On creative purpose

“A great truth comes over him: Trees fall with spectacular crashes. But planting is silent and growth is invisible.”

Richard Powers, The Overstory

I never set out to communicate any particular themes in my writing. I gravitated to stories that interested me and dragged me through early drafts, no matter the genre. This isn’t the ideal way to build a writing career - the common advice is pick a genre or market and stick to it. Now, after writing two thrillers, a romcom and a literary fiction novel, I’ve started writing and illustrating for children, which complicates things further. Never mind my parallel career working for innovation consultancies, watching the rise of AI behind the scenes. But, like in any career, one person contains multitudes.

The other day, on one of my many walks, I saw the pattern and purpose behind it all. I write stories that explore technology in an accessible and urgent way for adults, and I write books that celebrate the magic of nature for children. These are two sides of the same coin. Nature inspires play, creativity and fearlessness in children, and that same spirit of creativity and bravery is something we need to cling onto in the increasingly digital adult world.

Richard Powers, author of novels such as Overstory and Playground has a technology background like I do, and inspires me in how he chronicles the relationship between nature and technology. In another interview he talks about, “this notion that somehow we have reached the level of technological dominance that leaves us exempt from the reality of biological systems, the reality of climate systems and so forth, that we got seduced into believing in our own omnipotence.”

These thoughts have given shape to my writing aspirations, and have led me to start my first new piece of adult fiction writing this year! At the same time, I have renewed energy to write and draw stories for children that celebrate their connection to nature. As Wordsworth said, “Children are born naturalists.”

What I’ve been reading

I had an inspiring month reading Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. I went straight onto rereading her debut novel God of Small Things, and it was so fascinating to see how her private and personal worlds overlapped.

As a palate cleanser after all that literary-ness, I read Riley Sager’s The Only One Left. This was a fantastic gothic thriller that wasn’t too gory, but was rich in creepy atmosphere and surprising twists.

I also got news this month that my novel Bad Luck Penny is now available internationally on Kindle! If you like books such as The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller or Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, you may enjoy it! And if you do read it, please leave a first review, the page is looking a little sad ;)

Listening

Gail Schimmel (a prolific, amazing author and friend of mine) recommended this brilliant interview on Honest Authors with Sophie Hannah. Even if you aren’t a writer, it will galvanise you to persevere and go for your dreams.

For those who haven’t practiced their passion in a long time, I found this interview with author Sarah Perry really encouraging. Her career started slightly later in life and she says, “‘You can be someone who is born to write and not write for a very long time.”

In terms of craft, this interview with Katie Kitamura (author of Audition) on the Shakespeare and Company podcast is really interesting.

I’ve also been listening to the new Lily Allen album, which is a jaw-dropping exercise in storytelling itself!

Wishing you a wonderful November, with all the end of year madness that brings!

xx

Amy