Come and chat to Costa Prize winner Nathan Filer about THE SHOCK OF THE FALL on Tue 24 June, 9-10pm

[TillyBookClub]

Nathan Filer's extraordinary debut, The Shock of the Fall, beat off strong competition to scoop the 2013 Costa prize, and has been described as the literary equivalent of Silver Linings Playbook.

Filer was a mental health nurse when he enrolled on a Creative Writing MA, and the result is a sharp, engaging and enlightening novel about (among other things), living with schizophrenia. Matthew, the narrator, is an astonishingly convincing character who is dark, funny and articulate. He also believes he can talk to his dead brother. He pieces together his family's story, including a shocking accident and the aftermath of grief and isolation, whilst slowly coming to a coherent understanding of the events. Matthew is an outstanding creation, with an entirely authentic voice, and a haunting presence that lingers after the book has ended.

You can find out more at our book of the month page and you can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathanfiler

HarperCollins have 50 free copies to give to Mumsnetters – to claim yours please go to our book of the month page and fill in your details. We'll post here when all the copies have gone.

We are delighted that Nathan will be joining us to discuss The Shock of the Fall, his inspiration and his writing life on Tuesday 24 June, 9-10pm. So please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month, pop up any advance questions and we hope to see you here on 24 June.

[ReaderIMarriedHim]

When I picked this book up for the first time, I thought I would find it too distressing to really enjoy reading, but I found it very moving, thought provoking and easy to read all at the same time.

(And for what it's worth, I liked the return of Annabelle and the story about her family - I thought it made an interesting counterpoint to Matt's story)

My question to Nathan is:
This is book which deals with some pretty heavy themes (grief, loss, illness). Do you have any books on a similar vein which inspired you or which you'd recommend? Or conversely what do you read for light relief?

[Arti]

This was one of the best books I've read in the last few years. I work in the NHS and find it hugely inspiring that you have managed to write such a phenomenal and powerful book alongside your day job as a mental gelth nurse! I think you painted such a vivid portrait of Matt throughout the book-there was a very authentic feel to the writing and Matt's character and experiences will stay with me for a long time. I also felt the book handle the topic of grief in a very real way, acknowledging that grief is something that may evolve but never just ends. This helped me when thinking about my own mother who passed why a few months ago.
My question- what research did you do to help you understand and paint such a vivid portrait of Matt?
Arti

[Arti]

Sooty- my last posting should say "mental health nurse"! iPad spell check failed me again!

[NathanFiler]

@Dunlurking

Nathan thanks for answering my questions above. Thanks for the link to your Writer's and Artists 2015 article as well.
Another question, if you have time - Are you able to let us know what you are working on now?

You're very welcome. I'm not working on another novel yet, though I keep thinking about it and have had a few starts. So hopefully one day...

Right now my main project is writing a screenplay. Cinema is a real passion for me. It's going okay, I think. It's a collaboration with another writer, which is so nice after all those hours alone with TSOTF.

[Arti]

And again...sorry!!!

[NathanFiler]

@ReaderIMarriedHim

When I picked this book up for the first time, I thought I would find it too distressing to really enjoy reading, but I found it very moving, thought provoking and easy to read all at the same time.

(And for what it's worth, I liked the return of Annabelle and the story about her family - I thought it made an interesting counterpoint to Matt's story)

My question to Nathan is:
This is book which deals with some pretty heavy themes (grief, loss, illness). Do you have any books on a similar vein which inspired you or which you'd recommend? Or conversely what do you read for light relief?

Hi there! I like your name :)

I was surprised that I wrote about such heavy themes. Humor is a big part of my life, and my writing life. In many ways this book caught me by surprise. But now I have some distance from it I feel that I was working quite a lot of stuff through. I poured a lot of myself into that story.

Of course I was influenced by other novels too, but not nearly so much as I was by my own experiences.

Books I read along the way included: The Wasp Factory; The Curious Incident; Vernon God Little; Catcher in the Rye ... and probably I stole from every single one. I remember having to stop reading Vernon God Little because Matthew started sounding Texan!

I think it can be problematic to read and write at the same time...

[TillyBookClub]

I think the diary of the tedium of life in the unit was exceptionally well done (as discussed earlier with gailforce).

I kept wondering if there was any novel/poem/story that you would say could be particularly good to have in a mental health unit? Any piece of literature that you think of as particularly soothing or helpful in some way?

[NathanFiler]

@Arti

This was one of the best books I've read in the last few years. I work in the NHS and find it hugely inspiring that you have managed to write such a phenomenal and powerful book alongside your day job as a mental gelth nurse! I think you painted such a vivid portrait of Matt throughout the book-there was a very authentic feel to the writing and Matt's character and experiences will stay with me for a long time. I also felt the book handle the topic of grief in a very real way, acknowledging that grief is something that may evolve but never just ends. This helped me when thinking about my own mother who passed why a few months ago.
My question- what research did you do to help you understand and paint such a vivid portrait of Matt?
Arti

Ah Sooty, thank you for your kind comments :)

It was pretty research-light tbh. As you say I worked in the NHS so all of the stuff about how wards work (or don't!) was from memory. I think it would require so much research to know that level of detail - say, things like how the mousemats and pens in the office are sponsored by drug companies. But as nurses, we see this all the time.

The only real research I did was visit Portland a few times. But I did take that seriously. I walked the exact walk that Matthew walks... and it's a bloody long way!

As for Matthew. He came from within...

[Lesuffolkandnorfolk]

Thank you Nathan

I am so pleased to read that you will do what you can to help. We will be in touch shortly.

[Lesuffolkandnorfolk]

And I used to love my Quetiapine purple double walled mug and Fluoxetine pens from the drug reps when I worked on the wards. It is a great detail that you'd only know as an insider, whether that be a service user or employee. I used to give those mugs to the service users- they loved them too.

[NathanFiler]

@TillyBookClub

I think the diary of the tedium of life in the unit was exceptionally well done (as discussed earlier with gailforce).

I kept wondering if there was any novel/poem/story that you would say could be particularly good to have in a mental health unit? Any piece of literature that you think of as particularly soothing or helpful in some way?

Gosh. What a great question.

There is a poem that I read once called 'Writing Behaviour'. It really influenced me and there is a chapter in the book named after it. I'm not sure it's especially soothing though. But it's written by a patient in response to the Rosenhaun experiment and I found it very powerful.

I think we should have more books on wards, but I wouldn't like to prescribe which ones. We do enough prescribing I think.

[NathanFiler]

@TillyBookClub

I think the diary of the tedium of life in the unit was exceptionally well done (as discussed earlier with gailforce).

I kept wondering if there was any novel/poem/story that you would say could be particularly good to have in a mental health unit? Any piece of literature that you think of as particularly soothing or helpful in some way?

Gosh. What a great question.

There is a poem that I read once called 'Writing Behaviour'. It really influenced me and there is a chapter in the book named after it. I'm not sure it's especially soothing though. But it's written by a patient in response to the Rosenhaun experiment and I found it very powerful.

I think we should have more books on wards, but I wouldn't like to prescribe which ones. We do enough prescribing I think.

[carriemumsnet]

Only half way through - sorry - and enjoying so far but desperately trying not to read all comments in case of spoilers! My question: who encouraged you as a writer and did you start writing hoping/believing you'd get published, or do you start off just seeing if you could do it/ or for enjoyment?

[Dunlurking]

I loved reading Matthew's comments on drug freebies. (I still have a seroxat, and a cipramil Sigg bottle )

[NathanFiler]

@carriemumsnet

Only half way through - sorry - and enjoying so far but desperately trying not to read all comments in case of spoilers! My question: who encouraged you as a writer and did you start writing hoping/believing you'd get published, or do you start off just seeing if you could do it/ or for enjoyment?

I don't think there are any spoilers so far...

I'm lucky to have a supportive family, but there are no writers in our ranks. But my dad very kindly gave me a loan to enroll on a creative writing MA. That was probably the most important year in the life of my novel (the writing of it, anyway).

I did always hope to get published. And the truth is there was a lot of time when I didn't especially enjoy the writing process at all. Writing is such hard work and always there was the fear that nobody would ever read it.

But something kept me at the keyboard. Matthew was a great character to write and his story felt important to me.

[RachelMumsnet]

Hi Nathan, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Congratulations on such a thought-provoking but also entertaining novel. One question: When I first read it I immediately wanted to hand it on to my 15 year old son. Like you said earlier, I;m at the stage where it's quite hard to recommend any books to him at the moment and was delighted cos I thought I'd finally found a book that would speak to him (the last one I succeeded in was Pigeon English - do you know this?) Then I wondered whether it was a bit dark for him? Is this a book (as with Serious Incident) that is for teens and adults? Could it be on the GCSE syllabus? What are your thoughts on this?

[TillyBookClub]

I like your answer very much - prescribing is the last thing you want, like you say! Perhaps loads of copies of Heaney/Hughes edited The RattleBag would be good, or a similarly mixed up collection of poems from all areas, so you could take your pick.

Do you spend more time writing fiction than poetry now? Or do you still write across all genres fairly equally?

[Dunlurking]

Totally agree with RachelMumsnet that this should be considered a YA novel as well, AND be on the GCSE syllabus!

[NathanFiler]

@RachelMumsnet

Hi Nathan, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Congratulations on such a thought-provoking but also entertaining novel. One question: When I first read it I immediately wanted to hand it on to my 15 year old son. Like you said earlier, I;m at the stage where it's quite hard to recommend any books to him at the moment and was delighted cos I thought I'd finally found a book that would speak to him (the last one I succeeded in was Pigeon English - do you know this?) Then I wondered whether it was a bit dark for him? What are your thoughts on this? Is this a book (as with Serious Incident) that is for teens and adults? Could it be on the GCSE syllabus? What are your thoughts on this?

Hi Rachel,

I always hoped it might have a cross-over appeal - those books like curious incident that can be enjoyed by adults and young adults alike. I was a little surprised that the publisher never pushed it in this way, but they've been generally great, so, you know... choose your battles I guess. Certainly many young people who have read it have really engaged with it and I would LOVE to see it on a syllabus, of course. Probably slightly older than GCSE. But I think it's very much a story that 16 or 17 year olds relate to...

[WipsGlitter]

Hi, coming to this v late. I've read a bit of the book. I have two sons, one has Down's syndrome. I'm reluctant to read more....

[Mignonette]

I had a lot of service users who were extremely well read and took charge of the books available on the unit and creative writing has always been a very popular choice of activity for people who are well enough to participate.

Did you ever engage in this with your clients/service users?

[bookworm31]

Hi Nathan, absolutely loved your book.

My question is how important was it that Matthew undergoes a kind of catharsis at the end of the novel? Do you think this idea of a memorial is important in tackling grief? How important do you think writing and keeping a memoir is to someone in such a situation?

[RachelMumsnet]

Another question (if I may): you won the Costa with your first ever novel - what an amazing achievement but does that now put huge pressure on you for your next novel? We do a 'debut author bookclub' slot on Mumsnet and I often think we should do a 'second novel bookclub' slot as it must be so much harder for writers to get interest in their second novels (hope that isn't too depressing a question!)

[NathanFiler]

@TillyBookClub

I like your answer very much - prescribing is the last thing you want, like you say! Perhaps loads of copies of Heaney/Hughes edited The RattleBag would be good, or a similarly mixed up collection of poems from all areas, so you could take your pick.

Do you spend more time writing fiction than poetry now? Or do you still write across all genres fairly equally?

I love the rattlebag! I stole it from a friend and never returned it (oops).

I haven't written poetry in a long time. I don't think I was ever especially good at it. What I did was a cross with stand-up. It was performance poetry. It was a very big part of my life for a long time, and I had so much fun touring the country and doing gigs. But I don't miss it. I'm getting old. It's nice to work on the page now :)

I've really enjoyed the few bits of journalism I've done. And am enjoying the screenplay very much.

For me, it's fun to work across lots of genres.

Mostly I want to win a BAFTA ;)

[NathanFiler]

@Dunlurking

Totally agree with RachelMumsnet that this should be considered a YA novel as well, AND be on the GCSE syllabus!

Start the movement ...