I would like to welcome to Passion for Novels the wonderful...
Essie Fox
Essie wrote The Somnambulist recently showcased on the TV Book Club you can read my review of it here. And the Goodreads Synopsis here.
Here's the lovely interview that we had :-)
First of all what sparked off your Passion for Novels?
I’ve always loved reading, ever since my first visit to the local library when I was in infant school. My family never read books, so to suddenly discover a world full of stories and imagination was quite an amazing thing for me. I took out a book called ‘The Water Babies’ by Charles Kingsley – and strangely enough that story has returned to my life again when writing my current novel...with parts of the story inspired by the tale of an orphaned chimney sweep who falls asleep in a babbling brook and wakes to find himself transformed in to a water-baby. However, when I re-read the book again (which I must have read originally in an abridged version, with lovely illustrations to seduce my childish fantasies) I found it to be rather pompous, sermonising and overlong – but then it was written by a Victorian man of the church with an interest in politics and social improvement.
All authors have a struggle, what was the moment when you knew you'd made it? Was there a point where you ever nearly gave up?
I’ve been quite lucky with my writing journey. I came to the craft much later in life than most.
I had worked in the publishing world as an editorial assistant when I first left university but then when my daughter was born I took up illustration instead, which meant that I could work from home. I very often thought about writing, and stories were always in my mind, but my artwork kept me busy enough and only when my daughter left home did I find myself with more time on my hands – which was when I decided to follow the path that had always really been there in my heart.
When I started to write I gave myself three years to make it work – like going back university. My first novel – still under the bed – secured me the services of an agent, and I think that was when I had that moment of euphoria and thought YES! I’ve made it! However, I was wrong. That story failed to find a publisher and I decided that I might well give up if my second novel failed to sell. I love writing but the whole process had somewhat taken over my life and I felt that if ‘The Somnambulist’ wasn’t good enough to find a home then I probably wasn’t a good enough writer. Whether or not I could really have resisted the lure when another story came into mind – well, who can tell? I’m not sure what I would have done instead because writing is now such a part of my life.
Have you always wanted to be an author or did you just get that magical idea for a novel?
I think I’ve always wanted to tell stories. I’ve certainly always been a daydreamer, making up scenarios in my mind, even speaking lines out loud. But as far as setting them down on the page, it was just that real life got in the way. When I finally ‘gave it a go’ it was after a visit to Wilton’s Hall which provides the opening setting for my novel’s story – well, as soon as I started to write that scene, I knew right then that, for good or for bad, writing was the essence of who and what I really was. It was quite a magical moment.
Where do you write? Do you have a special place?
For a long time, I used to write in my bedroom, sitting with my back against the pillows, with my computer balanced on a little breakfast table – one of those that stand on legs. It’s just the right size and always felt very comfortable. However, lately I’ve been thinking that I am simply too slovenly, so right now I’m working at my office desk. That was a New Year’s resolution that, so far, I’ve managed to keep.
What authors are your inspirations for writing?
I have an eclectic taste and whenever I read a really good book I always find myself inspired. I love Angela Carter, Rose Tremain, Sarah Dunant, Sarah Waters, and Helen Dunmore, also John Irving, Haruki Murakami, Charles Palliser, Michael Cox...oh, there just too many to begin to list them all.
Favourite books?
This can change – but at the moment –
Wise Children by Angela Carter.
The Quincunx by Charles Palliser.
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh.
The Underground Man by Mick Jackson.
Under the Skin by Michel Faber.
The House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt
Jamrack’s Menagerie by Carol Birch
Affinity – or Fingersmith – by Sarah Waters.
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray.
What was the first writing project you can remember thinking up? (even if it was when you were young)
I went on holiday to The Isle of Arran and became entranced by the stories of Vikings who invaded and built a castle there. I was quite obsessed with writing a Young Adult novel for a while, infused with all the old Norse myths. I might revisit that idea some time. But when I tried to write it, I was still very busy with my design work and that kept on getting in the way.
Were you always into Gothic fiction as it is a main theme in your novel The Somnambulist?
I adore all the old Victorian Sensation novels – you can really lose yourself in those fantastic twisting turning plots. Also, when I was younger, I used to love staying up late and watching the old House of Hammer horror films on TV – anything inspired by Edgar Allen Poe would be my favourite. So yes, the gothic elements of fiction have always drawn me in.
Do you base your characters on people you know or are they just inventions?
So far, they are mostly inventions - although sometimes little elements of people I know tend to creep in. For instance with the character of Old Riley in ‘The Somnambulist’ I couldn’t help but create a fusion of the characters of my great aunts, and one of those aunts wore an eye patch as she only had one eye, having lost it when a car threw up a stone in the street.
Is there a character in the novel you think you'd get along best with?
Well it wouldn’t be Maud! I think Old Riley. And I can’t help but be a little in love with Cissy.
I really like that there is only really one villain in the story and he isn't vital to the plotline, I feel it becomes more real to the reader. Was this your intention in order to create a more realistic atmosphere or did you just find the characters wrote themselves?
Honestly, the characters wrote themselves. It is a very strange thing, and it doesn’t always happen that way, but with ‘The Somnambulist’ I woke up one morning with the three characters of Phoebe, Maud and Cissy very firmly in mind – even Phoebe’s voice – even Phoebe’s first line in the book. From that point on, when I began to describe their lives, everything – and everyone else – just seemed to appear from nowhere. It felt as if they had really existed and simply wanted their story told.
Although the novel ties up quite nicely can you see any more novels involving Cissy or Phoebe, I must admit I'd love the period before Phoebe's birth to be written or are you just going to leave it to the imagination?
That’s an excellent question. I have from time to time wondered about what might have happened to Phoebe when she went along to America, and who knows, perhaps I might give her a cameo role in a future novel...but she would be much older.
I hadn’t really considered writing about Cissy – but I think that could be a wonderful story – what with all her admirers and her life in the theatre. And I’d certainly love to discover more about Nathaniel Samuels!
A lot of writers have a song which they think captures their novel, if you could sum up the essence of your book with a song which one would it be?
Well, I’m not sure I have one song. I think it would have to be Handel’s operetta, ‘Acis and Galatea’ simply because that music was such an inspiration for the novel’s theme, and Cissy is performing the part of the nymph Galatea when we see her singing in Wilton’s Hall. I even have extracts from the libretto heading up the novel’s chapters. I played it quite a lot when I was writing the book.
Any advice to wannabe writers like me?
Read as much as you can. Write as much as you can, and remember that writing is a craft. The more you practice the better you’ll get.
Be prepared to work really hard. But, first and foremost, enjoy it – that way you will have gained something valuable and pleasurable in your life, even if you don’t gain success at first regarding publication.
Sometimes, writing can by lonely. It’s a very solitary pursuit, so it can be useful to join a writers’ community. I found Write Words.org.uk a great place to meet with like-minded writers when I was starting out – and many of those writers have become my friends.
Thanks so much to Essie for appearing on Passion for Novels, some amazing answers here!
