I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Vanessa Gebbie, author of the fabulous novel The Coward’s Tale.  Below she shares her thoughts on her book, on writing in general, and tells me how to curse in Welsh.  Enjoy!

1. How did you get started as a writer?

Like a lot of  writers, I used to write as a child, as a teenager and into my twenties. But then, life took over and I stopped.  That I married someone who doesn’t read fiction didn’t help, much as I love him!  I always read a lot, but somehow it’s hard having no one to share books with – at least that’s how it felt. Then I had different jobs, and raised children – everything else took first place. Thankfully, many years later, I came back to writing, and it was another writer who unlocked the wonderful world of fiction again.

It happened like this – I was shopping, in Brighton (my nearest city) and got caught in a thunderstorm, a real downpour. I slipped into a bookshop to escape the rain, on the way back to the car. They had a special display: “3 for 2”.  I couldn’t really drip by the books without buying something, so I picked up two books I recognised. Then I needed a third. Nothing appealed – until I saw one with a fascinating cover, fascinating title, and on the back it said it was ‘Book of the Year’ for about fifteen excellent writers. So that was my third book. A freebie!

I dashed to the car, and drove home. I made a cup of tea and even though I was wet, I sat down to drink it, and opened this third book just to take a quick look. And I stayed there until I had finished all four hundred and something pages. The book was ‘Austerlitz’ by W G Sebald – it is a work of absolute genius. It breaks so many of the so-called ‘rules’ our poor creative writing students are told must never be broken – and it is unforgettable. When I got up, I knew that was what I as going to do – it is as simple as that – it awoke a love of writing that had been dormant for a long time.

And actually, although my husband doesn’t read fiction, that is great. At no time does he ask what I am doing, or ask to see it!

2. The Coward’s Tale is your first novel, but before that you’ve written many short stories. How was your writing process different while you were working on this novel as opposed to writing short fiction?

Actually the writing process was no different. I write short story first drafts sometimes at one sitting, and sometimes, in scenes out of the final narrative sequence. I wrote The Coward’s Tale in pieces, over five or six years, as they came to me, and the shape of the whole emerged from the mass of words. The real difference, obviously, is the size of the project – I took a year to revise and edit until I was happy with the result, before sending it to my agent.

3. Almost every chapter in The Coward’s Tale feels like a complete short story in itself. Was this your intended format or did it just work out that way as you were writing it?

It was the way I tackled the project, initially. As someone who was more used to writing (and enjoying reading) short fiction, I didn’t want to write a single narrative novel – and as I find different structures exciting to read, I was naturally drawn to create something a bit different as I wrote, and to try to make it work. At one point, all the tales were ‘stand-alone’ pieces, but part of the final year was to weave the narratives, so that actually, you would have to smooth the individual pieces and take out quite a bit to make them into stand-alones again.

4. The characters in The Coward’s Tale are rather peculiar. Are some of them based on people you know?

They certainly are a bit different!  But we all do odd things, now and again, don’t we – I find people endlessly interesting.

And no – none of the characters are based on actual people, apart from one. Black Skirted Nan in The Halfwit’s Tale is based very loosely on my own maternal grandmother. She was rather a frightening person, to a small child – but not nasty at all – that is invention. And perhaps old Lillian Harris is partly my grandmother too, the motherly part!

5. Do you think that Ianto Jenkins is a coward?

I’ve always thought that it’s what we think of ourselves that matters, not what others think – and Ianto himself  believes he is a coward, as he has done for most of his life. He’s an observant, kind man, a good man, who has had this label stuck to him by his town since he was a boy. I don’t believe he is any more of a coward than anyone else.

6. How has your novel been received in the US as opposed to in the UK? 

The book went down well in the UK when it came out last November, had some great reviews in the newspapers, and was selected as a Book of the Year by The Financial Times, and a Guardian Reader’s Book of the Year as well. That was unbelievable lovely. 

In the US, the book had some great pre-publication reviews – a starred review from Kirkus, generous words from Booklist, Publishers Weekly and so forth, which is great.  Literary blogs have been wonderful, as you know!

It’s been out in the US for three months now, and I have been lucky enough to get some amazing emails from individual readers who have been moved to tell me how much they enjoyed it. That is so lovely of them. I‘ve  also heard directly from a few reading groups who are discussing the book, and that’s great. (There is a book groups guide on the Bloomsbury website.)

7. Which do you find more challenging, teaching or writing?

That is a hard one to answer, because it’s not a simple question, really. When I am teaching, I am aware of the huge reponsibility that is on me to balance the need for genuine encouragement with honest feedback. I think creative spirits, when they start out, need encouragement – they need permission to continue, permission to enjoy what they are doing. I am not teaching in an academic environment, and that is a huge bonus – I do not have to  mark the work for a grade – but equally, I am not going to tell someone a piece is beautifully written if I believe it is not!

I can be tough taskmaster when a writer  and their writing is ready for toughness, and have had several students do exceptionally well with their work. (Nothing to do with me, I hasten to add – I just gave them what was needed for their own skills to flourish – as opposed to me trying to control those emerging skills.)

Writing is always a challenge, much as I love it. The further you go, the greater your expectations are – you don’t want to fail – and that is quite a weight to carry around.  And it is one reason why I go away to write, so I can immerse myself in it completely and not think too much! This year, I will have been on three retreats, one to ireland, one to the west country, and a whole month in Scotland thanks to a Hawthornden Fellowship.

8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about writing?

Never think you’ve ‘got there’. Never stop trying to write better today than you did yesterday. 

9. What are you working on right now?

I am working on my next novel, Kit, a continutation of The Coward’s Tale.  I am also writing poetry, and learning as much as I can. I am also editing another edition of my text book, Short Circuit, Guide to the Art of the Short Story – and I am doing a lot of teaching. I’m running a week-long short fiction course in Ireland in early June, and have quite a few writers coming over from the USA – I can’t wait!

10. What’s your favorite Welsh curse word?

 Slebog. Isn’t it great – it means ‘slut’. I don’t remember that word being around when I was a teenager – it says what it means, don’t you think?

**Want more from Vanessa Gebbie?  Check out her official site or her blog, and follow her on Twitter @vanessagebbie !