘I love words’ - September 2023 newsletter
Hello hello, one and all. Welcome to the September 2023 edition of I love words.
I’m still a little unsure of the format and style of this renewed version of the monthly newsletter, so all comments and suggestions are welcome. I’m sticking to my dual professional interests of writing and charities, though. This month, we’ve got buses, jazz, and funding cuts.
Find characters on buses
In a recent issue of The Idler magazine, Irvine Welsh (author or Trainspotting, among other achievements) told how he would sit on the London Underground’s Central Line all day, writing. He would look at other people on the Tube and write descriptions of them, which he would then keep for later use.
The benefit is that you compile a selection of character descriptions all drawn from real life. You don’t have to imagine what someone looks like, as they’re there in front of you.
I’ve got a couple of long-neglected novel ideas on the go, and have taken to adopting Welsh’s methods when on the bus. I’m not dedicated enough to sit on the bus all day, but if I’m heading into town that gives me ten minutes to jot down a fellow passenger’s likeness on my phone.
I also like to imagine their back-story. The challenge is not falling into the trap of lazy stereotypes based on their appearances, but imagining something about them that is unique to them, to make the description more human.
I might never use the characters I’m compiling, but it’s a useful exercise for anyone who wants to write convincing characters, and a fun way to pass the time when sat on the bus.
“I feel that the single most important thing in writing about foreign characters is writing dialogue as convincingly as possible.” - Len Deighton
On a related note, I enjoyed reading a 1981 interview with spy-novel legend, Len Deighton, in the New York Times. It also includes the admission that he wrote spy stories because he didn’t know enough about the police to write detective novels.
Check out the article here: LINK
“She was chatty, seemingly untroubled” - Jeffrey Eugenides
It was a chance encounter with a teenage babysitter that ultimately led Jeffrey Eugenides to write The Virgin Suicides.
He recounts the experience in an article for The Guardian: LINK
“When you’re writing, tell other people you’re “working.” To other people, “work” is real but “writing” isn’t.” - Elissa Bassist
On Substack, I enjoyed Elissa Bassist’s “incomplete list” of ways to deal with other people when you’re writer. It’s also good advice if you’re not a writer and find yourself having to deal with “energy vampires” who keep distracting you or pulling you away from the things you care about.
Read the list here: LINK
Dead Cats, Closures and a £1 billion cut?
Ian McLintock’s ever-excellent Charity Excellence Framework is an increasingly useful resource for charity fundraisers. In a recent email newsletter he shared the grim forecast that charities (especially smaller ones, who have less capacity to weather the coming storm) are likely to face the risk of closure over the next few years.
Why? Donations from the public have been falling since late 2021, which isn’t helping. Yes, there’s a degree of ‘regression to the mean’ following Covid-related spikes in public generosity, but it’s also true that the public are feeling the pinch from the cost of living crisis.
The big risk to charities, however, is from government cuts. Charities provide government funded services that benefit society across all areas, from youth work through to the environment and health. These have already been cut in recent years and are being cut further. As government contracts come up for renewal, they’re being cancelled or reduced.
The charities that received government funding are then forced to look elsewhere for support. This increases the competition for public donations and grants from charitable trusts and foundations. The public’s capacity to donate is being squashed by the economic situation, so they can’t make up the shortfall. Trusts and foundations have limited resources, too.
The result is that services get cut, or charities run out of money and close (with 2024 forecast to be a tough year), and society suffers as a result. It’s grim news, but it’s important that the sector prepares for this.
Yussef Dayes - “Black Classical Music”
My music highlight of the month was seeing Yussef Dayes and band playing pieces from their new album, Black Classical Music, at Vinilo record store in Southampton.
The album is a tour through Dayes’s own musical influences, his family history, and rhythms learned on his travels. It’s not a pastiche, or an academic piece though, as it’s pulled together into something new and exciting. It’s jazz, but also more than that (because everything is jazz!).
Finally, here’s a photo I made…
Southampton docks, at night, on Kodak cinematic film.
