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‘One of the most gifted novelists of her generation’ Paul Theroux, Guardian
‘A startling young writer’ Observer
‘An author of breathtaking talent’ Irish Independent
Candida Clark was born in 1970. She has written film-scripts, short stories and journalism and reviews regularly for various newspapers.
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Was your childhood ambition always to be a writer?
If not, what inspired you to start writing? |
Yes, I always wanted to write, and started at a pretty precocious age. The greatest inspiration was simply a profound love of books and reading - especially reading things that I couldn't possibly have understood at the time. There was something about that, in particular, which set me off - the sense that there were complete worlds out there, cooked up out of nothing more than words, which one day I'd be able understand. The more mysterious and incomprehensible the better Also - and this was a tremendous influence - my mother is a writer, which was incredibly helpful, as it 'normalised' something that otherwise might've seemed very daunting: it never occurred to me to have a 'proper job'. The fact that she sat in her study at the typewriter all day, making things up, and then miraculously was paid to do so, struck me as too good to be true. It was very inspiring, because it seemed more like a magic trick than hard work. To keep me quite while she wrote, she'd give me an exercise book and say 'fill this up with a story, then I'll give you my full attention'. So off I'd go, and write a 'novel' - and of course get so engrossed in doing that that it kept me quiet for hours. And of course, she would always tell me as a child, 'do anything, but don't be a writer, it's a terrible life!' - which only made me want to do it all the more...
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How long have you been writing? |
See above, but there have been moments along the way that have felt like definite stages in the apprenticeship. Three practice novels. Dabbling in film scripts. Writing some very bad experimental stuff. Bits of journalism. Short fiction, poetry. I’ve always had something on the go – a few half-cooked novels to which I might one day return. The feeling that there’s never quite enough time to write all the books you’d really love to write. And then doing my first novel in a great push of effort in four weeks (it was very short!) – something about the way I gave myself a strict talking-to and just sat down to do it, gave it my best shot. It was a definite moment of being able to say ‘now I’m beginning, the rest was a warm-up’. That was 1997, and now nearly ten years on I’m only just realising how much every book feels like that – as though every writer has a personal tutor in their head marking each novel ‘could do better’! It’s chastening, but it’s also wonderful: dissatisfaction with your own work is about the best spur there is.
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What do you enjoy most about writing? |
There’s something John Updike said which I’ve always liked - ‘an absolute freedom exists on the blank page, so lets use it!’ It’s the combination of complete freedom to ‘make up’ what you like – a very child-like delight in doing so – combined with the hopefully more sophisticated satisfaction of creating a well-made thing to the very best of your ability.
So part of it is all about control, and that comes with experience and being blessed with a good editor. It’s a question of seeing how everything fits together, trying to improve your judgment, listening to criticism – all quite appealing to someone who enjoys being organised – the feeling that you’re marshalling a possibly wayward notion into a fit state to go between the covers of a book! There’s a great and fairly cerebral satisfaction in doing that. Added to this, there’s the immense joy that comes when something just right seems to be handed to you, a gift out of nowhere, a further dimension to the pattern – that’s when you get a bit of a glazed, happy look at the end of the working day. Best not to question quite how that happens…
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Which writers do you admire? |
A huge range, and for very different reasons – some I confess, selfishly, because they feel friendly to my own work; others simply for the pleasure of reading them. Often it’s a bit of both. So in no particular order: I’m a great fan of Joseph Conrad, Henry James, E.M Forster, Virginia Woolf, John Steinbeck, Michael Ondaatje, Henry Green, William Maxwell, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Nancy Mitford, Dodie Smith, Evelyn Waugh. This list could go on..! They’d be in my desert island library. They’re all writers I find myself serially re-reading…
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