Frances Hardinge came onto my radar last spring when I was deep in research mode as to the pulse of historical fiction in the young adult category. Was it dead? I found through this book that indeed it was not. I wrote a full review of The Lie Tree back in May and you can read it here. I was thrilled when she answered my request to be interviewed. So here we go. May I introduce Frances Hardinge?

FIVE QUESTIONS

1. What was the original seed idea for your book? Did it start with a character, a situation, or an idea?

The original seed was the idea of the Lie Tree itself – a plant that would feed on lies, and bear fruit that could be eaten to learn secrets. The notion came to me when I was out walking along the Thames path, and I remember stopping halfway across the bridge of Richmond Lock, knowing that I had the heart of a story.

2. What is your writing process? Are you an outliner or a pantser?

I am very definitely an outliner, and I tend to do a lot of planning and research. In the case of my first novel, I had a chapter by chapter outline! I haven’t planned the others in quite such precise detail, but I always know in advance the main things that are going to happen, and how the book will end. Having said that, my books sometimes surprise me, and I’ll realise halfway through them that I want to take the plot and character arcs in a different direction. It’s still helpful to have the original outline, though, otherwise I feel like I’m setting out on a journey without a roadmap.

3. Who are the writers which most influence your writing style?

There are too many to count! I know that I’m influenced by the authors I loved as a child – Susan Cooper, Nicholas Fisk, Alan Garner, Lewis Carroll, Catherine Storr, Richard Adams, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Conan Doyle, etc. I suspect I’ve also been influenced by writers like Wilkie Collins, E M Forster, the Brontes, all the mystery novels I gobbled during my teens and twenties, and many others.

4. Do you listen to music when you write?

Sometimes I do, and often it’s because I associate a particular track with a specific character or scene. This does tend to mean that I will listen to the same track over and over again. My significant other has bought me some very good headphones, so that this habit of mine doesn’t drive him insane…

5. What are you reading right now?

I’m reading a non-fiction book called “Thinking: Fast and Slow” by Dr Daniel Kahneman.

Frances Hardinge was brought up in a sequence of small, sinister English villages, and spent a number of formative years living in a Gothic-looking, mouse-infested hilltop house in Kent. She studied English Language and Literature at Oxford, fell in love with the city’s crazed archaic beauty, and lived there for many years.

Whilst working full time as a technical author for a software company she started writing her first children’s novel, Fly by Night, and was with difficulty persuaded by a good friend to submit the manuscript to Macmillan. Seven of her books have now been published, all aimed at children and young adults. Her most recent book, The Lie Tree, won the Costa Book of the Year Award, the fiction category of the Boston Globe Hornbook Award and the 12-16 age category of the UKLA Awards.

Frances is seldom seen without her hat and is addicted to volcanoes.

So there you are. Award-winning and awesome storytelling. Get your copy here:

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