Surviving Larkin, with Will Kemp
Surviving Larkin, with Will Kemp
Plus: a hazy post-rock takeover
Hello readers – I hope most of you are enjoying extra days off this weekend.
Today I’m bringing you the latest in my series of author interviews, featuring Will Kemp, whose collection of short stories, Surviving Larkin, was published by Valley Press last November. As is now customary, I’ve added an “interview discount” to the book on our web shop, meaning you can pick up a copy for £9 if suitably intrigued.
Over to Will, then, and if you’ve not already read his collection, be on the lookout for a surprise left-turn into music appreciation halfway through…
If you had twenty seconds to pitch your short story collection to a stranger, what would you say?
Surviving Larkin is a collection of fourteen short stories about survival. Sometimes survival is overt and physical, as when fleeing thugs or running through enemy territory – but often it is subtle and psychologically demanding, as when seeking love against the odds, or just accepting the way things are.
Hopefully there is something in it for everyone. Half the stories are light, half dark; half told from a first-person point of view, half from the second or third; four from a female perspective; four present tense; five set abroad.
And lastly, each story has won or been well-placed in a national competition or published in a national journal/magazine.
I hope that’s twenty seconds, albeit spoken quickly!
When and why did you first start writing, and at what stage did you start taking your craft seriously? (i.e. seriously enough to chase competitions and publication for every story!)
I first started writing in the days before grey hair, about twenty years ago, with a novel, but ran into difficulties with the ending so realised I needed to go on a Creative Writing course. Luckily I was able to get on a three-year one at the University of York’s Centre for Lifelong Learning with poet Carole Bromley, where I rediscovered poetry and short stories, and connected with fellow scribblers. I just loved it.
I started taking the craft seriously after that course: I went on other (shorter) courses, with Arvon, the Poetry Business and the CCL (notably Doreen Gurrey on short story writing); I also started sending stuff to competitions and magazines. I got rejection after rejection, and doubted whether I had what it takes to be a writer, but then had a poem commended in the Keats-Shelley Prize – which not only made up for all the preceding failures but also convinced me to stick at it. From that point onwards, I’ve never really looked back.
When we signed the contract for your collection back in early 2021, it was named after the story ‘Not That Yellow, Vincent’. Could you tell readers what that story is about, as well as its prequel ‘The Day I Met Vini Reilly’?
There’s probably not much I can say about the story ‘The Day I Met Vini Reilly’ that’s not already in the title, but I should explain that Vini is the guitarist-singer-songwriter with The Durutti Column, whom Tony Wilson signed up to Factory Records ages ago. His gentle, subliminal, atmospheric music has provided the soundtrack for my life since I first heard the album LC in the early eighties.
Vini is a star, and a lamb, and the archetypal artist – super-sensitive and always ill. I am a complete fan, despite being the sort of (reserved, middle-aged) person who should not be a fan of anything. And I love him, in the way that fandom reduces one to a child-like state of infatuation, thanks to the enduring brilliance of his music, which really speaks to me. So seeing him in concert, in Manchester, twenty-odd years after first hearing ‘LC’, was a big deal, and reduced me to a bag of nerves on meeting him beforehand, despite being an adult etc; an incredibly humbling experience, but also one that moved me, and left me changed. So I had to write about it!
If that story is about the experience of meeting your all-time hero, its sequel ‘Not That Yellow, Vincent’ is about meeting him again in London a few weeks later, but in more measured circumstances; however, it differs in being a character-led plot and/or celebration of him as a diminutive, shy/retiring, suffering but brilliant artist who lives for his art but is at the hands of record company execs and fans who all want a piece of him.
How do those two stories fit the theme of survival?
‘The Day I Met Vini Reilly’ fits the theme of survival insofar as the fan must overcome – or rather survive – the nerve-shredding experience of meeting his all-time hero, whereas ‘Not That Yellow, Vincent’ fits it since the story portrays Vini as a survivor – of heroin, debt, depression and exploitation in the music business.
Before we decided to foreground that theme (as demonstrated in your first answer), and your encounter with Larkin, what made ‘Not That Yellow, Vincent’ a fitting title for the whole collection?
That phrase comes from Tony Wilson, who once wrote that Bruce Mitchell (the Durutti Column’s drummer) “sometimes describes the way Vini’s other manager” (i.e. Wilson) “treats Vin as being like ‘someone peering over Van Gogh’s shoulder and shouting, no not that yellow, you dick, this yellow!’” I liked the humour there, the inherent link between Vini and the other Vincent as the suffering artist-cum-genius living for his art which is both ahead of its time and for all time too, and saw that title as a way of promoting his music and keeping the secret flame alive…
I’m not sure if Not That Yellow, Vincent was a fitting title, since it was humorous, whereas a book about survival is not necessarily going to be a barrel of laughs – so I was happy to acquiesce to VP’s suggested title re: Larkin, but I did want a title that was arresting and intriguing, and felt readers would ultimately get the link between Vini and survival, and possibly even see him as the epitome of a survivor.
I identified with the narrator of the two Vini Reilly stories (named Will); readers are likely not aware that I have a similar relationship to the band Prefab Sprout, and even ran their website for a few years pre-Valley Press. That's a whole other post…
I noted “Will” appears in several stories which appear to be closer to memoir than the traditional short story. Is that assumption correct, and how true to life are they?
I feel a bit uncomfortable with this question. I don’t know where fiction starts and creative non-fiction ends, don’t think it matters if a story is “true” or not – including where it comes from, whether from my life or anyone else’s – and feel the reader shouldn’t conflate the authorial “I” of the narrative with the author. For me, a story is a story, so is likely to have elements of fiction and non-fiction in it, but what matters is whether it engages, sustains and resonates with a reader.
The mini-saga ends with “Will” being commissioned to choose tracks for a “best of” CD (or as it was to be titled, The Least Worst of). Although such compilations are now out of fashion, and this disc is not forthcoming, would you like to take the opportunity to recommend three essential tracks for uninitiated blog readers?
That’s more like it – but can I have five?! Three wouldn’t do justice to Vini and the Durutti, but the five I have in mind would...
The first track I’d recommend is ‘Sketch for Dawn’; a beautiful sound comprising a haunting, atmospheric guitar – delicate and intricate, rising and falling at the same time – with distant, sotto vocals, piano and drums; I heard it once described on the radio as the “quintessential indie track of the eighties”, and think that’s about right.
The second would be ‘The Missing Boy’, the band’s “signature tune” about Ian Curtis, the Joy Division frontman and former Factory stablemate who killed himself aged twenty-three.
The third would be ‘Belgian Friends’, which is upbeat and uplifting, and probably my favourite due to its sparkling, lively, almost cheeky guitar refrain.
Next would be ‘Les Preger’s Tune’, demonstrating Vini’s mastery of acoustic/classical/saudade guitar.
Lastly, ‘Bordeaux Sequence’, preferably from the WOMAD festival in 1988 [I couldn’t find that version, but have included a different live take], which shows how Vini’s gentle but virtuoso guitar flows and flows…
Back in the realm of the written word… of the stories not mentioned so far, which is your favourite, and/or was the most satisfying to write?
What a fiendish but lovely question, the second part of which is easier to answer. The most satisfying story to write was ‘That Friday’ since it had been in draft form for so long, the psychology behind the characters was complex, and above all I wanted an open ending where the reader could come to her/his own conclusions about the story… But the icing on the cake was a reader’s feedback that it had made him cry (personally I didn’t think it was that bad, ho-ho!) over the lack of “agency” forced on the main character by others in positions of power conspiring to edge him out of their daughter’s life. Such feedback is rare but priceless – showing that the story works, has an effect etc – doubly so in my case for two reasons: firstly, I hadn’t defined this notion of agency when I wrote it, so loved this ‘surprise’, and secondly, I'm doing a course with the Faber Academy to write a novel using elements of this story.
As for a favourite… Well, that’s like asking a parent to choose which of their children they like best (!), since each story has been subject to a long – and often painstaking - process of planning, nurturing, supporting, honing… Though I can say the one I perform at readings and refer new readers to the most is ‘How to Deal with a Dark Smoke Offence’, which seems to have gone down well with readers too. This is also very satisfying, but for a different reason, i.e. I believe that comic material is the hardest to pull off as a writer. You did ask!
You have previously published four poetry collections, and then stepped into the world of prose for Surviving Larkin. How do you see yourself balancing the two going forwards?
Another lovely question, thank you, as it allows for more daydreams and delusions of grandeur! The truth is this: I’ve always wanted to be a writer of all three genres – poetry, short stories, novels; others may see me as only stepping into prose recently, but in fact I’ve been writing it all my life (but have only just found some related success).
Going forward, I want to write more prose, but also more poems too – ideally about climate change – and indeed can’t seem to stop writing them after reading poets whose work excites me, especially the North Americans (e.g. Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, Kim Addonizio, Tony Hoagland). In terms of balancing poems and prose, I don’t really have a plan as such, but do hope any success in one genre will rub off onto another.
A related question for you, if I may, since you suggested I ask one: Valley Press has published both poetry and prose. Going forward, do you see this as a 50:50 split or other? And with regard to prose, what do you see as the split between publishing novels and collections of short stories?
To be perfectly honest, I have no idea: I consider each submission on a case-by-case basis, and would be happy to switch completely to short stories (for example) for a year if all of the best submissions were in that genre. I find this approach keeps things flexible and engaging; though as I’ve mentioned before, not having a clearly-defined niche is a very hard path to take as a small press.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to say?
Yes. I’d like to offer some points of support and encouragement to any writers out there, if I may, from my own struggle.
Firstly, don’t give up: it’s tough getting published (but less so if you write what the market wants?), but the key point is that tenacity is more important than talent with writing, and let your failures be the stimulus for your success; I genuinely believe these maxims myself, and also that I am living proof of them.
Secondly, luck comes into it, so any perceived failure may not be down to you as such, but also one creates one’s own luck and writers should never shy away from ambition. In my case, I was lucky to seek and utilise the opportunities and support around me, e.g. doing courses with Carole Bromley, Doreen Gurrey and the Poetry Business; sharing drafts with the York Stanza group; Gail Ashton and Jo Haywood reviewing/editing my draft prose collection; having a strong and independent partner who puts up with everything that comes with the territory of being a writer…
So, make the most of the writing courses and feedback loops out there, and don’t forget to thank your partner for their patience and support!
Thanks to Will for those lively and engaging answers. I hope you enjoyed them, digressions and all! I would need just the slightest push, a light breeze even, to turn this into a full-time music appreciation blog, but I shall resist with all my might. (Even though one of my favourite under-appreciated bands, Miracle Mile, are about to release a new album after an eleven-year hiatus… look them up.)
A reminder that Surviving Larkin is available from the VP shop for £9, and if you’re on the fence about it, did you catch the latest
newsletter? Isabelle attended a meeting with publishers who’d been in business since before we were born, who declared the present literary landscape “the worst conditions they had seen for publishers. Ever.”So, use us or lose us, I guess! But not just yet – I will be back in your inboxes soon, and thank you, as ever, for reading.