CityLife

Questions for David Gaffney

David Gaffney

David Gaffney is the author of critically-acclaimed novel, Never Never, and two collections of short stories, Sawn-Off Tales and Aromabingo. He has also written a set of short operas. Orignally from Cleator Moor in West Cumbria, Gaffney, 47, now lives in Manchester.

Birth date: 02/12/60.

Home town: Manchester.

How would you describe your work? I write a lot of micro fiction, my new novel is a financial-noir comic thriller about playing with consumer credit.

Who are your influences? Magnus Mills, Mark E Smith, Chris Ware.

What's the first book you remember reading? I remember liking Kes and hating My Family And Other Animals. I loved a book called So You Want To Be A Pop Star by David Hatch (a New Faces spin off) and I re-read a Catweazle annual over and over, and liked the Ladybird book of Space Travel.

Who is your favourite literary character? I don’t have favourite characters, as I think plots, setting and everything else bleed into each other, but I do like the characters in Magnus Mills books, who never have names or descriptions.

If you weren't an author, what would you be doing? I would be a guitarist and songwriter in a band, if that were possible.

Which of your work are you most proud of? I’m proud of my new novel, Never Never, as it was an enormous amount of work and has a complicated structure and has a lot of my life in it. But I love my little book, Sawn Off Tales - 58 stories, each 150 words long.

What is a typical writing day? Buy ticket, get on the train, get out my laptop, start typing...  there’s no better place to write than on a train.

Can you give us three top tips for aspiring writers?  1: Hold a pen in your hand while typing.  2: Don’t drive - you can’t write down your ideas.  3: Get a big MP3 player, fill it up, and use it on random – saves hours deciding what music to put on while you work!