To celebrate the launch of her latest novel, Lifesaving for Beginners, Ciara Geraghty shares some of her writing secrets with GLAMOUR…
Where do you write?The attic of my house. It's got two windows, a desk, a chair and a couch. It's also got a door that locks, which is essential when you live in a house with other people, especially when those other people are children whose standard greeting is 'I'm starving', or husbands who want to know if you've seen the charger for their Blackberry / the batteries for the TV remote / the lid of the 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter'…
What's your writing schedule?I start after the school run (let's call it 9.30am, to give me time to make tea and toast), commute to my attic and remain there until 1.30pm when I go to collect my youngest daughter. I check my mails / Twitter / Facebook first, then (this is the tricky bit) switch off the internet. I usually read over what I've written the day before, do some editing and then face the horror of the blank page, take a breath, and begin.
Do you have any music to write by?No. I am too easily distracted and much prefer writing in a quiet space. The characters come out to play when it's quiet…
Who would play your main characters in the movie?Love this question, as am big fan of the movies…
Kat Kavanagh (nearly 40-year old writer with writer's block and a secret from her past that's getting ready to rear its head): Cate Blanchett, a brilliant character actress, who does a great Oirish accent…
Milo McIntyre (Nine year old from Brighton - a dote!!): How about David Rawle (Martin Moone from Moone Boy)? Haven't seen the series but have seen pictures and read the reviews and believe he's a dote too!!
Thomas Cunningham (a journalist who calls himself a farmer on account of his five stony fields in Monaghan - the love interest) How about Owen Wilson (but can he do Oirish accent?)
Faith (Milo's big sister. She's 25, a singer / songwriter in a band, whose world has just come crashing down around her): It's got to be Charlene McKenna (the star of the Irish series, Pure Mule and Raw). She'd be perfect!
Minnie Driver (the accountant, not the actress. Kat's best friend. Eccentric, fierce and loyal): I think Minnie Driver could play her to a tee (the actress, not the fictional accountant…)
Janet Noble (Kat's mother and a very serious prize-winning author) - the amazing Irish actor, Fionnula Flanagan.
Do you ever drink and write?I used to. When I began to write, I did it mostly at night, when my family were safely tucked up in their beds. I'd open the laptop and a bottle of beer and we'd wander hand in hand into the world inside my head. It was lovely, so it was.Now however, writing is my JOB and with jobs come discipline, something I'm not too fond of… My writing time is from 9am to 1.30pm and, while I've given it a go, beer just doesn't taste as good at 9am as it does at 10pm. I think it might have something to do with toothpaste.
What's the best advice you were ever given?Don't ever try to read the instructions on the base of a camping gas cooker by the light of a match as this may result in your tent going up in flames and your eyebrows never being the same again….
What was your favourite book when you were a kid?It's got to be the Five Find Outers. Yes, all fifteen books, although perhaps the very first one - The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage - remains my favourite. Fatty - Frederick Algernon Trotteville - was my hero. I suppose what I loved about the books was the fact that the six children lived in this sleepy little village yet exciting things happened, every single time they came home from boarding school for the 'hols' and went to the café to stuff their faces with macaroons. I too lived in a sleepy little village but nothing ever happened. I didn't go to boarding school. Or say 'hols'. I'd never eaten a macaroon. But they made my mouth water, all the same.
Do you have a favourite EVER book?
That's a terrible question to ask! Like asking someone to judge a cute baby contest…THEY'RE ALL CUTE!!! THEY'RE BABIES!!!But if you insist, then I'd have to say that there is one book that never strays from my 'top ten favourite books EVER' and that is An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan. The book tells the true story of the imprisonment of Brian Keenan - an Irish writer and academic - and John McCarthy - a British journalist - from 1986 to 1990 in Beirut. While the book deals with the hostile and sometimes brutal conditions the men endured during their captivity, it also captures the essence of friendship and companionship and love and this, for me, is what makes this book sing like a song you'll never forget.
What are you reading right now?
I've just finished Strumpet City by James Plunkett Kelly which is Dublin's 'One City One Book' choice for 2013. It's set back in the time of the Lockout in Dublin in 1913 - led by Jim Larkin - and explores the lead up to the six month lockout of 20,000 of Dublin's workers and the fallout from it. It's a fictional story based on real events and set against a backdrop of vicious poverty. Spanning seven years, it tells the tale from several characters points of view, from the impoverished Rashers Tierney, who lives on his wits with his dog on the fringes of society, in the basement of a tenement building in Dublin, to members of upper classes and the clergy, where many people believed in charity but were nevertheless anxious that poor people should 'know their place.' It's a fantastic read, accessible and entertaining, with a great deal of resonance still, in these austerity-riddled times, even though the book was published back in 1969. Highly recommended.
Which author has had the biggest impact on your writing?
Lots! I would say 'influences' include John Irving and Margaret Atwood. I love the quirkiness of their characters and the ease of their storytelling. I love Irish writers; Kevin Barry, Joseph O'Connor, Roddy Doyle, Marian Keyes, Yvonne Cassidy, Colum McCann, Edna O'Brien. All great story tellers. And great writers. Coming from such a small, insignificant island but surrounded on all sides by these talented, amazing writers, makes people like me think that....YES....I CAN DO IT TOO!!!!!
How long does it take you to write a book?
About a year and a half, on average, give or take (me taking and my editor giving…that's how we work it…).
Do you have any top tips for aspiring authors?
- Be honest. Stay true to your characters. Let them do what they will on the page, regardless of whether or not you think it's 'nice' or 'politically correct' or 'moral'. Readers will invest themselves in your characters when they are believable. There are so many aspects to people. This is what makes us interesting to each other. Show all sides of your characters to your readers and they will follow your characters wherever you take them.
- Write as if nobody will ever see your work. Don't think about what your mother might think. Or your husband. Or the parents on the PTA. Write as if you are a hermit in a cave who never meets anyone or goes anywhere. This is fiction; it's not an autobiography.
- The blank page is terrifying. So fill it up with words. It doesn't matter if you think what you're writing is terrible. That's what editing is for.
- Writing is like any other activity; the more you do it, the better you become. You have to practise. Have this as your mantra. It worked for Samuel Beckett: 'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.'
- This bit isn't mine. I stole it from Hilary Mantel but I think it's a really good piece of advice. She says, 'Start with a bang. Are you doing the Haka or just shuffling your feet?' I don't think she's talking just about the very beginning of a book but also about the start of your chapters. Get to the action!!
- OK, here's the science bit: Go through whatever you're working on and delete every single adverb and most of the adjectives. Instead of those pesky things, strengthen your verbs. This will help your writing to jump off the page, right into your readers' heads!!
What's the best way to relax after writing?
The three Bs: Beach, Bath, Bed.
How do you get inspiration for your books?
I got the germ of the idea for 'Lifesaving for Beginners' from a friend of mine who, one night, told me the story of her father's unmarried sisters, both of whom died within months of each other. Her father was going through their personal effects afterwards and found a birth certificate. One of his sisters had given birth to a baby years before and had given the child up for adoption. The child was adopted by an American couple. He never knew.
The minute I heard the story I knew I wanted to write it. The idea of a woman who gives her baby away and gets on with the living of her life, never referring to it, never talking about it, perhaps never even thinking about it. It is almost as if it never happened. And although my story begins many years later, in 1987, things in Ireland hadn't really changed. I mean, in 1984, Ann Lovett, a 15-year old girl, gave birth to a baby boy, all alone, in the grounds of a church. They both died. I was fourteen then. I never forgot it. The loneliness of it. That kind of loneliness stays with you.
What's the one thing to remember when you're writing a novel?
It's not a sprint - it's a marathon. But if you keep going, you'll reach the Nirvana of 'The' and 'End'. Even if you walked a marathon, you'd get to the finishing line…eventually. Be patient. Keep writing. The only way a book gets written is one word at a time.
Ciara Geraghty's latest novel, Lifesaving for Beginners, is out now in paperback, £6.99 http://amzn.to/16JZQiK Follow Ciara on twitter @ciarageraghty
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