1. What can you tell our readers about your new novel?
The Adventures is a multi-level narrative which is a satire and a critique of language abuse, where the components of the language have to fight to be in their own stories, Within this framework there is philosophical slants, psychology and much playfulness with concepts and words, Overall, Stopper, the full stop of the title, has to find out why language isn’t fulfilling its remit and with some commas and some letters to help this band of fundamental friends find themselves investigating how the capitals are ripping meaning from words and creating acronymic contractions. The book is in 3 parts, or 3 sub consciousness’s and two interludes in the unconscious, the first part is where language is having trouble being clear, the second part the narrative drive begins to semantically clear the way, and the third part is where language flexes its muscles again but has to fight to keep the narrative going. The interludes impart the general flavor of the following part. I realised fairly quickly that in going the way I’d decided that if I gave each individual letter too much character there was a serious danger in going very twee very fast, plus too much characterization of letters can get in the way of words, yet I also had to stay in that world throughout the tale, so I compensated by using enough, I hope, whip smart dialogue, showing relations overtly, and a slowly ramping narrative drive to keep the tale motoring on.
2 It is a very unusual concept so where did the initial idea come from?
All that came was a title, nothing else, it was kind of weird, but I loved the way that title used every single motion of tongue, lips, teeth, to say it, so the initial thing for me was voice. Much later I got the idea that the lower case letters being a bit miffed at the increasing use of acronyms and abbreviations and it was when I started to play with that that I realized how brilliantly this all mapped to our current economic malaise.
3. You work as a chemist, so how did you come to write if this was your profession?
Chemistry and language are not necessarily opposites, plus I’ve always loved chemistry because it’s all based in reality, and yet it seems magical, well language is pretty much the same for me. I’ve just always loved both. I’m fact I do have a future idea of doing a chemical tale that teaches chemistry.
4. Who are your greatest writing influences?
Dostoyevsky is my all-time favourite, the psychological acuity of this guy is astonishing, and his honesty shines through so bright, he is a Christian but he gives his greatest words to the atheist Ivan Karamazov, Not the Christian Alyosha. Kafka is another favourite, but I think my main influence in writing is probably from poetry which is what I wrote to begin with.
5. Who do you most like to read in your spare time?
I don’t really have a favourite read at the moment and I do tend to read a novel followed by a non-fiction and then back to a novel again, although one book I would certainly recommend would be Eliot Perlman’s Seven Types of Ambiguity, and I also enjoyed the Dragon Tattoo books lately.
6. Why did you move from Scotland to England?
Economic migration, or work, though I do keep telling people I’m a missionary.
7. When did you first realise that you had a talent to write?
I realised that I could write when I had nothing else left to do
8. What is next for you?
Well I’ve a story called Shadows nearly done, I want to do a thing called Ghost of the Gaels, I’ve got another thing called Shifts and I’ve a load of other ideas competing for attention.
9. How has your discovery of cosmology and ecology aided your writing?
Cosmology and Ecology, along with Chemistry, let me know that everything is connected and if there is one prevalent idea in this book it is that if you disconnect everyone suffers…No man (or woman) is an Island.
Kindle version now avaliable on Amazon.
Female First Lucy Walton
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