Where? What? How?

   Literally speaking, I am from a small market town, Frome, in Somerset, twenty minutes from Bath and forty five minutes from Bristol.
   In regards to this weeks task though, I'm from a working class, single parent household consisting of my mother and sister. My father is around and even lives in the same town as us, but we only see him occasionally. Looking back at stories I have written where a child is the main character, there is an obvious pattern of a strong mother, holding everything together, and an absentee father. However, I also surround the character with other male role models, such as uncles and grandfathers, which also reflect on my life. I have never actually noticed any of this until I was set this task.

   'What she saw from her window, what she read in her books, were her only external stimuli'
                                                                                                   - Amy Lowell, 1918, on Emily Dickinson

   I suppose compared to most others in my Author Study class, my book shelf would seem bare. Throughout my childhood there was one series that kept my interested in reading and writing. The Harry Potter series. The books became a comfort to me - I would read and reread them over and over. I typed out the entirety of  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban word for word to learn how to touch type. Surrounding myself with this fantasy world has had an unbelievable impact on my writing. Another pattern that emerges within my writing is death and damage - that is, how the loss of someone close to you has an impact on life. After the death of my grandfather - the main father figure I had at the time - in a scenario similar to many of the characters in Harry Potter - writing became an outlet I desperately needed.
   For me, and evidently for Emily Dickinson also, writing is the best form of escapism one could possibly imagine.


                    

Are We Special?

   Well, are we?
   Is every painter special, or are only the likes of Da Vinci and Monet classified as that? 
   Is every person who puts pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, special?
   I believe so. 
   If two people in two separate rooms were each given a plot, two main characters and a setting, they would both produce something completely different, and I find that amazing.
   Their writing styles, the way in which they mould the story, how they force the characters to interact - that is what makes a writer special. The writer puts him/herself on the line and onto that page every single time they sit down to write. Even those not recognised for their work - which is 90% of writers out there - still get to achieve as others do. Reaching the end of a chapter or even a sentence is a triumph for most, however ordinary it may seem to most others. 
   In literature, one of the most enthralling debates is whether it was indeed a man named William Shakespeare who wrote 'the works of Shakespeare'. The strongest debate that I can see is that it doesn't matter who wrote Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest or King Lear. If they were written by John Smith, it would not make the work any more or less glorious than it is. 
   Yes, Roland Barthe's 'The Death of the Author' is an incredibly popular viewpoint for literary critics, and it reinforces the importance of text over author.
   But, as a writer myself, or someone who attempts to write, I'd like to believe that we can be just as special as the words on the page.

   And now, during this chilling winter week, let me transport you to another place where sun and beer will be sure to warm you up.