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Guest Blog…..A Hearth….  

by Bernie Bell - 09:22 on 14 January 2025

Guest Blog…..

“Aphantasia and Antenna

I used to ask my creative writing students at Birmingham City University whether they thought in pictures or sentences. Pretty much all of them looked at me as though I were joking, or vulnerably minded, as they might have said.

They all thought in pictures, like about 96% of the population.

I don’t though. I have full on apantasia, which no one who has it knew was a thing until about 10 years ago.

I’m as good as you at knowing what a horse is. I know one when I see one. But I don’t need to carry a mental book full of horse pictures in order to identify a horse.

Sadly, though, I have no mental pictures of my wife, or ex-girlfriends, or my parents, or my children and grand-children. I’d like that, at least, but it ain’t there.

But… (and I’m edging towards the point of this wee bit of writing)… I do have a vivid pop music sonic memory. I think in songs as much as I do sentences. My memory palace is dark, but, fuck me, it’s noisy.

I’ve become convinced that thinking in sentences and pop music is helpful if your goal is to write a realist novel about pop music.

One of my characters is a community radio DJ called Sam Booka (she’s a Geordie). I’ve given her aphantasia and a head bursting open with music. Last night, I wrote her a little bit of first draft dialogue. She may not end up saying this, but this is what I think, and what my noisy head is full of…

‘I tell you what I listen to a lot, and that’s Korean indie. If I was starting out now, aged 14 or whatever, I wouldn’t want to be Ed Sheeran, or one of his whining boy children, or Taylor Smith, or do hip hop or owt like it. I would want to be in a K-Indie Pop band. Heard the Peppertones? So Se Neon? wave to earth? Kwon Soon Kwan? Fantastic stuff. Makes you want to strut your stuff in front of the mirror with a tennis racket.’

I’ve been exploring this stuff for a few years, but I’ve finally found a way in through Qobuz, my streaming service of choice, which is through a fine Korean record label called Antenna. Hands not great, brainfog high, after writing that late last night I’ve spent most of today looking for something for Sam to play on her Friday night show on Dean Forest Radio.

I reckon Sam’s listeners in Coleford, Littledean and Cinderford might like to start with something radio friendly, such as this by the Peppertones. It’s called ‘dive!’.

I seriously think that if a bunch of teenagers answered an ad saying influences Monkees, Krautrock, Roxy in 2025, this could be the sort of thing you’d end up with.

Also, as I have no visual memory, I reckon I look a lot like Kwon Soon Kwan. Beautiful, cool, stylish, great hair, top specs, this is just how I look, until I pass a mirror, which I try to avoid.

Today’s writing tip ‘If the prose isn’t there, then you’re reduced to what are merely secondary interests, like story, plot, characterisation, psychological insight and form.’ - Martin Amis

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Ian Marchant

Jan 11

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