Welcome to my interview with Jane Healey - the author of The Animals At Lockwood Manor
Jane Healey studied English Literature at Warwick University. She has been shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize 2013, the Costa Short Story Award 2014, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2016 and the Penguin Random House WriteNow mentoring programme 2017. The Animals at Lockwood Manor is her first novel. She lives in Edinburgh.
1. How did you get the idea for The Animals At Lockwood Manor?
Jane - There were many strands of inspiration for this novel – my interest in natural history museums, my love of the gothic genre, and my fascination with the Second World War as a setting, especially the Home Front and the evacuations out of London – but the spark that drew them all together was reading an article in a newspaper a few years ago about the evacuation of London’s Natural History Museum to various stately homes, including Fawley Court where a Major and his daughter had a contentious relationship with the evacuated museum and its workers.
2. How long did it take you from first idea to the finished book?
Jane - Roughly two years.
3. What kind of research did you do for your story?
Jane - I read non-fiction books about WW2, especially the British Home Front, and diaries. I also read novels and short stories from the time. I visited the Natural History Museum many times, along with the Grant Museum of Zoology and the Horniman Museum in London – whose old-fashioned displays were a big inspiration for my novel.
4. Are you a plotting kind of person or do you prefer to 'write as you go'?
Jane - I didn’t plot the whole thing before I started writing although I had an idea of where I wanted the novel to end. I’ve discovered that unlike my short stories, which I tend to write in one or two sittings, I start my novels with imagery and ideas for scenes and then write my way into discovering the details of the plot.
5. How do you keep your notes - Handwritten in a notebook or digitally?
Jane - Handwritten, I like having them all in one notebook I can carry with me.
6. Have you ever experienced writer's block and how did you handle it?
Jane - I don't suffer too badly with writer's block but if I do have a lull, reading books is always the answer!
7. What are some essentials you need while writing?
Jane - A computer or a notebook & pen, those are the only essentials.
8. Does writing have a calming or exhausting effect on you?
Jane - I would say it's more of an enlivening effect, I don't get exhausted by it.
9. What can your readers expect in the future?
Jane - A second novel, which I'm currently editing. But I'm too superstitious to say what it's about yet....
10. Is there anything you would like your readers to know?
Jane - Just to say thank you to everyone who buys a copy of my book and reads it!
Thank you to Grace and the team of Pan Macmillan Australia for reaching out and organising this interview with the lovely Jane Healey!