Getting into the writing process …
Writer and arts community facilitator Jan Carson, based in Belfast, has published three novels, including The Fire Starters, which won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland in 2019; The Raptures was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year, the Dalkey Book Prize and Kerry Group Novel of the Year. She has also published three short story collections and a stage play. Her work has been translated into more than 15 languages.
MY DAILY WRITING ROUTINE My routine changes depending upon what’s going on in my life. If I’m home, or on a residency, I tend to spend two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon writing new work. I’m a quick first drafter and can usually get a novel down roughly in three months. I spend around half of my year on the road at festivals and book events and find it impossible to write new material while travelling but I can edit works in progress so I do my best to have something to be chipping away at before I head out on the road.
I should say that reading is also a huge part of my writing process. I spend three to four hours per day reading. If I’m not reading extensively I find my writing becomes really thin and dry.
MY WRITING SPOT I learnt to write in the margins of a busy work life. My first novel was written in the coffee island of a shopping centre during breaks from working in a gift shop. I think this is why I enjoy writing in busy, peopled spots. I have a lovely desk at home, but I’ve never written a single story there. I write in coffee shops, circling round five or six different favourites so I don’t annoy the owners too much. I love being able to listen to, and watch, Belfast people when I’m writing about them.
MY FAVOURITE PART OF THE WRITING PROCESS There’s nothing quite like that moment when you finally find the voice and angle with which to approach a story and after, seemingly endless, false starts, the whole thing opens up.
After 21 years of writing, it’s still the best feeling in the world.
THE BOOKS NSPIRING ME RIGHT NOW Honestly, I’ve gone back to reading a lot of older, mostly dead, writers of late simply because I find their sentences so robust and chewy. I want to learn more about crafting tight but eloquent sentences and am using writers like Hilary Mantel, Barbara Pym and Flannery O’Connor as expert guides.
WHAT I’M WORKING ON A big beast of a novel about generational trauma in five stand-alone sections. It begins in the near future and moves backwards to the 1950s. I’m also constantly writing short stories. They’re my go-to when I need a break from novels. @jancarsonstories
Few and Far Between published by (Doubleday, €17) is out now.
