The Friday Tree

by Sophia Hillan

  Did the fictional creations become real in your mind?

  They did, and those who made it to the end are still there, getting on with their lives.

  Did they act unexpectedly or did you always know what they would do?

  Well, Ned, as I mentioned, walked in fully-fledged one day. I never quite knew what he would do until he did it, which is a wonderful feeling when writing fiction. To me, it means the thing is working, really alive. As the book progressed, I found they all had their own agendas, to a certain extent, and I began to sympathise with Flann O’Brien’s beleaguered author in his At Swim-Two-Birds, whose characters don’t want to do anything he has planned for them, and go off in all sorts of directions every time he goes to sleep. I had quite a job bringing some of them into line; sometimes, though, like Ned, they knew better than I did what they were going to do.

  Do you have any favourites among the characters?

  Francis has to be a favourite for me, and that scapegrace, Ned, who is, under it all, a rather lonely and neglected child. I think Rose, the children’s aunt, is the quiet heroine of the book. She never falters, and she puts everyone’s welfare before her own.

  You said that, now the book is finished, your characters are still “getting on with their lives”. Do you intend to write up their later history?

  I do know their later history and may write it up at some point, though I think not straight away.

  Do you have your next project in mind?

  I do, and am working on it even as we speak – but I think it’s best not to talk too much about plans until there is something to show for them. Someone, I can’t remember who, once said “You can talk it or you can write it”. I think, in my case, it’s generally better to write it first.