Slow work. Revision, that is. Anna Mano’s welded sculptures are slow work too. But as the retired Belfast book seller says in in Alessandra Celesia’s documentary Le libraire de Belfast,* “you do the work because you love it.”

Besides. The more you revise a draft, the more the characters accept to let you into their secrets. The more they gain depth. With luck, comes a moment when you start to see them and hear the sound of their voices. Which is pretty cool.

*You can access this and other excellent documentary films for 6€ a month Tënk. (For subscribers, the films are posted in unlimited access for two months. Le libraire de Belfast is sub-titled in French…but the characters talk and rap in Belfast Irish, of course).