The Storyteller: An Interview with Heather Martin
Hi and welcome to Issue #10 of The Storyteller! (I can't believe we're already on number 10, thank you for all your support so far!)
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Today, before I introduce our guest, I'd like to commemorate a small personal publishing milestone. On this day five years ago, Underground Voices published 55 Words, my micro-fiction collection. It's still available to purchase here.
My super-talented friend Anita has designed these two gorgeous graphics for the occasion.
When I returned to Mumbai at the end of those 9 months in Igualada, I didn't know what the future held or what the right next step was, but hearing back from Underground Voices within a week of submitting to them and having a published collection out in the world felt like a sign that I'd find the answers I needed, that I was meant to be on the path I was on - and I derived much comfort from it as I worked through all the uncertainty of the coming months that would eventually bring me to Boston.
A big thank you to everyone who has read it over the years and left me reviews and lovely messages about it; a writer is nobody without readers and I'm privileged to be supported by so many of you around the world. If you have read and enjoyed it or do so in the future, please consider leaving a review on Amazon and its Goodreads page - it helps in the book being recommended to others on the platform and just general visibility.
Without further ado, I'm thrilled to welcome Dr. Heather Martin to The Storyteller today. Heather and I are both long-time Lee Child and Jack Reacher fans and we've kept in touch since she came across one of my articles about him for Hindustan Times Brunch a few years ago. Back then, she wasn't his authorised biographer, but it is in that very capacity that she's talking to me for this issue. The Reacher Guy came out just a few days ago.
AN: I’m sure the most common question you’ve had in the run-up to the pub date is the “how”. How did this project come about?
HM: From my point of view it arose both organically, out of conversation, and very suddenly, in a moment of epiphany. I’d met Lee socially, in New York, and we’d started talking, and then writing. We talked and wrote a lot about stories and story-telling, including the Reacher books. He asked my opinion on the Spanish translation of one of his novels, so I wrote a critique, which got us even deeper into the details of voice and style and what really mattered to him as a writer. Then one day it struck me: it’s time for a biography, and I could do it. Yes, people want more Reacher, but increasingly, they want more Lee Child too. He wasn’t keen at first, but I couldn’t get the idea out of my head, and eventually he capitulated.
AN: The Reacher Guy is your first biography. What was the experience like? How did you approach it? (writing, research, structure…) Did anything surprise you about it?
HM: I’d already read all the Reacher books before I met Lee. So along with the extended conversation–much of which consisted of Lee telling me fascinating stories about his life–I’d already begun researching the biography before the idea even entered my head.
Then I did all the obvious things: I re-read the books, some several times over, attended as many events as possible so as to see Lee in action, taking notes furiously, visited the places where he and his family had lived and worked, tracked down old friends and colleagues and interviewed them too, then went back to Lee for reactions to what they’d said. It was all fun, all interesting, all new, all instructive.
Then, of course, I spent many weeks working in the archive at the University of East Anglia, which is an incredible resource. That’s where I found the early manuscripts, the correspondence with editors and agents and family, the fan mail and the hate mail, a wealth of documentary evidence that helped me verify the facts and fill in the gaps. Almost everything about it surprised me.
AN: Any particularly enjoyable moments for you as a writer while you worked on this? Alternatively, any that were hard?
HM: I loved the process. I loved setting out on the adventure of writing, and discovering how each chapter, complete in itself, nevertheless also led me on to the next. I’d decided to follow Lee’s basic advice of trusting my storytelling instincts, rather than over-thinking it, so there was a real excitement to seeing how that worked. Hard was all the stuff I had to leave out. I mean, when you think about it, sixty-five years of lived experience plus all the historical background – you’re leaving most of it out!
AN: I’m sure we’d all love to hear a couple of your favourite anecdotes to get us excited about reading the book. Or even any that you enjoyed but didn’t make it into the book!
HM: There are so many! For the Reacher fan there are all the ways in which elements of his life and character have crept in to his writing. I enjoyed stripping back some of the myths: like how he really set about writing Killing Floor, how long it took, and how hard he worked in very difficult circumstances–those stories have all been streamlined by Lee in the telling and re-telling, so it feels satisfying to recapture a sense of the gritty reality. And you know how Reacher is a fundamentally good guy who doesn’t always follow the rules and sometimes behaves badly? Well, there are some great stories about Jim Grant’s school days that show that same mix of darkness and light. The school reports and his prize-winning essay on medieval history are full of Reacher-like gems. But you’ll have to read the book to find out more...
AN: What can readers expect from The Reacher Guy?
HM: They’ll get to revisit their favourite books and find out more about their favourite character. They’ll get to know Jim Grant and understand what made him reinvent himself as Lee Child and how far the two of them have travelled. They’ll find out what he really did for eighteen years at Granada Television and have a unique insight into the final act of his incredible career. Plus plenty about writing and a peek behind the scenes at the machinery of big publishing. But above all, I hope, a good story!
AN: What is something that you learned about writing biographies during the process that you’d like to share with an aspiring writer keen to write one, even if a shorter biographical piece or profile?
HM: Two things. There’s no one right way of doing it, so resist being overly influenced by anyone who tries to tell you there is–you have to write the book you want to write in the way you want to write it. And you still have to tell a story that keeps the reader turning the pages–non-fiction writing, however well founded in research, is still a form of fiction.
AN: You’ve had a fascinating life and journey yourself. I’ll let you tell my subscribers and readers about it in your own words. How do you think your experiences have equipped you to be the perfect biographer for Lee?
HM: That’s a tall order! I grew up mostly in Australia, but also in France, and left home in my teens to study the classical guitar in London. I ended up living with a houseful of Venezuelans, which is how I came to learn Spanish. I read languages at Cambridge, and did my PhD there too, as part of the first cohort of women to be admitted to St John’s College. Then I went on to lecture in twentieth-century Spanish and Latin American literature at King’s College London, among other places, and eventually to teach Spanish in schools.
So I guess you could say I’m a trained reader, and attuned to the way words work. I know my outsider status was a factor in Lee’s eyes–he thought I was less likely to bring (local) southern prejudice to my account of his northern origins. I think the same applies at the level of appreciation: I approach the work of Lee Child as I would that of any other writer, irrespective of genre. But the main thing that qualifies me to be his (imperfect) biographer is that I was the one who had the idea of doing it, believed in it, and followed through.
AN: What does a regular day in your life look like when you’re working on a book?
HM: I wrote the early chapters in the UK, mostly in libraries and cafés. But the bulk of it was written in New York, when I was lucky enough to spend a year as Visiting Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center on Fifth Avenue. I was living in a corner apartment on the eleventh floor of one of the NYU buildings at Silver Towers on Bleecker Street, with fabulous views out over SoHo and down towards the Hudson. Not at all distracting. Actually I am very focused when I write, wherever I am. I start early and do long stretches, so as not to lose the thread. Solitude suits me best.
AN: When I meet fellow Reacher fans, I always ask them what they love most about the books. What drew you to them? Any standout favourite titles?
HM: Initially, of course, the gripping stories and the seductive character! Lee is a master of suspense and dialogue. But increasingly, I guess, his insight into human nature and the wonderful flexibility of his writing. I have favourite passages in many of the novels, but my favourite overall is The Midnight Line. On a human level, because Reacher’s empathy and compassion are off the scale in that book, and it explores two big issues - addiction, and the beauty myth - that are close to Lee’s heart. Formally, for the rhythm of his prose, and the way it exemplifies his aesthetic without ever being heavy-handed. I love the classical structure, riffing on The Odyssey, with a plot driven entirely by the hero’s compulsion to search for the owner of the ring. And on top of that you have the lyrical evocation of landscape, the beginning of Lee’s love affair with Wyoming.
AN: What next? Any exciting projects in the works?
HM: Well as you know, this one came as a bolt from the blue. So we’ll have to see if lightning strikes twice. I have a few ideas.
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1. What’s the last book that you read that you’d recommend and why?
I loved Leonard and Hungry Paul, a recent debut by Rónán Hession, published by Bluemoose Books and Melville House. It’s been widely praised, and the most often used adjective is ‘gentle’, which it is, but I’d go further and describe it as loving – lovingly attentive towards both language and character. The voice is distinctive and disarming. It’s fiction with a biographical feel, and a salutary reminder of how humanity resides in the smallest details.
2. What’s the last TV show or movie you watched that you’d recommend and why?
I really don’t watch much TV and it feels like an age since I went to the cinema. I’m more of a reader, and listen to a lot of music. I enjoy watching live sport from time to time. Like Lee says, it’s one of the few kinds of television that retains the thrill of the unpredictable.
3. What’s the last song you listened to that you’d recommend and why?
I’ll recommend a whole album. It’s an old one: Virginia Astley’s Had I the Heavens, from 1996. I love the purity of her voice, the simplicity of style, and the poignant balance between innocence and experience in the lyrics. I’ve also been listening to Gary Moore’s Blues for Greeny, as recommended by Lee, which is a brilliant cover album of great tunes by his favourite blues guitarist, the recently deceased Peter Green.
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Thank you Heather for this most enjoyable and absorbing chat!
As always, I've included both mine and Heather's social media links below, for you to check out if you so wish. There are buying links as well, which include links through my own online affiliate shop for Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. I have a separate section on there titled "The Storyteller newsletter" so you can access the relevant buying links for all the authors I've had on here so far.
In Issue #11 coming into your inboxes on October 15, we have David Goodwillie talking about his new novel, Kings County (which I've reviewed here), the creative process, Brooklyn, the independent music scene, and much more.
If you enjoyed this and know someone who would, as well, please forward this to them! I'm also always up for a book (or general) chat so feel free to turn this into a conversation at any time by replying to the email, even if just to let me know your thoughts on an issue or if you have any feedback, but also if you must share with someone how awesome something is that you've recently read, watched, or listened to.
Thank you and until next time!
Anu
Currently reading: Written in Starlight (ARC) by Isabel Ibanez (who is going to be a Storyteller guest in November)
Currently watching: Little Fires Everywhere
Currently listening to: Nothing beyond my workout playlist
Latest writing: Mumbai to Ormskirk (this is an old essay of mine published on When Women Waken back in 2015 that I dug out of the archives last week when I passed the twelve-year anniversary of first moving to England).
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