'I enjoy writing fantasy, and I’m a natural novelist, and I find writing short stories very hard. My mind asks too many questions, and it turns into a novel.'

Fay Sampson, author of fantasy and Celtic history books for children and adults, trained as a mathematician. So what took her from fact to fiction, Suzanne Elvidge asked her in an interview in the Between the Lines literary venue at Greenbelt 2005?

Writing fiction, like unraveling mathematical problems, is all about solving puzzles, Fay explained. “Children’s literature can be summed up in seven words—something goes wrong, it is put right. Adults’ literature is more complex. Something goes wrong, it is put right—or not.” The role of the author is to solve the problem, but not too easily.

Fay started writing as a child, and earned her first money at the age of eight, writing a piece about the Co-operative movement. This gained her a £1 Co-op voucher. She has three strands of writing—children’s fiction, adults’ fiction and non-fiction.

“I enjoy writing fantasy, and I’m a natural novelist, and I find writing short stories very hard. My mind asks too many questions, and it turns into a novel.”

History

Fay also writes about church history, but like in her fiction, she uses stories of individuals to build up the bigger tale, from the austere St David to the more free-ranging life of St Bridget. In her spare time, she is researching her family history, creating the story from bare facts and statistics.

So, is Fay a Christian writer? “I don’t usually set out to write a Christian book, but like all authors, how I view the world cannot help but show through. I feel that most books that set out to have a Christian agenda end up somewhat contrived. It can be so much more fun writing about the bad characters, and the good ones can end up somewhat three-dimensional. Some writers can get very caught up in the evil characters, but personally I am more interested in the good ones,”

The classic question to all writers. Where does Fay get her ideas from? They can come from stories on the local news, from reading about history, including from scraps of legend that aren’t completely filled out, and from just things she see when she is out and about. For example, the Pangur Ban story is based on a poem written by an Irish 8th Century monk, watching his cat guarding a mouse hole. Fay describes this as being like being a photographer—where a tourist sees a nice view, a photographer sees a good picture. “The more stories you write, the easier it is to say ‘ahh, that would make a good novel.’”

What can be harder is how to decide the ending. Fay tries to avoid the neat happy ending, but leaves her characters with a certain amount of optimism, while still being realistic. “The first requirement of a book is to be interesting, but then it should give them things to think about, with layers of meaning that gradually expose themselves.”

Fay’s process of writing is to stick to a discipline, to treat this as a job. “I start by writing in longhand, and then transferring to the computer for editing. My ‘daydreaming’ time is very important, which includes asking myself questions and describing my character’s backgrounds.”

Harrowing

“I enjoy doing the research—I like finding things out.” Fay has discovered that finding out has led to some amazing new experiences. “I’ve been for a day’s lesson learning how to drive a horse for the Pangur Ban novels, which involved chain harrowing a field and driving a cart at a brisk trot round a course. I’ve also been in a leather boat, and learned what one of these smells like when it’s been waterproofed with sheep’s grease!”

In researching A Free Man on Sunday, Fay’s book about the mass trespass on Kinder Scout, she spoke to some of the people who were involved in the original march at the 50 th anniversary reconstruction, where she learned things that aren’t in books—what songs they sang on the bus and what was in their sandwiches.

Doing the actual writing, Fay explains that she used to work to a strict outline, but now is more likely to start knowing the beginning and the end, and a few ideas about the middle.

“This is rather like crossing a bog on Dartmoor. You can see the other side, and a few footholds on the way over, and you start to leap across. You may have to detour, but you hope you will get there in the end.”

What does the future hold? Her newest children’s fantasy novel has just gone to the printers, and will be out in October 2005. She is currently writing the sequel.

“I am writing an adult novel about the re-introduction of Christianity to Kent with Augustine, and a non-fiction book on the development of children’s fantasy novels, from its beginning with Charles Kingsley’s ‘The Water Babies’, right up to Philip Pullman. This will look in particular at the representation and personification of good and evil, and how authors resolve the conflict between these opposing forces.”

And Fay’s one piece of advice to writers—be ambitious, look at the very best that is possible and aim for nothing less. Not bad advice for us all.

Suzanne Elvidge is the editor of eChurch Active, bringing technology to the church

• Greenbelt 2005 index