What is your name, where
were you born and where do you live now?
My
name is Sean Joyce. I was born in Preston in the North West of England, and I’m
currently living in Toronto
Did you always want to
be a writer? If not what did you want to be?
Yes,
I wanted to be a writer from a very early age. I have no idea where the urge
came from. I just began to take incredible delight in writing my own stories.
Perhaps it was because I was a slightly introverted type, and found I could use
writing to delve even further into my own private universe.
Do you work another job as well as your
writing work?
Yes, I teach
English as a Second Language, which means I spend a lot of time travelling. It
also means I have to summon the will power to write for a few hours each day
after spending vast amounts of mental energy explaining the wonders of English
grammar. But I’m not complaining… well, maybe, just a little.
What is the name of your latest book, and
if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
My debut novel is
Project Hope, a contemporary dystopian story set in a troubled neighbourhood
closed off from the outside world.
What can we expect from you in the
future? ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
While I’m planning
to write a sequel to Project Hope, the novel I’m currently working on is
utterly different. It’s a comic literary story written in the first person, and
is unlike anything I’ve written before. I feel it’s important to experiment and
stretch yourself as a writer if you want to improve. Plus, I would personally
get very tired of always writing in the same genre. I have ambitions to one day
write the British version of a western.
(Don't forget me, when you want the sequel reviewing! I would love to read more about the characters in Project Hope.)
Do you have a favourite
character from your books? and why are they your favourite?
I
admire Dylan, the main character, mostly because he possesses a lot of
attributes that I wish I had. He’s wise beyond his years, and a natural, yet
also reluctant, leader. But most of all, he’s an artist who uses his art form
to rebel against oppression, and at great risk to himself and his loved ones. Fortunately,
I don’t have to worry about this kind of censorship, but there are still so
many artists in the world fighting oppression through their work. You only need
to look at recent high-profile cases such as Ai Wewei in China
(I liked Dylan but I loved the character Oscar,how he cared for his father was a lovely touch and he was certainly the man to know in the Zones, and he turned out to be a truly selfless friend to Dylan and his sister. I hope there is more about Oscar in the sequel )
Where do you get your book plot ideas
from? What/Who is your inspiration?
I think this is a
common reply to this particular question, but I’m not entirely sure where I get
my ideas or inspiration from. For some reason, various fragments of memory and
experience and knowledge sometimes choose to make connections with one another,
thus giving birth to something entirely new. I’m not sure that I’ll ever really
figure out how it works, I’m just glad that it does.
Do you have a certain routine you have
for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?
My routine mostly
involves going to my favourite café. I realise the ‘writer in a café’ scenario
is possibly a bit of a cliché these days, but it really is the most productive
place for me. I treat it like my office. I even have my own table. There is
something undeniably invigorating about the combination of drinking coffee and
being surrounded by lots of people chatting away around you (or reading and
writing). I find I’m able to focus in public places, whereas I often struggle
to concentrate when I’m home alone. I know that Jonathan Franzen, a writer I
greatly admire, locks himself away in a darkened, sound-proofed room while he’s
writing. I personally couldn’t bear that. However, I’m soon leaving Toronto
Do you have anybody read your books and
give you reviews before you officially release them? ie. Your partner,
children, friends, reviewers you know?
Yes, I have a
reliable troupe of close friends and relatives who read over the earlier
versions of the manuscript. My long suffering girlfriend is an avid reader, and
also very honest, so she’s usually my first reader. If she doesn’t think its
good enough, she’ll say so. After that, I received the most important and in-depth
feedback from my editor, Harry Dewulf. Next time around, I’ll be sure to make more
use of the many beta reader forums on the internet.
Do you basic plot/plan
for your book, before you actually begin writing it out? Or do you let the
writing flow and see where it takes the story?
With
Project Hope, I started with two characters and a setting. That was all I had,
and the rest followed from there. I can’t imagine planning a whole book from
the start. I won’t say anything as obvious as “the book wrote itself,” but
there is no doubt that many of the most interesting and important parts of the story
came out of nowhere, and often after a few wrong turns. So I believe there’s a
lot to be said for trusting your unconscious mind and going with it. After all,
that’s what the imagination is all about.
Are there any hidden
messages or morals contained in your books? (Morals as in like Aesops Fables
type of "The moral of this story is..")
I
wasn’t trying to preach when I wrote Project Hope, but there is certainly a
pretty strong political undertone throughout much of the story. While the
scenario of a neighbourhood being walled off from the outside world is slightly
fantastical in a British setting, for me it’s informed by reality. You don’t
have to look too far to find very neglected communities existing alongside gentrified
counterparts.
(I honestly think you get the balance just right and though I won't reveal the "lessons to be learnt" aspect of the book, it is a part of the book I truly enjoyed reading. Your book was not a read and forget type of book, it's more of a think about it and the consequences of such a society. I'd call your book a discussion starter for sure.)
Is there a certain
Author that influenced you in writing?
I’m
a big fan of Cormac McCarthy, and The Road’s combination of struggle and belief
in the face of despair certainly influenced several aspects of Project Hope.
The ghost of Orwell’s 1984 was also hovering somewhere in the peripheries of my
mind during the writing.
What is your favourite book and Why?
Have you read it more than once?
This is a
difficult one, but if I had to pick out one novel, it would be John Steinbeck’s
The Grapes of Wrath. For me, it’s everything that a novel should be, and
everything that a novelist should aspire to. The scale of it is utterly epic,
yet the focus is always on the microcosm of the Joad family. Steinbeck tells
the story with such compassion, and in a way that still resonates greatly to
this day.
Do you think books transfer to movies
well? Which is you favourite/worst book to movie transfer?
I think that we
get so invested in particular books that we have to make intense comparisons
with their film versions. But I don’t believe a film is ever really ‘the film
of the book’. A film is a completely separate entity that’s merely informed by
the book. We create our own movie version in our heads each time we read a
novel, and no adaptation is ever going to match up. That said, there are
definitely a few good attempts. I think the film version of Atonement is
excellent and really captures the novel’s essence. Fight Club is also one of
those rare beasts i.e. a movie that’s better than the book. The Shipping News
movie, however, was a disappointment. The novel is one of my favourites, and
the prose so original and poetic, but none of this power translates into the
film. The casting is also off. It took me a while to shake off the image of
Kevin Spacey whenever I thought of Quoyle’s character. But fortunately, my own
vision won out in the end.
(I totally agree with you on the fact the film is never the film of the book, it's more the film director's perception of the book! Which unfortunately is not always the same as the readers.)
If you could invite
three favourite writers to dinner, who would you invite and enjoy chatting
with?
My first choice
is a pretty obvious one, yet how could you not choose him? I’m talking about
Shakespeare of course. Like many people, I’d love to strip away the layers of
mystery surrounding his story, as well as just spend a few moments in the
presence of a talent so great it’s mind-boggling. Secondly, I’d probably go for
Hemingway, he’d probably have a few interesting stories to tell. Last of all,
I’d choose another obvious candidate i.e. Charles Dickens. I doubt there would
be anyone better qualified to give me some novel-writing advice.
Where can readers follow
you?
I
can be followed here:
Website:
http://www.seanjoyce.net/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanjjoyce
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/KWLcgf
And
Project Hope is available at the following links.
Amazon US : http://amzn.to/LCS2ZE
Amazon Uk :
http://amzn.to/Mq7Qhn
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/MBDzbY
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/MNcPVq
iBooks: http://bit.ly/NYu6MN
Thanks so much for a truly interesting interview that I couldn't resist joining in with (which I rarely do) and I am so glad that Shalini Boland recommended me to read your book! (BIG thank you to Shalini) I look forward to reading the sequel and more of your work in the future.
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