Today I have the honour and pleasure of introducing Simon Lispon, Author of Song in the Wrong
Key
From the press release
“With publication timed to coincide with Eurovision
2012, Song in the Wrong Key is a laugh-out loud comedy
novel that explores love, family, friendship and the
vagaries of sudden fame,” says Simon.
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- Publisher: Lane & Hart Ltd (2 April 2012)
- ISBN-13: 978-0957098701
- Kindle ASIN: B00492CQ2K
|
Thank you, Simon for joining me today and discussing your writing
I’d feel a bit pretentious if I declared that writing is in my blood
or that it’s my consuming passion; I don’t have to write to live. I
can survive on chocolate, if it comes to it. But it's a marvellous
means of expression, a wonderfully creative and fluid medium for the
ideas that rattle around my head. Being a comedian and comedy writer
(and ex-solicitor, but we don’t talk about that), I can express myself
on stage or in a script, but both forms are necessarily limited by
what audiences - who offer a very instant response - or terrified-for-
their-jobs TV/radio producers demand. Novels, though, unfurl slowly;
they allow you room to breathe, to lay things out, to establish
rhythms, to colour every character in, right from the opening
sentence. I suppose the people who read my book will tell me whether
I’m doing it right; so far, at least, they seem to like it.
I’m an avid reader - contemporary fiction with a humorous bent being
my favourite genre - and I always felt I could 'do' a Nick Hornby or
David Nicholls if I put my mind to it. Surely it couldn’t be that
hard? Well, as I discovered, it is that hard. In the way that comedy
is hard. I was always the quite amusing guy amongst my friends, the
guy with the quick ripostes and funny voices, but I was a million
miles from being a guy who could make a roomful of strangers laugh
rather than throw something heavy at me. It took me a while - and the
odd bruise - to bridge the gap between the two.
The dialogue in my book, Song In The Wrong Key, came fairly easily to
me (I’m a script writer - it bloody-well ought to), but structure,
story-lining, pacing, knowing when to cut out the distracting quips,
avoiding the self-indulgence, were elements of the writing process I
had to learn mostly through trial and error. Every time I thought I’d
completed the definitive draft, another 'quick' read-through convinced
me there was still work to do, cuts to make, bits to shift, commas to
add. In truth, you can refine a draft ad infinitum, but at some point
you have to say ‘that’s the one’ - it’s never an easy task to let go,
like watching your child go off to university.
Song In The Wrong Key is my second book. My first, Losing It, was a
psychological thriller based, loosely, on something that happened to
me as a young man. I started it about 18 years ago, left the first 50
pages in a drawer for 10 years, then started again. At the time, I’d
been reading a lot of grim, gory thrillers and felt I had it in me to
emulate the genre. It was a difficult process for me because the tone
of the book is fairly po-faced... and I’m not! Even so, J K Rowling’s
then agents took a shine to it and offered to represent me, provided I
made some changes. Which I did, but not entirely to their liking.
Stupidly, I refused to make more changes and nothing came of it. In a
fit of pique, I self-published through Matador, sold 400 copies and
forgot about writing for a few years.
It was about 4 years ago when I decided to write something more in
keeping with my natural comedic bent. I’ve always been drawn to
stories about nobodies suddenly rising to prominence and, having been
a wannabe pop star myself, Song in the Wrong Key almost wrote itself.
The first draft flowed - I’d say it took a couple of months to finish
it - and I took great joy in writing a story with which I connected
personally and was predominantly a comedy. Needless to say, the first
draft was over-written, lumpy, occasionally illogical and
chronologically confusing. Writing - good writing - as I’ve already
suggested, is bloody hard work! But it was something to work with and
I think the 'stream of consciousness' approach brought out the best in
me from a comedic perspective. Structure, character and story-
sharpening came later. I particularly enjoyed getting my teeth into
the breakdown of the protagonist’s family and the central love story,
both of which, hopefully, will tug at the heart strings (I get a bit
misty-eyed watching Love Actually, so you know where I’m coming
from). Some readers have already owned up to shedding a few tears
which, as someone whose principal aim is to make them laugh, is a huge
compliment.
Like most writers, I drew from experience. As the father of two
girls, Millie and Katia were easy to write (mine are called Molly and
Katie - that’s imagination for you!) And there’s something of my own
life story in the protagonist, Mike’s, obsession with the former love
of his life (I’m over her now, darling!) And it’s through Mike’s
voice that I was able to express many of my own attitudes and ideas.
Friends who have read the book tell me it’s like listening to me
prattle on, grumble, grouch and attempt to amuse. Mike is a
heightened version of me, as is the protagonist of my follow-up novel,
Standing Up - about a solicitor who becomes a stand-up (where do I get
my ideas?)
My aim is to stick with edgy romantic comedies for the foreseeable
future. But I shan’t put the cart before the horse. If no-one buys
Song In The Wrong Key, I might have to return to churning out gory
thrillers.
Simon can be found at facebook and Simon Lipson page and on twitter @SimonLipson
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