My first novel came about almost by chance. I was a freelance writer on arts and antiques for several magazines. Few exhibitions made as strong an impression on me as the first show at the Ashmolean Museum by a living Chinese artist. In 2005, Qu Leilei’s, ‘Everyone’s Life is an Epic’ consisted of 21 striking contemporary portraits. Each subject had been asked to describe his/her philosophy of life. Under his portrait, a homeless man had written ‘You are not a failure until you give up trying’ and his chiselled features were surrounded by bold colour with the Chinese translation in calligraphy that was integral to the work. East and West had met in this brush. I guessed Qu Leilei had led an epic life so asked to write a profile feature on him in the Oxford Times.
( This Oxford castaway feature summarises his life) Qu Leilei Castaway
I listened to his stories about the Stars Art Movement, of which he was one of the five founders. I later visited Beijing and the Chinese National Gallery where Leilei showed me the railings on which those brave artists had hung their controversial pictures, in 1979.
The artists, poets and democracy activists knew each other and were part of the on-going process of opening China to new ideas and new ways of living, and they risked life and limb to do so. I was surprised that so few people outside China knew about The Stars. Censorship in China means the full story cannot be told there, so I thought if no one else has done it or wants to do it, I will. That ‘chance encounter’ led to ten years of work. The working title for the novel through which I tell the Stars story was Little Winter Paints the Stars. Little Winter was the name of my imagined artist on the fringe of the movement. Painting the Stars – obvious?
When Claret Press showed an interest in publishing my novel, its CeO Katie Isbester said ‘Sorry, Sylvia, that title must go – it sounds like a children’s book.’ Finding a suitable title was harder than all the edits Katie wanted. In the end she liked Brushstrokes in Time.(BIT) Claret Press was pleased with the reception of BIT and so was interested in a second novel.
I sent The Well -Travelled Chest of Drawers.
The Well Travelled Chest of Drawers was inspired by a huge oak chest of drawers which I bought in Kennington from an 82 year old man who was downsizing. In the late C19th, his parents had taken this twelve drawer chest of drawers by sea to India and up into the foothills of the Himalayas where they taught at a school in Mussoorie. I used it as the device to link the contemporary and historical stories in my novel set in Oxford and India. Claret Press liked it but not the title !
I suggested Chance Encounters Change Lives . The reason is obvious in the little video I had made using my granddaughter Elysia and the son of a friend.
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No, too general, not specific to the story !
Sculpting the Elephant is a scene late in the novel but I pitched that and it passed.
I’d love to know what readers and writers think. Are you influenced by the title of a book?
