I thought folks might be interested in seeing some of the interviews I did with international magazines and newspapers around the time Raw Shark Texts came out. All these interviews were published outside of the UK/US and many of them in languages other than English, so I figured most folks here wouldn't have had the chance to read them. Now a few years have passed, I'm sure the origional publications won't mind me reproducing the texts - so here you go.

This first one is from First City Magazine, the Time Out of New Delhi, and was published in March 2007.





• How did the idea for the novel come about?

It was a case of lots of different things coming together really. I’m fascinated by the idea that, if you’re close to someone – really close – how much of yourself would you lose if that person wasn’t there anymore? How are identities created?

At the same time, I was interested in how English phrases which deal with ideas of language seem to always have some sort of ‘water’ element in them – stream of consciousness, flow of conversation, depths of the unconscious. I wondered; what kinds of animals would swim in these kinds of flows? The Ludovician shark really evolved from there.




• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Jaws. Would you say this is a fair enough description of The Raw Shark Texts?

I like that one a lot actually, although I always find it hard to capture all the things I tried to do with Raw Shark in a single description. I always intended the book to have lots of different elements which hopefully would resonate with different people in different ways. People who’ve read the book tend to see different things - for some people it’s a thriller, for some a love story, some a horror story, and some a sort of post-modern puzzle. For me it’s all of them.





• How did the characters come about? Was Eric easier to form, than the others? Did you ever yourself lose track of the differences and similarities between Eric Sanderson the First and Eric Sanderson the Second?

It was nice getting to know the Second Eric Sanderson, we got through it together. I already had some markers in place for him when I wrote his first appearance too as I wrote him out of order a little bit.

The First Eric was much more complex because he has two very different voices of his own - the voice of the Light Bulb Fragments where he’s quite a normal, everyday guy and the voice of the letters, where there’s very little left of him and he’s all but lost his mind.

Clio and Scout more or less wrote themselves, with very little interference from me!




• Did things change during the writing process? How long did it take to write? Did you have a first circle of readers? Were there any major changes after a first draft reading?

The book took around 5 years to write and there were lots of changes and cuts and additions all the way through, even up to the final draft. Dr Fidorous got a much larger role in later drafts, a character called Victor Helsrom lost his part almost completely. And no longer to be found between the covers of the book – a meeting between Eric Sanderson and Mycroft Ward, a bladeless sword, and Trey Fidorous’s time fish, the ticking remora. There are lots of others, I could go on and on...

That said, the central plot always remained pretty constant. I knew from the first draft where I wanted the story to go and how I wanted it to end. The changes were always going on around that fairly solid structure.

I had a few very good and very close readers. I’d email a completed section to my girlfriend each day to read at work. She’s probably seen more versions of the book than anyone else.




• Was The Raw Shark Texts always the title in mind? Were there other working titles?

From fairly early on it was The Raw Shark Texts. It had a couple of other names, but I’m keeping quiet about them because I may use them in the future!




• Do tell us about the movie in the pipeline. Are you involved in the screenplay?

No, I was initially very interested in doing the screenplay but eventually I came around to the idea that my first priority should be my books, for now at least. I was very happy to hand the film over to the great people at FilmFour and Blueprint Pictures to take away and make their own. I’m looking forward to seeing someone else’s interpretation of my story.





• What sort of research and study did the writing of the novel involve? Was your background in Fine Art put to use? (the Ludovician drawings in the novel)

I did some research into dissociative identity disorder and fugue because I wanted the Dr Randle sections of the book to be at least semi-accurate. I didn’t want anyone who already understood these conditions to have the book ruined for them by me getting these things completely wrong! All the above ground locations in the book really exist too, you could follow Eric’s trail across northern England and see lots of the things and places he sees if you wanted to.

Yeah, my art work fed directly into making the Ludovician. I’ve been interested in the visual aspects of printed text for a long time and the look of the shark is very much a natural progression of the work I was doing as an artist.




• The Raw Shark Texts is being billed as a great love story. Do you think that’s a limiting description? A marketing tool of sorts?

What’s nice is that the book is being described in lots of different ways. There was a feature in the Independent on Sunday a few weeks ago which classified The Raw Shark Texts as a horror story. I’ve also seen it described as cyberpunk. I like it that all these seemingly conflicting descriptions are floating around at the moment. It allows people to approach the book from lots of different angles.





• Who, would you say, are your influences? Writers, musicians, filmmakers?

I love Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell, Borges. In terms of films, I’m interested in everyone from David Lynch to Peter Jackson. The Raw Shark Texts is a real magpie’s nest of influences and – too some degree - that’s because Eric Sanderson’s mind is too.





• The final pages of your book are similar to Jaws - three people, a boat, a shark hunt. Could you elaborate on how the movie influenced the shaping of The Raw Shark Texts?

That film came out the same year I was born, and I’ve always loved it. It’s a great, great film. In terms of its relation to The Raw Shark Texts, well, if you have a shark made of ideas that swims in the streams and flows of culture and collective consciousness, then there’s really only one place you can go to fight an animal like that.

I know some people have found that aspect of the ending challenging, and to be honest, I like that. Our expectations should be challenged from time to time or things get boring.





• Do you have a cat? (‘cuz Ian’s too much!)

I have a cat, but he isn’t called Ian – he’s called Dave.

Thanks Mia,

It was a good interview, this one.
It's good to look back through these actually, interesting to see where my thoughts have changed on things and where they haven't.

S