We’ve been blessed recently with an excellent
But set aside the slightly old-fashioned prose, the unfashionable omniscient and intrusive author, you are left with a fine story teller. Oh, sometimes the coincidences stretch the imagination, but we ought to remember that many a telling of a true-life story has been rejected because it seemed improbable.
You must forgive him too for his larger than life characters – Bumble, Mr Dorrit, Micawber, Betsy Trotwood and the donkeys, because they are actually such glorious caricatures and bring a much needed humour to the sometimes disturbing content. The important characters are natural and straight. They are fully rounded. Even the sweet-natured, new age Nick Nick has a vile temper and his wicked miserly uncle is reduced to remorse and suicide when he learns the truth about his son.
I have the ambition now that when I retire I shall reread all of his novels.
And wouldn’t he have been a good blogger if the technology had been available then? Aren’t his American Notes and Pictures from
I love looking at the writing routines of other writers and I aspire to something like that of Dickens. He would write from eight until two, then take himself off for a walk along the shore, retiring to a pub for an hour or so, people watching I guess, and then dining out or at home usually in the company of friends. That would suit me absolutely. When I can have that routine or one pretty similar, I know I’ve made it as a writer.
And another thing. He would often talk to himself in the mirror, acting out the parts of his characters. Do you know, I’ve caught myself doing that now and then.
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