In 1950s England, six-year-old Gracie Scott lives with her Mam and next door to her best friend Billy; she has never known her Da. When her Uncle Joe moves in, his physical abuse of Gracie’s mother starts almost immediately. But when his attentions wander to Gracie, an even more sinister pattern of behaviour begins.
As Gracie grows older, she finds solace and liberation in books, poetry and her enduring friendship with Billy. Together they escape into the poetic fairy-tale worlds of their imaginations.
But will fairy tales be enough to save Gracie from Uncle Joe's psychopathic behaviour - and how far will it go?
I am delighted to have the opportunity to ask Kerensa Jennings some questions today about her novel Seas of Snow and her writing process. I can't wait to meet Kerensa at my book event in July so this is a real treat to get to ask a few questions beforehand! If you haven't booked your tickets for the event yet, then please do using the link below the interview1
Could you tell me about your
novel in a couple of sentences?
SEAS OF SNOW is a story of broken trust and shattered dreams. Of
consequences. Of a life lifted and liberated by poetry. Of a life haunted by
darkness and lived in fear.
It is a bleak psychological thriller that explores
whether evil is born or made…
Your inspiration for your novel
has come from real life news or events. What was it about this moment / event /
newspaper story that captured you so much that you wanted to write about it?
While in charge of the BBC News coverage of the Soham
case, I worked closely with Cambridgeshire Police and was exposed in intimate
detail to the evidence that was collected. Seeing with my own eyes what the
school caretaker Ian Huntley had done to those two beautiful little girls affected
me profoundly. I had been given police evidence tapes to spool through. I was
alone in a dark room. I played one, called ‘Deposition Site’, having no idea
what might be in store. What I saw burned into my retina and I have never been
able to forget it. The remains of the girls found in woodland at RAF
Lakenheath.
The Soham case devastated the nation and tore apart
the lives of two families and their friends, a whole community. Working closely
on it for many months was profoundly emotional, particularly when I had to sit
behind the perpetrator in the press section of the Old Bailey day after day
during the trial.
I became interested in the psychology and motives of psychopaths,
wondering what it was about a person’s psychological make-up that could allow
them to commit such monstrous acts. This interest led to me exploring the
various disciplines of psychology, and training and qualifying as an Executive
Coach and MBTI practitioner. I went on to take my learning further, reading
about psychopaths and the neuroplasticity of the mind. Ultimately, this
interest in the nature versus nurture debate – trying to understand whether
evil is born or made - sparked the inspiration for SEAS OF SNOW.
What has been the biggest
challenge about writing a piece of fiction which is either based on fact or has
elements of fact within it?
The hardest thing while actually writing it was
controlling my emotions. It is a highly charged novel which is designed to make
you feel a rollercoaster of emotions and at times I had to stop writing to let
myself cry. This is what one recent book blogger (Keeper of Pages) said in her
review:
“Seas of Snow is emotionally intense and will take you
through a range of emotions; anger, hatred, sadness, pity, sorrow, happiness,
and most strongly – the longing to save a child. And that child is Gracie, an
innocence so mercilessly destroyed, you heart aches. Even the title of this
book is emotionally charged – ‘seas of snow’ is a haunting metaphor and you
need to read this book to find out why.”
The hardest technical challenge was working on the
authenticity of the language and dialogue of children growing up in North East
Tyneside in the 1950s. As you will see when you read the book, we first meet
Gracie and her best friend Billy when they are 5 and 7. They grow up through
the book so it was important to evolve their vocabulary and conversations to
reflect that.
Can you tell me a little bit
about your writing process and that transition from taking a ‘real event’ and
to it becoming a fictional story?
I was scrupulous to never write anything that would in
any way exploit the tragedy of what happened at Soham. My story may have been
originally inspired by the case and has some recognisable elements - but I took
care to ensure that the story is set in other time and place. Soham is one
strand of inspiration, giving me my starting point examining whether evil is
born or made. SEAS OF SNOW also has so many strands of other influences from
fairy tales to poetry to psychology to academic studies of psychopaths to the
symbolism of flowers to synaesthetic influences of colours, to my own life
experiences and other stories I have read and news events I have covered - that
the original inspiration will always be the burning embers of the story but is
far from being the full experience of it.
My writing process for SEAS OF SNOW started by
building my scaffolding. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve, so I
spent a lot of time mapping out the structure and the plan before writing a
word. I have read so much contemporary fiction in the last few years where the
ending just peters out, or leaves you feeling let down or disappointed. I was
determined to try to ensure readers would feel my book was well worth investing
time in, which meant I needed to work hard to structure tightly so that what I
wanted to do with the denouement would work. I think I seem to have managed it…
reviewers and bloggers seem to be enjoying the twist, with one reviewer saying:
“As you read you begin to realise that the author has
plotted your route more meticulously than you could possibly have imagined
through the narrative. And the end leaves you wondering how she did it.”
The writing bit was just such a pleasure,
notwithstanding the emotional pain at times. I can’t begin to tell you how much
I love simply sitting down to write. Once I know what I am doing, where I am
going… the words just flow out, almost like automatic writing. It just spills
out of my fingers as I type, and I eagerly read as I write to find out what
happens next. Characters arrive fully formed in my head with names and
attributes… I have never had to agonise over what to call someone because they
arrive, ready for action.
I have always had very busy day jobs so novel writing
is sadly consigned to holiday time. I wrote SEAS OF SNOW over all my holidays
between the years 2009 and 2013, working on the final draft in 2014, getting
the publishing deal in 2015, then last year doing the development edit, the
structural edit, the formatting edit, the
copy-editing queries edit then two rounds of proof reading. The editing
process felt a bit like homework to me – but the development edit in particular
was just sheer delight.
How does researching a novel
based or inspired by real events differ from writing another novel?
I write something every single day, and always have
done as long as I can remember. I can’t begin to imagine writing something
which is not influenced in some way by real experience or observation.
My first three novels are all psychological thrillers
inspired by my time working in the field. The next two are all mapped out – and
I am working on the second now.
Some people like to read fiction
as a way of escaping from the real world. Some people like to read fiction to
help them understand the real world or make sense of something they have
experienced in the real world. Can you think of any novels you have read
that have either provided some comfort, escapism, and some insight for you at
any point in your life?
My guest post focuses on one book in particular which
has offered me all three - comfort, escapism and insight – ‘Letters to a Young
Poet’ by Rainer Maria Rilke. Although if
I had to choose one of ‘comfort, escapism and insight’, I would most definitely
say comfort. I’d also cite another two favourites as emblematic of the other
two…
For example, ‘Immortality’ by one of my favourite authors, Milan Kundera. I will say
upfront that Immortality is a strange book... in many ways it is almost a
treatise on the art of the novel. For that I would place it firmly in the
‘insight’ category.
It takes you into flights of fancy, fictionalising
imaginary scenes where artists, writers, poets and philosophers of the past
meet, debate and banter with one another.
But the core story intertwines several narratives -
one an unfolding tale of the protagonist, Agnes, and her family. Another, the
authorial voice playing the part of observer of action and bit-part actor
depending on what is developing in the book.
There are debates and discussions in this book that I
would like to have in real life. In part, I have done.... but not nearly
enough. I would love to wake up one day and find myself in a room with Goethe
and Ernest Hemingway and pick their brains and find out what they think. And I'd
love to spend hours with someone over a drink - lingering over the meaning and
metaphor of a gesture, as Kundera does over Agnes's beautiful flourish of the
hand.
Another favourite novel is Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina – which I would say is one of those books you read for
escapism. The author’s alter-ego, Levin, is so incredibly earnest, authentic,
kind and optimistic, a little bit of me fell in love with him, I think, the
first time I read the book. Then of course you have the more famous driving
narrative of the story which just grips you with every twist and turn and
heartfelt denouement. Anna Karenina is a story with multiple strands and depths
that simply sweep you along, trapped in its power, unable to function or do
much else while you are reading it. I’d recommend reading it on holiday rather
than trying to fit it in around chores, work and the humdrum of normal life.
Having said that, I must admit I first read it while
living and working in Japan in the early nineties, so I am afraid I did manage
to squeeze it in amongst what passed for my everyday life at the time. It proved the perfect antidote to some very
unusual challenges living and working somewhere entirely different. I was up in
the mountains of northern Japan, far away from anything I recognized as normal
– I had previously lived and worked in Paris, Austria, Germany… this was
something else, particularly as I could not speak Japanese when I first went
out. Anna Karenina gave me an extraordinary means of escape. I also enjoyed the
somewhat delicious irony that my little mountainside house was on the same
latitude line as Siberia so I felt a little connected to my Russian story in
more ways than one.
Do you have a favourite author or novel that has
inspired you as a writer or reader or is there a book that you are excited
about reading in 2017 / best book from 2016?
Oh – where to start with this one? In terms of
contemporary fiction, I love Alice Sebold, Jon McGregor, Ian McEwan, Lionel
Shriver, Liz Jensen, SJ Watson, Chris Cleave, Milan Kundera, Julian Barnes, Kim
Edwards, Maggie O’Farrell, Kate Mosse, Tracey Chevalier, Haruki Murakami, Gillian Flynn, Colm
Tóibín, Liza Dalby, Salman Rushdie… too many to mention!
My classic inspirations come principally from F Scott
Fitzgerald, Oscar Wilde, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Gabriel García Márquez…
again way too many to mention.
This year, the books I am most looking forward to
reading are Men without Women by Haruki
Murakami, Rattle by Fiona Perry and The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. I have already bought two of them to add to my
#tbr pile, which seems to grow by the day!
If you would like to hear more from Kerensa then come along to my book event! £10 includes a free drink, entry to a raffle, three authors chatting about books and a goody bag!
To book a ticket for this event where you can hear more from Kerensa, please click on the link below:
