FYI: Adam Scovell, writer

‘FYI’ is The State of the Arts’ new irregular column. In it, we ask artists, writers, authors, curators and other amazing people to tell us a little more about themselves and their work. Short and sweet, it’s the perfect introduction to (your new favourite) local creatives.

What you’ll be discussing:
My writing and books.

People should know about it because…
They’ll need to if they’re going to discover how to remove that hex I’ve put on them.

I am inspired by/ it is inspired by…
Usually by my walks around places and chance, things like that. Sometimes it can just be a landscape but it can also be how a previous novel or film has interacted with a place too, and has become charged with memories outside of the obvious. I  like exploring how photographs can be used in a text as well.

How it began…
My fiction writing began when I was a child looking for an escape, though my fiction these days is equally influenced by what I’ve learned in my academic life as much as anything else. I started out actually writing non-fiction and criticism and, admittedly, still make most of my living from it, as fiction as a sole income is only possible for those already rich, really.

My favourite thing about it is…
The research throws up so many interesting things and coincidences. The joy in such research, even when surrounded by bizarre and quite sorrowful scenarios as in the novels so far, is something I really try to recreate. I like the idea of just burrowing away in the corner and occasionally throwing out something strange and excavated into the world, even if the world does sometimes try to throw it back.

The main challenge of it is…
Making enough to pay the rent, sadly.

Next up I’m thinking about…
The current edit of the novel I’m working on, ‘How Pale The Winter Has Made Us’, which is close to finishing being proofed and is published next February. I’m also working on the sound edit of a short film adaptation of a book by Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood called ‘Ness’.

Here are some links you might find interesting:
celluloidwickerman.com

Some final words I’d like to add…
My overriding conspiracy theory is that award-winning novels of any sort have to have a scene of some kind take place in a big middle-class kitchen because all big British literary awards are actually secretly funded by dark money from luxury kitchen fitting companies.