Went to see kazuo ishiguro last night at the southbank centre. As with most authors, I havent read as much as him as I would have liked, but his reading from his new book nocturnes sound amazing. I have always been interested in the connection between literature and music, specifically lyrics. Sometimes I am left awestrung by how clear and precise lyricists can get their images to be. One of my early favourite albums was Pulp’s Different Class and I was blown away by Cocker’s storytelling ability.
I always had a plan to write at least one scene with the same sharpness and vibrancy but my skills werent up to it. It will be really interesting to see if kazuo achieves this- he seems to everything else he sets his mind too!
One of the reasons I like him so much is that never let me go is probably the most similar book to mine that I have read- in its idea, not its brillance I hasten to add (I use it as an example in my covering letter- not sure namechecking a nobel prize winner has been my wisest move ever!) All the stuff he said about speculative fiction, how the blurness of setting actually helps sharpen the modern resonance of the message, has renewed my pride in something i was seeing as my weak leak when selling to publishers. If I get rejected again might well reworking synopsis even more to reflect this
Crazily, Kauzo only came on the central concept of the organ donations after some years- it wasnt the mainstay. It was slightly different to me, since I knew what I wanted to say but it is true when I think back on the early drafts how much things have changed and developed in gravity, not out my personal conviction but because the narrative required it
