Heidi James Author Interview

BookBlast interview with Heidi James, author

Heidi James, tell us a bit about yourself; where were you born, and where did you grow up?
I was born in Chatham in Kent and grew up in the surrounding towns – called the Medway towns – so in and around Rochester, Chatham (on various estates), Gillingham. I left when I was seventeen and moved to London, but even though I’ve not lived there for a long time, Medway remains a potent influence.

What sorts of books were in your family home? Who were early formative influences?
My mother and grandmother were avid readers, and I was taught to read and love books from a very early age; but they were busy, working-class women who’d left school early, so the books in our homes tended to be Catherine Cookson and romances, Mills and Boon, etc. Having said that, I had lots of classic children’s books, and I had a couple of teachers who were pretty amazing in encouraging me to read widely. When I was a teenager, I skipped school to go to the library in town and would read anything and everything curled up in a chair by a window that looked out over the River Medway. I read a lot of Dickens, Daphne du Maurier and Stephen King. I used to read any of the Penguin Classics because that seemed to be a foolproof method of reading; I was hungry to learn but hated school. I suppose my earliest influences that I was consciously reading to learn to write were Angela Carter, Plath and Sexton, and John Steinbeck. I loved his work.

Why do you write?
To make sense of things, to feel less alone – but actually, in writing that, I know I’m imposing a reason why, or at least attempting to fashion a “why” out of an impulse I don’t really understand. I like reading essays by other writers where they describe their methods and reasons for writing, and I admire that articulate sense of purpose and approach to their art, but I don’t know that I can excavate or fathom why I do. I just have to; I think about it constantly. Words present themselves, impose themselves on my everyday. I wonder if it’s a distancing, a product of feeling outside the action of life. I’m always observing.

How do you choose your subjects?
It’s the characters mostly. I see and hear and feel a character, and I want to explore them, and the subject or theme unwinds from the character. So Cora in Wounding came first, and I started thinking about the roles we play, or feel forced to play, and how that could unravel. For So the Doves, Melanie came first, but I wanted to write her from a distance, not from her perspective. I wanted to think about class and gender and truth and NOT have a female victim, so I built a story and other characters around her. So, it’s character first, then subject, though so closely fitted that it isn’t quite as sequential as that.

How do you move from research to writing; is it difficult to begin?
My research and writing go hand in hand. A lot of my work happens in rough notes, daydreaming, and reading other things. It seems to coagulate in my mind, and then I sit down to write, and it just comes out. If I do any prep work, it tends to be about the characters. I write scenes from their past or future that won’t make it into the book. I imagine their parents’ lives, etc. I think you have to get under the skin of the characters, to know them better than you know yourself. Once it all comes together in my imagination, I’m anxious to get going.

As an author, what are you most proud (or embarrassed) of writing?
I’m proud I’ve ever managed to write anything and equally embarrassed about all of it.

Your views on success?
Getting caught up in thinking about what constitutes success is a mug’s game, I think. There will always be someone more successful than you, and of course, less so. Having a great review in a fancy broadsheet or winning an award doesn’t actually change anything, and yet yearning for it and making comparisons to others is a guaranteed path to misery. I consider my work a success if it has had meaning for someone, so when I’ve had messages and emails from readers (in particular, this happened with Wounding) telling me the book spoke to them in a way that was helpful or created a sense of empathy, then I’m happy. I’m here, I do what I love, I have loving family and friends, and I feel very lucky. What else is there?

Do you write every day? Do you do many drafts?
I do write every day – even if just notes or fragments. I don’t redraft too much. I wrote one draft of Wounding, but then my amazing editors whipped it into shape. It wasn’t a radical redrafting. I did write about five drafts of So the Doves, however—getting the voice right for that was a challenge. I should probably write more.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the notes and playing with ideas for two novels — a horror(ish) and a historical, back-and-forth epic. Though, of course, both experiment and play with genre/form. I love this part, where it’s still play and experiment and exciting.

Your views on book publishing?
I love that the indies are getting more traction, that they can publish work that the big guys don’t because of commercial considerations and bottom lines. We can only be richer the more good, interesting, strange, diverse books that are out there. Stories make us—we need more. We need to support them, too, and buy from the indies.

Do you enjoy reading e-books?
I’ve never read one. I totally get the convenience arguments, etc., but I love physical books — the heft, the smell, and the pages. I am a book vandal, though. I write notes in them or ideas or arguments. The books on my shelves become a dialogue with the author. I am always late to the party, though, so I may well fall in love with eReaders eventually.

Your views on how new technology has (or has not) changed your writing life? Your views on social media?
Well, computers make it easier to redraft and research, etc., and of course, increased the scope of publishing online, so it’s enriched my writing life as a writer and as a reader. I use social media because I feel I have to, but I don’t like it. It makes me nervous. I feel like a wallflower at a party, lingering at the edge of the dancers, unsure how to join in. Twitter just depresses me.

What are your favorite literary journals?
Gorse, 3AM, Neon, Somesuch . . . There’s some exciting writing to be found.

If you could go anywhere in time for one day, where would you go and why?
To the very beginning or end of time, although even if it were hospitable, I doubt I’d be able to wrap my tiny human mind around it. But then, I suppose to us humans, the moment of our birth or death would be the same — he end or beginning of our time. Maybe for purely pragmatic and selfish reasons, I’d go back to when I was four or five and tell my small self that it would all be OK and not to pay attention to the people who were telling me I was a worthless thing.

Who are the five people, living or dead, you’d invite to a party?
My best friend Michelle, Kathy Burke, Elizabeth Taylor, Miranda July, and Kathleen Hanna. We could all get filthy drunk, talk dirty, and make art.

Your chief characteristic?
I’m loyal. I almost fetishize loyalty.

Your chief fault?
Fear/people-pleasing. I despise it in myself.

Your bedside reading?
I’m currently reading The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. It’s VERY good . . . It’s actually disturbing my sleep!

Your motto?
I have two: “Don’t think, do” (which I never follow) and “Don’t lend what you can’t afford to give” (which I do follow and it applies to more than the material). So I suppose that’s just the one then.

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