Hugely successful author Caroline Smailes, Open University tutor and editor, has written six novels, including The Drowning of Arthur Braxton, Like Bees to Honey, In Search of Adam, Black Boxes, 99 Reasons Why and Freaks. This year, she had Arts Council funding for her latest novel The Continuing Story of Martha Lost. Deborah Edgeley caught up with her.
In The Observer, you have been described as being an arch-experimentalist. Can you please tell us a bit about the style of your work?
I think (and hope) my style of writing evolves and adapts to each story I try to tell. In the past, I’ve used different fonts to indicate altered voice and mood. Key words, themes and repeated phraseology were signalled through a consistent font choice being assigned to them. I’ve also included sign language, short chapters, eleven possible endings to one novel and script, as well as considering the use of white space. The aim was to give the words life and breath on the page. I wanted the words to be given a creative expression beyond the surface meaning, so I experimented to add a depth that could not be obtained through standard presentation and storytelling.
But saying all of that, the novel I’ve just finished follows standard grammatical rules and standard format. And it only has one ending. So, I don’t feel I have a style, as such, it’s more about using available tools to tell a story in the best way that I can.
Your innovative digital novel 99 Reasons Why is a huge success. The iPad version has a spinning wheel at the end of Chapter 89 for the reader to choose one of eleven possible endings. In your talk at the MMU this year, you mentioned ebooks and the difficulties in transferring various fonts, white spaces and layouts into the ebook format. Do you think that this will improve in years to come?
Yes without a doubt, I think this is changing all the time. It’s ‘simply’ (in a very complicated way!) a problem that requires software to improve.
You also mentioned having a soundtrack to a book, and linking it to Spotify. This is also fascinating. How would this change the reading experience, do you think? Would it enhance it or distract?
I don’t think this is an easy question to answer, simply because it’s down to the tastes of the individual reader. For me, it’s about giving readers choice and enhancing their reading options. A reader can listen to the Spotify tracks or look at images that inspired where a novel was set, and for some it will enhance their understanding and reading experience. Other readers won’t want the distraction but my hope is that they’ll simply ignore the links that have been made available.
Personally, I like that the reading experience can be offered on a number of levels now and I’m excited about where technology will take us, as both readers and writers.
You described writing your first draft of each novel as a ‘vomit draft’! What is your preferred way of turning the first draft into a novel, or does it change with each book?
It changes with each novel. Sometimes I write longhand, so the ‘vomit into a novel’ comes as I type the words. Other times, it comes with a stripping back of the text and considering the use of every single word. The ‘turning it into a novel’ stage is my favourite stage of writing.
Which authors inspire you and why?
Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, John Fowles, Neil Gaiman, Angela Carter, Roald Dahl, The Brothers Grimm, Chris Cleave, Alice Walker, Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Plath, Hans Christian Anderson, T.S.Eliot… I could go on, and on. For me it’s all about the unexpected, about twists and turns and the unleashing of magic. Sometimes writers are wizards. I long to be better than I am.
As an editor, do you find that you proof your work as you go along (after the vomit draft!) or can you wait until you get your ideas down first? I guess you don’t need much proofing done when it’s finished.
I’m getting better. Now I tend to get a first draft down, then I edit and edit and edit some more. Working as an editor has definitely altered how I write. I’m aware of common mistakes and I’ve become ridiculously anal/precious with letting people see my writing. When I did my MA in Creative Writing, I was happy to hand over 5,000 words weekly to a group of readers. Those words were possibly a second draft. Now, no one will see my work until at least the seventh or eighth draft. Shockingly, there are still many mistakes in it. I can edit, but I am truly rubbish at proofing.
At the Latitude festival this year you took part in Emma B’s TableTalks. Can you please tell us a bit about this?
TableTalks is the amazing baby of the wonderful Emma B. It’s an informal debate, ‘born out a bunch of friends’ desire to talk and share opinion about stuff that matters and occasionally stuff that doesn’t much’. Emma invited me along to Latitude to join in a debate surrounding, ‘This house believes that the book is dead!’ I talked about ’99 Reasons Why’ and its eleven endings, attempting to explain why I wasn’t killing off books by writing a digital-only novel. There was much wine, debate and a fabulous audience.
You were a judge at Pulp Idol in Liverpool this year. What makes a good read for you?
I like an opening that hooks me in. I like sharp dialogue, a lack of flowery description and short chapters. For me, it’s all about being pulled into a world in the opening paragraph and feeling sadness when the book ends and the world is taken from me.
Your recent novel The Drowning of Arthur Braxton deals with dark themes and been likened to a modern day fairy tale. Where did you get the inspiration from to write this novel? Do you usually do a lot of research in the same genre as what your book is written in?
I love that it’s been classed as an urban fairy tale, mainly because I adore fairy tales. The novel has three different voices. One of them is a young girl called Laurel, who goes to find work in a swimming bath that locals believe has magical properties. At the same time we follow Arthur, who’s just experienced a very modern humiliation after meeting a girl on Facebook. He hears noises coming from an abandoned, almost derelict, swimming baths and when he investigates he finds a naked girl swimming in the water.
Originally the novel was going to be set in a lighthouse on the coast of Talacre, but then Victoria Baths (Manchester) was suggested as a possible location. I was able to go along and look inside the building. I fell in love with the beauty, with the space and with the stunning original features. The novel started forming as I walked around, absorbing the history and exquisiteness. Added to this, the novel is a retelling of three Greek myths, so the inspiration is from a number of places.
But, perhaps this is weird, when I’m writing (the vomit draft) I can’t read books in that genre or any genre. I’d never research by reading a book in a similar genre, I’d be too terrified about copying a style and forgetting to be me. I envy people who can read whilst writing.