Episode 81 - DBC Pierre: Part 2

In his second This Writing Life podcast, DBC Pierre talks learning to write by remembering what he has read. For dialogue, he looked to Len Deighton.

After a discussion of how written speech differs from spoken speech, he moved towards:

• tell vs show: writing dialogue in Vernon God Little
  
• is Pierre an instinctive writer?
• 'I am going to speak differently to you than I will to the Queen or a child or an enemy'
• how flamenco on late night Spanish television helped Pierre find his voice in Release the Bats
• 'rocket fuel': Pierre's enthusiasm for writing and writers
• what stops Pierre writing?
• dog racing, writers and nature
• 'I am the black sheep in the family. It is my job to have lots of promise and not to fulfil it.'
• Pierre's father and family hierarchy
  
• did Pierre worry that analysing the creative process might wreck the creative process?
  
• Pierre on 'the century of neuropsychology'
• 'Nothing has changed in human nature in two and half million years'
• 'Our anger and conflict...drive us to write'
• does writing help?
  

Part three to follow.