Today I’m hosting the lovely Nuala of Women Rule Writer for a V-day discussion of her latest story collection, Nude, which – as the title suggests – is full of naked people, in art and in life. It’s a sensual, clever, upsetting, uplifting book, and Nuala for me is the best kind of contemporary Irish writer – distinctly Irish in voice and (especially) sense of humour, but mixing it up loads in terms of setting, period, and characters of all ages, nationalities, sexualities and upbringings.
Also: FREE STUFF! After the Q&A there’s details of how to get your paws on a copy of Nude and a mug from the mighty Strand Bookstore in New York.
Here we go …
My fave stories in Nude are ‘Unmothered’, ‘Before Losing the Valise’, ‘Night Fishing’, ‘Sloe Wine’ and ‘Amazing Grace,’ I think because I was quite emotionally bothered after reading them, and kept thinking about them. They also all have neat twists and turns. What are your favourites from Nude and why?
Firstly thanks for having me here, Eimear.
I love that you were emotionally bothered by those stories! When you’re writing, you’re not always conscious of what you are doing. Sometimes I read back over stuff I have written and find it quite dark, though I would have been quite happy writing it. Odd. It’s nice to hear that readers are affected in any way by something you have written.
I like several of the stories for different reasons: e.g. where and when they were written; elements from my life I have sneaked in; moments of pure invention. I think my personal favourite of the stories is ‘In Seed Time, Learn’. I can see its flaws but it maps several places I know in Paris and I enjoy re-visiting them when I read it. I also like the characters of Dana and Sonny in all their flawed little ways. There’s nothing like doomed love either to make a story fun to tell!
In particular, I loved the ambiguity at the end of ‘Night Fishing’ (got the impression the wife might have been fully aware of what her husband was getting up to). Do you feel those moments of uncertainty are sometimes only possible in short fiction?
Oh, I love the way a short story can be open-ended. Novel readers often like a nice, safe, tied-up ending but short story readers/lovers are open to anything, I find. They relish the plotless, often.
Many of the artworks featured in Nude are real, but I was intrigued to hear that the painting in ‘Juno Out of Yellow’ is completely made up – slight Fargo effect there! Did you enjoy toying with the line between fact and fiction in the book?
Yes. It’s great to write about real paintings and readers can reference them, but I also enjoyed making that one up – complete freedom to invent! And I love inventing personalities and scenarios for real characters, like the Irish painter Micheal Farrel in the story ‘Madonna Irlanda’ when I had him have a friendship with the fictional Magda Bolding.
Nude is best described as literary fiction, but there’s also elements of historical fiction and magical realism going on at times. Is there any genre you’re dying to tackle?
Literary fiction is what I love to read and write. I absolutely love historical fiction too – I’d love to write a really good historical novel. I half wrote one but it’s lifeless. One for the bottom drawer, I’m afraid.
I love that Nude is themed. Do you think that unified story collections might leave more of a lasting impression on a reader than unthemed collections? Any favourite themed collections?
I think they might in that there is an overall mood afterwards rather than lots of disparate bits. I’m a fan of both types of collections. Publishers find themed ones easier to market/sell. I guess one knock-out story in an unthemed collection can be remembered forever too. And you’ll always find something in a group of stories to link them, however tenuous.
I enjoyed Jim Crace’s The Devil’s Larder, which was all about food. Also The Blackbird House by Alice Hoffmann where all the stories were set in the same house at different times.
Something I really enjoy in writing, and which you do a lot: loving descriptions of food, and people being likened to food etc. Are you a total foodie? Any chance of a food-themed collection?!
I love food; I am fairly obsessed with it. I’m a vegetarian and my partner is a vegan, so getting good food in restaurants can be a challenge, at times. So we tend to cook and muse about food a lot. I keep a cooking/baking blog called The Hungry Vegan.
It was pointed out to me a few years ago that food didn’t feature much in my work. It shocked me because I think about food all the time. So I made a conscious effort to mention it more in my writing. It seems to have worked!
It would be fun to write a lot about food. Joanne Harris did it wonderfully in Chocolat and, of course, the aforementioned Jim Crace. Maybe you’ve just handed me a project, Eimear!
You’ve cited Frank O’Connor’s spake that short stories are all about lonely people. Nude also involves plenty of misfits and uncomfortable situations. As delicious as that stuff is to read, do you find it emotionally taxing, at times, to write?
No, not really. Like I said earlier, my writing doesn’t come from a very conscious place. I don’t plot and plan short stories so they just seem to start and then flow on. It’s weird; I can write about horrible people – like Georgie in ‘The Woman in the Waves’ – and I don’t get too bothered by them. It’s fun, really. (Twisted fun?!)
I am very excited to read your upcoming novel, You. As a champion of the short form, did you find you had to adjust your approach in any way when writing a novel?
Oh, it was a totally different beast – I had to be much more disciplined and I had to tackle the dreaded plotting issue. In a way it was harder; well, for one thing, it took longer, and required a lot more thinking about. But in another way, I had a place to start at every day and so it was a more ‘productive’ way to write. I had to sit down day after day and get on with it. Whereas, with stories, you are constantly starting over.
What’s your typical writing routine?
I used to write when my boys were at school so I had four hours a day that were mine all mine. Now, with a new baby, I am back to snatching time wherever, whenever. So, late at night when the house is asleep, and at the week-ends when her Dad can give me a few hours at a time. Or when we go on trips, I make him drive and I sit in the back seat and write.
I’d love to have enough money to pop her in a crèche even two mornings a week. Maybe soon!
I admire you very much for being a career writer – I get the impression that no matter what job you’ve had, you’ve always prioritised your writing. Any advice for young wans trying to launch a writing career in all this economic dreariness?
It’s a tough one, Eimear. My partner earns enough to keep us afloat. I earn very little from writing. I went full-time six years ago and it’s a struggle financially. I also miss the day-to-day of seeing other people (adults) and going for cups of tea etc. I still might go back to the workplace, if I can find something part-time that suits – something bookish!
I’d say to young wans:
- If you have a day job, keep it but try to go part-time.
- Watch less telly to free up time for writing.
- It’s an apprenticeship so take your time.
- READ constantly.
- Carry a teeny notebook always.
- Get to know writers, editors, publishers.
- Be friendly.
- Travel as much as possible.
- Work hard for yourself.
- Make your own luck.
Are you happy, sad or unfussed about the advent of ebooks?
I’m sort of terrified. I can’t see me ever wanting to own one but then again … who knows? I used to be afraid of computers. Now I am surgically attached to my laptop.
For the day that’s in it … what literary figure, living or dead, do you most fancy? Ever have a mad crush on a character in a book?
I had quite a thing for F. Scott Fitzgerald when I was a teenager but he was a bit crushed in real-life, I later learnt. Erm, who would I give a Valentine to? Oh, Ronan Bennett is a bit gorgeous, very talented and lovely in person too. As for characters, I’ve always loved Heathcliff – the classic bad boy.
Thanks for a great chat, Nuala! Anything else you’d like to mention?
I’m taking part in the Literary Death Match in the Sugar Club in Dublin on the 5th March, doors 7.30pm. See my blog here. Watch out for my novel You in April from New Island. And I have a full poetry collection called The Juno Charm coming out from Templar Poetry in November.
THE GIVEAWAY
To be put in the draw for the book ‘n’ mug, take a cue from Nuala’s second-to-last question and leave a comment mentioning a writer or fictional character you have a crush on. (If Edward Cullen beats Mr Darcy, I’ll be miffed.) I’ll make the draw on Thursday morning.
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