The debut novel Wulf by former Hawke's Bay man Hamish Clayton is one of the best books I've read.
So I couldn't wait to get stuck into his new novel The Pale North.
Again I was in awe of Clayton's imaginative narrative.
It begins as a ghost story, following the life of a New Zealand writer as he moves through the ruined streets of Wellington following an earthquake.
Then the story changes as a new narrator takes up the story.
It's a brilliant read from this very talented writer.
I asked him some questions.
Q: How as your life changed after the success of the award winning Wulf?
A: Life hasn't changed dramatically, which is nice. I still get to chip away, mostly anonymously, doing what I enjoy most, which is writing. But there's no doubt that success opens doors to some wonderful experiences which wouldn't otherwise be accessible. I spent time in Germany a few years ago, living and writing in a museum in Frankfurt, which wouldn't have happened without that book; same too for the time I spent in Auckland, as a Frank Sargeson Fellow in 2013.
Q: Did The Pale North begin with Ash or Wellington?
A: Both, I think. I remember, when I moved to Wellington in 1998, walking down Lambton Quay one sunny morning and being struck with a paranoia about the earthquake which is, we're told, inevitable; but in the same moment I was thinking, "I wonder if there's a story in that somewhere." When I started writing The Pale North I was fairly consciously channelling the young person I was then, walking through a new city, wide-eyed with it all and taken with the idea of art.
Q: What do you think makes a character important to readers?
A: It probably varies from reader to reader. So ... when I read, what makes a character important to me? I know it's hard not to judge characters as we would real people, but we have to remember they're fictional as well. They're made up. Pawns in someone else's game. I like characters where I have a sense that the strings which pull them this way and that are being pulled to some purpose which resonates for me.
Q: Do you switch off when you are not writing or do you walk around with dialogue going on in your head?
A: Good question. No, now that you mention it, I don't think I have found the off-switch. The interior monologue is most often a voice trying to find reason with itself. Occasionally I get a worthwhile snippet and I will write it down. When I was writing The Pale North I found myself starting to think in the voices of the separate narrators.
Q: What do you do for leisure?
A: I read a lot. Though not as much as I'd like. I run quite a lot. Though not as much as I should. I still play cricket and I watch far too much of it. I haven't lived in Hawke's Bay for years, but I will never tire of watching the Magpies. I love tramping in the mountains, or else just rambling around the hills and coasts of Wellington of a weekend.
Q: What was the first book you remember reading?
A: Sly Little Bear and Other Bears. Untold classic.
Q: How do you feel when you see your novels in bookshops?
A: Happy but strangely disembodied as well. It's as if your portrait is on display for all to see but nobody knows it's you. Which means it's not really your thing anymore. And I think that's good.
Q: What advice would you give new writers?
A: Read voraciously. Read everything you can and when you read something you love, read it again and again, until you've figured out how it did what it did to you. Write it out for yourself, by hand. Step into the shoes of the writer by picking up their words and laying them on the page for yourself. Imagine you're learning your craft as if you're learning to play an instrument, or trying to execute a certain shot to perfection.
Q: What's next for you?
A: I have promised my supervisors at Victoria that I won't start another novel till my PhD thesis is done, so finishing that's next. There's another novel starting to whisper in my ear, but I'll let this one gather some pace over the next six months or so before I make any kind of start. I'm not the anxious type as far as that goes. It's a long game.