The Roving Eye Interviews Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes lives in the North West of England. Her acclaimed debut novel, In Search of Adam, was published in 2007 with The Big Issue North declaring the book 'an engrossing and touching read from a new talent'. Since then Caroline has written four additional novels. Her latest publication, is the stunning, The Drowning of Arthur Braxton.

1 - When did you first, without hesitation, call yourself a writer?

That’s never happened.

2 - Are you a plotter or a pantster?

I used to be a pantster. I’d ‘hear’ a voice and then dive into the story. This meant I often started in the middle or at the end (and never at the beginning). I wrote that way for my first 4 novels, and writing was exciting but chaotic. It possibly reflected my life at that time. I wrote around having preschool aged children and grabbed moments. Now, my kids are older and I’m very much a plotter. I really and truly plan. I write a detailed synopsis and character outlines before I begin. It takes away the spontaneity, but the lack of chaos is refreshing.

3 - If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I’d love to have an ice-cream van and travel the country bringing ice-cream joy to rainy days. Also, I don’t like ice-cream, so I’d not have to worry abut eating the profits. Or, I used to be an usherette and that would be fun to do again. Or, failing both of those, I’d like to be an elf.

4 - Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

Roald Dahl. He wrote what children wanted to read. He wasn’t frightened to kill off parents or to address a child’s sense of loneliness and abandonment. He set new boundaries, he mixed together sorrow and wit, and he cut through to the essence of what a child finds funny. His stories are timeless.

5 - Do you have any kind of rituals you follow when you write?

At the moment I’m heading towards the end of a first draft, so I write every morning. I don’t have any rituals for the act of writing, but I always plan what I’m going to write the night before. This means that when I sit down to write I don’t have any excuse but to dive right in.

6 - Music or silence when writing?

Neither. For my first four novels, my creative process didn’t involve music. Children shouting, laughing, crying and even dogs barking were all welcomed. But the minute I played any kind of music I became distracted and kept singing along. Then when writing The Drowning of Arthur Braxton music became part of how I wrote. Perhaps that’s because the book was about music; it was a novel that had music at its very core. That hasn’t happened since.

7 - If you could travel back in time, when and where would you go?

Is this with or without a DeLorean time machine and does Narnia exist?

8 - Do you have a favourite character from literature?

Such a difficult question! I love Luna Lovegood. She tends to like impossible things and I’d love to have been her friend. Or, Matilda Wormwood. She’s clever and she’s brave and she’s full of courage. I really could list so many more characters, but these are the two that jumped to mind first.

9 - Coffee and Parkin or Tea and Biscuits?

Tea and biscuits (preferably large, ginger ones)

10 - What five words best describe your average day?

Spends too much time online.

The Roving Eye Interviews Sarah Pinborough

Today's Roving Eye interview is with critically acclaimed horror, thriller and YA author, Sarah Pinborough. Sarah was the 2009 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story, and has three times been short-listed for Best Novel. She has also been short-listed for a World Fantasy Award. Her novella, The Language of Dying was short-listed for the Shirley Jackson Award and won the 2010 British Fantasy Award for Best Novella.

Her current novel, the highly acclaimed, The Death House, is out now.

 

 

1 - When did you first, without hesitation, call yourself a writer?

 

I didn't call myself a writer until my first book was published, and even then, because it was published in the US and not over here, I still called myself a teacher. For someone who is pretty open in many ways, I've always been oddly private about writing. Although it's now obviously my full-time job, and I have to pimp books on the internet etc, the actual act of writing is still a very private thing for me. I'll never post sections of works in progress on Facebook or anything like that. 

2 - Are you a plotter or a pantster?

Absolutely a plotter. Even with a book like The Death House which isn't a thriller and so could be more fluid, I still had to plot it out quite a lot. I always have my ending in place when I start, and tend to have key points jotted down, and then I plot in 10,000 word or so chunks as I go along. I start with brainstorms and then start figuring out structure etc. Things obviously change as I go along and nothing is set in stone, but I could just start writing. I know some crime writers who do it and that totally baffles me, but it works for them. It wouldn't work for me. But neither do I do a lot of drafts. I think because I plan quite heavily, then often write in rough and then type up in neat so it's getting three goes before it hits the page.

 

3 - If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I think I'd have liked to be an actress but I'm too lazy. Same with film director. You can't do either of those jobs long term in your pj's.

 

4 - Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

Of course Stephen King. I think where his skill was with young people who would grow up to be writers was creating such vivid characters and worlds that we all thought 'god, I want to write a book like that!' I read very widely as a child - much moreso than I do as an adult I'm ashamed to say - and did a full gamut of genres, but I think King is definitely the main influence in my formative years.

 

5 - Do you have any kind of rituals you follow when you write?

No, not really. I do only use Uni-ball fine line black pens in my notebooks though;-) And I have to buy fresh pens for fresh projects.

 

6 - Music or silence when writing?

 

Silence sadly. It's the one thing I wish I could change. When I was a teacher I used to love listening to the radio on the way into and back from work and obviously got lots of new music that way. For the past seven years I've been full-time writing and so my iTunes is getting old and tired. I really wish I could write with the radio on. Music is good for the soul.

7 - If you could travel back in time, when and where would you go?

Ooh, good question. Maybe to the court of the Plantagenets or the Tudors. Or ancient Rome. Wherever I went I'd want to be rich though, and take a stash of anti-biotics and toilet paper. And tea bags. Definitely tea bags.

 

8 - Do you have a favourite character from literature?

God there's too many I think. So many books. But one character who's stayed in my head since I was about thirteen is The King from James Clavell's King Rat. I don't know why, I just loved that character. I should probably read the book again.

 

9 - Coffee and Parkin or Tea and Biscuits?

Tea and biscuits. Every time.

 

10 - What five words best describe your average day?

Tea, work, movies, books, wine.

The Roving Eye Interviews A.K Benedict

A.K. Benedict read English at Cambridge and Creative Writing at the University of Sussex. Her short stories and poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including, The Best British Short Stories 2012. Her second novel, the highly anticipated (it is with me!) Jonathan Dark or the Evidence of Ghosts, the follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, The Beauty of Murder, is released at the end of this year.

1- Where did the idea come from for a time travelling serial killer? 

The idea came one night when I was a student at Cambridge. I was walking back to my room from the college bar through the narrow alleys that snake behind King’s Parade and heard footsteps behind me. I looked around but no one was there. I assumed that it was the echo of my steps rebounding on the stone and walked on. The footsteps continued, growing closer. Still no one there. I ran, nearly tripping on the cobbles, until I got to my front door. I slammed the metal door shut behind me and sank onto the floor, laughing at myself for scaring so easily. Then there were three heavy knocks on the door. I peeked through the letterbox. There was no one there. And that was when I thought of a time-travelling serial killer. It was years before the novel came together but Jackamore Grass was there all along, whispering to me and laughing.

2- Are you a plotter or a pantster?

I plot key points along the way and trust that my pants will deal with the rest! Usually I know the last line before I start writing and fly, sleep-deprived and coffee-fuelled, towards it.  

3- Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

Roald Dahl was one of my first influences as a writer, particularly when I discovered his short stories. I read ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ and ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Other Stories’ over and over and loved the twinkling humour, darkness, and unease. His writing made much more sense to me than many books meant for children and led me to Poe, Lovecraft and M R James.Neil Gaiman has been inspiring me since I discovered ‘The Sandman’ when I was a teenager. He writes with joy and wonder, spans genres and forms and creates worlds that I don’t want to leave. His lecture ‘Make Good Art’ always picks me up and makes me pick up a pen on doubt filled days.

4 - Do you have any kind of rituals you follow when you write? 

I smell things! My writing room is lined with tiny bottles from indie olfactory geniuses such as Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab and every day Isniff the vials like a deranged apothecary to select oils that help me imagine a scene. For The Beauty of Murder I collected a scent library of roses, books, bonfires, stone and graveyard dirt; for my new book, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, I keep returning to oils that put me in mind of haunted London such as BPALs ‘Pile of Fallen Leaves’.  

5 - Music or silence when writing? 

I make up a playlist for each book or story and listen to it on a loop while writing or editing. The songs usually reflect the mood of the book,the content or the characters’ favourite artists, although I will veto songs I don’t like. Stephen Killigan is a Talking Heads fan so that was fine by me.

6 - If you could travel back in time, when and where would you go? 

Today I have a hankering to go to the London Frost Fair of 1683-84. I’d go shopping, see shows and get a hackney coach, all on the frozen Thames. Ask me later and I’ll say another when and another where. That’s the beauty of time travel, you can always pop somewhere else, that and the possibilities for mischief. 

7 - Do you have a favourite character from literature? 

Jo March – the apple-munching bookworm in Little Women. I also love Puck, Granny Weatherwax, Vimes, Behemoth the cat, Jane Eyre, Crowley, Offred, Miss Havisham, Heathcliff, Raffles, Dorian Gray, Sherlock Holmes…

8 - Coffee and Parkin or Tea and Biscuits?

Can I have morning coffee and then afternoon tea? No? Then, tea and biscuits it is.

9 - What five words best describe your average day?

Words; tea; sea; smells; cuddles.

The Roving Eye Interviews Eva Dolan

Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime author, Eva Dolan. Her novels, Long Way Home (2014) and the follow-up, Tell No Tales (2015) have marked her as a rising star of crime fiction.

1 - When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

Writing was part of my life from a very young age. I started out making little chapbooks when I was four or five years old, stitching them together from sugar paper, forcing my family to read them! During my teens I wasted hundreds of hours better spent on homework writing, and in fact quite a lot of class time, where I'd hide a work in progress inside my exercise books. The urge just didn't go away and by the time I was seventeen I was doing full length - very bad - books at a rate of one a year. Writing for a living didn't feel like a realistic career option back then but the challenge of getting published kept pushing me on.


2 - What made you chose crime fiction?

It was a chance suggestion from an early reader, who thought my style was better to suited to crime than the horror I was writing at the time, and I'm so thankful to them for the push, because it feels like exactly the right home for me now. The genre is so broad that you can do pretty much anything within it, write huge, almost state-of-the-nation style stories or focus in on the minutiae of a tiny family unit as they fall under some terrible darkness, take your characters from the top of society to the bottom and show how all the strata in between are linked. My work has always had a political bent so the freedom to explore social and economic issues, while killing people, was the biggest pull.


3 - What crime novel would you most like to have written?

The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Creating a completely amoral hero then making the reader root for them is an art I doubt I'll ever master and I marvel at the skills of any author who can do it.

4 - Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Cormac McCarthy. First and foremost it's his sentences, they're complex and hypnotic, twisting and looping around; he sucks you in with that rhythm and takes you to some incredibly dark and hopeless places. I love how uncompromising his work is, he doesn't shy away from prejudice or brutality, he revels in it, pushing way beyond most authors point of no return. And his landscape writing is just ridiculously good.

5 - Who are you reading right now?

One of my New Years resolutions for 2015 was reading more non-fiction and right now I'm deeply into Ghettoside by Jill Leovy, who spent almost ten years embedded with the LAPD. It's an investigation into the murder of an 18 year old boy, but digs deep into the way the cycle of violence can be perpetuated in a deprived are. It which barrels along like the best kind of thriller but makes you stop every now and again to think, with mounting fury, that it's all completely true.

6 - If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

My dream job would be professional poker player - I'm already used to sitting in a chair for long stretches, staring at a computer screen trying to make badly behaved characters do what I want, so the online game wouldn't be much different. Not much fun either though. I'd rather do the globe trotting live version, big, trashy casinos in Vegas and Macau, elegant European card rooms, and all of that free time when I bust out early to go exploring the shops and cafes and art galleries. Although I'd miss being able to work in pyjamas.

7 – What was the last great book that you read?

It's not a crime novel, but Neverhome by Laird Hunt really impressed me. The story of a woman who went to fight in the American Civil War disguised as a man. I'm not usually a fan of war books but this one is beautifully written and the central character so utterly compelling and sympathetic that I had a little cry at the end.

8 - How do you feel about ebooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?

I resisted buying a Kindle for ages, being a bit of a purist, but now a good 90% of my reading is e-books and it doesn't change the experience at all, just makes it a bit more physically comfortable when the alternative is a whopping great hardback. As for the indie v traditional debate - there are some brilliant books coming out of self-publishing and small presses and some distinctly not great ones from the big houses, so I try to keep an eye on what's coming through from all channels. Futuristically I think the industry will become quite polarised, with the biggest lead titles taking up ever greater market share, which will likely drive more midlist authors into a hybrid model. And that's maybe a good thing, because it would allow more daring and speculative fiction to find an audience, rather than sitting on data sticks and in drawers completely unread.

9 – Coffee and cake or Tea and Biscuits?

Definitely coffee and cake. Most of the time I'm on espressos and since I love baking there'll usually be a slice of cake nearby, apple and cinnamon loaf or lemon cupcakes or my latest attempt, chocolate and beetroot cake; sounds weird, tastes divine!                   

10 - Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words

Zigic and Ferreira investigate the link between a fatal hit and run and a series of brutal, racially motivated murders.

 

The Roving Eye Interviews Alastair Gunn.

Today's Roving Eye Interview is with the best selling crime writer of The Advent Killer and My Bloody Valentine, Alastair Gunn.

1 – When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

I’ve always written, in one form or another, but my first paid writing job was as a motor journalist for a modified car magazine called Revs. Unfortunately the magazine closed down in 2005, but losing that job prompted me to write my first book. Otherwise I might still be writing about alloys and body kits. Its funny how something that feels like bad luck at the time can prompt really positive change.

2 – What made you chose crime fiction?

Actually I ended up writing crime fiction by chance. I had a concept fro a type of story, but it only worked if the two main characters didn’t meet till the end of the book. So I needed to keep them apart, and it turned out the best way to do that was to make one a criminal, and the other the police detective who has to track them down. A crime novel just grew from there. Weirdly, though, when I got signed by my agent, she suggested getting rid of the main concept, so it never made the final draft.

3 – What crime novel would you most like to have written?

Does 1984 (by George Orwell) qualify as a crime novel? I hope so, because I’d love to write something so ground breaking.

4 – Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Steve Baxter. He writes ‘hard’ science fiction, (based on established scientific theory). I’ve read lots of his books, and they’re all incredible (and superbly diverse) stories, but you can feel the weight of knowledge and research behind every plot.

5 – Who are you reading right now?

I’m reading Long Way Home by Eva Dolan, and I’m really impressed so far. It feels like every sentence was carefully crafted, and the characters are beautifully complex.

6 – If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I studied product design at University, and I’ve always been a car fan (hence the motor journalism), so if I wasn’t writing, I’d love to be a car designer. Either that or a racing driver.

7 – What was the last great book that you read?

The last book that really blew me away was Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It’s a rollercoaster thriller that hardly lets up from start to finish. Plus, its set in post-Stalinist Russia, a time a fascinating as it was scary.

8 – How do you feel about e-books vs print books and alternative vs conventional publishing?

I actually don’t own an e-reader, but I don’t have anything against e-books, either. It was only ever a matter of time until technology provided readers with genuine advantages over traditional print, so as long as people are reading, I think it doesn’t matter how they do it, although there will always be some thing more intimate about reading a real book.

9 – What five words best describe your average day?

Writing. Or thinking about writing.

10 – Sum up your latest novel in less that 20 words.

The perfect valentine gift from Matthew Clark Leach’s new favourite author.

The Roving Eye Interviews Anya Lipska

Anya Lipska lives in London’s East End with her Polish husband, and is currently working on her third Kiszka and Kershaw book. When she isn’t scribbling she produces TV documentaries on science, arts and history subjects.

1 - When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

From as an early an age as I can recall, I adored stories and wanted to write my own. The irritating financial aspects of life didn’t dawn until much later, when every single adult I met seemed keen to tell me that writing novels was too insecure and uncertain, and that to earn a living from writing I’d need to train as a journalist. It was several decades before I wrote my first published novel and discovered that those pesky adults were right about the uncertainty of making a reliable living from fiction alone. Luckily, following their sensible advice, I had trained as a journalist first, which led into TV producing – still my parallel career and ‘day job’.

2 - What made you choose crime fiction?

I love mysteries in any form. I think a really good mystery gives a story is the engine that drives a novel forward. For me, crime novels are the purest form of solving a mystery in a satisfying way.

3 - What crime novel would you most like to have written?

One that’s not considered ‘genre crime’, but to me it’s most definitely a crime novel: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I do love a book that nourishes the brain and I learned so much about Church politics in the medieval period, the monastic life, even Greek philosophy, from it.

4 - Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

Richard Ford. The mystery which he encapsulates so heart-rendingly is the mystery of the human heart. I consider The Sportswriter and Independence Day among the finest works of post war literature.

5 - Who are you reading right now?

Roumeli, one of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s books on his wanderings in rural Greece before and after the war. The style is antique but his evocation of a vanished way of life is as romantic as it is illuminating – I’ve just finished a chapter describing a wedding among mountain folk and was shocked to discover that arranged marriage, in which the two parties only meet on their wedding day was standard practice then – in Europe, and relatively recently in the scheme of things.

6 - If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I love cooking and I’d like nothing more than to sit around coming up with recipes and road testing them all day.

7 – What was the last great book that you read?

For me, Someone Else’s Skin by Sarah Hillary was the best debut in crime in 2014 and I expect great things of her next book, No Other Darkness, too.

8 - How do you feel about ebooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?

I welcome the democratisation of the publishing process while at the same time recognizing that the changes brought about by the new technology have hit publishers’ profits and with it, author advances... The ability to self publish is a good thing and way for different voices to be heard that might not make it through the giant obstacle course that is the route to being traditionally published. I don’t agree with the tenet that the really good work always gets noticed. It doesn’t. And frankly, lots of substandard work gets published that doesn’t deserve to be. Personally, I’ve found that that reading on Kindle only suits short-ish, less complex books. I gave up reading Wolf Hall as an ebook and ordered the p-book, because I found it too hard to keep track of progress and to flip back and forward to remind myself of key people and scenes.

9 - What five words best describe your average day?

Tedious, with bursts of creativity.

10 - Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

‘Life takes a terrifying turn for big-hearted rough diamond Janusz Kiszka, fixer to London’s Poles, when his girlfriend is kidnapped.’

The Roving Eye Interviews Nick Quantrill

Today's Roving Eye interview is with crime writer, Nick Quantrill. A prolific short story writer, Nick's work has appeared in Volumes Eight and Nine of The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime alongside the genre's most respected names.
His Joe Geraghty crime novels, Broken Dreams (2010), The Late Greats (2012) and The Crooked Beat (2013) are published by Caffeine Nights. His standalone novella, Bang Bang You're Dead (2012) is published by Byker Books.
When not writing fiction, Nick contributes reviews and essays to a variety of football and music websites. He lives in Hull with his wife, daughter, cat and the constant fear Hull City will let him down.

1 - When did you first realise that you wanted to write for a living?

Writing wasn’t something I wanted to do until I turned thirty. Before that I was too preoccupied with football, binge drinking and acting like a directionless idiot. The idea very much crept up on me. I rediscovered my love of reading in my twenties and the idea of giving it a go eventually became irresistible. Once I started, I found I couldn’t stop. An initial short story spawned more and before long I wanted to write a novel. Since then, I’ve written and had published the Joe Geraghty trilogy of Private Investigator novels set in my home city of Hull. In terms of making a living from writing – maybe one day!

2 - What made you chose crime fiction?

I love reading crime fiction. As a kid it was all about The Famous Five and Sherlock Holmes. As an adult it was Ian Rankin’s Rebus novels which captured my imagination. For me, crime is the perfect vehicle for looking the world around you in the eye, but within the structure of an entertaining page-turner. It’s a versatile and innovative genre.

3 - What crime novel would you most like to have written?

I’ve read countless crime novels I’ve loved, but to be honest, I wouldn’t have wanted to write any of them. The aim has to be to find your own voice and tell the story you want to tell. For me at the moment, it’s exploring my home city of Hull.

4 - Who is your favourite author outside of crime fiction and why?

John Steinbeck. No hesitation. His work has everything – great characters, incredible stories, heart, compassion, wisdom. The list goes on. And the variety makes me seethe with jealousy…”The Grapes of Wrath”, “Of Mice and Men”, “The Pearl”, “Cannery Row”…all massively different, yet all brilliant.

5 - Who are you reading right now?

My reading largely consists of crime fiction, but you’ve caught me on one of my rare forays outside of the genre. I’m reading “Whatever Happened to Billy Parks?” by Gareth Roberts. It’s a deceptively simple idea – a washed-up 1970s footballer is given the chance to redeem himself by a sort of footballing Court headed up by Brian Clough, Don Revie, Bill Shankly and Alf Ramsey. If he succeeds in helping England beat Poland in the infamous 1973 World Cup Qualifier, maybe he can make things up to his daughter and grandson. It’s touching and funny, yet also that rare thing, a good football novel.

6 - If you weren’t a writer, what else could you see yourself doing?

I’m only really a writer on certain days of the week. The rest of my time is taking up looking after my daughter. She’s nearly three years old, so it’s a full-time job in itself. Before combining writing with childcare, I worked in an office. I’m in no desperate rush to go back to it. I’m sure the time will come when I need to think about getting a proper job again, but I’d like to do something useful in the community relating to the Arts.

7 – What was the last great book that you read?

I’ve become much more comfortable with the idea of not feeling guilty if I don’t finish a book. Of course, it doesn’t mean they’re bad books, but it has been liberating, as I actively like everything I finish. If pushed, I’d say Eva Dolan’s debut, “Long Way Home”, is a refreshing take on the police novel and it’s setting in Peterborough and focus on social issues is right up my street.

8 - How do you feel about ebooks vs. print books and alternative vs. conventional publishing?

I think it’s great we have the choice, as both readers and writers. I always thought I wasn’t a Kindle type of person, but I love mine now. It’s more circumstance than choice, but it’s often easier for me to buy ebooks than make it to the shops. There’s something fundamentally brilliant about physical books, though, so I couldn’t imagine never buying them. I don’t really understand why physical books don’t come with a download code, like when you buy vinyl. I think the lines are blurring in relation to publishing and there’s room for all. Self-publishing can be done well, maybe giving a voice to writers the larger publisher don’t feel able to give a chance to. I’m published by a small press who rely on changing technology to give themselves an edge. We’ve never had it so good.

9 - What five words best describe your average day?

Tiring, coffee, writing, Alice, potty.

10 - Sum up your latest novel in less than 20 words.

 
When the smuggled cigarettes Geraghty’s brother is looking after are stolen, how far will the PI go to find them?