Tag: Creative Writing

  • Review: Hag-Seed – Margaret Atwood

    Review: Hag-Seed – Margaret Atwood

    In October 2017 I was lucky enough to hear Margaret Atwood speak and to get a book signed. While Atwood was finishing off her interview my mum ran off to buy a few books for us to get signed. Since I had already read Oryx and Crake I landed with Hag-Seed, a recent Atwood book that had somehow completely passed me by when it was published. I had never even heard of it and googled it while we queued. It’s a re-telling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Groovy, I thought.

    Now I’ve finally read it, I’m so glad this is the book I have signed. I will be recommending it to everyone, Shakespeare and Atwood fans or not. Hag-Seed follows the vengeful Felix (or Mr Duke) as he puts on Shakespearean plays in a local prison, all in the hopes of getting his own back on his former colleagues (now national politicians). The layers in Hag-Seed are intense, especially when you consider the layers of The Tempest. It is essentially a novel of a play of a play of a play. There might even be another few plays in there.

    Not only is it a fascinating contemporary re-imagination of The Tempest, Hag-Seed also provides some provocative observations about criminal justice systems, parental grief and, (obviously, it’s Atwood) gender. Towards the end there’s a moment involving a few puppets, and I couldn’t help but get some Angela Carter’s The Magic Toyshop vibes – I would love to know if that was intentional or not.

    Since reading The Handmaid’s Tale at high school, I have considered myself an Atwood fan, but as I’ve mentioned before I have actually struggled with some of her other books, like Oryx and Crake and Lady Oracle. The easy-nature of Hag-Seed was so refreshing and enjoyable, plus I think it’s amazing how it doesn’t even sound like the voice I usually expect to hear from Atwood. I find it really fascinating how so many diverse voices and stories can come from one writer – I hope that is something I might one day achieve myself.

    Buy Hag-Seed and other books from Wordery by using my affiliate link.

  • Writing Resolutions 2018

    Writing Resolutions 2018

    I promised I was going to write this blog last year and never did, and I’ve tried to write this year’s a couple of times and failed at that too. Why am I hesitant? Because of what I want my resolutions to be and the repercussions of someone as stubborn as me ensuring that I follow through with them…

    Writing Resolutions for the year 2018

    The first one is nice and simple. To write a play. I only recently noticed that my favourite classes at university were often the drama-centric ones, and that a fairly large percentage of my reading habits are made up of plays. There’s obviously nothing like seeing a play dramatised on stage, but I take a surprising amount of pleasure in reading plays (probably because I perform them for myself like one-woman shows – I recently did this with Fleabag). So yes, in 2018 I would like to write a play. Long or short, tragedy or comedy – whatever, I’d just like to give it a go.

    The second and final resolution (less is more, right?) is to publish something. Whether it be this as-yet unwritten play, the novel I wrote a year or two ago (Project 27) or the novella I am in the process of finishing, I want to publish something. The latter novella is something I’ve been meaning to mention. I accidentally wrote it in November and have been tweaking it since. Dare I say I think it’s actually alright? Anyway, since I keep jabbering on about the fact I have now written a couple of things, my family and friends are getting (understandably?) frustrated that I won’t let them read any of it.

    Half of my feelings on this are “it’s my novel, piss off,” which is obviously a very mature and diplomatic response. A quarter of them are “I will share it but it doesn’t feel like time yet,” which translates as “no literary agents or publishers have taken the bait yet and I’m not ready to self-publish”. And the final quarter of them are “well go on then, what’s the worst that can happen?” At which point I begin to imagine all the possible horrible things that could and might happen in the event that I publish either of these fictional works.

    But these are all issues I need to get over and I think 2018 might be the year to get over them. If no publishers or agents have expressed any interest in the works by the end of the year and I still think they’re good, then I will seriously consider self-publication (talking myself out of it already aren’t I?) I’m hoping my unyielding fear of doing it myself will motivate me to really sell one or both of the books to the winning agent or publisher this year and that something might come of all my time cooped up with this computer. For Christmas I received the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2018, which I hope will help with my search for my agent OTP.

    As gratifying it is for me to know I’ve written fiction that I think is good and being chuffed with what I’ve achieved, it doesn’t make me any money, it doesn’t shut my family up, and it doesn’t satisfy a huge part of my motivation to write – to be read.

    On that rational note… Happy New Year, again! I hope 2018 is going well for you all. Let me know what blogs you’re interested in seeing this year. More or less #Periodically, for example? Head over to my Instagram to see what I’m currently reading and what other books I got for Christmas.

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    Winston was reluctant to help me get a thumbnail for the blog
  • Reading Resolutions 2018

    Reading Resolutions 2018

    And so we’ve come full circle. A year ago on New Year’s Eve, I posted the first blog on Fictitiously Hilary, titled “Reading Resolutions”. I recapped what I read in 2017 (a whopping 42 books) and I set my reading resolutions for the year. One of these resolutions was to blog about what I’m reading, why I’m reading it and what I think about it. While #Periodically appeared in the spring and took a section of this blog in a very different, very vaginal direction, I like to think I’ve relished this first resolution.

    full circle
    Full circle – get it? If you know, you know.

    So what about numbers then. My resolution for 2017 was to read 36 books, including 12 books in French. As I mentioned in my earlier blog this week, I am somehow on my 60th book of 2017!  However… I’m really disappointed that I didn’t stay true to the French resolution. While in the last few months I’ve honed in on it, between exams and travelling I really let my French literature habits slip, meaning I have only read 8 books in French this year. Reading Harry Potter in French has really relit that spark, so I hope it’s something I can address in 2018. (Side note: I have been watching Mystère du Lac on All4, does that make up for my shoddy reading efforts?)

    2018 Resolutions

    The first resolution I have had in my mind for some months now and I’m really determined to put it in motion. While the convenience of Amazon and Waterstones is undeniable, I would really like to support more independent booksellers and to buy second hand where possible. So with that in mind, my first resolution for 2018 is to primarily buy books from independent bookshops, charity shops and book fairs. I only want to use the mainstream booksellers when absolutely necessary (i.e. I have vouchers, or there’s an unavoidable difference in price). Not only is this going to be a great way to support indy businesses and charities, it should get me adventuring a bit more. I’m really excited about this, so I’ll let you know how I get on. I also have a huge TBR pile after Christmas so technically I shouldn’t need to buy any books for a while.

    Numbers wise I don’t know what to suggest. Is it realistically possible for me to surpass 60 in 2018? I assume my current uphill reading rate is bound to plateau at some point? I guess there’s only one way to find out, so let’s just aim for 65 and see what happens. I want to keep my French reading goals ambitious but realistic and I’ll admit I’m not entirely sure how to do that. Since I never reached it, I’m going to say 12 again and make a bigger effort to read at least one French book a month. Hold me to this one please, I clearly need inspiration mid-year.

    The final resolution is something I touched upon in a recent blog post, Non Fiction Reads 2017; to diversify my non fiction reads in 2018. My fiction has always been a little broader but there’s no harm in expanding what I read there too – open your world to different books and you’ll open your mind to a different world, right?

    Happy New Year folks! Thanks for sticking around for so long, especially when many of you are here for books and all I give you is uteruses! I have some writing related news too, so look out for a blog about my writing resolutions soon. In the meantime, I’m trying desperately hard to be welcomed into the Bookstagram universe, so take a look at my Instagram if you enjoy (un)aesthetically pleasing pictures of books and a closer look at my Christmas book haul and 2017 reads. Here’s to a bigger and better second year of book blogging!

    2017-18
    I find the administrative cross over to a new year very satisfying, just me?