There's a myth often perpetuated by writers that the questions asked most frequently at literature festivals are, 'Do you write with a pen or a computer?' and 'Where do your ideas come from?' Oddly I have never heard either question asked of writers and in the seventeen years I have been running Ways With Words I have sat through thousands of talks. Maybe before my time as a festival director the idea of writing novels on a computer may have seemed like a cheat: all that cutting and pasting, it wasn't proper writing. Word processing a book after it was written was fine but surely you couldn't be creative on a computer? Now if a writer mentions on stage that they don't use a computer there's a gasp of disbelief. The writer is considered quaint, eccentric.
'Where do your ideas come from?' seems an interesting and quite profound question. I don't know why writers are scornful of it. To start with it suggests that the writer's work is idea based. No bad thing surely, though it's not a question to ask a biographer. If asked of Valerie Grove it would suggest that her biography of John Mortimer was based on speculation rather than fact. Not one for a memoirist either. On Thursday Julia Blackburn will talk of her complex Bohemian parents and the alcohol, drugs, sex, betrayal and suicide that was part of her childhood. 'Where do your ideas come from Julia?' would be an insult.
On the other hand it's a very good question for Lloyd Jones who wrote the Booker short-listed novel, 'Mister Pip'. What made him decide to write about a young girl on a tropical island and Dickens' 'Great Expectations'?
This summer's Ways With Words at Dartington has only been running three days but already many fascinating questions have come from the audience to their sitting targets. (Martin Bell, Jonathan Dimbleby, Jon Snow, Gervase Phinn, Oona King, Penelope Lively - and many more have been in the firing line so far.)
A few that bounced from reader to writer are:
To Penelope Lively -
"How does it feel when someone asks a question about a novel that reveals something you hadn't thought about?"
"Do you procrastinate or rush to get to your desk?"
To Christina Lamb and Martin Bell -
"What would you do about Zimbabwe if you were PM of England?"
"Do you have to be fit to be a foreign correspondent?"
To Oona King -
"Where did New Labour go wrong?"
"Quick psychological overview of George Galloway?"
Witty, clever and thoughtful answers bounced back.
Jon Snow even gave a considered response to illuminate the psychology of his sock choice. The woman in the audience only asked where he bought them.
Ways With Words festival of words and ideas continues at Dartington Hall, Devon until 20th July.
Still to come to talk and answer questions besides Valerie Grove, Julia Blackburn, Lloyd Jones - A.C. Grayling, Claire Tomalin, Tony Benn, Michael Frayn, Jonathon Porritt, Roy Hattersley - and many more.
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