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Questions for Poppy Adams

Poppy Adams

POPPY Adams’ first novel, The Behaviour Of Moths, was recently serialised by the BBC radio's Book At Bedtime. A documentary director/producer, she has three children and lives in London.

Birth date: 29/10/1972.

Home town: London.

How would you describe your work? The novel doesn’t fit neatly into a particular genre. It’s been described as ‘crossover’ fiction, which in turn has been described as ‘readable literary fiction’ and I have been told it’s a good ‘bookclub book’! It’s a mystery and a page-turner, but also a character study and, hopefully, a book that generates debate and makes people think.

Who are your influences? I love a gripping story, and there are few better story-tellers than Alexander Dumas, Daphne Du Maurier and Edgar Allan Poe. Of today’s writers Rose Tremain, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jose Carlos Somoza are three of my favourites.  And then there are the writers whose prose I love more than their plotlines. Ian McEwan is someone whose paragraphs I will read over and over again, and I am in awe of Alan Bennett and Harold Pinter’s characterization.  I like books that evoke an atmosphere like John Fowles’ The Magus and Carlos Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind, and I also like to learn about something new when I read fiction as in Patrick Suskind’s Perfume.   

What's the first book you remember reading? Ride A Wild Pony by James Aldridge. I cried a lot and it put me off reading for a time.  

Who is your favourite literary character? I don’t have one. I like any character who is struggling with their weaknesses and failings. And I like the baddies - I would always be more interested in Mrs Danvers than Mrs De Winter.

If you weren't an author, what would you be doing? I would either be making films (documentaries), because that’s what I did before I wrote, or I would be wearing a lab coat and looking down a microscope, because that’s what I nearly did.  

Which of your work are you most proud of? My novel, The Behaviour Of Moths, because it is my first. I have no other books to be proud of yet.

What is a typical writing day?  I have a coffee and check my emails and procrastinate, like most writers. Then, when I start writing, I can get so involved that the next time I look up hours have gone by. I also find I’m far more creative and productive if I’m hungry, so I don’t eat until about 3pm. Then I collect the kids from school, find something to eat, and my day dissolves into chaos.  

Can you give us three top tips for aspiring writers? I found four.

1. If you are writing a novel, the best single piece of advice an author friend of mine told me was – don’t send any of it out UNTIL YOU’VE FINISHED IT! She was right for lots of reasons; it’s easy to start, much more difficult to finish; finishing is the only way to prove you can; if agents/publishers like it, you start a momentum which might be lost by the time you get round to finishing it.

2. Be yourself; be original; find a new voice. I would urge writers to write what they want to write, what comes to them naturally, rather than trying to emulate other books or writers or working out what’s fashionable at the moment.

3. Enjoy it. I’m convinced that this worked for me. If you are enjoying creating the story, I’m sure it makes a better one. Again, write for you, not for readers - and the readers enjoyment will follow. 

4. Don’t tell anyone your story. This might just be a personal superstition but I find that, if I keep my story to myself, it builds up almost to bursting point so when I write it, it’s clambering to get out, feeling fresh and alive. If I’ve already told it, I kill it.