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Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Interview: Bookbag Talks To Marcus Chown (view source)
Revision as of 16:40, 25 October 2010
, 16:40, 25 October 2010no edit summary
* '''Bookbag: When you close your eyes and imagine your readers, who do you see?'''
Marcus Chown: Me! Im I'm really writing to get things straight in my own mind and to entertain ''me''.
My criterion of whether I understand something is whether I can explain it to someone waiting for a Number 26 bus – or my wife, who has no science background, gets bored very easily and reaches for the TV remote control. Consequently, writing for ''me'' turns out to be exactly the same as writing for a general audience (or unfortunate people who happen to find themselves sitting next to me on a 26 bus!)
MC: Thank you very much. In fact, it's now after the event – and, sadly, I didn't win. But I was so happy to be short-listed. And I had a brilliant evening at the Royal Society in London. Oldest scientific society in the world. Founded 1660. It was a real privilege to be there.
I haven't read the other books. However, all six of us on the short-list had to get on stage with chief judge, Maggie Philbin, and read a 3-minute excerpt from our books. Mostly I didn’t hear because I was so nervous about getting up and reading my bit. But I knew, as Nick Lane, read his excerpt that his {{amazontextamazonurl|isbn=1861978189|title=Life Ascending}} was probably going to win. It was beautifully and evocatively written. I stole a copy as I left the Royal Society. And I am really looking forward to reading it.
* '''BB: Which scientific concept do you find most satisfying to be able to explain to non-scientists?'''
* '''BB: Who or what inspired you to become a scientist, and likewise an author?'''
MC: My dad. He left school when he was 15 and never had any opportunities because of growing up during the war. But, when I was about eight, he bought me a book called {{amazontextamazonurl|isbn=B000ML0QI8|title=Dr H. C. King's Book of Astronomy}}. I have no idea why he bought it and my dad is dead now, so I can't ask him. But it caught my imagination. As for writing, the two things I loved at school were English and science. I think I wanted to be a writer from very early on too. But the idea certainly crystallised in my mind during my teens.
* '''BB: Where and how do you write?'''
MC: Computers are an enormous distraction – especially when you are constantly tempted to look up your Amazon sales ranking! So I tend to write on a pad of paper with a pencil. Recently, with a particularly high-pressure project, I was often scribbling things in a notebook as I walked down the street to a coffee bar, where I scribbled yet more.
Because I am a crap typer, I use {{amazontextamazonurl|isbn=B003ULO25K|title=Dragon Naturally Speaking}} to read what I have written into a word-processing document. Not perfect – especially when you get a cold and it refuses to recognise your voice – but better than nothing.
* '''BB: How do you find switching between writing popular science books and children's books?'''
MC: It's no problem. In fact, I enjoy writing fiction more. I've always thought of myself as a writer rather than a science writer. It's just that my evolution has been scientist to science journalist on New Scientist to writer of popular science books – principally, because publishers will pay you an advance for non-fiction but not for fiction, unless you're [[:Category:Doris Lessing|Doris Lessing]].
My principle problem is getting the time to write fiction. I am currently writing ''Felicity Frobisher and the Newly Wedded Capellan Toast Weevil''. I also have a third ''Felicity Frobisher'' book plotted. It will be good to finish them and launch them as a trilogy, since publishers – and children – like series.
* '''BB: Wow! High praise indeed. Ruth will be delighted to hear that! What was your favourite book as a child?'''
MC: ''Foundations of Relativistic Astrophysics''. No, I'm joking! That's a difficult one. I liked all the classics. {{amazontextamazonurl|isbn=0416199615|title=Winnie the Pooh}}. [[Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame|Wind in the Willows]]. Today, I really love anything by [[:Category:Roald Dahl|Roald Dahl]] – particularly ''The BFG''. And I like [[:Category:Jacqueline Wilson|Jacqueline Wilson]] and [[:Category:Malorie Blackman|Malorie Blackman]], although only her teenage stuff.
* '''BB: Very good choices! What are you reading at the moment and how are you finding it?'''
MC: I almost always read novels but, bizarrely, you have caught at a time when I me reading an autobiography. It's by a 91-year-old who worked on the Burma Railway and later felt the blast wave of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. Nowadays, Alistair Urquhart does ballroom dancing and teaches ''old people'' computers.
I would never have picked up Urquhart’s {{amazontextamazonurl|isbn=1408702118|title=The Forgotten Highlander}} if I had not gone to an event he did at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. He was interviewed on stage at the Everyman Theatre. His story of survival was deeply moving. He has never received a military pension or an apology for atrocities committed by the Japanese army. As the hour came to an end, I had decided that – even if nobody else in the theatre stood up to applaud this man – I would. The event came to an end. And absolutely everyone in the theatre got up spontaneously and gave him a standing ovation. He was very moved. We all felt that something very special had just happened. Actually, it's bringing tears to my eyes writing this! It's always like this at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. There's always something that blows you away. If you ever get the chance, go.
I queued up to buy his book afterwards. And he was a lovely man. Accompanied by his ballroom dancing partner.
