Today's
special guest is British author James Rice. His debut novel, Alice and the Fly, has been well received and fans of YA fiction will find much to appreciate in this novel about a shy teenager's struggle with fear and obsession when he confronts his attraction to Alice.
This well-crafted story, told from two points of view -- Greg's journal and police transcripts -- is moving, dark, and humorous in turns as it explores that most difficult concept -- love.
Well, the main thing I
learnt was that I could actually write a book (which I assumed was impossible).
Also I found that writing is a way for you to take some really crappy things
you’ve experienced (either firsthand or not) and try make them into something
that brings happiness to the world. (And sadness – it’s a sad book too, in
parts. But sadness can be good, sometimes.)
How does your career as a writer influence other areas of your life and vice versa?
Well the
money’s helped, to a degree, and I feel like I have more of a purpose now. It
gets in the way a lot because I have to spend vast amounts of time at the
computer when it feels like I should be out frolicking (or whatever people do).
To be honest it hasn’t had that big of an effect, really. I thought as soon as
I got a publishing deal Will Self would be on the phone inviting me to some
olive and cheese party, but life just carries on. It’s still fun though, to go
into bookshops and, you know, see it.
And I love writing, so I’m pretty happy not to be frolicking, really.
What
do you do when you are not writing?
Read. Eat. Sleep. I’ve been teaching at my old
university, which has been great and has taken a lot of time. I like to lie
down. I think if I was part of the 1% billionaire club and didn’t have to
engage with the world at all I would probably just lie down forever and eat
peanut butter and not get up.
What led you to write Alice and the Fly?
I
wanted to write something about school. It’s a traumatic place to have to spend
so much of your childhood, I think, and so I wanted to do something which felt
real to me, in terms of what school life is really like. I actually started it
back when I was still in high school, but it was terrible. I took a run at it a
few times, in different forms. It was a short story, a film script, a concept
album (don’t ask). And then when I was studying an MA I wanted to write
something longer and so I thought I’d try out that idea again, see how it had
aged. I wrote the first chapter and people liked it – it even won a
competition. I felt like I was onto something. So I carried on.
Your
book deals with serious topics of mental illness, alienation, dysfunctional
families, and violence. What challenges did you face in creating a work that
wouldn't become too dark for a YA audience?
To be honest I didn’t think about audience at all
when I wrote it – I wrote it for myself. I mean, these characters are teenagers
and I was a teenager when I came up with most of the material and it felt like
a very real, teenage experience to me. I don’t really think you have to worry
about darkness in terms of teenagers – it’s the darkest period of most people’s
lives.
Mental illness is a challenge to write about because
there are so many myths and clichés and potential to offend people who have to
deal with it. I tried to use all of that, to play with these ideas society has,
and subvert them. I don’t know if it worked. I’ve had some people challenge me
on it, but (so far) only people who haven’t actually read it.
What
would you like readers to take from it?
That empathy is everything. That you should be kind to
others. That you should find love wherever you can and hold onto it. That you
should be yourself. That you shouldn’t let fear hold you back. Be brave, be
bold, but most of all be kind.
What are your current/future projects?
I’m writing another novel at the moment which feels
like everything right now. I’m ‘in it’, so to speak. It’s going well – at the
minute I love it. Hopefully it will change the world. We’ll see.
The
book alternates between Greg's journaling to share his internal voice and
police transcripts to provide readers with an external interpretation of
events. What led you to that choice of structure?
It came near the end of the writing process,
actually. I liked the idea of finding another found footage-like way to give
other sides of the story and this seemed like a great way to hear from some
other characters – give the reader a break from Greg’s voice – whilst also
hinting at what’s to come. Also it allowed me to get some dialogue in the novel
(I like writing dialogue).
Did
you have the book plotted to the point where you knew it would end in tragedy or
did the ending evolve as the characters developed?
I always had the ending. Apart from that I did
little plotting, just ran with certain plot threads and characters. I wrote the
scenes I wanted to write and then figured out the structure at the end. I would
not recommend this as a writing technique though. Sure, it was fun, but it took
a long time. I don’t know if I’d have been able to do it any other way though.
There’s no right or wrong way to write a novel, as long as it gets written.
Are
there certain themes or ideas you prefer?
Teenage
love is my favourite theme, probably, because it’s so amazing when you’re a teenager
– everything is so new and exciting. I enjoyed writing about that. Also the
visual image of the spiders and how much fear and dread they cause (people have
refused to read it because it has spiders in). That was where the initial spark
came from – this idea that spiders are just the perfect representation of
people’s fears.
The
main theme is this sort of self-fulfilling prophecy though – that Greg is
actually lovely, but because he’s treated a certain way he’s made to act a
certain way and this plays into all the preconceptions about mental illness.
And this just snowballs. And of course we have his perspective, so we know he’s
not to blame, but we also know how it must look like to other people too. Which
makes for a great deal of humour and sadness.
What book(s)/author(s) have influenced your writing and how?
Recently I decided to make a pile of all the books
that influenced Alice… and I ended up
with two huge, towering piles of books. It’s amazing how wide-ranging your
influences can be. I like a lot of modern American greats like Don DeLillo,
David Foster Wallace, A.M. Homes, Nicholson Baker. Also British authors like Niall
Griffiths, Cynan Jones, Kevin Barry. Stuff that’s experimental and interesting usually,
though I’ll read anything. To prepare for Alice…
I read loads of teen-narrated books. The most influential were Apples by Richard Milward and When I Was Five I Killed Myself by
Howard Buten (and obviously The Catcher
in the Rye).
What is the most challenging aspect of your writing process?
Self-doubt is the one
thing that holds me back more than anything. I try ignore it, put it to one
side. I tell myself: ‘Remember, you can always delete stuff that doesn’t work.
But if you sit there too scared to write anything bad you’ll never write a
single word.’
Talk
about revising and/or suggestions about revising for upcoming writers.
Ok.
Well, read a lot. And give yourself time – time is
the most important part. Hindsight is your best friend. Writing is boring and time-consuming – learn
to accept that and you’ll be ok. Bad writing + reading + time = good writing.
Stick to that formula
What's one
additional piece of advice about writing or publishing you'd like to pass on to
readers and writers?
Publishers are lovely and nothing to be scared of. And they’re
desperate to receive good writing – just as desperate as you are to produce it.
So don’t worry about never having your work seen by a publisher – it will be if
it’s good enough. Just worry about the quality of the work. That’s your job.
Anything
else you'd like readers to know about you and/or your book?
Just how happy it’d
make me if they read it. Even more so if they liked it. And if not, well,
that’s ok too. I’ll try harder next time. J
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