Joanne Harris
The Chocolat author’s shed must smell lovely…
What is your daily writing routine like?
It varies: the past year has brought different habits, but usually I get up early, have a run, have breakfast and work in my shed until mid-afternoon, after which I’m usually done for the day, and I can enjoy doing something else.
Describe the room in which you typically write.
It’s a stone-built shed in my garden. It started off as quite a monastic interior, but since then it has become a home for all my favourite things: the figures Wendy Froud made of my Gospel
Of Loki characters; my signed Ray Bradbury posters; various interesting things I’ve collected on my travels.
Do you find it helpful to listen to music while writing?
I don’t listen to music when I work because it interferes with the rhythm of my writing. Instead, I use scent as a focus. For Honeycomb, I used a Francis Kurkdjian scent called Absolue Pour le Soir, which smells of amber, sandalwood and honey.
Which of your books was the most difficult to write?
Orfeia, a gender-flipped fantasy version of the Orpheus myth, about a woman trying to come to terms with the loss of her daughter. At the time, my own daughter had just got married and moved away, and I don’t think I was quite ready for quite how much of myself would go into telling that story.
Have you ever come up with a good plot idea in a dream?
I often get ideas from dreams.
Many authors are paid less than the minimum wage
I started to write The Blue Salt Road on the island of Skye, following a vivid dream in which I was swimming in the sea with seals, at night, looking up at the Milky Way.
Were you a keen reader as a child?
I’ve always loved reading. Because French was my first language I read a lot of classic French literature – Guy de Maupassant, Albert Camus, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne – alongside fantasy legends in English like Ray Bradbury, Mervyn Peake and Angela Carter.
Which Sf/fantasy book published in the last year has most impressed you?
Becky Chambers’s final novel in the Wayfarers series, The Galaxy And The Ground Within. I love the way she quietly challenges SFF convention, and the inclusive way she depicts the different nonhuman characters.
Where’s the oddest place you’ve seen one of your books?
On a billboard, on Hollywood Boulevard in LA!
What’s the best gift you’ve ever received from a reader?
I’ve had so many thoughtful gifts from readers. My favourite is a little bee pendant, sent to me anonymously when I was writing Honeycomb. I always wear it on stage when my band and I perform our storytelling show.
What’s the biggest misconception about being a professional author?
That it automatically leads to riches. As Chair of the Society of Authors, I meet a lot of authors, most of whom are paid less than the minimum wage.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received or read?
Don’t follow someone else’s path. Make your own.
Joanne Harris’s Honeycomb is available now from Gollancz.