Sam Riviere has kindly tagged me in this blog interview series called the ‘Next Big Thing’ about new writing projects. His poetry pamphlet in progress is called Standard Twin Fantasy – you can read about it here and also travel back and forth through the interviews to read about other writers ad infinitum, should you wish to do such a thing! (My writing project is less new than done and happening, but hopefully that’s still allowed …)
What is the working title of your book?
Dear Boy [finished title]
Where did the idea for the book come from?
It’s a first collection of poems so there isn’t one idea as such, but one of the threads running through the book is about a long-distance relationship, which came from experience. The title ties in with this – I think of a few of the poems as being like postcards or maybe emails. There are also some recurring characters, for example a sort of mischievous ingenue figure who was partly inspired by the children’s book Eloise, about a precocious six-year-old who lives in the Plaza Hotel in New York. My character is older than that but I like to think some of her turns of phrase were inspired by Eloise’s.
What genre does your book fall under?
Poetry
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’d say a Ghost World era Scarlett Johansson and Isabelle Huppert being very repressed and chilling à la The Piano Teacher. And someone who can do a good creepy older man … hmm. Maybe Javier Bardem. He has to have chunky wrists …
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Deadpan real-life fairytales.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It will be published by Faber & Faber.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
The earliest poems in it were written about six years ago, the most recent about eight months ago.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I don’t think I’m objective enough to answer this question. A friend who has just read the book said it made him think of Lena Dunham and Sheila Heti, who are obviously not within the genre, but why must we always remain within the genre? In terms of poetry, my work has previously been compared to Luke Kennard’s, and he’s probably quite a visible influence.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Oh, you know, life.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It has a nice tomato red cover. See:
The writers below are working on some pretty spectacular things that you’ll be able to read about soon:
Message for tagged authors: Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current work in progress
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
