When I made my bucket list for 2016, one of the things on there was to start writing a book, but it's now October and I still haven't got round to it. One young lady who managed to do just that and get it published is Amy M. I caught up with her to find out all about her book Mother's Milk, which is filled with a series of gory short stories to do with motherhood and all about the process of it from beginning to end.
Hi Amy! I managed to read Mother’s Milk in one sitting, it’s definitely like nothing I’ve
read before and I couldn’t put it down. What was the inspiration behind it?
"Hi Giana! To
be honest, there was loads of inspiration behind it (none of it based on real life
events), so I’ll try and explain it in chronological order.
The first story I wrote for the collection was the very first one that appears, "Nutrition",
and I got the idea because of a reality magazine headline that read (spoilers) ‘I made
my husband into teabags’. For that story, my main goal was to write something that
you could re-read and find something new every time. When I took the story to class,
my seminar leader recommended me some really great feminist gothic literature and
everything snowballed from there! There are certain texts and media which did
inspire me greatly though, and still do. the ones which come to mind are Patricia
Highsmith's ‘Little book of Misogyny’, ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and ‘The Book of Lost
Things’ which is actually a children’s book! I also did a lot of research for windmill
poetry (possibly the best mistake I’ve ever made) which inspired ‘Loyalty’, and Edgar
Allan Poe is just always there for me. As are all my other favourite gothic writers…
I also wanted to write about motherhood because I feel like that’s a topic that
everyone (even those who aren’t mothers) seem to have an opinion on. I originally
wanted the book to look like a kind of handbook, and each story would be an example
of how to take care of your child, with each title being a value that we look for in
mothers. Lots of ideas were taken from News articles too."
So a lot of work definitely goes on before even writing! What was the process like writing a book? It’s definitely a great achievement to be a
published author.
"The book was part of my university degree and I ran with it. I took part in
a module called ‘The Book Project’ where I had to write an publish a book on
whatever I wanted. As a result, my writing and editing time was quite short- I started
writing the stories in late January/early February and had everything finished and
edited on the 18th March. The book is self-published, which means that I did
everything about the book myself. The cover I made with my friend Gabrielle and my
friend Ashley photographed it. I asked my sister Natalie for some help and she
provided all the illustrations. With my class I organised a book launch and any
marketing or promoting or selling or editing was done by me. Normally, if you went
through a publishing house, you would only submit the written words. Then people
would do most of the work that I did myself. Most of my help came from close
friends, family, and my seminar leader.
That being said, support has been phenomenal - I got to go on The Hub as well on
GBC and that was fantastic. I’ve mostly been working on getting the book to
bookshops and selling them myself, but hopefully I can soon start writing again!"
That's great. I've already recommended that my friends buy the book, especially those that are into gore. So I have to ask you, out of all the mini stories in the book which one is your personal favourite?
"I always find this question really interesting because a lot of the time I normally think
about the story of how the story came to be, as opposed to what the actual story is. I
think about the process that led to the story because every story is so individual. The
answer I normally give is a cross between ‘Loyalty’ and ‘Nutrition’, but for very
different reasons. Loyalty is harsher, and definitely more gory- but I’ve had people
telling me that they notice new things every time they read nutrition, which is great
because that was my intention. It’s very rewarding! The story of how Loyalty came to
be is definitely my favourite though, and in all honestly I really like the originality of
the windmill."
I'd probably say 'Protection' was a favourite of mine, I wasn't anticipating that ending! Do you have a favourite book of all time? What are you reading now?
"Tough question! at the moment I don’t have much time to read at all due to my
course, but the last book I read for pleasure was Probably Neil Gaiman’s Sandman- a
very creepy graphic novel, and really highly recommended! I also read ‘The Last of
Us’ by Patrick Ness and managed to get a signed copy! I’m still over the moon about
that. I’m also listening to Welcome to Night Vale, which I place between a book and
TV show as you really have to use your imagination, even though you aren’t reading it
if you like slightly creepy, confusing things-check it out, it’s a podcast. As for
favourite books- it depends on my mood. I normally do say though: All Quiet on the
Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Salman
Rushdie), Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), and pretty much anything by Neil
Gaiman, Franz Kafka and Roald Dahl. I’m also now a big fan of Patricia Highsmith
after the book project! As for kids books, I’d recommend Harry Potter, A Series of
Unfortunate Events, Percy Jackson and The Book Thief. My favourite picture book
was Nothing, and my favourite play is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime
(my favourite musical is In The Heights). I’d say that those have all shaped my
writing just as much!"
Thank you for taking the time to chat with me! Do you have any plans for another
novel? What advice would you give for anyone wanting to follow in your footsteps
and publish their work?
"It’s no problem at all! I’ve loved chatting with you. Thank you so much!
I was writing a sequel to Mother’s Milk and working on a bunch of other projects a
while ago but it’s been put on the back burner due to current academic studies. That
being said, I would really love to write a children’s book and that’s probably where I’ll
try focusing my energies soon! Hopefully people will be interested, but then again I’ll
probably write it anyway.
As for advice, my only real advice is that you should probably ignore everyone’s
advice. Some advice is going to work and some isn’t. Just pick and choose what you
like! If anything, just make sure that you have a strong group of people around you
that you can show your work to have have them criticise it honestly. I had a fantastic
seminar leader and some great friends who weren’t embarrassed to point out the
flaws in my writing. I was fantastically lucky."
If you'd like to pick up a copy of Amy's book, head on over here!
♡ GS ♡
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