Twisted Minds!

I have been called many things in my time; most of them are true, and the ones that are lies I wish that they were true.

One of the things that is levelled at me time and time again is, ‘How do you think these things up? You must have one hell of a twisted mind!’

Just in case you don’t know, I make my living by writing comedy in all forms.

I write children’s books with a twist, plays, films and now adult books.

If you look at the side of this page, you will see my new book for adults, Changes: the story is fast-paced, but like most things I write, in lots of ways it’s odd!

I have been very lucky as I have had quite a lot of success with my work and even have a genre named after me. Gross poems for children are referred to as `in the style of Gez Walsh'. Not bad eh?

But there’s one thing that has always bugged me. When I travel, giving performances around Britain and the world, I meet other writers and artists who are - to be honest - quite brilliant! But these people can’t get a deal with a publisher. This also applies to musicians and artists that I meet.

They have a new refreshing twist to their art, which sets them apart from the mainstream. This, my friends, is where the problem is - THE MAINSTREAM!

Different is good, don’t let any halfwit tell you any different! This also applies to taking chances. I have always written what I want to write about. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t work out as I had hoped. But given the chance, I would write the same again because it’s what I wanted to do!

This blog for example will get me in trouble because no doubt some of my young fans from my children’s books will read it, and it’s not very child-friendly.

But I need to write it to develop ideas for my new books which are aimed at adults.

I spent some time today with a friend of mine who is also an author, Steve Rudd check out his latest book, Like A Rolling Stool, about travelling to the Isle of Arran in a wheelchair.

We spoke about how the mundane seems to be creeping into art everywhere and how new artists don’t get a chance because of the cartels that like to own the creative eunuchs that they feed to us on a daily basis.

They have big-name artists who sell nothing but their name. We have so-called musicians whose voice has been put through a voice enhancer, only so they can mime at live gigs.

We have writers that are told by their publishers what to write, then get pigeon-holed into a type!

Steve and Myself  decided to use the name of my new series of books to come up with a movement where we can try to help each other to develop ideas the ways all artists should.

We want to start a movement called ‘Twisted Minds’ It’s not a political, religious, or money making movement.

The only axe that we have to grind is against the powers that be who stunt creativity in the name of money!

So please join us at in the Twisted Minds facebook group at 

https://www.facebook.com/shacklesofsameness

if you agree that it's time that the boring got the boot, in favour of something more interesting and, well, different!

I have a ‘Twisted Mind!’ Do you? 

[Note: by Steve Rudd]

Gez Walsh has kindly allowed me to put a short guest post here, to demonstrate my support for what he is trying to do. Certainly in the world of book publishing, ever since we lost the net book agreement back in 1990, we've seen much less variety and the chances of getting a big break or a deal available to the aspiring artist have lessened as big bookselling chains concentrate on their "core stock" and largely ignore anything that doesn't "fit in" 

Pretty much the same thing has happened in the music industry, with the stranglehold grip of the TV reality show talent contests limiting the opportunities for anyone who cannot be packaged and presented in bland, bite-sized chunks. Even in my own particular passion, folk music, there has been a big shift away from collaborative, participative, grass-roots music-making in the back room of the pub, and towards having it played at you by someone with a large PA at a festival or concert. 

Even in the visual arts, people such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin are now, to a certain extent, mainstream, and in any case, my own personal view is that even when they were new and fresh, the Young British Artists didn't actually represent a genuinely new breakthrough, in the same way that, for instance, Cubism or Impressionism did. Yes, it was a rebellion, of sorts, but one that (I feel) ducked the challenge of changing what already existed in exchange for a certain amount of gimmickry.

So, yes, I agree with Gez. The internet is changing things, of course, to a certain extent, making it possible for artists young and old to bypass the traditional routes to fulfilment: but when you get to the stage where someone like the band Jethro Tull would almost certainly fail the audition for Britain's Got Talent, if they went on it today, something needs changing!