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Here are some
short clips taken from films and performances that have greatly moved me,
inspired me, and heavily influenced my own writing. Of course, these are only
fragments of much bigger productions. But I hope they will give you an idea of
how and where I get my ideas and inspiration from. |
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Music Snippets of some of the songs and pieces of music which I listen to when I write. |
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From the film: Amadeus The Hours and Amadeus are undoubtedly my two favourite films. I first saw Amadeus when I was ten. I first saw The Hours when I was twenty-eight. I have watched both countless times since. I haven't seen any other films that even come close at any other points in my life; I doubt I ever will. This is probably my favourite scene of all time from any film - whilst plotting Mozart's death, the scheming Salieri helps a dying Mozart compose his own requiem mass. I had been a musical child before seeing Amadeus - started the violin at two, taught myself the piano later on. But it was this film that started my life-long love affair with classical music and I remember the day I went to see it (24 years ago!) as if it were yesterday. I had been invited by my mother's friend and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. I didn't want to go to see 'some boring film about a long-dead composer', but my mother thought it would be rude to cancel. Thank goodness she didn't, because that night I came out of the cinema a different person. |
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From the film: Amadeus Probably my second favourite scene of all time. To his horror, Salieri discovers the extent of his rival Mozart's genius. |
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From the film: The Hours A beautifully-made musical compilation of the best clips of this superb film. |
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From the film: The Hours The quote on my home page, 'I wanted to be writer, that's all . . .' is lifted directly from this scene. I identify so closely with Ed Harris's short monologue because it reflects exactly how I feel at the end of each book: even when it's been accepted by a top publishing house, even when it's out and being stocked on the shelves, even when I receive glowing fanmail, even when it wins prestigious prizes . . . it's never quite enough. To quote Michael Cunningham, author of the book, The Hours: 'Any decent novelist suffers from the sense that even if the finished book turned out well, you had something greater in mind. You've been walking around with this idea in your head which is the book that contains everything you know and can imagine. The book is going to change people's consciousness, if not the actual world. But of course, even if the book does turn out really well, it's still just a book. And it's impossible not to feel disappointed in it. Artists fail. We all fail. It's never as good as you know it could be. That's part of what keeps us at it and part of what occasionally sends one of us out the window.' I hope I don't fall into the latter category but I think I oscillate to greater or lesser degrees between both camps. I always want more. The last book is good but the next one has to be even better. I win one award but now I've got to win another. You get past one hurdle and then there's another and then another. At the end of the day, you're striving to be the best - but that's unattainable, there is no 'best'. So you're reaching for the impossible. That can fuel your fire but also, ultimately, destroy you. |
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From the film: The Hours The Hours is a film that I first saw just after I started writing A Note of Madness. It influenced my book in many ways.
This is my second favourite scene in the film
for several reasons. Firstly, the acting is superb. Nicole Kidman plays the
famous novelist Virginia Woolf, who, as well as being one of the most talented
writers of her day, suffered from what would now be referred to as bipolar
disorder and possibly also schizophrenia. Her husband has brought her to live
in Richmond - which back then was a very quiet suburb well outside London -
because the doctors at that time thought the best cure for any kind of mental
illness was complete peace and rest. Virginia misses London and feels she is
being kept prisoner in Richmond, guarded by her husband and a bevvy of doctors
who check up on her constantly and tell her where to live, how to live, what to
eat, what to do . . . I relate to this personally as, in the past, I've
had streams of doctors and threapists and medical professionals all telling me
what to do, what not to do. What pills to take, what pills not to take. What to
think, what not to think. Of course, they were all trying to help, and some of
it did help. However, what immensely frustrated me, as Nicole/Virginia
expresses so well in this clip, is that feeling of being controlled, the
feeling that because you suffer from a mental illness, others always think they
know best, think that if only you would listen to them and do this, or do that,
everything will be okay . . . My favourite section here is: 'This is my
right. It's the right of every human being. I choose not the suffocating
anaesthetic of the suburbs but the violent jolt of the capital - that is my
choice. Even the very lowest patient is allowed some say in the matter of her
own prescription. Thereby she defines her humanity.'
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Billy Elliot The Musical Moving onto a lighter note! A very different, extremely uplifting clip: the Broadway production of Billy Elliot The Musical. On this American TV show, Kiril Kulish plays Billy, performing the musical's main dance, 'Electricity' as choreographed in the show. I think it's pretty much indisputable to claim he's the best 13 yr old dancer in the world . . . He also happens to play the piano to concert pianist standard so he is a combination of both Flynn and Louis - if I put him in a book, people would criticise the character for being completely and utterly implausible! I have only seen the British West End version, but I hope the staggering talent in this clip blows you away like it did me. This musical and the talent of all the boys who've taken on the title role of Billy inspired me to make Louis, the main character in Without Looking Back, a fantastic dancer. Louis' extraordinary talent for dance was heavily based on Billy Elliot, the boy who fought to become a ballet dancer against all odds. Dance and ice-skating are two art forms which have always meant a great deal to me. I actually pursued both to a high level well into my teens. I spent several years at stage school and even worked as a dance teacher for a couple of years. The ballet gene runs in the family - my sister trained as a ballet dancer and as a child, my mother was a pupil at a prestigious ballet-boarding school. |
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Check back frequently as I will be regularly adding more clips to this page. I would love to hear if any of these 'speak to you' too.
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