Interview: Martin Livings

Martin Livings is the author of Carnies, one of the two initial releases from Lothian Books' 'Dark Suspense' horror novel line. While Carnies is his debut novel, he has published more than thirty short stories, numerous reviews, and has been nominated for the Ditmar and Aurealis award.

You have a long and distinguished career as a short story writer. Did you take a different approach from short fiction when writing Carnies?

Well, when I wrote Carnies, I'd never written anything like that length, though I'd done a couple of immature twenty thousand word novellas that have thankfully never seen the light of day. And it's true what they say - comparing writing a short story and writing a novel is like comparing a hundred yard dash and a marathon. When I started writing the book, I'd never run a marathon, I'd only ever sprinted. So I took off at full pace, as if I was writing a short story. Understandably, I crashed about a third into the book! It took a while to find the correct pace, but once I got it down pat, the rest of the marathon went pretty easily. I think in hindsight that I made the mistake of over-planning the structure and events of the book, which meant that the characters didn't have as much freedom as they deserved or needed. My second (unpublished and unsubmitted) novel, Last Writes, was written for NaNoWriMo, and was the exact opposite, I just wrote it with no planning at all, and let events unfold as they may. I think there must be a happy medium between the two somewhere! If I knew then what I know now, Carnies would have been a very different book. But everything you write is a lesson in writing, and I'll take the experience and use it for the next book. Which, in turn, will be used for the next, and so on. I think all writers are students of writing until the day they die. Or stop writing. Same difference.

Now you've been published in short and long forms, which format do you prefer to write? Why?

Oh, that's comparing oranges and apples. They're very different, and I love them both. Short fiction is fantastic for expressing simple ideas in a very short space, and the adrenaline rush of just sitting down and writing an entire story in a single sitting, from initial concept to final full stop, is just amazing. But there's also an incredible long-term satisfaction to be gained from having written a novel, though the trouble of actually writing it sometimes doesn't feel worth it during the process! The feeling of being able to open the file, see page after page of a single story on the screen, and say "I did that", is brilliant. And I simply can't wait to actually hold a copy of the book in my trembling hands.

The corporate takeovers from Lothian to Time Warner to Hachette Livre appear to have had a disruptive influence on the 'Dark Suspense' line. How have these changes affected your dealings with your editors and publicists?

It was an interesting time for all of us, I have to say! But everyone at Lothian and Hachette Livre has been very professional about it, and there haven't been any major disruptions caused by it, at least to the first two novels coming out. One big disappointment, of course, is that the idea of a regular line of these books has been canned, which puts us back to square one in terms of finding a market for these kinds of books. It would have been great to have four Australian adult horror novels coming out every year. How many years has the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel been given a No Award? Far too many, I think. I think special mention has to be given to Teresa Pitt at this point. This whole thing was her baby, and she really should have been there until the end to see it through. I know all the authors appreciate what she did, and owe her a huge debt of gratitude. I just hope the books do well, that will be the best vindication there could be.

Now you are living in London, what effect has your location and your surroundings had on your writing?

That's hard to say at this point, it always takes a while for events and experiences to filter through to my writing. It was a year after visiting Mauritius that I wrote "Running", for example. I've never lived anywhere but Perth, so moving to London has been a pretty severe culture shock. So many things are so different, like the density of the population, and the history, and the mix of people. I'm sure it'd be even more of a change if I was in a country where I didn't speak the language, but as it is, I feel overwhelmed by the wealth of experiences I'm going through, and it's going to take a while to process them into anything but a confusing jumble.Having said that, though, I'm currently working on a novel set in London, but as for the experiences really informing my fiction, it hasn't happened yet. I think once I get back to Perth in 2007, the effect on the stories will start to show.

You've consciously avoided the 'w' word when promoting Carnies. Is 'werewolf' a dirty word? Is Carnies a werewolf story?

That's funny! No, it's not a dirty word, just one I didn't use while writing the book. And that wasn't a conscious decision, or not exactly. Yes, Carnies is a werewolf story; as much as I'd love to call it a supernatural thriller about the animal inside us all, let's face it, it's about a carnival of werewolves. But as I wrote the book, I was aware of the fact that I'd have to use the "w" word at some point, and had to pick the exact right moment to introduce it, so that it didn't seem silly or out of place. So I waited and I waited, and then I finished the book, and the moment never really came up. So I decided not to use the word, but at the same time I didn't avoid it, not like Mike Nicholl's terribly ordinary film "Wolf", which was all about werewolves but was too embarrassed and pretentious to fess up to it. For me, there was no embarrassment about it, it just wasn't the right word to use in the book, it would have stood out like a sore thumb.Just to please you, I'll call my next werewolf book "WEREWOLF!". Or maybe "The 'W' Word".

Who has influenced your writing - in particular, who influenced you while writing Carnies?

I'm not hugely influenced by other writers, mainly because I haven't read nearly as much as I should have, especially recently. Carnies was really its own beast, though it was at least partially inspired by the cheap-and-nasty horror books you used to be able to buy at delis for fifty cents or so, lurid things with titles like Cannibal or Snowman or The Fungus. I devoured those books when I was a kid (though I was terrified of horror movies until my late teens, go figure!), and they were pure story, no pretenses or airs. I loved that, and I haven't seen much horror in that vein lately. Plus, being a first novel, that was easier to write than something terribly deep and important. I just wanted the book to be great fun to read. I hope I achieved that. If there was a single inspiration to actually write the book, it came from Stephen King's On Writing. This book should be required reading for anyone wanting to write any kind of novel. Whether you like his books or not, it's brilliant reading, full of practical tips on writing a novel. Not to mention inspirational in terms of his life story. It was this book that gave me the courage, after fifteen-odd years of planning and dithering, to actually sit down and write the damn thing.

What advice do you have for aspiring horror novelists?

I'm not sure how qualified I am, considering this is my first novel, but I'd give the same advice I'd offer to aspiring SF novelists, or romance novelists, or any kind of writer for that matter. Read lots, and not just in your chosen genre. Write lots. Live lots. These are the three things that will improve your writing. If you skip any of them, you're missing out. Especially living lots, there's only so much inspiration you can draw from other people's writing. If your whole life is writing, then you'll end up writing books about writers writing books about writers writing books. Which sounds a lot like a certain American horror novellist legend, no names mentioned!As for horror novelists specifically, well, if you want to make a living out of it, perhaps think about writing fantasy novels instead! As far as I know, the most successful horror writers in Australia all work day jobs to pay the bills. It's a simple fact. Don't do it for the money, because you'll be disappointed. Do it for the love of it. And keep your ear to the ground, there are opportunities popping up all the time, like the Lothian deal, and you have to be alert to pick them up and run with them.

Will there be a sequel to Carnies?

Ooh yeah, I fully intend to write a continuation of Carnies, rather than a sequel per se. There's definitely more story to be told there, as I left it pretty much entirely dangling at the end of the novel. The journey has only begun for those poor saps!

What are you working on now, and what can we expect from Martin Livings in the future?

Well, I'm currently working on a near-future science fiction thriller set in London called Skinsongs, which I'm rather excited about, a nice change of pace for me. And there's the follow-up to Carnies, of course, and the manuscript for the aforementoned Last Writes that I'd love to clean up and flesh out, and maybe a dozen other old ideas queued up behind them, plus a couple of kid's books... I like to keep myself pretty busy! My fondest wish is that I can continue selling novels, while still banging out the odd short piece from time to time when inspiration strikes. If I could do that for the rest of my days, I'd be a happy man!


Carnies and Prismatic (by Edwina Grey) are available from all major and independent bookstores from June 6.