All the way from notts - niki valentine on the possessed blog tour

So, I am very happy to welcome Niki Valentine on her Possessed blog tour. I met Niki in person recently when I went up to talk to her students at Nottingham University and she is properly very lovely indeed. Also, I’ve just started reading Possessed and I can already tell it’s going to be an addictive bastard that keeps me up all night. 

Anyway, here are the questions Niki very kindly answered for me: 

You’re an incredibly prolific writer – do you have a specific routine for writing and if so, will you tell us all your secrets please?

I don’t really have a routine. I write a lot but mostly because I’m a bit obsessive about writing and can’t stop. It makes me do it! But I don’t force myself to write on the (admittedly few) occasions when I’m not feeling it. If there’s a secret then I reckon it’s that you do most of the work while you’re not looking. When you’re doing and thinking about other things, hanging out the washing, watching TV. The subconscious is incredibly important to the writing process. It’s not the usual perceived wisdom but something that I find helpful is switching between projects. If I come to a sticking point on one novel, I’ll do some work on the planning of something else, or write a short story or blog post. I think this is how I avoid writer’s block.

You write both literary fiction (under the name Nicola Monaghan) and commercial fiction (under married name Valentine) does your process differ depending on the genre?

Not particularly. I did assume, starting out on the Valentine books, that it would be quite different. But it wasn’t. I’ve always been quite a planner and I’m quite tight on plot anyway. Probably for a different literary writer, it might have been more of a change. As it was, my literary books are quite thrillerish in tone anyway and when I look at the themes, they’re similar too. The further I go with the two different genres, the more they feel the same.

There’s a gun to your head (sorry about this, it can get rough round my way…) which genre do you choose to write for the rest of your days?

Put that way, and it’s the psychological thrillers/horror, so the Niki Valentine books. I think there’s something elemental about these kinds of stories. Something important. I’ve said before that I accidentally ended up as a literary writer. My original plan for The Killing Jar was quite different, actually, with a big supernatural strand to the story. I found the very first synopsis the other day and it almost surprised me going back to it because I’d forgotten this. Besides, I want to be able to pay the bills and these books tend to help a little more with that!

Like me, you’re a proud and outspoken working class writer, have  you seen any changes since you published The Killing Jar in the treatment of working class fiction? And what do you think will help increase the profile of working class narratives?

It does feel like there is quite a lot of fiction about either working class or marginalised characters, actually written by people who grew up on estates and know the world they’re describing. There are also books that I’d describe as ‘mockney’ style imitators, mostly written by middle-class men. These irritate me a bit but I guess at least they’re not the same old stuff about people drinking chardonnay in London bars. (She says, remembering how much chardonnay was put away in London bars by characters in her second novel!) I think it’s great that people are interested in reading about the lives of people other than the white middle classes. The Killing Jar won an award called the Waverton Good Read, which was scored and voted for by villagers in a very affluent part of Cheshire. This place couldn’t be further removed from the estate where I grew up but, not only were they reading about the Broxtowe Estate, they were voting for my book! I think that’s fantastic.

If you weren’t writing or lecturing what would you be doing instead (I would probably be a librarian/pastry chef so feel free to aim high…)?

I loved music growing up and taught myself to play the piano, something that fed into my ideas for Possessed, which is set in a music conservatoire at a University. I would have loved to be a pianist, or a musician of any kind really. Either that or a pilot, as I love flying. To be fair, though, I’ve already had three different careers before this one (maths teacher, finance exec, software sales/design/marketing) so I’m definitely a bit greedy about these things.

Any tips for someone like me who’s new to the noveling game and has no idea of the rules?

My main advice would be to write what you’re passionate about and what you really want to, rather than worrying too much about what the market wants, or what you think your editor or agent would like you to. And some advice that I was given by Alan Sillitoe, who I was lucky enough to meet a few times before he died. In a letter, he told me to ‘Keep on keeping on.’ The longer I do this noveling thing for, the more I realise just what great advice that was.

And finally, the question on everyone’s lips…Daddy or chips?

Ah, yes, that brings back the memories. I’m a very famous chip hoover-upperer in our household and do love them. Still, it’s definitely Daddy. My Dad’s great. He held me when I was first born and apparently he said ‘This little girl can do anything she wants.’ It completely melts me when I think about that.   

Possessed is available for download at Amazon…go, go, go!