Niala Maharaj interview

This interview with Niala Maharaj was first published in March 2006. Niala Maharaj is the author of "Like Heaven", (June 2006). To find out even more about the author, please visit our Niala Maharaj page.

Niala Maharaj Where were you born and raised?

Trinidad, The Caribbean

What was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?

I always wanted to be a writer from as long as I can remember. But all the books I read as a child were set in England and America, and the characters had peach trees and stuff like that - and I had never even seen a peach. I thougght people in books had to have mummies and daddies and go on picnics with sandwiches – and I had never even seen a sandwich. We ate roti at home, Indian food, mainly vegetarian. Then one day when I was about nine, my father bought Vidia Naipaul’s first book: "Miguel Street". I devoured it in my mother’s bedroom, then looked up, looked out the window, and my world had changed. You COULD write about ramshackle people with ramshackle lives – and get published. You could write about people talking in my dialect, living without nuclear families… These things suddenly existed in the world of literature.

Which writers have influenced you the most?

Naipaul, the scamp. I didn’t start writing fiction till quite late in my life because everything I tried to write was an echo of him. His whole approach to my environment had become so embedded in my consciousness, that I still think I mimic him. It took me years to dare try to discover whether I had anything original to add to what he had given the world.

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 don’t know. My mother is an instinctive story-teller. When I was growing up, we lived for her stories – about our relatives, neighbours, everything. We still do. She only went to school till the age of 9, but she’s always been a big reader, and so was my father. I think I got my love of books and creative works from them.

There are a lot of courses teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think that good writing can be taught?

I’m teaching one this summer at the "Like Heaven Writing Holidays" site in Tuscany (www.likeheaven.it ) I think you can speed up someone’s development of writing craft with a workshop. But people have to have something to say, deep inside of them, for them to become what I would call a good writer.

Do you have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the URLs):

A couple are on my website (www.nialamaharaj.com )

What kind of things do you write?

Fiction, journalism, poetry.

What, for you, is the best piece of prose that you have ever written?

Some of the stuff in "Like Heaven". The characters were talking in my head all the time and it was hard for my fingers to keep up on the keyboard, particularly when I was falling off my chair laughing half the time.

What are you working on now?

I started a new novel and 2 new short stories.

What is your writing day like?

Wake up. Walk to computer and switch it on. Walk to coffee-machine. Pour a cup. Walk back to computer. Reread a bit of what I had written the day before, start making changes, continue the piece of writing…. Get up from the chair when my neck is killing me because of sitting too long. Notice that it’s afternoon. Pass out on bed. Wake up and go back to computer. Get desperately hungry and try to find something to eat. Go back to computer. Pass out again…

Where would you like to be in 10 years time?

At least 5 novels written. Well-received. And financially more secure than I am now.

What’s the most exciting thing about writing for you?

Having the characters take over my mind, not knowing what they are going to do or say, letting them drag me along desperately trying to exercise some kind of control and make them keep to the plot. It’s the most exhilarating feeling in the world, when this stuff comes out of nowhere.

What’s the most frustrating thing about writing for you?

Being poor and always trying to make a living to support my writing.

What’s the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?

I went to England late last year and met some people from my publishing house, and those who had read my novel kept talking excitedly about my characters, arguing about them like they were real people.

Do you write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?

I write what makes me feel good to write.

Do you have a homepage? If so, what’s the URL?

www.nialamaharaj.com

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