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A view of Portland, seen from the
harbour,
a few minutes’ boat ride from where Kathy lives…
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Welcome to new author Kathy Sharp, author
of Isle of Larus, out soon through Crooked Cat.
Thank you Pam. I’m
very delighted to be here!
Hi, Kathy. Can you describe
Isle of Larus in a few words?
The
Spirit of the Sea sends a series of alarming events to test the inhabitants of
the Isle of Larus – a fleet of impossible ships, a con-man in a jewelled
turban, and the threat of foreign invasion in the guise of a pub landlady. The
Spirit chuckles as he settles down to watch the show…
It’s such an intriguing idea. Wherever did
it come from?
The idea came from an exercise we did at my
writers’ group, Weymouth Writing Matters. We were writing a piece from the
point of view of a plant or inanimate object. I loved it, and decided to take
it further. I chose four buildings on the Isle of Portland, where I used to
live – two castles, a church and a lighthouse – and imagined what characters
they might have if they were people. It was a short step from there to wonder how
these characters would interact if they needed to work together, and so, in the
best traditions of how-to-write-a-story, I gave them a problem to cope with.
After that the story more or less wrote itself. I borrowed some of the
geography, traditions and the odd place name from Portland, as well as some of
its strange beauty and atmosphere, but beyond that it’s pure fantasy.
How long did it take you to write?
When I began it, I actually thought I was
writing a short story. But it just seemed to expand into something bigger.
Overall, it took seven months to complete and I enjoyed every minute.
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Fleet Lagoon, a few
minutes’ walk
from Kathy's home
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Are you an avid fantasy reader? If so, can
you name your favourite author and book/series?
I’m not much of a reader of fantasy at all,
strangely enough, unless you count Harry Potter. I’m much more intrigued by
historical novel series such as the Jack Aubrey novels of Patrick O’Brian or
the Poldark novels of Winston Graham. I think the influence of both is clearly
there in Isle of Larus, and I don’t at all mind admitting it!
I’ve asked this before and I will again,
because the answers are always so much fun. What did you do when Crooked Cat
accepted your novel?
Stared at the screen in blank disbelief;
burbled nonsense at my husband; wandered about the house in a stunned state. I
checked the email to make sure I hadn’t misunderstood it. Three times. Then
came to my senses and opened a bottle of bubbly.
I see you’re a poet, too! Tell us more?
I enjoy experimenting with poetry and trying
out new verse forms. I think it’s very useful for a writer to try telling a
story or expressing an idea within the constraints of a fixed rhythm or rhyming
plan. Concentrates the mind wonderfully, I find, and makes you think very
carefully about word-forms and meanings. There are verses (they’re not supposed
to be proper poetry!) within Isle of Larus, and I had lots of fun writing them.
Do you have any further plans to
di-versify? (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)
One of my other side-lines is writing song
lyrics. I belong to the wonderful Island Voices Community Choir on Portland. We
write most of our songs ourselves, and over the past eight years or so I’ve
written more sets of lyrics than I can count. Many of them have been set to
music by my musician friends, and I regularly get to stand up in front of an
audience and sing them with the choir. I’m not a particularly good singer
myself, but fortunately I have lots of friends who are!
Where do you like to work? In a darkened
room or at the dining table amid the chaos?
I’m lucky enough to have a spare room I can
use as a study, so I usually work in there at my desk. The window looks out
onto a tall hedge, so if I’m struggling to find the right words I can stare at
a wall of green. Nature is both soothing and inspiring, and it always helps me
to organise my ideas.
When does inspiration strike? Do you have
scribbled notes on the bedside table or do you have catalogued notebooks on a
shelf? (Guess which I am!)
I’m not quite the catalogued notebooks
type, I’m afraid. Inspiration tends to strike, inconveniently, in the middle of
the night. Or I wake up in the morning with dialogue pouring out of my head and
have to rush off and scribble it down before I forget it. I always have a
notepad handy, wherever I am, and sometimes actually use it, but the best ideas
always seem to arrive just as I’m waking up.
So, what’s the next project?
I’m already making good progress with a
sequel to Isle of Larus. I so enjoy writing about my characters and seeing what
they do next. I only hope that the readers enjoy them as much as I do!
Thanks, Kathy. And good luck with your
debut novel.
Thank you, Pam. I’ve really enjoyed it.
Biography
Growing up by the sea in Kent, back in the
1960s, it was Kathy’s ambition to become a writer. Time passed. She married,
moved to west London, and had a daughter. She continued to write, and had a
small book or two on countryside and nature subjects published. She worked for many years as a desktop
publisher for Surrey County Council, and as a tutor in adult education.
And then, one day, she visited a friend who
had just moved to the Isle of Portland, Dorset, and fell in love with the
place. She has now lived in the Weymouth and Portland area for eight years, and
still loves it. The wonderful Jurassic Coast, and Portland in particular, were
the inspiration for her first novel, Isle of Larus.
Kathy also sings with, and writes lyrics
for, the Island Voices Choir on Portland, and is a keen member of local writing
groups, as well as enjoying studying the local flora.
Email: kathysharp@btinternet.com
Interview by Pamela Kelt
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