Ask the Author: Lesley Glaister
Answered Questions (10)
Lesley Glaister
I really think hat everything I've ever read has influenced me, for good or bad, consciously or otherwise. However, writers that I am conscious of having helped shape me: C.S. Lewis - read and read and read again his Narnia books as a child; Enid Blyton (though I blush to admit it); story tellers from the Hammer House of Horror short story anthologies which I read greedily as a teenager and later Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, George Eliot, Margaret Drabble, Margaret Atwood, Barabara Pym, Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Rhys ... I could go on. But these are the main influences that spring to mind immediately. Thanks for your question Astra.
Lesley Glaister
Doing my own thing in my own time. Having an excuse to stand and stare. Being able to count reading as necessary research, ditto travel, ditto almost anything. Feeling satisfied that I am doing what I love.
Lesley Glaister
What jumps to mind immediately is Narnia. I'd just drop in and see all the old familiar faces and places, and hang out with the faun at the lamppost. I'd like to have the option of getting back in the wardrobe though ...
Lesley Glaister
By not believing in it! Of course there are sticky moments extending sometimes to sticky weeks (out months). Ultimately, I suppose, I trust in the process of writing. It WILL work in the end ...
Lesley Glaister
A young adult novel!
Lesley Glaister
Hi Clodagh, yes I think I recognise you from the tiny picture! Glad you liked Little Egypt. X
Lesley Glaister
Not fully compiled yet! But I want to read all the rest of Elizabeth Strout's novels - only read Olive Kitteridge which I love and admire. Also Elizabeth Harrower's The Catherine Wheel, which, having enjoyed The Watch Tower, I'm looking forward to. Reading Kent Haruf's The Ties that Bind next for a holiday book discussion. I will also continue to dip into Virginia Woolf's diaries and if I need a comfort read will return to an Elizabeth Taylor, my very favourite.
Lesley Glaister
Two answers. One, by walking - it's rare that I go for a walk with my dog but otherwise alone and don't find some lines joggled into my head by the rhythm of walking. Two: I don't wait for inspiration. To write novels you have to turn up and do it. If I waited for inspiration I wouldn't be a novelist!
Lesley Glaister
I don't know whether you mean my most recently published, or my most recently written book! However, I have a novel coming out this year, called The Squeeze which started as an offcut of Little Egypt. A character that I had to sack from that novel, a young Romanian girl, trafficked to Britain in the early 80's, was to make an appearance in the previous book, but proved too interesting and I had to expel her before she pulled that novel out of shape. But she wouldn't go away and insisted on being written about next. So the idea for The Squeeze was, if you like, already made.
Lesley Glaister
Do lots of free writing and don't worry about the quality. You have to write rubbish before you get to the good stuff. Enjoy writing, even rubbish. You don't have to show it to anyone. Write for twenty minutes a day, at the same time every day, and DON'T READ BACK. After ten days sit down with your pages and a pot of tea and chocolate digestives (or whatever is a treat for you) and calmly read what you've written. Underline any striking lines, ideas, preoccupations. Laugh at the rubbish. You might find the basis of a story or poem or memoir piece in this work, you might find nothing useful. But you are ten days more practiced at writing. If you found it useful start again. Read and read and read and notice what's good and what's not. If you're impressed by a writer's style, try and notice how this writer achieves these effects. Go out in the world and use your senses - notice how things feel and smell as well as how they look. Don't take anything for granted. There are millions of writers out there - the only thing you have that's special is you, your voice, your perceptions and sensibilities. Your own voice is unique- keep writing freely, keep fresh and open to the world, keep wondering. Don't try to write like a writer, write like yourself.
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