Ask the Author: Ann Wright
Answered Questions (7)
Ann Wright
First on my reading list is Memory Wall, a collection of short stories by Anthony Doerr. I've read two other books of his, All the Light We Cannot See, and About Grace, and both have a slightly mystical element. He's a wonderful writer, so I'm looking forward to reading Memory Wall.
After that it's The End of the Day, by Claire North, another one of my favourite authors. I've read The Sudden Appearance of Hope, and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and really enjoyed them.
I'm also looking forward to Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and his son Owen King. I think I've read everything by Stephen King except the Bill Hodges trilogy. I read some of the first one (Mr Mercedes) and found it too disturbing even by Stephen King standards. I haven't read anything by Owen King before, so I'm interested to see how their collaboration works out.
I've also got Dragon's Green, a dystopian children's book by Scarlett Thomas, on my list. She's an excellent, though complicated writer, and I've enjoyed most of her adult fiction. This is her first children's book, so it's a must-read for me as a children's author.
Release by Patrick Ness is also on my list. I love Patrick Ness's books and read everything he writes!
Finally, there is The Summer Guest, by Justin Cronin. It seems a very different style to his previous books, the Passage Trilogy, but he's a talented author, so it's on my list of books to read.
After that it's The End of the Day, by Claire North, another one of my favourite authors. I've read The Sudden Appearance of Hope, and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and really enjoyed them.
I'm also looking forward to Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and his son Owen King. I think I've read everything by Stephen King except the Bill Hodges trilogy. I read some of the first one (Mr Mercedes) and found it too disturbing even by Stephen King standards. I haven't read anything by Owen King before, so I'm interested to see how their collaboration works out.
I've also got Dragon's Green, a dystopian children's book by Scarlett Thomas, on my list. She's an excellent, though complicated writer, and I've enjoyed most of her adult fiction. This is her first children's book, so it's a must-read for me as a children's author.
Release by Patrick Ness is also on my list. I love Patrick Ness's books and read everything he writes!
Finally, there is The Summer Guest, by Justin Cronin. It seems a very different style to his previous books, the Passage Trilogy, but he's a talented author, so it's on my list of books to read.
Ann Wright
When I was around seven I was noseying around in my grandparent’s cellar, where they stored odd old things such as a rusted metal rocking horse. It was always gloomy down there as there was just one dim light bulb that never lit all the dark corners. In the shadows I spotted something I’d never noticed before. A bricked-up doorway!
I was enthralled. Why would a cellar have a door? Where would it take you? My grandmother explained it was so that, during the air raids in second World War, they could go through into the cellar next door. I never found out whether they actually did go through. Possibly not, as the house wasn’t bombed. But it would make a great story. Especially if it doesn’t lead to the house next door at all, but somewhere else…
I was enthralled. Why would a cellar have a door? Where would it take you? My grandmother explained it was so that, during the air raids in second World War, they could go through into the cellar next door. I never found out whether they actually did go through. Possibly not, as the house wasn’t bombed. But it would make a great story. Especially if it doesn’t lead to the house next door at all, but somewhere else…
Ann Wright
I got the idea for A Girl in Time from an Iron Age hill fort in Sheffield. I imagined what it would have been like to live there when the Romans had a base a couple of miles away, across the river in the valley below. I already had ideas that I'd been thinking about, but that was when they all came together. But I didn't want to just write a story about the past I wanted to write about how a small event in the past can change the future.
I was also inspired by Alan Garner's book, Red Shift which is partly based in the Roman era in Britain. I loved the way he links his characters together through time. I also found inspiration in Marcus Sedgwick's The Ghosts of Heaven, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. They both tell multiple stories that begin in the far distant past and end in the distant future, each story connected to the previous one. It's a narrative technique that fascinates me and I wanted to try it.
I was also inspired by Alan Garner's book, Red Shift which is partly based in the Roman era in Britain. I loved the way he links his characters together through time. I also found inspiration in Marcus Sedgwick's The Ghosts of Heaven, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. They both tell multiple stories that begin in the far distant past and end in the distant future, each story connected to the previous one. It's a narrative technique that fascinates me and I wanted to try it.
Ann Wright
Sometimes places inspire me. I've always been interested in the King Arthur stories. Some of the myths place him in the late 5th century after the Romans had left Britain and I wanted to write something about that time (though not about King Arthur). I didn't really get a firm idea about what my story was going to be about until I visited Wincobank Hill in Sheffield which is the site of an Iron Age fort. It's a spectacular view from up there and I began to imagine what it was like in the past, when there was a Roman camp in the valley.
That's where I began to get an idea of the characters for A Girl in Time, which is set in the past, present and future. So the story is based on a fictionalised version of that area.
That's where I began to get an idea of the characters for A Girl in Time, which is set in the past, present and future. So the story is based on a fictionalised version of that area.
Ann Wright
Read the kind of books you want to write. Not to plagiarize, but to get a feel for what's popular in terms of theme and writing style, eg. 1st person or 3rd person, past or present tense. Also set aside a time every day and write. I'm at my desk at around 8.30 every morning.
And try to finish things!
And try to finish things!
Ann Wright
Well, I always wanted to be a writer and I've managed to earn a living doing that for years, mostly writing for magazines and annuals. So really it's just doing the work I love every day.
Ann Wright
I go back over the last few pages or chapter and try to find out what's stopping the story progressing. I usually find it needs some reworking in order to figure out what's supposed to come next. Also it forces me to just get stuck in and get absorbed again. I know when it's worked because the story is writing itself in my head in the middle of the night...
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