Longford novelist Kathy Rodgers talks to Martina Devlin about her writing.
Martina Devlin was born in Omagh, Co Tyrone and lived in London for seven years where she worked as a journalist - before settling near the sea in Dublin. She started writing fiction in her spare time after winning a Hennessy Literary Award for her first short story in 1996. This was followed by four novels: Three Wise Men, Be Careful What You Wish For, Venus Reborn (nominated for the Sunday Independent-Hughes and Hughes Irish Novel of the Year award) and Temptation. Then came The Hollow Heart, a memoir about her experiences of IVF treatment and her efforts to come to terms with infertility. Her sixth book is a historical novel, Ship of Dreams, which opens on a Titanic lifeboat. It was inspired by her great grand-uncle, who drowned on the Titanic. Martina writes a weekly column for the Irish Independent and the Sunday World.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
In the case of Ship of Dreams it was family history but that was relatively unusual: not too many people would have a Titanic story like that (a couple's elopement, death of the man, survival of the woman, posthumous baby born to him) bubbling away in their past. Mind you, I do believe every family has stories to tell. As for my other books, I think the answer lies in people. I have a great curiosity about what makes us all tick, why we behave in certain ways and how the decisions we take impact on our lives.
How do you overcome writers block?
I build in treats for myself when something is difficult. I promise myself a coffee and a bar of chocolate, or an hour off to read whichever novel I have on my bedside table, if I'll just sit at the screen and work. Sometimes the hard part is persuading myself to switch on my laptop in the first place and call up the piece giving me problems. It's a version of that Sunday night feeling of dread we all experience from time to time. But once I'm engrossed, it's fine - the hours fly by.
What inspires you to write?
I do it because I have to write. I don't know why that is, and occasionally I wish I didn't feel this compulsion. Since it's there, and there's nothing I can do about it, I try to work hard at it and make sure each book is better than the previous one. I'm not sure I've always succeeded, but I hope progress is being made.
Are you a disciplined writer?
Yes, partly because my background and training is in journalism. You learn to respect deadlines, because otherwise there will be holes in the paper and you'll lose your job. You also learn there's no point in waiting for the muse to strike, that's a luxury you don't have. Instead you must set your fingertips on the keyboard and trust to something emerging on the screen. As it does, nine times out of ten. I still do two weekly newspaper columns, for the Irish Independent and the Sunday World Magazine, and I appreciate having them for as long as they're willing to put up with me. They force me to pay attention to what's going on in the world. Otherwise there's a danger you can become submerged in the sphere of your plot and characters and I think it's important to remain engaged with reality.
What are you reading at the moment?
Fire In The Blood by Irene Nemirovsky - she wrote Suite Francaise, but died at Auschwitz before the work was finished. Fire In The Blood is a compact, engrossing novel, you can read it in one sitting. It's about secrets in a rural French community - secrets which cross the generations. I've just finished it and am re-reading it because I raced through it too quickly and suspect I missed some of the nuances. Usually I'm not one for re-readiing but I'm an admirer of Irene Nemirovsky and this is a very fine book.
Which novel did you most enjoy writing and why?
Ship of Dreams was a joy to write because in the process I discovered more about my family, and made contact with an American branch that was lost to us. The Hollow Heart was like having teeth pulled without anaesthetic - I hated every minute of writing that because it meant I had to inhabit a very painful period in my life, one I hoped was behind me.
Your last novel was historical did that involve a lot of research?
If I'd known how much research would be needed, I'd have thought twice about writing the book. I spent as long researching it as I did writing it. I worked on it for about three years in all. I was doing other things too, of course. But historical work is labour intensive, no doubt about it, and you can't cut corners because the book's authenticity depends on it.
Have you a trusted reader that you get to read your manuscripts before you submit them to the publisher?
No, I tend to be very protective about my work in the sense that I don't want to expose it to criticism any sooner than I have to do. Also, I don't believe in writing by committee. But I am very critical of what I write and do a lot of re-writing. Even after a book is published, I often see sentences and passages I want to change.
What advice can you give aspiring novelists that keep getting rejections slips?
Read the rejections carefully and see if there is a common denominator reason for the manuscript being turned down. Try to learn from that. Criticism is always painful but can sometimes be useful. Believe in yourself and believe in your work, but take advice on board too.