The events in my novel Summer take place almost entirely on a remote English farm, which I based on the farm I grew up on. I wrote most of the first draft one winter in Dublin, and it was strange to mentally spend so much time in the sun, in this utterly rural place I knew so well from my childhood and had such an emotional attachment to. Strangest of all was recently when I went back: as I walked around, not only did I have genuine memories flooding back, but I also kept seeing spots that featured in the novel, and remembering the events that occurred there. It was the perfect demonstration of how intertwined memory and fiction are, of how on the one hand writing fiction can be a way of validating or processing memory, and how on the other hand memory actually is fiction.
What is a setting from a published fiction story by another author you would compare this setting to and why are they similar?
That’s a very difficult question to answer, because obviously nowhere is like the place you grew up! But there have been comparisons with the opening of Atonement by Ian McEwan, in that the setting feels isolated from the outside world, and is distinctly English.
How would you describe the way you introduced this setting to readers of your story?
The novel opens with Grace and Billy, the siblings at the center of the story, arriving on the farm. As the reader will soon discover, they’ve recently been orphaned, and so they are as lost and new to the place as the reader is when he or she opens the book. So they’re in it together.
How would you describe the integration of characters and setting in this story?
In the death of their parents Grace and Billy have experienced an enormous, nearly unfathomable loss, and as the story unfolds it’s clear that their grandfather and the farm have experienced great loss too. This is where setting goes beyond simply ‘place’: it bleeds into everything, and is ultimately what gives Summer its texture. Also, when you set a story somewhere so rural, where nature plays such a big role, it’s vital that you really develop the characters you populate the place with. There are no hiding places: against the backdrop of the natural world, which is at times both beautiful and brutal, the characters’ selves are exposed, their true natures revealed. Terms like natural world and nature and true nature can get confusing here, but really it’s just language demonstrating the connection between all these things, a connection I feel is increasingly being lost in the developed world. That’s something I hope the novel addresses.
How would you describe the interaction of story and setting in this story?
To continue on from the last question, the very pure and uncluttered setting of this nearly deserted farm amplifies the events that take place on it. Equally, the fates of Grace and Billy and their grandfather, and even the farm itself, are all tied up with one another. There’s an inescapable interdependence running through all of it.
How much research did you do for the setting of this story, and what did that involve?
Because I based the setting on the farm where I grew up, it was a case of remembering rather than researching.
To what extent would you describe the setting of this story typical or atypical of the settings in your fiction stories?
In my previous fiction I’ve generally set stories in places I know or have been to, which is then backed up by research. For example, my first novel was set in London and Monaco. But Summer because is essentially set on the farm I grew up on, in that sense this novel is very autobiographical, which my previous fiction hasn’t been.
How do you usually decide on or develop a setting for your fiction stories?
It depends entirely on the story that needs to be told. The book I’m writing at the moment is a love story, and in complete contrast to Summer it’s set somewhere entirely fictional. It categorically does not exist. It’s the ultimate freeing of the imagination, which feels very appropriate when dealing with something like love. Obviously the fact that every detail has to be invented makes it challenging, but it’s exhilarating too – and with any luck some of that exhilaration will be passed on to the reader.
To what extent do the settings of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?
I enjoy reading books set in all kinds of places, and I certainly don’t think any settings are any more valid than others. All that matters is that it’s done well. Without a convincing setting a book has no texture, and I’m a big fan of texture. For me, texture is the first thing I need to get sorted when writing a new story – it’s the way in, the point of access. I think it’s the same when it comes to reading, too.
Author website: http://www.tomdarling.com
No comments:
Post a Comment