Books by and for independent women

For Books’ Sake Talks To: Tiffany Murray

Tiffany Murray has been referred to as the ‘glam rock Dodie Smith’, and her critically-acclaimed novels, Happy Accidents and Diamond Star Halo, were both short-listed for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. Alongside her own writing career, she is also a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glamorgan.

FBS: First of all, I’m sure everyone who read my rave of your 2011 book Diamond Star Halo will know if it was possible to marry a book and have its babies I would have done so. But just in case it wasn’t clear how much I loved it here’s a picture of my kitten, Halo, named after the protagonist Halo Llewelyn:

 

So now that we’ve established my undeniable bias and thinly-veiled motive for doing this interview, let’s talk about your work!

People were pretty excited by your biography for your debut novel, Happy Accidents, where you revealed that you grew up at the legendary Rockfield Studios. How much of your work is inspired by your enviable upbringing in a place frequented by rock royalty? 

TM: It’s strange how events that happen to you as a child don’t truly impact until much later. I didn’t think much of growing up around musicians – at the time I was more interested in my dog, my chickens, the usual obsessions for a rural kid.

It wasn’t until I started in on the second draft of Diamond Star Halo that I began to think, ‘so, Freddie Mercury did play piano in our hall, interesting…’

With this novel I started out wanting to write something that reflected my passion for music: a novel about obsession, fanatical love, sacrifice, and joy. And then it was suddenly set in a rural recording studio; one that reflected a memory of the physical geography of Rockfield.

So I’d say the inspiration comes from plain, simple memory of place and the senses that come with that: what it was like to walk in those muddy fields in flares, how those jangling guitars sounded to a kid as they blasted across the courtyard at 2am.

FBS: Particularly with Diamond Star Halo, it is obvious that music is a big influence to your work. Which books/writers are your literary influences? 

TM: I’m a dreadful re-reader. I find it hard to fall in love with something new. Nostalgia is a terrible curse! So my first loves lie in the 19^th century.

You can clearly see Wuthering Heights in Diamond Star Halo, and Jane Eyre in Happy Accidents. I love to do this. My re-reads are therefore pretty common: The Brontes, Austen, Eliot, Dickens (Happy Birthday!).

More contemporary influences are Denton Welch, Elizabeth Taylor (not so contemporary!), John Irving, Sherman Alexie, Anne Tyler, Alice Munro, Angela Carter, Patrick Gale. Oh god, the list goes on… but if anyone hasn’t read the lesser-known Denton Welch – do.

FBS: Both Diamond Star Halo and Happy Accidents are narrated by children at the beginning. Was this a conscious decision? Do you find that writing from a child’s perspective allows you to write more freely?

TM: Yes, it was a conscious decision. In Happy Accidents I wanted to tackle the present tense because of Dennis Potter. Sounds odd, I know, but at the time he lived in my town and would pop into my parents’ shop and he fascinated me.

Then he became ill and there was that astounding interview with [Melvyn] Bragg, where he sipped on his bottle of morphine. It ended up being called, ‘Seeing the Blossom’, because he was talking about seeing things in the present tense, seeing this plum tree in his garden in blossom as ‘the whitest, frothiest, blossomest blossom that there ever could be.’

This ‘nowness’ talk led him to talk the child’s perspective where, ‘if you look at a child, talk about present tense, that’s all they, all a small child lives in. So a wet Tuesday afternoon can actually be years long, and it – childhood – is full to the brim of fear, horror, excitement, joy, boredom, love, anxiety.’

I took that and ran with it. I began writing Happy Accidents in flat above my parents’ shop, thinking of Dennis below.

In Happy Accidents Kate Happy begins at 11 in the present tense, a high-octane, sensory present tense; and then she simply ends, she is cut off. A lot of readers have asked ‘what happens next?’ But that’s the payoff, there is no rounding off, there is no adult voice looking back and making sense. With the wondrous, brimming present tense it simply ends, but at least Kate’s in Coney Island.

For Halo in Diamond Star Halo I jumped to the past, and therefore there is a rounded resolution of sorts. Half way through she is becomes an adult. But I do find the child’s perspective interests me far more as a writer, whether these characters grow up or not. Perhaps it’s the play involved.

FBS: Unconventional or dysfunctional families are a common theme in your books, and this has led to the creation of some truly memorable characters. Do you have a favourite character that you’ve created`? 

TM: Of course I love Fred Connor from Diamond Star Halo because we all have to love Fred, but I must say I truly love Vince, Halo’s brother. He is quiet, morose, and in love with David Bowie.

I let the louder ones get on with it – Nana Lew and Minny from Diamond Star Halo, Rita and Reggie from Happy Accidents. They don’t need my approval or affection!

FBS: Love and infatuation are portrayed as extremely powerful forces in your novels. Characters are drawn so strongly together it is seemingly out of their control. Even though the endings are not always happy, do you think of your books as love stories? 

TM: Yes, I do. I suppose when you’re brought up on 19^th fodder, you can’t help but have the love story – in whatever form, with whatever ending- at the heart of what you do.

FBS: Many have noted your evocative description, particularly in terms of sensory detail. Does this come naturally or was it something you learned? 

TM: A little of both, I think. Again, returning to Dennis Potter and the child’s perspective I always thought that that was how children saw the world: not intellectually but through the senses. In fact we all do if we’d let ourselves: it’s how our memories work.

FBS: You graduated from UEA and have taught on a variety of Creative Writing courses. How important do you think formal education is for writers?

TM: Hmm… it depends on you. I was a complete wuss and I needed that pat on the back that said, ‘you are here to write your novel, well done.’ Of course you don’t need formal education to write, all you need to do is read. Whether you do this at graduate level or in your own home is down to you.

UEA was great: I needed it to write, but don’t think that these places will give you the answers. Put simply they give you space if you need it. If you’re confident enough you can find the space yourself.

FBS: Finally, what are you working on now? Do you have plans for a third novel? 

TM: Yes, and it’s almost done. The title is Ghost Moth. It’s set in 1955: Dan Dare is King of the Skies, Ruth Ellis has just confessed to murder, and in the grounds of Sugar Hall, young Dieter Sugar meets a nameless boy only he can see.

There’s also the project I’m working on as The Hay Festival International Writing Fellow for 2012– a creative non-fiction collection about various recipes and the stories tied to them – called Feast. There’s a lot of travel and a lot of tasting involved. I’ve just come back from Cartagena: I’m very lucky!

And of course… the novel after that…

Cariad Martin