THE HILLS ARE ALIVE ....

Christmas is over and a new year begins - 2016 Hello and Welcome! 

You are going to be a fantastic year for me and I hope for all of you too. I shall be writing a list of what I want to achieve this year, in the next few days - I don't like to talk about the list too much as it feels like I'll jinx it, like making a wish, you should keep it secret!  The list will be around my writing goals - finishing my second memoir, completing a new non-fiction 'How to ..' book, etc as well as goals for living and relationships. Sometimes I find a list I wrote from years ago and looking through the list I think - OH God I didn't get anywhere near that or that or that, Oh I did get that ... For the last five years for example I had to finish my memoir and publish it.  Each year I'd put it there again.  I finally achieved that last year so am very pleased with myself. Years ago I  envisaged the cover and put it on my bedroom wall. And so it came to pass, more or less as I'd pictured it. 

Part of that goal is still to come though - my goal was to sell 50,000 copies.  So I'm working on the marketing for that... you can help by sharing my blogs with all your networks.  The link is below to the Amazon entry.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Click on the title for a link to my new book...

A Hippopotamus at the Table, 

 a memoir about my journey across South Africa and life in Cape Town

in the time of apartheid in the 1970s.  It's a true story - have a look ...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE ...

Now to the title of this blog.  I actually watched The Sound of Music  yesterday, for the first time in 20+ years.[Much to the disgust of my male companion who removed himself to another room and the Movies4Men channel ].

I was interested this time, not so much in the romance and songs, but in the characters and themes, the ones that make this a great story.  The austere but beautiful Austrian baron (Christopher Plummer - the Johnny Depp of his day), a wealthy widower and his 7 regimented children, whose mother had died some years before. He is finally coming out of his widower life, being drawn to an equally wealthy and amusing woman who is part of salon life in Vienna.

The Baron hires a new governess(Maria) from the nearby convent who brings joy and laughter and music into the strictly controlled lives of the children. The Baron's soon to be fiancé sees the dangerous attraction developing between this new governess  and her lover and sends Maria back to the convent. This gives her(the fiancé) the chance to see that her own skills with children are seriously lacking and she bows out, just as Maria returns from the convent, having realised her own feelings for the Baron.

The backdrop to it all is the rapidly rising Nazi Germany, already encroaching into Austria. Many of Austria's fiercely patriotic people are deeply resentful of Hitler's ambitions for their own country. This Austrian patriotism is symbolised in the song 'Edelweiss' which ends 'Bless My Homeland For Ever'.', sung in the Salzburg concert by the Von Trapp  children with the ''new Nazi' contingent sitting in the front row - a song symbolising political opposition to the Hitler regime.  The message is not lost on the Nazi supporters, who reiterate that 'nothing will change' in Austria under their regime, when it is clear that EVERYTHING will change.

The Von Trapp's escape (The Baron would have had to go work for the Nazis), sheltered by the nuns briefly, before their escape over the mountains.

What I enjoyed about the story this time was the a great story.  The Baron's fiancé is NOT a Cruella Deville as I expected her to be somehow.  She is an intelligent witty woman, wealthy in her own right.  Yes she defends her lover's territory from the threat of the new governess, fair enough.  But she soon sees that the country lifestyle and taking on 7 children are not for her and returns to the city salon lifestyle she prefers.  She makes her own choices and is a strong character.  Maria is a bright, independent young woman full of life and laughter who brings fun back into the children's lives.  She also has character complexities - she wants to be a nun, but is falling for the Baron and it takes the two older and wiser women - the fiancé and the Mother Superior at the convent to put her onto a road which she is suited to - the wife of the Baron and mother of the children. 

Sound of Music is therefore a well-written story (based on a true one) with strong female characters not the silly female cardboard cut-outs of so many movies.  Interestingly, the Baron himself, although represented as strong and independent and patriotic is the least interesting character (apart from being eye candy). There's the young boy drawn into Nazism and being a brown shirt too and the complexities of his emotional involvement. 

Most interesting is the Baron's un-outed gay(?) friend who comes to 'chaperone' the fiancé and then organises the Von Trapp children into a singing troupe. Finally, the historical backdrop is understated but powerful and compelling.  This is why the movie has endured in popularity for so long.  It's appeal is on many levels and of course I haven't even mentioned the wonderful music and  songs.

ALL ABOUT THE STORY

My Five Point Method for writing a good story.

Story telling is an art.  I've known a few people who could tell a great story and make me laugh so much I was hugging myself.  My ex's Auntie Jessie was one (long dead) -  maybe it was from her that he inherited his comic gift. Visiting her, a plump Welsh woman,  was always a great treat -  tea,  cakes and laughter,  sometimes I'd be crying with laughter.

Then there was my uncle Billy and aunt Beryl.  I remember a knock on our door at 10 am one Sunday morning in Hampton-on-Thames, 20+ years ago - Beryl had plunging necklines and false eyelashes,  Billy was portly and had a big cigar in his teeth...we listened to story after story, clutching large brandies and cracking up laughing. Then they swept out leaving us gasping for air and slightly drunk at 11 am.yd My aunt Beryl is 90 now and my uncle is long gone, sadly.  But I’ll never forget any of them and how much they made us laugh with their hysterically funny stories.

If only I could tell stories like that ... I'm still practising. Meanwhile, I’ve put together five main components for a good written story. I think I have learnt that. You may want to add your own points too!

____________________________________________________________________________

Click on the title for a link to my new book...

A Hippopotamus at the Table, 

 a memoir about my journey across South Africa and life in Cape Town

in the time of apartheid in the 1970s.  It's a true story - have a look ...
________________________________________________________________________________

Written story-telling is another dimension. Whether a story makes you laugh or cry, a good story immerses you in a different world and takes you away from the cares of your present.

1.      A good plot and well-defined characters, brought to life by dialogue.  Think about the emotional impact you wish to evoke in the reader. Trace the route in your head through to the finale. The story should grip the reader from the opening sentence. Or start with the conclusion and work backwards - how will you get there? Close observation gives detail and makes the story come to life.

2.      Be original and unusual in your treatment of the subject (not another pot boiler). Build the reader's involvement slowly, take them down a few tangents so it's not clear where the story's going. Let the end be unexpected. Build the reader's anticipation.

3.      Setting is important, culture, country, rural, urban, make it start/end in a specific place - a meeting in a park, a pub, a coffee bar, a house It's a sunny day, it's raining, cloudy, hot, cold.  Paint a picture, splash some colours, sounds and smells around. The smell of dust, pigs, manure, petrol, curry etc

4.       Grammar and spelling must work - a story has to be crafted carefully, keep the adjectives to a minimum, tone down flowery language or get rid of 'purple prose;. The dialogue must be natural, colloquial, flow in short bursts.

5.      Endings:  If you set up a puzzle or conundrum or mystery, it should move towards some kind of resolution, some kind of satisfaction of the plot, that ties together the whole story.

Whether the story is based in fact

 or fiction the components are still the same.

This article was inspired by one by Amy Reichert titled Libraries: Still all about the story Click here for a link.

Remembering Val today, dear friend.

Last year on Dec 1st I arrived in Jo'burg and in the back pack hostel I got the news from her son, I'd been dreading, but expecting, that my dearest friend Val had died two hours before.  The night before I left, I'd been to the hospital and said goodbye although by then she looked at me with far away eyes. 'Don't worry about me, I'm in Paradise' were her last words to me (she was a staunch and loving Christian in every good sense of the word).. I held her hand so briefly, told her I loved her and then left. I had a flight to catch, booked and planned from months before. I nearly cancelled but was going on a month long Buddhist retreat and losing her felt like mental collapse.  The  retreat, in the end, did save me from that, the quiet, the reflection, the peace of an isolated rural location.  Retreats can be hard as its always a challenge being with a new group of people.  But I made some new very dear friends there who I'm still in touch with.

Her loss is still so shocking and the grief still feels raw for me and for my daughters. She was closer than family. All the time I hear her voice, her dear, bantering, naughty, teasing Irish voice, talking to me, in my head, commenting in her usual ascerbic way on aspects of my life.  She was the repository of secrets never repeated, she was fanatical about not repeating or discussing other peoples business and expected the same high standards (often not so rigorously kept) from her few close friends.  Her son was the centre of her universe, she would have lain on nails for him. She loved my poetry - a few weeks before she died, not realising how much pain she was in, I read her some poems, which she loved to hear and always gave mountains of encouragement about. A few weeks ... if only I'd known how little time we had left together.  I took her to a hospital appointment on my birthday in late October and her son (damn and blast) had texted her while on the appointment to remind her it was my birthday as he'd seen it on FB.  While I was fetching the car, she dragged herself over to a stall to buy me a scarf, which I'll always hold dear.

Tomorrow we will all attend her memorial mass.  Here's the poem that I wrote on Dec 7th 2014 for her - for the funeral - I was on the retreat, chanting all day for her soul to fly to the bardo realms and for a happy rebirth. Om mani padme hum dear Val.  Here's the poem:

 You’ll be waiting

 You’ll be waiting when I go,

cracking your Irish jokes
‘Oh there y’are,’ you’ll say.
‘You took your time.’

I’ll say, ‘What’d’ya mean,

y’old bag, you Irish potato, you left me first you know.
So it’s been ages … let’s go down to Costa’s
or the World for our cappuccino

I’m paying this time, so don’t argue.’

‘Y’are not,’ you’ll say, ‘I am’...
‘Hmm,’ I’ll say …’and
we could share a carrot cake, yeh?’
‘Grand,’ you’ll say.

And then we’ll be jawing on,

two hours’ll fly by, talking of days in jobs,
customers and clients
when we were younger.

We’ll talk of days in Priory Park,

meeting at the toddler’s pool,
Pas at school, Jonathan and Tam
running naked, splashing in the sun.

and us drinking coffee, chatting, laughing …

One of them comes crying –
slipped and fell, bumped their head …
Kiss, kiss it better. Want an ice lolly? Twister?

Soon running round laughing again.

And me and you, smile knowingly
at each other, remembering our golden children
… that’s what it’ll be like.

You’ll be waiting,

one day when I get up there,
won’t you, Val?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

After the memorial, her sister (who's very Irish fey), said to me 'Val says 'Yes!'' That cracked me up...