- What is the best thing about being a writer?
I love lots of things about being a
writer, but my absolute favourite is going to events where I can meet and talk
to readers. Writing doesn’t exist without readers – they are the most important
part of a writer’s life.
- Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get a great deal of inspiration from
news and current affairs – we like to think that we are in charge of our own
lives, but so much of how we live is affected by the political regimes by which
we’re governed, the geographical landscape, the decisions made by business
leaders and investors. But in the end, it all comes down to people. I love
observing even the simplest interactions; I know from my own life just how much
is going on behind even the least significant exchange. I love to imagine the
stories behind the ordinary scenes I witness every single day.
- Could you tell us more about your
book The Ship
The Ship is set in a world of dwindling
natural resources and huge inequality. London is under a government whose
priority is population reduction; only citizens who are approved and registered
have access to the information they need to survive. One extraordinarily
wealthy man, determined to give his daughter a normal life, buys an enormous
cruise ship and offers five hundred worthy, kind people a chance to escape, on
the condition that they form a society in which his daughter can grow up. But
as their voyage progresses, his daughter has questions he is not prepared to
answer, and the only people around her are the ones he has saved. What is the price
of salvation?
- What is the world building like in The Ship?
The Ship pretends to be fiction, but in
fact I didn’t have to invent much. If the Thames Barrier failed, large parts of
London would be underwater; it’s more than possible to restrict people’s access
to food and information by controlling the Internet; the fertility of our soil
is depleting at an alarming rate. All I had to do was take the challenges that
face human beings as a species (most of which are of our own making) and push
them to their natural conclusion. Michael Paul, the father in the novel, is
taking care of his own interests, and whilst that’s understandable, it’s also
unsustainable. It’s terrifying to read the news and see how many of the things
I thought I’d made up are actually happening.
- What was your favourite part of writing your
book?
I loved it all. My life is very busy
and very full of the needs of other people – that’s what I’ve chosen, and I
love it – but when I write, it’s just me and these thoughts and ideas that I
can mould and shape, characters to whom I can give a voice, worlds I can bring
to life. Even when it feels like carving marble with a needle, those things are
still true.
- What was the most difficult part?
The most difficult part is to keep
going when you can’t see what’s in front of you. I think that’s true of a lot
more than writing, but it forms huge proportion of my writing life, and there
are many pitfalls you just can’t see until it’s too late. No life comes with a
map; you have to be ready to embrace the falls as well as the lifts.
- Where can readers connect with you?
On Twitter I’m @antonia_writes, and
there’s a contact page on my website www.antoniahoneywell.com. And never, ever be shy of coming to
say hello at events!
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