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Night Swimming - Author Interview with Doreen Finn



   
Summer 1976. A heatwave is gripping Ireland. Nine-year-old Megan lives in a redbrick house in Dublin with her mother, a beautiful and lonely artist, and her grandmother; her father's whereabouts are a mystery that she often thinks about. When an American family moves in downstairs and Megan's mother begins a tentative affair with the father, everything that Megan is sure of starts to unravel…

Congratulations on your new novel Doreen - What a stunning cover! I love the title 'Night Swimming' - I immediately thought of the R.E.M song, is there a connection? There most certainly is a connection between my novel and the REM song! When I was writing the first, tentative draft of what became this book, I was casting around for a title. I was listening to Automatic For The People, REM’s seminal album, and on came the song. It fitted perfectly with the themes within the novel, and with the thread of slipping outside at night to play. I’m a huge REM fan, so it was meant to be! 

Night Swimming is set in the 1970's, it will resonate with a lot of readers that grew up then. What were the reasons for setting it then? Is it an era you always wanted to write about? I chose the 1970s because it was the decade of my own early childhood, and 1976 was the standout year because of the heatwave. I needed to have good weather in the story, because the book is essentially about loss of innocence and a love affair. I wanted to have the weather reflect the passion of the characters, and I knew that if I set the book in a cold January that the chances of a torrid affair would be slim! Also, the seventies are really hot nowadays in terms of their cultural value, and my generation is both nostalgic and protective of that era. I wanted the story of childhood to be authentic, and what could be more authentic than my own experience of that time? To set the same story in the present day wouldn’t work for me, because of technology. There are two missing fathers, an unbridgeable gap between the Irish and the American experience of life, and an ignorance of the wider world, all of which can solved instantly now with a quick Google search. I wanted to keep that innocence, spin it out and see where it took me.

Author Doreen Finn
Your first novel 'My Buried Life' was told the point of view of an adult. This time, Megan your main character, is a young girl. Was her voice easy to slip into? It’s a very different experience. My editor, Noel O’Regan, picked up many points throughout the book where the child’s voice wasn’t childish enough. Because my first novel, My Buried Life, was narrated by an adult female, making Megan’s voice authentic took a lot of work. I had to be careful with things that she would say and wouldn’t say, how she sort-of thinks something may be happening between her mother Gemma and Chris, the American, but she can’t be sure because she doesn’t have the world view or understanding to be fully sure. That sort of thing.  I observed my own two children in their interactions with each other and with their friends, to see how kids see things, what they say in any given situation.  So yes, it was actually harder than writing from an adult’s point of view. My next book will be narrated by an adult, and book 4 will be back to a child’s narration again.

Your writing is beautiful, so vivid and concise - who are the writers you like to read? That you admire? I love good writing. I will cartwheel over broken glass for good prose and well-developed characters. There are so many books being published now that it takes a discerning reader to pick out the books that will appeal to us personally. Mostly, I read women, and within that I tend to read Irish women. It’s not a choice as such, just more the way my tastes lie. My absolute favourite writer of all is Maggie O’Farrell, who I just adore, and who I wish would bring out a book every week so I’d never again have to wonder what to read next! I also admire your good self, Niamh, Julia Kelly, Nuala NiConchuir, Sally Rooney, Claire Kilroy, Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Janet Fitch, Sadie Jones, Kit de Waal. 

For mystery, no one beats John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, and no author makes me laugh as much as David Nicholls, who is such a sensitive writer. This year, I’ve loved Tin Man, Cape May, Dear Mrs Bird, The Last of Summer, The House on Vesper Sands, An American Marriage, Daisy Jones and the Six. In non-fiction, Constellations by Sinead Gleeson is a standout book. She’s a brilliant writer. Last year I revisited the PD James canon, which I loved, and I'm already stockpiling books for autumn.’ For me, there is no greater disappointment than a disappointing book. It grieves me.

Any tips for other writers? In terms of getting from idea to finished novel? It sounds trite, but the best thing anyone who aspires to write should do is to write. Keep a notebook with you that you can use to write down interesting things you hear or read, nice phrases that you hear someone use. If you have any story ideas, no matter how insignificant they may seem, write them down. And try your hand at writing, in whatever form you feel suits you best. I don’t believe that everyone should start writing short stories before they tackle a novel. Short story writing and novel writing are two entirely different skill sets, and not everyone possesses both. Flash fiction is great for flexing your creative muscles, as is trying something really rigid and structured like Haiku or Tanka. Someone once told me that I should always write with a reader or audience in mind, and actually that was terrible advice – if you’re writing for the first time, write for yourself. Don’t worry about what anyone else will think. You don’t have to show your writing to another living soul until you feel ready, and you won’t feel ready until you’re confident about what you’re doing. 

So keep at it, stick with it, and see where the stories take you. I don’t plot and I don’t draw out maps for my books. I start with a character and a setting, usually a female in a house, and I take it from there. The other most important and vital piece of advice to budding writers is to read. Read, read, read, and then read some more. Never stop reading, because it’s only through seeing what other writers produce that you will learn and understand what you want to do yourself.

   What's the worst writing advice you've ever gotten? As per the answer above, being told to write with someone else in mind, for an audience. It was terrible advice, and it wasted a huge amount of writing time for me. It’s like being told to dress for someone else, or find hobbies that someone else likes. You write for yourself. Always. If other people don’t like it, who cares? You’ll always find your readers, and they’ll love what you write.

  Thanks for coming by Doreen, and best of luck with your next novel. Follow Doreen on twitter for all her writing news - @doreen2cv


  Night Swimming is available from Mercier Press, 
all good bookshops & Amazon 
            
About the author: Doreen Finn was born in Dublin, where she now lives with her family. A graduate of UCD, she has lived and worked in Madrid and Los Angeles. Her first novel, My Buried Life, was runner up for the Kate O’Brien award. Night Swimming is her second novel.

Book Club Questions - Her Kind



Book Club Questions ...
a selection to choose from... 






Q. Alice Kytler was a powerful, mature woman. Are older women still likely to be demonized for being independent? 

Q. The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kytler was notorious at the time - many of the annals contain a reference to the case. Did you know about it before you read the book? Did you know that the first woman to be accused of leading a sect and having a demon lover, lived in Ireland?

 Q. If there was a point of no return in the book, a point where things were never going to be the same again – where do you think that was?

Q. The word witch – how does its use differ today? Can you still destroy someone’s reputation by calling them a name? What names have the same affect now as ‘witch’ did, in medieval times?

Sorcery, religion, politics, greed, privilege, power – all pale in comparison to what one finds at the heart of this story: that natural connection, the love of a mother for her child. (Historical Novels Review) 

Q. What did you think about the relationship between mothers and daughters in the book? Between Petronelle and Basilia, or Lithgen and Petronelle? Are they different to relationships nowadays?

Q. How are names significant in the telling of Her Kind, and the power relationships between the characters?  


Boyce’s depiction of life in 14th century Kilkenny is so evocative and atmospheric the reader can almost taste the honeycombs in Petronelle’s carefully tended hives and feel the heavy animal pelts that line Alice’s secret chamber. (Irish Times)

Q. Medieval Ireland was a melting pot – full of different languages and customs. Were you surprised to learn how diverse Ireland was, that it was a fractured place, full of tribes and walled towns – not one united entity?


Q. What do you think Ledrede’s real motivation for accusing Alice Kytler of witchcraft was?


Q. Was Alice undone by her love for her husband?


The characters are part of a world that at times is utterly alien to us, and one of the most haunting aspects of the novel is the depiction of anchoress, the holy woman who has been bricked alive into the walls of St Canice’s Cathedral. ( Irish Times)

Q. Did you know about the anchorites before reading Her Kind? That there were women and men who lived such lives by choice? 


Q. Who do you think Agnes, the anchoress, really was? Why was she locked between the walls?


‘The cathedral was also where I came across the anchoress’s grave. An anchorite or anchoress is a hermit who gives up ordinary life for a solitary life of prayer – they are often sealed in between the walls of a church, with only small ‘squints’ or windows to receive food through. The figure of a nun is carved onto the anchoress’s grave stone.  Her hands are held in old style prayer position, palm facing outwards rather than palms together. When I placed my palms over her stone ones, I felt a strange sensation, close to the one that Petronelle describes in Her Kind, that of an old truth pushing back – that day the character of Agnes the anchoress came to life.’ (Niamh Boyce)


Q. How did you feel towards Alice? Towards Petronelle? Towards Basillia? Towards Ledrede? Did you prefer one character over another? 


Q. What was the real cause of Sir Johns illness? Who was behind it?


Q. In 14th century, the Pope was based in Avignon, France and he had a lively fear of sorcery and witchcraft. He accused members of his own court of sticking pins in his waxen likeness.  Richard Ledrede, was one of his more favoured clerics. He gave him the Bishopric of Ossory in Ireland. Richard, an Englishman, had never set foot in the country yet within a few weeks of his arrival, he was making accusations against his parishioners… 
Was it inevitable that someone like Richard Ledrede would make accusations of sorcery against one of the residents of Kilkenny?

The novel is beautifully written and transports us to the 14th century, though many of its themes loudly resonate today. I can’t wait to see where Niamh Boyce takes us next. (RTE Guide)  
Q. Was the world of Her Kind familiar or strange to you? What had you expected medieval Ireland to be like? How was it different? What resonated? 


Q. The case is well documented by historians and academics. There are several interesting explorations. Why do you think the case remains outside of the standard history book?


Q. There is no reference to this trial in the ancient Liber Primus Kilkennius as it stands today. Yet it records many less significant cases from the time. Do you think that it was undocumented, or that references were removed from this record of the goings on in 14th Kilkenny?


Q. Would you have preferred to live outside or inside the walls of Kilkenny City?


Q. Medieval women (who aren’t royal) are often viewed as passive, as chattel - Dame Alice was an incredibly powerful moneylender. If Ledrede had not accused her of witchcraft, we may never have even known that a woman of her kind existed. Do you think she was unique for a woman of her time? 


Q. On arriving in Hightown, Petronelle and her daughter are given new names and clothes, and are forbidden to speak their native language. They are seen as ‘other’ in their own country. What affect do you think this has on their relationship, their sense of identity?



Q. Ledrede’s words and phrases are woven throughout the novel, as fact and fiction weave – why do you think has not been given first person narration, the way Petronelle and Basillia have been


Q. Her Kind is based on a real trial - a landmark case in the history of witchcraft - did that affect how you felt about the characters and their fate? Had you heard of the case before this? Why do you think this is?

Q. This was a hugely significant case yet there’s been no memorial or monument to Petronella de Midia, as yet. Ledredes effigy can be seen in St Canice’s Cathedreal to this day. Who decides who we, as people, remember? What happens to those who are not commemorated, listed, archived, named? Whose names are on the streets of your town, who is your local bridge named after? If you open a map, what do the names tell you? What do they mean? Is that meaning still alive?  Do these things matter? Who is mapping our history for us? 

Q. If you were to retrieve someone's voice from history, whose would it be?

Christmas Market

  Ballyhale Farmers Market, Co Kilkenny  Delighted to be joining other authors on our book stand this Sunday - Helena Duggan, Eimear Lawlor,...