INTERVIEW: Hayley Long

 Sasha interviews Hayley Long, author of Lottie Biggs is (Not) Mad, reviewed here.

Do you use your own experiences in your books?
Yes, all the time. Actually almost everything I write about is either inspired by something which has happened to me or something which I’ve heard about from someone else. I couldn’t possibly write some off-the-wall fantasy novel because I don’t think I’m imaginative enough. But I do have a really good memory for collecting strange useless pieces of information - stuff like funny things I’ve heard people say, song lyrics, weird objects… they all seem to get stuck in my brain forever. I can remember a talking doll I had when I was about five and every single weird thing she said. So I put that doll into the Lottie Biggs book.  

Then there are bigger experiences like how I worked in a shoe shop on Saturdays when I was a teenager and even how I started to feel really miserable a while back. Obviously that wasn’t a good state to be in but by writing Lottie Biggs, it helped me to make something worthwhile out of even that rubbish time.

Having said that, I’m definitely not Lottie Biggs and what I write is always fiction and not autobiography. Lottie would be a lot more boring if she merely represented me at 15. She wouldn’t have a lush boyfriend like Gareth for a start!

Did you think you had a chance of becoming an author?
Um, I never really thought about the end result of actually being an author. To be honest, I don’t really think of myself in that way even now.  If anyone asks me what I do, I usually say that I’m a teacher.  I find it easier! But I’ve always wanted to write novels since I was in primary school. When I was about eight, I even typed one up on my mum’s typewriter and sent it to a publisher. In my head, it always seemed to be a question of when I get published, rather than if. But that’s because I was always writing something.

Who inspired you to write?
That’s difficult.  I’m not sure really. In my family nobody other than me was a big reader and certainly nobody else ever wrote anything down just for the fun of it.  But I’ve always been reading books.  When I was really young, my mum used to make me put my book down and go out to play more with the other kids in my road because otherwise I would have just stayed indoors all the time. I don’t know where I got that reading habit from. But I suppose I should thank Enid Blyton really. Although her books are not really fashionable now, I read hundreds of them when I was a child. So perhaps it was her who made me want to tell stories of my own.

Are there any recent books that you admire?
Well it’s quite a few years old now but Holes by Louis Sachar is one of my favourite ever books and definitely my favourite book for young people.  In fact, it was reading that book a few years ago which  encouraged me to write for a younger audience. Until then, I’d only ever written for adults.  I haven’t read anything to topple Holes from my number one spot. I do read some teen fiction but I try to avoid anything which looks remotely like what I’m writing.  I wouldn’t want it to influence how I write.  Some readers have suggested that I've adopted the style of Louise Rennison.  I take this as a compliment because she is hugely successful but the truth is - I haven't actually read any of her titles.

I know that books about vampires are very popular at the moment and I did give a couple of these a go but didn’t really get on with them. But there is a book called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova which came out a few years ago which is absolutely stunning. It’s very exciting, very frightening and very intelligent. I definitely admire that book.

Interview by Sasha

Hayley Long's website

Lottie Biggs extract

Comments

[Jenny]

Great interview! And another Holes recommendation... hmm.. me thinks I need to read that book!

[Kate Pinn]

Superb interview. I never really thought Holes looked that good. But then again I've never read the blurb and am going by what I heard one person say. And that person doesn't like reading. I think I should give it a go. After, "Lottie Biggs is Not Mad" of course.