Fi Phillips

As you can probably tell from the number of times I mention or quote Stephen King on this blog, I'm a massive fan of his writing and his creative advice. I bought his memoir, On Writing several years ago now and read it in a couple of days. It's a constant on my bookshelf that I dip into every now and then. It's a mixture of Stephen King's life and anecdotes thereof, and how he came to be the writer he is today. It's less of a 'do this' as 'learn from how I did this, failed, tried again, and eventually got it right'. On Writing would be a wonderful gift for a writer at any stage of their career. You can purchase it on Amazon or on Stephen King's own website  in hard copy or ebook.

A couple of days ago, I came across this headline, Bridget Jones's Diary fans aghast as Helen Fielding kills off Mr Darcy . This is the news that in her latest Bridget Jones novel Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding has killed off Bridget's long-time romantic interest, Mark Darcy. Responses have been dramatic. "Mark Darcy is dead. Bridget Jones is a widow!! This is all too much for a lazy Sunday morning." I like a romantic happy ending as much as anyone but I'm not  sure where else Helen Fielding could have taken this one. In book one, Bridget found and landed her Mr Right, after frequently embarrassing herself in public. In the second book, she lost him, had an adventure and finally regained him. I like the idea of Bridget as merry widow. It suits her and suggests Helen Fielding's writing savvy in the creation of this character and our interest in her life. We like to see Bridget fall down occasionally (flashing her 'big pants), bumble thr...