CalmMoment.com 93book club
CalmMoment.com 93Q Does this feel like a breakthrough year for you?
A It wasn’t planned. I had about 10 years of writing
fiction and not getting anywhere, and none of it
getting published, but I kept writing. This is going to
be the ninth book in 10 years. I feel like it’s taken its
toll on me. It’s taken so much creative energy – it’s not
just the writing, it’s the preparation of the book, and
then promoting it. But I’ve realised recently that when
I’m writing, it’s one of the few times that I don’t feel
anxious about the world, because I’m creating my
own worlds. I never really have book deals, I tend
to write a book and then sell it, or try and sell it.
Suddenly it’s all fallen into place in the past year or
two. Anyway, it’s making me think, how am I going to
manage all of this?
Q The Offing is your first book for a major publisher
after several with independents...
A I did do a book for Picador that came out 10 years
ago [Richard, a novelisation of the last days of
musician Richey Edwards]. But there was a regime
change there and my editor left, and they were keen
to publish my next book, but then weren’t. That book
was Pig Iron. It was done, and I didn’t want to hang
around for a year or two, trying to get a deal. So, I put
it out through [independent publisher] Blue Moose.
I’m impatient really. The publishing business has tried
and tested ways of doing things, but it can hold you
back if you’re at the mercy of it.
Q You seem intimidatingly determined. Are you?
A I don’t feel that! I feel like an anxious, nervous mess,
actually. I’ve written a couple of articles about this,
one of which has the opening line: ‘Does writing
cause anxiety or does anxiety cause writing?’ I don’t
know whether people become writers because it’s a
good way to manage those feelings – I think that’s the
case with me, I’ve just always wanted to be a writer,
and I’ve always found escape through reading and
writing. The Offing was written almost purely for
myself. All the other books are really dark with
flashes of violence. I realised I didn’t want to write
anything like that at the moment so, once a week,
while working on The Offing, I would go to the new
library in Halifax a few miles from me, and I’d write by
hand in a notepad with no real plans to publish it. I
wanted to write something that was lighter and more
uplifting, with a strong female lead. Other stuff by me
is pretty heavy going. It’s not stuff I like to read back.Q The end of Beastings was really shocking...
A I feel the same about it. I’m on the side of everyone
who feels a bit traumatised by that, and other stuff
I’ve written, and I do look back and think, where did
that come from? I just find violence horrific, actually.
Real-life violence is horrible. I think part of it is, as
a young man, there was this acceptance that you
would get beaten up if you went out round pubs or
nightclubs. Sooner or later, some big idiot willSet in Robin Hood's Bay,
where the author spent time
as a child, this novel captures
a nostalgic, pastoral mood.