John’s post also made me think of this from Wordsworth, in 1807 I think, when he penned the words “…Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers…”.

I do wish we could slow down. The more we get “in an instant”, the more we seem to expect the same and find that others expect the same from us. There can be both revelry and serene calm in the joy of anticipation. In today’s society, I believe that many of us may need to reconnect with the concept of anticipation.

When it comes to reading, and crime fiction in particular for me, there’s page turning and page turning. Some novels are like fast food and are produced in almost the same way. Either case does not necessarily represent the best. An exceptional book and one worth reading is one that appreciates and capitalises on the power of anticipation. I tend to prefer psychological “thrillers” for this reason. But neither is that type of book exclusively pursuing that route.

I’ll hang my coat on the honesty hook here. I started out reading north American crime/thriller fiction, as I was based there at the time. The books were fast and I devoured them with a speed that would get me some points on my licence, if driving. (No more please!) I returned to the UK and over the years, I discovered British authors and found that my tastes also changed and that the British way of writing in this genre was different – often slower and often, also simply superb.

What I look for now is the following:
- realism in the story
- characters I can believe in
- good plotting
- evocation of place/setting including the period of time in which the book is set
- a pace that urges me to read more, be it by the minute/hour/day/number of days.

What I also often find is this:
- excellent commentary and insight within the story on specific contemporary issues in society, for the present or the past,
and sometimes
- believable humour (who goes through a day without laughing at something or trying to make light of something?)

I love crime fiction. It’s my escape route in this world, but it’s also, sometimes, a thought provoking reflection of the world in which we currently live.

Interestingly, my mother used to quote that line from Wordsworth in the 70s. Written in 1807; it still stands for me. I believe that if I had teenagers now, those words would be on the tip of my tongue, too.

However, I’m a bit wary of equating pacing in music with that of fiction.

And I also think this applies, at least for me, to reading: I am reading slower and slower, savouring what the writer has done. It’s a great pity that so many of the lit blogs seem to suggest that racing through one book in order to get to the next and then the next should be our goal.

The wonderfully good point of this is: that’s why people seek escapism through novels. They want a break from the pressures around them and they seek something else and not the finite, and all too sturdy reflection of their mundane and pressured day, on the fictional page. They seek empathy but they also seek to be released and that’s what fiction does.

Having worked in the hard line, profit seeking commercial world, I can also say this: anticipating (the most important in a good company); responding to and reacting to customer needs often requires some creative thought. If the “associate” gets it right and the systems facilitate, it will be a practice adopted as routine.

Time does not allow anything.

I called what happened to be a call centre yesterday and I received the verbal script of an outsourced Indian representative. Not only was it all “off pat”, due to the translated and fixed script, but the purveyor of those words sounded scripted, and also, oddly, robotic. I wanted to scream down the phone that I needed to speak to a real person. As it was an insurance CLAIM, I was quickly transferred to someone in the UK, script willing, again. Sigh…

But when it comes to the basics of day to problems, I have seen this in a call centre in the UK, where I once worked. Those who are lowly paid still need to think, assess, react and resolve a customer’s problem, creatively on times, where time is of the essence (as it costs money).

The essential thing here, is that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. In reality this means ASAP and not to slow down the process. As someone who has made a call too, I know that I don’t want a slow process. I want to be “resolved” right now, this instant in fact, if possible.

For me, that makes Mahler and his music and his thoughts apropriate in a defined set of circumstances, but not all. It also means that creativity cannot necessarily delay.

When I started to try and write fiction in the late 90s I had a topical story and plot. The world moved on so quickly, it left me behind, and the plot.

Mahler’s thoughts may have been true to his day; I argue that his thoughts are, at best, redundant now. This is another world, a world in which time is of the essence, in the very early new millennium.

It’s in our leisurely recreational time where we can enjoy a fictional suspension of disbelief, if related to time and if time allows. Otherwise, life’s simply too fast these days to take Mahler at his historic word and believe in his pronouncements, good as they are.