Ask the Author: Hilary Shepherd
Answered Questions (5)
Hilary Shepherd
Connecting with people. Which wasn't what I expected!
Hilary Shepherd
Lots of ideas don't have enough body in them to make a whole novel but often if you start and follow your nose a storyline does emerge. So it's important to write as ideas come to you without worrying about where they're going.
It can be very soothing to sit in public spaces and write - I'm not really sure why. The conversation at the next table can be distracting - but sometimes it's an inspiration!
It can be very soothing to sit in public spaces and write - I'm not really sure why. The conversation at the next table can be distracting - but sometimes it's an inspiration!
Hilary Shepherd
'Albi' grew out of stories we've been told in the remote village in southern Aragon where we bought a house in 2001. The house itself has been very important in my writing as it has barely changed since the 1930s. Even the sounds are the same - voices, an axe chopping wood, sheep bells and the shepherd calling up his flock. Nightingales. Even, in the late autumn, the squeal of wild boar after dark when they come nosing into the gardens at the back of the village.
Hilary Shepherd
My next book is about a successful artist who has a secret in his past which comes back to haunt him when his partner of 25 years disappears. It's set in Wales, and also in India. I'm just starting the next book after that, which is a contemporary novel about Spain.
Hilary Shepherd
Just jump in and write. And then learn to cut. It's like pruning a rose-bush hard: difficult to do, but what grows back is twice as strong. In the end cutting becomes liberating.
Also, remember that all writers lose text sometimes by making silly mistakes (though hopefully not so extreme as T.E. Lawrence leaving his manuscript of 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' on a train) so when you do, don't lose heart. Just sit down and write it again. It will probably come out better.
Also, remember that all writers lose text sometimes by making silly mistakes (though hopefully not so extreme as T.E. Lawrence leaving his manuscript of 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' on a train) so when you do, don't lose heart. Just sit down and write it again. It will probably come out better.
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