Interjú Bridget Collins írónővel (angol nyelvű)

Bridget Collins a PesText Fesztivál keretein belül Magyarországra látogat. A dedikálásra szombaton 18 órakor a Három Hollóban kerül sor, illetve vasárnap a 21. Század Kiadó standján 14 órától is lehetőségetek lesz aláíratni vele a könyveiteket. Én már olvastam mind a két megjelent regényét, mindkettő más-más miatt adott maradandó élményt, de közös bennük, hogy mind A könyvkötő, s mind az Árulások nagyon különleges. A szívemhez egy hangyányival talán A könyvkötő áll közelebb, de az Árulásokat is szerettem. A 21. Század Kiadó jóvoltából lehetőségem nyílt interjút készíteni az írónővel, amiben az eddigi regényeiről és a további terveiről beszélgettünk. 

Q: What books would you recommend to those who loved your novels, The Betrayals and The Binding?

Bridget Collins: If you liked The Betrayals, I would recommend the book that first gave me the seed of the idea, Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game – and at the opposite end of the spectrum, The Secret History, which is a brilliant and entertaining novel set in a US university, about the danger of ideas, loyalty and – yes – betrayal. If you liked The Binding, try Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, which is a wonderful Victorian pastiche, with a thrilling love story and a bookish theme.

Q: Both The Betrayals and The Binding are historical fiction with magical realism. What's next? Can you tell us more about your WIP? 

BC: The next book will be published in May next year – but we’re still having last-minute discussions about the title! At the moment it’s called The Echoes, and it’s the same genre, about a factory that uses spider silk to weave a fabric that creates silence. It’s the story of Henry, a young widower, who is sucked into the luxurious, enthralling world of the factory and its owner, only to discover that there is a sinister side to it all… It’s about grief and guilt, and how easy it is to become complicit in horrors – and most of all it’s about love.

Q: What has inspired The Binding? Why does it take place in the 19th century England?

BC: The Binding was inspired by a mixture of things, including doing a bookbinding course. One of the things I loved about it was that when you restore old books, before you can start your own work, you have to go back dismantling someone else’s: so you see the details of their handiwork, the bits they took care over and the bits they didn’t… It felt very special, almost intimate, and I used to try to imagine what that bookbinder and his life would have been like, a hundred years ago. I think that’s when Emmett and his world began to take hold of me.

Q: The Betrayal has gothic and dark academia vibes and it's kinda different than The Binding. Was it harder to write it or the characters were a big help in the journey during the writing process?

BC: Every book is different – in some ways it was easier and some ways harder! It was wonderful to write knowing that there would be a publisher for the book once it was finished, and although you’re right that it is quite different from The Binding, actually that was an advantage because I could throw myself into a completely new world. On the other hand, it had a lot more structural complexity, and a wider scope, so in that sense it posed problems I’d never attempted before. It took more rewriting, but in the end I think it’s a more literary novel than The Binding and I’m pleased with it. At least, as pleased as anyone ever is with their novel, ha ha!

Q: If you could change anything in either The Binding or The Betrayals what would it be? 

BC: When we chose the title for The Betrayals I’d just had a baby and wasn’t thinking very clearly. I wish now that I’d had the presence of mind to make a “betrayal” a move in the grand jeu, so that the title spoke more clearly to the central metaphor of the book. 

Q: When did you start writing The Binding what came first: the story or the characters? 

BC: Argh, not sure I can split the two! I think the idea of books and memory came first, but the central love story developed at the same time as the characters. 

 

Q: Is it easier to write in a YA perspective or do you prefer adult characters? 

BC: I definitely prefer writing for adults, these days. I think I was always writing for myself, really, and it’s much easier to write for yourself as you are now than yourself fifteen or twenty (or twenty-five) years previously. It used to be the case that there was more freedom in the YA market around genre than in the adult market, which was a big part of why I wanted to write YA, but that has changed now. And the other thing that I loved about writing in a YA perspective was the intensity and freshness of the point of view, the fact that when things happen to someone for the first time they hit even harder and create even more drama – but I’ve found that that’s still often the case with adult characters. And as I get older myself I’ve become more and more interested in some of the things adults struggle with – mortality, parenthood, commitment, pragmatism, power – and it’s great to get more of a chance to explore those.

Q: What book of yours do you like the most and why?

BC: It's almost always the one I’m writing at the moment! Once a book is written I try not to think about it too much – obviously I enjoy talking about them and reading from them at events, but really my headspace is taken up with the next story, the one that hasn’t been born yet. So at the moment, I’m hoping that my current WIP will be the best book I’ve written. (It’s in early stages, but it’s about an artist in the aftermath of WW1, haunted by ghosts who search for human likenesses to inhabit.)

Q: Can you tell me how a writing day looks like for you? Do you have a certain coffee shop to go or you're more like a 'sitting on my own desk' person?

BC: I mostly work at my own desk, often in my pyjamas. But then it’s very easy not to leave the house for the whole day and surface in the evening feeling completely dazed, so I try to work at the café at my gym a couple of times a week. That means I have no excuse not to get some exercise when I’ve got to the end of that day’s word count!

Q: What's the most useful advice you got when you start your writing career? 

BC: Don’t hold your breath while you wait to hear back from anyone. Always be thinking about the next book, not the last! 

Köszönöm szépen a 21. Század Kiadónak és az írónőnek az interjú lehetőséget! Bridget Collins regényeit ide kattintva tudjátok megrendelni!