Tagai Tarutin - My Book 'Hellalyle And Hildebrand' Took Over Five Years To Write (Author)

Tagai Tarutin

If the text is worthy of an imaginative mind, then its content should be all that the reader requires.


1. Tell us more about your background and journey.

Since leaving school, I have been mainly involved in marketing. However, the arts have always interested me. Cinematographic situations such as cloud formations, scenery bathed in marvellous light will leave an indelible impression. Even people, seemingly unknowing of their situation can make for an exceedingly interesting scene. 

For instance, this April, at the height of the Covid lockdown, while walking the highways and byways of rural England I came across two lady dog-walkers passing the time of day, sitting apart, on the roadside garden wall of a cottage. Alongside them, their pets on the lead lying at their feet on the grass. 

Not aware of my presence as I approached, had I captured the drama in a monochrome photograph. After one hundred years, the image reproduced in a picture book with an appropriate poem would have rendered the scene nostalgic and memorable of a bygone age.


2. When did you decide, you wanted to be a writer?

When I saw Frederick Burton's painting, "The Meeting on the Turret Stair" 1864. (National Gallery of Ireland). Also, the artwork by Jean- Honore Fragonard "The Fountain of Love" around 1785. (Wallace Collection, London) and Monet's "Women in a Garden" in 1867.
(Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg)


3. Is it a financially stable career?

I did not start writing for financial reasons. My book “Hellalyle and Hildebrand” was written for myself alone. I enjoy reading it from time to time. Somebody suggested I publish the manuscript; otherwise, I would not have done so.


4. Who is your favourite writer, and why?

I do not have a favourite writer, likewise, with musical composers. Classical music is something I listen to extensively while writing, but it is not my only musical appreciation.

There are too many books and pieces of music to have a favourite. If I were to read a publication or listen to the same music all the time, I would get bored with it. I am probably alone in this, but I cannot understand all this celebrity business about authors. 

Even something written immaculately does not mean that what they say is original and creative. If the text is worthy of an imaginative mind, its content should be all that the reader requires. Why are readers obsessed with who composed it? The Bible stories have captivated for centuries, but if you ask anyone who wrote the dramas, I doubt if they would know.


5. Where does your inspiration lie?

I pick up ideas from reading general knowledge books. Also, lying in bed at night a concept, awareness, would sometimes come to me. I keep a notebook and pencil by my bed or in a shoulder bag I carry when walking, so if that should happen, I would immediately write it down, for, if I did not, or even hesitate the inspiration could be lost. 

However, it might not occur that often, sometimes, in extreme situations, a year or two might pass, before mental stimulus happens. My book “Hellalyle and Hildebrand” took over five years to write. Ideas for it were sometimes slow in coming. 

Also, I would play around with my writing, changing or deleting parts of the narrative. Historical research often took a long time to complete.

Motion pictures can also be a source of inspiration, but also make one judgmental and critical.

For instance, two films come to mind that in my opinion, which could have been memorable for cinematic excellence but was ruined by errors in photographic guidance, screenplay direction and poor scriptwriting. 

Take the “original” Superman film with Christopher Reeve. The first part gave all the indications that it was heading for an acclaimed movie but was ruined by its descent into a second part of the jokey comic book. 

To illustrate my point, take the ending of the first half where Superman’s adopted father played by Glenn Ford died of a heart attack. The next morning, his mother found her “son” standing in a cornfield contemplating the next stage of his future on earth. 

The camera zoomed in overhead following her, walking towards her son standing in a field of “gold” with the pet dog racing ahead. Simultaneously, a sweeping soundtrack of orchestral music played—one of the best cinematic shots of Hollywood.

The other film was titled “Open Range” starring, Kevin Costner, Robert Duval and Annette Benning. Everything about this film was excellent. Notable to me for a perfect script and cinematography. However, (although only a minor blemish) one of the closing scenes was marred by a lapse in camera work. 

I refer to the instance where the character played by Kevin Costner, juxtaposed with Annette Benning`s character standing in the garden after asking for her hand in marriage. The image of the two embracing with a magnificent backcloth of snowclad mountains marred by a clothesline strung out behind them and a woven flower frame at their side. 

I cannot understand why these two objects were left exposed in such a memorable scene.


6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring writers?

I am not worthy to offer my advice because everybody sees the world on a different plain.

What appeals to one may not appeal to another. However, I would offer this advice; if you want to earn money, be famous, then write what is fashionable for the time we live in, success comes by chance. To coin a phrase: “it is not what you know but who you know”. 

I am sure that many a “successful book” is due entirely to the authors contact within the literary world. Many a potential manuscript lies forgotten because its writer did not tick these boxes. Like me though, I write for myself, so probably my name will remain virtually unknown.


7. Which is your favourite book, and why?


That is a difficult one to answer, but if pushed on this, I would have to say the 1981 A.A. Book of the British Countryside and my schoolboy textbooks on Chemistry and Physics.

The first choice makes walking in the countryside so interesting. The other two publication attempt to explain what makes the world go “around".


- Tagai Tarutin (Author)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tagai-tarutin-0903a818a


Interviewed By Pratibha Sahani