INTERVIEW: Jessica Brockmole, author of Letters from Skye
I really loved Jessica Brockmole's beautiful novel Letters from Skye and so I'm happy to welcome her to the blog, talking about daydreaming, most loved authors, and Scotland.
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Are you a daydreamer too?
Is there a writer who isn’t? The littlest thing tends to send us off imagining. A headline, a bit of trivia, a family story, a line scrawled on a postcard, that person at the next table slurping green tea, a dream, a nightmare, the way an autumn leaf hangs just so. I don’t know how often my family has encountered me with that familiar vacant stare that they know means I’m lost in my own thoughts and imaginings.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was young, I used to go to my local library every day in the summer and return with my bike basket full of books. At that pace, I was worried that I’d run out of things to read. I decided I needed to write my own, to always keep a stock of books around. Back then I tended to write stories about time travel and ghosts and pioneers in the American West. I suppose my love of writing historical fiction started even then.
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in and lived most of my life in the Midwestern United States—Michigan, Illinois, and now Indiana. I did live in Edinburgh, Scotland for four years, not long after I was married, and that’s where I wrote Letters from Skye. The hills and lochs and history of Scotland are so unlike the cornfields and rambling farms that surrounded me growing up! In my free time I enjoy reading, of course, and also cooking. I’m also a passionate canner and can be found pickling all sorts of vegetables come summer.
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How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I had tossed around the idea of writing an epistolary novel for a while, but I wasn’t sure when and where to set it. After a holiday on the Isle of Skye, just after my son was born, I had my setting. I was entranced with the island—the landscape, the wind, the smell of the sea, the history and legend woven into the very place names on the map. On the drive home, the story began coming together. A poet—for my heroine could only be a poet on this wind-lashed island—receiving a fan letter. A headstrong man—for who else would write to my poet?—heading off to a war that feels so distant to this isolated corner of Scotland. I started writing that very evening.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
For the most part, I don’t plan them at all. Letters from Skye was written without anything more than “How about a book about a Scottish poet and an American fan? And then the First World War happens. But I’ll write it ALL IN LETTERS!” I like to let the story unfold for me at the same time that it unfolds for the characters. I love surprises. When I have done more planning for a tricky novel, it’s not much. Before beginning, I might write a 1-3 page synopsis that will lay out for me the big plot elements, but I almost always end up writing around that initial synopsis.
I’ve tried writing from detailed outlines and character sheets before, and it just doesn’t work for me. But, then again, I shouldn’t expect it to. When traveling, I’m not one to sightsee along a map. I keep it tucked in my back pocket, in case I get lost, but I’d rather wander and discover the unexpected that way.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
Not as a source of inspiration, but I do sometimes untangle plot snarls in my sleep. I fall asleep frustrated but I wake up and, in the snippets that I remember of my dreams, I can see a potential solution.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
I did! I love those moments. One that comes to mind right away is the hotel. While I was writing the first draft, I needed a swanky London hotel for David to stay at. I’d heard of The Langham and, when I looked it up, saw that it was around when I needed it, in 1915, and that it seemed the perfect place for him to take the untraveled and nervous Elspeth. Done. In a much later draft, I decided to bring Elspeth back to London, decades later. I wanted her to be there for the very beginning of the Blitz. Upon researching, I learned that, of the few luxury hotels in London that suffered damage during the Blitz, the only that was hit during the week I needed was…The Langham. Perfect.
Where do you write, and when?
I write while my children are in school, but then I usually write again in the evening, sometimes quite late. When I first started writing seriously and they were young, I rarely wrote earlier than midnight, though I’m now discovering that I can have an early-morning creative burst!
Though I have a desk, I don’t often write there. I find that I work better when I keep moving, from one location to the next. Not only does changing positions keep me from getting back and shoulder strain, but each fresh location brings with it renewed focus.
What is your favourite part of writing?
I love the warm feeling of serendipity, when a piece of research fits in so neatly to a scene that they seem built for one another. It’s like a wash of magic.
What do you do when you get blocked?
I move to a different writing location. Sometimes a different view and position helps refresh me. If that doesn’t work, a walk or a run usually lets me free my mind and see the problem from a different angle. And if that doesn’t work, then I walk away from it for the day. Although I’m a firm believer in writing every day, whether the muse is present or not, I know when I’m beat. As long as I’ve given it my best shot for the day, I don’t feel guilty about walking away.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
I read, a lot. Fiction and non-fiction; new releases and classics; adventures, love stories, mysteries, sagas, fairy tales, books about ordinary people struggling to do ordinary things. Reading gorgeous prose, furtive mythology, or smart essays, I’m inspired to write. And in books of intriguing (yet forgotten) history, I usually find the stories I’m looking for.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
I don’t really have any rituals, as I tend to move around and change how and when and where I write to keep my mind fresh. Two constants, though, are my music—an eclectic, energetic mix that always gets me singing and thinking—and my tea. A hot mug of tea always helps me to focus.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
There are many new authors who I admire and read with relish, and those authors have their own list. My favorites list, however, contains those writers who have been favorites for a while and whose books I happily reread. Authors like Jane Austen, Betty Smith, Louisa May Alcott, and Anne and Charlotte Bronte (never a big Emily fan) are always on the list. Women writing in times when many women didn’t write. Childhood favorites like Laura Ingalls Wilder and L. M. Montgomery are there, as I still have my old copies on the shelf and reread them frequently. They always take me to different places. Tolkien, of course, for his inventiveness. Rowling for her sense of wonder. Bill Bryson for always making me laugh.
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L.M. Montgomery
What do you consider to be good writing?
Good writing makes me want to use a pencil as bookmark so that I can underline phrases that make my heart skip. And I do.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
Talk to other writers. Listen to how they do it. Realize that there is no one perfect way to write. Then go away quietly by yourself, shut the door, and do it.
What are you working on now?
My next book, finished but still untitled, is also set during the First World War. Two artists, one Scottish and one French, find each other in wartime Paris and together try to recapture a long-lost summer of innocence.
It sounds wonderful!
[image error]
Are you a daydreamer too?
Is there a writer who isn’t? The littlest thing tends to send us off imagining. A headline, a bit of trivia, a family story, a line scrawled on a postcard, that person at the next table slurping green tea, a dream, a nightmare, the way an autumn leaf hangs just so. I don’t know how often my family has encountered me with that familiar vacant stare that they know means I’m lost in my own thoughts and imaginings.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
When I was young, I used to go to my local library every day in the summer and return with my bike basket full of books. At that pace, I was worried that I’d run out of things to read. I decided I needed to write my own, to always keep a stock of books around. Back then I tended to write stories about time travel and ghosts and pioneers in the American West. I suppose my love of writing historical fiction started even then.
Tell me a little about yourself – where were you born, where do you live, what do you like to do?
I was born in and lived most of my life in the Midwestern United States—Michigan, Illinois, and now Indiana. I did live in Edinburgh, Scotland for four years, not long after I was married, and that’s where I wrote Letters from Skye. The hills and lochs and history of Scotland are so unlike the cornfields and rambling farms that surrounded me growing up! In my free time I enjoy reading, of course, and also cooking. I’m also a passionate canner and can be found pickling all sorts of vegetables come summer.
[image error]
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
I had tossed around the idea of writing an epistolary novel for a while, but I wasn’t sure when and where to set it. After a holiday on the Isle of Skye, just after my son was born, I had my setting. I was entranced with the island—the landscape, the wind, the smell of the sea, the history and legend woven into the very place names on the map. On the drive home, the story began coming together. A poet—for my heroine could only be a poet on this wind-lashed island—receiving a fan letter. A headstrong man—for who else would write to my poet?—heading off to a war that feels so distant to this isolated corner of Scotland. I started writing that very evening.
How extensively do you plan your novels?
For the most part, I don’t plan them at all. Letters from Skye was written without anything more than “How about a book about a Scottish poet and an American fan? And then the First World War happens. But I’ll write it ALL IN LETTERS!” I like to let the story unfold for me at the same time that it unfolds for the characters. I love surprises. When I have done more planning for a tricky novel, it’s not much. Before beginning, I might write a 1-3 page synopsis that will lay out for me the big plot elements, but I almost always end up writing around that initial synopsis.
I’ve tried writing from detailed outlines and character sheets before, and it just doesn’t work for me. But, then again, I shouldn’t expect it to. When traveling, I’m not one to sightsee along a map. I keep it tucked in my back pocket, in case I get lost, but I’d rather wander and discover the unexpected that way.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
Not as a source of inspiration, but I do sometimes untangle plot snarls in my sleep. I fall asleep frustrated but I wake up and, in the snippets that I remember of my dreams, I can see a potential solution.
Did you make any astonishing serendipitous discoveries while writing this book?
I did! I love those moments. One that comes to mind right away is the hotel. While I was writing the first draft, I needed a swanky London hotel for David to stay at. I’d heard of The Langham and, when I looked it up, saw that it was around when I needed it, in 1915, and that it seemed the perfect place for him to take the untraveled and nervous Elspeth. Done. In a much later draft, I decided to bring Elspeth back to London, decades later. I wanted her to be there for the very beginning of the Blitz. Upon researching, I learned that, of the few luxury hotels in London that suffered damage during the Blitz, the only that was hit during the week I needed was…The Langham. Perfect.
Where do you write, and when?
I write while my children are in school, but then I usually write again in the evening, sometimes quite late. When I first started writing seriously and they were young, I rarely wrote earlier than midnight, though I’m now discovering that I can have an early-morning creative burst!
Though I have a desk, I don’t often write there. I find that I work better when I keep moving, from one location to the next. Not only does changing positions keep me from getting back and shoulder strain, but each fresh location brings with it renewed focus.
What is your favourite part of writing?
I love the warm feeling of serendipity, when a piece of research fits in so neatly to a scene that they seem built for one another. It’s like a wash of magic.
What do you do when you get blocked?
I move to a different writing location. Sometimes a different view and position helps refresh me. If that doesn’t work, a walk or a run usually lets me free my mind and see the problem from a different angle. And if that doesn’t work, then I walk away from it for the day. Although I’m a firm believer in writing every day, whether the muse is present or not, I know when I’m beat. As long as I’ve given it my best shot for the day, I don’t feel guilty about walking away.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
I read, a lot. Fiction and non-fiction; new releases and classics; adventures, love stories, mysteries, sagas, fairy tales, books about ordinary people struggling to do ordinary things. Reading gorgeous prose, furtive mythology, or smart essays, I’m inspired to write. And in books of intriguing (yet forgotten) history, I usually find the stories I’m looking for.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
I don’t really have any rituals, as I tend to move around and change how and when and where I write to keep my mind fresh. Two constants, though, are my music—an eclectic, energetic mix that always gets me singing and thinking—and my tea. A hot mug of tea always helps me to focus.
Who are ten of your favourite writers?
There are many new authors who I admire and read with relish, and those authors have their own list. My favorites list, however, contains those writers who have been favorites for a while and whose books I happily reread. Authors like Jane Austen, Betty Smith, Louisa May Alcott, and Anne and Charlotte Bronte (never a big Emily fan) are always on the list. Women writing in times when many women didn’t write. Childhood favorites like Laura Ingalls Wilder and L. M. Montgomery are there, as I still have my old copies on the shelf and reread them frequently. They always take me to different places. Tolkien, of course, for his inventiveness. Rowling for her sense of wonder. Bill Bryson for always making me laugh.
[image error]
L.M. Montgomery
What do you consider to be good writing?
Good writing makes me want to use a pencil as bookmark so that I can underline phrases that make my heart skip. And I do.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
Talk to other writers. Listen to how they do it. Realize that there is no one perfect way to write. Then go away quietly by yourself, shut the door, and do it.
What are you working on now?
My next book, finished but still untitled, is also set during the First World War. Two artists, one Scottish and one French, find each other in wartime Paris and together try to recapture a long-lost summer of innocence.
It sounds wonderful!
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