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

[TillyBookClub]

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...

Sorry everyone about the confusion. I think it was nicely in keeping with the books themes though (identity crisis, internet false names, anxiety etc..)

Tim, do you find that men and women post differently? Do you find it easy to tell if someone's masquerading as a man/woman? Obviously Giles was taken in, but I wondered if that was because he was having marriage problems and quite fancied the idea of Salome being a woman,,,

To Squonk:

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sustain a book's worth of story (I'd written longer things, but never this long), but it was a relief to be able to stick with something, and not have to discount an idea because you already expended 600 words on it 2 months ago. And whenever the narraitve seems to be running out of steam, you just have the phone ring.

Sage advice.

I'm interested in the American/Brit thing too. Many of the characters seemed so very British to me. I wonder if you find that easier to do as someone coming to it from a different background?

OK, to morningpaper:

• Do you think that actively seeking out criticism by bloggers on the internet is healthy, or do you think it is "a peculiar form of self-harm"?

It's a good question. Nowadays when you write for websites the criticism that gathers underneath is part of the deal - you're meant to take it in, and even respond to it. But there's a lot of abuse out there, often directed at people who really haven't asked for the attention. I'm not sure it's actually avoidable, but I think silence is the best weapon. That way know no one even knows if you've read it or not.

• Do you think that the forum of the internet and the nature of the criticism it liberally dishes out is putting potential writers off column-type journalism?

It doesn't seem to be. I think the more navel-gazing and personal a column is, the more pointless it is to critique it. Either you like that sort of thing or you don't.

• Have you experienced cyber-bullying, and in what context?

No. I don't even get much abuse on the Guardian's website. I think it's because every time someone mentions my name, everyone else thinks, "who?"

• Do you ever unplug your router in desperation to get work done at home?

No. I do waste a tremendous amount of time online, but deadline panic is usually enough to focus my attention.

• Can you tell me a bit about your own history with the internet? When did you first come to chat-rooms or talkboards, and do you still frequent them? Have you ever been to a talkboard meetup?

I think the first time I googled myself there were 11 hits, and all of them were to do with a Father Tim Dowling in New Jersey. I went on a lot of talkboards for the book, and I still look at a few now and then, but I never post and I've never been to a meet-up, though I've been tempted to do the latter.

• Do you have a dog, as well as children? Isn't that just doubling your workload for no real return?

You're telling me. And as far as the dog goes I am sole carer, which is why she follows me everywhere and stares at me all day.

And Tim, would love your take on what's fair criticism and what's cyber bullying (as posted by morningpaper)

I often think that it is much harder to write a successful short story/piece than a novel.

If you are a confident writer you can go on forever, it's cutting out the drivel and saying it in as few words as necessary that is harder.

on the man/ woman theme - have you had markedly different reactions to the book from men and women?

I'm still American, but I don't find it very difficult to write British characters.I'm surrounded by them. Actually my agent can't sell this damn book in America because publishers keep saying the humour is "too British". I ask you...

Oooh thanks Tim for those responses.

"too British" how bizarre

There were no middle-aged men chasing naked ladies with big jubblies around trees at all.

To Tilly:
I've seen a lot of confusion on talkboards when people have unisex usernames. But I'll tell you what. There's a tremendous amount of sexism behind a lot of the abuse, a lot of it, if you'll excuse the phrase, girl-on-girl. I never get the sort of nastiness female columnist get.

Do you ever feel guilty for being paid to trot out pretty much the same story?
(from my DH)

Sorry I'm not sure what he really means, but I know of people who do this. I.e Charlie Brooker, whose tv show and website are pretty much the same word for word as his newspaper columns.

You're probably not as annoying as Julie Burchill though.

To CarrieMumsnet:

Good question. It's an oddly, erm, positioned book, from a marketing point of view - aimed at a male demographic that doesn't read this sort of thing. I mean, I didn't aim it at anyone, but I know the publishers are frustrated. Women have been mostly very positive (yes, I've been upthread), rather more sympathetic to Giles than I would have imagined.

I've got a similar question to Carrie - could yu define the book as a man's book? I felt it was very much a male perspective, but one that you were inviting women to laugh at...

Someone earlier on talked about how sad they found the book. Do you see yourself as a comic novelist, or someone with serious things to say about The Way We Live Now? Or both? Or neither?

Sorry, crossed threads there.

What do you think about caroline (and as asked earlier, was her long-suffering attitude taken form your own household?)

to TDWearsP:
I can feel guilty about almost anything, but I get assigned things and I have to do them. G2 actually has a rota, like a hospital, and if I'm on Wednesday then I have to waffle on about some survey that says 44 is the most depressing age. I'm 44, but luckily I wasn't on the rota.

i want to know if you are a secret mumsnet lurker.... and is your dw a mumsnetter??

controlfreaky - according to his earlier posts he is indeed.
But then who isn't these days?

'Women have been... rather more sympathetic to Giles than I would have imagined.'

Why so? Like Tilly says, you do seem to invite people to laugh at Giles, but more than that I think that men and women d'un certain age can identify with characters like him - starting to feel a bit like they're not quite where they imagined they would be 20 years ago. Not to be too pretentious about it, there's something of the Willy Loman in him, I think?

alright, alright so i haven't read it all... but what about his dw? is she amongst us?

So it's possible Lucy Mangan is forced to write badly about the tosh she does? Perhaps i will reserve judgment then.

Yes they say "Oi Mangan! Write me 500 words about libraries! Maybe try and make it two whole sentences?"

Tim,
Are you deliberately ignoring my question about your mrs?