11 Books that have influenced this pre-published author...

They say if you want to write, read. Read, read, read. And write, of course. So, having read Candy Gourlay’s blogpost about the Seven Books from the Last Decade that made her an Author, I started to ponder which books had particularly moved or influenced me. I’m not sure I want to particularly stick to just seven books, or confine them to the last decade because every book I read impacts in some way and there are books that I read as a child that told me that if I could do something like that, well, my life would be a good one.

So deviating slightly from the structure of Candy’s post (and Kathryn Evans, Vanessa Harbour and Dave Cousins - who've done similar posts) here’s my list of influential books, in no particular order (other than the first two):



Linnets and Valerians - Elizabeth Goudge
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll have seen this one come up time and again. For me it is a classic case of magic and realism brought together beautifully and I suppose, no matter how “dated” the story may seem to a modern child, it is that deftness of touch and lyricism of words that always resounds for me.





The Little White Horse – Elizabeth Goudge
I read this story as a 10 year old, having borrowed it from a friend. Over the years I forgot its title but I never forgot the story - the magic had totally captivated me. Much to my delight, I found it had been reprinted earlier this decade – after JK Rowling had said it had been one of the books which had most inspired her journey to becoming a published author.





Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – JK Rowling
Of all the Harry Potter books this one stood out for me – it further developed the Potteresque world, was better written and combined, as Goudge had done, magic, myth and reality in a classic fantasy. The series per se, no matter what you think of the quality of the writing, opened up the world of reading to many non-reading children - and, in doing so it opened the market for writers and authors.




The Pure Dead series - Debi Gliori
OMG! This woman can make me laugh out loud, she gets humour so bang on and her imagination is a riot. I take my hat off to anyone who writes children’s humour with such insight and ability to tickle the funny bone. Although I don’t write humour, I am well aware of how difficult it is to do and get right, and, moreover, I think every book, irrespective of genre, benefits from having even just a couple of lines which make the reader chuckle.




How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff
I wasn’t sure how I was going to like How I Live Now and I wasn’t sure I felt about it even when I’d finished reading the book. Meg Rosoff broke all sorts of barriers when she wrote this book and I soon came to realise that was exactly the reason why the book resonated for me - and resonated more the longer I thought about it. It’s a book that’s tough, it’s real and it’s powerful, and it’s written by an author unafraid to do things differently and tell the story in a way she has to tell it. Meg has gone on to become one of my favourite authors.



Lucas – Kevin Brooks
I list Lucas as it was the first Kevin Brooks book I read. Frankly, I’d happily list the lot (Road of the Dead, Killing God, Candy, they’re all up there amongst my top books). I love this man’s writing. He’s unafraid to tackle difficult subjects (in Lucas he deals with love, hatred, prejudice and jealousy), and he writes in a way that may be defined as both art and craft. He’s good, really good, and if I get to write anywhere near as well as him, tackling tough subjects head on and yet with insight, sensitivity and power, I’ll be happy.
(You can read my interview with Kevin Brooks here.)


Wicked Lovely – Melissa Marr
This is a book that brings me back almost full circle – it’s urban fantasy, myth and lore colliding head on with reality. It’s faeries and humans and all the confusion and hopes of being a young adult in-between. There’s romance, there’s grit, there’s magic – it’s the sort of mix that I would have loved to read as a 16 year old. It’s got everything that has timeless appeal to older teen girls.




Crossing the Line – Gillian Philip
This was the first of Gillian’s books which I read and I knew immediately I was in the hands (or between the pages) of an author who was going places. Like Kevin Brooks, Gillian is unafraid to tackle tough subjects – and to do so with tremendous insight - and deft touches of humour – take it from me, it’s not an easy balance to get right. Gillian’s honesty and her fearlessness really struck and resonated with me.
(You can read my interview with Gillian Philip here.)



Tall Story – Candy Gourlay
Candy is a writer whom one cannot help but admire and respect. I have watched her journey through the slushpile over the years. Her sheer determination to work at and hone her craft and achieve publication are credit to her, and the arrival of Tall Story on the shelves earlier this year proves that working at it and persevering are worth it. Tall Story is a triumph and in so many ways. It’s a story that blends magic, humour, reality and it makes you laugh and cry. Moreover, it’s a book that is superbly crafted and deserves every award for which it is being nominated. Of course, I am biased – Candy is my pal and critique partner and I’m kind of hopeful that some process of osmosis will occur…
(You can read my interview with Candy Gourlay here.)


City of Thieves – Ellen Renner
Now here’s another author (and pal and critique partner) who has honed her craft. For me, Ellen Renner’s characterization and her ability to “show not tell”, stands out from the crowd. She is also unafraid to tackle big subjects in a way which is accessible to younger children. If you want to learn about crafting a story, and enjoy a jolly good adventure which challenges your thinking at the same time, you couldn’t do better than reading this book.
(You can read my interview with Ellen Renner here and my review of City of Thieves here.)


Forbidden – Tabitha Suzuma
I’ll be honest, I struggled with Forbidden – and yet I couldn’t put it down. For me, what stands out is Tabitha’s ability to tackle the grittiest, the most challenging of subjects - and to do it bravely, honestly and without pandering to niceties and sensitivities. Forbidden is a story which challenges not only the reader and his/her perceptions, but, I suspect, heartily challenges the publishing industry as to what is acceptable reading for young adults. Yet Forbidden is also a book which is beautifully crafted and sensitively told. All credit to Tabitha for her courage in writing Forbidden.
(You can read my interview with Tabitha Suzuma here.)


You’ll probably have noticed that most of the books that stand out for me are written for teens or young adults – and that’s because I’m blown away by the quality and variety of writing for this age group and wish that books like these had been around when I was 16. I guess it also becomes pretty apparent that similar things constantly inspire and inform me – from craft to honesty, from perseverance to genre – and frequently the blending of realism with “magic” or the supernatural. But above all, I think it is the courage of each writer to boldly and deftly tell the stories they simply have to tell. With each book I read, with each aspect that stands out for me and which I take on board, I know my own writing grows stronger as does my confidence in telling the stories I know I too have to tell.

An interview with Tabitha Suzuma, author of Forbidden

Tabitha Suzuma is yet another of the remarkable authors I have met online via Facebook – it highlights how social networking can indeed enrich lives – and I very much look forward to meeting her later this year. Tabitha is not only a gifted writer (she has won, been nominated for and shortlisted for multiple awards); she is also a warm, funny, extraordinary and courageous person.

I had not previously read any of Tabitha’s work but I was aware of the subject matter she chooses to write about – and let’s be clear about one thing – Tabitha does not choose easy subject matter. In her latest book, Forbidden, Tabitha Suzuma tackles the taboo of sibling incest.

“How can something so wrong feel so right…?”

Before you recoil, read on.

A romance with a dramatic difference, Tabitha Suzuma’s Forbidden should come with a warning label: “Expect to have your world rocked.”

Forbidden is without doubt one of the most emotionally disturbing, powerful and haunting novels I have ever read – even Nabokov’s Lolita pales next to it. Richly complex and emotionally dramatic, Forbidden left me reeling.

Tabitha’s words are beautiful, her characters are vividly alive, the raw emotional power is palpable, and her story is challenging and intense. Forbidden is not a story for the faint-hearted, but it is a novel which will grip and hold you throughout.

This is writing at its most potent. This is a story which will push your buttons and leave you seriously questioning an openly accepted moral taboo and legal crime as you face, just as Lochan and Maya Whitely face, the forbidden love which Tabitha Suzuma has so bravely written about.

Lest you think that sibling incest is both an exception and something morally bereft, consider this:

History is littered with examples of brother-sister love: Cleopatra VII was married to her brother Ptolemy XII, the Roman emperor Caligula is rumoured to have had sexual relations with all three of his sisters, and the Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties are riddled with incest. It is interesting to note that incest is not illegal in all jurisdictions and the taboo is more often than not driven by religion. On the flip side, “incest” is fairly normal in the animal world and, at its most fundamental, the issue for humans is that avoidance is about genetics and gene pools - inbreeding creates small gene pools and those groups subsequently die out. At its most simplistic, it becomes then, a matter of biology rather than morality. Taken like this, the taboo and law against incest becomes an interesting one, particularly if abuse is not involved. As Tabitha's Maya says: “They’ll never stop us. Not as long as this is what we both want. But you’ve got to stop thinking it’s wrong, Lochie. That’s just what other people think; it’s their problem, their stupid rules, their prejudices. They’re the ones who are wrong, narrow-minded, cruel…”

In reading Forbidden, the reader truly feels for Lochan and Maya Whitely; one does more than just empathise with them and one might even support their “forbidden love”. If it feels so "right", how can it be "wrong"? Forbidden raises many interesting moral questions, some of which are highlighted in an article The Guardian ran in 2002 entitled Forbidden Love in which it becomes quite clear that incest happens all around us, all the time. In short, sibling incest is far more common and prevalent than we’d like to think.

“You’ve always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I’ve fallen in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?”

But enough of the background, let's get on with the interview.


I am totally delighted that Tabitha agreed to be interviewed on Absolute Vanilla, even though this is the toughest interview I’ve done to date. Tabitha, I'm afraid, found my questions equally challenging and begged to bow out on some of the more complex ones, so if it appears that there are "holes" in the interview, well, there are.

Tabitha Suzuma

Genius, tortured souls, worlds falling apart appear to be trademarks of your storytelling, and you are unafraid to tackle emotionally challenging topics such as depression, alcoholism, dysfunctional families, and, in Forbidden, sibling incest. What draws you or influences you to write stories of this nature?

Haha – when you put it like that, it makes me sound completely mad, which is only partially true! I guess I write about what I know, what fascinates me, and what I think is important, and all of these topics fall into at least one of those categories. The genius in A Note of Madness and its sequel A Voice in the Distance is Flynn, who is a musical prodigy, and his ‘genius’ was greatly influenced by my then teenage brother who is currently training to become a professional concert pianist. I am also fascinated by the link between mental illness and the artistic temperament. I studied psychology for a while, and one of my favourite books is Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison, which studies this link by exploring the lives of the many, many illustrious writers, musicians, composers and artists who suffered from some sort of mental illness.

Most of my books revolve around mental illness or mental suffering because it is something I am very familiar with. Refractory clinical depression is a condition I have lived with for most of my life and one which has come close to ending it on numerous occasions.






In Forbidden, in addition to the central tenet of the novel, you also draw together the threads of a broken family, an alcoholic mother, social phobia, older children raising younger children and the constant threat of intrusion by social services. Where did you start with this story and how did you find the various threads came together?

The threads you mention came from the need to find a reason for the two main characters, Lochan and Maya, to be drawn together into a romantic relationship. Consensual sibling incest happens more often when the siblings in question are brought up apart and meet for the first time as teens or adults. Consensual incest between siblings brought up together is relatively rare and so I needed some form of explanation for this to occur. Making them child carers, without any real or positive parental influence, forced to act as adults from a young age and to look after their younger siblings enabled me to make their relationship different from most brothers and sisters right from the start. They were close friends, partners, who shared an incredible burden that the rest of the world was unable to understand. They had to act like parents themselves which drew them into a relationship very different from your average brother and sister. It also alienated them from others as they were not free to hang out with friends after school and Lochan’s social phobia reinforced this sense of alienation by creating an actual barrier which prevented him from being able to reach out and talk to his peers. The threat of social services coming in and tearing the family apart placed an extra burden on Lochan and Maya and meant they had a secret (that they were living without parents) which drew them even further together. All of these factors pulled them closer together and made them increasingly dependent on one another for love and support.


In Lochan Whitely you have created a brilliant yet deeply troubled, complex and tragic character. How did he arise for you and how did he form as you wrote?

Lochan was a great character to write. I put a lot of myself into him, as well as a lot of the kind of person I would like to be. His social phobia was just an exaggeration of the kind of social discomfort many teens experience at some point or another and his sense of responsibility from being the eldest was greatly influenced by my own experiences growing up as the eldest of five. His kindness and sensitivity towards others was influenced by a close friend of mine and his brilliance was inspired by the link between genius and the troubled mind.


Troubled male main characters, albeit often balanced by strong secondary female character, seem to be prevalent in your writing. What draws you particularly to write from a male perspective – and the troubled main character perspective at that? And how important do you feel a balancing female protagonist is, and why?

I put a lot of myself into my main characters and when I started my very first book, A Note of Madness, I decided to try writing it from a male perspective so that I was able to create some distance between the character and myself. So that I could be less self-conscious, I suppose, and free to put as much of myself into the character as I wanted without actually feeling as if I were writing about myself. I guess it was a form of camouflage. But I also wanted to write a book about a teenage boy suffering from a mental illness because I think that society makes it far more difficult for boys than for girls to talk about their feelings, especially when things are going wrong, and much more difficult for them to speak out about their problems and seek help. Not that it’s easy for anyone, but teenage boys are much more inclined to keep their feelings bottled up. I also felt there were far more books about troubled girls in YA fiction and that more books about troubled boys needed to be written as they suffer just as much but often receive far less help. I now feel extremely comfortable writing from a male perspective but I also enjoy writing in a dual narrative, as in Forbidden, because for a love story I think it’s important for the reader to experience the feelings of both characters involved.


Lochan and Maya’s mum is a hopeless, and ultimately destructive character, who clutches at her fading youth, a bottle of booze in hand. Were there any particular influences and inspiration behind the creation of her character, which is the primary and fundamentally abusive force within her family?

I think her complete disinterest in her family and her selfishness and most importantly, lack of parental love was influenced in part by my late father, who was physically abusive towards me when I was a child and rarely showed affection.


Would you say that in creating Forbidden you wrote intuitively or did you have to do a considerable amount of research?

The only research I had to do was regarding incest and the law, and the details in the final chapters.


So now, Tabitha, the obvious question arises: what motivated and inspired you to write a book about sibling incest?

It started with the desire to write a tragic love story. It came down to incest by a process of elimination. I wanted the book to be set in contemporary London and I needed the two teens in question to be old enough for their love for each other to be taken seriously. But I quickly realised that (fortunately) in modern-day Britain there are very few – if any – obstacles that could keep a couple in love apart. Cultural and religious difference maybe, but if the couple were determined enough to go against their families' wishes, they could always run away together. I needed something that would be condemned by everyone wherever they went – a relationship that could never be and moreover, was against the law.


Many authors believe their writing is autobiographical to a greater or lesser extent. To what extent does your own life inform your writing?

As I mentioned earlier, I suffer from clinical depression so on the one hand I have always viewed writing as an escape from the real world and as an escape from my own problems and from myself. On the other hand, I also find it very therapeutic because I am able to discharge a lot of my own pent up emotions onto the page. I think it’s an escape because I’m not writing about myself directly and I’m not writing about my own immediate problems; however I definitely use the intensity of the emotions I’ve experienced at various points in my life to make my books as real as possible. I often also find, upon re-reading, that I have unconsciously used many episodes in my life to influence my writing and choice of subject matter. Obviously, my books about depression stem from my own battle with the illness but it took me a while to realise how much of Lochan and Maya’s responsibilities and concern for their younger siblings mirrored my own childhood. I am the eldest of five and although I wouldn’t go as far as saying I was a child carer, I did leave school at fourteen when my youngest brother was born and played a big part in bringing him up: I did the school run, the bedtime routine, bathed him, dressed him, even had his friends round to play. My sister, ten years my junior, called me ‘mummy’ until she was three.




Your characters and your voice are mature, some might even say more suited to an adult as opposed to a young adult readership. What is your view on this and what it is to write for young adults?

I never set out to write for young adults. In A Note of Madness, if you read the prologue, you might be able to tell it was intended initially for an adult audience. But then I found that because I was writing about teens, the book seemed more suitable for a teenage audience. I find myself drawn to writing about teenagers and about what some might call teen issues. Therefore my books fit better in the YA section. However I have had a great number of adults write to me to say how much they have enjoyed my books and I certainly don’t change my style or significantly simplify the vocabulary I use.


I know that in writing Forbidden you went through many revisions, edits and rewrites. What was the view of your publishers on presenting them with the initial manuscript and what were the points on which you differed?

Actually there was only one, major rewrite. And that was in order to remove several of the sexual scenes. I was very keen to keep the story as realistic as possible and didn’t want to do any ‘glossing’ or tasteful fades to black. In order to keep the story real, I felt there would also be quite a lot of sexual content seeing as the couple are more or less left to their own devices. However my publishers felt that Lochan and Maya’s relationship was too sexual and not romantic enough and so I had to rework some scenes and do a lot of negotiation until we found a middle ground we were both happy with.


Do you get to interact much with your young adult readers and, if so, what sort of feedback have you had from them on Forbidden?

I am fortunate enough to get a lot of wonderful emails from my readers. So far, the feedback on Forbidden has been overwhelmingly positive which feels great. However many readers have also written to tell me how much the book moved them, often to the point of tears, and many told me they never thought they would find themselves rooting for a brother and sister to be allowed to have a sexual relationship but that their feelings changed completely during the course of the book.




Finally, what next for Tabitha Suzuma? I know you are working on a new novel, can you tell us a little about it and when it will be published.

My next book is a tragic love story with, as its central theme, euthanasia.



Many thanks to Tabitha Suzuma for agreeing to be interviewed and I wish great success with Forbidden and her forthcoming novel.


For more about Tabitha Suzuma you can connect with her via:
Her website
Her Facebook fan page
On Twitter

Her books can be found on Amazon UK
and Amazon USA

For those interested, overviews of incest and incest taboo can be found on Wikipedia.

An interview with Nicola Morgan, author of YA novel, Wasted

Wasted by Nicola Morgan

Stories can be dangerously powerful… and the way in which we choose to view and interact with the world, because of them, can be equally dangerous...

Author Nicola Morgan, who I didn’t know, having read my interview with Gillian Philip, contacted me and asked me to be part of her blog tour when her new novel, Wasted, was published. I said “sure”. But what if I’d said no, would it have made a difference in my life, in Nicola’s life, to the novel’s trajectory? How would I have spent my last couple of days? What difference would that have made? Would I have missed some kind of opportunity or possibility? On the flip side, does my doing the interview with Nicola make any difference to her, to me, to her novel’s progress?

Does any of it really matter? What if…?

Wasted is a “what if” novel – it’s the story of how dangerous living with “what if” can be…

So meet Jess, and meet Jack, her boyfriend, who tries to control his life by answering all the “what if” question by spinning a coin, by trying to control his luck and the outcome of his life and all its events.

Wasted is described by many as a novel about chance and fate and luck. But actually, it’s a novel about not being in control, about the terror of being out of control and about addiction and giving your power away in attempt to regain control. It’s a novel about how life works and how it doesn’t. It’s a novel about truth and reality and the forces that make up the world, or the forces we choose to make up the world.

Wasted is narrated by a god-like omniscient narrator who controls everything – from the characters and even, to some extent, the readers – in the end, you get to choose – you spin a coin to determine the final outcome of the story. It’s a novel which tells a tragic story and which, at the same time is a bit of a mind-blast. It tells you how dangerous stories can be. It is, gripping, fascinating and it is original. It will make you think and it will leave you thinking long after you’ve finished reading it. It may irritate you, depending on how much you like to have all things under control, or you may chortle and marvel at the author’s brazen audacity in conducting what at times feels like a bit of a social experiment. But you’ll have to read it to see what you think, and to see how it makes you feel. And when you’ve read it, come back and tell me. Because if you don’t, who knows what might happen…

Nicola Morgan signs a copy of Wasted at the book's launch

An Interview with Nicola Morgan:


I ask this only because I recently saw your blog post on the topic…Where do writers get their ideas from. Wasted is quite “out there” in terms of style and content, so where did the idea come from and how long has it been brewing? What made you want to write this particular story?

First can I say hello and a big thank you for doing this.

Second, can I contradict the bit where you say that the narrator “controls everything”? I’d say that the narrator only controls one thing: what the reader sees. In fact, people (myself included) have been calling the narrator omniscient – when really, it isn’t. The narrator frequently points out the things that he/she/it/us can’t know. The narrator is only godlike in the sense suggested by that phrase of Einstein’s, about god not playing dice. My narrator is a spectator without real power except the ability to cheer on the side-lines.

Anyway, the style / content and where it came from…

It’s been brewing for many years. I had the idea – of a novel where I would write alternatives and then toss a coin to “choose” which to go with – about 15 years ago, and started to write it (differently) but got waylaid. But I never forgot about it and eventually found the right story for it. (I think!) What made me want to write this story eventually was that I got to the point where I couldn’t not. I told my agent that I’d be presenting her with something very different, very risky, and possibly unpublishable, but that I was going to write it anyway even if it wasn’t published. I also specifically didn’t want a contract at first, until I knew that it was working.


You have said that you feel that, of all the books you’ve written, Wasted is the one that most reflects you. In what ways do you see it reflecting yourself? And with which character do you identify most strongly and why?

I think what I’ve been saying is that it has more of me and my heart and soul in it. I don’t think it’s that I am like any of the characters, particularly: it’s more the voice, the oddness, the style of writing and the rule-breaking. It’s on the edge. It’s sort of “out there” and although many people would see me as quite conventional and controlled, inside I’m more radical than I appear, and I love to take risks in writing but haven’t done so for a long time now. Wasted is a very risky book – risky to write, anyway. It’s the book I’ve wanted to dare to write for so long. I also admit that I influence the narrator heavily, so the narrator expresses my thoughts, or at least my thoughts at that moment. Or at least my questions… (Author as narrator is one of the rules I’ve broken – you’re supposed to keep yourself out.)

Nicola with a group of young fans at a book festival

Jess is the “sane” voice between the extremes of Jack’s obsessive coin-tossing, her mother’s drinking and even her father’s reliance on maths to explain the world. Because you give the reader the chance to choose the story’s ending, you never, truly, reveal to what extent you support Jess’s position. Are you willing to reveal and explain it here?

I hadn’t thought about this. I don’t think the author’s job is to support one position or another, necessarily. Do you? Also, in this sense I am not the same as the narrator – the narrator’s role is simply to show you what you’re allowed to see, not to judge the characters. I (myself, not the narrator) sometimes agree with Jack and sometimes with Jess. Jess’s position is the one I would probably take myself in real life, as I don’t like confrontation. I simply think that Jess was in love, and was torn between that love and the love for her mother and the wish not to hurt her. I think that lots of people of all ages have this twin-directional tugging of their loyalties, and experience the emotional blackmail that families are so good at unintentionally producing.


Many, in talking and writing about Wasted, discuss chance, luck and fate. Yet this is only the surface of what the story is about. Ultimately, like the story of Oedipus, it’s the story of tragedy, of obsession and compulsion, the desire to control and the loss of control - and the realisation that some things are just beyond our control. In constructing the story what did you, as the author - and the omniscient narrator - want to come through most strongly? What other theme, other than chance, fate and luck do you think you might have used to illustrate the point about the choices we make and the power we give away?

I think it’s all of those things that you mention, because they are all inextricably tangled in how the world probably works. They are the big questions that most of us don’t have answers for, and I certainly don’t, though I have some convictions about aspects of them. I suppose another way to have tackled it would have been to bring religion in, but I’ve done that in other books and other ways. I think there’s enough in Wasted without bringing that thorny subject in!


Each of your characters represents different ways of how life might be lived and explained and controlled. Through each, you make some sort of socio-psychological comment. To what extent did you write this book to teach? Was it your intention, in setting out, to create a story with a message this powerful that would really make readers think seriously about how they choose to live their lives?

Help! A socio-psychological comment? Did I? Well, I didn’t mean to. Honest, I’m just telling a story and those were the characters that grew. No, I never set out to teach. What I wanted to do was create a sense of wonder about the world and our lives and question how it all might work. The word “message” is a problem for me: it implies a didacticism, a kind of “Here’s the message – now go away and follow it.” I’d hate if anyone thought I was doing that. I think, however, as with many stories, that there are a lot of messages you could take from it – different readers are taking different messages, and that’s the perfect situation for me, because there is no one answer. There’s no doubt, though, in my mind about one thing: it is by “chance” that each of us is here on this earth and I call that lucky. Though as Jack would say, “Luck is just what we call it.” And so would the narrator. So would I!


You involve the reader strongly in the story, you bring the reader on board, alongside the omniscient narrator and you ask the reader to choose their own ending – by tossing a coin. What sort of response have you had from readers to being made part of the book in this way?

I don’t ask the reader to choose their own ending. I ask the reader to choose to toss a coin and thereby see whether Schrodinger’s cat is dead or alive… Just as Jack chooses to toss a coin at various points but can’t choose the outcome, the reader has the chance to do that. What I expected was that no one would bother to toss the coin and would just read both. What I’m hearing is that by that point, most readers have completely bought into the situation and are really nervous about tossing the coin. Then they do. And then, of course, they read both. Though one reviewer said you shouldn’t, as it would mess with your mind…

Nicola speaks at a school event

Someone commented to me, when I explained the nature of the book to them, “Oh, one of those smart arse writers, trying to be clever, playing with their readers!” Without saying “people are entitled to their opinions”, how do you respond to that “criticism”?

I’d suggest the person read the book, though not if he/she is determined to be annoyed! All authors play with readers. It’s part of the job description. But readers play with authors, too, and readers have the most control: they can choose not to read. And then writers are nothing.


Wasted reflects elements of physics, philosophy and spiritual considerations, the sort of things that make up those “what’s it all about” questions. You read philosophy at university so what, in your personal opinion, drives the world, the universe, and how things are?

I can’t even tell you how one human being works, let alone the world! What I think is that there is no one thing that fully explains “how things are” – even god, if you believe in a god. Even if you are right that god creates everything, that doesn’t explain everything. I think the world is far too complicated for us to understand entirely. I have two rock-solid beliefs (though rocks can be shattered): that there is no god (in the all-knowing / all-powerful / creator sense); and that although many philosophers and neuroscientists seem to be able convincingly to disprove free-will, free-will is also common-sensically (can that be a word, please??) and socially essential, and if you can’t prove it logically you have to believe it faithfully. So, I believe that both causal determinism and pre-determination are unsupportable as full explanations of “how things are”. And, by the way, please don’t pick me up too much on the philosophy I studied – it was a long time ago and I’ve forgotten most of it! All I’m saying is that this is my philosophy. I don’t tell anyone else to believe it but I chose to structure my story round it.


In the novel you have a quote by Marcus Aurelius – “Never let the future disturb you” which is perhaps not that far from his other quote “Everything that happens, happens as it should, and if you observe carefully, you will find this to be so.” Do you think that Stoic philosophy, as elaborated by Marcus Aurelius, speaks to the chaos of modern life faced by both adults and young people? And, would you say that ultimately, this is the final position you reach in the novel, and that trying to determine and control every outcome is just futile?

I hadn’t thought of it like that but I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. As I say, the existence of some form of free-will is crucial to everything. So, we can make the small decisions and therefore affect outcomes. But things also happen to us which we could not control or predict. (And prediction only makes sense in the sense of “likely consequence” – chaos theory intrudes when we look ahead too far.) So there’s no point in worrying too much. Of course, we do worry about the future, because we’re human and we can’t always control our thoughts, but we do ourselves no favours when we worry about the far-off bits and other aspects that are not in our control.

In a similar vein you use the famous example from Chaos Theory in Wasted - “A butterfly flaps its wings in New York and a hurricane happens in Indonesia.” This speaks directly to the power of universal energy and of unintended consequences. How do you, Nicola Morgan, the author (not the omniscient narrator) feel about personal power/free will vs. the power of the universal energy? How important is it to find personal balance between one thing and the other?
I think there’s a seesaw balance between our interior partial free will and the exterior world acting on us all. Yes, I suppose happiness and a good mental state comes from finding a balance between the two, finding a way to exercise as much judicious control as possible and then a stoic resilience to what happens. Que sera sera, but first I’m going to do my damndest to make que sera the best it can be. We do what we can and then need to let go of everything else. But it’s hard in practice, isn’t it? So, don’t get the idea that I’m going round all calm and stoical – ask my family!


At one point in the story Jack says, “You have to take control even when it appears you have none.” Ironically, he, like Jess’s mum, Sylvia, gives his power and control away – Jack to his coin, Sylvia to alcohol. Excluding giving one’s control away to a ritual or to a substance, how do you personally feel about surrendering to no control and accepting that you can’t control everything – which is the ultimate conclusion you draw in the story?

Easier said than done! I’m rubbish at it, actually. I’m all talk, I am. I am a massive control freak. But I also work more in the present and future than the past, at least with the big decisions and events in life. On the other hand, I can lie awake for hours worrying about a tiny thing I said or didn’t say.


Referring to one section in the book – do you believe in parallel worlds/parallel dimensions and alternative realities – or does that way madness lie?

No, I don’t believe in them. Mainly because my brain can’t cope. So, I let it go. It’s also a very frightening thought. A bit like heaven, which I think is pretty much the most frightening concept that religious people have come up with. I can’t get my head round it – much easier not to believe in it!


The title Wasted could be interpreted in multiple ways – did you deliberately choose a title with multiple meanings and if so, what effect did you want to achieve?

Yes, it was deliberate. Also, to be honest, I wanted a short, dramatic, in-your-face title. A bit of shock value, if you must know. But I think it is quite a shocking book, so I think it’s valid.


Writing from the point of view of omniscient narrator keeps the reader removed from Jess and Jack – keeps the reader in the position of onlooker. From an analytical perspective, what is your view of omniscient narrators in YA fiction – and in this story per se? What did you plan to achieve, or hope to convey, by using this god-like narratorial voice?

Everyone is asking about this and I don’t have a good answer. It’s just the voice that came when I started writing. In my mind, the narrator was god-like and looking down, and talking to the reader directly, so this is just the voice that came. I can’t really explain it and it wasn’t really planned. I can’t plan voices – I can only control them once they are there.

Book launch notwithstanding, Nicola manages to find some "time out" with her dog!

Wasted is your 9th novel – do you feel it’s your best yet and if so why?

I have no idea. Some reviewers have been kind enough to say as much. I just know I was horribly nervous about it but am now less so. But still nervous!


If you could be something other than an author, what would you choose to be and why?

If I could sing, I’d like to be a singer! If I could paint, I’d like to be a painter. If I could only be something to do with things I can actually do, I’d turn scruffy houses / flats into great ones. And grow lettuce. I’d also have a lot more time for hobbies and I would not screw my neck muscles up at the computer. I think I’d be healthier. But not so fulfilled.

The style and the idea of Wasted are unique, how did your agent and publisher first respond when you sent in the manuscript?

They both absolutely loved it, which surprised me, to be honest. They had no suggestions or worries at all. It was the easiest of my books from that point of view – hardly any edits and then only tiny ones.


You’ve been on a blog tour for the past month with Wasted, how do you find people have responded to the story?

I’ve been thrilled and very, very relieved. I really didn’t know if people would like it. I thought it would be a love-it-or-hate-it book, but more people have loved it than I’d expected. (So far!) I am waiting for some people to hate it, as I feel sure they will. I’d like to say that I’d be able to deal with this easily, but I know I won’t. Thing is, if we believe the good reviews, we have to believe the bad ones, too.


Many thanks to Nicola Morgan for the opportunity of interviewing her, and here’s wishing her much success with Wasted! My own sense is that this intriguing and fascinating novel is one which will be the source of much discussion and thinking – and in many diverse quarters!

Thanks so much, Nicky – your questions were incredibly testing and perceptive!


For more information about Nicola Morgan and Wasted:

To learn more about Nicola Morgan visit her website

Buy a copy of Wasted

Talk about Wasted on the Wasted blog

Read Nicola’s blog, Help I Need A Publisher

Follow Nicola Morgan on Twitter

All images in this blog post courtesy of Nicola Morgan

An interview with YA author, Gillian Philip

Sometimes in life you just get lucky. I feel that way about having made friends on Facebook with Scottish author Gillian Philip. When I friended her (or she friended me – I forget which way round it was), I didn’t know anything about her, let alone what she’d written. But as is the way of these things, you get to know someone a little and you decide to read their books. Reading Gillian Philip's books has been a total treat for me. The strength of her voice and the honesty with which she deals with some tough subject matter makes me rate her up right up there with my favourite teen and Young Adult authors – who include Kevin Brooks and Meg Rosoff.

Basking in the Scottish sushine, Gillian claims not to miss the tropics.
Hmmm...
Photograph courtesy of Helen Giles

I’ve so enjoyed Gillian’s work that I’ve asked her to share some of her thoughts about her writing, and what she’s working on, here.

Let’s first talk about writing in general.

So here’s the old stock in phrase question, Gillian… What motivates you to write?

My overdraft! Just kidding… well, half-kidding… that’s what gets me to my desk in the morning, because I have to treat it like a regular job (what my mother would call a ‘proper’ job). But what really, seriously motivates me? Those characters banging on the inside of my skull demanding I tell their story. Isn’t that what motivates us all?

And that other classic question… Where do you get your ideas from?

For this one I used to quote a facetious Russell T Davies – ‘The Ideas Shop in Abergavenny.’ But no, I’m trying to take the question more seriously these days, because it’s a perfectly reasonable one!

The very worst moments are when I really have no idea what to write about, and those do happen. I’ll sit at my desk banging my head against a hot cup of coffee, but I know what I should do: either go for a long walk, or turn on the news.

I worked out the basic story for Crossing The Line when I was walking round Aberdeen, thinking of characters who would appear in it and the things they might get up to in certain locations. Some of them were the wrong characters: Allie started out as a little brother, before becoming a little sister in a blinding revelation. Some of them came out right the first time: Lola Nan sprang from my head fully formed in the middle of Springfield Road. Which was quite a sight.

My other favourite hunting ground is the news: headline stories, magazine articles, even opinion columns in the Sunday papers. It’s not the frontline stories I’m looking for, but the people in the background: the kid in the rubble looking for his football; the favourite niece of that adulterous footballer or politician; that murderer’s little brother, the one with the shocked face, who used to worship him. Once you readjust your focus and tune into the background noise, stories really are limitless. Well, the ideas are limitless. Turning them into stories is of course the hard part…

My starter collection of Gillian Philip's books - I'm expecting the pile to grow...

And then there’s that other one… How long, on average, does it take for you to write a book?

Ooh, tricky one. I’d estimate a first draft at between two and three months, but that really would be a rough first draft. It’s the rewriting and polishing that take the time, but that’s the part I enjoy the most. With edits and rewrites, I’m very nitpicky and I can never resist changing just one more word, one more scene. But getting it on a blank page to start with, that’s blood from a stone.

When did you start writing and was it a long slog to getting published – what was the journey to becoming a published author like?

It was a long slog, yes, but nothing I didn’t expect. I’d always wanted to write, but in a defeatist way I thought getting published would be impossible. So when I lived abroad for twelve years – I was jobless and childless and I had so much time I really should have been turning out two fat sagas a year or something – I wrote and sold short stories. I didn’t really enjoy them – I don’t think I’m that good at short stories – but I assumed I’d never sell anything longer, and I couldn’t think what to write anyway.

In 2001 I had my twins and came home to Scotland; at around the same time I discovered YA books (I bought them on the pretence of building a library for my kids’ future, but read them all myself). YA was in this golden age, and I found it was what I really wanted to write. I also discovered manuscript advice services like Hilary Johnson’s, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Then I had a few very frustrating years. I started with the attitude that I would give it my best shot, so that I wouldn’t be able to berate myself later in life for not trying. But of course, it doesn’t work like that, and the books I was writing became my complete obsession.
My worst moment came when my (eventual) agent, who had been agonising over a fantasy called Rebel Angels, eventually turned it down. I thought I’d blown my best chance. But she did then accept the novel that became Crossing The Line, and sold it to Bloomsbury; and in the meantime I’d sold Bad Faith to Strident, a small Scottish publisher – so I had two books published within a year. I’d say the whole process was no more difficult and frustrating than I expected, but it certainly needed doggedness, as well as a big dollop of brass neck. Writers do need a brass neck and a thick skin, so it was just as well I developed both!"

Waiting in the freezing Scottish mist for her son to take her photograph, Gillian's on the verge of changing her mind and going inside for something warming...

What would you say most motivates and informs your writing?

Probably when I get mad about something. I suspect I have a useful streak of misanthropy, but humans fascinate me, too – the things we do to each other in the name of politics or religion, love or revenge, envy, national pride, the movies of Richard Curtis… anything. I’m dreadful to my characters – that’s a writer’s job – but most of the time they will get through it all, because I love ’em, and I want them to win the day. Mostly…

How much contact do you have with your readers – and do you think contact with your readers is important?

I’d like to have more! I love meeting and talking to readers and yes, I think it’s hugely important. I almost can’t believe there are writers who wouldn’t want to talk about their books – even to readers who disliked them, if only so that you can argue the toss and try to convert them. I thoroughly enjoy school visits, love doing talks and workshops, could do Q&As for hours on end. JD Salinger I’m not.

Gillian with some of her readers
Image courtesy of Gillian's website

Now, let’s get into the actual books…

Like Kevin Brooks and Melvin Burgess, you’re not afraid to tackle really gritty subject matter, which involves protagonists who are in their mid teens. Cass, in Bad Faith is 15 and Allie (although not the main protagonist), in Crossing the Line, is the same sort of age. What motivated you to write these books - and for this age group?

It’s such a terrific age, a difficult, frightening, exciting age. It’s right in the heart of the teen years and secondary school, and you’re dealing with all those hormones, all that fear for the future; all that heartbreak, and optimism, and bravery…

I do like gritty subject matter, but I’m not trying to send messages or teach lessons. I want to tell gripping stories, make the reader care about the characters the way I do. And as I said, that usually means throwing the most awful stuff at the poor beggars.




Crossing the Line, which has been nominated for and won several awards, deals with, amongst other things, knife crime and has been banned in certain schools. What is your response to that? And why do you think it might be important for teens to read this sort of novel?

Yes, I was bewildered when I heard that (and pretty cross, obviously). Of course schools are entitled to stock whatever books they like, but the attitude was based on such a misreading of the book (or perhaps no reading at all). I was told (via a third party) that the ban was down to Crossing The Line ‘glamourising knife crime’… which simply isn’t true. The book does investigate how blades and violence hold an element of glamour for some young men, which is something I think we can’t ignore.

But I wasn’t out to send a message about anything – that’s what email’s for. I treated the theme responsibly, but essentially the novel was about my characters and their actions and decisions, and how they deal with some terrible events. I hope I never get so tangled up in issues that I forget the story. I don’t think it’s important for teens to read any particular sort of novel – I just think it’s important that they should read. Otherwise they’re missing out on so much!




Bad Faith deals with religion gone out of control. Your father was in the church so how did your own religious experiences inform the writing of Bad Faith and what is it you really wanted to get across in the book?

My father was a very liberal priest in the liberal and tolerant Scottish Episcopal Church, and that’s how I was brought up. I’m lapsed now, but I still have a great fondness for the Anglican church and I’ve been shocked by some of the attitudes it has allowed to stand in the name of unity. So together with the direction religions all over the world have been taking, it got me thinking about the desirability or otherwise of closer religious ties and church unity. Politics and religion do fascinate me, especially in conjunction, and for the background to this novel I wanted to write a world where the greatest world divisions were between secular states and theocracies.

But that’s the background! Mostly I wanted to write a heinous murder, with plenty of scandal, family secrets, blackmail, mystery and romance thrown in. I wanted to find out if my protagonists Cass and Ming could get together in the end without getting themselves killed!



You also write to commission and the Darke Academy series which is a fantasy/paranormal is quite different from some of your other work and is also written under a nom de plume, Gabriella Poole. How do you find writing to commission and what motivates you to do it? And, why the nom de plume?

The nom de plume Gabriella Poole actually belongs to the book packager Hothouse, who devised the Darke Academy series. This protects both the company and me, because if either of us want to bring the partnership to an end, Gabriella can continue to exist! It’s an increasingly popular phenomenon in publishing.

Hmm, what motivated me? Curiosity; the fact that they liked my sample chapter enough to offer me the job; the fact that I really liked the concept and the characters they came up with; a reliable pay day! I hugely enjoy working with the Hothouse team – it is of course completely different to working on my own novels with my own characters, but it’s collaborative and fun and lets me stretch my writing muscles.




In both Bad Faith and Crossing the Line you write with a remarkably powerful, connected and authentic voice, how do you feel then, about writing material that doesn’t come from the heart in the same way?

I couldn’t have taken on the Darke Academy contract if I didn’t like and engage with the characters. It’s true that they didn’t come from my brain, but I’m very, very fond of them (I confess to a deep affection for the sleazy Richard Halton-Jones).

When I got the brief, the outline and the concept attracted me straight away. I loved the idea that the school moved to a different exotic city every term, and I liked the uniqueness of the idea – these people weren’t vampires, but possessed by ancient spirits, and I wanted to find out where they came from (and I should add that we started work on the Darke Academy series before Twilight even appeared!)

It is a very different way of working: very much a team effort. My first draft – expanded from the editors’ outline – will always be altered, but then if I have some objection or quibble or a sudden idea, I know I can put it to the editors and that it will be considered very seriously, and more often than not worked in. It’s a bit like how I imagine it would be working for a US sitcom, or a British soap – the characters didn’t come from my head, but working together we can make them the best they can be, and keep them consistent and the story cohesive. It’s been tremendous fun working with Cassie, Ranjit and co. It’s not the same as my own work but I love it.

The Shades series

What sort of relationship do you have with your characters and do you find they really get into your head and stick there? Who, do you feel, has been your strongest character to date and why?

You know that song Can’t get you out of my head? Like that, but even more irritating.

But seriously… that moment when a new character takes up residence in a space in your brain, makes themselves at home and demands a drink and a bowl of olives: that’s one of the most fabulous moments in writing. But you know this, Nicky – I’ve heard you talk about your own characters!

Strongest characters… well, I hope my main character in each novel is the strongest. That’s what I’m aiming for of course, and if they weren’t, I’m sure someone else would have taken over the plot. I’m not sure which characters other readers would find powerful – objectively speaking I think Orla and Shuggie in Crossing The Line are strong characters in their own right…

As for my most tenacious character, the one who won’t leave me alone: that would have to be Seth in my upcoming Firebrand. The little sod. He started out as a villain, took over the story without so much as a by-your-leave, and I haven’t been able to get rid of him since. When I started writing Bad Faith – which came after the Sithe books in writing order – I thought I was going to need an exorcist.

You have another new series coming out this year with Strident Books. Can you tell us a bit about that?

That would be the Rebel Angels series, starring the aforementioned little sod. Firebrand is the first book; it’s set in Scotland at the end of the sixteenth century and tells the story of Seth MacGregor, who’s the son of a Sithe nobleman, at the time of civil war and rebellion in the Sithe world. The next three books in the series move right up to the 21st century and bring the characters into the modern world (they live a long time, those Sithe). The story has evil queens, treason, assassination, telepathy, witch trials, burnings, kelpies, monsters, car chases, junkies, betrayal and cat burglary. And romance, of course. (Can never resist that last one.)

What else do you have planned?

Right now I’m working on a second book for Bloomsbury, provisionally titled The Opposite of Amber. It’s another contemporary novel, like Crossing The Line, this time with a girl called Ruby as the main character. It’s another murder mystery, and there’s a serial killer involved…

And finally, a number of aspiring authors read this blog, what advice do you have for new and aspiring authors?

Just – do persevere! Persevere, and take advice from objective sources. I know how disheartening it can be, but the important thing is to keep writing. As soon as you send something off to an agent or a publisher – and before you hear back from them – start the next book. The more you write the better you get, and if you have the talent and you don’t give up, you’ll get there. Keep writing, and take note of constructive criticism and advice. And GOOD LUCK, aspiring authors!

Gillian Philip and furry friend
Photograph courtesy of Gillian's Facebook Fan Page

Many thanks to Gillian for agreeing to do this interview.

And can I just say – thank so much, Nicky, for inviting me! I feel equally lucky to have met up with you!


Do visit Gillian Philip at her website or her Facebook Fan Page and consider following her on Twitter: @Gillian_Philip

Gillian's books can be found on Amazon and a several other online bookstores.

Gillian Philip's bio can also be found on Hilary Johnson's website.

If you'd like to ask Gillian a question, do so in the comments section and she'll get back to you.

Rewriting...

So, at last, the first huge rewrite of my YA manuscript is done. Whew. What I ride! And yes it did involve sweat and tears but fortunately no blood – well, at least not mine.

Several months ago I sent the manuscript (MS) which had gone through several fairly major edits and has been a work in progress for a about three years, to the Cornerstones writing agency for an in-depth review. I’d had pretty good feedback from writing partners and friends but I knew the MS still needed work and I needed the right input to do that work.

What I wasn’t remotely prepared for were the 18 pages of criticism that came back – criticism that initially left me gutted and thoroughly daunted - and chucking not a few hissy fits. But I’d asked for the criticism and I’d paid some serious dosh for it, so it was in my best interests to take it on board. Let it not be said that being a writer doesn’t involve a pragmatic approach and a thick skin.

I sat with the criticism for a couple of months, letting it stew in my mind, wondering how the hell I was ever going to make the MS right – and eventually decided that instead of trying to “fix it”, I’d hold the original story in my mind and start from scratch.

In many ways it’s been like writing a new novel. I've done mountains of new research and the plot has been considerably revised – as was required. The narrative voice has changed substantially, as was required. The writing is tighter than before and I’ve addressed issues of repetition, too much introspection, clichés, telling not showing – and, I’ve killed about 36 000 words. Yep, the new version is much, much leaner.

The curious thing is that I’ve always said I hate editing and rewriting, but this was a blast – a process, which, although I found difficult at times, I knew was critical to my journey of becoming a better writer. Let it not be said that this business doesn’t involve some really hard work and lots of learning. To anyone who thinks they can “just” write a book – think again, very, very carefully – especially in today’s competitive and depressed market. It takes, I’m sure, more than just a little bit of madness to be a writer. I consider myself a case in point…

In the process of this rewrite though, I think the thing that delighted me the most was realizing just how passionate I am about writing. Like most writers, I guess, I have my up days and my down days but I find when I’m in the flow of a story, gripped by words, I soar. Actually, to be honest, I am away with the fairies and get totally blissed out. Ha, who needs sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll when you get such a high from scribbling. We won’t talk about the down days, ‘cos they’re just too miserable for words.

A new experience for me in the process of the rewrite was something I’ve often read about - the quest for the perfect word, the perfect sentence. It made me wonder, as I grappled in the search for the right strong nouns and strong verbs how on earth German writers, with their limited vocabulary, manage! Sheesh, am I glad to be writing in English!

Funny thing is, now that the first big rewrite is finished, how totally flat I feel. Postnatal syndrome of some sort, I suspect...

But what next? Well, I’ll leave the manuscript for a week or so and then I’ll go back and do a thorough edit, picking up any gremlins that may still be in there based on the initial feedback about my writing style. And then it will probably go back to Cornerstones for further input.
I'm also off to a writing conference in the UK in November and will be taking part in both a critique session with fellow writers and have signed up for a review with either an agent or an editor. And after that, well, we'll see.

Meanwhile, I’ve got another manuscript that needs a rewrite, a book cover to design for a competition, a synopsis and a blurb to write.

So yeah, more busy, which means continued erratic blogging! But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!

Meeting Kevin Brooks, young adult author – Part Two

I hope my non-writing blog buddies will bear with me for another couple of posts while I do writery things on the blog. This post (and I make no apologies for the length), the second in a four part series, is a rough transcription (of my hastily scribbled notes) of the dialogue that YA author Kevin Brooks had with a group of teens at the Cape Town Book Fair. The teens had read either Being and/or Black Rabbit Summer before attending the event, so some of their questions were about those two novels. It was very much a question and answer session so I will stick to that format. Please bear in mind that I do not quote Kevin verbatim and these are my notes of what he said.

Q: What is Robert Smith, the main character of Being - is he human or not, it’s never really made clear in the book?

A: The book is about what it means to be human or a living thing. Do we really need to know who or what we are to be content? The key thing is about not knowing because the reality is we generally don’t know. The idea for the story came about 20 years ago and it took a lot of thinking before finally finding its form as a story.
We assume we have a heart, lungs etc and that it is what is in our brain, our consciousness (perhaps our souls) that makes us who we are.
There isn’t a quest to find answers in the book but to explore the notion that “I am me but I also don’t have control or really know who I am” – as it is for Robert. So it is important that we never really know who or what Robert is.
Kevin wanted to portray Robert as normal to himself – so Robert sees himself as normal where others don’t, in the same way as we all see ourselves as okay/normal/bad even when that may not be the case. Because Robert has a certain coldness about him we don't see him as normal whereas he does.



Q: There are no big theme in your books – is that intentional?

A: No, it’s not intentional. Kevin knows what he’s writing about and yet also doesn’t. He’s been made aware that there are recurring themes in his books and he puts this down to the fact that most writers put some part of themselves, in some way, into what they write. For him, not knowing is a constantly recurring theme.
He has studied theoretical physics and philosophy and that influences the fact that he tends to write in a way that is not about solving questions but asking them. It is a journey of asking - and he believes it would be arrogant of him to assume he had the answers.
He purposely doesn’t explain things and purposely doesn’t know the answers – and he accepts that not everyone likes this aspect of his writing. But he maintains that there is stuff in life that can never be explained or neatly wrapped up and to do so seems false.
When a reader finishes a book it must remain in his/her head, it must stay alive. If it is all neatly wrapped up and explained then when the book is finished the story dies.
One of the other themes that is reflected in his books is how he sees the world and humans – which is pretty much as animals because we do quite brutish things. We’re a young, pathetic species and as such you can’t really judge people - just as you can’t really judge a lion for killing.



Q: You seem to write very much in a crime fiction genre, would you agree?

A: He doesn’t really think in terms of genres but agrees that all his novels have elements of crime fiction but he wouldn’t call them crime fiction. He acknowledges though that he loves crime fiction, particularly US crime fiction.
He believes it is essential for both writer and reader to be immersed in the story, and finds that with crime fiction the narrative takes you along with it.
He finds crime fascinating, even though he hates it. There’s a basic idea of law and order, the way to live as a society founded on laws – and it’s there that there is the big gap between us and other animals. When we tacitly agree to an unspoken agreement to abide by laws we are in a kind of guarded circle. The criminal part of life lives outside that circle – this is what is particularly fascinating and what takes him into interesting and complex aspects of morality, along with the consideration that right and wrong differ from one country to the next.
He likes to deal with powerful emotions and believes it’s the darker emotions that stay with us for a long time. Happiness is ethereal, unlike sadness, grief, anger or fear. These are the emotions that are linked with what people shouldn’t do.
The Road of the Dead is about violence and its ramifications, how it affects people. And the reality is that violence is intrinsic to human society.



Q: What is the role of music in your books?

A: Music is part of his life, he’s played in bands, recorded and spent many years writing songs. He sees painting, writing books and songs as very much the same thing – expressing oneself but through different mediums.
There is a lot about song writing which has helped in writing novels – for example rhythm, structures and themes. Rhythm is particularly important and helps to shape words, sentences, punctuation, paragraphs and chapters. Rhythm also adds to the creation of emotions and feelings in a reader at a subconscious level. When you read a book consciously you get stuff through words, when you read “unconsciously” you get stuff through rhythm.
In Candy he knows the “feeling” of the Candy song – he could write and record it.
In Killing God, Dawn Bundy is obsessed with the Jesus and Mary Chain and he’s used lyrics from their songs as a soundtrack to her life. He did think it would be great to have a Jesus and Mary Chain CD to go with the book but it worked out to be prohibitively expensive.

He feels that books should be seen in the same way as music, and that books and music should be intertwined so you could, for example read ebooks and play music together (books are in your head, music is in your heart and it would be good to blend the two) but unfortunately he finds this is a problem for the publishing industry and older people who see books in a very particular way.



Q: Your topics are pretty hardcore, as in Black Rabbit Summer, can you tell us about that?

A: Black Rabbit Summer is about friendships but includes drugs, sexual feelings and homosexuality. A reader once said she liked his books because they dealt with these things but without being about them. He feels kids find no big deal with this stuff – they deal with it far more easily than most adults do. Although he may write about sex, he doesn’t write about the details because that would be boring and he prefers to keep it subtle.



Q: Your settings are quite detailed, can you tell us about that?

A: Most settings are based on made-up medium sized towns in an unstated area of southern England – what he calls “anywhere towns” so that they can be relatable to a wide range of people.
Because the books are about young people he feels it’s important for the stories to have a small microcosmic world, because that’s how teens relate to their world – home is their area, the lanes, streets, rivers and trees in their immediate vicinity.
The book he’s currently working on is set in a high rise estate in south London.
Many of the settings in his books are based on memories of where he’s been and places he has known.
He also pointed out that you can find anything on the net in order to create a particular setting.
He felt the worst thing a Young Adult writer could do is to pretend or assume that they know what kids are about and what they are doing. He believes it’s dangerous for an adult writer to pretend that they are a teen and write in a teen way. He urged YA writers not to write in current slang. He writes about emotions because those don’t change – although he will research stuff which is current for teens, like texting.



Q: Do you relate to your characters?

A: He writes as the character but elements of himself come out in different ways. He never starts writing until the character has evolved organically in his mind.
In terms of his writing style he has ideas and puts ideas together and leaves them in his head to grow and waits for the character to start to build.
He had Dawn Bundy in his head for ages before he could find the right story for her.
He creates a framework for his stories and when the character has evolved in his mind and is as true to him, as alive as they can be – then he starts writing and he writes as the character, he becomes the character. He said he felt like he was possessed by Moo when writing Kissing in the Rain.



A: How are you guiding us as young people to make choices?

Q: His doesn’t “guide”. Books must be a good story first and foremost. If you are made to think about what’s been said that’s great, but he is very anti-issues and never takes a moralistic position because he doesn’t believe he’s in a position to tell anyone what to do – he has no great wisdom and he’s not qualified to tell people how to live their lives. He just writes about life, death and everything in-between – so this person does that and it has these consequences. Books can’t provide answers; people must find their own answers. But he acknowledges that some of his readers may get positive stuff from his books.
Stuff happens in life, good, bad, horrible, wonderful, and there’s something to be had from everything. But it is not his duty to provide directions, positivity or hope. He doesn’t consider that his role - if his books do that, then fine, but people find out stuff for themselves and from multiple sources.


Next week I’ll be posting an interview which Kevin Brooks has very kindly agreed to for the blog, along with a brief review of Killing God, his latest novel which was released in the UK today (25 June).