How
do you describe yourself and how does your description translate into the way
you work?
I’ve always considered myself to be
quite thoughtful which I guess is really important as a writer. I actually like
to literally think out my stories long before I start to type them. I often
find myself preoccupied with ideas for stories when I’m trying to sleep. I
think that’s quite a good representation of me – once I start thinking about
something, I can’t stop! One of my favourite past-times is people watching and
that inspires me a great deal. I’m interested in human relationships, what
makes people tick and why some people decide to take a more subversive path. I
also like to write about issues that matter to me, for example domestic abuse
and women’s rights.
Did
you always want to be a writer?
Ever since I was a little girl, I’d
fold pieces of paper up and write stories on them. When I was fifteen, I wrote
humorous articles for a Newcastle United fanzine (in the UK
Letting
Go is a wonderful book with eight beautifully written and insightful short
stories. Where do you get your inspiration from when you write?
There are lots of things that
inspire me. Sometimes it’s a news item, a person I’ve met or a conversation
I’ve had. My short story ‘Inside’ was inspired when I saw a supermarket being
demolished and it just grew from there. ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ came to
me after I’d been to a psychic evening with a friend. During that evening, I’d
observed all sorts of people sitting in a bar waiting to pay a hefty amount of
money to someone with a few props and potentially a wild imagination. I’m not
saying I don’t believe in it but I do think there are some people who may take
advantage of people who are quite vulnerable. ‘Bye Bye Baby’ started with a
song title and, sadly, ‘Cry Baby’ was based on a previous experience I’d had.
What
are you currently working on?
I haven’t been entirely strict with
myself recently so my main focus has been plotting stories in my head. I have
very little typed up although my main plan is to release a collection of short
stories about modern life in the Middle East .
I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time in Oman Dubai
What
process do you go through to define your characters?
I
take quite a while to think about my characters and their physical traits as
well as their personalities. By working out a back story in my head, the appearance
of the character seems to come quite naturally. It’s all a bit bizarre when I
think about it. I don’t necessarily include all of the information I have about
my characters but to be able to understand them and convey their story
accurately, I need to gather as much information about them as possible.
What
type of research did you do for your stories?
Luckily, thus far my stories have
tended to be about things I’ve had some experience of. Although there are
certain things I have no prior knowledge about – like police sentencing - and I
need to do some wider reading or research. Luckily, with Google and the
internet, it’s pretty easy to find information out. I’m also lucky that I have
a vast network of friends with different life experience and they’re always
happy to help. Generally speaking, my research is more about me getting to know
my characters.
What
do you hope readers will experience while reading your stories?
In a way, I hope my readers get a
smile out of my stories. It seems a bit of an odd thing to say when I reflect
on the subjects I’ve written about but I like to think that, even in the
darkest of scenarios, there is a small chink of light somewhere in there. I
would like to think my writing could provoke some sort of realisation in readers
that some people’s lives are really tough and it’s not always obvious at first
glance that something may be wrong. I write a lot about inner turmoil and
repressed emotions. I hope my readers appreciate that they may too encounter
people who aren’t fully expressing themselves.
Do
book reviews have an influence on your writing?
It’s always lovely to get a nice
review but I think it’s important when you get a critical review to take the
comments on board – provided that the criticism is constructive. I know that
not everyone will like what I write – taste is a very subjective thing. I don’t
like every book I read but I do try to be constructive when I critique them. At
least then the author might have an idea where they could improve in future.
There is nothing more disheartening for a writer than a reviewer taking it upon
themselves to try to drag you down for no reason and unfortunately I, like many
other writers, have encountered that. I know there are plenty of people who do
enjoy what I write and I will keep writing as long as they keep enjoying my
work.
Are
there any Authors who have given you inspiration?
I love to read so I would say there
a lot of writers who’ve influenced me but no-one more so than Roald Dahl. He’s
been a favourite author of mine since I was a child and I honestly can’t
imagine any other writer ever replacing him in my heart. I really respect
Mohsin Hamid and Khaled Hosseini who have become really popular in the West
despite writing about cultures which are “different”. Chris Cleave has written
two great novels – ‘Incendiary’ and ‘The Other Hand’ (AKA ‘Little Bee’). I like
different writers for different things; for example, I’d love to be as funny as
Helen Fielding or Sue Townsend – their Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole books are
great reads.
This is your chance to speak directly to readers who haven’t discovered your
book. What would you like to say to them?
My collection of short stories is
about ordinary people who are caught up in events that are generally beyond
their control. A lot of my characters repress their emotions and their
memories, as many of us do in real life. I hope that you will find the stories
interesting and unique.
