I've been guesting on the OPEN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS blog this week, talking about Philip Pullman's new book on writing. Pullman has been busy writing – in October he released two new books. The first is the beginning of a new series which will be a sort of prequel to His Dark Materials. The second, released on 26 October, is his first non-fiction work, Daemon voices. This is a must-read for all writers, as well as readers who love his work. It's also a must-listen at the moment, on iPlayer. Go to the OCA blogsite to read the whole post and find the link.
Why 'Torturing a Poem'? Pullman suggests, in Daemon Voices, that if you ‘interrogate a poem’ the results will be worthless, ‘as the results of torture always are’. …Poetry is in fact, enchantment, that it has the form it does because that very form casts a spell…