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Seeking Inspiration

March 26, 2018 | By Sue Barnard | Reply More

Writers are often asked: “Where do you get your inspiration?” There are probably as many different answers as there are different authors, but my answer would be that my writing is frequently inspired by existing works.

That was certainly the case with my first novel. It’s almost forty years since I first saw Franco Zeffirell’s wonderful 1968 film of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the end, and I left the cinema thinking “This is the world’s greatest love story – so why does it have to end so badly?”

That question haunted me for many years. Then, a few years ago, I came across one of those lists of Things You Must Do Before You Die. The one which leapt off the page and grabbed me by the throat was WRITE THE BOOK YOU WANT TO READ. The book I’ve always wanted to read is the alternative version of the Romeo & Juliet story – the one where the young lovers don’t fall victim to a maddeningly preventable double suicide.

Why, I asked myself, should there not be such a book? And the answer came straight back: Why not indeed? And if it doesn’t already exist, then go ahead and write it.

The eventual result was The Ghostly Father, which was first published in 2014 by Crooked Cat Books. It’s a sort of part-prequel, part-sequel to the original tale, but with a few new twists and a whole new outcome. The story is told from the point of view of the Friar. I’ve always wondered why, in the play, he behaves as he does, and by giving him what I hope is an interesting and thought-provoking backstory, I’ve tried to offer some possible explanations. Plus, I wanted to reduce the overall body-count, and give the star-crossed lovers the happy ending which tradition has always denied them.

At the time, I was writing the book just for myself, because it was the ending I’ve always wanted. But judging by the number of people who have bought it, read it, and been kind enough to say they’ve enjoyed it, it seems that I’m not by any means the only person who prefers the alternative version.

Shakespeare has also been a wonderful inspiration for some of my attempts at poetry. One of my ongoing projects is to produce an anthology of limericks based on the plots of his plays. It’s proving to be a long task, but here is a small part of the story so far:

Othello:

An ensign who’s weasly and lanky

unpromoted becomes very cranky,

and determines to send

his boss right round the bend

with some very contrived hanky-panky.

King Lear:

Three daughters: two wicked, one bold;

foolish father hands over his gold.

Some other mad guy

gets one in the eye,

and all, not just Tom, end up cold.

The Merchant of Venice:

Dodgy Shyster invites bloke to treat

three-grand ducats for one pound of meat.

But his plot comes to grief

when a cross-dressing brief

shows that mercy’s a quality feat.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream:

To avenge an old wrong, not forgotten,

faerie king pays a trick that is rotten.

For what could be barmier

Than fooling Titania

By making an ass of a Bottom?

Macbeth:

On the strength of a witches’ conjection

a regicide’s planned to perfection.

But revenge is prepared

by a tree-moving laird

who’d been born by Caesarean section.

Five down, 32 to go…

Shakespeare isn’t the only writer to whom I owe profuse apologies. One of my biggest loves is writing parody poetry, inspired by the works of the great and good. John Masefield, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Carlos Williams must all be spinning in their graves even as I type…

CARTLOADS

Elegant young lady dressed in black Versace

gliding around Waitrose with a leisured ease,

with a cartload of oysters, mussels, truffles,

fillet steak, Bollinger, and Stilton cheese.

Smartish young accountant still in office outfit

trudging around Sainsbury’s on her homeward way,

with a cartload of pasta, chicken, houmous,

pitta bread, Camembert and Chardonnay.

Shabby hungry student rushing back from lectures,

dashing around Tesco in her faded jeans,

with a cartload of cider, Cheddar, pizza,

sliced bread, sausages and cheap baked beans.

THE MILLENNIUM PLEASURE-DOME (AN UNFINISHED EPIC)

In Greenwich town in Mandelson

an exhibition dome decree,

where Thames, the mighty river, ran

through Woolwich, Deptford and East Ham

down to a muddy sea…

(At this point, unfortunately, the doorbell rang…)

VARIATIONS ON AN APOLOGY

I pulled up all the plants in your garden.

I am sorry. I did not like the colour.

And the slugs would have probably eaten them anyway.

I sold your CD collection on eBay.

Forgive me. I never really liked your taste in music.

And the money will come in useful, I’m sure.

I redecorated your living room in purple and green.

Please bear with me. I thought it would look better.

And Magnolia paint is SOOO last century.

I took your tomcat to the vet and had it neutered.

But I’m not asking to be excused for that.

I know I was performing a huge public service.

For my latest work I’m returning to the world of novel-writing, this time inspired by Emily Brontë’s classic Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff (due for publication later in 2018) speculates what might have happened to literature’s favourite anti-hero during the three years when he disappears from the original story.

The book has proved to be quite a challenge, as the dates in Wuthering Heights are very precise, and scuppered two of my initial ideas. He couldn’t be a pirate (the golden age of piracy was too early), nor could he have made his fortune in the goldrush (the goldrush years were too late). Eventually I found something which did fit, but you’ll have to wait for the book to appear to find out what that was!

—

Sue Barnard is a British novelist, editor and award-winning poet whose family background is far stranger than any work of fiction. She would write a book about it if she thought anybody would believe her.

She has a mind which is sufficiently warped as to be capable of compiling questions for BBC Radio 4’s fiendishly difficult “Round Britain Quiz”. This once caused one of her sons to describe her as “professionally weird.” The label has stuck.

In addition to working as an editor for Crooked Cat Books, Sue is the author of four novels: The Ghostly Father, Nice Girls Don’t, The Unkindest Cut of All and Never on Saturday. Her fifth novel, Heathcliff, is due out on the 30rd of July 2018.

She lives in Cheshire, UK, with her extremely patient husband and a large collection of unfinished scribblings.