Sally Spedding interview

This interview with Sally Spedding was first published in August 2007.

Where were you born and raised?

In Porthcawl, south Wales. Had a wonderful carefree childhood among the sand dunes nearby, although dark shadows lurked from my Dutch grandparents' experiences of the war and why they had to flee occupied Holland.

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

My Dutch uncle took me to an exhibition of Flemish paintings when in Bruges, aged 11. The surreal horror of some of these images - especially those diptyches and triptyches telling gruesome stories, stayed with me. I began writing when our two daughters were little, and I was full-time teaching when I won an international short story competition. This spurred me on, and in 1999 I found my agent.

Which writers have influenced you the most?

Emile Zola, Friedrich Durrenmatt and current French crime writers such as Philppe Claudel and Jean-Christophe Dufosse.

Also Mark Z Danielewski who wrote the amazing House of Leaves.

What kind of things do you write?

Crime that explores our darkest hearts. I deal with betrayal and duplicity, with often historical, supernatural and horror elements.

Two of my books, Cloven and A Night with No Stars are set mainly in Wales, while Prey Silence is set in SW France. Two complex countries with unfinished business... In January 2008, bluechrome will be publishing Strangers Waiting, a collection of my crime short stories. Their website is www.bluechrome.co.uk

What are you working on now?

Dark Harvest, a crime novel set both among the Malvern Hills and the Queensland outback. The theme is organ stealing, but it's all too close to home for some of the characters.

What is your writing day like?

I write in longhand first, so I have new work in progress to continue with first thing in the morning, and last thing at night. In between, I'm either typing up earlier sections, or endlessly re-drafting them on the computer. I become irritable if I'm not dealing with my work, and am now very fortunate to have, for the first time in my life, time to spend on it properly.

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

Feeling my characters are living and breathing. Taking over.

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

The endless permutations of sentence structure - the endlessly subtle possibilities which may be eluding me.

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

That they're afraid to go up the stairs in the dark on their own after reading my books!

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

This is a hard question to answer. You certainly have to enjoy what you're writing. You have to want to know what happens next. With me, there are things I have to deal with. End of story.

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

My website is www.sallyspedding.com

I hope you find it interesting. I do have short stories and poetry online, including The Debt - a short story set in wartime Paris, and ppublished by The Interpreter's House, and Cowhand - a poem which won £3,000 with the Forward Press Top 100 poets. Google should locate them!

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