by Tim Connolly
No. There are real people who I have in mind and who inspire small physical or psychological elements of a fictional character, but I do not take real people and put them in a story - where’s the fun in that when you can play inventor and create characters just as you want them? The best example I can give is Reardon. In the village I grew up in there was a farmer who I found daunting and impressive when I was a child, and who I grew up to admire and love. He was a one-off, and, to me, an inspiration. He was incredibly encouraging of my work and we shared an appreciation of similar landscapes and art. I was by no means amongst his closest circle of friends, but he meant a great deal to me. I had a desire to write a character of a farmer who meant a great deal to Ellis, but the Reardon of the story and the Reardon-Ellis relationship are entirely fictitious. So, none of the characters are based on real people, but the essence of a real person (or maybe just a very detailed characteristic) is sometimes a starting point for what becomes a fictitious character.
Did any image or piece of music inspire you?
Strauss’s Four Last Songs and the paintings of Andrew Wyeth.
How important was research to the writing of the book?
I referred to the Collins Field Guide: Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe by Michael J. Roberts, and to the excellent Spiders by Michael Chinery.
How important is the temporal setting of the novel?
Perhaps, a bit like the settings I used, it was comfortable for me to set the story in the same years that I was Ellis’s age. I loved my childhood so, by association, I have vivid and positive images of rural and coastal life in the 70s and 80s.
How did you decide on the novel’s title?
What was important to me about Denny’s idea for the truces was that it went against the grain for him. He used his heart and his strength to bring his children up, but he did not use his imagination. The truces were the first time he did use his imagination, and risk embarrassing himself too. I love Denny for doing that.
ABOUT WRITING:
When do you write?
Very early in the morning is the best time of all.
Where do you write?
My study. My kitchen. Under the oak tree in my garden. Pond Wood. Pett Beach. The Breakfast Club in Soho. On the train. I wrote a lot of this book in the New Piccadilly Café in Denman Street, London W1, the closure of which leaves an empty space in my experience of London.
Why do you write?
You either do or you don’t. If you do, there’s no “why”.
Who or what inspires you?
Absolutely everything and nothing much in particular.
What do you read if you need a prompt?
I don’t. I go out and do something. Usually a walk or a swim.
Do you listen to music as you write? If so, do you have a favourite piece to write to?
Not when I am writing from blank page. But sometimes I do when I am editing or adding dialogue. Arvo Pärt. Vaughan Williams. The Concerto for Two Violins by the undervalued contemporary British composer George Newson. Some film soundtracks. Sigur Rós. Amiina. Elliott Smith. Crosby, Stills and Nash. Folk compilations.
Do you use visual prompts?
Not really, not at the writing stage. But I do trawl through my scrapbooks and postcards and art books when first collating ideas.
Do you revise and edit your work as you go?
Yes, a huge amount, endlessly.
What tips would you give aspiring writers?
“Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.” Stanislavsky.
What single thing would improve your writing life?
More talent.
What distracts you from writing?
The kettle. The weather. Birds on the feeders. Horses on the lane. The fields. The beach. Women. Football. The pub. The kettle. The weather.
How do you balance writing with other commitments?
Writing takes up a disproportionate and unreasonable amount of my time.
How does your background in film inform your writing?
It informs my re-writing. The process of editing film has two significant qualities; firstly, one is ruthless in cutting out material that does not earn its place in the story (I learned that from not being ruthless and making some poor work). Secondly, once a structure is working well in the cutting room, one puts it aside and tries something radically different (when allowed the time). Both these are a part of my re-writing and editing process with a book. As for whether or not being a film-maker makes my prose writing “visual” I think that’s an over-egged idea. I can’t think of any great prose that isn’t profoundly visual, at least in my experience of reading it.
Are you working on a new novel?
Yes. Men Like Air, about four men in New York City in April 2006. And there’s also a lot of preparatory work done on a third book, See You Next Friday… Set in the small town of Blackbrook, it’s about a drunk, his son and the waitress who serves them every Friday.
About the Author
Tom Connolly is a film maker. The Spider Truces is his first novel. He lives in a remote corner of the Rother Valley, in East Sussex.
Copyright
First published in 2010
This ebook edition published in 2011 by
Myriad Editions
59 Lansdowne Place
Brighton BN3 1FL
www.MyriadEditions.com
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Copyright © Tom Connolly 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Fifteen lines from “In the Sunset Glow” translated by S. S. Prawer taken from The Penguin Book of Lieder edited and translated by S. S. Prawer (Penguin Books, 1964). Copyright © S. S. Prawer, 1964. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978–1–908434–00–5
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
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AFTERWORD:
About the Author
Copyright