96 NOVEMBER 2019 http://www.writers-online.co.ukD
ebut novelist, Liz Hyder’s
days vary depending on
what she is working on.
‘I may have a creative
writing workshop
coming up or some other freelance
work,’ she says. ‘Having written for
years and worked with a lot of writers
I’ve realised that everyone has their
own way of working – it’s about
finding a way that works for you. I
spend a long time thinking about
my stories and my characters, then I
structure and plan until I know the
start, middle and end well enough to
give me a story arc that works – only
when I’ve done all of that do I actually
start writing.
‘I write best in intense periods
aiming to write 3,000 words a day
but I’ll edit as I go. I’ll get up, read
the papers, drink a lot of tea and then
brave the desk to re-read and edit
the last 15,000 words or so before
starting any new writing. By the time
I’ve finished my first draft, it’s actually
more like a fifth draft. I’ll read and
edit in the morning and into the
afternoon and then probably start
writing afresh from around 2 or 3pm.
I hit my stride around 4pm and like
to finish around 7pm if possible. I can
only sustain this for around a month
(with weekends off for fun and play!)
and then I keel over so, it’s not to be
recommended as a model but it seems
to work well for me.
‘I’ve always written, always
daydreamed and always made
up stories. For me, writing is a
compulsion. Writing West Midlands
have been brilliant to me as were
Spread the Word when I lived in
London. Find your local writingvoice was always strong in my head
from the beginning but I realised I
had to go off and do a load of research
in order to do the idea justice. I
went down various mines – coal and
slate – and read a lot of books on the
subject (with a focus on Victorian and
early 20th century mining) and a lot
of first-hand accounts from the early
1840s of the real children who worked
down the mines.
‘Bearmouth is a standalone. It’s
about Newt, a young person living
and working down a dangerous coal
mine for a pittance. When Devlin, a
new lad, arrives it makes Newt start to
ask questions, to look at Bearmouth
with fresh eyes. It’s a page-turner
about morality, exploitation and
daring to challenge the status quo but,
ultimately, it’s about hope.
‘Now I’m editing Glory, which is
adult fiction set mainly in Victorian
London and South Shropshire in the
autumn of 1840. I’m tweaking that
at the moment but am itching to get
started on book three, another stand-
alone adult novel which is set across
three time periods.’
Website: http://www.lizhyder.co.ukdevelopment agency – they’ll offer
advice, training and support. Both
STW and WWM have been crucial
to me getting to where I am now. The
Room 204 programme that WWM
run is a great idea. They take around
ten emerging writers and put them on
a year-long mentoring and support
programme. They also introduce
them to the writers who’ve already
been on it. Once you’re in Room
204, you’re there for good. There’s a
Facebook group and ongoing courses
and training too. I’ve run the WWM
Young Writers group in Shrewsbury
once a month for the past three years.
‘Hay Festival is an intense period
of work during May and early June,
I’ve worked at the Festival for four
years and love it. I co-ordinate their
social media short films which means
scheduling, interviewing, planning
and plotting. The team I work with
are amazingly multi-talented and it’s
a real privilege to be able to interview
and speak to some of the world’s
best writers, thinkers, creators and
innovators. It’s an intellectual shot in
the arm each year – but it does mean
I spend an awful lot of money in the
bookshop at the end too!
‘Bearmouth is my first novel to be
published but the seventh I’ve written.
I think it’s important to share that.
I haven’t done an MA in creative
writing, but I’ve effectively served an
apprenticeship through writing so much.
I’ve written plays, short films, TV pilots,
you name it, I’ve given it a go.
‘The germ of the idea for Bearmouth
came after visiting a slate mine in
North Wales – that was about three
years ago. The book is told first person
from Newt’s point of view and thatLIZ
HYDER
Writing place
‘I write in the attic where postcards adorn the low beams.
It’s good to have random visual stimulus in the room.
My desk faces the wall but there’s a window to the left
where I can watch a collared dove nesting in a tree, red
kites and buzzards overhead, as well as sparrows and
noisy resident jackdaws. I’ve a bookshelf fi lled with old
books, notepads, receipts and bits of tat. When planning,
I stick up charts around the rafters with bits of blue tac.
Inevitably, they fall off in the middle of the night and I
think I’m being burgled.’The author of debut YA thriller Bearmouth
tell Lynne Hackles about her intensive
writing processMy Writing Day
The author of debut YA thriller
tell