In 2006 he won the British Fantasy
Award for “Best Anthology” with “The Elastic Book Of Numbers” (Elastic Press,
2005). He is co-host with Sarah Doyle of “Rhyme & Rhythm Jazz-Poetry Club”
at The Dugdale Theatre, Enfield.
Allen is a committee member of the British
Fantasy Society and is singer and lyricist with the indie rock band The False
Dots. He works as a creative writing tutor with five groups currently running
across north London. He also works as a critical reader for a reading agency.
Thank you
Allen for joining us in conversation and we wish you lots of success with your writing and music.
Tell us of your journey as a writer
Like so many
others, I have written since I was a child. Stories, songs, cartoon strips,
silly versions of well-known rhymes… I think I made my first submission to a
magazine when I was 14 or 15. I had an acceptance when I was about 16 but it
never actually saw the light of day. I think all authors who have been doing it
for a long time will have plenty of these “shaggy dog” stories of promises of
publication and apparent breakthroughs that never actually appeared. On the
other hand, back in the 1990s I once received a £100 “Kill fee” when a publisher
reneged on their contract to run a short story.
My most
reprinted story is “Dead To The World”, which first appeared in the
award-winning British independent press magazine “Fantasy Tales”. This was then
reprinted in book form in the anthology “The Best Horror From Fantasy Tales”
(Edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton, Robinson Publishing) and gave me the
boost at the right time to keep going. There’s that Biblical quote about the
road to righteousness being covered with stones, thorns and all sorts of
hazards. That’s the writing road, actually. Still, after all these years I now
have 13 books to my name as author or editor, 150 stories published, countless
non-fiction articles and poems. I won the British Fantasy Award in 2006. I have
also been short-listed on five other occasions.
How do you see your role as a writer and what do you like
most about it?
I don’t
limit myself to one tiny area of the broad writing field. I continue to write,
submit and get published regularly. Nowadays, I do a lot of work as an editor,
which I absolutely love. I sometimes quip: “Let the authors do the work!” but,
in truth, the two great thrills of editing are: discovering a new voice and
helping them on their way; and being sent something outstanding that one
couldn’t have written oneself.
My great
passion is short stories. As I’m not likely to write a “New York Times
Bestseller” any moment soon, I earn my living as a critical reader and a
creative writing tutor. As some of you reading this will know, I am currently
running Novel Focus Group for Greenacre Writers. I also host poetry and spoken
word events. Plus I am the judge for the annual British Fantasy Society Short
Story Competition – currently open until 30 June 2016. Details here
Have you ever created a character who you dislike but find
yourself empathising with?
No.
You’re
probably going to want a more fulsome answer than that. OK, I created a
character called “Ben Grocott” in my story “Life and Trials” (collected in
“Somnambulists” by Allen Ashley, Elastic Press, 2004). This was something of an
epistolary story, told via school reports, police reports, the judge’s summing
up and so forth. Grocott is shown to be a bully, a thug and a cop killer but
some reviewers felt sorry for him calling him “troubled” even though he’d
instigated all of the trouble himself. My point: no author can be truly in
charge of the characters they create.
Last year, GW organised #diverseauthorday. What has been
your experience of writing about diverse characters?
I have
successfully written many stories from perspectives that are markedly different
from my own white male point of view. I have written stories focused on women,
on characters of colour and on characters who are physically challenged. My
story “A Chip Off The Bloc”, for example, is narrated by a lesbian secret agent
for the royal guard battling against a bunch of male pirates.
However, my
understanding of “Diverse Author Day” and similar initiatives is that the focus
is on encouraging and supporting authors from communities perhaps not fully
represented in the broader writing world. As a tutor, I work with authors of
varying ages, backgrounds, genders and abilities. All my groups are open to
writers wherever they come from; the only requirement is a willingness to
improve.
If you could be
transported instantly, anywhere in the world, where would you most like to
spend your time writing? And why?
I don’t have
a specific fantasy place in mind. Over the years I have taught myself to write
(and edit) successfully under all sorts of conditions. Somewhere quiet without
distractions is, of course, the ideal. I’m lucky enough to have a study at home
where I can settle myself. But I’ve written on buses, tubes, trains, etc.
Libraries as well, of course. I find that a good walk can help; a beach walk is
excellent in this regard. However, I once wrote a whole poem on the walk from
the bus stop to the office I was working at back then. It was a slightly
musical piece, too, so I did well to keep it in my head all day until I was
able to get home and record it on (showing my age!) a cassette recorder.
What is the one book you wish you had written?
This is a
slightly difficult question because to have written many of these pieces I
would have to have been a different person – i.e. I would have to have actually
been J. G. Ballard or William Burroughs. So if I say “The Atrocity Exhibition”
or “Cities of the Red Night”, it’s a slightly nonsensical answer because only
those guys could have produced those classics.
Of course, there
are loads of books, poems, songs and individual stories that I would be proud
to have written. Envy should serve as an inspiration. As an editor, one of my
great thrills is to receive a story that makes me think: wow, I wish I had
written that.
What advice do you have for would be novelists?
My standard
response is one that is perhaps never going to make anybody rich but here goes
anyway: Find your own voice. Who wants to be a tribute act? Going through the
phase of writing just like your idol/s is a natural part of the learning
process, of course; but, ultimately, for you to be fulfilled you want to write
in a manner and on subjects that are pertinent to you.
There’s a
lot of general advice that I would give to writers: learn the necessary skills,
research your markets, edit thoroughly, join a writing group and, perhaps most
importantly, don’t expect overnight success. It’s a hard slog. Forever.
What
are you currently working on? What can we look forward to reading?
I am very
pleased to confirm that I will be launching the revised, updated version of my
novel “The Planet Suite” at Finchley Literary Festival on the evening of Friday
24 June. I will be reading from the book, be interviewed by Sandra Unerman and
conduct a Q & A. As a Finchley boy, I’m really thrilled about this and I
hereby advise everyone to attend!!!
I’m hugely
busy otherwise with various projects. As mentioned before, I am the sole judge
for the British Fantasy Society Short Story Competition. I have also guest-edited an issue of the magazine “Wordland”, which
should be released soon. I am working on a new editorial project for the
British Fantasy Society aimed at new and emerging writers. Plus I have five
creative writing groups on the go.
Who is your favourite literary character from childhood
and why?
I can
remember changing schools when I was about six. There was only one book
available to me in my class in the new school that I hadn’t already read and it
was a selection of Grimms’ “Fairy Tales”. I really liked the character of “The
Brave Little Tailor” who kills some flies – “Seven with one blow” – but is
believed to have slain a giant. Something in that has remained with me, even if
it’s only the bluffing element!
You can follow Allen on twitter: @AllenAshleyUK
You can follow Allen on twitter: @AllenAshleyUK
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