 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Linda Holeman interview questions 1. How do you begin writing a new novel? When I’m about to start a new book, I’ve already been thinking about characters and setting and conflict for quite some time. In the case of In a Far Country, I knew I would be writing about a ‘lost child’. I knew the time frame I wanted her to live in, and what her conflict would be: her needing to understand who she was and what world she would embrace. That’s what I knew and that’s where I started, with Pree questioning how she fitted into the mission and her parents’ world as well as the Indian one around her. 2. What is it about India that inspired you to write two books about the country? There has always been, for me, something mystical and spiritual about India. It’s a country of so many contrasts – breathtaking beauty and heartbreaking poverty, the extremes of the caste system, supreme worship with many beliefs and yet, for so many, life hanging by a thread. And finally, as I read about British colonisation there, I grew intrigued by how the English women coped with such immense changes in their lives – and this brought about my initial images for my first novel, The Linnet Bird. 3. Did visiting India and experiencing the culture first-hand assist with the writing of In A Far Country? Yes, greatly. No matter how much you read about a place, how much you visualise it and perhaps see films set there and listen to its music, there is something in the very air of a country, something impossible to absorb unless one experiences it for oneself. All my senses were awakened, and I came home teeming with new visions and understandings. 4. Did this visit to India change your view of the country? Were you surprised by what you found, or was it as you’d imagined it to be? Even though I was visiting India about 140 years later than the timeframe of the novel, the country presented itself to me as it was in my inner vision. Of course I was aware of technology, of traffic and smog and, in the larger cities, modern architecture and modes of dress, but I wasn’t really paying attention to those things. I was taking in the age-old smells of smoke and incense and flowers and cooking oils, faces and body language, bells and chanting, the sun as it rose and set: the intrinsic tapestry of India that doesn’t change with time. 5. What memories did you take away from your last trip to India? There are too many memories to list easily. In the broadest terms, it was absorbing a country and its people. It’s impossible, I think, not to be moved by India. Some of my fondest memories involve the friendliness of the people and their welcoming attitude, the wonder on the faces of very small children in villages as they stared at our foreign faces and dress, and the fact that I was walking on the ground of a country that carried so many ancient traditions. I had fallen in love with India before I visited it, and being there only confirmed what I felt I knew. 6. Of the countries you’ve visited on your many travels, which one have you found most fascinating, and why? And where else would you love to visit? Definitely India and Morocco have been – so far – the two most fascinating countries for me. We never know why we will be moved or intrigued by certain places; it is our individual tastes and desires, I suppose, that dictate what kind of cultures we are most fascinated by. I know a country has touched me deeply when I’m positive I’ll return even before I leave. I intend to see as much of the world as I can over my lifetime. I want to feel the pulse of so many places. In the coming year I’ll be travelling through both Israel and Japan. 7. A huge amount of research goes into each of your novels. Do you enjoy this process as much as the writing itself? I adore research – so much so that I sometimes have to stop myself. In In a Far Country the research probably took as long as the writing of the novel itself. A writer tends to use approximately half of the research he or she uncovers. The trick is to be able to use it wisely – meaning naturally – so it folds seamlessly into the fabric of the novel. Otherwise it can sound like a history lesson. 8. What inspires you in your decisions about setting and central character for your novels? And has what you’ve discovered during your research ever dramatically changed the focus of the novel you’re about to write? I’m inspired by many things – both externally and internally – when deciding plot and character for my novels. Actually I’m never totally sure how everything manages to come together, or what will hit me with the most force. Sometimes a character presents him or herself to me first – like Pree did for In a Far Country. But other times it’s a place. I travelled to Morocco a few years ago, on the spur of the moment, and even though I was in the midst of working on In a Far Country, I knew, within two days of being in Marrakech, that I would set a novel there. I didn’t have the faintest clue about the plot or era or character, but I was so in awe of and inspired by the lovely mystery of the city itself that I knew it would be important for me as a writer. That it moved me enough to need to become more involved in it. As to the second part of the question, yes, my research constantly changes the shape of the novel. Sometimes this is distressing to me, and sometimes it’s exciting. Whatever the case, it means unexpected work because when one segment of a novel changes, it can also mean changes to what’s been previously written… and what one is expecting to write next. Usually before I begin to write I’ve done enough preliminary research so that the actual focus of the novel doesn’t change, but the research I do during the writing definitely changes subplots and/or a variety of scenes. 9. You’ve begun work on your next novel, set in Morocco. Could you tell us a bit about it and what inspired you to write it? I’ve already mentioned how my initial trip to Marrakech – the unbelievable colour and vibrancy of that city – inspired me enough to know that I’d set a story there. And even while still working on In a Far County, a character for this next novel started emerging. She wasn’t Moroccan, and I wasn’t sure what she was doing in Marrakech, but I could picture her there very clearly. Once I finished the final editing on In a Far Country I immediately moved into researching Morocco in more depth, and within a few months had planned a voyage that would take me on the same route as my character: across the Strait of Gibraltar into Tangier, and then down through the country to Marrakech. I also went on a trek into the Sahara with a group of Berbers, and was fortunate enough to meet a ‘Blue Man’ who I immediately knew fitted the description of one of my central characters. Nothing could have been more fulfilling! I also discovered a few details that meant I would be changing some of my ideas about the novel-in-progress. 10. What kind of books do you enjoy reading, and why? What books are on your beside table? Even when I am writing, I never stop reading. When I’m writing historical novels, I read non-fiction for the facts about the time and place, and fiction to hear the language and understand the mind-set. But I simply can’t name all the books I read for sheer joy, because I constantly find new authors I take pleasure in. I really love reading biographies, especially of authors or artists. And my other choices are either historical or contemporary realistic fiction. Most important, I need to believe what I’m reading; I’m very pragmatic and simply can’t, to quote Coleridge, find a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ enough to be entertained by time travel or fantasy or science fiction. I usually have a number of books on the go at a time, depending on my mood when I finally have time for my own ‘pleasure’ reading at the end of the day. Currently I’m in the midst of: - Caliph’s House – A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah; a memoir of sorts that charts a year in the life of a family that moves from London to Morocco. It has the added benefit of giving me further insight into Morocco. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||