Quickfire Questions with... Trilby Kent

Trilby Kent has written for the Canadian national press and publications in Europe and America; her short stories have appeared in Mslexia and The African American Review, among others. She currently lives in London, where she is about to embark on an English PhD with a focus on Creative Writing. Her first novel for children, Medina Hill, is published by Tundra Books (McClelland & Stewart) on October 13.

Which 3 writers, living or dead, would you invite to dinner?
Unfortunately, most of my favourite writers are (or were) highly neurotic and unsociable creatures and would no doubt make rather terrifying company! Having said that…Truman Capote would be a hoot. Wendy Cope, too. Dulcie Deamer, simply because she’d probably turn up wearing a leopard skin, Stone Age-style.

Favourite writing snack?
Dried pineapple or edamame. A sneaky butter tart when I’m feeling homesick for Canada.

Longhand or computer?
Computer – although I do sometimes wonder if it makes the process rather too easy. Longhand probably produces more considered writing. I keep telling myself I’m going to try it some time.

As a child I read…
Quite a few books that I wasn’t supposed to, or that were too old for me at the time. I discovered Lord of the Flies when I was ten, and it terrified me. I loved anything that featured hapless orphans being shoved up chimneys and forced to eat gruel. My boyfriend still jokes that I was the freaky kid who knew a bit too much about bubonic plague and wanted nothing more than to be a nineteenth-century street urchin.

Win Booker prize or land Hollywood film deal?
Booker, please!

Daily Mail or The Times?
The Times, definitely. The Daily Mail brings me out in a rash.

The best thing about being published is…
The thought of my characters coming to life for someone other than myself.

Independent bookshop or Amazon?
Please don’t make me admit to buying books for a penny on Amazon...! Actually, there’s a splendid indie around the corner from us (West End Lane Books - plug, plug!) and I do try to support them whenever I can.

Left on a cliffhanger or told all?
It’s a question of timing. Ending a chapter with a cliffhanger is good; ending a novel with one isn’t. That said, I try to avoid telling all – you’ve got to leave the reader space to imagine.

Age-banding is…
Misguided at best. Young people should be encouraged to read as widely as their interest and ability allow. Readers shouldn’t be pigeon-holed; neither should books.

I write for children because…
If you ask someone to name one book that has significantly influenced them, chances are it will be something they read as a child or teenager. Perhaps this is because young people are receptive to stories and new ideas in a way that adults often aren’t.

Enid Blyton was…
The source of my childhood fascination with tinned tongue, girls who look like boys, and the modifier “ripping”.

You really must read…
If you are a reader looking for exquisite writing by a Canadian author about an English icon, it doesn’t get much better than Helen Humphreys’ The Frozen Thames.. If you are a writer, The Paris Review Interviews. They are my comfort and inspiration. If you are a young person (or young at heart!), do seek out some of the wonderful children’s and YA books being produced across the Channel. There is so much really exciting writing available to us in translation now, and many gems don’t receive any press here. Guus Kuijer (The Book of Everything) and Anne Provoost (In the Shadow of the Ark) are two that I’ve particularly enjoyed.

My biggest tip for a children’s writer is…
Never underestimate your audience.

An author should never…
Underestimate the value of the humble ‘Delete’ button.

What's Your Thing?

Obsessive Compulsive

Alcoholic

Exercise-obsessed

Neat/Clean Freak

Gambler

Nicotine/Caffeine addict

Workaholic

Bulimic/Anorexic

Shopoholic

Do you recognize yourself from this list? Don’t be shy, as a writer you are in good company. Tennesse Williams, Dylan Thomas, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Capote were all alcoholics. Honore de Balza drank up to fifty coffees a day and poet Vachel Lindsay was obsessed with cleanliness. Dostoevsky at one time gambled badly and Syliva Plath had an eating disorder. And when I first surfed writing forums on the internet, it tickled me how many authors were fellow obsessive compulsives.

As a child my ‘thing’ was the number four. I had to do everything four times – from touching the gate on the way indoors, to going to the loo before I could sleep – OTHERWISE SOMETHING REALLY BAD WOULD HAPPEN. Then logic kicked in and I decided four times four was safer still, so I had to do certain things sixteen times – OTHERWISE SOMETHING REALLY BAD WOULD HAPPEN. When I was ten, I stayed with an aunt for a week and found out years later that she’d rung my mum to ask if I was ill, because I spent so long in the bathroom every night. Little did she know I was throwing water onto the top of each tap sixteen times (God knows why) - and then doing it again just in case I’d not done it right the first time.

As I matured, I learnt to face my fears and break my routines. And now it hardly features in my life – unless my husband is away and I have to lock up downstairs at night. It almost puts me off going to bed. Check oven hob. Is window locked? Pull down on back door handle – can it be opened? Are the taps turned off? Stare at oven hob again – is the red light on, are the buttons in all the correct ‘off’ positions? Check back door handle again, then the hob once more – OTHERWISE SOMETHING REALLY BAD WILL HAPPEN. And then out of the kitchen and start on the lounge. And then back to the kitchen in case I missed something…

But doesn’t this remind you of something? Like writing? Like editing? Check paragraph, read it out loud. Should that be a dash or a colon? Does that word have a capital letter? Read it out loud again and check that spelling once more – OTHERWISE SOMETHING REALLY BAD WILL HAPPEN like an agent despairing at my mediocrity. And when submitting – print out pristine, throw out that sheet as it is slightly bent. Put a joke in cover letter, no take it out. No, put it back. Tape down envelope – no that was a mistake, pull off tape. Now it looks messy, tape it down again – OTHERWISE SOMETHING REALLY BAD WILL HAPPEN like the agent not even reading it because of my sloppy presentation.

So, take a hard look at that list – what’s your thing? Does it release the writer in you or hem him/her in?

And by the way, being a chocoholic doesn’t count. The cocoa bean should be a staple part of anybody's diet.