No friend-shaming here. Just a little article centring on how to support your creative friends, especially when they’re trying to get their brands off the ground at this difficult time…

When you’re in my line of work, you get to know a lot of people from different backgrounds in various industries. And a lot of them have a number of side-projects — that was one of the ideas that spawned Humans of Bournemouth, which later became HQB Media. I remember interviewing a doctor who was also a guitarist in the early days, and more recently, one of my favourite bartenders, who was not only an amateur photographer with a long-boarding brand on the back burner, but also a fantasy novel!

Spreading the word about these things is all very well, but in an age dominated by social media and inter-connectivity, what can we do to support our creative friends? There are several ways, any and all of which they will appreciate the thought and effort – the majority don’t cost anything more than your time. And… let’s face it… we all have a fair bit of that right now!

1. Like / Follow Their Social Media Accounts

Social media is one of the first places (if not the first place) that creative and entrepreneurial people head to when setting up their brand. It’s one of the quickest ways to kick-start a following, and their personal connections – their Facebook friends, Twitter and Instagram followers – are the first people they’re going to turn to. The bigger the following, the higher the reach, and the better the content is likely to perform against these sites’ algorithms. Just a quick click of the “Like” or “Follow” button will do the trick.

2. Invite Your Friends to do the Same…

So, you’ve liked their pages — now it’s time to help them expand their community. For the reasons stated in the section above, but also because it helps them to reach a broader audience. If they have products or services, these additional followers also mean a potential boost in sales. If they’re on Instagram, maybe do a quick post on your story pointing your connections in their direction? Meanwhile, on Facebook, you can do your creative friends an amazing favour, by heading to the Community Section of their page, and invite as many of your friends as you want (preferably all of them) to Like and Follow them.

3. Engage with Their Content

Having an increasing fan-base is great, but it’s just a number on a web page if your content isn’t getting any engagement. Obviously this is more a two-way street, because if the content doesn’t have engaging value, they can’t expect people to want to like, comment, share, retweet, etc. However, if you see a post – whether it’s a photo with some news in the caption, or even something more grand like a live Q&A session – chuck it a quick Like or a comment – even if it’s just an emoji. Self-promotion and marketing can be a demoralising business, so your friends will appreciate knowing people are out there supporting.

4. Talk About Their Content, Products and Services

Word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool. I know a few of my book sales, plus opportunities that came with it, were down to friends and family members telling people about it. And there are some of my friends who haven’t personally bought the book but still talk to me about it — that, in itself, is supportive. Conversation can help understand audience demographics — what is a type of person looking for in a book, a film, a photo or another medium? It might inspire your friends to explore outside of their comfort zone.

5. Buy Their Products

And off the back of what I just said about word-of-mouth, it can help your creative and entrepreneurial friends if you made the ultimate investment. Which is, of course, buying what they’re offering. I recently reconnected with an old friend from my theatre days who, upon learning I was an author, asked to buy Lust & Liberty pretty much straight away. Thing is, you don’t have to buy these things for yourself. My first novel is not primarily geared towards a male audience (though a number of male friends of mine have read it), so it makes a great gift for the mother, the other half, the sister, and so on. Same goes for the products and services of all your creative services. Either that or point them in the direction by tagging them in a social media comment or something…

My Recommendations

I’d be the worst sort of hypocrite if I didn’t practice what I preached. Here are five creative friends of mine who I would really recommend supporting. They have amazing content and products on offer — well worth a look.

S.P. Thane

Otherwise known as my cousin, Sean. I am not the only writer in the family, but where I specialise in florid prose in primarily historical settings, this young man is a naturally-gifted poet and lyricist. I wish I could possess a quarter of his ability with rhyme. He has been toying with the idea of publishing his work for a while now, and just this week, he launched his Instagram page. Do him (and me) a favour and give him a Follow. Obviously the account’s quite new, so there’s not much there at the moment. But some powerful stuff is on the way…

Callum Shirley Photography

I have mentioned this fella before in a couple of other posts. An exceptionally talented landscape photographer whose work is well worth a look. Plenty of stunning images taken from all along the Jurassic Coast. Here are the links to his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Aaron James

Someone I have known for a very long time, who currently serves as co-presenter on HQB Media’s podcast Bournemouth Backchat. A man whose primary occupation is entertaining others with his jazz, swing and pop covers. Michael Bublé, eat your heart out — this is Aaron James. Available on Facebook and Instagram.

Collaborators’ Cabin

Actually became acquainted with this brand and its owner Rob Holmes through my aforementioned cousin, Sean. See how connections breed further connections? Anyway, at the Collaborators’ Cabin, Rob primarily specialises in hand-made wooden gifts, often decorated via the art of pyrography. His product line has since extended to jewellery, including rings and bracelets. Plus, you can learn pyrography yourself by booking a session. Obviously, like a lot of small businesses, things are on-hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, but still worth taking a look at the Cabin’s Facebook page.

Great Ape

Anyone know anything about absurdist fiction? If you’re a lover of the genre, this new literary journal might be worth investing in. Edited by one of my friends (and namesakes) Dale Hall, plus two of his friends Nels Challinor and Marta Ķepīte, the Great Ape literary journal released its premiere issue last month and submissions for the next are currently open. Find out more about it on their website, their Facebook page and their Instagram feed.

Chris Farrier-Ledden Photography

Another friend of an aforementioned friend — I discovered Chris Farrier-Ledden by way of Callum Shirley. We have a very talented bunch of photographers down in Bournemouth, but the colours that Chris manages to achieve in some of his shots are almost beyond belief in terms of beauty. Chuck his Instagram a follow and you won’t be disappointed!

Mikey Ball

This indie folk-rock artist has made quite a name for himself on our local live music scene, either on his own or with his band Mikey Ball and the Company. With a couple of albums to their name, they’re well worth a listen! Mikey has also been involved in the odd live stream concert during lockdown, so best be on the lookout for those — best way would be to check out his Facebook and Instagram.

Sam Rawlings

One last musician for you, this time the drummer Sam Rawlings. He is the son of a friend of a friend (the web continues on ahaha) who I have enjoyed interviewing a couple of times in the past. While having been attached to bands, he is a talented musician in his own right, and recently he has taken to Facebook as well as Instagram with drum covers.

How are you going to support your creative pals? While you’re here, chuck me a Like / Follow on my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

From terrible regrets to deep hatred and prejudice… what inner darkness gets betrayed in the work of these writers?

The other day, I was chatting with a friend of mine about how I like to keep my writing at face value. I don’t try to inject much deeper meaning behind my plots and characters. For one thing, I don’t personally read like that, and I don’t encourage it in my own readers, either. Stories are there to be enjoyed and to entertain, not to be analysed so hard that you take away the fun (and the fiction!) A sentiment I upheld even from my GCSE English days — did you ever feel like you were putting more thought into the book than the author?

Others have analysed the work of some much-loved authors and discovered that their work – some of which is already pretty dark – was actually channelling some dark inner feelings. I have put together a list of five; a couple on here won’t surprise you, while others – I hope – will shock you!

Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander was based on a figure from Stieg Larsson’s past. A character inspired by haunting guilt and terrible regret. (Image: Tori @Flickr)

Anyone read the Millennium books? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels. They were authored by a Swedish journalist by the name of Stieg Larsson, and published after his death in 2004. If you’ve read or even heard of the series, you will know that they deal with rather extreme themes, one of which is abuse and hatred against women. Most notably, sexual abuse, as is inflicted on Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by her guardian, Nils Bjurman.

The character of Lisbeth and, by extension, the prevalence of the sexual violence theme, was inspired by Larsson’s own regret and inability to forgive himself for failing to intervene during an incident when he was 15. When he witnessed three of his friends gang-raping a girl, after whom he named his heroine. He reportedly approached the victim days after the ordeal, begging for her forgiveness, which, rightfully, she did not give him. Lisbeth Salander is the manifestation of Larsson’s guilt and his past haunting him.

Roald Dahl

What dark recesses did Roald Dahl channel in creating his universally-loved stories?

I bet you think I must be joking. One of the world’s best-loved children’s authors? I was surprised too, but if you look over Roald Dahl’s work again, you will note there is actually some pretty dark stuff there. A lot of children punishing adults, which oddly enough – albeit inadvertently – is also present in the upcoming Berylford book, Sin & Secrecy. For example, we see James in James and the Giant Peach at the mercy of his cruel and abusive aunts, but he later kills them on the titular giant peach, before going on his adventure with his new, contrastingly loving friends.

But where did this all stem from? The macabre nature of his plots and his making villains out of adults is thought to have been inspired from Dahl’s early childhood. He lost his father when he was only three, as well as his sister, and was soon sent away to boarding school, where he suffered at the hands of the teachers’ brutality.

James and the Giant Peach also contains aspects of profanity and even racism, betraying some of Dahl’s worst faults. He was, by all accounts, not a particularly nice man. Numerous infidelities, not to mention a self-confessed anti-Semite. He was once quoted to have said, “…even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on [the Jews] for no reason.”

You can learn more about the darkness behind Roald Dahl in these articles here and here.

Rev. W. V. Awdry

How does Thomas the Tank Engine creator Rev. W. V. Awdry’s relish for punishment come out in his stories?

Any Thomas the Tank Engine fans out there? Prepare yourselves — I’m about to ruin your childhood again. I mean, what can possibly be dark about a series of stories about anthropomorphic trains? A lot, it turns out — especially when you psychoanalyse the man behind them, the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry. Then it shows off the Isle of Sodor at its most tyrannical, governed by a severe, punitive, authoritarian regime that Awdry personally endorsed.

The example I have seen given by a lot of critics and academics is the story in which Henry, afraid that the rain will spoil his paintwork, refuses to come out a tunnel. Disrupting the day’s workflow as a result, and of course, angering the Fat Controller. What is the Rev. Awdry’s ideal punishment for not doing as you’re told? In Henry’s case, life imprisonment. He has his rails removed and the tunnel in which he is sitting is bricked up, to be left there, “for always and always.” Ouch…

Many argue that the brutality of such punishments were the Reverend’s way of emphasising what lay in store for anyone who strayed from the straight-and-narrow.

Read a little more about it in this article here.

Kenneth Grahame

Another childhood favourite – The Wind in the Willows. A pretty little story celebrating nature? Or a form of escapism for the author?

Like Roald Dahl, the early life of The Wind in the Willows author Kenneth Grahame was marred by sadness and grief.

And you can find out more about Kenneth Grahame in this article.

Maurice Sendak

Does Where the Wild Things Are portray the author’s inner demons and turbulent relationship with his emotionally-distant mother? (Image: Scott Woods-Fehr @Flickr)

Author of Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak grew up in Brooklyn, and fans of the story may already know that it is a self-expression of his early life experiences. And his relationships with the adults in his life. Even the title is a homage to what his mother used to call him. “Vilde chaya,” means, “Wild animal,” in Yiddish, which Sendak’s mother often used to brand him, which in turn inspired the use of the phrase, “Wild thing,” in the book.

Indeed, his mother seems to have cut an ambiguous or in some cases villainous figure in Sendak’s life – being described as, “disturbed, chronically sad and emotionally unavailable.” She and his father were of Polish descent, whose family had endured and, in the case of his father, perished in the Holocaust. Sendak and his mother’s difficulties formed an overall theme in Where the Wild Things Are – it is about a boy who is trying to defeat his inner demons and rectify his relationship with his mother.

Can you find any inner darkness in my work?

Even though I do not promise to confirm or deny anything, I encourage people to read or re-read Lust & Liberty and, once it’s released, Sin & Secrecy. See what meanings and emotions you can read between the lines. Does Lady Vyrrington represent the urge to carry on through one’s grief, blaming oneself all the while. And are Abel and Rebecca Stirkwhistle an allegory for the cold and bullying education system that still exists in the UK today? Like I say, I’m not saying, “Yea,” or, “Nay,” on that score. But it gives you something to think about, and I’d be interested to see what you can suggest.

For more news and content or to get in touch, please follow my Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.