This interview with Nigel
McDowell was first published in September 2006.
Where were you born
and raised?
I was born in Northern Ireland in 1980’s. Raised
there too, but luckily have been able to do some travelling and see the world
in the past few years (I am currently living in New Zealand as of September
2006)! Though will be going back home for Christmas and the embrace of an
“Irish Winter.”
What was it that
first got you into writing and when did you start writing?
I think every writer
must have that BOOK, and then that MOMENT, when they suddenly become awakened
to the possibilities and wonders of writing. (This is my experience
anyway). When I was eighteen-years old - and when I should have been
studying diligently for exams - I read “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath.
And as churlish as it may sound, that was my BOOK, and my MOMENT. I started
writing as soon as I finished it I was so energised, and haven’t stopped since.
Which writers have
influenced you the most?
As above, Plath was (and still is) a huge
influence. Since then, because of the kind of thing I write (largely
teenage fiction) I’ve looked to writers who have made an impact in that genre.
Philip Pullman is the master – sets the standard as far as I’m concerned.
There’s no ignoring JK Rowling, and I respect her enormously; she’s a master
storyteller, and has raised the profile of fantasy/children’s writing for
everyone. (Also, I can write a book without worrying too much about verbosity
or an astronomical word-count!). Above and beyond these writers, there are too
many to mention, but here goes: Graham Greene, Virginia Woolf, Mervyn Peake, Diana
Wynne Jones, Jane Austen, JD Salinger, Mary Shelley, Emily Dickinson…
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?
There is certainly no
end to being able to hone and develop skills when writing (just like any other
job really). But I don’t know if I could honestly say that anyone could
become a writer, that you could pluck anyone off the street and mould them into
the next “big thing!” A passion for language, curiosity about all things,
a respect and enthusiasm for a creative work - all are pre-requisites. I
certainly don’t feel I was born a writer, but I do think that certain
experiences and tendencies in my formative years (through childhood and
adolescence) are now emerging in my writing, and probably shaped my becoming a
writer as well.
Certainly, I can’t imagine Dickens or
Austen being anything other than story-tellers, but who knows what may have
made them such, or what stories were implanted in their minds from childhood?
Hard to say on the whole…
5).
There are a lot of courses teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think
that good writing can be taught?
No. I’m afraid
I don’t believe in these courses at all. Largely, they seem over-priced
and often are nothing more than glorified evening classes: ‘The
flower-arranging class is full? Ah well, I’ll take creative writing
then!’
Did Shakespeare take a writing course,
did Chaucer?
The only benefit they may have is to
give confidence and a structure to work by i.e. they set exercises that will
have a fixed deadline and so on.
Other than that, no use I would
say. Best thing for any writer to do is read, read, read, read…
Have
you entered writing competitions? If so, have you won any prizes?
I’ve only ever
entered one competition (when I was nineteen – I am now twenty four) for the
BBC, to have a children’s novel published (I had to submit the first
chapter). Apart from that, nothing!
What kind of things
do you write?
I’ve just finished my
first novel for teenagers, a gothic fantasy that is the first in a projected
series. My agent is currently trying to find a publisher!
What, for you, is the
best piece of prose that you have ever written?
My only completed novel. Although I wrote things in
the earlier days that I was more PLEASED with than the book, but that would
probably be hindsight having fun.
What are you working
on now?
I’m working on the
second novel in my series (called “Tall Tales from Pitch End”).
What is your writing
day like?
I still work
full-time, so having to snatch hours in the evenings and at weekends is the
name of the game!
Where would you like
to be in 10 years time?
Writing full-time,
and just writing full stop – that would make me happiest!
What’s the most
exciting thing about writing for you?
The moment when you
realise a story, or have an image from it: the thrill and exhilaration, the
potential, the boundless capacity for creation, the joy of crafting a story,
and the thought of others reading and enjoying it! And getting paid to do
all these things! What could be better?
What’s the most
frustrating thing about writing for you?
When it won’t
flow, when every plan falls flat – all the myriad of things that can make it
feel like work: characters don’t come alive, the plot doesn’t add up, the
language is clichéd. When the finished result is so much less than you imagined
it in your mind. Nothing in particular – I haven’t entered any great
periods of frustration yet (thank goodness!).
What’s
the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
That I have a
particular skill for language, this means the most to me as it is usually what
I would respond to in other writers.
Do you
write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own
creativity?
For myself, always.
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