Esther Chilton

Many of you will have come across Geoff before. I first met him at the Annual Bloggers Bash in 2015. He’s extremely talented and a very versatile author as you’ll find out from my interview with him.

Q. Your latest book of short stories, Life in a Conversation was released earlier this year. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

A. I write a lot of short fiction, much of which is in dialogue form. This set is predominately humorous with the occasional piece to make you sit up and think. If you want something you can dip into, then this is for you.

Q. What are you currently working on?

A. I have three projects that are nearing completion. Next month – 1st November – the second part of the Harry Spittle saga will be published. Harry appeared in my first ever published work, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle, a coming of age story set in 1976 and he has now moved on to 1981 where he is working as a trainee solicitor in London. His life remains a complicated mess, mostly of his own making. I have written the third part too, Booms and Busts set in 1987 where Harry is striving to become a partner in the law firm for whom he works. This is currently undergoing a thorough edit and will I hope be published early in 2020. The fourth part, set in 1997 provisionally titled Things Never Get Any Better will see Harry, father of three and hopeful candidate for a management position in his law firm – I am aiming to write the first section of it during this year’s Nano.

Coming along behind are two contrasting novels. Walking Into Trouble is a serious piece of fiction where we follow three friends as they undertake to walk the Cotswolds Way. Chris is recently bereaved and his two long term friends Martin and Peter think the walk will be a good way to help him overcome his grief. But each of them has a secondary agenda which will lead to some uncomfortable revelations and a dramatic conclusion. I hope to release this in early 2020 too. The second book – Pearl Barley and the Flight of the Banshees – is a modern fantasy set today but a today not as we know it. We follow the tentative steps of the eponymous Pearl a trainee secular exorcist as she strives to qualify into her chosen profession with the help of Sharon, a deceased stylist who has taken possession of Pearl’s hair and her mirror, a magical accompaniment to the modern exorcist which reflects Pearl in ways that are not always comfortable or complimentary.

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your published novels?

A. I’ve published four. The first, mentioned above, Dead Flies and Sherry Trifle follows Harry Spittle, 19 and just back home for the summer vacation from his first year at university. Home is an isolated cottage in the New Forest and the last place Harry wants to be. His aims for his summer are to spend as little time at home as possible, earn money and hopefully have sex. In trying to achieve these aims his life begins to take several turns, few for the better.

The second is a thriller set across continents called My Father and Other Liars where we follow Maurice a British journalist and Lori Ann and American geneticist and daughter of the Pastor of an evangelical church, The Church of Science and Development as they seek to uncover the reason for the mysterious disappearance of Lori Ann’s boyfriend.

The third is a gritty modern tale of unlikely friendships: set against the backdrop of modern London, the lives of Suzie an addict and homeless woman and Jerzy a Polish immigrant escaping the police in his homeland intertwine in unexpected ways that gives hope but also ensures tragedy.

And finally Buster & Moo where the lives of two couples collide following their unexpected introduction courtesy of a rehomed dog.

Q. How does writing a novel differ from writing short stories? Which do you prefer writing?

A. I can’t say I prefer one to the other. The short story is satisfying when it works and allows for flights of fancy that, in a novel, probably couldn’t be sustained. I enjoy writing humour and making people laugh. In a short story, the whole piece can exaggerate the laughs but try that in a novel and, like binging on chocolate, the excess soon palls. If I was forced to choose it would be the novel because ultimately if it works it is recognition of a hard job well done but since I don’t have to, I will happily create both.

Q. Your short stories could be described as a little quirky. You certainly think outside the box. Where do you get your ideas from?

A. I enjoy being prompted, whether by a picture or phrase or even just a word. And often the prompt leads to many pieces that are beautifully crafted but obvious. So I will try and see behind the prompt. For instance a recent prompt involved an idyllic scene, with a shaft of sunlight breaking through the clouds and shining on a still lake. From this I imagined an alternative conversation between God and Moses. Where did that come from? No idea!

Q. You’ve also written a memoir about your mother. Will there be any more memoirs in the future?

A. That’s tricky. Both my mother and father have been large influences and I could imagine doing one around my dad. I have always seen my own life as the epitome of a surreal normality that, personally I think is the lot of most of us if only we could focus on the absurdities of living through the second half of the twentieth century and the first two decades of the twenty-first. There’s a memoir in there I think…

Q. What’s the hardest thing you find about being a writer?

A. Time management and back ache.

Q. Do you get time to read yourself and if you do, what books do you read?

A. I listen as well as read. I love British cop thrillers, absurdist fantasies (Pratchett, Adams, Aaronovitch) and some good general fiction (Gaiman). Some biographies too and history and science.

Q. When you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A. Ah, spare time. And that is? In no particular order: cooking (esp cakes and vegetarian stews), gardening (digging holes and trying to achieve the perfect lawn), walking with the dog, skiing badly, volunteering, taking in films and plays and moaning about them afterwards (harsh critic, that’s me), blogging though currently I’m on a break as I focus on all the books above and spending time with the Long Suffering laughing about pretty everything.

Q. Finally, what piece of advice can you give to writers who are struggling to get that first book written and published?

A. If you haven’t started yet and you feel intimidated, know we all felt that way. Just write down an idea, whatever it is. Get that first sentence out there. Don’t be too quick to ask for an opinion – you will be very sensitive about your first piece of writing. And don’t second guess yourself. No one – I mean no one writes anything good the first time and the second and the third. We all edit to hell and back. A first draft is full of every error imaginable and if you try and correct it you’ll never make progress. Simply write and ignore errors. You can sort those out later.

As for getting published the joy today is self-publishing. Yes of course there is the traditional route and that may suit you fine but it is hard and two things need to be said about it. First it requires patience and second you will give up a lot of autonomy over your book. But I know lots of great writers who can’t imagine being published any other way, for a host of reasons. Me, I self-publish for several reasons. One it’s pretty straight forward if you spend a bit of care getting your book to be the best it can be. Personally paying for an editor and a cover designer makes sense to me because I don’t have those skills but you don’t have to. Other than that the books are mine and mine alone.  I control content and timing. I have to market them – but so do many who are published by small presses – but that is up to me how much time and effort I put in. The main reason is I enjoy writing and don’t want to waste what I have fighting trying to find a publisher, negotiating the contents of my book and flogging it to someone else’s agenda. At bottom I write for the love of the process not the glory and certainly not the money.