Farewell PD James

Sad to hear about the passing of a true prolific, Conservative peer or otherwise. 94 is a grand old age for a grand dame of literature. 

Storytelling Shoes

Want! Though not so good if it rains.

Colour Blind

An interesting article, all be it from a dodgy source, on the way the language we use to describe colours may affect how many colours we register: How the language you speak affects what you see.

On the left, you can see the number of English names for colour hues, and the right shows how there are much fewer names for colours in Chinese. In English, the most popular base colours are blue, pink and green, while in China red, blue and green are more prominent.

More on this on Wiki: Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate

The concept of Linguistic relativity concerns the relationship between language and thought, specifically whether language influences thought, and, if so, how. This question has led to research in multiple disciplines—especially anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and philosophy. Among the most popular and controversial theories in this area of scholarly work is the theory of linguistic relativity (also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis). An often-cited "strong version" of the claim, first given by Lenneberg in 1953, proposes that language structure determines how we perceive the world. A "weaker version" of this claim posits that language structure influences the world view of speakers of a given language but does not determine it.

Fascinating stuff.

[Also worth a look at this article: The Evolution Of Language: Study Of Rare Indigenous Language Shows All Humans Think Of Colors In The Same Way and the culture without a word for colour.]

The Militant Recommender

Got our first blog review for Rosy Hours on The Militant Recommender (AKA cartoonist Stephanie Piro):

Ms. Woolley wholly succeeds in bringing this mysterious world of the Phantom's past to vivid, magical life... Don't miss this fascinating trip into his past and that of a minor character in Leroux's classic who finally has her starring role.

Comment below:

It is very evocative.The author has created a beautifully realized world. As you read the past unfolds and you go from reader to silent witness.

How lovely that Stephanie has taken the time to blog about this and has enjoyed it so much. And what an excellent blog for booklovers. 

I completely love the fact she's picked some music she feels evokes the mood of the book. I'm rocking out to that at the moment.

Don't forget you can enter to win a signed copy of Rosy Hours on Goodreads, and read more about me in December's issue of Writing Magazine (out now!).

How cool is this!?

Writing is Like...

Writing Courses

Lazing in bed reading Guardian articles and this one on So You Want to be a Writer... made me chuckle:

A bad creative writing class will look like this. A student has submitted some work with the words: "I don't think it's very good." The class has (mostly) read it. After a long silence, one of the student's best friends, primed, says: "I really like the way you … " The student says: 'Thank you." Another one says: "I didn't quite understand about the bit where …" The student explains. Half the class stay silent; the student leaves with ego intact and work unimproved... 

Personally, I like to irritate as well as inspire a class, sometimes by saying sagely: "A short story consists of an introduction, five OR seven episodes, and a coda in which the weather changes." (Worked for Chekhov, anyway.) Or: "If you're going to have an animal in a story, have a dog and not a cat." (Dogs are easier structural principles, running up to strangers in parks, and so on.)

Writers, nature or nurture? One does wonder sometimes.

Fire and Smoke

SPAZUK fire painter from Patrick Peris on Vimeo.