Novelist Fflur Dafydd explains how teaching creative writing benefits her own development
Fflur Dafydd
Fflur Dafydd is a singer songwriter and novelist writing in both English and Welsh. She was named the first ever Oxfam Emerging Writer of the Year in 2009 and was awarded the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize. Fflur’s first novel in English is Twenty Thousand Saints, inspired by six weeks as writer in residence on Bardsey Island and published by Alcemi. Prior to this she published the Welsh-language Lliwiau Liw Nos and Atyniad, which won the prose medal at the National Eisteddfod in 2006. Fflur is currently a writer in residence at Iowa University.
What inspired you to become a writer?
My mother is a poet, so I was raised in a tradition of going to readings and literary events - and so I think, looking back, that writing seemed natural for me, it was certainly seen just as a ‘normal’ job in our family.
I was also a big reader as a child and even now the main reason I want to write it because I want to touch and inspire others in the way they have touched and inspired me.
Even when I’m not writing fiction, I write a diary every day, and there is some compulsion in me, to try to understand, through writing, some of the things going on in my life. Writing streams out of me, I can’t help it… I see an empty space and I want to fill it with words!
Did you find an agent or a publisher first?
As Wales is a small country, and has a small publishing industry, you don’t usually need an agent. My first collection of poems and short stories was published when I was 20 and I think we’re lucky in Wales that we have so many opportunities to see our work in print. Later on, I decided to write my first novel, Lliwiau Liw Nos, and I entered this in an unpublished novel competition at the National Eisteddfod, which is the country’s main cultural and literary festival, and it came third, which attracted the attention of my current publisher, Y Lolfa.
It all happened very quickly - they presented me with a contract and within three months it was published! I published another Welsh language novel with them, and then, when it came to thinking about an English language publisher, as luck would have it, the inspiring editor Gwen Davies was just setting up a new English-language fiction imprint in Y Lolfa called Alcemi, and it made sense for me to remain with them.
You cannot underestimate the benefits of being with a small press, especially an innovative and forward looking one like Alcemi, who look after their authors and do their very best to get the book out there, and I’m hugely grateful for the way they’ve helped launch my career.
But I do have an agent now - Euan Thorneycroft from AM Heath - and I will wait to see what happens under his guidance. I had met Euan on several occasions when he had visited Swansea University to speak to our students, so I think I was lucky that I was able to approach him informally at first.
How did if feel to be named Oxfam Hay’s Emerging Writer of the Year?
It was a great honour, as well as a big surprise. It was the inaugural prize and therefore I didn’t know it was coming, but just to have such commendation from Peter Florence, Hay Festival director, and for the book to be applauded at the centre of one of the most important literary festivals in the world, was overwhelming, and such a boost to my writing career.
It has certainly made a big difference to the sales of the book and has given me the opportunity also to strike up a partnership with Oxfam, taking part in many of their Bookfest events and also helping to raise the profile of their donate a book scheme. It feels like a worthwhile prize that actually allows me to do something constructive.
How did you make the decision to go from writing in Welsh to writing in English?
There were many factors involved - initially, I wanted to write in English because I was teaching creative writing in an English Department, and was aware that many of my students were unable to read what I’d written. With this in mind, I decided to go about translating my Welsh language novel, Atyniad.
But once I’d begun, I realised that I needed to start afresh with a new perspective, and with this in mind, I started to change elements of the plot and characters to better suit the needs of a non-Welsh speaking audience, and before I knew it, I had a novel with the same setting, but a completely different structure, mood and tone.
Now my motivation for writing in English is a political one - through fiction, I want to convey things about Welsh language identity to a larger audience, from an insider’s point of view, to bridge that gap of understanding that can often occur.
What are the advantages of one language over the other when it comes to creative writing?
Welsh is my first language, for me the language of the hearth, the home, the language of love. It is very musical on the ear, has a distinct rhythm, and creates a particular mood. In my earlier novels I tended to get carried away with wordplay, so much so that maybe I neglected plot and character in favour of making the prose abstract and lyrical.
Also, when you’re writing in a minority, you’re more aware of the works that have gone before you, and so it’s easier, to an extent, to be able to do something innovative and different.
In English, of course, the huge benefit is that it can take your book to a much greater readership - but there is a certain pressure that comes with this. Finding my own voice in English was difficult at first - it is a more exact, precise language somehow - and finding ways of creating new rhythms and meanings within it was a stumbling block for me.
But in general, as I became less obsessed with wordplay in English, I think the plot of my novel benefited hugely from this. In English, I think the idea and the setting itself almost has to stand out more than the use of language, whereas in Welsh, there is a conscious effort to do something that has never been done before.
How do you feel your writing progressed between Atyniad and Twenty Thousand Saints?
I like to think there was a big development here - I had been teaching creative writing in the two years in between, and what happens when you start to teach creative writing is that you find yourself discovering, as you’re relating it to the students, what your beliefs about writing are, and also where your weak spots lie.
I taught several classes about plotting and I saw how Atyniad could have been improved, and also noticed how some of my characters were maybe a little under-developed. This had been picked up upon in some reviews and I had disregarded the information until then, but I really began to see the difference it could make to the novel if I used some different techniques.
So Twenty Thousand Saints became more of a plot-driven novel, with rounder, fuller characters, and this, interestingly, also impacted on the Welsh language novel that I wrote after this, Y Llyfrgell, for I had started to find a formula that appealed to me, and kept the reader turning the pages.
I still hunger occasionally for the more abstract, raw, (even if occasionally directionless) style of the prose in Atyniad, which is maybe something I can use again in another book.
How did you go about transforming Twenty Thousand Saints from a novella to a full length-novel?
It started with a rather brutal cull! Any characters who did not earn their place in Atyniad were immediately dropped, and I started to think about who the protagonists needed to be. In Atyniad, the novel opens with a myriad of viewpoints from the women waiting for a boat to arrive, and the scene itself was something I wanted to keep - so I decided I could still include it, but in order for it to have more order and coherence it needed to come through one particular POV.
So it made sense for me to have Leri - the documentary maker - as the main character of this particular section (as she films the whole thing) and then to move on to the writer’s voice in the next chapter. I then decided to add the archaeologist, Deian (who had been a character in Atyniad, though not a hugely significant one), and then added a new character, Vivian, the hermit nun, to provide a stark contrast with the others. Before I knew it, the story was accelerating along in four narrations, and it gave the book a much tighter structure, and greater depth.
Which character do you feel most intrigued by?
I am intrigued by Viv, the hermit nun character, perhaps because she grew from one tiny anecdote I heard while on Bardsey Island (that the nun of the island would only ever leave in order to attend something called the annual conference of hermits!), to become a character of flesh and blood, warts and all.
Her stubbornness is perhaps uniquely Welsh, and her disappointments reflect the disillusion of a whole nation. But yet, she is a person in her own right, and I found myself devising a life for her which spills out beyond the borders of the book.
How did you come to be writer in residence on Bardsey Island in 2002?
I had seen the post advertised by Academi, the Welsh literature promotion agency, as an open call to their members, and it immediately appealed to me. At the time I was writing a PhD thesis on R.S. Thomas, the Welsh poet-priest who had been instrumental in setting up the Bardsey Island trust, and many of his poems are about the island, as he was a frequent visitor there, and birdwatcher.
It felt like I was destined to go there, to follow in his footsteps, to understand him better. I was fortunate enough to get the post, and of course, ultimately, I found the island to be the biggest source of inspiration for my own work.
How do you think a location benefits from having a writer in residence?
I think it’s important for the place itself to be seen in a different light. No one viewpoint is the same, and sometimes an outsider will see things that an insider will never be able to see.
Gradually, therefore, a body of literature about a place which shows it from all angles will begin to grow - my work, for example, is so different to RS Thomas, who was drawn to the birds and the spiritual element of the place, or the work of Brenda Chamberlain, who drew dark sketches of the tide-race and the characters in both her paintings and prose - but each POV is just as valid.
The place will ultimately have many voices and it is important for a place to be documented in creative work as well as through historical, more formal documentation. It proves that the place is truly alive.
What do you think writers gain from being a writer in residence?
It’s a chance to gain a different worldview, to see yourself and your work more clearly, and to discover life without the usual distractions.
Bardsey Island is a place where electricity is hardly used, where you have only compost toilets, and where there is no pub! As a consequence, islanders make their own fun, and have their own surreal and wonderful adventures.
I could never have anticipated that this residency would change my worldview so drastically, but I really did realise how little you need to be happy, and how important it is to throw yourself in amongst people who seemingly are so different from yourself.
At the moment, I am currently writer in residence at Iowa University, alongside around 30 other authors from around the world, as part of the Iowa International Writing Program, and it is proving to be a wonderful, rich experience, which is challenging me in all sorts of ways.
Do you think any of your future work will be set on Bardsey?
No. To paraphrase something R.S. Thomas said about his poems about Wales: “I think I’ve rung that dishcloth dry.” Two novels are enough!
I want to visit new locations in my fiction, but I am interested in continuing with setting my books in iconic Welsh locations. My latest Welsh language novel was set in the National Library of Wales, and I’m thinking of continuing along that route with the next English language novel.
What would you say to a writer considering becoming a writer in residence?
Have an open mind. What you plan to write when you first arrive and what you do write when you get there are usually two different things! I did hardly any writing on Bardsey itself, and it was four years later that the true significance of the place began to surface in my writing.
I did, however, write many songs there, which have stayed with me. I was also a writer in residence in Helsinki, and wrote about the city itself, rather than the novel about undertakers I was supposed to be writing!
In Iowa, on the other hand, I came here with three chapters of a novel about the Library and realised I need to start the book all over again! A residency affords the writer the opportunity to rethink and to rediscover, and this is something valuable and important, something ‘real life’ never gives you the chance to do.
How would you describe your writing style?
That’s a tough question. I would like to think it’s quite fluid, accessible, rhythmic, and is writing that strives to make a serious point, but always an undercurrent of humour or quirkiness.
What inspires you?
Life itself. There are so many stories going on all around us everyday - it’s important to tune in to the things that are being offered to you on a plate.
In terms of writing, I am a big fan of Kazuo Ishiguro and Daphne Du Maurier, and am developing into a Murakami fan too.
I also am lucky to be inspired by the love, laughter and friendship of the good people I have around me; I’m not one of those authors who needs to be truly miserable in order to write, I have written better, bigger books as the result of having a happy, fulfilling life. I save the suffering, trauma and loneliness for my characters!
What are the biggest challenges of writing?
Admitting to yourself when something isn’t working and starting again, whether you’ve written only a paragraph or several chapters.
You also have to discipline yourself to do it, which is not always easy, and to know when to stay put when something - a phone-call, a dinner invitation, a drink at the pub - seems a better option. Also - you have to maintain perspective, and to be able to take criticism, which is difficult at first, but gets easier with time.
Above all, you have to believe in yourself and your work if you want other people to do so!
What do you enjoy most about it?
I enjoy seeing the work published, and getting responses. Someone yesterday quoted Dorothy Parker to me: “I don’t enjoy writing, I enjoy having written” and I think to an extent that is true, because it’s only when you see the work published that you truly accept the process of writing is over, and there’s nothing more that can be done to improve the book!
I also enjoy the fact that writing allows you to travel to different places in the world with your work, and come into contact with other authors, who very often become your close friends.
How does song writing compare to novel writing for you?
On a practical level, a song can be written in a minute or two - how I wish novel writing were that easy! It’s instinctive, physical, and sometimes it’s just about the unique combination of you, the guitar or the piano, and the room, and your particular mood that day, and you have something which doesn’t have to be perfect, and very often you don’t even need to edit it, as long as it says something about YOU and comes from a genuine place.
Also, music is the very thing that gets me out of the house! I love collaborating musically, whereas I am a complete individual when it comes to writing, I don’t like people meddling with my fiction! But I’m lucky to work with a good band who can add all these layers to my songs, and make them stronger and more dynamic. I love also seeing the instantaneous response of the audience in a gig, something rarely happens when writing books!
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
For me, it has been the two things that have happened to me this year, winning the Oxfam Hay Emerging Writer Prize at the Hay Festival 2009 for Twenty Thousand Saints and also winning the Daniel Owen Memorial Prize 2009 a few months later for Y Llyfrgell - two completely different novels in two different languages. I am proud to be able to write in both languages and it’s fantastic to feel as though people believe I have something to say in both.
Also, I must say that being offered a residency on Iowa’s prestigious writing programme is another definite highlight. Being among so many wonderful writers, I feel, at last, like a real author!
What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
To keep going. It’s not always pleasurable, it’s not always glamorous, but at the end of the day, if you believe you have a contribution to make, do it.
Don’t just write because you want to be a writer. Write because you want to something to change; that you want someone to recognise something anew. And on those days you can’t write, read.
What are you working on now?
I am working on an English language adaptation of Y Llyfrgell
It will be set in an unnamed country, and will feature a cast of different characters, who decide to take a group of readers and some politicians hostage during one important day in the library’s history.
I’m also hoping to go finish a collection of short stories in the Welsh language, and I also have a new album coming out as a singer songwriter in October, Byd Bach, a concept album about the places in Wales that have inspired my work.
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Fflur,
It is very hard to get into the big publishers. I am in the process of trying to do that.
Please email me at navajotrust@yahoo.com
Also please visit my website.
Thanks for a very good interview.
Walk in peace and harmony,
Melinda