Anna McPartlin Interview

Anna McPartlin is a best-selling Irish author of four novels to date. After reviewing her 2006 debut novel Pack Up The Moon, I caught up with Anna for a chat about her work then and now.

Q. When did you decide you wanted to be a writer, and how did it come about?

A. I’ve always been a story teller but because I’m dyslexic I thought I’d be better off working as an actress. I quickly discovered that telling other people’s stories didn’t really thrill me so in my mid twenties I decided to start trying to tell my own.

Q. What authors did you read growing up and who has most inspired you?

A. I was obsessed with Virginia Andrews when I was a teenager, she was the Stephenie Meyer of my day;  although having said that instead of writing books promoting abstinence her characters had sex with the most regrettable of partners. Which actually explains a lot about my youth. But the author that inspired me to write was Roddy Doyle. I read ‘The Snapper,’ and I immediately wanted to put pen to paper.

Q. On to your own work – generally what do you find to be the easiest and most difficult aspects of writing a novel?

A. Characters come very easily to me and by the time I put pen to paper they are completely formed in my mind. I know them inside and out. My biggest flaw is overwriting. I need to be very strict when editing myself and I need my editor to be even stricter.

Q. Going back a few years, your first novel’s title, “Pack Up The Moon” stands out as having a particularly distinct poetical reference compared to your other novels. Why W.H. Auden?

A. Auden’s ‘Stop All The Clocks’ and Pack Up The Moon are all about the profound effect of the loss of a loved one. I’d always loved the poem and when I mentioned Pack Up The Moon as a possible title for the book, my publisher wasn’t sure a lot of people would understand the reference so we added a few lines of the poem to give the title context.

Q. What did you hope to achieve, as a new novelist, with that first book, and do you think you succeeded?

A. I wanted my voice to be distinctive and I think I’ve achieved that. At least I very much hope so!

Q. Do you feel your writing has developed or changed over the course of four years and four novels? Is there anything you’ve accomplished or which you still want to develop?

A. I can’t really say if anything has changed over time. I certainly hope I’ve developed and that I’ll continue to do so. My biggest accomplishment to date is getting published in the first place; it took 10 long years of working down the back of my kitchen to get that deal. As a writer what I want is to continue to tell stories that entertain.

Q. Your latest release, So What If I’m Broken, is unusually inspired by the songs of a particular music artist, Jack Lukeman – how did this come about, and why did you want to do it?

A. All my books have soundtracks. I put together music at the start of the book and that is the only music I listen to until the book is completed. In this case the book came from the music. I watched Jack perform one night and the character of Elle came to mind and she wouldn’t go away. After receiving Jack’s consent I took his music and listened to it for 6 months solid before putting pen to paper and the story came from that.

Q. Your novels overall are hugely character driven – do you draw any influence for them from anyone you know, or yourself? Any favourites?

A. Every character is inspired by the people close to me but that’s where it ends. I build a character the same way a contractor builds a house, brick by brick. Each personality trait given to my characters has to be in keeping with the others. They have to feel real even if the reader doesn’t know people like the people in my book or even if they don’t like them – I work really hard to make them absolutely believable.
I suppose if I had a gun to my head I’d say my favourite character is Emma from Pack Up The Moon, not because I like her the best, in fact, I find her quite annoying but then she’s in her twenties and thinks she knows it all so she’s supposed to be annoying. She’s my favourite because she was the main character in my first book, because she tells her story in first person and it’s the only time I’ve done that and because she grieved in the book as I have grieved in life.

Q. Have you ever considered writing a novel in a completely different genre?

A. I have and I will. I would love to write a book aimed at teenagers and I think I might have a children’s book in me too. I’ve already written for TV and loved it. So I’m really open to telling my stories in any and all genres.

Q. Lastly, can you tell us a bit about any plans you have for the future, be they novels or other projects?

A. Next up, meeting with Grand Pics about a pitch for ITV. I’m writing a short film this weekend for a pal of mine who has just started up his own production company. I’m also writing a feature film which I hope to have finished by the end of January. Then I’m starting book five and after that I might try my hand at a children’s book.

Find out more about Anna’s latest book ,  So What If I’m Broken, and her other work at her official website.

Ben Kane Interview

Ben Kane was born in Kenya and raised there and in Ireland. He studied veterinary medicine at University College Dublin but after that travelled the world extensively, indulging his passion for ancient history. He is the author of The Forgotten Legion and The Silver Eagle, and fans are awaiting the final book in the trilogy, The Road To Rome.

Q. For those who haven’t yet come across The Forgotten Legion Chronicles, can you give a brief overview – how would you entice someone to start reading them?

A. The Roman historical fiction genre has been enjoying increasing popularity over the last decade or more. Huge numbers of readers clearly look for books about the Roman time period – and mine are (hopefully) in the vein of Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden. Among other things, the trilogy relates a tale that has rarely been told – the incredible true story of how 10,000 legionaries, taken prisoner after a battle in modern day Iran, were marched nearly to Afghanistan to serve as border guards for their captors. It also details what life was like for slaves, those at the bottom of the social ladder, rather than the ‘normal’ method of using a senior army officer or nobleman.

Q. The Chronicles are a trilogy, did you write them in this way from the start, or did your initial ideas expand once you started writing?

A. I wrote The Forgotten Legion as a standalone book, with the idea for the rest of a trilogy in my head. Because my publishers were keen for a trilogy, they bought one, and I had a major writing job on my hands! While the Chronicles is a trilogy, it has the potential for more books down the line.

Q. The books weave together many characters and storylines – do you have a timeline or storyboard to help you, or are you good at keeping it in your head?

A. When I wrote the first book, I winged it quite a bit. Then during the writing of the second, I went off on a few wild goose chases as I enjoyed myself writing about the Roman army on campaign. This time, with The Road to Rome (the 3rd book), I have what happens in every single chapter written down on a document which I check every day. It’s excellent at keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Q. Is the Roman era a time that has always interested you? How much research did you need for your books?

A. Yes, it is, ever since I read Eagle of the Ninth and The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliffe. I also repeatedly borrowed a book about the Roman army from my school library, and had completely forgotten about it until I recently purchased an excellent textbook called Greece and Rome at War by Peter Connolly. Imagine my delight when I found it to be the same book I’d read so many times as a boy!

Q. It’s a popular era for historical authors to write about, what do you think makes your books stand out?

A. That’s a tough question! Perhaps the fact that they’re not about the high-ranking officers or leaders of Rome – they’re about the ordinary foot soldier, slave and gladiator, and how hard life is for them. Unusually for this genre too, one of the main protagonists is a woman.

Q. You’ve done a lot of travelling – do you think that has increased your interest in history, and does it help with your writing?

A. It certainly has increased my interest in history – I’ve visited World War I and American civil war battlefields, Little Big Horn, countless Aztec, Maya and Inca sites in Central and South America and the grave of Tamerlane, Genghis Khan’s grandson. I’ve wandered around the tomb of Alexander the Great’s father, Philip, and seen the treasures found there, and travelled parts of the ancient Silk Road in Iran, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. I think seeing so many places as well as reading about them helps immensely with writing historical fiction.

Q. Have you always been a keen reader yourself? What are your favourite genres and authors?

A. Sorry to be boring, but historical fiction comes top of the list as a genre. I do love contemporary fiction and some fantasy too though. Favourite authors include Simon Scarrow, Louis de Bernieres and Guy Gavriel Kay.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the road to publication – I understand there was a bidding war for the trilogy?

A. It was a long, long slog – about five years of writing, an Arvon Foundation course, and countless 90+ hour weeks (between full-time vetting and writing). Fortunately, I met my now wife when I had already started working like this, so she knew what to expect. Once the book went out on the market in August 2007, there was a bodding war for about a week between 6 of the biggest publishers around. It was so exciting! Preface, a new imprint of Random House won the war, and I’ve been very lucky to gain Rosie de Courcy as my editor there – she’s one of the best known editors around.

Q. The first two books in the series are now published – are you working on the 3rd book, and do you have any ideas when it will be published?

A. The Road to Rome comes out in summer 2010, although I’m hoping to have it finished very soon. The date is down to the publishers – sorry to any impatient readers!

Q. What comes next for you, are you going to continue to write?

A. Oh yes! I’m not going back to veterinary if I can help it. I’m in the fantastic position of having just sold a new trilogy to Preface – about the second Punic war between Rome and Carthage. This was the conflict with Hannibal, so there’s the most extraordinary amount of fantastic action to recall – from his crossing of the Alps with elephants to the battle of Cannae, when he inflicted the greatest defeat Rome was ever to suffer – 50,000 Roman legionaries were killed in one day, which must have been the most appalling sight to see.

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Interview with Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Paul and Chris are the people who have brought us The Edge Chronicles, and the final book, The Immortals is published today, Feb 5th. I feel honoured to have been able to review this book very recently, and I’m now working my way through the earlier books.

Over to Chris and Paul..

Q. Who came up with the initial idea for the series, and where did it come from? For those who are new to the series, how would you briefly describe it?

A. The Edge Chronicles themselves started in one of these sketch books. Back in 1994, Chris drew a map of the Edge, with its familiar jutting rock, floating city and endless forests. He gave it to Paul, saying ‘Here’s the world. Let’s find out what happens in it.’

The Edge Chronicles are a series of books based in the Edge lands where all sorts of adventures happen. There are battles, funny moments, characters you empathise with, sky pirate ships, strange creatures, lots of illustrations and a cracking good story.

The books are not traditional fantasies. They are influenced by the tales of the Brothers Grimm and Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast. In much traditional fantasy, a world of good versus evil is depicted. The Edge does not deal with black and white in this way, but rather in shades of grey, which is far more like our own world. There is also no magic. We thought it would be too convenient if a cloak of invisibility or magic spell was used to solve a problem. Instead, the world has its own physical properties, from floating rocks to solidified lightning.

The Immortals is the tenth and final instalment and it publishes this month. It’s set 500 years after the end of the previous book, in the Third Age of Flight. This third age has been made possible by the unlocking and harnessing of stormphrax’s immense power: the power of lightning.

Q. How did it progress from the initial idea.. does Chris add the illustrations after the stories are told, or do you gain inspiration from each other?

A. Our working method varies. Sometimes passages influence the drawings, sometimes the drawings influence the text as we are working. Most important, however, is talking. The Edge Chronicles are a collaboration. We plot and plan together, talking over every aspect of the storyline and the Edgeworld itself. Out of these long conversations, the books slowly emerge, first as text, and then final illustrations are added.

Q. What was your initial vision, did you intend to write just one book, one trilogy, or the whole series.

A. When we first started the series, we thought it might turn out to be a trilogy – if we were lucky. By the time we’d finished the three books about Twig, Beyond the Deepwoods, Stormchaser and Midnight over Sanctaphrax, we had so many ideas remaining that we decided to produce two more books – the first, Curse of the Gloamglozer, a prequel, to tell the tale of his father, Quint; the second, the Last of the Sky Pirates, a sequel, to reveal what had happened to Twig. This book introduced a third main character, Rook Barkwater, Twig’s grandson. His adventures also turned into a trilogy, with Vox and Freeglader.

So both Twig and Rook had three books each about them, but Quint only had one – though not for long. The Winter Knights and Clash of the Sky Galleons followed his boyhood through the Knights Academy of Sanctaphrax and off in the Galerider in search of his family’s murderer. The Lost Barkscrolls is four stories in one book, taken from episodes that occurred in the first and second Age of Flight.

Once we had got so far, the Immortals – the tenth and final book – had to be written to bring all the threads of the stories together and, as American therapists put it, to achieve closure.

Q. Do you have to keep lots of notes, to remind you who lives where, the developing time lines etc, or is it all stored in your mind?

A. Yes, it’s a complex world! The thing is we’re so absorbed in it, it’s as if the characters are our best friends, and you don’t forget your best friend’s birthday or what happened to their parents, or when they were injured in a battle! We have lots of notes, but mostly we talk, talk, talk – plus our editor at the publisher is very good at spotting when we make mistakes or there are inconsistencies.

Q. Do you feel that all the books in the Chronicles are aimed at the same age group, or has the writing changed as your initial audience grow up?

A. We write the Edge Chronicles for ourselves, or rather the twelve-year old boys we once were. Both of us loved adventure books when we were that age, from Henry Treece to Willard Price. We’d have loved the Edge if it had existed then! Throughout the writing of the Edge series, both of us have had long, detailed conversations with our sons about the world, and their reactions have helped us steer a course through the books. Our readership is very varied, from enthusiastic boys and girls and their parents, to a post-graduate student in Los Angeles who was writing his thesis on the Edge. And Chris’s mum, a vicar’s wife in her seventies, also loves them.

Q. Do you have a favourite book or trilogy? How about the characters, do any stand out for you as your favourites?

A. Paul’s favourite character is Xanth Filatine. He is a complex figure, with divided loyalties, sometimes doing good things for bad reasons, sometimes doing bad things for good reasons.

Chris’s favourite character is Zelphyius Dax, a librarian knight of the Third Age of Flight, who voyages through the Deepwoods aboard his skycraft, the Varis Lodd. He remembers and reveres the past, and is an opponent of new phraxships and the ecological damage inflicted by progress.

Q. The Immortals wraps up old stories, and is said to be the final instalment in The Edge Chronicles – did you always plan to write that final book, rather then letting the series continue on indefinitely?

A. We had to stop somewhere! We’ve been in absorbed in this world for over 10 years, we live, eat and breath the Edge – it can be all–consuming.

We always intended the Edge Chronicles to be a self-contained series of books, and the Immortals completes the story arc. Various threads were left untied in the previous books. What happened to Cloud Wolf in the white storm? Was Twig alive or dead when the caterbird takes him to Riverrise? What happened to old Sanctaphrax when the anchor-chain was cut and it floated off at the end of Midnight over Sanctaphrax? Where did stone sickness come from? And what became of the gloamglozer? All these questions, and more, are answered in The Immortals.

Q. So now The Edge Chronicles has come to an end, where do you both go now? Will you continue to work together, or working on separate projects?

A. We don’t think we’ll ever stop working together! And yes, we have a very exciting idea we are working on at the moment but we’re not allowed to say any more about it. Ssssshhh!

Q. What else have you both written or illustrated?

A. Paul has a number of picture books and novels out like Dogbird and The Weather Witch, and Chris writes and illustrates the Ottoline books; Ottoline and the Yellow Cat and Ottoline Goes to School. Chris also does some picture books for Walker.

Q. Finally, what did you enjoy reading when you were younger?

A. Paul loved Rupert annuals, the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, the ‘Alice’ books, all the novels of Alan Garner, especially Elidor. He also read huge amounts of science fiction.

Chris, as a boy, loved Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, old Dandy and Beano annuals, Professor Branestawm by Norman Hunter, and the Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner.

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