READER IN RESIDENCE

TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES

Why not join in the book discussions on our webboard? Read more

 

Susan Tranter: Can I start by asking what you're reading at the moment? Does what you read vary according to what you're working on at the time?

 

ALK: I'm reading Sterne's Sentimental Journey because I like Sterne and I found it in a second hand shop in Lincoln. I try and buy all my books from second hand shops now, or independent shops. What I read will usually be a blend of research and things that I'll enjoy, although if I'm working a lot, I'll tend to relax by watching films.

 

JJ: I really enjoyed Paradise. How did you get the idea for the book?

 

ALK: I'd had an alcoholic character in a previous book and I'd also already done a good deal of research about Christian imagery and traditions - the two came together and suggested the beginnings of a book.

 

LouLou: Do you get ideas for your main characters from real people? And if so, what kind of things do you notice first?

 

ALK: I don't steal from  my life - partly because I think it would deprive me of friends and privacy, partly because it would be dull. It's far more entertaining to build people from scratch and find out what they're like, or what they're doing.

 

Kai: Is it me or would it be fair to describe most of your main characters and narrators as obsessives? What is it that draws you to these people?

 

ALK: Many of them probably are - I like intensity and that is something they have. It's also something to do with my point of view, when you write from the inside of someone's head, you get access to the things they don't say - which probably intensifies that obsessional bit.

 

Andy: How do you manage writing novels and short stories? Do you purposefully alternate the different forms, or are some of your ideas just inherently 'short' or 'long'?

 

ALK: Most ideas are really only going to work well as one thing or the other - I now pretty much know which will be which. And it's possible to write shorter things while you're working on a novel - it's a kind of break.

 

Mano: Hello A.L! The first book of yours which I read was Indelible Acts, which I really liked. I am interested to know what you think about the popularity of short stories. I have seen various 'campaigns' to increase their popularity - do you think this is really needed?

 

ALK: I think we need something to get bookshops to stock them - and poetry and less hyped and unusual novels - if people can't find them, people don't buy them. Publishers have the idea that they're the weaker, non-commercial option and put less muscle into selling them, bookshops don't stock them and it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think readers and writers like them fine.

 

Mrs D: It strikes me that you're a very honest kind of writer - even when things get painful, or close to the bone, or even embarassing. How important do you think honesty is for a fiction writer?

 

ALK: I think if I'm going to waste your time - which is finite - with something I've written, then I should make an effort to be straight with you and give you whatever the story demands. That would only be fair - if I'm going to stop you doing all the other things you could enjoy and make you read me, I should make a bit of an effort.

 

Sara: Which of your books are you fondest of?

 

ALK: I don't like them, or read them once they're finished.

 

TwentyOne: Do you read much poetry? Which poets do you like?

 

ALK: I don't read that much. I like Don Paterson, Kathleen Jamie, John Burnside, the Metaphysical poets, Ann Sansom, Billy Collins, Norman McCaig, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Clare, John Sewell, Amy Clampitt. Mainly, I can't remember their names, though - only individual poems.

 

David: I came across your book On Bullfighting and thought it was just brilliant - in terms of the insights it gave into, on the one hand, a controversial sport, and on the other, the life of a writer. How did the writing of this book come about, and do you plan to do anything like it

again?

 

ALK: I was comissioned to write about fencing and then the editor changed her mind and said I should write about bull fighting. I don't object to non-fiction writing, but I have no plans to do anything in the area in the near future.

 

Susan Tranter: Many thanks for taking part in this interview. On behalf of all your nosey readers out there, may I ask what you're working on at the moment - or is it under wraps?