Comments for John Dickinson

Comment on Money and The Phoenix by John

John — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:51:44 +0000

Dear Kath

The apostrophe - I agree. The persons who did this will be hunted down and brought to justice.

Comment on Money and The Phoenix by Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:13:23 +0000

Great news that the Phoenix is rising, but can you tell David he has A MISPLACED APOSTROPHE in this very sentence right here: “After months of waiting, our little, perky bird finally cracked it’s egg and took flight into the wide blue yonder ready to share wonderful story-strips that will have children trembling with excitement each week!”

ARRRRGHHHH! KAPOW!

And I’ll look forward to the great Accountancy Novel. I’m thinking Dostoyevsky…

Kath

Comment on The Muffin of Doom by Mark Brafield

Mark Brafield — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:33:11 +0000

Can’t wait ! After 3 years I have just finished reading David the entire Harry Potter cycle and we are now reading The Dark is Rising . No pressure then.

Comment on The Muffin of Doom by Beth Kemp

Beth Kemp — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:22:51 +0000

This sounds great! I’ll definitely be looking out for this next summer. Congrats!.

Comment on The Muffin of Doom by John

John — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 19:57:04 +0000

I’ll take a look. Thanks Kath!

Comment on The Muffin of Doom by Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:15:03 +0000

Btw, do you know a book from the 1980’s by Ann Lawrence called ‘The Good Little Devil’? You’d like it.

Comment on The Muffin of Doom by Katherine Langrish

Katherine Langrish — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:13:28 +0000

I really can’t wait to read this!

Comment on Icy Lake by katherine langrish

katherine langrish — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:22:20 +0000

This makes me smile - don’t I agree!
Unfortunately the same also applies to the stuff I wrote last week.

Comment on What we want to hear by John

John — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:54:42 +0000

Good question, Kath. What makes a story strong? Since ‘because it’s what we want to hear’ is too easy an answer.

I think it’s to do with the imagination and what it’s for - which is to try things out in our mind without having to try them out for real (eg: for most of the time our brains have been evolving it’s been really quite useful to be able to imagine what might happen if you were to lead the tribe in under those speckly-dappled woods, before you
actually did it.) The imagination needs to think about dramatic situations and social situations and it gets bored and dull if it doesn’t, like a dog that doesn’t get taken out for walks. That’s why we have stories. We don’t just like them. We need them. The strong stories are the ones that really let us play out our wants and fears and desires. Including hearing the satisfying thud of a pompous ass falling off his pedestal.

Why is the tabloid story so successful? Because, whatever else they are, they’re dam’ good storytellers, in the basic sense that they know how to catch your attention and they don’t try to keep it for too long. Big headlines, lots of pictures, situations that you can immediately think your way into and start empathising, and never mind the accuracy! It’s a very rare story that doesn’t need at least an element of fiction in it, just to lubricate the imaginative process. Sure, a morally-complex story can be a very good story in its own way, and better for helping us to understand what humans are really like. But it demands more effort of the audience and it makes one crucial part of the imaginative process - that’s the bit where we think ‘if I were in this situation I would…’ much harder.

I do like writing them though. You know that.

Comment on What we want to hear by katherine langrish

katherine langrish — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:03:46 +0000

But why do we like ‘pompous ass’ stories better than ‘life is complicated’ stories? I’ve never bought a tabloid newspaper, but I’d agree that the reasons people buy them is because the stories are strong. A strong story doesn’t always have to be simple, though. Surely a lot of people who WOULD buy the NOTW or the Sun are intelligent social beings who know perfectly well in their everyday lives that life is complicated and not black and white. They’re are stupid, but if some newspaper editors think they are, and give them lowest common denominator self-righteous dishonest crap all the time, that’s not going to do anyone’s intellect any good.

I don’t know what the answer is, but raising tabloid newspaper standards can’t hurt.