Shutterstock / 13_Phunkod©Welcome back to another Writing Hour Roundup.
“The People’s Friend” Writing Hour is held every Tuesday at 11 a.m. on Twitter and it’s always a brilliant time! We get to chat to our writers and ask them some questions.
Every week we summarise everything that went on for those who missed out.
This week we’re talking escapism, favourite school subjects and recent re-reads.
We’re halfway through May! Can you believe it? Do you have a favourite spring flower or poem?
Spring flowers are so cheering. Peonies, campanula, tulips, horse chestnut flowers, cow parsley, irises, alliums, celandine, granny’s bonnet, camellia, lily of the valley . . . we love them all.
Take a turn about the garden or a park and have a read of ‘A Backward Spring’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Home Thoughts From Abroad’ by Robert Browning. Recommended by Amanda Giles and Jill Barry respectively.
You’re sure to feel uplifted!
Is there a story genre that you just can’t enjoy?
Horror is the least popular amongst our writers. It’s not surprising – a writer’s imagination must run wild!
The past two years have been very challenging. Have you read more books as a means of escape, or did you find it hard to concentrate?
While some read no more than usual, others definitely used reading and writing as a form of escape.
Some, like Jenny Worstall, said they turn to more short stories and poetry during difficult times.
Sometimes hard to concentrate, which is why short stories, either in magazines or collections, have proved themselves invaluable. Ideal for a coffee break, not too long to have to concentrate, perfect antidote to the gloom and doom on the news…
What’s not to like?😍💕— Jenny Worstall 🌻 (@JennyWorstall) May 24, 2022
Was English your favourite subject at school?
For most of you, the answer is yes and many of you said that you had wonderful English teachers. Isn’t it amazing the difference a teacher can make to a subject?
Honourable mentions included history, languages, art and music, as well as science, maths and carpentry!
What was the last book you decided to re-read? Was it still as enjoyable?
Re-reading a book can be as wonderful as the first time around. It’s so fun to pick up on details you may have missed.
I asked the rest of the Fiction team what their most recent re-read was.
Tracey has recently re-read ‘A Man On The Moon’ by Andrew Chaikin, all about the Apollo missions. As always, she thoroughly enjoyed it!
If you remember from a couple of weeks ago, Lucy was about to dive into re-reading ‘Learning To Talk’ by Hilary Mantel. Well, now she’s finished it and, as expected, fell in love with it all over again.
Manon is re-reading the Harry Potter series. Often, the books we re-read are old favourites with familiar characters.
Alan and I aren’t big re-readers, but we did have a chat about re-watching films and TV shows often!
If an author whose books you enjoy said something controversial, would you stop reading their work?
It’s an interesting topic – some feel able to separate the author from the work (depending on the severity of the comment). But for others it clouds the entire reading experience.
We’ll see you at our next Writing Hour on Twitter — 11 a.m. on Tuesday 31 May, 2022.
Or click here to see our previous roundups.
Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
