Katherine Towler - Author Interview: Setting

Pick one of your favourites among the settings from your published fiction stories or a setting which is an interesting example from your published fiction. What makes this setting one of your favourites or an interesting example from your fiction?

I have written a trilogy of novels set on a fictional New England island. The setting came first, before characters or plot, in my thinking about these connected books. I was fascinated by life in a small, contained community and what happens to the people who reside in such places. There is plenty of romance about islands. They are places of escape, away from the mainstream. People fantasize about leaving everything behind and going to an island where life will be simpler, and they can live in harmony with nature. In many ways, this fantasy is true, but islands are also places of confinement. When you cannot leave, unless the ferry comes or you have your own boat, your understanding of life’s possibilities becomes constrained. Locate an island far enough offshore, with a small population, and you have a petri dish for looking at human experience and character. It was this that attracted me to writing about an island and making the setting the centerpiece of the trilogy.

What is a setting from a published fiction story by another author you would compare this setting to and why are they similar?

The Canadian writer Alistair MacLeod comes to mind, though I hesitate to compare myself to him in any way. His collection of short stories, ISLAND, and his novel, NO GREAT MISCHIEF, are set on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. He evokes that landscape and the Scottish immigrants who have carved out tough lives there in beautiful prose. Other writers whose use of setting inspired me are Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Thomas Hardy (to name a few).

How would you describe the way you introduced this setting to readers of your story?

I introduced the setting in the first volume of the trilogy, SNOW ISLAND, through the characters and their daily lives. The book begins with the arrival of an enigmatic character, George Tibbits, who returns to the island for his annual visit each spring. The first chapters detail his trip to the island, and then from the point of view of another character who works at the island’s store, his arrival on the ferry. Through the different viewpoints, I attempt to bring the island to life and place the reader in a world where the arrival and departure of the ferry is the main event of the day.

How would you describe the integration of characters and setting in this story?

A number of readers have said that the island is really the main character of my books. Though I didn’t quite think of it this way as I was writing, I have been pleased that readers see the setting as so essential to the story. My aim in writing is to evoke both setting and character in ways that make them vividly real for the reader. Though there is plot in my novels, character and setting drive plot, rather than the other way around. A major focus as I wrote the trilogy was the relationship between character and setting. Alice Daggett, one of the main characters in SNOW ISLAND, is a teenager who has lived her entire life on the island. I was curious about how knowing only island life shaped Alice. Though she has led a sheltered life and is unsophisticated (in the eyes of the mainland world), she is independent and resourceful. As I took the book through repeated drafts, Alice became a character who was both vulnerable and strong, and in many ways wise beyond her years. The island made her someone with values a bit different from those who live in cities.

The three volumes of my trilogy span the years from 1941 to 1991. Each volume covers a period of a couple of years, with 30 years in between each book. The novels have different main characters, though many of the characters appear in all three. In the third volume, ISLAND LIGHT, Alice is a grandmother in her early sixties. I tell the story, in the course of the three books, of Alice’s life from adolescence to approaching old age, although not in a direct narrative. The reader pieces together the arc of her life from one volume to the next.

How would you describe the interaction of story and setting in this story?

Because my characters live in a contained community, the setting defines the story. Everything that happens occurs on the island. They can’t leave, and neither could I as I was writing the books. This posed particular challenges. I didn’t want the story to become too static, but at the same time I was determined to be true to the nature of island life. The setting forced me to look closely at small moments in the lives of my characters because on the island there weren’t a lot of big moments. Yet within those small moments, I found a large canvas for the interior lives of my characters, and their experiences of love, loss, and betrayal. I like to tell stories that focus closely on characters’ emotional experience and interior lives, so the island setting was a natural fit with my interests and inclinations as a writer, even as it was also a challenge.

Each volume of my trilogy is set with war as the backdrop. The first volume takes place during World War II, the second during the Vietnam War, and the third at the start of the first Gulf War. The wars provided another setting, in a sense, though there are no scenes on actual battlefields. I wanted to tell the stories of the men and women who left the island to serve in these wars – what happened to them and what happened to those who stayed behind. My island setting became a microcosm for registering the impact of war on the country as a whole.

How much research did you do for the setting of this story, and what did that involve?

I lived on a small island in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, in the United States, for a short time in the late 1980s. I didn’t go to the island with the intention of writing about it, but I was so entranced with the island and the people I met there that I went on to do so. I visited the island several times over the next few years. The “real” island has a year-round population of 125 and is accessible only by ferry. Much of the atmosphere and landscape of my books comes from the real place and my observations of it. I also did a fair amount of reading about island life, especially in the 1940s, and research on the fisherman who work in Narragansett Bay (along with lots of other research about the different wars, popular music, events in the news, and on and on).

To what extent would you describe the setting of this story typical or atypical of the settings in your fiction stories?

I am very interested in place and the role it plays in people’s lives. Setting is always significant in anything I am writing. The novels in the trilogy are my only published books to date, but I am currently working on a non-fiction book set in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and a collection of short stories. I love the ocean and seaside towns, which tend to turn up in my stories. I grew up in New York City and have set some of my stories there, but New England, where I have lived most of my adult life, is the place I feel most at home and for which I have a real passion, so many of my stories are set in New England.

How do you usually decide on or develop a setting for your fiction stories?

As I think I have already demonstrated, setting, character, and story are intertwined in my work. The setting is not usually a conscious choice, but results from the intersection of all three elements. I tend to write about places I know well.

To what extent do the settings of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?

I choose some books to read because of the setting. Anything about islands, for instance! But I read widely and enjoy reading books that take me to places I have not been.

Author website: www.katherinetowler.com



Lia Weston - Author Interview: Debut Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

For some reason, I was obsessed with ye olde time-y stories in my childhood—Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Jane Austen.... Basically, if it had a puffed sleeve on the cover, I’d pick it up. In my teenage years, I succumbed to a serious Mills and Boon binge, which it turned out to be excellent training in what kind of writing to avoid. (It also resulted in an aversion to mentions of clothing labels or descriptions; nothing dates a book faster than the heroine combing her perm and pulling on her acid-washed stirrup pants.) (Shut up; I don’t care if they’re back.) From societal mores and trashy romances, I segued into comedies of manners and developed a taste for that very British style exemplified by people like Douglas Adams. Plus I loved anything vaguely sarcastic, so I had a really inappropriate crush on PJ O’Rourke. (Shh—don’t tell anyone.)

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

Absolutely. I was always amazed—and still am, to be honest—that more people didn’t recognise how damned funny Austen and Montgomery were. There’s a very dry sense of humour there and a great deal of understatement; I found it a powerful way to get a point across, and it’s been a strong influence on my own work. Like Austen and others of her time (because, really, what else was there to write about back then?), I’m fascinated with the miniature of life, societal norms, and the way people behave, especially those who have no concept of the way they’re perceived by others. All in all, I think my various literary obsessions (politeness, hypocrisy, sarcasm, irony, the unspoken, and bustles) can all be traced back to my early reading.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

I worked in hospitality—that traditional creative training ground—while I got my university degree, and then fell into an admin job at my university’s bookshop. It was horrible and bored me to tears, but on the plus side it resulted in a lot of poetry being written—most satirical takes on office politics, although there were at least one or two which detailed various ways to kill my co-workers. After a few years, I was poached by a sports publishing house to write copy for books on sports injuries and PE. It wasn’t creatively fulfilling, but at least I was surrounded by nice people. At night, I ghost-wrote my friends’ uni essays, which was a pretty good tip that I should have been doing my own writing. Three years ago I left the sports writing behind to join my husband in running our bike shop, Bio-Mechanics Cycles & Repairs, and that’s where you can find me for sixty hours a week. Writing gets crammed into the spaces outside work.

I had the basic storyline for The Fortunes of Ruby White kicking around in my head, and for several years took bashes at it every few months before abandoning it again. Finally, I got frustrated with the cliché of having a half-finished novel in my desk drawer, and set myself a goal to complete it, even if it was rubbish. I wrote it, re-wrote it, and then realised it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought, so why not attempt to get it published? How hard could that be? (Ha ha ha!) I picked a publisher, sent it off, and then, as I started researching the industry, realised what a stupid mistake I’d made: it would go to the slush pile and never be seen again. After many months of alternating between optimism and depression about the fate of my manuscript, I received a phone call from the publishing house, and was offered a contract.

The lesson is: when people tell you that a first novel never gets published, let alone without an agent, let alone one that’s sent to slush, they’re wrong. Fortunately.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction?

I think my style is commercial comic fiction. It’s a difficult area—I write primarily about women, and I’m interested in traditionally ‘domestic’ areas (e.g. relationships, pretty things) but I wouldn’t call it ‘chick lit’. (No sex, no shoes, no shopping!) Ruby’s more interested in staying employed and/or sane than in romance. Sometimes I worry that readers who expected a chick lit book were thrown by mine, and, conversely, that readers looking for something heavier didn’t pick it up because the cover is so pretty. I’ve had readers say my book was both funnier and sadder than they expected, which pretty much backs up this theory. But I’ve been very pleasantly surprised as to how many men have enjoyed the book; one called me a ‘female Nick Earls’, which chuffed me to no end.

Is your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages does this present for you?

It’s a standalone novel. At the end of the book, Ruby has changed considerably, and I didn’t even consider bringing her back—her story was over, as far as I was concerned. When my publisher asked about a sequel I did think long and hard about it, though, and decided that I could possibly bring her back, but the story would need to be set at least a few years after the end of the original novel. To date, I haven’t written another Ruby story, but she does live on via her blog.

Have you found writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

It’s definitely been more challenging, which I didn’t expect. Ruby’s story came to me almost fully formed; I put my fingers to the keyboard and it seemed to just write itself. (Of course this is all in glorious hindsight. In reality, there were at least a handful of moments where I completely freaked out, wondering how on earth I was going to make the story into a full book.) My second novel is much more character-driven, and I also decided to try plotting it in advance—the combination of these factors has been interesting, to say the least. I really admire people who can sit and work out character relationships and their back-stories and what they like to eat and what you’d find in their handbag and who’d be on their MP3 playlist; unfortunately, things of this nature frustrate me—I just want to get in there and WRITE the story. When I’ve finished my second novel, I’ll sit back and see if the benefits of plotting outweighed the mind-numbingness of the process for me. I may have to overcome my prejudices!

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

Just one? Oh, boy. I’ll have to say the incredibly funny and incredibly smart Douglas Adams. Neither the comedy nor sci-fi genres would be the same without him. His style is so distinct; it’s really groundbreaking stuff. Plus Adams struggled with productivity, was an atheist fascinated by religion, and suffered periods of extremely low confidence in his work, so I relate to him on several levels.

How would you summarise your debut novel in one paragraph?

Ruby White is jobless, directionless, and broke. After spectacularly disrupting a yoga class, she finds herself at a seminar for the Hyper-Auto-Aware—a condition she never knew existed—run by the Jaasmyn Empire—a company she’s never heard of. Providing everything from meditation CDs, candles, and ‘specialised sleeping aides’ (otherwise known as ‘pillows’) to private classes with dogs as psychic therapists, the Jaasmyn Empire offers solutions for every physical and metaphysical problem ever conceived, and many that haven’t been. Armed with only a sarcastic and sceptical nature, Ruby catches the attention of a senior Empire staff member and, to her astonishment, is offered a job. By making what she believes are a series of lucky guesses, Ruby swiftly gains an extraordinary reputation at her new workplace. Delighted at fitting in somewhere for the first time in her life, she ignores her doubts about the Empire’s ethics, and soon begins to believe her own hype. As Ruby’s behaviour begins to change, her friends and family try to rescue her; unfortunately their attempts only push her further away and into the arms of Jaasmyn, the Empire’s charismatic leader. A show-down for Ruby’s soul is on the horizon... but the outcome is not one that anyone expects.

How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?

It’s a satirical take on the New Age industry, an area ripe for comedy if there ever was one. The reader follows an ordinary girl as she falls prey to a sect masquerading as an aromatherapy company. Although it’s ostensibly a comedy, there’s a serious thread underlining Ruby’s journey; it’s darker than people might expect. I think anyone who’s purchased a scented candle, done yoga, used an oil burner, gone to a psychic, or wondered if John Edward is full of crap can relate Ruby’s predicament. Plus it’s all about cults. Who doesn’t love a cult?

How would you summarise a chapter from your debut novel in one paragraph?

Ruby White has recently quit her job, and finds herself at a loose end. Killing time, she decides to do something different and tries out a free yoga class. Instead of a relaxing experience, the instructor’s inane platitudes—coupled with a birdsong/rainforest/plinky piano soundtrack—drive Ruby insane, and she ends up having an outburst which interrupts the class. Ashamed and embarrassed, she apologises profusely to the instructor, who diagnoses her as suffering Hyper-Audio-Awareness (Ruby: “What?”) and gives her a pass for a free class at the Jaasmyn Empire (Ruby: “Who? Where?”) as a solution.

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

It sets up one of the main operating processes of the Jaasmyn Empire, a company outwardly dedicated to holistic healing but actually something far more nefarious. In starting with something as simple as a yoga class, it demonstrates the Empire’s technique of diagnosing perfectly healthy people with conditions that don’t exist, and persuading them they need to be fixed. (One class leads to another class which leads to a treatment which leads to more treatments, but all done very carefully so people don’t realise what’s happening.) In this chapter, which is early in the story, Ruby is still very sceptical, but she’s a trusting person and open-minded enough to give it a chance. Besides, what else does she have to do on a Monday at 2.30 pm? It also shows how Ruby is particularly vulnerable at this point in her life—something the Empire feeds on.

Author website: http://www.liaweston.com/