Let's start off with something simple. Who are you?
I’m Hannah Justine Rodgers (I write under the name H. J. Rodgers) and I’m a writer living in the south-west of Scotland. Despite appearances (the red hair) I’m not Scottish. I moved here from Yorkshire three years ago.
Could you tell us a little bit about your work in progress?
I’m currently working on a novel under the title of ‘Dark Peak’, which refers to the area of the Peak District I originate from. It takes place over the course of a day in mid-June, following the life of the central character, Jess. She’s trying to organise a party but events become out of control when her best friend goes missing. I combine elements of folklore and the gothic with a modern setting to create a critique of contemporary middle-class rural life in the UK.
I've heard through the grapevine that one of your characters holds some unusual sexual proclivities. For the perverse among us (e.g., your interviewer makes his daily living at a sex shop) would you be so kind as to expand on just what sort of things tickle said character's fancy?
Oh well, Jess certainly holds some unusual sexual proclivities – I just don’t think she’s aware of them! She lost her virginity to her a cousin when she was twelve, an event which is hinted at throughout the novel and is the basis of the obsession her cousin, Adam, still has with her. She uses his obsession to bind him to her. I would say that her manipulation of him is innate within her, rather than something she does intentionally. It is as if she is unaware of the power she holds. Also, during the course of the novel, we see that Jess is having an affair with a man in his fifties (Jess is 18). He too obsesses about her but in a far more sinister way. The relationship between them is intense and occasionally violent although it is unclear whether this violence is entirely unwanted by Jess. Although he often hurts her, to the extent that she was sick the first time they slept together, she still goes back to him. Oh and the best friend who goes missing – they had a quasi-lesbian relationship in their early teens. My husband often jokes that I only read a book if it has incest (The Cement Garden), paedophiles (Lolita) or lesbians (Tipping the Velvet) in it, so I thought I’d combine all three in this one.
Do you have a deadline for your work? When would you like to be finished and ready to query potential literary agents?
Only a self-imposed deadline of September 2011. I would like to have a complete novel finished before I start the Creative Writing MLitt at the University of Glasgow. This would mean I’d have a complete manuscript ready to show to potential agents / publishers.
You're about to do your masters in creative writing under the tutelage of ZoëStrachan of the University of Glasgow. Besides her own obvious qualifications (as well as having two novels already published), readers of this blog may be interested to know that she's involved with girlfriend Louise Welsh, whose debut novel The Cutting Room I reviewed quite favourably a few months ago. Are you excited to begin such a gruelling process? How about Hesitant? Terrified?
All three! It’s taken me a few years to get to the point where I realised I would never be happy unless I tried to be a writer. I was first published by Route (an independent publishing house based in Leeds) as part of an emerging talent anthology. But after that I sort of let it slide, which was rather silly of me to be honest. However, I feel that in the last five years I have grown as a writer and achieved a greater level of maturity in my writing. That sort of thing only comes about with time and experience. So maybe I did need to go out and live a bit before I strapped myself to the writers’ chair. I’m really ready now for the challenge of the masters – I just can’t wait to get started!
What is the first story you remember writing? What was it about?
Bizarrely enough, I have it here in the drawer next to me. I’ll correct the spelling but it goes like this: Once upon a time there was a nasty dragon that lived in a cave. Once it ate a man. It wanted to eat a little girl. And it ate her then it was dead. I was rather obsessed as a child with little girls being eaten. There’s probably something Freudian about that.
Are you more of a “plotter” or a “pantser”?
Bit of both really. I need to know a basic plot before I begin but once I start I never know where the characters are going to take me. Sometimes new characters turn up and I wasn’t even aware that they were going to be in the story; it’s as if the writing takes on a life of its own. The most important thing is to sit down and write – sounds obvious but it’s true. If I feel stuck I just start writing anything, then usually I find the floodgates begin to open.
All writers need encouragement. Who first encouraged you to write, and who is it that encourages you today?
My Grandfather was a great story teller. I think that if he’d had the right opportunities in life he’d have made a much better writer than I could ever hope to be. I used to holiday in Scarborough with my grandparents every summer and he’d take me down to the beach and tell me stories as we walked through the woods. I think I inherited from him the desire to tell stories, to share my imaginings with the world. Today my friends and family give me great encouragement, but I also find it most reassuring when complete strangers come across my work and say they like what I’m doing. That means a lot.
Which authors have had a significant influence on your writing?
The two main influences are Bret Easton Ellis and Angela Carter. I like to think I combine the violence of the former with the magic of the latter. I’ve also been told that my writing is ‘like Wuthering Heights, but with chainsaws’. I really love that description. Being a Yorkshire lass I’m obviously influenced by the Brontes, who explored the theme of obsession so very well.
What music, if any, do you enjoy listening to while you write?
Sadly, folk and country. Most people look at me like I’m mad when I say I like that kind of music, but I just love the narrative structure of the lyrics and the way that a song can tell a story. Fairport Convention and Dolly Parton are my favourite recording artists, although in my darker moods I’ll revert back to my teen years and listen to 80’s electro-Goth (Bauhaus and The Sisters of Mercy).
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a writer?
I think my greatest strength is that I manage to capture such a strong sense of place in my writing. My writing is always set in the area where I grew up, so I’ve developed lots of ideas that put the reader right in the middle of a Yorkshire market town. My weakness is definitely lack of confidence. I have a bad habit of dismissing everything I’ve written as utter rubbish, which is what prevented me from writing in my early 20’s.
What do you hope to achieve with your writing?
Entertainment, primarily, the kind that you might get from watching a horror film or riding a rollercoaster. But aside from that, I’d like to show that behind the tourist board depictions of rural England there is a dark heart which beats just as strongly as it ever did.
What was once traditionally a print medium is now rapidly branching out into many digital formats. What do you think of this trend?
Change is inevitable. The novel is still a very young concept in itself – if we had not embraced the novel format then where would we be now? The best thing about it from a writer’s perspective is that it’s much easier now to get your work out there. And it’s much easier to find out about what is happening in the writing world. My Grandfather’s life may have turned out very differently if he’d had access to the internet in his youth. It has created a democratisation, where voices that were previously ignored or overlooked by the publishing industry can be heard.
What was the last sentence that you had to re-read over and over again because of its awesomeness? What struck you about it?
It would have to be ‘the moon never beams without bringing me dreams’ from the poem ‘Annabel Lee’ (Edgar Allan Poe). I just think that the whole poem is beautiful, the way the narrator describes the passion he has for his now-dead lover is so evocative of the way that childhood events can impact the rest of our lives. And that particular line has such good rhythm and says everything about how she haunts his every moment.
What book(s) have you recently read that you would recommend to the readers of this blog?
The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson – especially if you like a bit of violence with your sex… Also, The Monk by Matthew Lewis, for much the same reason
What advice do you have to other aspiring authors out there?
You really have to put the effort in if you want success. It’s no good sitting at home thinking ‘I could have written that’, you’ve to get out there and make people aware of your work. Because it’s such a competitive industry it’s sometimes the loudest voice that gets heard. Might not be fair, but it is true.
An apocalypse destroys the entirety of human literature, apart from the work of three authors that you can magically save with your wizardry – what do you save from imminent destruction?
If the apocalypse is coming could I also have a Dodge Challenger, a carton of Lucky Strikes and a machine gun please? I’ve seen enough post-apocalypse films to know they’re what you need for survival… Hmm, that is a difficult one. First would be Emily Bronte, even though she only produced one complete novel. Second would be Ann Radcliffe, because she gave us gothic fiction. Lastly, I’d have to save Bret Easton Ellis – what better writer to cheer everyone up after the end of the world?
Our time is at an end. For our curious readers, how can we follow your progress?
I’m currently in the process of building my own website which will be launched shortly. In the meantime, you can visit me at: http://hjrodgers.wordpress.com/
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