Ask the Author: Jane Harrigan
Answered Questions (6)
Jane Harrigan
My forthcoming novel, 'The Unravelling', which is a piece of literary fiction, has the theme of two minds unravelling, one with mental illness and one with dementia. It tells the story of Stella, the carer, and shows how her family disintegrates under the pressure with betrayal, guilt and grief (It's not all gloom, it has a happy ending!). The idea for this book came from the fact that, although books sometimes include a suicide in the plot, they very rarely have a main character who suffers from a diagnosed mental illness. I wanted to use the book to graphically illustrate what it's like to suffer from a serious mental illness and drew on my own experience as a sufferer of bi-polar and psychosis to do this. I also felt that dementia is under-represented in fiction, even though, like mental illness, it is such an important issue in our society. Again, I drew heavily on my own seven year experience of watching my mother slowly fade and die of dementia. I hope, that in addition to having a riveting plot and being a good read, the book might help provide insights to families trying to manage either types of mental distress.
Jane Harrigan
My inspiration comes from my lived experience - what's happened to me, what's happening around me, the things I see and the places I visit. My poetry has a strong sense of place, often inspired by the beautiful Isle of Wight where I live.
Jane Harrigan
I'm currently working on two projects, even though I'm not good at multi-tasking. I'm just starting to work out how to promote my forthcoming novel, 'The Unravelling' and getting to grips with social media. I'm also currently editing my second novel, 'The Calico Apron'. I won a Cinnamon Pencil mentoring bursary with Cinnamon Press ( a fantastic scheme for aspiring writers) for the manuscript of 'The Unravelling', and I learnt a huge amount about how to improve my writing craft. I'm now applying this to the manuscript of 'The Calico Apron'.
Jane Harrigan
I've always believed you should only write what you enjoy writing. I once had an agent (I parted company with her) and she told me if I wanted to be a successful fiction writer I should write a crime book like 'Girl on a Train'. It was the last thing I wanted to write and I stuck with my literary fiction and poetry. This meant it took me a long time to get published - I am only recently beginning to get my poetry published and have just signed a contract with a publisher for my first novel, 'The Unravelling' but it meant I never stopped enjoying my creative writing.
Jane Harrigan
I write academic books, poetry and fiction. The best thing about being a writer for me is writing fiction. My fiction draws on my own life experience but also allows me to play around with this - to amplify, expand, adjust and create. I also love the way that in a full length novel, even though I start off with a rough plot sketch, the details of the plot just naturally take shape as the novel evolves. Likewise with my character sketches. I never start off by making anything too rigid. It's great fun to just write and see what happens.
Jane Harrigan
If I have writer's block I don't force my self to go to my desk to try to write which I know a lot of people do. I simply wait until the inspiration returns. This may mean I have long barren periods, but when I do write I am lucky to be quite prolific. I treat writer's block in the same way I do my occasional insomnia. I never stay in bed and try to force myself to sleep as I find it counter productive. Instead, I simply accept the fact that I can't sleep, know it can't last forever, and get up and do something else.
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