This interview with Hugh Paxton, author
of “Homunculus”,
was first published in February 2007.
Where were you born and raised?
Born in Aden during the
insurgency. Subsequently grew up in some of the world’s more colourful trouble
spots (Libya, Iran etc) courtesy of my father, a British Army officer who made
a consistent career of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
What was it that first got you
into writing and when did you start writing?
I’ve always loved reading,
loved it. All my family does. As a child prodigy I released my first book at
the age of nine to rave reviews from my grandfather. It went perhaps 5 rather
small pages. My first published stories appeared in my school magazine. I was
delighted and strangely awed to see words that I had written in print. In
retrospect they were probably dire. I just took it from there.
Which writers have influenced
you the most?
I studied English literature
but, and this may be heresy, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Milton, Henry James and
most of the other classics didn’t make much of an impression. HG Wells,
Kipling, Conan Doyle, they were more to my taste. To be honest though I think
it was the books that I read when young, Tolkien, CS Lewis, the Treeces, fairy
tales (Tin Tin, even) that have left the most lasting impression.
Where do you stand on the
nature v. nurture debate? Were you born a writer, or were there factors in your
environment that enabled you to become a writer?
I’d go with nurture. To be
taught to love and respect books, to have access to them, to be surrounded by
them (I can’t think of a single room in any of the many houses that I lived in
when young that did not have a bookshelf) is a thing of magic. And being
surrounded by creative, adventurous and, above all, curious and interested
people is one hell of a launch into life.
There are a lot of courses
teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think that good writing can be
taught?
Self taught, yes. Reading and
writing, I am convinced, are the best teachers. Not having been on any, I’m not
sure about courses. Perhaps they offer a sense of support and self-confidence
that is important to some people embarking on a somewhat daunting career
shift.
Have you entered writing
competitions? If so, have you won any prizes?
BBC Nature Writer of the Year
1995, 1996, & 2000. Bradts Travel Writing Prize 1999 (I think it was 1999
and maybe it was only a special commendation, I was in the Bolivian Amazon at
the time).
Do you have any short stories
or poems published online? (If so, please provide the URLs):
I’ve written a lot. Not online
as yet. Watch this space.
What kind of things do you
write?
As a freelance journalist and
travel writer I’ve been fortunate enough to cover an extraordinary range of
topics and destinations in over 75 countries – wars, wildlife migrations,
celebrity interviews, politics, famines, ivory poaching, festivals, sunken
wrecks, volcanic eruptions – you name it there’s probably a story about it (or
something close) gathering dust, going yellow or keeping baby mice warm in my
horrendously cluttered library. I
write ghost stories and plays to entertain my family and relatives at
Christmas, children’s books to entertain myself, there’s all the
journalist/travel writing stuff, and now there are the film documentary
scripts, radio dramas and of course the novels.
What, for you, is the best
piece of prose that you have ever written?
To be honest I like everything
I’ve ever submitted for publication. “Homunculus” is a bit special because its
my first novel and has attracted the kind of attention that novels get. Nobody
writes reviews or words of praise about newspaper or magazine articles unless
they have time on their hands or are genuine fans. If I feel I’ve written
something second rate or lacking heart I bin it. This doesn’t happen much
perhaps because I only write what I want to write. One of the joys of freelance
work is that you choose what you want to write.
What are you working on now?
1.A couple of documentary
scripts on diamond mining in southern Africa focusing on environmental
rehabilitation of mining scars, history, diamonds, smuggling. Intriguing stuff.
2. A 12-part radio drama for
Namibia Broadcasting Corp on violence against women. That one’s finished as far
as I’m concerned. They gave me a dead line of ten days which I met. Freelancers
must meet deadlines if they are serious about writing for a living.
The Govt has become enthused
and has decided that it needs to be translated into seven tribal languages.
Cast of 15 plus extras. Multiply that by seven. And then find 15 Bushmen who can read, act, broadcast, 15
Owambos, 15 Afrikaners, Namas etc. Going to make the Tower of Babel sound
coherent. Not my baby but I may
have to act as some of the English speaking minor characters to prevent the producer
going insane.
3. Three books. One, a gratuitously
violent sequel to “Homunculus” called ‘Second Hand Soldiers’, two, an as yet un-named novel about the
South African underworld, and three a diary officially written by my three year
old daughter, Annabel, detailing the events that marked the first year of her
life in Africa. This latter is an expansion of Annabel’s monthly travel columns
with Air Namibia ’s in-flight magazine, Flamingo.
What is your writing day like?
Constantly interrupted by very
odd things. You never know what’s going to turn up. I’ve had security services
asking me to help catch a burglar who has dodged into the marsh with gunshot
wounds (he led us a merry dance), dehydrated Zimbabwean refugees selling rather
pitiful fragments of their former home furnishings, bee swarms, a bunch of wild
men in from the bush with dry throats and an absence of accommodation, some
HIV-AIDS related catastrophe affecting my staff. But life in Africa is like
that. Optimum writing time is late afternoon/early evening when I like to sit
at my desk on the stoep with a cold beer tapping away under the fan to the
background noise of birds in the hibiscus. Geckos by the lamp. Prime ideas time
is in the morning. When circumstance allow I like to lie in bed half dozing and
just fiddling with ideas, plots, could be completely new book ideas, or old
ideas.
Where would you like to be in
10 years time?
Watching some of my novels in
the cinema, running a nature conservation organization, looking at myself in
the mirror and seeing a man who is still alert, alive and who likes himself and
what he’s doing.
What’s the most exciting thing
about writing for you?
Most is difficult. There’s
nothing quite like the feeling of finishing a story and knowing that it’s a
damn good bit of work. Having somebody you’ve never met come up to you in a
market and say “When’s the next one?” or “I’ve got your stuff on my toilet
wall”, or suddenly getting a CD cut by a Heavy Metal band with a “Homunculus”
song on it then getting a second CD from a Garage band the next day and from a
different country - these are feel good moments. It’s probably vanity. But
praise or even abuse from strangers is a reminder that in a world with a
population of billions it is still possible to be noticed!
What’s the most frustrating thing
about writing for you?
Interruptions, power cuts,
media editors who like their presence felt in submitted copy but who can’t
spell (one bonehead even changed the name of a country in one article – Poland
became Finland), and computers that choose to detonate at critical moments
(then all those people who say ‘you should always back up’). My Japanese wife,
Midori, and I wrote a global ecotourism guide book. Literally thousands of
telephone numbers, addresses, months of effort and air miles went into the
project and bang she tapped in the final full stop/period. And bang went the
computer. Everything in it totally irretrievable. I’d have shot myself. She
just said “Ow!” and re-wrote the whole thing in two weeks. Two more frustrating
things have just sprung to mind. The first is the length of time it takes
between writing a work of fiction and actually seeing it for sale in a
bookshop. And two, literary agents. I pitched “Homunculus” to over 100 agents
(mainly UK), received only two responses, approached publishers and it was the
same thing. I widened my net and a New York agent became enthused then fell
silent. She had a good excuse – she was dead. But I do wish agents and
publishers would bear in mind that when a script arrives on their desk there is
a human being behind it (even if it’s crap) who’s making an effort. Come on you
guys, have some heart. Treat the poor wretch with a little respect.
What’s the best piece of
feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
“Homunculus” has received some
extraordinarily favourable, one might even say manically enthused, print and
radio reviews. Very gratifying. And marriage-saving. On first reading my wife
loathed the book (she actually chucked it at my head) and was convinced that I
would offend every black African in Namibia , be lynched, vilified and thrown
out of the country. The glowing reviews coming in from African media – even
state run media – and comments from the public initially bemused her. And now?
She even wears the T-shirt.
Do you write for a particular
audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?
Interesting question. To be
honest I’ve never thought about it before. I suppose I write fiction for me.
Obviously with journo work you must gear it to the publication you’re selling
the stuff to.
Do you have a homepage? If so,
what’s the URL?
Homunculus has a homepage www.homunculus-thenovel.com and
there’s to be a US webpage up to support the American launch in March 2007. The
Japan Times posts my columns on its website www.japantimes.co.jp Air Namibia’s Flamingo magazine does,
too. There’s a US site scheduled
to come out when Homunculus debuts in the US in March.
