Ask the Author: Matthew Willis
Answered Questions (11)
Matthew Willis
'You're listening to Radio 4 with Nick Robinson and me, John Humphreys. It's eight o'clock and here's Peter Donaldson with a summary of the news'
Matthew Willis
Probably the world of Naomi Novik's Temeraire - the Napoleonic Wars + dragons!
Matthew Willis
I'm not really sure anything in my life would make much of a book. But one thing springs to mind, an episode that occurred when I was around 11 or 12. I grew up in a small village in Essex, with a church that dates from the 12th century. The church needed some maintenance to help with drainage, and a lot of people were roped in to help. I was having a bit of a rest from digging and poking around the church, including going through the tiny doorway that used to lead to the rood gallery but had been blocked off probably in the 19th century or earlier. On the top step , almost submerged in dust, I found a shell of the kind used for baptisms. Once back in the light I discovered that it was engraved with writing and markings, though sadly I can't remember the exact details. There was definitely a cross on it, on the left hand side, which one of the churchwardens suggested was the Cross of St Alban, though I remember it being more of a Celtic cross, with a disc behind the crossbars. Most strangely, it seemed to me to have on the right hand side, a figure rather like the Egyptian god Anubis. The shell was handed over to the rector, although in view of what happened later, I wish I'd hidden it and taken it home. A few weeks later, I asked the rector about it. He denied knowledge of ever having seen it. I asked the churchwarden, who similarly acted evasively. I started to doubt my own memory. Some time later I heard that the shell had been left in the vestry, and for reasons best known to themselves, members of a local family, all in the choir, decided to leave their finger and toenail clippings in it. This was apparently taken by some to be a sign of demonic activity or satanism, and the shell was removed and ritually destroyed. I dare say no pictures were taken of it, and given the nature of its destruction, probably no records whatsoever, so I now have no way of knowing how old it was, why it was left in the blocked off passage to the old rood gallery, what the symbols and writing on it were, and indeed if there was anything so Dennis Wheately about it that warranted ritual destruction.
Matthew Willis
Emylnn and Lucas, obvs ;-)
Matthew Willis
In terms of the book I am working on at the moment - a World War Two-set novel called 'The Violence Of The Sun', the idea came from research for a non-fiction book I am also working on (a history of the early versions of the North American Mustang aircraft). The war diaries of squadrons flying an aircraft called the A-36A in the Mediterranean leapt off the page at me. A non-fiction book was one thing, but these people and their war felt like they needed the power of fiction to bring their story alive.
Matthew Willis
Research, and real-life stories. Most of my writing comes from something in research that grabs my attention - Daedalus and the Deep was inspired when I read about the reports made by the real HMS Daedalus of a sea-serpent sighting. I knew I had to write it. The same was true of the disappearance of the airship Dixmude - that novel is in planning, and I'm waiting until I have the writing chops to tackle it. My story 'The Bronze Sword' in the new collection 'A Seeming Glass' was inspired by the similarity between Bronze Age practices and elements of Arthurian myth, as uncovered by archaeology.
Matthew Willis
You get to live in your imagination
Matthew Willis
I wish I had a single answer to this question - but then if I did, there would be no such thing as writer's block. In truth, I don't see writer's block as a single thing anyway, but more as a combination of factors, so it can be different each time. If I'm blocked for a specific piece that I must make progress with, I try to break the task down into bite-sized chunks, planning each little bit of a scene and writing them out one by one until the flow returns. Or I might find a conversation that I need to write and write it almost like a script - I find conversations often write themselves and start telling you about what the characters are thinking, and revealing the detail that you couldn't see before.
Matthew Willis
I'm currently working on A Seeming Glass: a collection of reflected tales. This is a book of short stories inspired by myths and fairy tale with a new spin on them. It comes out on 7 August and it contains such great writing I'm very proud to have been involved
Matthew Willis
Find a writing buddy - someone who understands your work but will be honest and not pull any punches when it comes to making it the best it can be (while you do the same for them). No-one can write in a vacuum, and I don't believe any writer is capable of doing their best work alone
Matthew Willis
Yes, A Seeming Glass is the collection of stories Jillybean and I have co-edited, written entirely by Word Cloud members. I know what you mean about the reading queue - mine can be seen from space - but ASG isn't that long and being short stories, you can dip in and out of them
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