Readers Place

Author Q&A

1. Paradise is about alcohol addiction. How did you research this topic?

Paradise is about one particular person who is addicted to alcohol – I tried to understand what she was like and how she might use alcohol. Beyond that I took some time thinking of ways to describe liquids and choosing a general way of describing alcohol’s effects from her point of view. Someone gave me the WHO definition of alcohol. The rest of that element was influenced by religious imagery.

2. Hannah Luckcraft could be described as an unsympathetic character – I actually felt more sympathy for Robert than I did for Hannah. Do you find it easier to write about nice or nasty characters, and how often do you draw on personal experience when creating a character?

When you ask that kind of question you’d have to be aware that it’s coloured by your own opinion. Most readers seem to have found Hannah sympathetic. Those who reacted most negatively towards her were often people who had been damaged by someone else’s alcoholism in the past. This was predictable – but all of it is none of my business. It’s my job to make characters as real as I can – readers with then find them in all the ways that people can find them. I write about characters that interest me – whether they’re nasty or nice is none of my business.

3. Who do you think is to blame for Hannah’s dependence on alcohol, and her inability to give it up?

I don’t think anyone is to blame – she has a medical condition.

4. Religion is quite a prevailing theme in Paradise, what is the significance of this?

The significance is whatever you’d like it to be – there’s certainly an element there about progressing – in a way that mirrors the stations of the cross – towards unavoidable destruction. If you want to go with that, I’ve included ways of looking at that inevitability and that destruction. The idea of being near to death and therefore somehow spiritually sensitised, of being outside life and nearer to something else – that’s there, too. But it can be a book about drinking and no more, if you would like.

5. Did you ever consider a different ending to Paradise, if so, what was it?

No.

6. Your novels generally seem to be about humanity and relationships. Why do you concentrate on this?

Because I’m a human being – other species don’t really interest me.

7. How did you decide to become a writer?

I didn’t particularly – it turned out to be the only thing I had any aptitude for and writing stories gave me some sort of satisfaction while I was working in several unsatisfying jobs.

8. Are you working on anything at the moment? How do you find inspiration for your novels?

I’m writing a novel at the moment. My inspiration comes from a combination of everything I come across and everything I have come across – in the same way that your thoughts arise.

9. How do you decide on the titles of your books?

They try to reflect something helpful about the nature of the book. With short story collections the convention is that one story’s title should also be the overall title.

10. What sort of people do you think enjoy your novels, and what would you hope for them to get out of Paradise?

I have no idea what sort of people enjoy my novels – that’s not something I can predict, beyond being very general and saying they tend to be left of centre politically and unafraid of emotion – but even that isn’t necessarily true. I can’t predict what anyone would get out of Paradise. I try and make the best book I can and hopefully that will include elements that readers would find interesting, or moving, or attractive, or any of the other things they were looking for in a book. In a way readers are all looking for a different self-fulfilling prophecy in their books – sometimes the book helps them find it.