Writing A Girl Made of Air – Nydia Hetherington

Writers are often asked about their process, about the hows and wherefores of getting a novel onto the page. In truth, I’m not sure what my process is. For me, writing A Girl Made of Air was a leap of faith. 

In my former life I’d created fictional worlds through devised theatre in Paris, where I lived for almost a decade. Coming back to London, that creative outlet was suddenly gone. Words started to rain from my fingers, filling notebooks that cluttered surfaces and bags. Something had to be done. My mind was spilling over, my body itching to write. It all sounds very fanciful and a bit romantic, but I have no other way of describing my unexpected compulsion to write fiction. The page had somehow, inexplicably, replaced the stage.

So, at forty, I made the decision to write a novel. I was one year into a part time Creative Writing degree at Birkbeck University and working in a shoe shop. Considering my love of literature and the subject I was studying, writing a novel seemed like the perfect conduit for my slightly lost creative bent.

Part truth, part lie, I told my fiction tutor I was writing a book. I had ideas for the main characters and the setting of a post-war circus. I had the voice of the narrator tapping into everything I was writing, as if pushing herself out into the world. And I had a plan for a structure that was essentially layers of interlaced tales.

The motivation was to investigate how we inherit stories, how they shape us, how we reinvent those stories for ourselves and finally, how we pass them on. It was a very fertile time, my imagination suddenly alive and sparking. If it sounds like alchemy, all I can say is, at that early stage, that’s exactly how it felt. But I hadn’t really written anything cohesive yet. Then one day I found myself in a traffic jam on the 68 bus. I took out my notebook and wrote a story about the mythical origins and young life of one of the main circus characters. She was, I wrote, from the Isle of Man. When I got home, I checked my Manx folklore and found I could make it fit. There it was; a chapter. 

This early burst of enthusiasm and energy was a great help in getting started. But soon enough the torrent of words dried to a gentle trickle and I found my writing process was actually a simple act of self-discipline. In between work and study, I just had to sit at my desk, block out any distractions, and write. 

One of the most exciting facets of writing, for me, is the research. Looking for information, reading books and maps, watching film clips, making endless notes, not all of them relevant to what ends up on the page but nonetheless entirely necessary if I’m to enter the universe of the novel, walk around it, breathe its air and drink its water. All of this is, it seems, part of something called my ‘writing process’. 

And what of inspiration? I often say that inspiration can be found in everything and anything. From my theatre days I’ve been interested in exploring the slightly grotesque dream world buried in the every day. That place of imagination we all have, often feeling more real than reality itself. That’s why I love fairy tales, folk lore and fable so much. They tap into that liminal space, allowing the reader to touch a moment of magic. I am very keen on moments of magic. It must never be too much, though. All I want is to glimpse the possibility of the impossible, brush my fingers along its surface without digging too deep. I don’t want to see how things work. Like in a dream state, when there’s never any need to question the strange and unusual. These things exist alongside us, in us.

As a performer I’ve seen behind the curtain, been blinded by the spotlights. And being trained in physical theatre and clowning means the circus aesthetic has been a touchstone. Along with its connotations of a place of belonging for the outsider, it was an obvious setting for my first novel.  Plus, as a child I lived on the Isle of Man. We left when I was still small, but my first memories are of the island. For me, the Manx fairies were real. I played with them, spoke to them, and when we left, I told my mother a fairy came along with me, holding my hand in the removals van. Growing up, I felt part of me belonged on the island and I missed it terribly. It’s no surprise the island’s magical stories would eventually seep into my book.

When I started writing A Girl Made of Air, I did so with my eyes closed and my breath held, believing my stories were worth the hard work. I had faith in them. So, I kept on. Eight years later and that leap of faith has brought me to publication. I’m still wondering what my writing process actually is. It changes on a daily basis, more so than ever in these difficult times. Still, there are other stories to be told yet. Once again, I’m getting ready to leap. In the end all I can do is hope for a safe landing. 

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Originally from Leeds, Nydia Hetherington moved to London in her twenties to embark on an acting career. Later she moved to Paris where she studied at the Jacques Lecoq theatre school before creating her own theatre company. When she returned to London, she completed a creative writing degree at Birkbeck. Nydia is based in London.

Follow her on Twitter @NydiaMadeofAir

A GIRL MADE OF AIR

A captivating tale of love and loss and finding connection in the most unexpected places’ Nikki Marmery, author of On Wilder Seas

A lyrical and atmospheric homage to the strange and extraordinary, perfect for fans of Angela Carter and Erin Morgenstern.

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived… Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.

Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child… But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

Beautiful and intoxicating, A Girl Made of Air brings the circus to life in all of its grime and glory; Marina, Manu, Serendipity Wilson, Fausto, Big Gen and Mouse will live long in the hearts of readers. As will this story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth.

 

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Category: On Writing