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Find reading inspiration on our Book of the Month forum.

MNHQ have commented on this thread

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Find reading inspiration on our Book of the Month forum.

MNHQ have commented on this thread

Book of the month

JANUARY BOOK OF THE MONTH - discussion night and author chat will take place here Thursday 31st Jan from 8pm

190 replies

TillyBookClub · 23/01/2008 12:58

This the place to come for our January Bookclub discussion and to chat to our esteemed author Tim Dowling, author of The Giles Wareing Haters Club.

If you can't make it on Thursday then do post a question for Tim here and we'll make sure he gets to it. And if you are coming on Thursday but want to post an advance question then feel free - we'll email them to Tim and will kick off with the answers when he comes on.

Hope everyone can make it, see you Thursday...

OP posts:

Report

Hassled · 31/01/2008 20:41

If I'd had my wits about me I would have changed my username to Salome66. Damn!

Hassled · 31/01/2008 20:43

Or I could have been JaneT. I do like JaneT.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 31/01/2008 20:44

Perhaps his wife will call out an I.T specialist and give him fresh ideas for his next column...

Salome66 · 31/01/2008 20:45

That Tim Dowling is SHITE. He's an exceedingly bad writer working for a certain newspaper who, while actually rather unremarkable, has become for some of us a portent symbol of everything that's wrong with everything.

Salome66 · 31/01/2008 20:45

He can't even log on to Mumsnet

Hassled · 31/01/2008 20:47

Damn and blast .

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 31/01/2008 20:47

DH just called to excitedly ask if he was online yet.
Come on Tim, you are betraying a kindred spirit here!

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:48

Hi everybody. Thanks for having me.

I trolled a lot of boards, mostly newspapers and copied out any good abuse I found into a notebook. Then most places weren't quite as vitriolic as the GWHC, but I've seen worse since.

I also copied out a lot of posting formats: the Mail online, the Guardian talkboard, and random ones like Das Paintball Forum Archiv. I wanted a mix of the most common elements so that people who used talkboards would find it all familiar - without thinking it a direct parody of one site - but I also pared it down so it would be easier to read in book form. For a while I wanted to use underposts - those appended little inanities like "Insanity takes it's toll - please have exact change" - and I collected dozens, but they made reading it really hard going.

OP posts:

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:48

its our fault not his. registration not working. am trying to solve asap.

OP posts:

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 31/01/2008 20:49

Oh what where when who
I am now onfused.

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:49

I'm having to post under Tilly's username becuse my registration has gone through. I should slag myself off while I'm here. And try the italics. Tim

OP posts:

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 31/01/2008 20:50

Tim is clearly a regular. Even I can't do italics.

Liberati · 31/01/2008 20:51

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:52

To Willow and morningpaper

Is Giles based on Jon Ronson? Are you well versed in our JonRonsongate scandal which followed our discussion about Mil Millington's hair?

Giles is not based on Jon Ronson. I remember JonRonsongate - I read about it on some other forum and dashed over to mumsnet to catch up. I remember thinking the whole thing was completely nonsensical, and then I realised I was reading the posts back to front. It certainly has some of the elements of GW's situation, but I'd finished the book long before that whole thing blew up.

My wife might have come on and slagged you off for picking on Jon Ronson, had she known. She loves him and wishes he hadn't given up his Saturday column. Tim

OP posts:

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 31/01/2008 20:53

Are your books indeed semi autobiographical, and if so how do you feel about revealing those, often dark, feelings to all and sundry. Not to mention your close family and friends?

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:53

It's easy.

If I told you Tilly's password we could all pretend to be her. Tim

OP posts:

TillyBookClub · 31/01/2008 20:53

okay, Tim has posted as TillyBookclub, which is what we'll do from now on while we fix problem.

Tim, my nickname all yours...

OP posts:

TimDowling · 31/01/2008 20:57

I meant that italics were easy, not revealing my dark feelings to all and sundry. This is confusing enough. I think semi-autobiographical is about right. There are a lots of bits of Giles I wouldn't own up to. Going to try to post this as me. It's meant to be working now.

midnightexpress · 31/01/2008 20:58

I'm trying to do some work here, but having failed miserably to (month 1) remember to come along, and (month 2) buy the right book, I am determined this month to keep half an eye on the discussion.

Oh. I'm very confused already. I might have to go back to the work.

I really enjoyed the book. It's been a while since I laughed out loud at a book (tbh I don't read a lot of comic novels, as I don't often find them very funny), but I thought the radio interview featuring Giles as a gout 'expert' was great.

Tim - I'd like to know your advice to freelancers as to how best to avoid excessive navel-gazing and over-inflated ego.

Hassled · 31/01/2008 20:58

Do you feel more British than American at this stage? Can you see yourself staying here forever?

TimDowling · 31/01/2008 20:58

to Hassled:

Why did you pick that Devon town in particular? Did the name just appeal or have you such happy memories of Cheriton Fitzpaine that you had to incorporate it somehow into a book?

I've never been to Cheriton Fitzpaine. Is it nice? In August of 2005 I was in Cornwall with my family, and getting up at 6 every morning to do a couple of hours on the book. It's my father-in-law's cottage, and I was thumbing through his bookshelf in search of a name for a new character, and I found an old map. Another name survives from that week - a briefly mentioned author called Becket Hitch, which is from a book of knots.

fryalot · 31/01/2008 20:59

hello I'm here - dd1 got glowing reports from her teachers so am in a waaaaaay better mood than I expected to be in.

Anyway, hello Tim (or should we be calling you Tilly for this evening?) Really enjoyed your book and saw a fair few parallels between what you wrote about and things I have seen on t'internet for myself.

My question is: Your "day job" is writing short stuff for papers - did you find it difficult to keep a story going for an entire books-worth?

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TimDowling · 31/01/2008 21:01

I'm not sure I'm in a position to give advice on avoiding navel-gazing, but you can get away with it as long as you remember that no one cares what you think.

Hassled · 31/01/2008 21:02

[[http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41518000/jpg/_41518530_cheriton_skool_203.jpg Cheriton is lovely]

morningpaper · 31/01/2008 21:03

Come on man you've got about 100 questions to answer from the start of this thread

And I've eaten my bodyweight in chilli and drunk 2 beers since 8 o'clock

And eaten this bar of organico chocolate that I've just noticed says on the back "Equivalent to 3 cups of coffee!"

(What does that MEAN? Am I not going to sleep tonight?)

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