Fever of animals by Miles Allinson: 16 Feb, 2017

Thanks Sarah,

My research begins with very little Idea of where it's going. For instance, After Fever was picked up i was asked to present a synopsis for another book. I didn't have an ideas for another book - I'd barely finished the first one. So I just read the blurbs from a hundred books and then chose random words from there to describe my own ( at that stage non-existent) book. And at least I had a beginning. Then I slowly crawled away from that idea toward something I thought was potentially more interesting. Mostly i just try to stay in that slightly anxious but quite exciting state of uncertainty for as long as possible. That's when anything might happen. Gradually though you have to start coming down to earth and discarding things. Making choices. Choosing tense. Eventually you have a dream which reveals an important and glaring image. Then you start digging in the archives. I do a lot of digging and just hoping something will turn up.

Thanks 😊 I do a lot of digging too, hoping something will turn up soon!

Hi Laura,
thanks very much for writing. I'm still experiencing that experience because it's still going - I'm doing some research at the
moment into a bunch of freaks from the 70s - some of whom were my father - so to speak, and trying to write a new novel with the evidence. The fellowship is pretty much the best thing. I can't believe it's real most days.

Any advice for those that are thinking of applying for a Fellowship?

My advice is to be specific about what you want to research and make sure the library has the stuff. And also, be passionate about what you want to research. I'm pretty sure passion wins.

Ahhh that sounds amazing! Thanks so much for answering my question <3

Thanks Eoin, I forgive you.
The answer to that question is:
Quite a lot. But not the things you think.

Hi Hannah. Thanks very much for writing (are you my cousin?)

I would like to say that we are divided roughly in the middle and that he has the legs and that I have the arms, but that may not be precisely true. I think we are more like a turtle and that he is the hard shell and I am the soft inner jelly-like body.

But really, I'm only being partly silly. it's very hard to say, is the answer and part of the point of the novel is to for the reader to be caught in the middle.

I like your choice to divide horizontally rather than vertically ;)

Hi James,
at the moment I'm doing a lot of research - driving out to meet people and interviewing them. I find myself procrastinating and putting it off for some reason until I completely despise myself. Only When I despise myself sufficiently can I actually pick up the phone and call to arrange another interview. For some reason that's the hardest thing at the moment. But that's probably not a very helpful answer because it's so specific to this project.

More generally, I find dialogue hard - and finding the points to break dialogue up to give a scene a sense of time and space and rhythms is particularly arduous work for me. That's the other thing I'm doing at the moment. Figuring out how to turn real conversation into compelling dialogue. That's hard.

Yep I'm a master at procrastination and then hating myself for it. I spend so much time researching when I know I have everything I need but then almost afraid to put pen to paper. So back to the archives I go.

I think that seems part of the job. Which is maybe a shame - but also - maybe we should accept it too - acknowledge that an important part of saying anything meaningful is living with the fear that it won't be meaningful enough. Kafka said a good thing about writing in the darkness - which just came to mind and is maybe slightly applicable - he said darkness isn't dark enough. Did nick cave quote that too somewhere?

Most likely, the true prince of darkness himself. I'll endeavour to break through the fear, slowly