Author’s Bio: Yvonne Battle-Felton, author of Remembered, is an author, academic, host, and creative producer. Remembered (Dialogue Books 2019, Blackstone Publishing 2020), was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2019) and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020). Winner of a Northern Writers Award in fiction (2017), Yvonne was commended for children’s writing in the Faber Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize (2017) and has titles in Penguin Random House’s The Ladybird Tales of Superheroes and The Ladybird Tales of Crowns and Thrones. Host of Bookable-Space African-American Lit-Literary Salon and Book-able Space Middle-Grade Book Club, Yvonne has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University and is a 2019 British Library Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow, and Principal Lecturer—Humanities Business and Enterprise Lead at Sheffield Hallam University where she lectures in Creative Writing.
Deliah Lawrence: What inspired you
to write your book?
Yvonne Battle-Felton: Remembered started with questions. I wanted to read stories about emancipated slave mothers and children reuniting. I wanted to read happy endings where families found one another after years of searching, decades of mourning, lifetimes of grief. The slave narratives included a few touching narratives of people reconnecting. They didn’t talk about the pain of searching, of trying to reconnect with someone you’ve been without for longer than you’ve been with. I wrote to explore the boundaries of motherhood and love, to test its limits. I write to make my way in the world. I needed to figure some things out.
DL: How do you handle writer’s
block?
YBF: For me, writer’s block is when I (as the writer) I am blocking what could be a really good story. I do this sometimes. I sit down and say wouldn’t it be interesting if this character did this and this other character did that? Then, I create characters expecting them to do the things I’ve set out in my head. Only, I don’t know them well enough at that stage to actually get them where I want them to go. They resist it. We’re sort of strangers at that point and we should be getting to know each other.
Instead, here I am trying to put a story in their mouths. That doesn’t usually work for me. So, the story itself is blocked. I’m standing in its way. When this happens, I sometimes try to sort of force my way through. That actually seldom works for me. It’s painful to turn up to a story I don’t actually want to write and that isn’t too pleased about me writing it either. I write character-driven prose. If the character isn’t leading, it isn’t as much fun for me. I write to figure out what’s going to happen. If I step out of the way and follow the characters (unblock it), their story is more interesting than what I had in mind. So, to get through writer’s block, I move out of the way of the story.
DL: What is your writing process?
YBF: Each book, story, or essay sort of teaches me how to write it. I wrote Remembered for my PhD. That meant a schedule of researching/reading and writing as research, sharing the writing with my thesis supervisor on a regular basis. Having a dedicated reader helped me to get on a schedule. I don’t have that dedicated reader in the same way, but I do have writer friends that I share work with. Whatever I’m writing tends to start with a question and/or a snippet of a character.
If I’m writing historical fiction, I try to find my way in by doing research on the time period to see what people were worried about, what was at stake. This gives me an idea of their natural tensions. Then, I write to get to know the character. I write them in different scenes to see how they respond. I write out loud to get to know their rhythms and silences. Sound is really important to me, so I write out loud to hear it and also to remind myself that the characters have their own motivations and obstacles If I get stuck, I put some music on. This helps me to find the character’s rhythm.
There’s nothing like a character with a theme song. While I’m writing, I read out loud—this keeps me engaged and curious. I also read the writing out loud when I’m editing. That’s to trick my internal editor. If I read things in my head, my internal editor tells me how terrific it is. If I read them out loud, my external editor catches the difference between what’s in my head and on the page.
DL: What do you think makes a good
story?
YBF: I would have to say the voice. I love for a story to touch me. I like being able to meet characters I wouldn’t ordinarily get to know. A good story makes them accessible, invites readers in. It makes space for the reader within the pages. Gives us room to get to know the setting, tensions, characters, and their stories. For me, it typically has complex characters, strong voice, and explores interesting topics. It sort of transcends the page, inspiring me to reflect, wonder, do, think differently. A good story invites me to feel.
DL: Is there any particular author
or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
YBF: Toni Morrison. Each time I read one of her books, I find something else that I need. Sometimes, it’s a feeling that I need to feel. Other times, it’s an understanding. When I read Beloved for the first time, I was going through a challenging period in my life. My mother had decided she was moving to Germany. I was 16. Toni Morrison’s books showed me that sometimes characters (and people) that we love do things that we don’t like.
Today, they remind me that people go through things that even if they affect me, are not always about me. When I need to be reminded, her books show me that no one is going to rescue me, I have to do that for myself. And now, while I’m trying to figure out where I want to go next, her books show me that sometimes it’s okay to return home (and sometimes, it isn’t)—wherever that is.
DL: What are the keys to success
in marketing your book(s)?
YBF: It’s important to remember that no one cares about your book like you do. Be your brand. Create opportunities to talk about your book, to talk about books you love, and to read from your book. First, I’d recommend supporting other writers. It comes back to you. Supporting one another makes it easier to support you and it also makes it easier for you to reach out to potential readers. That way it isn’t always buy my book, buy my book, buy my book. But maybe it’s buy this book, and that book, and less often buy my book too.
About your book: Contact book clubs, festivals, book reading groups, special interest groups, universities, bookstores, etc… Remember that no matter how long your book has been out, some people have not read it yet. That might be because they haven’t heard about it. That’s fine. It’s your time to tell them about it. I never buy a book I haven’t heard read. It might just be me (and people like me) but I love being read to or told a story. There’s something magical about it. So, when I see a signing event and the writer doesn’t read it, I’m not inspired to pick a book up.
Create that magic, make those connections. You can’t reach everybody, but try to reach the people most likely to buy and/or read your book. Consider making a recording of yourself reading from your work (definitely practice first, make it sound as engaging as possible) and point to it so people can get a taste of the book.
DL: What tips would you give to aspiring
writers?
YBF: Make time to write. Don’t talk yourself out of writing the story you want to write. Just write it. Don’t be precious about where, when, or even how you write. Some writers have routines and rituals, writing spaces and special times. Some of us don’t. Write when you can, what you can. When you have less time, write less. When you have more time, write more.
DL: If you had to describe
yourself in three words, what would they be?
YBF: Creative, warm, doer.
DL: What new projects are you
currently working on?
YBF: I’ve just completed my second novel. It’s the story of a woman from a rural town with deadly traditions who learns that there’s no place like home is a lie. It’s the book I needed to write to reflect on what society has shown us during the pandemic about ourselves, the ways we treat one another, and the things we ask people to do in the name of keeping others safe. I’m also editing a middle-grade adventure with supervillains. It’s lots of fun to write.
DL: Where can readers learn more about
you and purchase your book(s)?
YBF: Readers can learn more about me
and my work here:
- Website: https://www.yvonnebattlefelton.com/
- Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Yvonne-Battle-Felton/e/B07QBMTFD8?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1636409675&sr=8-1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whyIwritebattlefelton
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whyiwritebattlefelton/
- Blog: https://www.yvonnebattle-felton.com/
- Book Buy Links: https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/remembered-yvonne-battle-felton
DL: Thanks so much for being here
with us today. I know my readers will enjoy getting to know you and your work.
YBF: Thanks for having me!
Comments
Post a Comment