MHO'F
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Posts posted by MHO'F
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Um, I don't know! I don't think it's necessarily true that you have to be over 40 to write a good book. There are plenty of wonderful books written by people younger than that, and plenty written by people older than that. I do think you tend to write different books at different ages. I couldn't write 'After You'd Gone' now, I think. That was very much a mid-twenties book. And I did try to write 'Esme Lennox' in my mid-twenties but couldn't, so maybe it's my mid-thirties book.
Maggie
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hello and another belated welcome to the forum maggie!
my name is alison, I have only one of your books "My lovers lover" and it's and excellent read!
my Question is, Who are your influences in books? and when you're not writing what other writers would you sit down and read?
Keep up the good work!
regards
alison
Influences are the Brontes, Albert Camus, RL Stevenson, Virginia Woolf, Robert Browning, Angela Carter. I'd read any of these when I'm not writing. I also try and read anything written by Peter Carey, William Boyd, Michele Roberts, Ali Smith, among others.
Maggie
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Hello and belated welcome Maggie. The question I have for you is...
When you have finished writing your books do you have somebody who goes over it to 'prove' read it? i.e. check for grammer, punctuation and spelling. Or do you check it yourself as you go along?
I know its a bit of an odd question but it is something which intrigues me and i keep forgetting to ask!
I enjoy TVAOEL very much (I remember Caulderstone's being talked about when I was younger) and look forward to reading more of your work in the future.
Yes, absolutely. I have a lovely, patient and brilliant proof-reader called Hazel, who has worked tirelessly on all my very messy manuscripts. She spots all the spelling mistakes and grammar errors, as well as things like calling something a "sofa bed" on page 71 and the same things a "futon" on page 132...
Maggie
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Has your own family influenced this or do you mainly seek inspiration in others? (As you mentioned in your reply to Gyre's question about the "grandmother's cousin")
Has your perception of writing families changed since you started a 'new' one with your son and husband?
I always, always try to avoid writing about real people in my books. It wouldn't be fair on them. Obviously, things from my own life do appear in my fiction - it would be difficult for them not to - but I don't tend to write autobiographically as a rule. I have to live my life; it would be boring writing about it as well ...
And, yes, inevitably, your perception of family changes when you have your own. Having spent 30 years as a daughter and sister, you suddenly have a whole new role as a mother. And what an enormous role that is.
Maggie
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I have a non-literary question, but one that I find equally important...
Have you bought any more Vivienne Westwood shoes lately, Maggie?
I once read an interview where you were showing off a gorgeous pair of red ones!You're right. It is an important question. And the answer is yes. I got married two years ago and I bought myself some silver Vivienne Westwoods for that. My son had silver Kickers to match...
Maggie
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Hi Maggie, I'm Gyre, its nice to meet you.
I didn't think Esme was schizophrenic at all or in fact had a mental illness (the death of her brother affected her deeply and the fact her family did not want to talk about Hugo, did not help), unless of course 'being different' means you have a mental illness, but I think not.
You got the whole stigma of mental illness during that time across so brilliantly, my question is (and it is not far off the mark from Icecream's) but how did you research for the book?
Thanks x
Hi Gyre,
Is that as in Yeats' gyres?
There are numerous brilliant books on the subject, two of which are mentioned int he acknowledgements for the novel. Also, a number of memoirs (The Ha ha, by Jennifer Dawson & Antonia White's trilogy, for example). The Wellcome Library in London was very helpful too.
Maggie
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I was wondering something along the same lines just this morning PDR.
Maggie, what inspired you to look into/research mental institutions and their practices/ mental illness?
Hi there,
See above, my reply to our friend PDR...
Maggie
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Hello again Maggie!
What inspired/prompted you to write Esme Lennox? Was there a specific issue that you thought was interesting and wanted to explore? (The review in the Guardian talked a lot about 'the Orphans of the Raj', which Esme certainly appears to be a part of - was that something you heard about first or did that come with research?)
Also musicians always get asked who/what inspired their new album, so what particularly inspired Esme Lennox?
Lots of questions there, sorry! Think of me as a fluffy, bookish version of Jeremy Paxman
And amateur Dear Jeremy,
In the early 1990s, just after Thatcher had passed her "Care in the Community Act" and the big Victorian asylums were being closed down, someone told me about their grandmother's cousin. She had just died at the age of ninety in one of these closing asylums, two months from release. She'd been put away at the age of nineteen, for planning to elope with a legal clerk. I couldn't forget this cousin and so embarked on research about women who'd been put away for reasons of immorality - and uncovered so many I knew I had to write a novel about it.
A book that really inspired Esme was Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper.
Maggie
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Icecream, even today women go through pregnancy without knowing.. it can happen.
I don't think she actually had any kind of mental illness either.. Maggie?
You're right, of course. It's perfectly possible even now for women, particularly teenagers like Esme, to be unaware that they are pregnant.
And, yes, right again. She's not insane and has no mental illness whatsoever. She's saner than most of the other people in her family. She's misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic, which a great number of women were in the last century. What we'd now recognise as normal, teenage, rebellious behaviour was often seen as evidence of insanity, particularly in women. If anyone's interested in this subject, I'd recommend the two books I mention inthe acknowlegements at the back of the novel - the RD Laing and the Elaine Showalter. They explain it better and in rather more detail than me.
Maggie
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Hi Maggie - welcome to the forum. I've been avoiding the thread till I finished Esme Lennox (which I did last night - I very much enjoyed it too!), in case I hit any spoilers, so a belated indeed!
I was wondering about one of the choices you made in the writing style of Esme Lennox - What made you go with third person present tense for Iris and Esme, but first person present tense for Kitty?
I always wanted it to be one story told by three people and the third person really lends itself to multiple narration. Kitty's, however, had to be in the first person, because of its jumbled nature. And the way she gives herself away without meaning to. There's no way I could have got across the state of her mind in the third person. It was also important because she holds the key to the story. Does that make any sense...?
Maggie
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I enjoyed her short story Kew Gardens - it's a very clever piece of writing which helped me to understand her writing style and what she was trying to achieve.
That's a good recommendation. I'll have a look for it. Thanks.
Maggie
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Hi Maggie, I just finished The Vanishing Act.. too. I was just wondering if you had any explanation why Esme did not know she was having a baby. It could be due to her madness od couse, but you know her best.
Because unless someone had told her what signs to look out for she wouldn't have known, wouldn't have had any idea. I don't think it's to do with her madness (she's not mad, of course). Esme comes from the kind of family that wouldn't talk about things like that, so there is no way she could have suspected. I think a lot of girls, especially in the earlier part of the twentieth century, were kept in the dark about reproduction and sex. Kitty, of course, also falls foul of this, in her marital relations with Duncan...
Maggie
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It put me in mind of Virginia's Woolf's style of writing in that she sought to restructure the traditional format of a story. I thought it was really effective particularly as it dealt with madness which can sometimes be a matter of perception.
I would recommend The Yellow Wallpaper too - very scary prospect.
Well, that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day. I love Virginia Woolf. Mrs Dalloway and The Years are my favourites.
Maggie
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Maggie - did you always feel that you would one day become a writer and how did you start writing?
Hello,
No, I didn't always feel I was going to be a writer - I hoped I would, which is a very different thing. I've always written, from a very young age, but never told anyone, as I thought people would tell me it woudl never happen. I went to writing workshops when I was a student, and after I left university. I'd written about 20,000 words of what became After You'd Gone when I went on an Arvon Foundation course, which was a brilliant way to galvanise me to finishing the book. i'd recommend Arvon to anyone who wanted to write.
Maggie
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I loved Esme Lennox!
The way you made the story move around in time without being confusing was very clever, what made you decide to do this?
What should I read next?
It moved around in time because it was a story which was spread over a long period of time. I don't really see why stories have to be chronological and ordered - I don't think real life is like that. Life is messy and disordered and complicated and I hope my novels reflect that. Also, it was a story split between three people - Iris, Esme and Kitty - so it was bound to be a little splintered. Does that answer your question ...?
As for what to read next, have you tried Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper? More women imprisoned against their will ...
Maggie
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I think you mean me!! Yes it's Lavender and that's my daughter although she is not quite as angelic as she looks.
I have finished Esme now - thoroughly enjoyed it
Ah, your daughter. I did think she looked rather young to be reading grown-up books...
Lavender is one of my favourite plants.
Very glad you liked the book.
Maggie
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Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - I loved the way you used the different perspectives to reveal the truth and the pace at which it unravelled was perfect - I was left guessing to the end. Compelling reading but sad and thought provoking.
I look forward to reading your other novels.
You are so kind. I'm really, really pleased that you enjoyed it.
Maggie
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Hello Maggie and welcome to the forum! :eek2:
I've been a fan since I picked up After You'd Gone on holiday when I was 16, so I'm especially excited that Michelle has rounded you up, as it were. I even buy your novels as soon as they come out, so you're the only writer whose work I buy in hardback!
I think you're one the very best contemporary writers today and I think your writing has really gone from strength-to-strength with each novel.
My only complaint is that I end up reading them within days as I won't stop reading once I've started: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox lasted three days, and that was because I was deliberately pacing myself!
But, yes, a question... This may be a little vague, but I was wondering on how you feel you've developed, or even changed, as a writer from After You'd Gone through to The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox?
Hi,
I like your Moomin picture. I'm a big fan of the Moomins.
I don't know if I'd see it in terms of 'development'. I've certainly changed in that time - I'm seven years older, for a start. I think you learn a great deal from writing each novel and of course from the things that happen in your life. So I suppose it's inevitable that your writing would change too. As Evelyn Waugh said, "Change is the only sign of life."
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Hello Maggie!
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is next on my reading list (just got to finish The Earth by Emile Zola first!). I'm looking forward to reading it particularly as you are a new author for me.
Goodness, I'm a bit nervous to be coming after Zola ... that's a lot to live up to.
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Hello Maggie, welcome to the forum.
I have never read any of your work but I have heard of you, I am reading 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' and have to say it is excellent, I can not put the book down.
Thank you very much. Hope it's still enjoyable.
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Thank you. I hope you're still enjoying it. Is that lavender in the photo with you?
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Sorry, sorry. I'm a bit of a ignoramus when it comes to websites and hadn't worked out how to do replies. But, with a little help from Michelle, I'm fully signed up, present and correct.
Featured Author - Maggie O'Farrell
in Author Interviews and Forum Visits
Posted
Thank you very much for having me. I really enjoyed myself.
All the best,
Maggie