Ask the Author: John Ironmonger
Answered Questions (13)
John Ironmonger
Right now that is correct. But I hope it will change soon ...
John Ironmonger
Hi Sherril - I'm so pleased you enjoyed the book. It has been interesting how things have turned out – like the beached whale in Essex (did you notice it was a fin whale?) But someone wrote to tell me they are less sympathetic to Joe now because his raid on the wholesaler now looks like greedy hoarding – which had never occurred to me before. I'm not sure it was all that prescient. Pandemics come along quite often. I suspect it was a mixture of good research and luck (if you can call it that). Not sure why. Someone asked me recently if I thought it would ever be made into a film and I said, ‘no.’ I think the Coronavirus has probably killed off pandemic stories for a while. Everyone knows too much about pandemics now. People would be asking if there was a furlough scheme in St Piran and if Sainsbury’s were able to deliver …
I hope you get a chance to read my new novel out in August - The Many Lives of Heloise Starchild. And thanks again. :) John
I hope you get a chance to read my new novel out in August - The Many Lives of Heloise Starchild. And thanks again. :) John
John Ironmonger
I suppose it would need to be somewhere fundamentally different from our own world - otherwise what would be the point? Can I cheat and say I'd love to have been an indomitable Gaul in the Asterix books? Or to have been a house guest in a Jeeves novel. Or to travel the galaxy in Asimov's Foundation novels.
John Ironmonger
Ouch - maybe I'd be better off saying I don't have a county attachment - because I was born in Kenya and didn't come to live in Cornwall until I was seventeen. But my mother was from Cornwall - she grew up in Mevagissey - and whenever we came to the UK for holidays we'd stay with the family in Cornwall. So it felt like my home county. I even went to school for a while at the Lawn School in St Austell, and my mother kept a house in Carlyon Bay where we'd often live on visits to England. And because I came to school in England I would spend half terms and my Easter holiday with family in Cornwall. So in the absence of any other county affiliation from childhood, I have always thought of myself as Cornish. Just like you, living in Shropshire hasn't made me a Salopian. That's the story.
John Ironmonger
No - I haven't read Station Eleven - although you aren't the first person to suggest it. So maybe I need to order a copy. So glad you enjoyed the book. :)
John Ironmonger
I'm halfway through a novel called 'Super Recogniser.' I really don't want to say too much about it at this stage, but I can reveal that it loosely tells the life story of Susan Calendar (who appears briefly in The Coincidence Authority). Susan is the eponymous super recogniser, one of those very rare gifted people who never forget a face. Is that enough for now?
John Ironmonger
I can only assume that my ancestors sold iron. I've never gotten around to tracing the family tree. I believe it was a traditional English name - and I know there are 'Iremongers' around too, whose ancestors presumably sold ire. Maybe some genealogists out there can help with this one...?
John Ironmonger
'The Coincidence Authority' / 'Coincidence' started, for me, with the character of Thomas. In many ways, I’m rather like him. I prefer to believe that everything in the universe obeys the laws of science and mathematics. I wondered what would happen if Thomas’ world-view was to be challenged by events that appeared to contradict his comfortable calculations.
But I was also inspired by Africa. As a boy I’d spent some time living and working in Northern Uganda, and for a long time I'd wanted to write about this beautiful part of the world; in particular I was anxious to shine some light on the impact that Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army have had upon the region, and to write - even obliquely - about the horrors of child abduction for warfare. When I discovered that I could weave this into the tale of Thomas and Azalea, then I knew I had an interesting story.
But I was also inspired by Africa. As a boy I’d spent some time living and working in Northern Uganda, and for a long time I'd wanted to write about this beautiful part of the world; in particular I was anxious to shine some light on the impact that Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army have had upon the region, and to write - even obliquely - about the horrors of child abduction for warfare. When I discovered that I could weave this into the tale of Thomas and Azalea, then I knew I had an interesting story.
John Ironmonger
I ponder long and hard. I reject idea after idea, until one comes along that won't accept rejection. Then I have to write it.
John Ironmonger
I'm about to start the edits for my next novel, 'Not Forgetting the Whale.' And I'm about two thirds of the way through a fourth novel - 'Super Recogniser.'
John Ironmonger
Keep writing. Don't stop writing. Writing is a craft, and like any other craft (painting, sculpture, playing the piano) you will get better with practice. Don't expect your first novel to be your masterpiece. You'll get better. Try to write 300 words a day - and make them good words. Don't think too far ahead of the next 300. Have a reasonable idea of where your story is going, but don't stop the characters from surprising you. They will. And one day, your 300 words a day will end in these two words: The End.
John Ironmonger
Waking up in the morning and thinking, 'I'm a novelist.'
John Ironmonger
I try to write something else. Or else I'll change the perspective, or the time frame, and write in a few surprise twists. I might have to throw it all away ... but you never know ...
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