Author of Our Beautiful Child
When did you realize that you wanted to become
a writer?
I’ve always written
stories, even before I realised it could be a job! I definitely remember
telling a friend I was going to be a writer when I was about nine.
Is being an Author all you dreamed of, or did
it just happen? The best and worst thing about it?
Because it was always
something I had to do, I never really
considered what it would be like. The best thing is seeing my words take shape
on the page and, afterwards, hearing people’s reactions. The worst is probably
being very reliant on inspiration. A lot of authors can sit down every day and
write something, but I end up binge-writing until my hand and brain hurts.
What was the very first thing you ever wrote?
I wrote about a
golden, flying horse when I was about eight – I have no idea why, I didn’t even
like horses. Sadly, I had acute embarrassment a couple of years later and
ripped it up.
The first short story
I wrote to submit was called The Walking Dead (and appears in my short story
collection That Sadie Thing) I went to sleep one night with the opening
paragraph in my head, and when I woke up – thankfully – I remembered it. The
whole story tumbled out and it barely needed editing – apart from changing it
from being randomly set in the future to present day.
That dream thing,
though, hasn’t happened since!
What made you create (your book)? How did it come to you?
My current
collection, Our Beautiful Child, consists of three short stories that came to
me independently. Two of them had very similar settings – a pub – I just
tweeked them a bit so they are the same pub. Once I had two stories, I knew I wanted a
third – but that story took some searching for. In all three cases though, I
knew the title and first lines before the rest of the story was formed. Without
a title, I flounder.
Who is your literary hero?
Margaret Atwood. I
read her collection Wilderness Tips, then Cat’s Eyes, then The Handmaid’s Tale.
And the reason she’s my hero is that she can write such a variety of genres and
still take her readers with her. She has such a wonderful grasp of the English
language, and although she’s literary writer, I think she’s very accessible.
How much of your characters are based on your
traits or someone you know personally?
Bearing in mind I
have written over 25 short stories, three novellas and a novel (not all of them
published), there is a little piece of me in all of them. A thought, a feeling, a conversation, a mannerism… I
can’t help it. I have never been able to recreate people I know in my writing,
though.
Describe your main character in six words.
I’ll pick the character from the title story: dreamy, timid,
talks to dead people.
Describe the world you’ve created in six words.
My home town, with some
tweaks.
What scene was your favorite to write?
The scene where Rona,
the main character, realizes she can speak to the deceased. Ghosts in this
world (I don’t have a set idea about ghosts, I make it up as I go along), hang
out with each other – people from every era just sitting around. When they
realize Rona can really hear them, they all start talking to her, but there’s
so much pain. As I was writing it, I could actually feel the weight of their
stories.
What scene was the hardest for you to write?
In the second story,
The Traveller, the final scene was the hardest. Sally has two choices, and for
a long time I couldn’t decide which was the right one. I stopped writing for a
couple of weeks while I had that battle.
What are you working on now?
I took part in
NaNoWriMo in 2012, for the first and last time, and I’m currently thinking about that one. Thinking is a
big part of my writing process. I have the idea – I have a great hook – but I
just need the story to hold up. That’s my goal for the rest of this year, to
get a decent second draft down.
Goals? Accomplishments? Improvements?
My goal was to write
things people want to read, and I think I’ve achieved that. And everything I
write will be a small improvement on the last – I will keep on learning and
growing as a writer. My ultimate goal is to win the Booker Prize, but I’ve
given myself another 15 years or so to achieve that!
Are there any authors or books you recommend?
I know so many wonderful indie writers
through my blog, so I’m afraid that if I start listing them, I’ll never stop
and I’ll still miss out a few. So
instead, I’m going to name the books that I’ve read more than three times (not
counting Pride and Prejudice, which I’ve read annually since I was 22):
· Madeleine’s Ghost by
Robert Girardi
· The Particular
Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
· The Five People You
Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
· The Little House by
Philippa Gregory (before she started writing historical fiction)
What's your favorite thing to do when you're
not writing?
Walking with my kids.
I live in a beautiful part of the world. I have moors and the sea within a car
journey, and a beautiful nature reserve at the end of my road.
