Author Interview

Author Interview: Megan Tayte

Megan TayteHello Megan, welcome to Novel Kicks. Firstly, how much planning do you undertake when beginning a novel and do you edit as you go?

I let ideas come freely for a long while, and then I start planning. Once I have a detailed plan down, I start writing, but from that point on I still follow the creative process as I write. Sometimes that leads to a deviation that doesn’t work, and I cut the whole lot and go back to the plan. Sometimes the deviation turns out to be great, and I go with it and amend the plan accordingly.
My day job as an editor can be quite a hindrance to writing – I automatically slip into editing mode, and that pulls me out of being in the pure creative flow. My solution is to try very hard to resist the urge to edit as I write. So I write the first draft quickly, letting the words flow out. And then, some weeks later, I begin to edit. And edit. And edit.

 

Is there a fictional character you’d like to meet?

Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. It seems to me he could do with a friend – and some relationship advice.

 

Who’d you like to invite to a fantasy dinner party?

Oliver Queen (the Arrow), James Corden (presenter), Dawn French (comedian), Ed Sheeran (singer), Bear Grylls (adventurer), Kathy Reichs (author), Stephen Fry (actor), Beaker (Muppet). Oh, and we’d better have someone to cook, or we’ll be eating cheese on toast – Gordon Ramsey will add a bit more colour (and volume) to proceedings.

 

Five pieces of advice for new writers?

1. Explore. Go places, meet people, challenge your assumptions. Thoreau says it best: ‘How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.’
2. Read. The single best way to improve your writing is to learn by osmosis, to read and read and read. Not just in your favourite genre; all kinds of books by all kinds of writers. Literary, mass market – even the bad ones have plenty to teach you.
3. Believe. If you don’t have faith in yourself, why should anyone else? You’ve nothing to lose by believing you can write, and everything to gain.
4. Enjoy. Always remember why you want to write – for the sheer love of it. Don’t get bogged down in the business of writing. Love every minute.
5. Keep writing. In his bestselling book Outliers Malcolm Gladwell lays down the 10,000-Hour Rule: to succeed at anything, you need to practise your craft for 10,000 hours. That’s a lot of writing!

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Author Interview: Nadine Matheson

3f72f03 Nadine Matheson is the author of The Sisters and I’m pleased to be welcoming her to Novel Kicks today. Nadine, can you tell us a little about The Sisters and how the idea originated?

The Sisters are Lucinda, Jessica, Beatrice and Emma LeSoeur. In the 1990’s Lucinda, Jessica and Beatrice were Euterpe; Britain’s biggest girl band until Lucinda meets a successful music producer, Paul Morgan, and decides to leave to seek solo success in America. Lucinda’s announcement is a shock not only to her fans but also to her sisters; especially Jessica who takes Lucinda’s departure the hardest. Twenty years later, the sisters are living very different lives. Jessica owns a successful PR agency; Beatrice is a lawyer and Emma, the youngest works for Jessica. After living in New York Lucinda is divorced with two children and is forced to return back to London as she’s facing financial ruin. When she returns home, she doesn’t get the happy reunion that she was hoping for.

The idea for ‘The Sisters’ originated after watching one too many episodes of ‘The Real Housewives…’ There was one particular episode when I realised that one of the characters was actually broke. Even though on the outside she had the designer bags, shoes and drove an expensive car she was actually a bit skint and I based the character of Lucinda on her.

 

Do you have any writing rituals?

I need some sort of background noise. I’ve tried but I can’t work in complete silence. The sound of my fingers tapping away on my laptop for hours on end would drive me mad, so I’ve always got the radio on listening to BBC London 94.9 or have iTunes on shuffle mode.

 

Which fictional character would you like to swap places with and why?

I wouldn’t want to actually live her life, because to be honest it’s a bit depressing but I would swap places with Miss. Havisham from Great Expectations. Miss.Havisham is one of my favourite fictional characters and I would swap places just so I could get her out of that old, mouldy wedding dress, throw the rotting cake in the bin and enjoy her wealth and her life. The woman needs to get some sunshine on her face.

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Author Interview: Sarah Winman

Sarah WinmanSarah Winman is the author of  the brilliant When God Was A Rabbit. Her latest novel, A Year of Marvellous Ways was released by Tinder Press at the beginning of the summer and I am very pleased to be welcoming her to Novel Kicks today. Hi Sarah, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little about your latest novel,  A Year of Marvellous Ways.

A Year of Marvellous Ways is set in 1947, in Cornwall. At the start of the book, old Marvellous is in her 90th year and coming to the end of her life. She has one last thing to do before she dies, but she doesn’t know what it is yet, because the message came to her in a dream, and the dream said, Wait, for it’s coming. So she waits, sitting on the bank of her creek.

When a young soldier, Drake, broken by war, washes up in her creek, Marvellous realises that she has been waiting for him. And the last thing she has to do is to re-ignite the flame of hope in this young man’s heart. And she does this by telling him the story of her life. The book is about the redemptive power of storytelling.

 

Do you cast your characters and if so, did you have someone specific in mind for Marvellous and Drake?

Marvellous would have to be the wonderful Judi Dench – playing older, of course. She would be terrific and heartbreaking in the role. In fact, I can totally see her doing it right now! I would cast an unknown alongside her, though.

 

Do you have any writing rituals (writing in silence, writing longhand, a cup of tea etc.)

I do write in silence – never any music playing as that can influence me emotionally. I write on a laptop at home, breaking for copious amounts of tea! When I go out I always carry a notebook and therefore write in longhand. I wrote a lot of Marvellous in bed, strangely enough, as cocooned as possible, with a candle burning.

 

Who is your favourite fictional character and what’s the one thing you would ask him/her if you were to ever meet?

I would ask Owen Meany to tell me a secret.

 

Are you much of a planner and are you the type of writer that edits as you go?

No, I edit as I go. But, most importantly, I always start knowing the ending, knowing where I need to get to. I will not start without an ending.

 

Do you have a favourite word?

For this book, it would probably be ‘nonsense’.

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Author Interview: Ben Fergusson

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Ben Fergusson

Hi Ben. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about your book, The Spring of Kasper Meier and how the idea originated?

The Spring of Kasper Meier is a novel about a black-market trader, Kasper Meier, who is just about surviving in the ruins of post-war Berlin. He is blackmailed by a young rubble woman, Eva Hirsch, and the novel follows the twists and turns of that blackmail, but also the uncomfortable friendship that develops from it.

The idea came from two places mainly. I’d already had the idea of a Kasper-like character for a Chandler-esque novel some years earlier that didn’t quite work out. Then I moved to Berlin about 6 years ago, and while living there became very inspired by the city and its history. The two things came together and I had the idea of this first scene with Kasper and Eva. It all grew from there.

 

If you could travel anywhere in history, where would you go and why?

I suppose Ancient Rome in its heyday. I never quite got over going to the Forum when I was a kid; the everyday life of the city seemed so tangible.

 

Are you a planner and do you edit as you go? 

I do plan, but I do have to write to make sense of where the novel is going. This means that I write a lot that gets not used. I will often write myself into a cul-de-sac plot-wise, discover what’s wrong and then have to go back 50 pages and start again. I would love to be able to plan it all in an Excel sheet and then write it all out in one go, but that just doesn’t seem to work for me.

 

Do you have any writing rituals?

I have a day job, so I don’t really have the luxury to have rituals. I just squeeze in the writing around it in any way I can.

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Author Interview: Joan Ellis

IMG_0613-2-1Hi Joan. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about your books, I am Ella. Buy Me, and The Killing of Mummy’s Boy as well as your latest novel, Guilt? 

I am Ella. Buy me – ‘I am a ginger tom. I am a boy racer. I am a housewife. I am a pain in the arse.’ Ella David is Bridget Jones meets Peggy from Mad Men. Based on my experiences in Soho’s mad, bad Adland, the book is a ‘laugh-out-loud’ tale about Ella David, a girl in a man’s world. Set against a backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain when money trumped morals and lust was a must, Ella spends her time dodging her sleazy boss and getting hooked on bad boys. Can two unlikely friendships help her go from the firing line to a girl calling the shots?

The Killing of Mummy’s Boy – a chance meeting with a killer was the inspiration for my first psychological thriller. Trapped with a murderer on a train for almost two hours, listening to his tales, I was horrified, terrified and disgusted but never bored. What better start to a novel. 

‘‘I slit someone’s throat,’ the man told the woman on the 4.20 from Waterloo to Portsmouth.’ Two strangers. One shared interest. Murder. Ben slit a man’s throat. Sandra’s son, Carl witnessed a murder. When Sandra discovers she is being stalked, she turns to the least likely person for help with horrific consequences.

GUILT is about a little girl is left alone with her younger brother and he dies. The guilt informs the rest of her life. When it threatens to ruin not only her life but her relationship with her new baby she must revisit the path to discover the truth. What she uncovers is as hopeful as it is disturbing. Elements of the book are based on a real life tragedy. I wanted to explore the notion of guilt and blame and how these two imposters can exert power over the most innocent lives.

‘You died a month before your fifth birthday. You were probably dead long before Mum downed her third gin with Porky Rawlings.’ Seven-year-old Susan is alone with her younger brother when he dies of an overdose. The guilt informs the rest of her life. When it threatens to destroy not only her but also her relationship with her new baby, she sets out to discover the truth. What she discovers is as disturbing as it is magical.

 

What’s your writing process like? Do you plan much and do you wait for a full draft to edit?

I start with the basic premise and rough outline. My characters are my best friends. Without them, I’d be lost. I enjoy getting to know them and allow them to flesh out the plot and write the book for me. I write, read, reread and edit every chapter as I go along and repeat the process as many times as necessary with the final draft.

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