Thursday 22 December 2011

IT'S A WONDERFUL WRITING LIFE

Last post before Christmas.  Watched 'It's A Wonderful Life' to get into the festive spirit, and it reminded me that the best Christmas stories are about fear and anxiety, from 'The Little Match Girl' to the bit in 'Love Actually' where Alan Rickman is furtively buying a necklace for his mistress and Rowan Atkinson is overdoing the gift-wrap. Arguably, the original Christmas story in St Luke's gospel does the same job - re. anxiety, not gift wrap.




It's always more challenging to write about happiness than unhappiness. Misery loves company, and stories love misery. Or anxiety. And from this you can segue interestingly to eventual change/redemption/relief/euphoria. Phew.



Happy Christmas!