HIT THE NORTH! JULIE LEWTHWAITE INTERVIEW!

HIT THE NORTH!
  
JULIE LEWTHWAITE  INTERVIEW!

Sunderland crimewriter Julie Lewthwaite has had cracking hardboiled stories published in print and online at classy places like OUT OF THE GUTTER MAGAZINE, BULLET MAGAZINE, RADGEPACKET ONLINE, A TWIST OF NOIR & THRILLERS KILLERS N CHILLERS.

She stopped supping Double Maxim just long enough to answer a couple of questions.

Q1: The editor of Byker Books suggested that you write under different names as a DSS scam. Is it true?

Aye, of course! I’ve also got a dozen kids and a six bedroom detached house, all paid for by the taxpayer!

Seriously, since ‘Lewthwaite’ goes on the business books, I wanted to use a different name for fiction when I started writing it, so I used ‘Wright’, which is my family name. Then, when my marriage broke up, I decided to pick a new name altogether and stick to it. I started using ‘Morgan’ because I like it and it’s easy to spell. Then I was told that was boring, so I’m back to square one!

Any suggestions?

Q2: Which of your stories would you choose as the best example of your writing?

Gawd, now you’re asking! It depends. I recently won a ghost story competition run by the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle with a story someone described as being ‘a classic ghost story in the style of M.R. James’. (Read it here: www.litandphil.org.uk/html_pages/documents/TheBlackDog.doc) As you can imagine, the style in which that story was written was very different from the approach I take to writing for Out of the Gutter, say, and yet both styles are clearly my voice and equally good fun to write.

For anyone who’s interested I’ve got bits and pieces here and there on t’Internet, but if you want an example, I do have a soft spot for this one: http://a-twist-of-noir.blogspot.com/2009/05/twist-of-noir-082-julie-wright.html.

I’m also pulling together some old, forgotten tales and putting them on a wee blog, here: http://gonebadonlinestories.blogspot.com/ There’s just one up so far, but I aim for it to grow.

Q3: How did you get into the crime writing game?

I saw a wee article in ‘Writers’ News’ about Bullet magazine, so I ordered the back copies, read them, and was absolutely knocked out by it. I’d never read anything like it before, and I loved it! I immediately started writing something for submission, thinking I had loads of time, since I had just missed a deadline.

Anyway, there was a launch party coming up and I got an invite. It was at the editor’s house, which turned out to be walking distance from where I lived! (He’s since moved…) Keith Jeffrey and I had a good old natter, and he invited me to submit for the upcoming issue even though the deadline had passed. I went into overdrive to get something finished, as you can imagine! In the end I sent him two stories, thinking that doubled my chances of getting one accepted, and he took them both.

So, my first published stories were in issue 6 of Bullet, alongside Charlie Williams, Ray Banks and Allan Guthrie. I was made up!

Q4: What do you do in the real world?

Exist in penury. I’m trying to establish myself as a freelance writer, copy-editor, proofreader, you-name-it-I’ll-do-it. I also make and sell jewellery at craft fairs and online. I wrote a business book last year, which is due out at the end of next month and I’m picking up whatever freelance gigs I can get. I may yet have to admit defeat and go back to having a proper job, but I hope not.

Q5: Do you listen to music while you write?

Hell, yeah! I love rock and blues mainly, but my tastes are fairly eclectic. My fave band is Led Zeppelin, but I’m currently listening to the rather wonderful ‘Dark Night of the Soul’, by Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, which I believe was Mark Linkous’s last project before he shot himself. (I’ve also dug out and am working on a previously abandoned novel that has lots of musical references in it – great fun!)

Q6: What's on the cards for you as far as crimewriting goes?

I have begun outlining a new novel, which is quite dark. Abduction, murder, religion… all good fun! (Of course, what I really need to do is write the damn thing, all of it, not just half, as has happened with others, and then send it out to see if anyone loves it. Wish me luck!)

I also must write something to submit for Radge 5 – I’d love to be in there, so fingers crossed I make the grade (and the deadline)!

And finally…

Thanks for the interview, Paul, I was chuffed to bits to be asked, even if I do feel like a fraud next to all these proper writers! I’m always overwhelmed by the generosity of the crimewriting community – what a lovely bunch of people!

And it’s brilliant to see your own career taking off so well. Congratulations on your success!

Jools'

Ta much Julie!

Julie Lewthwaite-Morgan-Wright-Sackville-West's blog is here