Books for Company: Blog Tour - The Dark Inside Interview

The Dark Inside Blog Tour Questions

Bookbabblers
What was your journey to publication like?

I would say that the journey was split into two discernible parts: the great amount of time it took for a manuscript of mine to sell and then the actual publication process itself. As regards the former then I’m a very good illustration of the cliché that it takes years to become an overnight success. I have always written because it has felt like a vocation. I like to play around with words and create characters. Initially, I started out writing poetry, then screenplays and now novels. I have taken classes on writing, studied it by reading other people’s fiction, and discussed the mechanics of it with my peers. But, ultimately, the best lesson has always been to sit down and write consistently. I have been somewhat belligerent, not giving up on my hope that I will one day be published and always believing that I was ‘good’ enough. Throughout the process I have honed my voice, developing a means of expression for my stories. I have had some near misses at success along the way at and I have learnt that whilst a writer can be committed and diligent above all they need a healthy dose of luck as well, combined with the right timing, I.e. that the right person reads your work at the right time. I think the need for luck applies throughout a writing career. I won’t be able to evaluate my career as a writer until the end of it because I know there will be many ‘downs’ as well as ‘ups’.
In terms of publication of ‘The Dark Inside’ then the journey has been really enjoyable and fairly smooth. Over the years I have learnt how to analyse my work and know what feels right, figuring out how to judge good notes from the bad ones by learning from comments received. It was great to work with my editor, Jane, on ‘The Dark Inside’ because she generated questions for me and gave me a different point of view on some elements of the story. I have learnt that it is important for a writer, when challenged about something they have written, to be able to justify why they have written it.
Ultimately, one has to be objective not only about one’s writing but about the manuscript as an entity in itself because eventually it’s going to be handed on to other people in the publishing chain - sales staff, cover design, marketing, PR people etc. Hopefully, if you’re with the right publisher then you feel that everyone is working hard, pulling in the same direction, to make the book the best it can be. This has certainly been the case with Simon & Schuster and I am very grateful indeed for that.

Writing From The Tub

The landscapes are so rich in The Dark Inside it really feels as though you’ve been inspired by some real life places. What sort of impact did your own location have on your writing?

I wouldn’t say the landscapes for ‘The Dark Inside’ were inspired by particular places I have visited or by the location in which I was writing the manuscript but more by all the various places I have been in my life, filtering them through my imagination. I wrote the manuscript in my study looking out on to the garden so I was ‘dreaming’ up places where the story was happening. Landscape can definitely be a character in its own right in fiction so I certainly wanted to give it a sense of rich imagery in ‘The Dark Inside’ contributing to the mood. I really enjoy writing descriptively and finding the right words to describe what I see in my mind’s eye. I also enjoy writing about nature and the world at large as well as reading about it.

Book Angel Booktopia

Why did you decide to keep the paranormal element of the novel so muted? It really worked for me as I’m not a huge fan of the paranormal genre either.

As I wrote the first draft I realised I was interested in exploring the notion of believing in something wholeheartedly, why it’s not always so clear cut because there are usually competing arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’. Therefore, I tried to leave it open for readers to decide for themselves what is supernatural and what is not in ‘The Dark Inside’ by keeping certain paranormal elements muted, allowing ambiguity. I imagine that people will reach different conclusions about what is real and what is not in the context of the book - about what they want to believe - and that’s great because, as in life, nothing is ever really cut and dried since everyone has a point of view.
To be honest I haven’t read much paranormal at all, it’s not something I would naturally gravitate towards reading, so because of that perhaps I wasn’t interested in writing a standard, overtly paranormal book either.

Books for Company

Which part of The Dark Inside was the hardest to write?

I think it was quite hard to know how ‘dark’ to make the book. There are some sad moments and it was difficult to know how far to go with them particularly because the book has a 13 yr old boy as the main character. I had to rely on feedback. Some of the sadder, darker and more vicious moments were edited out initially and then gradually revised and reinserted at various stages as I was rewriting.

In some ways the whole book was hard to write in the sense that although I was writing a story I was enjoying I had no idea whether anyone else would like it. I think self-doubt about one’s work is a very real emotion for any writer to wrestle with and it never really goes away, at least not for me.

Book Angel Booktopia

Were you inspired by David Almond’s Skellig?

I read the book a number of years ago and enjoyed it, and it certainly made an impression on me, but it didn’t provide any direct inspiration as such. The books are quite different in many respects although I think their tone is comparable, as well as their inherent magical realism and some of the themes. As a writer I think you absorb lots of things whether it’s through reading, seeing films and theatre, listening to music or even just watching everyday life. It’s important to keep your creativity topped up because writing does drain you.

I think the idea of pinning down where inspiration comes from is a difficult one and to analyse it too hard is dangerous, running the risk of turning creativity into something functional. It’s an odd, mysterious alchemy that operates within the subconscious as much as in the conscious and looking for it can make it dysfunctional, forcing it to flee and hide away.

Two quotes from a couple of my favourite writers have always stuck with me about the nature of writing and inspiration because they seem very truthful to me. The first is from Dennis Potter who said "…any writer really has a very small field to keep ploughing, and eventually you turn up the coins or the treasure..." The second is from Cormac McCarthy - “The ugly fact is that books are made out of books...The novel depends for its life on the novels that have been written.”

Naomi’s Book Reviews

The chapters in the book are grouped by date - starting 8th June. Why did you decide to write the book in this way, and why start on 8th June?

Without giving too much away, the structure of the book requires a ‘ticking clock’ and the two main characters are trying to achieve something by a certain date for the majority of the story. Using the dates gives a sense of time ticking away and increases the dramatic content…or at least that’s what I was hoping for! Because the book is effectively a ‘road trip’ then it was nice to have the date as a constant as the two characters travel, it provides a ‘spine’ to the story.
The start date of the book was pretty random although I wanted the book to take place in the summer. In earlier drafts the book started at a slightly earlier date but as I rewrote it I realised that time span needed to be more compressed to fit with the logic of the plotting and to increase the tension of the story.